Originally posted: 03: 19 gmt, December 06, 2003 updated on: 17: 40 gmt, January 06, 2004

UPDATED ON: 17:40 GMT, January 06, 2004

SECTIONS THAT WERE UPDATED: Added some extra internal hyperlinks, corrected a few minor errors, put in some extra ‘Relevant Books’, the history of the Bugatti Type 41, added all the postmarks, updated the ‘People/Characters’ and ‘Places’, added a timeline
Note: I’m in the process of getting all the URL’s for those announcements/e-mails/letters/packages mentioned in this document; hopefully I’ll have them all hyperlinked inside an updated version of this document soon, so please be patient.

Apri la menté a quel ch’lo ti paleso, e fermalvi entro.

Canto V, verses 40-41, ‘Il Paradisio’

Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia

Longfellow’s Edition

Is it all just an elaborate hoax? Or does this group really exist and believe what the messages seem to imply? If nothing else, the announcements are interesting curiosities and baffling puzzles.

I would like to point out that this introduction/Summary will more than likely be in a constant state of flux, as we come across new people, places and information; therefore, always try to have the current version downloaded, for ease of use (and sanity).

But above all, as the Orphanage are so often reminding us, “have fun!”

Craig, editor

Blue Quotes: verses that were in another language (Latin, Greek, etc.)

Bold Quotes: places where the actual book and verse were given in the May Day page

Other Quotes: verses which were quoted in ads

Appendix B: Maps (I’m working on it, I’m working on it…)

A note on terminology: The term ‘The Freaks’ is sometimes employed by the contributors to refer to those who post the announcements and send the e-mails/packages to Bryan; this is meant to be in no way derogative – it is intended merely in jest, and the Orphanage does seem to have taken it in the manner intended.

A second note on terminology: when referring to the Orphanage’s information posted in the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the terms preferred by the Orphanage are ‘Announcements’ or ‘Transmissions’; they are affronted if you call them ‘advertisements’, etc.

A third note on terminology: From the point of view of the Orphanage, this is not a game or prank; however, reference to it as a ‘Great Game’, in the context of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, appears to be acceptable.
A note on the announcements: Some of the pages have annotations and hand-drawn markings along their edges (they look like they were made with a pencil) – the majority of these were made by Bryan himself; however, Bryan did receive one announcement in the mail, Dec. 5, 1990, that had annotations made on it by a member of the Orphanage.
The name ‘The Orphanage’ was first directly mentioned in the February 8, 1989 announcement. From what we can determine, The Orphanage is divided up into several ‘sections’, which apparently span at least the entire continental United States (based on the names attributed to these sections: Dallas Section, Berkeley Section, etc.); there also appear to be a few sections located in other countries: Coimbra Section and Finland Station. The name ‘The Orphanage’ also seems to be used interchangeably, referring both to the group as a whole as well as to their main headquarters.

With regard to the name ‘The Orphanage’: in the French section of the audiotape delivered to Bryan they referred to it as ‘L’Orphanage’ rather than translating the word to its French equivalent (L’Orphelinat) – that might not mean a whole lot, but it might reflect something of how they view the name that they have, presumably, given themselves. The name ‘Orphanage’ might have been chosen because it reflects some characteristic of what they are – perhaps a group of people who have ‘orphaned’ themselves from their past lives and the culture/background that they were born into for example. Alternatively, here is a link to an interesting piece of legend about a group of orphans, during the time of the Crusades, from which the Orphanage might have derived their name.

According to the February 8, 2000 letter, “those involved [in the Orphanage] rarely deal with paper copies”. They were, however, dealing with “print-outs” at some point before the Jan 20, 1988 announcement – I guess that was one of those rare moments.

According to the February 8, 2000 letter, the Opposition is also “highly skilled in working with electrons”, suggesting that both sides are very skilled in working with computers/electronics.

The Orphanage are allegedly trying to alter reality. If not by physically altering time and space, then certainly by altering people’s perception of reality (perhaps through alterations to the American educational system? Hence the attacks on the Department of Education?) Note: On the Fortean Times Message Board, Philo T. realised that, if the Orphanage are trying to directly manipulate reality, they are trapped by their own definitions – if they are trying to directly change reality, they are de facto interfering in God’s plan; they’re cheating. So for this to be allowed to work, one of their two core suppositions must be false.

Conversely, the Orphanage’s preoccupation with time might have something to do with ‘the Rapture’. The Hebrew referenced in the May 1, 1991 announcement, from Habakkuk 2:3: “… for the vision is yet for the appointed time, it hastens towards the goal and it will not fail, though it tarries wait for it, for it certainly will come, it will not delay.”

The Orphanage appear too refer to each year as a ‘series’. For example, in the November 22, 1983 announcement, they say that it was the “third in the current series, final transmission for 83”. Now, we only have one announcement for 1983; however, according to Mr. Nate Searing (external link), there are two announcements that we are missing, April 18 1983 and April 29 1983. This, therefore, fits the assumed context of the Orphanage’s statement. For another example, see January 20, 1988; unfortunately, this is where the theory kind of falls apart because the announcement states that the final scheduled transmission for this series will be on April 27 (May 1) 1988; yet, there are two announcements after May Day (September 28 1988 and November 30 1988), and both do not use the word “unscheduled”. If you have a theory on how to solve this problem, or a different interpretation on the Orphanage’s meaning of ‘series’, you know where to e-mail me.

The Orphanage certainly doesn’t seem to approve of the state of American education; in their communications with Bryan they certainly don’t like communicating in English, but explain that they are prepared to do so for his sake. This has been variously interpreted as very helpful or very patronizing. The Orphanage seem too be of the opinion that the current level of education (perhaps even worldwide, as opposed to US-centric) is pretty much in the toilet, over a whole range of subjects (languages, mathematics, history, geography, etc.).

Apparently there are four (possibly five) ‘levels’ within the Orphanage; presumably the higher in ‘rank’ you are, the more knowledge and importance is vested in you; a number of the Announcements themselves also appear to be based around levels, which appear to be a part of their overall encryption/decryption.

It should be noted that The Orphanage have no occult connections or interests, according to the e-mail on April 26, 2003 from ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’. So I guess that rules out Alchemy, the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons then… However, on the audiotape, the woman mentions having known G. I. Gurdjieff, and the tape seems to largely concern her intellectual relationship with him – Gurdjieff is second only to Aleister Crowley in the hermetic school of thought; so either they do believe in the occult (and ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’s e-mail was disinformation, or they have been misinformed), or the woman’s story had a double meaning.

The Orphanage seem to have a fascination with inserting either the words ‘now’ or ‘one’ into various quotes, possibly as an indicator on how to decrypt the overall message, or perhaps portions of it (as well as making that more difficult for us to track down the sources and authors of some of these quotes).

The Orphanage likes to celebrate the anniversaries of the Augsburg Confessions (Confessio Augustana, June 25, 1530), which the Lutheran church sees as true to the word of God.

There have been references to the following in many of the announcements/e-mails/letters, although we are not entirely sure to what they pertain exactly; we are, however, fairly certain they regard money and finances, and are either how the Orphanage finances their operations, or where they keep their money: