Photography By Jac Chandross

"Being: The culmination of years of hard labor and brutal ritual, the final push that will get the runway done, the ancestors pleased, the planes back, and deliver to us the abundant cargo that we so, so deserve; featuring: merchant marines, brazen brass, exceedingly clever flying machines, cardboard communication, synchronized semaphore, lighthouses, Melanesia, control towers, morse code, dazzling displays of ritual dance, arbitrary and capricious blood letting, sacred Jello, red crosses, gigantic, gimpy John Frum, sea chanteys, and your helping hands when they are needed the most.

or: an elaborate ruse for a tramway escape to a desolate island paradise.

Beware of swashbuckling pirates, unsympathetic Red Cross workers, and John Frum. If you follow the signs and complete the ritual, you will be amply rewarded for your faith.

Don your WWII flight suit (or similarly inspired attire), brush up on your semaphore signals...and chart a course for 14 Honey Locusts Park, at 59th St. betw. 1st Ave and 2nd Ave in Manhattan."

— Madagascar Institute Cargo Cult

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"The John Frum movement appeared for the first time in the 1940s in the New Hebrides (as Vanuatu was called at the time). At that time some 300,000 American troops established themselves in Vanuatu. The islanders were impressed both by the egalitarianism of the Americans and their obvious wealth and power. This led them to conflate perceived benefactors such as Uncle Sam, Santa Claus and John the Baptist into a mythic figure called Jon Frum, who would empower the island peoples by giving them cargo wealth. The power of Jon Frum appeared to be confirmed by the post-war influx of tourists to the region, who brought with them a degree of material prosperity to the islands. The cult is still active today. The Jon Frum movement also has its own political party, led by Song Keaspai." — Jon Frum, Wikipedia

"Jon Frum
He mus come
Look at old fellas
Give us some big presents
Give us some good tok-tok"
— The Happy Isles of Oceania, Paddling the Pacific by Paul Theroux

The colors on John Frum's hat are from the official John Frum flag.

The name may be derived from an American proselytizer named John who was "from" America.

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East meets West. East kicks West's ass and cooks it in a stewpot. — JAC

"In attempts to get cargo to fall by parachute or land in planes or ships again, islanders imitated the same practices they had seen the soldiers, sailors and airmen use. They carved headphones from wood, and wore them while sitting in fabricated control towers. They waved the landing signals while standing on the runways. They lit signal fires and torches to light up runways and lighthouses. The cultists thought that the foreigners had some special connection to their own ancestors, who were the only beings powerful enough to produce such riches.

In a form of sympathetic magic, many built life-size mockups of airplanes out of straw, and created new military style landing strips, hoping to attract more airplanes. Ultimately, although these practices did not bring about the return of the god-like airplanes that brought such marvelous cargo during the war, they did however serve to eradicate the religious practices that had existed prior to the war." — Cargo Cult, Wikipedia

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"An elaborate ruse for a tramway escape to a desolate island paradise." — Madagascar Institute Cargo Cult

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In nomine Patris, et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, I hereby bless this pile of runway components. — JAC

"The most sacred symbol of the Jon Frum movement is a red cross. On Jon Frum day prayers and flowers are offered at the cross." — Jon Frum, Wikipedia

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Where does one find a virgin adult in NYC? — JAC

"The human eating of human beings is not confined to exotic peoples. It is part of the human condition. It occurs as a preferred form of protein consumption or as the result of extreme necessity, to absorb the virtues of others, to facilitate conception, for magicoreligious reasons, in warfare, famine, revenge, filial piety, and justice. Unique is the case of cannibalism for cargo reported here in which the eater suffered an overt psychosis before, during, and after the consumption, and whose goal was the acquisition of real and symbolic cargo as exemplified in the Melanesian cargo cult." — Cannibalism for Cargo by B.G. Burton-Bradley

Burton-Bradley, B. G.
1972 Human Sacrifice for Cargo. The Medical Joumal of Australia 2:668-670.
1976 Cannibalism for Cargo. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 163:428-431.

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"Da plane, boss! Da plane!" — Tattoo

"In a form of sympathetic magic, many built life-size mockups of airplanes out of straw, and created new military style landing strips, hoping to attract more airplanes. Ultimately, although these practices did not bring about the return of the god-like airplanes that brought such marvelous cargo during the war, they did however serve to eradicate the religious practices that had existed prior to the war." — Cargo Cult, Wikipedia"

7 files, last one added on Oct 03, 2005