order of the occult hand

vanishedone commented on the word order of the occult hand

Larry Maddry: 'It seems the phrase originated with Joseph Flanders, then an employee for The Charlotte News. He had typed: “It was as if an occult hand had reached down from above and moved the players like pawns upon some giant chessboard.�?

'In the fall of 1965, Flanders’ friends at The Charlotte News, especially writer R. C. Smith, were so taken with Flanders’ phrase they formed a society—the Order of the Occult Hand—and vowed to get the words “it was as if an occult hand ... �? into print as soon as possible.'

April 7, 2009