The Bastion Americana Freedom Journal, Issue VIII: 5 September, 1943

Mar 21, 2025

The Abwehr’s psychological warfare against the American people continues, painting the Office for the Cataloguing of Unusual Occurrences as a shadowy enemy.

The Bastion Americana Freedom Journal twists and manipulates every event into an opportunity to attack the Office. A fascist militia mustering a small army to kidnap or kill a small family? Nefarious Office activity. A strange thief stealing art in Chicago? He must be stealing for the Office. Tragic weather plaguing the Midwest? Time to blame the Office.

This is issue VIII of the Bastion Americana Freedom Journal. For more information, please refer to earlier analyses.

This issue contains spoilers from The Case of the Old Wizard’s Woods and references to The Case of the Gray Man’s Grim Tidings.

Content warnings: Violence, creeps, Nazis, gaslighting.

Despite some arrests and confiscations, the Bastion Americana Freedom Journal’s circulation has remained unaffected, even growing. Issues have started to be found in American military bases overseas. Its articles are discussed openly on the air and in governmental bodies at all levels. It has done its job of stoking fear and mistrust in the American populace.

One of the Journal’s most effective strategies is to continuously barrage its readers with brand-new targets for their outrage. Before the fury over the Heartland Heroes had abated, they had moved on to new stories about Office crimes and atrocities. Despite outrageous true stories having taken place in the past week, such as the dissolution of the Danish government at the hands of Nazi occupiers, the sudden death of King Boris III of Bulgaria, and rampant disease, famine, and warfare all over the world, all eyes are glued to one flimsy newsletter and its sensationalist lies.

The eighth issue of the Journal’s front page is provided below:

The Bureau for Cataloguing and Reference has provided the following transcription:

Bastion Americana Freedom Journal

Only the Truth, for True Americans
Free to Patriots
The only newsletter endorsed by the Garrisonian Party of America.
Issue VIII, 5 September, 1943
Arnold Pondletter, Editor-in-Chief

Classified ‘Most Secret, by order of the O.C.U.O.’

Main Article:

MEN'S SOCIAL CLUB MISSING IN NEW ENGLAND WILDERNESS;

SONS, FATHERS, COMMUNITY LEADERS GONE WITHOUT A TRACE, OFFICE FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED

White River, ME – A planned retreat by group of proud, upstanding men from Philadelphia was meant to be an escape from the emasculating bustle of the big city has turned tragic as not a single one of them can be found in the untamed wilderness of central Maine. Mothers, wives, and whole communities are terrified, but still too hopeful to begin mourning.

Whole battalions of forest rangers and state policemen have spent innumerable hours scouring the wilderness for any trace of the Chimney Sweeps, a church-based organization named for the recipients' of Saint Florian's patronage. It is unlikely they will find anything, because it seems that the Office does not want these men found.

Several sources, offering insight under the condition of anonymity, claim that men bearing the credentials of the foreign-controlled Office for the Cataloging of Unusual Occurrences entered and temporarily quarantined the entire White River Wilderness area for nearly a full day just hours after the community group entered it. Once the officials were on the scene, their propensity for obfuscation and arrogance took center stage and by the time they left, the Chimney Sweeps were nowhere to be found.

Arachnae Bellegarde, self-titled Printmaster General of the Office, refused to comment regarding her goons' coincidental arrival to the wilderness region, but did not deny that they were there.

“The Office has a sordid history of kidnapping and worse,” former official Nedrick Garver explained. “They are relentless killers, and if these God-fearing church men got in their way, they wouldn't hesitate to sic the same hunters on them that they did on me.” Mister Garver offers his insight from a hidden safehouse because Office assassins having been searching for him non-stop since he brought their awful secrets into the light.

If they could be so ruthless with one of their own, what chance would a group of vacationing Catholics have when confronted with brutal foreign agents – (cont'd p. 2)

Secondary Article:

TIME-TRAVELING THIEF STEALS AT WILL; 'MAN FROM TOMORROW' CLAIMS MORE ARTWORK

Chicago, IL – Police are baffled by a crime spree rocking some of the wealthiest homes and most affluent galleries in the Windy City. It is no mystery how the thefts took place, who is committing them, or how he got away. Each heist, nearly a dozen of them at printing, has taken place in broad daylight, some in front of America's True heroes, the police, themselves.

He names himself Daedalus Spark, and as he escapes the scene of the crime using technology only seen by the American public in the hands of the so-called 'Heartland Heroes,' Spark announces that he is “the man from tomorrow.”

“Time travel is theoretically possible,” Nedrick Garver, physicist, patriot, and fugitive from the wrathful Office, tells us. “All of the weaponry utilized by Spark, the beams, the gas, the rocket pack, are all within our grasp, but we are not there yet. I theorize that his armaments would be feasible in – (cont'd p.3)

Tertiary Article:

'DEMON STORMS' RAVAGE THE MIDWEST. IS THE OFFICE BEHIND THIS DEADLY WEATHER PHENOMENA? IS YOUR TOWN NEXT?

This headline includes a photograph of a distant tornado and includes the caption: “More info., page 6.”

Bureau for Cataloguing and Reference Analysis:

As links between the Garrisonian Party and extremist groups such as the Bund, the Silver Legion, and the Tridente Cremisi become more obvious, it can be no wonder than any actions taken by or against them would be twisted in the Journal’s pages.

Although the disappearance of the Chimney Sweeps, the Philadelphia-based band of Tridente commandos, is linked to Office activity, their deaths were not the direct result of active officials’ actions. Also to note is that the nature of the Sweeps’ organization is grossly mischaracterized in this issue’s main article. Per their charter, they were adamant fascists dedicated to converting the U.S. to their narrow interpretation of a Christian nation through extreme violence. According to reports from Inspectors Earp and Malloy, the Chimney Sweeps and their Brotherhood patron were the aggressors in that situation.

Those members of the Chimney Sweeps terrorist cell that were recruited for the operation in Maine were eliminated to the man per the inspectors’ report. The weapon employed in the act was created by a person deemed Most Secret and its nature has also been classified to that level. Printmaster Bellegarde is in the process of drafting a response to the Journal’s claims, but discretion is necessary for Office security.

The follow-up operation undertaken by the Heartland Heroes near the street market on Philadelphia’s 9th Street occurred at ten o’clock on the night of Saturday, September the fourth. This time was chosen to reduce the number of civilians active in the operation area and to preclude any chance of its inclusion in this issue of the Journal. Fourteen arrests were made, along with the seizure of thirty-eight firearms, bomb-making equipment, three radios, and four hundred pounds of propaganda and seditious materials. It is a near-certainty that the subsequent issue will feature some twisted take on this operation.

Although the reports of an art thief in Chicago using unique inventions has been confirmed, there is no evidence regarding the thief’s status as a ‘time traveler.’ Several analysts at Zoo Base, including Researcher General Gonzales, postulated on the possibility of time travel, but all agreed that no such technology exists to properly enact it. The thief’s monicker instead stems from a colorful nickname imparted by newspaper editors to increase sales.

Analysis of the thefts indicates that any equipment used falls within the ability of current technology, particularly those developed by the SS Department 3. As simple theft does not fall under the umbrella of the Office’s investigatory claims, no officials have yet worked this case. The use of enemy weaponry may change that. Further investigation is required and an inspector could be dispatched should the thefts escalate.

Reports of strange weather have been cropping up throughout the American Midwest, but the area is known for extreme and diverse meteorological conditions. The Journal’s claim of ‘devil storms’ and attributing them to Office activities is a new one. The only prior indication of extreme weather events being related to deliberate human action were the Abwehr-generated false hurricanes in South Carolina one year ago. Further review into Inspector Malloy’s reports on the Gray Man incident are required.

And on the topic of Inspector Malloy, this issue offers a reward for information leading to the arrest of the ‘Tampa Tousler’ and the ‘Night Stickman.’ The sketch seems accurate enough, but those nicknames are a doozy. A copy of the front page has already been forwarded to Miss Queen in Baltimore. The analysts agreed that she’d be amused by those monikers.

Like what you read? Buy me a beer or @ me about it.

Written and edited by Daniel Baldwin. Art by Tyrelle Smith and Jay Piscopo.

Vigilance

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