29 : Background to the Trial for Contempt of Injunction: 1955-1956The summer of 1955 at Orgonon was lonely and harassing for Reich. Eva and Bill
Moise were living in Hancock, Maine. Peter had returned to Sheffield, Massachusetts, where
his mother now lived. The only associate Reich saw regularly was his devoted caretaker, Tom
Ross.
Grethe Hoff left Reich late in June. He had been very loving to her, yet there were
episodes of unfounded jealous rage. At times he was furious at her for what he alleged to
be her contempt toward various aspects of his work. Like Ilse, Grethe could not under-
stand—nor would she parrot—Reich’s mistaken ideas, such as that Air Force planes were
protecting him. Indeed, she was so upset by his blatantly erroneous notions that she won-
dered whether he was equally mistaken in his cloud-busting work, or even in those aspects
of his work such as orgone energy itself that she had previously thought sound. Once again
Reich reacted negatively to all criticism from someone close, and once again that person was
not prepared to work arduously at distinguishing between her rational or irrational reactions
(or so he concluded). Hoff was also disturbed by his isolated, endangered situation and by
the discrepancy in their ages. She wanted a more normal existence, a desire Reich ascribed
to her “will to smallness.” Finally, she decided to return to Norway that summer.
For some weeks Reich wrote to her imploring her to return. He apologized for his
earlier angry outbursts. Still, he believed her main reason for leaving was that she was “run-
ning away,” not from him but from herself. When she remained firm in her decision to stay
in Oslo, his depression did not last long. Soon enough his energies refocused on his work
and legal battles.
First,he had to prepare for the July 26 hearing to show cause why legal proceed-
ings against him for contempt ofthe injunction should not be initiated.During this period
his main legal adviser was Charles Hay don, the one lawyer among several Reich consulted
who managed to maintain a relation of some solidity and duration with Reich, a very unusu-
al client.
Haydon had first met Reich in the spring of 1954, when he was being considered
by the New York physicians to represent them. On this first visit to Orgonon, he made a
favorable impression on Reich by noticing a smell. Reich asked him what he smelled.
Haydon described an acrid odor. Since Reich believed this was a characteristic smell of
Oranur, he was pleased with Haydon’s response. As he said, he could tell that Haydon was
quite “open and unarmored.”^1
Thereupon began a long and from Haydon’s viewpoint very valuable relationship.
404 Myron SharafFury On Earth