Jackson Elias is 38, of medium height and build. He has a feisty friendly air about him. Son of the eminent Dr. Leonardo Elias, he graduated from Columbia with honors, like his father and his grandfather before him. He speaks several languages fluently and is constantly traveling, both aptitudes and tendencies he picked up from a life with his globetrotting father.

Like many members of his family, he has an academic way about him, but rather than sit in a library or learn from an instructor, he's the type to go out into the world and take the bull by the horns. He speaks several languages fluently and is constantly traveling. He is social, enjoys an occasional drink, and smokes a pipe. Elias is tough, stable, and punctual, unafraid of brawls or officials. His well-researched works always seem to reflect first-hand experience. A secretive man, he never discusses a project until he has a final draft of his newest work in hand.

His writings characterize and analyze death cults. His best known book is Sons of Death, chronicling modern Thuggee cults in India. All of his books illustrate how cults manipulate the fears of their followers. A skeptic, Elias has never found proof of supernatural powers, magic or dark gods. He believed firmly that insanity and feelings of inadequacy characterize death cults, feelings for which they compensate by slaughtering innocents to make themselves feel empowered or chosen. He wasn't shy about advocating the idea that though cult leaders are usually clever and manipulative, cults draw the weak-minded. His books make his belief clear: that when fear of a cult stops, the cult vanishes.

• Skulls Along the River (1910) – exposes headhunter cult along the Amazon basin.
  
• Masters of the Black Arts (1912) – surveys supposed sorcerous cults throughout history
  
• The Way of Terror (1913) – analyzes systemization of fear through cult organizations; warmly reviewed by Georges Sorel
  
• The Smoking Heart (1915) – first discusses historical Mayan cults. Second half instances present-day Central American death cults.
  
• Sons of Death (1918) – modern-day Thuggees
  
• Witch Cults of England (1920) – Summarizes covens in nine English counties; interviews practicing English witches, Rebecca West thought some of the material trivial and overworked.
  
• The Black Power (1921) – expands upon The Way of Terror; includes interviews with several anonymous cult leaders.

All of these books are published by Prospero Press of New York City, and all were edited by owner/editor Jonah Kensington, a good friend of Jackson Elias.