The Shaver Mystery Magazine
The Shaver Mystery Magazine]] was a fanzine by Richard Shaver.
Richard Shaver first came to attention in 1945, in the pages of Amazing Stories, a pulp science fiction magazine edited by Raymond Palmer in the 1940s, where Shaver expounded on his theories, derived from 'racial memories', that beings from another world inhabited underground caverns beneath the surface of our world. The beings, which Shaver called "dero", "de" standing for negative energy, and "ro" meaning slave, as translated from "Mantong", a forgotten language, were in contact with extraterrestrials, trading machinery and abductees, and controlling hummans by the use of telepathy and secret rays.
"The Shaver Mystery", as Palmer promoted it, dealt also with a variety of other concerns related to the occult, the Forteans, and the Lemurians, and produced the first articles in print devoted to UFOs. Science fiction fans objected to this material, mainly because it was being presented as fact, not fiction, and Shaver began his own publication, The Shaver Mystery Magazine, to cover these topics.
The Shaver Mystery Magazine also included a great deal of Shaver's art work, everything from cartoon strips to illustrations for his novel, Mandark, in which it is proved that Jesus was controlled by aliens.
The Shaver Mystery is now regarded as one of the first conspiracy theories. As well, Shaver has been recognized for his imaginative art work, which is highly regarded by fans of outsider art.
