This Is Not An Education Piece

by Midnight Freemason Emeritus

Adam Thayer, PM

My favorite piece of art… is that weird? Do normal people have favorite pieces of art? I hear about my friends talking about favorite movies, favorite songs, and even occasionally someone will mention a favorite book, but nobody seems to talk about art.

My favorite piece of art is an oil on canvas painted by the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte. After working as a commercial artist for a number of years, he painted a picture of a large wooden pipe, and underneath wrote “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”, or literally “This is not a pipe”. To tie it all together, he titled the painting The Treachery Of Images, to remind us of the dangers that images can pose.

Years later, when he was questioned about the image, he replied firmly that what he wrote was correct; it was not a pipe, it was a representation of a pipe. You couldn’t put tobacco into it, you couldn’t light it, because it was only an image of a pipe. In fact, he went on to say “if I had written on my picture ‘This is a pipe’ I’d have been lying!”

As a writer, it reminds me of Alfred Korzybski stating “The map is not the territory - the word is not the thing”. It’s a constant reminder that words, no matter how beautifully written, are still just representations of the actual thing. I could spend paragraphs detailing Magritte’s beautiful pipe – which is, I remind you, not a pipe – the fantastic shine of the bowl and stem, the glow of it against the golden background, the thin, almost fragile lettering underneath, and yet that description is still a pale comparison to seeing the actual picture in person.

I imagine many of us feel that way about our degrees; I can tell you about the nerves I experienced leading up to it, the scent of the room, the feeling when I was first brought to light… but none of this can live up to having been there, in that room, in my skin. Yet, in the act of describing it, I remember that night ten years ago, as if I was still there.

Neither can I put the sound of a brother’s voice in your head the way I hear it, clear as day, whenever I get up to give what I still consider to be “his” lecture. The best I can give is a representation of it, kind, loving, yet firm in his demand that I never let that lecture be read from the book or be performed without feeling.

Our symbols are like that too; while you may have some of the symbols as physical representations (doesn’t every lodge have a square and compass?), they are still just that – representations. The compass in our lodges, for instance, is generally not a compass one could actually use to circumscribe a true circle. What’s more, I’ve yet to find a lodge with an actual beehive, although I do think selling Masonic Honey sounds much more interesting than flipping pancakes.

The Treachery Of Images is a fantastic reminder of the place our symbols belong in Masonry – as mental placeholders for complex teachings and morality instruction. The symbols themselves only contain the meanings we put into them, and as such should not be deified in and of themselves.

Of course, the phrase “The word is not the thing” should bring a special meaning to the Master Mason, which I will point out for those who are inclined to ponder without expounding the substitution principle to the uninitiated.

So Adam, I hear you thinking, what’s your point? Has all of this been a rambling opportunity for you to have an excuse to write about your favorite piece of art? Yes, obviously. Perhaps I should have titled this “The Treachery Of Education” and include the disclaimer “Ce n’est pas une conference educative”.

Perhaps I could trick you into reading paragraph upon paragraph, expecting to find some hidden nugget of wisdom that I subtly snuck in but that you are starting to doubt is in there. Perhaps I already have.

Perhaps the point of all Masonic Education really shouldn’t be to teach necessarily, but to encourage you to think and discover meaning for yourself. Then again, to paraphrase Magritte, this is not a Masonic Education piece. Unless, of course, it was.

~Adam Thayer

Who you gonna call? - Revisit

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Darin A. Lahners 

Editor's Note:

Given today is Halloween, I thought I would rerun my article from earlier this year documenting the Paranormal Investigation that took place at my Mother Lodge St. Joseph #970 earlier this year.

I think that when dealing with all things paranormal, it's okay to have a healthy dose of skepticism.  That doesn't mean that things you might be skeptical about don't exist.  For example, we have seen in the past few years the Pentagon acknowledging that gun camera videos of UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, commonly known as Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs) are genuine.  Unquestionably I believe that many of you reading this article will either believe or disbelieve what I'm about to tell you. Believe it or not.  That's your decision.  

It all started a few years ago when one of our Past Master Masters (I believe he was Master at the time of the incident) was alone in the lodge building in the area below the kitchen and heard footsteps above him.  He knew he was the only one in the building at the time.  Another Past Master has had experiences.  Finally, it culminated with a few experiences I had this past year as the Worshipful Master.  While helping Hayden Knott, the son of Midnight Freemason Senior Contributor Greg Knott, the TV in our lodge would mysteriously turn on by itself with his eagle project.  Another time I had to run into the lodge room for something, and the TV would be on.   I've also felt random cold spots in the lodge room, spots where it feels like the temperature has dropped even though it can't have done so because there are no fans or anything else that could have caused it.  I've also been up in our lodge room with brethren and had the inner door close by itself.  During this last incident, the brother I was with was my current Senior Warden and the incoming Master, Travis Cain.

Luckily for us, Travis is a member of a paranormal investigation group, Ghostnet Paranormal. I had discussed Travis having his team do an investigation of the lodge a few months ago when the TV was doing its turning on by itself thing.  I think that having the inner door closing on its own might have accelerated this.  In any case, it was decided that they would investigate the Lodge this past Saturday evening. Now I don't know about you, but Lodge Rooms and Lodge Buildings can be creepy when alone in them especially at night.  I arrived at the lodge a bit early and found the altar light was on.  Now, it's highly likely that we just forgot to turn it off.  I checked with the brother who was Junior Deacon for our last meeting, and he could not remember if he had or not. That's most likely what happened.  What happened next I cannot explain.  I was clearing an area in our preparation room to act as the command center for Travis and his group.  Normally the Group consists of Travis, Matt, Matt's wife Elena, and Jack.  This evening, Elena was under the weather, but she was able to join remotely.  

Travis showed up and not too much long after, so did the rest of his team.  My friend, Lisa, joined me for the ghost hunting adventure.  Travis and I went downstairs to the parking lot to welcome his team members.  I met Jack and Matt and helped them carry equipment upstairs to the lodge.  We rent out retail space on the first floor.  The second floor is the lodge and the third floor is the kitchen area and attic. Upon coming up the stairs and entering our foyer, everyone was hit with the distinct smell of brewing coffee.  Full disclosure, the people that we rent to run a coffee shop, so it's possible that's where the smell was coming from.  I'd think that would be the case, but the coffee shop closed at 2pm that afternoon.  It'd be highly irresponsible of them to leave a coffeepot on, but I would think that at 8pm that coffee would be burning and that is not what we smelt.  I moved towards the stairs leading up to the kitchen area only to discover that the kitchen light was on.  Now the building was constructed in 1914.  The switch is an old push-button switch.  However, the light was not on when Travis and I left the building and it was on when we returned.  When I observed this, Matt quickly went upstairs.  He scanned the area near the switch with a K-II meter which detects levels of Electro-Magnetic frequency.  The area was much higher than the other areas in the lodge that he took sample readings of.  

After doing this and asking for whatever turned the light on to turn it off, and not having any success, Matt and his team began to set up Infra-Red cameras.  They set one up in the Foyer, one up in the Kitchen, and one in Lodge room.  Initially, they had two cameras for the lodge room, but one of the cameras didn't want to work that evening.  The camera feed was hooked to a monitor and also to a hard drive to record the activity.  Elena watched the monitor through Matt's cell phone camera, so she was able to take notes and jot down times when anything was captured on the video feed.  Once this was set up, they started with a Spirit Box.  In preparation for the evening, Travis had gone on social media to see if anyone in the community had ever had any experiences in the lodge room.  One woman told Travis that she has had experiences with what she believed was a female that smelled of lilac and claimed to have seen a male entity. 

The evening's investigation began with the use of something called a spirit or ghost box. The spirit box is a radio with a frequency scan mode that some ghost hunters claim allows communication with Spirits.  Amazingly as soon as the Ghost Box was turned on, we almost immediately heard a voice say "Hello".  It sounded like a woman's voice.  The ghost box was placed next to a tesla coil that would allow the spirits to draw energy from in order for them to manifest. There was some unintelligible garble that came through a bit later, but no other communication occurred.  After this, a viewer of the investigation on Facebook Live who was a Mason wanted someone to knock 3 times on the inner door.  Travis asked me to do so.  So I knocked.  I was not expecting any response but there were two distinct thumps that were heard by myself, Travis, Lisa, and Jack. At the same time, Elena was telling Matt that she had seen a "Shadowman" in the foyer on the IR cameras.  

The investigation went upstairs to the kitchen where the steps have been heard. There the team placed the spirit box and an infra-red motion sensor.  The motion sensor puts out an infrared beam that sounds an alarm whenever anything breaks that beam.  The investigation there did not yield any results until we came back downstairs with the spirit box, leaving the detector upstairs.  The investigation went back into the lodge room, where the team attempted to capture something called EVP's or Electronic Voice Phenomenon. They asked a bunch of questions to whatever might be in the room.  The EVPs turned up an answer to only one of the questions.  When asked about telling us its age, you could hear a "NO" on the recording.     

While downstairs, the motion detector went off. Travis immediately asked for the motion detector to be set off three more times.  I was watching the kitchen area on the monitor through the IR camera.  There was nothing in the kitchen.  In rapid succession, it was set off twice.  Then, after a pause, it went off another time.  We attempted to trigger the motion detector by jumping up and down to make sure that there wasn't any movement on the second floor where we were that could have set it off. We were unable to do so.  After attempting without success to have the motion sensor triggered again, we took a break.  I immediately sent a text to Greg Knott and told him that he should come up to experience this. 

While the rest of the team was outside, Travis and I went upstairs to give the Grand hailing sign, Greg followed but did not participate.  The thought I had was that if the spirit was a former mason, we would see if his obligation was binding enough to come to our aid.  Travis and I gave the sign, and during which Greg experienced a cold shooting sensation that went down his back.  That was all that happened. After that, Matt and Travis went into the lodge room, while Lisa and I stayed in the command center watching the IR cameras with Elena.  Jack and Greg were in the lodge room. The cameras had been picking up a lot of dust orbs, but also there were a few orbs I saw that couldn't be explained away as dust.  One of which came down from the ceiling in the foyer area (where the kitchen area is above), and then shot directly up and came through the floor into the kitchen.  Now the possibility of that happening with the camera picking up dust.  While Matt and Travis were in the lodge room, Matt began to experience pain in his lower intestine while standing in a spot east of the Altar in an area where I have experienced cold spots. Later Jack would complain of the same issue while in the same area.  Coincidence?  Maybe.  Matt and Travis went back upstairs and while upstairs, a canister of comet, the cleaner, fell off a shelf.      

It was approaching midnight, and Greg went home. The next thing that the team tried was something called the Estes method. The Estes method is a process by which one places a blindfold under one's eyes and wears isolation headphones plugged into a device that creates white noise (the aforementioned Spirit Box).  Another person sits in front of the person that is sensory deprived and asks questions.  The person that is sensory deprived then hopefully is able to better hear any audible voices that come through the headset.  All of us took a turn attempting this.  Travis was first, and while he was doing it and Matt was asking him questions, he made a movement like he was smelling something.  Matt said he smelt coffee too.  Once again, was it from downstairs? Or was it something associated with the spirit we were trying to communicate with?  We'll never know. While doing the method, Matt asked if the spirit wanted to control Travis, and immediately Travis said "No". There was a response when Matt asked if they wanted to speak to him, but Travis couldn't make it out.  The questioning continued, during which time Matt felt something touching his neck.  When he asked if it was this spirit that he was talking to touching his neck, Travis said: "How?".  Matt after this claimed he saw a ball of light next to Travis, however, it was not seen on the Facebook Live feed.  Hopefully, it was caught on the recording through the security cameras.  Travis claimed he felt a sensation of a presence being in front of him during his time doing the Estes method. It was then Matt's turn.  He felt something touch him on his shoulder. Like static electricity.  Other than that, he responded to a question about the Order of Eastern Star. He also claimed to feel really cold. It was then Lisa's turn, and Lisa had no success.  

It was then my turn.  Now I can only explain that when you are blindfolded and the headphones are on you, there is just white noise coming through the headphones.  You can tell that someone is talking but you can't make out what they are saying. Travis explained it like Charlie Brown's parents.  You could tell that Travis was speaking and when he was done, but I could not hear what he was saying. Every time he stopped speaking, there was a more focused burst of static as if something was trying to come through the headphones, but I was unable to make out any words.  I felt extremely cold at one point, and at another, I felt like something touched my left hand.  When Travis took the blindfold off me, I told him again that I felt cold and then asked if he had asked it to touch me, to which he replied that he had. Another interesting thing that happened was that the things that were on top of the tesla coil stopped spinning a few times and Travis had to push them to get them restarted.  Matt explained and demonstrated that the only thing that could do that would be something touching the base of the coil or placing one's hand over the spinning things on the coil.  

It was then Jack's turn.  Travis started to question Jack and the coil stopped spinning again.  Jack had some replies to Travis's questioning, but one of his answers did not make sense until later.  Travis asked who sat in the chair directly behind him, which was the Senior Warden's station.  Jack replied "Dale".  The name rang a bell with me but I was unable to place it until I showed the team the pictures of the Past Masters that we had. There on the board was Charles W. Dale. It was our belief that the entity might be Dr. Henry Elmer Davis, who was instrumental in starting the lodge and died at a relatively young age.  Davis was the second Worshipful Master and the first one that would have been over the lodge after it was built in 1914.  The first Worshipful Master would have been the one who led the lodge while it was Under Dispensation.  I do not know where they met while they were U.D. and the lodge was being built.  I will have to research to see if Dale was in the West the year prior to being Worshipful Master, and if not, when he served as Senior Warden.  After this, the investigation came to a close. 

The story continued the next morning for me.  Upon awaking, I noticed my left hand.  There was a scratch or irritation exactly where I felt I was touched the night before.  I immediately sent Travis a text. He said that he's had physical after-effects and that Matt and Elena had experienced this as well.  Now is it possible I did this to myself while I was asleep?  Sure.  I once again found it extremely coincidental, however.   

One thing is certain to me. Something occurred to all of us that evening. I don't know what it was, but I don't have an explanation for many of the things I witnessed.  Do I think my lodge is haunted?  I felt that it was a possibility before, and after Saturday, I feel that even more strongly.  Maybe it's just confirmation bias. All I know is that a lodge is a sacred space.  I feel that we perform a form of Magick or Alchemy there every time we make a new Mason.  I feel that there is a lot of energy in that lodge room in particular because of that.  I can only think of the hundreds of men that went through degrees there since 1914. Does what we do in that room leave something behind? I'd like to think that it does. So maybe what we tapped into that.  Maybe the lodge is haunted.  I don't know.  I can only say that I had an amazing experience.  I look forward to trying to work with their team again when they investigate a building that was a funeral home and then later it was an old-folks home here in St. Joseph, Illinois, or when they investigate Homer Lodge in Homer Illinois.  I have been thinking of asking Travis if they need a new member.  I'll even give up my internship with Greg Knott for it. 

If you're interested in seeing the live videos from Saturday or hearing the EVP, go to Ghostnet Paranormals Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/GhostNETParanormal). They will hopefully be posting some other things caught on the cameras soon.     

~DAL

WB Darin A. Lahners is our Co-Managing Editor. He is a host and producer of the "Meet, Act and Part" podcast. He is currently serving the Grand Lodge of Illinois Ancient Free and Accepted Masons as the Area Education Officer for the Eastern Masonic Area. He is a Past Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph. He is also a plural member of Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL), where he is also a Past Master. He’s a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282, and a member of the Salt Fork Shrine Club under the Ansar Shrine. You can reach him by email at darin.lahners@gmail.com.         

The Right to Work Lodge

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Ken JP Stuczynski

I visited Past Master Morgan in the nursing home a few times before he passed on. I wasn't yet a member of his Lodge but had heard he could use a visit. (I say "yet" because I was being groomed to help fill in their line, bring familiar with my Masonic work.) It's always a pleasure and treasure to talk to our older Brethren, and I received both in full measure. In fact, he said something that became a cornerstone of my leadership practice:

Give everyone something to do.

This wasn't shoving the newly raised into the empty Junior Deacon's chair. This was about giving people, from the start, a reason to be involved in some way, with or without a station or place. Remember, he was coming from a time when people waited for years just to BE in line. So how do we apply it now?

It hit me from another angle. The same few people doing all the work is a pervasive issue in all organizations. With it comes incessant complaining. Why is that? Well, you'll kick yourself if haven't figured it out because it's actually insanely simple — leaders wait for people to volunteer and members who would be willing are never asked. Over time, the expectation of Brothers to help are less and less and so it falls on the Officers, which in turn leads Brothers to believe it is exclusively the officers’ job to “run the lodge”. Eventually, no one is asked to help and the few who insist or are elected or appointed become resentful of lack of help. It’s a self-fulfilling and self-defeating prophecy.

I endeavored to solve this. When my time came in the East, I ignored distinctions between Officers and “Sideliners”. I heeded Past Master Morgan's sage advice. No one was on more than one committee so I could have more people doing more things, however small. And I ignored geography where I could, asking out-of-town Brothers or those who otherwise could not attend Lodge to do other tasks, such as setting up the newsletters or call Widows during the holidays. We ended up with Brothers who were not officers doing more work than some who were. Some people who didn't attend Lodge started to, or at least fulfilled duties at other times. And this wasn't by accident. I did the magical thing — ASKING THEM.

And yes, people who cannot or do not attend Lodge are still part of the Lodge. They can still be part of the Work. In fact, one Masonic author despised the term “attending” Lodge for this reason — it strengthens the idea of spectator-ism rather than living our allegories of laboring together.

The principle behind all of this is a recognition that above all else, our Lodge IS our Brothers. They are both our primary purpose and our best resource. Countless words have been written about bringing Brothers back to Lodge, waning participation, and not forgetting those we haven’t seen. These are all deeply related in both cause and solution.

Based on this I created the “Right to Work Lodge" model. It sees the ideal Lodge as one whose Brothers strive to find and give meaningful tasks and responsibilities to all of its members, regardless of stations, places, or even the ability to attend communications.

This is done by:

• Reducing the distinction between officers and "sideliners", shifting the purpose of a communication from attending to participating;

• Establishing regular contact with members who cannot attend due to infirmity, distance, and any other reason, providing them with a list of duties they may assume that can be done remotely;

• Provide opportunities for spouses, widows, and children to participate in, rather than just attend, the programs and initiatives of the Lodge, thereby strengthening the bonds between Brothers in their everyday lives;

• Have an advisory committee of ALL living Past Masters of the Lodge and consult as many as possible, even if infirmed or at a distance, on at least some decisions to be made, and voice their opinions in open Lodge;

• Having a stated "Roll Call" where ALL members' names are called, with Brothers sharing tidings of those who are not present, such as their location, health, or a short message they may wish to be shared;
• Encouraging or inviting guests to participate in ritual where appropriate;

• Making sure newly affiliated Brothers, especially those from merged or dissolved lodges, are given equal opportunity in ritual and other work.

How is it implemented? Apart from events derived from the principles above, the key is communication. In addition to personal calls by the Master and Wardens, establish a phone tree whereby the officers and other willing Brothers will keep in touch with Brothers we don’t see at Lodge. Setting up a schedule based on birthdays is a good option.

The largest problem many Lodges and bodies have is that we have insufficiently accurate records on Brothers and widows. We need to hunt down lost Brothers and Widows, even if it means gleaning obituaries or sending out postcards to last known addresses. Local addresses can even be visited in person. (And it is inexpensive for a month's subscription to WhitePages Premium to find possible numbers and addresses.) We also ought to verify or acquire as many used email addresses as possible, something that will most regularly and affordably solidify communication for most of the Brethren.

To aid in making everyone feel involved, I also established two informal classifications of members: "True Men of Tyre", those out-of-town Brothers who can still benefit the Lodge or at the least keep in touch so we can share their messages and tidings; "The Men of Joppa", those in-town Brothers who find it difficult or impossible to attend Lodge but may still wish to be invited and welcomed into other events and projects.

There are more ideas and many ways to implement them, and what is best for your Lodge will be dictated by its own situation. But one thing is universal. The symbolic backdrop of our allegorical existence is that of WORK. Do we think most operative masons were there to listen to minutes and vote on paying bills? Can we honestly believe most of them were sideliners, or not given any tasks? I would suggest a Lodge – operative or speculative – should be judged not by its good intentions or hanging on by a thread through trying times, but by how actively and consistently it involves its Brethren in meaningful Work. The "Right to Work Lodge" attitude and strategies, by this or any other name, does just that.

~JP

Bro. Ken JP Stuczynski is a member of West Seneca Lodge No.1111 and recently served as Master of Ken-Ton Lodge No.1186. As webmaster for NYMasons.Org he is on the Communications and Technology Committees for the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. He is also a Royal Arch Mason and 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, serving his second term as Sovereign Prince of Palmoni Council in the Valley of Buffalo, NMJ. He also coordinates a Downtown Square Club monthly lunch in Buffalo, NY. He and his wife served as Patron and Matron of Pond Chapter No.853 Order of the Eastern Star and considered himself a “Masonic Feminist”.

Coincidences

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

I'm not one of those people who says, "I don't believe in coincidences." Coincidences happen all the time and believing that they don't, in my opinion, can lead us down the garden path that winds up in the cesspool of conspiracy theory. And, if any group knows about the frustration of conspiracies, it's the Freemasons.

On the other hand, we've all had experiences where things seem to be coincidental but aren't. Instead, they're a series of events where correlation and causation converge in some mysterious but meaningful way.

A few years ago I had one of those moments that was, for me personally, so intense I have to believe the chain of events is more than just some random cosmic episode.

My wife, Carolyn, and I were leaving a cemetery when she spied a name on a tombstone that might have been a family member. We stopped to investigate.

Mission accomplished, we headed back toward the car when I spied a family name on the back of a tombstone: "LOWER."

My thoughts turned to Louis Gordon Lower (pronounced 'louher'), a man I have written about so much I've felt like I knew him.

In 1918, sixteen-year-old Louis Lower lost his father Elmer when he was killed in an accidental fall. Frank Land was Elmer's Masonic Brother. He stepped in to help young Louis. The following year, Land formed the Order of DeMolay. He asked Louis and eight other young men to join him as the charter members of the organization. Since that time, Lower has been known as "the first DeMolay."

Lower went on to a successful career in civic leadership in Kansas City. He was revered in his position as the first DeMolay and some even thought in years to come, he would be Frank Land's heir-apparent. He was one of the leaders in the effort to clean up the corrupt Kansas City political machine. After accomplishing this, the mayor of KC appointed Lower as manager of the Municipal Auditorium. On his way home from a long day of work in the early morning hours on July 18, 1943, a drunken security guard attempting to direct traffic confronted Lower for driving in the area. Fully within his rights, Lower challenged the guard for directing traffic while under the influence. The guard responded by pulling out his revolver and shooting Lower in the chest at point-blank range, killing him instantly.

That guard never showed remorse for his actions. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison but was paroled after only three.

More than 800 people attended Lower's funeral. Devastated, Frank Land eulogized his friend and protégé saying, "Louis Lower was not only the first DeMolay in the world, but he was also the first member of the Legion of Honor. He was a symbol to millions of young men of the ideals and teaching of our order... Louis Lower today becomes a legend. He will forever be leading the mystical vanguard of youth. Death came with the morning sun shining upon his brow."

I continued to reflect on the life of Louis Lower, who meant so much to DeMolay, which has had a significant and positive influence on my life.

"That's not so common a name," I thought, "I'll bet Louis was related to that family."

As I kept walking to the car I turned back to look at the headstones beneath the large granite marker; There, in the center was one that hit me like a bolt of lightning. It read:

LOUIS G. LOWER
1902 - 1943

I was standing at the grave of the first DeMolay.

Was this a random accident, a lucky stab that brought me to a place where I could pay my respects to a man I so admired or was it much more meaningful?

In this particular case, I don't believe in coincidences.

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°  is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is also a Fellow and Past Master of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Among his other Masonic memberships is the St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite bodies, and Moila Shrine. He is also a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. Brother Steve was Editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine for a decade and is a regular contributor to the Whence Came You podcast. Born in Indiana, he has a Master's Degree from Indiana University and is retired from a 35-year career in information technology. Steve and his wife Carolyn reside in northwest Missouri. He is the author of dozens of magazine articles and three books: Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, Freemasons — Tales From the Craft and Freemasons at Oak Island.