by Tod Mesirow
Friday July 22,1994
Dear Granddad,
Off to Russia. Two weeks! The land of my ancestral origins. The former Soviet Union, now plunged into transition-induced chaos. Somehow Russia seems so far away, so much a great unknown. And yet people go there all the time. It's not like Mars or anything. But to be halfway around the world, where food is a sometimes thing, and progress sounds like a thing of the past; to be entering this maelstrom with cash and things to accomplish is exciting and terrifying. Into the jaws of the whale, the den of the bear, the source of spy novels, intrigue, and true cold war misery. Of Chernobyl and Chetniks, the land of Lenin, Chekhov, the Czars. Traveling so far away is exciting, and also terrifying...
JOURNAL SIBERIA
23 JulyMoscow
LATE NIGHT
Had a meeting with the cameraman and George. Yuri, the production manager was there, and a technician who's name I never did get straight. Our cameraman is, Georgi. He's an older guy; the technician young, Yuri, mid-40's? Georgi has that D.P. feel; sardonic - been there seen it done it. George Pussep, the segment producer, says Georgi is well-known in Russia as a DP. I worry about how much we'll be able to get done, but George P. reassures me Georgi knows. We're only bringing 3 lights. We have several equipment/technical discussions, and everything seems fine. We'll only know for sure after a day's shooting.
In a car that smells like it's leaking gasoline, we head for a meeting with Naumov, a respected parapsychologist whom we hope will be the main voice of our overview piece. His building seems to be crumbling; the walls are all pockmarked and the paint is fading. It's almost post-apocalyptic. His wife tells us Japanese reporters came and begged him to go with them. He'll be back at 7 PM. We talk to her a little, pet her tiny new puppy, and leave.
July 24
MoscowWifey Darling,
We finally got to see Naumov. He was cool at first; he wanted to know who we were and what kind of show we're working on. Before we left, two and a half hours later, we'd had Armenian brandy, Turkish coffee, French water, and biscuits and fruit. Naumov related many stories and showed us several tapes. He was persecuted by the KGB for communicating parapsychological information to Western scientists. Apollo 14 astronaut Mitchell befriended and helped Naumov. Once in prison a commandant ordered five other prisoners to kill Naumov, and when they came to do it, his angel physically interceded, knocking the five down. We talked and drank. I mostly listened and asked "what did he say?" In the end, we scheduled an interview, and were on our way.
7-25 Monday night
A long day's shoot.
But, all in all for a 15 hour day it seemed to go well. We shot five and a half tapes of a wide range of things, a Russian physicist who discovered microleptons and says they're the basis of psychic energy, and then he makes energy from microleptons, uses them validate psychics, and analyzes photographs of people to determine their state of health and their psychic abilities; an acupuncture specialist who uses a computer program to determine the health of your various systems, and a healer who reportedly works with Yeltsin, and may soon turn Saddam Hussein into a good guy.
Love, Your good guy
JOURNAL SIBERIA
7/26Moscow
Today we did two main interviews and some supporting ones. First was a guy who was working for the Soviet military as a physicist in a secret lab developing a machine that reads people's auras, both from their photograph and/or from them in
person. Not only does it read and quantify their particular energy, it can remember it, and with another machine he invented, a generator, he can alter the specific auras of individuals and thereby control their mood and other mental aspects. Mind Control! We found it! He left the military because as he was beginning to succeed, the military increased their pressure on him to provide knowledge and access. So he quit. The machinery looks like a poor-man's "Brazil," with one DOS computer attached, but hey, if Spock can create a machine in Depression-era America to read the possible futures, imagine what this man can do with his machine today. Maybe McDonald's bought one and is using an unwitting accomplice in Bill Clinton to promote their products! Wow.
After the guy with the computer that reads auras we spent time with an older woman healer. We were in a hospital, although it seemed kind of quiet, and only occasionally did we see anyone that looked like a patient walking around the halls with a loved one. The building, like most in Russia, is old and ill-maintained, with peeling paint, dirty walls, and drab or non-existent decorative touches. It seems like Russia hasn't built anything since 1950, and hasn't cleaned anything since 1950.
