Asa Daribondi

Asa Daribondi was an architect most known for his construction of the strange Thought Houses, as well as the murder of a number of children between the years of 1921 and 1950.

## Asa Daribondi

### Relatives

Miriam Daribondi (Mother)
Adriene Daribondi (Aunt)
Ian F. Douglas (Uncle)

## Notable Life Events

* 05/28/1886: Born in Paris France to Miriam Daribondi (father unknown).
* 06/06/1887: Becomes an American citizen in New York.
* 1887: Family settles in Chicago, Illinois.
* 1896: Adriene Daribondi joins her sister, Miriam, and her nephew, Asa, in Chicago.
* 1902: Two men attack Asa Daribondi on the “L” train but are shot and killed by a plain-clothed detective.
* 1903: Asa Daribondi begins attending the Art Institute of Chicago for Architecture. Daribondi excels beyond all expectations and is marked as a “talent.”
* 1905: Asa Daribondi begins construction of his first, bizarre “Thought House”. These strange buildings are marked by optical illusions and strange shapes, and are considered avant-garde. Daribondi becomes a local celebrity. He builds ten “Thought Houses” between 1905 and 1921 for various luminaries. The press calls the youth “the Picasso of architecture.”
* 1921: Asa Daribondi suddenly leaves Chicago for New York and takes up residence at an unnamed mid-town hotel, answering, according to his mother, “an invitation.”
* 08/30/1950: A fire breaks out in Asa Daribondi’s office on Mott Street in New York. After it is extinguished, the body of Isabelle Sauer (age 5) is found, dead from drowning, next to a washtub filled with bloody water. A warrant is issued for Daribondi’s arrest. It is soon discovered Daribondi owes nearly $200,000 to the bank, and that he has kept a log-book of “accounts” which implies he has killed perhaps 20 children since his arrival in New York in 1921.
* 09/02/1960: At the behest of his 91-year-old mother, Miriam Daribondi, Asa Daribondi is declared legally dead by the state of New York.

## Books on Daribondi

* *The Devil’s Craftsman*. Cavett Monaghan, Columbia Press, 1952.
* *A Darkness at the Corners*. Elizabeth Ortiz, University Publications, 1957.
* *Architecture, Genius and Mental Illness*. Dr. Peter Johansson, Avalon Works, 1961.

## Daribondi's Victims

Given their tender age, the NYPD refused to release the names of most of the victims.

* Peter Devoras: Age 5; Drowned 1921
* Damien LeChance: Age 5; Drowned 1948
* Isabelle Sauer: Age 5; Drowned 1950

### Potential Other Victims

The following names and dates were listed in Daribondi's journal along with the three listed above.

* Ronald Jeffries, 1922
	+ Architect who reconstructed the Knopf House after the fire. Vanished in 1984
* Martha Taylor, 1923
* Shari Bruni, 1924
	+ Member of Phenomenon X, disappeared in the Knopf House in 2009
* Gertrude Sanford, 1925
	+ Daughter of the Sanford family, went missing in the Knopf House in 1938
* Roger Thelemis, 1926
* Sarah Yearly, 1927
	+ Sarah Yearly Nicholson disappeared in the Knopf House in 1944
* Kasimer Ossowiski, 1928
	+ Delta Green Agent, passed through a portal in the Knopf House in 2010.
	+ This death confirmed in the β-dimension
* Eric Carter, 1929
	+ US Army Lieutenant, was shot in a NY hotel in 1955
* Karen Lankhorn, 1930
	+ Member of Long Grove historical society, vanished in the Knopf House in 1984.
* Kara Langley, 1931
	+ Delta Green Agent, passed through a portal in the Knopf House in 2010.
	+ This death confirmed in the β-dimension
* Geneva Brown, 1932
* Albert Bosnick, 1933
	+ Firefighter who went missing while rescuing the Loyola Family from the Knopf House fire.
* Grant Bain, 1934
	+ Member of Phenomenon X, disappeared in the Knopf House in 2009
* Beatrice Holloway, 1935
	+ Delta Green Agent, passed through a portal in the Knopf House in 2010.
	+ This death confirmed in the β-dimension
* Angel Loyola, 1936
	+ Died in the Knopf House fire in 1962.
* Elizabeth Harris, 1938
* Thomas Goodman, 1939
	+ Former mayor of Long Grove, IL. Vanished in the Knopf House in 1984
* Francis Martin, 1940
	+ Delta Green Agent whose body was found in the Knopf House in 2010
* Stephen Wilson, 1941
	+ Member of Phenomenon X, disappeared in the Knopf House in 2009
* Arthur Donnelley, 1942
	+ Delta Green Agent whose body was found in the Knopf House in 2010.
* Ronald Burbach, 1943
	+ US Marines Corporal, shot in a NY hotel in 1955
* John Nicholson, 1944
	+ Former owner of the Knopf House, disappeared in 1943
* Grace Oberley, 1945
	+ Delta Green Agent whose body was found in the Knopf House in 2010.
* Michael Witwer, 1946
	+ Delta Green Agent who disappeared or died in the upper floors of the McCallister Building in 2015 (year uncertain due to temporal irregularities)
* Alona Perez, 1947
	+ Possibly the maiden name of Alona Loyola who died in the house in a fire in 1962.
* Franklin Sanford, 1949
	+ Father of the Sanford family, went missing in the Knopf House in 1938

## Related Phenomena

There are no clear images of Asa Daribondi.

* There are several images which feature him, but he is always caught mid-turn or mid-movement in such a way that his face is blurred or obstructed.
* There is one such image from *The Devil’s Craftsman*.
* Daribondi is pictured entering an art-deco hotel with a “B” emblazoned on each door.
* The caption reads, “(1928) Daribondi lived for a time at NYC hotel which he helped restore in lieu of payment.”
* A park is reflected in the hotel window, and in it is a huge flagpole with a distinctive stone base. You recognize the reflection as the Eternal Light Flagstaff in Madison Square Park.