Earl Singleton

(November 27, 1916 – August 31, 1999)

Henry Earl Singleton, aka es and Tex, issued the first fanzine devoted to poetry, Nepenthe. Singleton traveled to Chicon, the 1940 Worldcon, from Boston with Art Widner in the Skylark of Foo. Following Chicon, he was elected treasurer of the Stranger Club.

He was involved in a feud with William L. Hamling and had a romance with Trudy Kuslan.

All fandom was shocked when his roommate, Oliver King Smith, announced Singleton had committed suicide by shooting himself in the temple with a pistol on February 9, 1941. However, a letter sent to Jack Chapman Miske dated February 10 and other questions led Widner and Louis Russell Chauvenet to contact authorities at MIT, and they learned the suicide was faked, as Singleton had apparently decided to gafiate and drop out of school, taking a job in Washington, D.C. His death hoax became known as the pseuicide, and fans nicknamed him the Zombie.

Singleton was born in Texas. In later life, Singleton became a very successful electrical engineer and businessman, co-founding Teledyne, serving as its CEO for thirty years, and was an early investor in Apple Computer and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

Tex - Nickname for Earl Singleton, Texas being his native state.

Pseuicide

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

Pseuicide also called pseudocide and some unprintable things. Early in 1941 Earl Singleton's room-mate made known that ES had committed suicide. Singleton had become a leading figure since the ChiCon, and the news was a great shock. Many poems and issues of fanzines were dedicated to him, and considerable debate about the ethics of suicide took place. It was whispered in some places that a girl had been involved, and the Futurians never did stop wondering why he did it. Several months later, various fans began to notice phoney things about the circumstances; for instance, Earl's parents had come up from Texas and taken away his remains within a day of his death. Widner, who was on the scene, investigated, and the word spread that it was a hoax. After that researchers turned their attention to finding out who'd been in on it from the beginning, chief curiosity centering around Trudy Kuslan. That fall Singleton, who was reported to be working for the government in Washington, visited Warner in Hagerstown, giving as his name the name of a Washington room-mate, and subscribed to Spaceways. Warner mentioned the visit and his suspicions to Speer, and Juffus tracked the zombie to its lair. No other fen saw Singleton after the pseuicide, tho Widner received an engagement announcement, and it has never been learned just why he pulled the hoax.

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

Pseuicide – Also called pseudocide and some unprintable names. Early in 1941, just before Boskone I was to take place, Earl Singleton's roommate made known that he had committed suicide. Singleton was comparatively new in the field, but had become a leading figure since the Chicon, and the occurrence was a great shock. Numerous poems and issues of fanzines were dedicated to him, and considerable debate about the ethics of suicide took place. It was whispered in some circles that a girl had been involved, and the Futurians never stopped wondering why he did it. Several months later, various fans began to notice phony things about the circumstances; for instance, Earl's parents had come up from Texas and taken away his remains within a day of his death. Widner, who was on the ground, began investigating, and the report that it was a hoax spread. After that the researchers turned their attention to finding out who all had been in on it from the first, chief curiosity centering around Trudy Kuslan. That fall Singleton, who was reported to be working for the Government in Washington, visited Warner in Hagerstown, giving as his name the name of a Washington roommate, and subscribed to Spaceways, Warner mentioned the visit and his suspicions to Speer some months later, and the F tracked zombie to its lair. No other fan saw Singleton after the pseuicide, tho Widner received an engagement announcement and it has never been learned just why es pulled the hoax.

Singleton's roommate at MIT, O. K. Smith, was also a fan. Some time later, Smith moved to LA and became a member of the LASFS. Because of his initials and his association with the infamous death hoax, many fans thought Smith was a hoax and refused to accept his existence.

External links

• Henry Earl Singleton on Wikipedia.
• Earl Singleton on ISFDB.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Nepenthe

See Death Hoax.

---

Person

1916—1999

This is a biography page. Please extend it by adding more information about the person, such as fanzines and apazines published, awards, clubs, conventions worked on, GoHships, impact on fandom, external links, anecdotes, etc. See Standards for People and The Naming of Names.