Food for Silence

 
On 1 December 2013, I quoted:

"Its mythologic-religious character makes the book loved by some loners, whose belief in secret conspiracies entices them to commit (suicide) attacks." (my translation)

Source: "Bedrog, bijgeloof en zelfmoord in Friesland" (Deceit, superstition and suicide in Friesland) in Eos Magazine (sept. 2011), by penny-a-liner Chris Reinewald.

I asked the scribbler for a source and if he knew an example of such an attack. He answered that he had promised his anonymous source to not reveil any details in order to protect him/her.

On 17 January 2014, I wrote:

I found a fascinating possible piece of the puzzle.

Jensma suggested (don't recall where exactly now) that the OLB had made 'victims' (people who believed in its authenticity). Other authors have suggested that it would be a product of dark forces.

In 1983 Jensma acted (main character) in a short film, titled "Stof tot Stilte" (he used the name Goffe Theunis; director was Jan de Ruiter). This film can very well be seen as an allegory about the OLB.

The plot in short:

A young photographer falls in love with a mysterious, unattainable woman who was in the background of some photos he took.
He does not know that the woman was sent there on purpose by an man (fate, doom?), to make him the victim of his evil plot.
He gets obsessed with her and enters a limbo of doubt: Does she still live, is she real at all?
At the end he meets her, but she somehow disappoints him. He looses his mind and commits suicide.
The film ends with the mysterious evil man looking for a new victim.

If someone, known by the group of friends who made this film, got obsessed with the OLB, lost his mind and/ or committed suicide, this would explain the fear around the OLB that I sense in Jensma's book (and in Friesland in general). Psychologically it is a well known mechanism to ridicule or demonise something that is feared.

The film title "Stof tot Stilte" is based on the Dutch expression "stof tot nadenken", which can be translated as "food for thought" (literally: material/ stuff to think about/ reflect on/ ponder).

In this sense, the film title (translated: food for silence) could be interpreted as "material to be silent about", or "material to not speak about", in other words: taboo.

This could explain much.

Note that both Haverschmidt and Ottema (allegedly) took their own lives. 

"Ik wist niet dat je op een spookverschijning verliefd kon worden, maar ik geloof dat het wel zover is. Een beetje zinloos natuurlijk..."