- Richard McCaslin planned a heavily armed assault on the
exclusive Bohemian Grove men's club for more than a year, believing "it
would take something dramatic" to draw attention to human sacrifices
he feared were being held there.
In a jailhouse interview Monday night, the well-spoken, lucid and clean-shaven
man said he "wanted to make a point" and was prepared to kill
people at the Monte Rio resort if necessary.
McCaslin, 37, is being held in the mental health ward of the Sonoma County
Jail, facing several felony charges stemming from his commando-like entry
into the grove this weekend.
- McCaslin, who calls himself the "Phantom Patriot,"
said he doesn't belong to any militia, the National Rifle Association or
any religious group, fearing he'd be immediately pigeon-holed and not taken
seriously.
McCaslin said he thinks he is sane.
"They might beg to differ," he said with a laugh, pointing his
thumb behind him into the mental health ward.
On Saturday night, McCaslin went to the grove armed with a semiautomatic
rifle/shotgun hybrid, a .45-caliber handgun, a crossbow, a 2-foot-long
sword, a knife and a hand-made bomb launcher. Wearing a skeleton mask and
carrying several of the weapons, he sneaked past guard houses into the
grove near the Russian River.
Each summer, the grove is home to a private men-only gathering that attracts
former Republican presidents, powerful business leaders and other influential
figures.
Though he knew the annual grove gathering was months before, he thought
there still would be people there.
"I expected heavy resistance," he said. But he got none.
He also carried a camouflage-colored Bible, poems he'd written and pamphlets
about his motives and concerns. One pamphlet included a reference to an
Old Testament verse from Leviticus above a crossed-out Bohemian Club insignia.
He said he left the papers at the base of a huge owl "idol."
After his arrest, he told detectives that he had come to the Bohemian Grove
to kill child molesters and those performing human sacrifices.
"He planned on killing people," Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt.
Steve Brown said. "He planned on confronting people doing these weird
things."
His fears of the alleged events were based on a videotape put out a few
years ago by radio host Alex Jones, who claims on his Web site that "bizarre,
Luciferian ceremonies" occur there.
Jones could not be reached for comment Monday.
McCaslin said the tape was fuzzy and didn't show any faces. It appeared
to have been taken surreptitiously by Jones from as far as 200 yards from
the owl idol during the grove's annual and highly secret "Cremation
of Care" ceremony. But he said he could make out the form of a wrapped
infant, which he believed was real and alive, being sacrificed.
He also heard more on Jones' radio show a few months ago about legendary
and secret goings-on at the private 2,000-acre Bohemian Grove that solidified
his desire to take action.
- A Marine in the early 1980s and a former stuntman at
Six Flags amusement park in Texas, McCaslin isn't married and has no children.
Otherwise, he said, he couldn't have taken on the act.
"That wouldn't be responsible," he said.
He said he legally bought the weapons over time. He said he considered
the legal and personal consequences if he was caught, and what his prison
time could be depending on the whether he killed someone.
Last July, he made a reconnaissance mission to the grove. He wanted to
make sure it really existed and how to get there.
- In late December, McCaslin said he moved to Carson City,
Nev., from Austin, Texas.
He got an apartment and spent a few weeks "blending in," finalizing
his plans. "If I chickened out, I liked Nevada -- I could live there,"
he said.
On Saturday, he drove his pickup to Sonoma County and parked in the dark
near the grove.
After sneaking inside the grounds, McCaslin said he heard only a couple
of voices and realized there was no one there but security.
After about an hour, his flashlight died. It was pitch black under the
redwoods and his efforts to sneak around were hampered.
He couldn't find the tall owl statue and eventually slept on a mattress
in a cabin, waiting for dawn. With the early light, he found the owl quickly
and left his marks and papers.
- Not wanting the trip to have been in vain, he said he
went into a dining hall, and using degreaser and some flammable materials,
set an admittedly "poorly made fire."
"I'm not an arsonist," he said.
The fire was doused by a sprinkler system, but the fire alarm alerted security.
McCaslin knew he'd been spotted and began walking out of the grove.
Sheriff's deputies and CHP officers, called by grove security officers,
arrived and confronted McCaslin, who was wearing the skeleton mask and
carrying the MK-1 assault rifle-shotgun, loaded with 70mm shotgun slugs
and a full 30-shell magazine of .223-caliber bullets.
He also was wearing a bulletproof vest and a blue uniform similar to what
police SWAT team members wear. On opposite shoulders, he wore patches of
the Democrats' donkey and the Republican elephant, each within crossed-out
red circles.
- McCaslin said he waited behind a tree, wondering whether
the officers were "legitimate" or part of the "Bohemian
conspiracy" and planned to kill him to cover up his efforts.
- When the officers did not shoot, McCaslin said he knew
they were legitimate and then "took the hard way out," putting
down his weapons and giving up peacefully.
Brown said the officers showed great restraint during the confrontation
and were relieved when McCaslin put his gun down.
- Detectives describe McCaslin as an intelligent, well-read
man who is a fan of American history and government actions. He has no
criminal record.
Although some of beliefs may seem bizarre, Brown said, McCaslin did not
appear to be mentally unstable.
"He thinks (Timothy) McVeigh was programmed by the government to blow
up Oklahoma City," he said. "And that (Osama) bin Laden has a
company that George Bush is a partner in. But he's not dumb. His beliefs
are just a little different," Brown said.
McCaslin will be arraigned Wednesday on six felony charges.
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