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The real Jay went to my high school (years before me) — those of us who went to high school in a pre-Internet age before 9/11 lived with (I assume) more myths and oral traditions than those today. Jay’s Journal was a frequent topic throughout Jr. High School and High School in the 1990s. Jay’s (Alden was his real name) dad had a medical practice on Main St. a baseball’s toss from the city library where my mom worked.
Stories about Jay ranged from the benign, “I knew someone who knew him” to the more sinister, “I know where Jay did rituals in this house/underground tunnel/etc.” The “Blue Moo” restaurant is the Purple Turtle in real life, still a staple of the small, actual city of Pleasant Grove, Utah.
Alden/“Jay’s” grave is in the PG cemetery, not too far from where my dad’s grave is, so I’m at the cemetery more often during the past few years. “Jay’s” gravestone has a chipped clay picture of him -- whoever did it forgot that when you are looking at a picture, Jay’s right side is our left (the journal mentions his death via gunshot to the right temple). There is also a lengthy poem written by Alden/“Jay” on the gravestone that misspells “Who’s” instead of “Whose” a few times but has a few tender lines, including one about being thirsty — there are often drinks placed at his grave as a result. I've left one many times myself, usually from Hart's or BJ's, two gas station convenience stores kitty-corner to each other just down the road from the PG cemetery. It was said around town that if you placed a drink at his grave, you’d be protected from the evil spirits or “Raul” etc.
I used to ride my bike past Alden’s house (the Barrett’s), but I never knocked on their door to bother them. When I was an office aide at Pleasant Grove High School, I confirmed that there are tunnels under the school, and some are accessible near the assembly hall stage. When I went down there it was your basic dusty, cobwebbed alley with dead mice, minor graffiti, a few chairs, other unknown items, etc. I didn’t have a flashlight so I didn’t go too far, plus it was a dicey place to navigate, devil-worshipping myths or not.
I was shocked years later when I learned how widespread Jay’s Journal was, across the nation and even the world. I thought it was a documented local legend — there were probably six or seven local legends that were given almost as much weight as Jay’s, including a so-called “Swinger” at an elementary school near Alden/“Jay’s/the Barrett’s home. Swinger in the sense of a swingset. Supposedly, a woman, usually dressed in all white (who was also an albino who'd only go out at night), preferred the tall, chain swingsets at nearby Valley View Elementary School. I saw the Swinger multiple times in person — or at least someone in all white swinging at night (who knows if it was a person pretending to be the swinger to continue the power of that myth). As such, that was the strongest local myth, with Jay being second, as far as my perspective is concerned.
I decided to re-read this book (which, when young, was considered contraband, and passed around in secret). The library copies were always missing, and one time someone put a different dust jacket on it and placed it elsewhere so that it would always be available when needed. I wanted to re-read it to prepare for the Rick Emerson book “Unmasked Alice” about the editor/author of Jay’s Journal and Go Ask Alice, Beatrice Sparks, being a deceptive charlatan who used only 20 or so actual journal entries of the 220+ in Jay’s Journal. She had other deceptions that really hurt the Barrett family after they entrusted her with their traumatic story about their son Alden in hopes that it would prevent similar occurrences for other families, but it looks like Jay’s Journal may have created even more problems during the drug and satanic panics of the 80s and 90s. I'll probably read this book one more time in my life, after I read the Rick Emerson book, which looks to be quite detailed.
Stories about Jay ranged from the benign, “I knew someone who knew him” to the more sinister, “I know where Jay did rituals in this house/underground tunnel/etc.” The “Blue Moo” restaurant is the Purple Turtle in real life, still a staple of the small, actual city of Pleasant Grove, Utah.
Alden/“Jay’s” grave is in the PG cemetery, not too far from where my dad’s grave is, so I’m at the cemetery more often during the past few years. “Jay’s” gravestone has a chipped clay picture of him -- whoever did it forgot that when you are looking at a picture, Jay’s right side is our left (the journal mentions his death via gunshot to the right temple). There is also a lengthy poem written by Alden/“Jay” on the gravestone that misspells “Who’s” instead of “Whose” a few times but has a few tender lines, including one about being thirsty — there are often drinks placed at his grave as a result. I've left one many times myself, usually from Hart's or BJ's, two gas station convenience stores kitty-corner to each other just down the road from the PG cemetery. It was said around town that if you placed a drink at his grave, you’d be protected from the evil spirits or “Raul” etc.
I used to ride my bike past Alden’s house (the Barrett’s), but I never knocked on their door to bother them. When I was an office aide at Pleasant Grove High School, I confirmed that there are tunnels under the school, and some are accessible near the assembly hall stage. When I went down there it was your basic dusty, cobwebbed alley with dead mice, minor graffiti, a few chairs, other unknown items, etc. I didn’t have a flashlight so I didn’t go too far, plus it was a dicey place to navigate, devil-worshipping myths or not.
I was shocked years later when I learned how widespread Jay’s Journal was, across the nation and even the world. I thought it was a documented local legend — there were probably six or seven local legends that were given almost as much weight as Jay’s, including a so-called “Swinger” at an elementary school near Alden/“Jay’s/the Barrett’s home. Swinger in the sense of a swingset. Supposedly, a woman, usually dressed in all white (who was also an albino who'd only go out at night), preferred the tall, chain swingsets at nearby Valley View Elementary School. I saw the Swinger multiple times in person — or at least someone in all white swinging at night (who knows if it was a person pretending to be the swinger to continue the power of that myth). As such, that was the strongest local myth, with Jay being second, as far as my perspective is concerned.
I decided to re-read this book (which, when young, was considered contraband, and passed around in secret). The library copies were always missing, and one time someone put a different dust jacket on it and placed it elsewhere so that it would always be available when needed. I wanted to re-read it to prepare for the Rick Emerson book “Unmasked Alice” about the editor/author of Jay’s Journal and Go Ask Alice, Beatrice Sparks, being a deceptive charlatan who used only 20 or so actual journal entries of the 220+ in Jay’s Journal. She had other deceptions that really hurt the Barrett family after they entrusted her with their traumatic story about their son Alden in hopes that it would prevent similar occurrences for other families, but it looks like Jay’s Journal may have created even more problems during the drug and satanic panics of the 80s and 90s. I'll probably read this book one more time in my life, after I read the Rick Emerson book, which looks to be quite detailed.