Kerry Thornley is a founder of a pseudo-religion called Discordianism. Discordianism is constructed by Thornley as a joke on conspiracy investigators, among others. Thornley is an anarchist and a magazine publisher. He becomes interested in the John F. Kennedy assassination, including because he knew Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin, in the Marines. Thornley is suspected by District Attorney Jim Garrison of being involved in the assassination plot, as a sort of second Oswald, or look-alike. Later, Thornley suspects that Garrison was partly right. Thornley thinks that he had been brainwashed as part of a false trail to divert investigators in the Kennedy assassination.