Crazy Owl
It started as a rumor, and was quickly confirmed. Crazy Owl…a.k.a. Charles Emerson Hall…passed away April 4, 2011. He was my friend for many years. Many stories could be told, and here are a few. Here is the biography from his website, Crazy Owls Perch.
These few lines will introduce you to Crazy Owl, the author of this website. His life began August 5 1927 at 6:02 AM in Akron Ohio, USA. His mother named him Charles Emerson Hall.
In 1960 The University of Wisconsin awarded him a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, He pursued a career in mathematical statistics and research methodology until 1975 when he predicted that a cancer epidemic would engulf one-third of the population by 1985. Thereupon he “dropped out” and went into the community lifestyle and ate organic food. In summer of 1987 he took the name Crazy Owl and accepted the Barred Owl (the original “Crazy Owl”) as his totem.
Sometime during these years he became interested in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM for short). In 1980 he started studying acupressure at the Acupressure Institute in Berkley California. Since that time he has been a Healer with TCM as the core of his practice. From 1985 to 1997 Crazy Owl taught TCM in The School For Gentle Hands in Atlanta Georgia. He had a clientele in Healing and a business in herbalism as well as students.
The School for Gentle Hands was in an old horse farm on Flat Shoals Road, just off I20 and Gresham Road. There is a subdivision there now, and the K mart is a Walmart. This space is a mile away from East Atlanta Village, and is an up and coming neighborhood now. When Owl moved there in 1985, it was run down. He had a beat up barn, a dirt driveway, and a pipe bringing county water in. Some government agency made him get a porta potty, a bright green facility with a lot of nicknames.
The School For Gentle Hands was about nine miles due south from my attic apartment. One of the events was the friday night sweat lodge. You drove down, found a place to park in the weeds, and walked down a hill to the lodge. Owl would start the fire, put the rocks in, and hope that someone was there to join him. I sometimes served as the helper, balancing the glowing rocks, on a pitchfork, while Owl held open the door to the lodge.
One friday, the sweaters were talking about the things they were grateful for. The previous friday night, I had been in a tacky bar in Tucker GA. Everyone except me chain smoked, while the band played “Melancholy Baby”. Seven days later, I was naked in a makeshift hut. I was grateful for variety in my life.
In those days, AIDS was on a rampage, and there was little that industrial medicine could do. Crazy Owl helped quite a few people. Some did well with his treatment, and are thriving today. He taught that AIDS was not a disease, but a condition, and that it could be reversed.
Crazy Owl was a traveling companion of mine in those days. For a while, it seemed like every time we went anywhere, it would pour down rain the entire time. On a pre Thanksgiving Wednesday, this turned into ice when we arrived at the valley in North Carolina. We woke up the next day to find ourselves in an ice crystal wonderland.
He is not on this plane of existence any more. As for what he expected, I honestly don’t know. This may be a surprise to some, but not everyone is obsessed with life after death. I suspect that he is going to be all right.
Update: Here is the story of his final days. The story of the Memorial Service is here.
Chamblee54 
Thank You so much!
Thank you for putting all of this on the web. Just seeing CO’s face makes me feel fantastic.
His service on the physical plane may be over, but all of us who know him acknowledge that he will be busy as ever on the astral plane.
Oh My Goodness! How amazing, Crazy Owl has been on my mind all week! I just made his Conji reciepe 3 days this week. I 1st met him in 1994 when I started classes at the school of Gentle Hands. Studying accupressure and the 5 element theory of Chinese Medicine with him definitely shined a reflective light within me. If it weren’t for Owl I would not have experienced the power of touch and energy that I have found within myself. I can’t count the numerous times that I’ve referenced him through the years. He’s like an enigma to my friends and family because I’ve spoken of him so much over the years. He was soooo different and I admired him for that, I got it!. The best way I could describe him was that he was a highly, extremely intelligent man that chose to step away from main stream society and do his thing. I remember when circumstances lead him to close the school and move on and I was there as he packed it all up. He was soooo courageous!! I learned soooooo much from him and because of him I found a gift within me. Thank you so much for putting the word out there and the pictures. For me it completes the circle. Awesome!
I too speak of my time interning with him a lot. I have written many entries in my journals about what he taught me and found the courage to follow my dreams because of him.
[…] the new cars in and the leaving cars out. The time goes by fast. At 4:20 on Friday, a memorial for Crazy Owl was held. One day, the former Charles Hall asked to be sat up. He was propped up, and stared off […]
[…] April 4, 2011. Crazy Owl went to the sweat lodge in the sky. The last few years of his life, he had a web page, Crazy Owls […]
This concerning the “Chinese Breathing Exercise”:
http://www.gaiasguardians.info/uncategorized/crazy-owls-perch/
[…] that” list. Mingaling, who started this episode, had a baby, which I am not capable of. I saw Crazy Owl last fall, and he is doing well. (On April 4, 2011, Crazy Owl moved on into another existence.) […]
I interned with Crazy Owl in Red Boiling Springs a few years ago. I am so Blessed to have had the opportunity. I have missed him so. I learned more in my short time with him than anywhere else I’ve been. He was my friend and Mentor. He will be sorely missed by the many who were touched by his wisdom. I will publish my journal about my time with him soon! ~RIP Crazy Owl~
What happened to his webpage Crazy Owls Perch? Every time someone would have some kind of personal problem I could always find a herb he would say that could help and now it seems to be gone.Do you have any clue how I could get it again?I miss him so much but very greatful I had the time to be friends with him.There will never be another like him!Hugs:]
I am deeply saddened by his passing but eternally greatfull for his teachings….He was my mentor. I had the privaledge of living with him for about a year when we were living on Hector Black’s Organic Farm….We attended the summer solstace of 2007 at the Serpent Mound together….. The morning ceremony was the most beautiful experiance of my life. This is where I changed forever…. Thanks for posting this…..
[…] the new cars in and the leaving cars out. The time goes by fast. At 4:20 on Friday, a memorial for Crazy Owl was held. One day, the former Charles Hall asked to be sat up. He was propped up, and stared off […]
I spent much time with him in his last days. I was one of the interns who cared for him and had also been a friend for some time. I was so grateful for the experience of being in his presence those last days. He embraced death fully, openly beautifully and with a heart full of love. He told us over and over how grateful he was. He would speak of how he came into this world an orphan, but how he gets to leave it surrounded by love and friends. His spirit was powerful and although he may no longer exist in the form we were familiar with, he made a profound impact on all who he came in contact with and the waves created by those impacts continue to roll strong walking with us into the future. His spirit can still be felt amongst us on this earth. Sarah
Crazy owls perch was not maintained by anyone and so appears to be gone, but there is a website http://archive.org/web/ called wayback machine that stores older versions of websites and you can go to that site and then type in crazyowlsperch.com and then click on one of the saved dates and walla! You will get to see crazy owl’s site!
http://web.archive.org/web/20110408000047/http://crazyowlsperch.com/ If this link works you should be able to simply click it and view crazy owl’s perch.
Thanks Sarah much love
[…] how it does indeed get better. Soon, the dance broke up, and PG was chatting with octogenarian Crazy Owl…who always acts his age. Crazy Owl left the earth April 4, 2011. By friday, the pace was […]
[…] be told, and here are a few. Here is the biography from his website, Crazy Owls Perch. This is a repost. These few lines will introduce you to Crazy Owl, the author of this website. His life began August […]