PAUL ENO TRIVIA

Paul's personal motto. Translated from the Latin:

"God (or the Gods, or Fate) will find a way!"

"Eno" is such an unusual name (see "What Kind of Name is Eno" below) that many people ask if Paul is related to the great modern musician Brian Eno. Brian is a native of England and a member of the Lincolnshire Eno family, and he lives in California. He is considered one of the most creative and unusual musicians and composers of modern times, and he is interested in the paranormal. While Paul and Brian don't know each other, family historians believe that they are distant cousins.

"I don't like the word 'psychic,'" Paul tells us. "It has too much baggage. It makes me think of some old lady huddled over a crystal ball in some Paris salon in 1890."

Nevertheless, Paul for many years has quietly used his powerful and unusual abilities as an intuitive and sensitive not only to get to the bottom of what is happening in paranormal cases, but to just plain help people. He explains this as just another part of his theories about "the multiverse."

"In the multiverse, we all very literally share our lives, our memories, our imaginations, our souls. When I do 'readings,' I just get in touch with where and when in the multiverse that I am you," Paul says. "Maybe I've just been around the paranormal for so long that I've picked up on how it all really works."

It started as far back as Paul's first case in 1971, when he would get an immediate sense of what kind of entities he was dealing with. It continued throughout his seminary years, when he worked in hospitals and in social programs as part of his pastoral training. Paul could immediately "read" people, their needs, and receive insights into what they needed to do in their lives, key people they were going to meet, and who and what their spiritual guardians were. After many years of urging by his friends and fans, Paul is now doing this publically as part of the Turning Home programs, and privately via phone consultation (see www.pauleno.org).

Paul believes that the paranormal and religion are very closely connected. His last book: TURNING HOME: GOD, GHOSTS AND HUMAN DESTINY deals with this connection in detail. Paul studied for nearly 10 years in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox seminaries. He was brought up a Roman Catholic, but had many other religious influences. His father, Earl B. Eno (1905-1961) was a Protestant (Congregationalist) and his mother, Bernice Landers Eno (1915-) a Roman Catholic who grew up with a strict Methodist grandmother. Paul's maternal aunt, with whom he spent much time as a child, was deeply influenced by the memory of an Abenaki Indian ancestor and her native religion. Paul's only sibling, in contrast, was Rev. Dr. Robert B. Eno (1936-1997), a renowned Roman Catholic priest, professor, author and theologian, and one of the 20th century's leading authorities on the life and teachings of St. Augustine. Paul and Bob had close cousins who were Baptist, Congregational and even Spiritualist clergy, and they all knew each other.

In Paul's personal library at his Rhode Island home are religious icons and artifacts he has collected from all over the world.

So what is his religion? All he will tell you is that he strives to live a Godly life, maintains his own daily rule of prayer, and tries to take people and their beliefs with an open mind and heart. He will get no more specific than that because, "I have to deal with all sorts of people and their many beliefs."

He has been known to admit "a profound respect" for some ancient pagan religions.

WHAT KIND OF NAME IS "ENO"? MORE THAN YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT PAUL'S ANCESTRY.

Lots of people think that "Paul F. Eno" (as was thought about his fellow Rhode Islander and distant cousin H.P. Lovecraft) is a pen name. As a matter of fact, when Paul started becoming widely known about 20 years ago, there was a rumor that he was actually the great D. Scott Rogo (1950-1990), an idea that Paul and Scott, who knew each other, both got a charge out of. No, "Paul F. Eno" is his real handle.

Ethnically, the Eno family is "as Connecticut Yankee as you can get," Paul says, adding that "The Enos, and related old families, crawled onto the shores of New England with the first lungfish." The Enos, who were among the founders of Windsor, Connecticut's oldest town, in the 1600s, came from London, England. A few generations before that, however, they came from France, where they were upper middle class merchants and public officials. By religion, they were Huguenots, or French Protestants, who were persecuted in France and fled to Protestant England for safety, where they were welcomed. Since the 1400s, the name has been spelled Henno, Hainault, De Henner, Henne and Enno.

Once they got to New England, Paul's branch stayed put, and has been in the Windsor and Simsbury (where the town hall is "Eno Memorial Hall") vicinity for going on 375 years. Paul was born in Hartford, just south of Windsor. He moved to Rhode Island in 1979 when he became a reporter, but (except for his college and military years) has never lived more than 100 miles from his birthplace.

All the old New England families intermarried at one point or another. Paul is a descendant of three Royal Governors of Massachusetts, Thomas and Samuel Dudley on his mother's side, and none other than William Bradford (of Pilgrim fame) on his father's. Paul had eight ancestors aboard The Mayflower. He is also, through his paternal grandmother, descended from the brother of the native leader Massasoit, friend of the Pilgrims, so Paul had ancestors on both sides of the table at "the First Thanksgiving." While the Eno family's historians have never found descent from any of the Salem "witches," Paul is related to the Putnam family, who were among the primary accusers during the Massachusetts witch hysteria of the 1690s. Little Ann Putnam, one of the "afflicted children" was Paul's 1st cousin 9 times removed.

Back in England, through collateral families, Paul is 9th great-grandson to John Dudley Lord North, Earl of Guilford. He is also cousin to the Courtenay family, Earls and Countesses of Devon since the 1300s. Paul and the 18th Earl of Devon are on friendly terms and see each other about once a year. Through the Dudley, Neville, Howard and Courtenay lines, Paul is a direct descendant of most of the Kings of England before 1400, including Edward III, whose Queen was Phillippa of Hainault. He is 15th cousin to Queen Elizabeth II.

Paul is also a great grand-nephew of Sir Hiram Maxim, inventor of lovely things like the machine gun. Paul's closest living relative in the Peerage of England is Alisdair Hopkinson Lord Colyton, a 5th cousin, whose grandmother was a member of the American Eno family.

Maybe Paul's religious temperament comes partially from his 12th great-grandfather, William Whittingham, 16th century Dean of Durham Cathedral, translator of the "Geneva Bible," and brother-in-law to the great Protestant reformer John Calvin.

But there are rogues in Paul's family tree as well. A 12th great-grandfather, Richard Lord Rich, Lord Chancellor of England under King Edward VI, has been officially named by the BBC as "the worst Briton of the 16th century"! Another 12th great-grandfather, John Sutton Lord Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, had his head chopped off for treason for conniving to put his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne. He succeeded, but she ruled for only nine days!

Despite his public appearances and growing media fame, Paul is a very quiet and private person. He enjoys nothing more than spending time with his family, including his many cousins. When he has time, Paul enjoys horseback riding (he won ribbons at horse shows in his younger days), shooting (though not hunting), fishing, birding, boating and flag collecting. He has one of the largest private collections of flags in New England.

Paul has a personal library of about 3,500 books, many passed down in his family for generations. He says he grabs every moment he can to read.