THE MONASTERY
DATE SUBMITTED: 5/10/14
NAME: Jamie
WHAT TOWN IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY ARE YOU FROM:
PLEASE TELL YOUR EXTRAORDINARY TALE ABOUT THE MOHAWK VALLEY:
When I was six or seven, I first met Marty (his last name eludes me, Kravak or Duback or something like that) scrambling around like a rat on LSD, on the streets of Mohawk. He was a short, plump elderly Hobbit of a human, whose hair looked like a bird’s nest of balding insanity. Marty was a nervous, disheveled man whose clown like attire and potbelly made him like one of Snow White’s dwarves minus a few working brain cogs. Daily, Marty walked around the town huffing and puffing but nobody seemed to know where he ended up or where he even came from. Always hustling at a nervously determined pace, the little troll of a man often carried an umbrella with him for shade and protection. He was something out of a comic book and his public rants were notorious.
The kids teased him. Adults laughed him off and the old folks shunned him. He was a reclusive man of miniscule stature in the community and he wore his knowledge of this on his face. Nobody knew how old he was but everyone knew of him. The rumors amongst the town ranged from who you talked to. From the mouths of the “sewing circles,” he was a retarded monster, a child molester, a genius that went crazy as well as any other thing you could think of at that moment of gossip. Ya, see Mohawk was a small town filled with mud and it was being slung all the time.
I never minded Marty and found him amusing.
I never thought much of him until one of my friends pointed out this website to me and I found all this Brotherhood of the Snake stuff. Then some things hit me hard as I remembered one of Marty’s rants that stuck with me due to pure absurdity. I think I was about seventeen or so when this happened.
One of the town’s notorious little punks was a chubby helmet headed kid named Steve. I won’t mention his last name because I don’t need too as everybody knew this kid as being an annoying young asshat who hung out at the Newsroom. Steve was a mean, troublemaker who always picked on everyone. Young or old, you were a target of this guy. Some deserved it, while others did not. I knew Steve’s sister well and graduated with her. I didn’t have a problem with Steve because I would just beat his ass or give him a wedgie if he gave me any lip. That’s how we got things done back in Mohawk in the late 80’s.
I just finished my paper route one day and went down to the Newsroom to grab some soda and play some video games when Steve was there. He was fighting with Herbie and Wendell, the two bullies that patrolled the Newsroom video game room, as usual. as I was witnessing the duel of wits which Steve the 12 year old was actually winning against the older buffoons, Marty came in and hovered by the magazines. He was rumbling and bumbling and stumbling around, hot about something. Then Steve saw an opportunity and relentlessly began teasing Marty about looking at porn magazines. I remember Marty got so mad but he didn’t leave he kept hanging out looking at magazines.
For some reason, if you yelled the words, “FBI,” at Marty, he flipped out. So Steve snuck back into the video game room and as Marty pilfered through the magazines he quietly kept mumbling, the phrase, “FBI.”
Finally Marty had enough and stormed into the room, right next to me. It was creepy as hell as my personal space was invaded and I was on a roll on the game, Gladiator.
(Below conversation is paraphrased from memory) Marty ran after Steve pointing his finger. “Did you know, that I once worked for the FBI? That’s right, I did. AND did you know that it led me here? It led me to this snakepit of a town. A town ruled by the serpents. AND did you know that these serpents have been here forever? That are here watching you now young man! Watching you misbehave and act like a Cretan!”
Steve laughed in his face and said, “well I’m a mongoose, I kill snakes.” Or something along those lines in a wise-ass tone.
“No you don’t. You’re just an ungrateful little boy who has no idea what he’s doing. Did you know that the snakes are watching you? Yes they are young man and they kill and eat little boys like you. Sassy little boys just like you. Did you know these serpents live off of the blood of young children?”
Then just as it got weird I died in the game and told them all to get out. Penny who ran the store heard it too and kicked Steve out.
As Steve ran away he was a bit scared as it appeared Marty got to him.
I then heard Marty rambling on to Penny again about the serpents. He was telling her that the Mohawk valley is ruled by serpents and they are like men but stronger and have been here since the beginning of time. He told her he was once a member but he left because he refused to harm children. She humbled him by listening and then after a while, he finally left.
That same night, a few of us were partying on Mortz road. We were doing the typical thing that people do in the valley when they are bored teens (beer and pot). It had to be about 11 or so and we went for a cruise and ended up near the Russian Monastery. We used to often go here at night because it was scary and old and a great place to get high. We were stopped on the side of the road, just about ready to burn one, when here comes Marty, hustling by. He saw and us and walked onto the other side of the road. He scared the crap out of us all and walked onto the other side of the road to avoid us. We watched him, as he walked into the darkness and into the Monastery cemetery. He had a key to open the gate and as he went in he looked at us.I’ll never forget the way his eyes glowed at us in the moonlight, like an animal. It was freaky as hell.
For years I never forgot that day because of his bizarre story about the snakes at the Newsroom and then the puzzling incident finding him at the Russian Monastery that night. What the hell was he doing there? It was bizarre and made no sense. Then again, that place and its racism and stupidity made no sense to me either. Being a gay man (which I am) in a small town like that was hard enough but all this weird “evil” around me was pretty much ignored until I left. Looking back on it, I cannot believe what I saw. So much hate.
I left the town years ago to go to college and have not been back. Now that my parents are gone I have no reason to return but I wonder if Marty still walks the streets and if so does he know about the Brotherhood of the Snake or was he just the nutjob everyone said he was? I still stay in touch with a few classmates but it’s been a long time. I found this website through Facebook. If it’s true this is crazy. I’m so glad I’m gone. So glad. I pity those who are still there.
So is this Brotherhood of the Snake thing real? And if so, could Marty be tied to to it? Coincidence? Either way, it creeps me out.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
Here’s a link to the Russian Monastery: http://www.jordanville.org/
