Hurley and his imaginary friends

30 August

Written by Jade

Our missing screenwriter Robert Hurley left blog entries and a diary before his disappearance.

In these entries, Hurley spoke of an ancient and secret cult called Dark Onto Light and listed a group of people he called his ‘imaginary friends’.

This group of people were known figures and he described them as sharing the same beliefs. But what beliefs are they? And was this the only ‘connection’ Hurley had to these people?

An extract from Hurley’s writings:

“Still, there are so many fascinating things out there in the world, that despite how peculiar they sound, and the fact some of them do follow rules and hierarchies, I couldn’t help following. One of them is the practice of “Dark Onto Light,” which many would and do falsely ascribe to the term “occult” (I won’t go on about its structure now. It is included here on my site). Many people have or have had an interest in this “occult” and I have included them here, because to me they are, if only in spirit, my “friends.”

Many who have read the diary entries and writing that Hurley left behind will tell you how cryptic these messages can be.

Notice in this extract how Hurley tries to disguise what he’s really saying. Hurley describes how many mistakenly categorise Dark Onto Light under the loose term ‘ occult’.
Although Hurley claims this description is false and further diminishes this false description by placing the word occult in sarcastic quotation marks he still goes on to say his ‘imaginary friends’ have an interest in this ‘occult’.

Hurley begrudgingly uses the term ‘occult’ to describe Dark Onto Light in almost a sarcastic homage to those who wrongly use this word to describe Dark Onto Light
In other words, as Hurley intended ‘Occult’ means ‘Dark Onto Light’.
Replace the word occult with Dark Onto Light and we have our answer:

“Many people have or have had an interest in this “occult” and I have included them here, because to me they are, if only in spirit, my “friends.”

Many people have or have had an interest in Dark Onto Light and I have included them here, because to me they are, if only in spirit, my “friends.”

Hurley is telling us these ‘imaginary friends’ are interested or have been interested in Dark Onto Light.

This leaves me with some questions:

Is Hurley only describing well known figures that are interested in Dark Onto Light practices, or is he actually listing cult members?

And is Hurley, like me, just speculating by finding connections between these people and their similar beliefs and presuming their involvement with the cult? Or is Hurley indeed stating facts he knows to be true (let’s not forget Dark Onto Light had already exposed themselves and their practices/beliefs to him at this point).

Unfortunately, without an answer from Hurley, I doubt these questions can truly be answered.

Schizophrenia?

I know Hurley and his ‘imaginary friends’ is part of the story that leads some to believe there was no cult, no Russian mafia, and, instead, Hurley was unwell and suffering from a mental illness such as schizophrenia.

I can see the sense in this theory, but notice how Hurley distinguishes between fact and fiction. Hurley knew these people weren’t really his friends by himself naming them ‘imaginary’, and if you see he even makes the point of putting the word friend in quotation marks just as he did the term occult when describing Dark Onto Light. Those suffering from a paranoid delusion such as schizophrenia have trouble breaking their own delusion- he knows these people aren’t his friends in reality.

From what I’ve concluded from my ongoing in-depth research on the mystery surrounding Hurley, I believe Dark Onto Light are very real. And by coming to that conclusion, I’ve decided to take every piece of information Hurley has left us as fact.

If Hurley is telling us these people do share an interest in Dark Onto Light, I’m going to assume this is true. So who are these imaginary friends?

There are 14 ‘ imaginary friends’ in total. All of whom are known figures, some more famous than others.

So who were Hurley’s imaginary friends? And what connections do they have to the occult? Click here to find out.

Be sure to visit Jade’s website and learn more about Robert Hurley and the film that was made about his disappearance at Dostoyevsky Reimagined: The Making of Notes from the New World.

Want to know more about the films we make? Sign up to learn more about our process, our projects, the upcoming premieres and grab our FREE e-book (click on the cover below)!