First Impressions

I was intrigued with the people gathered around Defying Gravity. They seemed to be a motivated and intelligent crew focused on researching and discussing Townsend Brown's life and career. As I mentioned in the previous blog post, Linda Brown's presence came across loud and clear. Her forum self was bright, staunch, eloquent, gracious, and loyal. She was just as I expected her to be. But I had to depend on observation and intuition to tell me about the other posters.

Almost everyone stood up to my sincerity tests. I was sure that the majority of the posters were exactly who they claimed to be. There was also a notable contingent of spooky folks there, members and former members of three-letter intelligence agencies. Beyond adopting noms de forum even they did not go out of their way to create false posting personas. I soon learned to pay attention to one of them in particular.

Mr. Twigsnapper was (and is) a charming octogenarian who knows more about Townsend Brown than anyone else alive other than Linda. He freely admitted to being one of the two significant sources for Defying Gravity. He introduced himself as Garrity to Linda and her husband, Tractorman George, shortly after they moved to the high desert but his real name was lost ages ago.

The original primary source also made a brief appearance on that forum as J.D. Barret. "JD" had been Linda's First Love and his relationship with her family dated back to the early sixties when "Dr." Brown helped him along with his dream of becoming a real life James Bond. From what I know now, it would be safe to say that his career has outstripped his wildest dreams.

Mr. Twigsnapper's career has also been a successful and colorful one. Many of us followed his posts avidly because he was adept at sharing previously unknown and seemingly irrelevant stories that sent us off to do further research. More often than not, we found independent verification of his facts and some connection to the Townsend Brown story. The more I researched, the more I came to believe that we had barely scratched the surface of a most remarkable story.

After eighteen months of near daily immersion in it, I am more than ever convinced that this is so. It is a complex and multi-generational story that affects us all and it may take many tellings before we understand the full ramifications of it, but it is time now for the next chapters to unfold.