How is neon created? Why is it making a comeback? These are the questions they do not want you to ask. Many people are infatuated with the unnatural colors, but very few know the troubling past behind their creation. Since the discovery of neon pigments in the nineteenth century, millions of people have died in the production of the colors. Aside from a few rebel neon producers, one company (the CCC) is responsible for the world's supply of neon. Though globally ignored, every nation understands (and fears) the powerful organization.
Neon peeked in the 80's, when one out of every three American owned a piece of clothing decked out in the glowing colors. To produce such high quantity of pigmentation, the CCC was forced to collect impossible amounts of corpses (one of the prime ingredients of all neon pigmentation) for the sake of matching demand. It is no coincidence that the first wave of neon fashion runs alongside the introduction of AIDs in the world.
Experts believed that as neon faded out of fashion so would the infection, but that is not the case. Instead, the CCC has made new attempts to introduce the fashion in mainstream America. Their primary agents, including American Apparel, Urban Outfitters, Kanye West, surrounding posse, and other hipsters, have reinjected the craze, and new waves of killings have begun.
However, the AIDS epidemic was not the CCC's first foray into global issues, for their power stretches back over 100 years. The brilliant sheen on your sneakers comes with a long and troubled history that is shrouded in secrecy. In a possible multi-part piece, I hope to expose the repulsive origins of this inhumane color spectrum one color at a time.
One
of the earliest and most popular neon colors, Electric Blue has nothing
to do with electricity at all. The color is actually one of the two
byproducts when silver nitrate is injected into the veins of a living
human. The other byproduct is a corpse. A Prussian scientist, Dr.
Busenitz, discovered that as the foreign fluid travelled through the
body of the patient, the subject's muscles gelatinized and turned the
glowing hue we all know. Though the original experiment (an attempt to
cure fits of hiccups) failed, the scientist is credited for finding
both the first neon pigment and the most painful method of death.
Through further experiments, he found ways to bottle the blue fluid and
processes to funnel the fluid through the scalp to avoid the liquefied
muscles from blackening and burning prior to the patient's death. Once
the sizzling of the body becomes louder than the screams, Dr. Busenitz
would stop applying silver nitrate. The glowing corpses would then be
put out on people's doorsteps as Dr. Busenitz knocked on the door and
ran into the Prussian woods. The startled people, believing they were
witnessing a ghost, would often shoot the corpse, and the bright fluid
would spill out onto their porch where porters were sent to collect the
ethereal spillings. For that reason, the original name of Electric Blue
was Ghost Blood Blue. Soon people were putting out treats and ghost
traps in an attempt to hunt the glowing bodies. When the doctor began
to grow tiresome of his pranks, he began siphoning the brilliant fluid
into airtight containers ready for sale. Thus was the creation of the
CCC.
Determined
to make the best color imaginable, Dr. Busenitz attempted to find the
most pure pigmentation. The muscles of women, preferably young women
under the age of fourteen, seemed to give the brightest color, though
it should be noted that they also have the lowest muscle density.
During the early days of Ghost Blood, it was still easy and cost
effective for the scientist and his trained color practitioners to
acquire prostitutes; however, as the market for the rare color grew,
the practitioners moved to other types. The shift from young women to
older women and ultimately men can be seen in the late 1820s. Though
the glimmer was a little less vibrant, the market continued growing.
The rarest Ghost Blood made from the young women of royal Prussian
families was still available for the richest and most powerful courts
in the world, including numerous kings, queens, barons, and filibusters
of the century. Like the furs of an extinct animal, the richest men of
the world sought to paint their most prized possessions in the hue.
Martin Van Buren was the first U.S. president enticed with neon. Believing the substance to be crafted by aliens, his desire to obtain neon eventually consumed his daily life. Numerous accounts exist graphically describing his public bowel movements and appearances in front of congress nude with only a ring of glowing blue around his mouth. One story involving the White House chamber maid and a gallon of neon earned him the nickname the "Little Magician." At the threat of "getting cut real bad," congress gave full control of the navy to Van Buren, and during his presidency his military actions account for the majority of fresh subjects acquired by the CCC, as the navy collected prisoners of war in every conflict throughout the late 1830s and early 1840s in Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Sumatra, Fiji, China, the Faulkland Islands, and Canada. The stories of these P.O.W.s was grim, for their lives were worth a pittance of the quantity of Ghost Blood their supple bodies stored. The secret practice was outlawed within the first week of William Henry Harrison's term in office. He died three weeks later of "pneumonia."
With
the help and finances of Victor Victor, a millionaire financer and
publically known sociopath (more information on V. Victor can be found
in the Neon Red section), the burgeoning color industry grew beyond the
small organization founded by Dr. Busenitz and into an unmentionable
superpower. Evidence hints towards the CCC's involvement in the Civil
War, though such claims are uncertain. It is clear, however, that by
WW1 the CCC had moved beyond human subjects to obtain Ghost Blood. The
great grandson of Dr. Busenitz discovered a method to infuse human
tissue into opossums, allowing the color to be mass produced without
being a drain of human life. For his discovery, he was given a Nobel
Peace Prize and murdered by a follower of the Cult of Martin Van Buren.
Since the CCC could acquire fifteen opossums for the price of one
child, price dropped drastically. Because of this production shift, it
is believed that Ghost Blood, then rebranded to the world market as
Electric Blue, was the first neon color to be produced for the common
man.
Electric Blue is only the first of numerous neon colors to be exposed. If interest is shown, further secrets shall be revealed.
