You know Carcosa? Those familiar with the hit TV Series True Detective (Season 1), starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson will know.
Carcosa in the series is a temple located in the backwaters of Louisiana. A location that serves as the center of ritualistic sex abuse and human sacrifice.
Comprised of Louisiana's rich and powerful, the cult work through their high-society positions. Abducting children and sacrificing them to "The Yellow King." A dark effigy constructed by the cult members in the main chamber of Carcosa.
Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Harrelson) investigate grotesque crimes. Mostly against children and women. Uncovering connections to high society - often church leaders and politicians. All the while chasing a mysterious "man with scars" (Glenn Fleshler). Alluded to by one of the traumatized escapee children as "the green-eared spaghetti monster." The most active and disturbing member of the sacrificial cult.
Cohle, a wounded, traumatised and nihilistic but empathic investigator. Relentlessly battles the demons within and outside of himself. Being the lone warrior in a broken world; capable and willing to see the horrors of reality. Thinly treading the line between reality and insanity, while those around him engage in narcissistic self-destructive behavior.
Cohle is plagued throughout the series by the idea of eternal-recurrence. A demonstration of his collapsed psyche.
In the final episode, Cohle leads the charge. Following a lead to Fleshler (known in the series as Errol Childress) to his home, backed on to the location of Carcosa.
Chasing Childress past the skeletal remains of the sacrificial victims embedded in"devil nets," Cohle is taunted into the central sacrificial chamber. Where a final fight ensues.
Cohle is critically injured, and before the final blow is struck Hart appears, fatally shooting the cult leader.
Cohle slips to the edge of consciousness (in a sense dying) and witnesses the sacrificial portal open in the heart of Carcosa.
Carcosa encompasses all the worst aspects of humanity. Child sacrifice. Sex abuse. Abuse of power in positions of authority and trust. It is the exemplar of all the darkest aspects of human existence. A rot at the core of society. Aspects that are often intentionally and subconsciously overlooked and ignored out of fear.
The idea of Carcosa is built on a body of works. Originating from the works of Ambrose Bierce, and being referenced in the later works of Robert Chambers (The King in Yellow) and H.P. Lovecraft (Cthulhu Mythos).
Strange is the night where black stars rise, And strange moons circle through the skies, But stranger still is Lost Carcosa. - The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers
In Ambrose’s “An Inhabitant of Carcosa” published in 1886, Carcosa is represented as an ancient and mysterious city. Described only in hindsight by a former inhabitant (who turns out to be dead), following its destruction.
For the read and learned, sacrifice sits at the heart of The Western heart. In this blog we will shine a light on and investigate the darkness that inhabits The West. A system (or a city if you will) well on the pathway to destruction. Perhaps it is already dead.