In spite of his hunted underground life at present, Martin still manages to access his e-mail. At great personal risk, he is willing to be interviewed by anyone anytime, and will attempt to answer all serious questions.

The White Crusader

Yes, we call him the White Crusader. Also the Great Exposer. And explorer, researcher, delver in the dark. Martin Smythe, founder of this website and leading spirit in the war against the vile.

Early Life

We could tell you about his early life in Newtown, Clifton Hill and Wollongong, but that would tell you nothing. A quiet, average child, the young Martin passed almost unnoticed. When questioned by vilewatch investigators, many family members had no recollection of him at all. There are no known photos and very few available records from this period. In fact, our requests for information at government institutions were typically met with blank stares and outright refusals. It seems that the official policy towards Martin Smythe is one of retrospective obliteration.

We know from The Vicar of Morbing Vyle that in 1983 he travelled to England on a special study grant to do postgraduate research at Cambridge University. In that year, in the isolated community of Morbing Vyle, he underwent the terrifying experience that changed his life. As he said in an address three years ago: 'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have a great evil vicar thrust upon them.'

After Morbing Vyle

Whereas we lack information on his early years, we have only too much information for the next few years - or at least, a multitude of contradictory rumours and legends. There are stories of Martin stealing pet food from the bowls of domestic animals, stories of sleeping on park benches, under bridges, even under parked lorries. Even more extraordinary legends circulated, as in the report of Dorkard Bluchal, mailed in to us by Richard Womack. Martin himself never bothered to set the record straight: his own personal life was profoundly unimportant to him. All we know for certain is that he wrote The Vicar of Morbing Vyle and that he researched in public libraries for the origins of the vicar. Eventually, as described in The Black Crusade, he discovered Basil Smorta's manuscript.

While The Black Crusade was being prepared for publication, he launched his great campaign against universal vileness. He became a tireless publicist and relentless harasser of editors. He would speak to large crowds, small crowds, even single individuals, in buses, on railway platforms, during football matches. It was now that the very first vilewatchers gathered round him. As vilewatcher Paul Murray has said, 'His fire and fervour were far more overwhelming than his bad breath. He was irresistible.'

On the night after the manuscript had been delivered to the printer, he summoned his followers to a meeting. Sitting in the main lounge of Rydges Hotel, Canberra, he told us that his publisher intended to report him to the authorities and put the name of another author on the cover of The Black Crusade. The ultimate goal of this betrayal was to have him committed to a psychiatric institution. 'Weep not,' he said, 'I must live in a less obvious way. They shall not take me.' Then he gave us the symbol of the V-that-sees and dictated his last speech on a cassette recorder.

The Fugitive

Since going underground, we believe that Martin has become a master of disguise. One photo taken on June 6th in the Perth suburb of Nedlands is almost certainly authentic:

Removing the effects of the disguise, we arrive at the following image:

The most reliable sighting was reported by vilewatcher Lindy Frappel from the Brisbane suburb of St Lucia:

Sighting in St Lucia

Late at night on July 2nd, I was wandering along Roma Street when a man approached, walking very fast in the opposite direction. I had a Vilewatching-Needs-U sticker on my bag, and the moment he caught sight of it, he pulled off the dark wig he was wearing. I'd only been a vilewatcher for two weeks, so of course I'd never met our leader in person - but some instinct started my heart pounding.
He wanted me to put on not only the wig but his light blue jacket too.
'Do it for me,' he said.
'Who are you?'
'I think you know.' He looked into my eyes until my heart burst almost out of my chest.
It was over in a flash. He strode on along Roma Street and I stood there in his wig and jacket. Then two ambulance officers came running round the corner. I realised what I had to do - I fled and led them a chase in completely the wrong direction.
When they finally caught up with me, I lifted the wig from my head and revealed myself. They were baffled and furious.
'Where did he go?' they shouted.
'Who?' I asked innocently. 'It's me you've been following all along.'
I kept asking who they thought they were following, but they wouldn't say the name. I didn't need to hear it anyway - it was written on their faces, plain as plain. I had had an encounter with our Great Exposer, Martin Smythe!

Martin and Vilewatch

There have been other sightings in Sydney, Hobart and Adelaide. Less reliable reports have placed Martin as far away as St Étienne, France, and San Diego, California. But if he has journeyed overseas, we have evidence that he always returns to Australia. Our vilewatch office continues to receive messages from him at irregular intervals, scrawled on scraps of paper and slipped under our door overnight. Vilewatcher John Ravelli found a similar note in his bedroom under his pillow. We reply with notes in sealed envelopes pinned to our office door, marked only with the symbol of the V-that-sees; and every one of those notes has been collected within a few days.

Although no-one in our office has had an actual sighting, several of us have seen him in visionary dreams. We believe he speaks to us in non-physical form. Our dreams occur not only at night but also in moments of waking trance, far more lucid and vivid than any ordinary dream.

If Martin can appear in non-physical form, what does that mean? Some of our High Watchers hypothesize that, just as the vileness principle appears in different people in different centuries, so too does the counteracting principle, the antidote. Hence the parallels between Basil Smorta and Martin Smythe: both quiet, inoffensive, even timorous personalities, yet transfigured by their respective encounters with vileness incarnate. As Basil was inspired with courage and became a moral warrior at the end of the 19th Century, so too with Martin in our own historical time. Is there a Defender principle? And is Martin its contemporary embodiment?

However, the subject is still under debate. Other High Watchers believe that any follower can change into a moral warrior, and that the transfiguration of Martin and Basil was one of degree, not kind. As long as we all fight against vileness in our own ways, we belong under the same banner!

The last speech v The other author

Back to top