The pages that you are preparing to explore contain a text that has been lost to the modern world. I discovered this text sometime in 1996. I immediately printed it out on the school computer lab printer. I have read these lines enough times to recount them from memory. There is not much that was novel to me, having been thoroughly entrenched in dark subcultures, but the beauty of this text spoke to me on a deep level. Even today reading it feels warm and comforting, like a close friend.
I do not know the original author, or the original host. All spelling, grammar, and syntax errors are products of the original author and must be viewd as intentional and aesthetic choices.
Any email addresses, websites, phone numbers, etc. listed in the original text are likely defunct now and thus will not be clickable links.
The only mention of this manuscript I have come across in the modern age is the Goodreads entry, which can be found .HERE.. I suggest reading those pages for what little history has been recorded concerning this text.
There is a Lloyd Warren Ravlin III listin on findagrave.com. The site states his place of death as Riverside California. The date of birth and death listed align well with the author of this manuscript, and some personal photorgaphs have been uploaded by a user called Janet Tang, which corresponds with the username Janet who claims to be the author's mother in the comments of the Goodreads.com entry for this manuscript. You can view the grave information .HERE.
I have read an essay claimed to be authored by September/Lloyd Warren Ravlin III. You can read the essay "Book of Xenu" .HERE.
In an age before social media, pintrest boards, cell phones or podcasts, this document shone as a becon shedding light on the details of a subculture that resonated with many isolated individuals who were discovering these things on their own. Aside from a handful of college radio stations it was unlikely that you would encounter a goth or deathrock band unless you lived in a major urban area. Many of us had to drive for hours, and even days, to experience a night club with a goth night. We traded illegally dubbed casette tapes with other fringe individuals, often in dark, smoke filled rooms that barely passed as shelter. For most of the world, finding a subculture that resonated with us was painstaking.
Aside from this document, there were only three ways to develop in this subculture. Each method required research, consumption, and digestion. Books, music, and film. The record store was the easiest path to tread, because when you found an artist that resonated with you, you could often find similar artists by asking the employees or utilizing the "listening stations" to sample, well, everything. I also had great luck at the local video rental store. The owner was an elderly woman who eventually noticed a pattern in the titles I would rent (mostly based off of cover art with some regard to the synopsis on the back of the box) and she began suggesting other titles to me. Some of those films, like Cemetery Man, Dream With the Fishes, etc. still occupy a portion of my soul. Literature was much the same, but if you happened to be young you could usually enlist the aid of an English or Literature teacher. You could tell the teacher "I enjoyed Baudelair and Lord Byron, what should I read next?" and often be given a new name to hunt down and devour.
I admit that there have been several moments during these many decades that I have contemplated compiling this text into a hard copy book and listing it for sale to keep it alive, to spread it's message, to pay my respects, but I always decide that making money from this work I had nothing to do with creating would feel wrong and having no idea who the author is I could not direct royalties where they are due. I hope that if you get the inclination, you will arrive at the same conclusion. I have decided to create this shrine after scouring the internet and failing to find a copy anywhere other than the "way back machine" internet archive, and that wasn't easy. The last time the internet archive created a snapshot of the website where I originally discovered this text was January 18, 2024. You can view that .HERE. for as long as they keep the snapshot. This was on a website of the now ironically named DeadRose (I have heard that she has passed on). I suggest you peruse her site for a bit of nostalgia for us old ones and a peek into the pre-cell phone days of the internet for the rest of you.
The author of this text saw the demise of the subculture and accurately predicted what it would turn into, how it would lose it's soul. Imagine knowing how and when you were going to die before even the doctors gave the diagnosis. I do not know the real identity of the author, but I can feel his soul throuhg his writing, and the only way I know how to thank him is to share his work with whomever I can.
I have carried this document around with me in printed form, on floppy disc, CDRW, USB drive, from computer to computer, and entangled with my heart and soul. If you have any information concerning the author, or memories of this text, please share them with me via the guestbook feature on the home page or by clicking † here.
all material herein, under the title "The Autumn Cemetary Text", is copyrighted February 1996 by Lloyd Warren Ravlin, the third son in a direct line of male children named Lloyd Warren Ravlin. This man calls himself September on the internet, specifically that domain of usenet news known as alt.gothic. The below is his work and his alone with the exception of some input given by Stacey the Cat and Imagen Marin ("Imaginary Mary"). None are allowed to copy for use of finical profit, even the author, however you are free to distribute the entire work or quote portions, so long as it's attributed as the private creation of the author, whether he be identified as Lloyd Warren Ravlin III or September.
You may direct your email to: mouse@network.ucsd.edu
The Autumn Cemetery Text, being a prelude to the Gothic Bible and a guidebook of sorts
"In the happy night, In secret, when none saw me, nor I beheld aught, without light or guide, save that which burned in my Heart." - Dark Night of the Soul, St. John of the Cross
Everything in this book consists of advice, opinion, and observation. I wish that it helps and is enjoyable, but do not let it rule your life and if you feel other parts of your life are primary to the Gothic Scene, let them come first. I myself, September, am stupid and poor and sad. Have pity or none, it is all the same to me, for I am going to die and shall never give away my Heart.
Best Beloved,
Ours is the real Scene of Darkness, of the Night.
And if Ours were all vampires, would we tell someone like you? If you really want to know something about Ours, the goths, ask honestly, without a hostile or mocking tone. Really, now. That's better. Come hither, have a clove. Light it on mine, a kiss.
Pray read, for a moment. Here are the questions. In this guidebook, I designate each section by a title rather than use numbers.
The sections follow: