Boca do Inferno

Plaque at Boca do Inferno

Boca do Inferno, Cascais, Portugal; “Mouth of Hell”

Comments

“In 1930, Aleister Crowley, a famed magician and occultist faked his own suicide at Boca do Inferno, with the help of the poet Fernando Pessoa. Pessoa handed Crowley’s suicide note to authorities, media and newspapers. Strangely, the mystic re-appeared three weeks later at his own exhibition in Berlin, which suggested that his faked suicide was merely a publicity stunt. It is also suggested that he concocted this plan to fake his own death in order to escape his girlfriend at the time, whom he was tired of. The instance was perhaps inspired by the death of Empedocles, who threw himself into a volcano. Crowley’s strange friendship with Pessoa has sparked many questions over the years as the mystery of Boca do Inferno remains unresolved for the most part. Their friendship lasted two years, with the exchanging of many letters and ended with this suicide note. The mysterious note has actually been re-written at Boca do Inferno, where there is a white plaque mounted on the rock commemorating the event. The Portuguese text on the plaque was derived from the original suicide note and reads 'I cannot live without you. The other mouth of Hell that will catch me will not be as hot as yours', a bold statement which actually turned out to be a con.”—https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2021-01-22/boca-do-inferno-in-cascais/57855

“In that penultimate sentence, it's more accurate to say that Crowley's stunt was a grand romantic gesture to woo Hanni Jaeger & also a stunt to sell her elopement travelogue (which Crowley would ghost write), 'My Hymen.' Hanni Boca'd Crowley at the end of their relationship before disappearing back to California (laying the foundation for the urban legend that Crowley drove his girlfriends to suicide).”—https://twitter.com/richardkaczynsk/status/1352613200827740163

Connections

Aleister Crowley, Fernando Pessoa, Hanni Jaeger, My Hymen

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References

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