Pasadena, CA | Can a black arts occultist by night also be a pioneering rocket scientist by day? Sure can. We are kicking off Season 1: Los Angeles (and the Dark City series!) with the unlikely but true life story and accomplishments of Jack Parsons, one of the principal founders of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.  Coming of age in the 1920s and early 1930s, Jack lived in a world that believed a trip to the moon would never be possible.  Always one to push the boundaries of convention, what started as Jack’s scrappy experiments with homemade explosives in the Arroyo Seco would eventually evolve into the foundation for space travel.  So why not also think running black magic rituals with Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard leads to great things?  Join us as we share all of the scandalous and mind boggling details of the double life that helped shape Los Angeles as a birthplace of aerospace technology and Scientology.  

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🐇 Go ahead, down the rabbit hole you go… Here’s the complete list of sources for this episode:
Britannica. (2025, July 29). Aleister Crowley: British occultist. In Encyclopedia Britannica.
-Cantrell, L. (2020, May 3). The tragic true story of Peg Entwistle, the actress who jumped to her death from the Hollywood sign. Town & Country.
-Carter, J., & Wilson, R. A. (2005). Sex and rockets: The occult world of Jack Parsons. Feral House.
-Chapman, J. (2022, June 17). A look back at Jack Parsons on the 70th anniversary of his explosive death: Part 1 of a 3-part series on Jack Parsons. Pasadena Now.
-Chapman, J. (2022, June 25). How Jack Parsons and the Suicide Squad created a ‘new paradigm in rocketry’. Pasadena Now.
-Chapman, J. (2022, July 2). Exploring the occult world of Jack Parsons. Pasadena Now.
-Crowley, A. (1987). The book of the law. Weiser Books.
-Jacobson, M. M. (2016, September 22). 6 Dark places Aleister Crowley performed his particular brand of magick. Atlas Obscura.
-Knowledge at Wharton Staff. (n.d.). MacDonald’s book and the secret history of the space race [Audio podcast episode]. In Knowledge at Wharton. Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
-Palmer, D. A. (2016, December 15). Yes, Pasadena has a ‘Millionaire’s Row’ filled with stately homes from a bygone era. Pasadena Star-News.
-Pendle, G. (2006). Strange angel: The otherworldly life of rocket scientist John Whiteside Parsons. Mariner Books.
-Pendle, G. (2015, January 2). The occult rocket scientist who conjured spirits with L. Ron Hubbard. Vice.
-Polcyn, G., & Richardson, V. (Hosts). (2022, May 31). Jack Parsons (Ordo Templi Orientis Pt. 2) [Audio podcast episode]. In Cults. Parcast.
-Rasmussen, C. (2000, March 19). Life as a Satanist propelled rocketeer. Los Angeles Times.
-Tedeschi, D. (2019, October). Was the FBI right to hound one of America’s foremost rocket pioneers? Smithsonian Magazine.
-Vincent, A. (2017, February 17). Sex, rocket science, and Satanism: Meet NASA’s real hidden figures. The Telegraph.

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👏 Special thanks to our talented partners:
Paolo Sbrighi for Musical Composition (instagram.com/paulosbrighi/)
Mario Cintra for Logo Design (instagram.com/alacarala/)