Caleb’s wrist felt naked without his barbed-wire etched chrome watch, a childhood fascination that grew into his college research project, Ornate Misery.

Caleb’s hand got slapped many times reaching for his grandfather’s shiny things. Adults kept telling him they were dangerous. A filigree silver and bone handle pistol made his fingers itch. A ruby encrusted sword called to him from it’s display case.

During his first year at university, he formulated his honors project, The Beautiful History of Danver’s Asylum. Though full of horrors and historical regret, the asylum was an architectural wonder. Disneyesque in style, it stood on the site of the Salem Witch Trials.

He formed a unique thesis, The Glamour of Torture. It’s cages, clamps, vices, lobotomy equipment, were ornate and crafted by artisans. This lead him to study California’s history in eugenics, the Ideal Aryan, and gas chambers.

And then he discovered who manufactured Auschwitz’s beautifully cast, oven doors. That’s when his troubles began.