WMM:Henslowe's Letters to Winston
The Letters of Douglas Henslowe
There are twelve letters in all, the first six from one address, the next three from another, and the final three from the first address again. They span the course of eleven years, the first dated January 1925, the last December 1936. The first few contain many annotations, underlined or circled letters, keywords and the like, as if Winston has attempted to discover some secret code or other running through them (Paul Black realizes several attempts at decoding rely on occult ciphers used by Dr John Dee in his Enochian papers), though all such attempts proved to be fruitless, and the letters are simply as they appear, with no hidden messages found within.
The letters themselves are repetitive, quite vague in their subject matter, and have four clear motifs: Firstly, Winston appears to have been the leader of the occult group, and Henslowe one of the other members. Secondly, there are several references to deaths, though he does not describe who died, where, how, or why. Thirdly, Henslowe seems concerned that Winston write back to appease Henslowe’s doctors who seem not to believe him, though towards the end, Henslowe himself seems not to be certain exactly what occurred. Fourthly, Henslowe writes that he travelled back to Savannah right after the events of August 1924, but he does not say where he travelled from.
Some excerpts from the letters:
Letter 1 (Jan 11th 1925, 513 West Henry Street, Savannah)
“Please write back with your account of what happened. My doctors do not believe me.”
Letter 2 (June 16th 1926, W. Henry St)
“Don’t worry, I haven’t told them where any of this was. And I won’t.”
Letter 3 (July 6th 1927, W. Henry St)
“Tell me they didn’t die for nothing. Tell me they didn’t get away with it.”
Letter 4 (Feb 19th 1929, W. Henry St)
“Perhaps if they’d followed me out of there, they’d still be alive.”
Letter 5 (Sept 27th 1930, W. Henry St)
“If you’d just send word, telling your version of events, perhaps the doctors would believe you. And me.”
Letter 6 (Oct 13th 1931, W. Henry St)
“Are you ignoring me, or is this your way of trying to help me? Your silence echoes. I think you’re trying to tell me something.”
Letter 7 (March 13th 1933, 23 Old Hope Road, Savannah)
“Things are better here. I think maybe I’m free of that day at last.”
Letter 8 (May 25th 1933, Old Hope Rd)
“I’m sorry I haven’t left you in peace, my old friend. I won’t write again.”
Letter 9 (Aug 9th 1933, Old Hope Rd)
“I’ve made a book of everything I remember and hidden it away here. But I’ll tell you where it is. Just ask.”
Letter 10 (Feb 1st 1934, W. Henry St)
“It’s been so long. But I don’t think that I’ll ever be able to escape what happened.”
Letter 11 (April 14th 1935, W. Henry St)
“It wasn’t real. Perhaps it wasn’t real. They tell me it wasn’t real. I’m sorry if I’ve frightened you.”
Letter 12 (Dec 29th 1936, W. Henry St)
“Do you even remember what happened anymore? I wonder if you’ve even opened my letters.”
