The Tinfoil Man

Many years ago there was a man in our town who we would see walking the streets. He was always wearing an aluminum foil hat and foil on his shoulders. We called him the Tinfoil Man and just assumed he was a bit loopy. Flash forward several decades, and at a garage sale I discovered some of his belongings were being sold, since he had passed on. Inside a small box I discovered a portion of a hand written diary. I have tried to transcribe this as best I can, retaining the odd phrasing and punctuation. I find it to be a fascinating glimpse into his mind. The numbers in bold are the original page numbers. There is much in here that is hard to interpret, but I think it gives a real glimpse into the mind of the Tinfoil Man.

Page (1)

February 8, 1977
Violation of Civil Liberties


1. No privacy by Surveillance
2. Harassment by Ray and Spray.
3. Injury and direct confrontation by “accidental” surprise encounters by “trained” hoodlums and “innocents”.

The rays are microwave, electromagnetic radiation beams that are aimed mostly by noticeable aircraft, some from cars, and some from fixed places on the ground apparently. The spray I have received on my body when in public places and at my home.

Spray on my food. In about a year I have lost about $2000 worth of food, once about $110 worth in about 2 days.

(2)The first and most noticeable effect of the spray, besides its own particular odor, is the burning effect, mostly on the point on my body where it was applied. This burning effect is due (apparently) to spasming of the blood vessels. When I discovered I was being sprayed on my feet I took to wearing rubber boots, and the reactivity of my feet did not begin to decrease for about 2 years out. After wearing them for 3 years my feet are in pretty good shape. When I was going to welding classes at OVTI the 8 Ball students would spray me across the thighs (my lap) as I was sitting down at the welding table, from the right upper (3) thigh to about my left kneecap a stroke of five about 20 minutes after when the mind wave planes would pour it on. Some of the other trainees would stumble around or fall down or couldn’t control the acetylene torch, but, not being sprayed they got over it quickly. I explained it to some of them, not expecting an answer.
Complaining to Instructors and President R******* G******* would get you a blank look. You expect nothing else.

This spray now appears to be mostly indiole compounds. Sometimes before with perfume, sometimes before that with mercapton, (4) before that with mustard gas, sometimes before that with di methyl sulf oxide (DMSO). Before that with some kind of chlorinated hydrocarbon. All, spasmodive, all thickens the blood, all lowers cellular respiration rate, although blood sugar and tri glycerides might rise from convulsion of adrenal pancreas and liver organs.

Weakness and clumsiness; If they hit you a good one you can’t tell which way is up, or if there is an up or down, like some pilots have complained of when they lived through their crash. The “Mystery” of people being drawn into thin air and other “bizarre” (5) things can be caused by the outside of your brains motor center being deadened or convulsed on one side or the other depending.

When it was still possible for me to walk the streets I might wait an hour for a bus home, but if they were knocking the hell out of me the bus might pass me by. When it would stop, I might not be able to get one or other or both legs up on the bus step except by leaning my body to side and back and prying it up and lifting my leg with my hands. If you show any distinctiveness, the (6) cops have you (they HELP). That means they stuff you down a long funnel.

During that time the Olympia City police put microwave surveillance on the shower bath in the “Viking” Sauna Bath in the “Health Way” Food Store in the Franklin Hotel Building on E 4th Ave, Olympia Washington. They poked a hole in the floor and through the ceiling to aim at the dressing room and the shower. The first time I noticed the hole being broken larger I thought it might be cameras, but when I felt the fire I knew. I knew I had to be careful of the slippery floor. (They just passed over and beamed up my writing from the top down.)

(7)Since I have started this letter I have twice wiped the putrid spray off of my face twice with 10% hydrogen peroxide and paper towels. The motion changes the smell. (I just turned on the tape recorder, the helicopter sound doesn’t record.) But since my back is well sprayed it is starting to burn. I have spray bed sores on the upper (left) side of my back that I don’t lay on because it is the most accessible at night to spray when I’m asleep.

To continue from page 6 now, at that time I noticed a tall narrow mirror leaning against the wall in the dressing room, but I did not touch it. The next time I came to town I stopped in (8) to buy some food and take a shower. Since my sponge bath water might be sprayed at home and besides being Rayed on the walk to town beginning when I started, preparing for the trip I’d be starting with sour itchy sweat, so at last I gave up, shaved at home, and then changed clothes and bathed at the Sauna Bath shower.

At my second encounter with microwaves there I used the mirror and got along fine, but I about passed out while dressing. I used the mirror by leaning it against the shower stall door and this well enclosed me with metal, my head not being too near the open top. On my third trip to town then to take a shower (9) I noticed the hole in the ceiling poked bigger and I went in to undress and they turned on the microwaves. A blast of fire like a blowtorch hit me and I could smell an odor like hot paint. I could barely get my clothes back on, I was becoming paralyzed inside and out. I got on the telephone and managed to call the police, bellowing like a madman (your adrenal glands are going full blast, everything is stimulated). The policeman at the telephone said “It is a technical matter, we will move against it”. I didn’t stay by the telephone, I went a ways up front and in about 2 minutes the microwaves diminished to a bearable level, you don’t (10) sit down when you’re hit, your blood is too thick and you can’t breathe, besides you should use your muscles if you can and use up the excess adrenaline and insulin and sugar and give your liver and kidneys a chance to detoxify you. I knew which side the police are on, they are driven to it. But why should a man allow himself to be driven? I “Refuse” and the refusal to be cheap has helped me out in this fix.

Before 1955 doctors gave me shock treatment. Robert S. F***man, Capt. USAF, Sheppard AFB Hospital Commander (our Colonels!) and spooking it at Walla Walla Penitentiary. He had a “Doppel Ganger”, German for Double Change. (11)In the 5 1/2 months I was in the hospital his appearance changed. One- his face was more turned up, Two- thinner, Three-more flying wrinkles around eyes, Four- hair was more bleached, Five- he was now more partly bald, Six-(here is the most astounding thing!) his fontanelle had closed! This might be a 2 to 5 year lapse of time. I believe they have look-alikes.

Here the fragment of diary ends. It is what it is, a glimpse into the mind of what would seem to be a paranoid-schizophrenic.