Hustler Publishes the Skeleton Key

The Skeleton Key first came out in photocopied form. There were three versions, dated April, May and June of 1975, written by Stephanie Caruana. I have the May and June versions but not the April one. It was then published in City of San Francisco magazine--a fact which escaped the authors of books on the Gemstone File. The Key first came to widespread public attention when an edited version of it appeared in Larry Flynt's Hustler magazine.

The Key was preceded by a preface byeditor John G. Clancy:

"Throughout history, whenever new voices become powerful and commanding, there is a traceable pattern of violent response. Whether from the right or left, there is a stealthy, savage reaction, like a shaft of ramrod steel. From Jesus Christ to Chile's Salvador Allende, the markings are clear. Action calls forth reaction, and nowhere is this more clear than in the savage history of our own country: Abraham Lincoln, Huey Long, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and all the others whose cries for justice have been stilled by the staccato burst of a gun. These are the facts of our political life. Sudden death is not just an overtime in professional football. The article that follows, the Gemstone File - a condensation of a thousand-page manuscript - may be considered by many to be a work of madness. But remember, through all the ages, all innovative works of genius have been thought to be the products of insanity. One need only reflect on the spectacle of Galileo recanting before the church. It was madness - they said - for him to advance the notion that the earth moved around the sun. And they were right: It was madness, even though he was correct. The astronomer's thinking was madness because it upset the settled scheme of things and could be demonstrably proven for all to see. For that reason, Galileo's idea had to be dismissed and done away with - perhaps, just like the Gemstone File. No doubt reasonable men will say that the factual essentials of the Gemstone File are simply preposterous - because they go too far and encompass too much. That may be true, but it should never be overlooked that the hellish vision this article contains may well bear the germs of truth, virulent though they may be.