Character Sketch of Joseph Thorn, MD for The Haunting at Blackwood Hall

Joseph Thorn was born on December 24, 1839, in Savannah GA, to John and Elizabeth Thorn.  His father was a prominent attorney, and his mother was a society personality, famous for dinners and parties at their home in Savanah.  The house was on Barnard Street, facing Telfair Square, now part of the Historic District of Savannah.

Joseph grew up in Savannah, attended private schools in Savannah for elementary and secondary school, attended the University of Georgia in Athens for pre-med and Harvard medical school for his MD.  He did his internship at Candler Hospital in Savannah.  It was at Harvard that he developed his non-southern accent.

He established his practice in Savannah and, with the influence of his parents, soon had as many patients as needed to provide for more than an adequate income for a surgeon in Savannah at the time.

During the Civil War, he was exposed to the horrors of it as injuries from the field were brought to him for treatment.  It was his witnessing of these horrors that caused him to become a bigoted, conceited and an utterly detestable human being.  It was a justifiably defensive attitude; he would otherwise have withdrawn from society and medicine.

Savannah, although not destroyed by the Union army and General Sherman, suffered a horrific fire that destroyed many homes and buildings, including that of young Dr. Joseph Thorn.  He had only begun his practice at the time, so he was able to recover and rebuild with the help of his parents.  By the year 1875, he had a thriving practice.

He met Gwendolyn Kathcart after hearing of her through rumor and met her initially to offer his medical expertise.  He became infatuated with her and intrigued by her extremely old age and perhaps hoped to uncover the secret to extreme longevity.  He is a control freak.

She was involved in the occult, and he became interested in it as well.  It was far-afield from medicine but the allure “Gwennie,” and her extreme old age, were enough to trap him.  She recognized the value of his presence but treated him with disdain.  She did not disrespect him openly or publicly.  She didn’t want to lose the attention he gave to her.

By the year 1899, she was failing in health from mysterious circumstances.  He concocted a repulsive brew, to which he referred as tea, for her treatment.  It was questionable at best.  By this time, Joseph had taken up residence at Blackwood Hall.  His rooms were adjacent to those of Gwendolyn so he could attend to her needs.  The casual observer would not be able to fathom their relationship. 

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That's What's Great About...

 

Ollie Shinn was new to Newport News Shipbuilding.  He'd been hired by Tenneco, Inc, who owned the shipyard, to direct the operation of the Tenneco centralized computing facility located at the shipyard.  It was one of three in the country.  He was born in Missouri and spent his life in computers and sales, mostly in the Midwest.  He'd not been around ships except what he'd seen in movies.  He was acquainting himself with us and the company on one of the first of his many visits to Newport News. 

I suggested that he come with me to the waterfront to see the guided missile frigate CGN Virginia in drydock, it had been launched recently.  It was a great example of what everyone thinks of as a naval vessel.  It is 500 feet long and has a beam of 65 feet, this allows for a top speed of about 30 knots.  

We went aboard and stood on main deck at the bridge to get a good view of the flared main deck forward as it formed the bow.  One could get a feel for the speed of this ship just by standing there.  It is a work of art.

As we finished our little tour, we came to the gangway.  There, at the exit off the ship, was a rough cardboard sign, "Fuck Tenneco, I'm going back to North Carolina!" scrawled in chalk.  I was apologetic and embarrassed.  I pulled down the sign, folded it and we went back up into the main office building.

There, in the big conference room, we found the VP of Production Control, the General Manager of Operations, and the VP of Human Resources in a meeting.  I barged in and said, "Look what we found." They looked at the sign with interest.

The VP of Production Control said it was a sad commentary on the attitude of some of the workers.  The GM of Operations said we had no way of finding the culprit.  The VP of HR said, "This is what makes America great."  

And you know, he was right.