UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

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READER'S DIGEST
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 QUEST FOR THE UNKNOWN

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
OF THE PAST
 QUEST FOR THE UNKNOWN

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
OF THE PAST

^^ Deader s

THE READER'S DIGEST ASSOCIATION, INC.

Pleasantville, New York/Montreal
 Quest for the Unknown
Created, edited, and designed by DK Direct Limited

A DORLING KiNDERSLEY BoOK

Copyright © 1991The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.

Copyright © 1991 The Reader's Digest Association (Canada) Ltd.
Copyright ©
1991 Reader's Digest Association Far East Ltd.
Philippine Copyright 1991 Reader's Digest Association Far East Ltd.

All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, in any manner, is prohibited.

DK Direct Limited

Series Editor Reg Grant; Senior Editors Sue Leonard, Richard Williams
Editors Ellen Dupont, Nance Fyson, Deirdre Headon, Sarah Miller
Editorial Research Julie Whitaker
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Senior Art Editor Simon Webb

Designers Susie Breen, Tuong Nguyen, Mark Osborne
Picture Research Frances Vargo; Picture Assistant Sharon Southren

Editorial Director Jonathan Reed; Design Director Ed Day

Volume Consultants Maurice Geller, Lynn Picknett

Contributors Paul Begg, Peter Brookesmith, Paul Devereux, Brian Innes, Frank Smyth
Illustrators Arka Graphics, Russell Barnet, Roy Flooks, Ivan Lapper, Angela McAllister,
Richard Manning, Peter Sarson, Mark Surridge
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Andrew Griffin, Mark Hamilton, Steve Lyne, Susanna Price, Alex Wilson

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Unsolved mysteries of the past.

p. cm. — (Quest for the unknown)
"A Doriing Kindersley book."
ISBN 0^9577-359-7
1. Supernatural. 2. Parapsychology. 3. Curiosities and wonders.
4. Antiquities— Miscellanea. 1. Reader's Digest Association.
H. Series.
BF1031.U62 1991
001.9-dc20 90-28809

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 FOREWORD

HE ANCIENTS LIVE ON TODAY in the lasting monuments tiiey left

behind: the huge statues, complex sites, and massive stoneworks.

The size, beauty, and primitive power of these marvels inspire a

sense of wonder and awe in all of us. How the ancients, with their limited

technology, could have built them is a mystery that modern science has yet

to unravel. But perhaps the answer lies beyond the reach of scientific
knowledge: the ancients may have been closer to hidden forces that we can
no longer touch or feel. In their world with its deeper, more spiritual values,

the boundaries of the unknown were thinner and more easily crossed.

Today, there are many individuals who are eager to find alternatives to

science as they reassess their deepest beliefs and search for the answers

to life's most enduring mysteries. Science, despite great advances, just

cannot explain the many strange phenomena that continually occur around

us. The unknown, which touches all of our lives, offers another, more
satisfying, route to understanding the universe and our place within the
greater scheme of things.

This volume explores the tantalizing challenge of the unknown, drawing

in exciting new material and making surprising connections with phenomena

you may already be familiar with. These bizarre and incredible events are
an invitation to an increased understanding of ourselves and the mysterious
forces around us. But you will need a guide to help you unlock the secrets

of strange phenomena and to delve into their hidden meanings. This volume

is an invaluable companion on a quest that will last a lifetime.

- The Editors
 CHAPTER ONE
CONTENTS Ancient Builders
24

STONEHENGE
EASTER ISLAND STATUES
THE OHIO SERPENT MOUND
Foreword CHICHEN ITZA
THE PYRAMIDS
5 MEGALITHS AND STONE CIRCLES
LEGENDS OF THE STONES
MAZES AND LABYRINTHS
LEY LINES
GEOMANCY AND FENG-SHUI
LOST CITIES OF THE AMERICAS
EARTH LIGHT SITES

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER TWO

The Eternal Quest Secrets of the Deep

THE HAUNTED SUBMARINE UB^5

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
SUPERSTITIONS OF THE SEA
THE PALATINE LIGHT
THE MARY CELESTE
THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE
SEA MONSTERS AND MERMAIDS
THE SEARCH FOR NOAHS ARK
 CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FIVE

Treasure Seekers Windows in Time and Space

82 118

TUTANKHAMEN'S TOMB DUNNE'S THEORY OF TIME

EL DORADO KASPAR HAUSER
THE TUAMOTU TREASURE THE GREEN CHILDREN
THE LOST DUTCHMAN MINE UFO ABDUCTION
THE VICTORIO PEAK TREASURE BENJAMIN BATHURST
THE HOLY GRAIL BEASTS FROM THE BEYOND
THE LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR VISION AT VERSAILLES
SPEAR OF LONGINUS BILOCATION
DOPPELGANGERS

CHAPTER FOUR
Breaking the Rules Index
142

D. D. HOME
THE FOX SISTERS
AMAZING HUMAN FEATS
THE COUNT DE SAINT-GERMAIN
THE ART OF ALCHEMY
STIGMATA
COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEAD
NOSTRADAMUS
 INTRODUCTION \J

The Eternal
Quest
The human mind has always been
fascinated by unsolved mysteries,
from UFO'sto ghosts, from
poltergeists to prophetic dreams. It
is in our nature to explore the
uncharted territory that lies beyond
our everyday world of common
sense and reason.

After ameal in a roadside restaurant, Betty

Cash, Vickie Landrum, and Vickie's seven-
year-old grandson Colby were in a festive
mood as Betty drove them home to Dayton,
Texas. About 9:00 p.m. on December 29,
new Oldsmobile Cutlass was
1980, Betty's
cruising down Highway FM1485, a narrow,
lonely road that runs through a pine and
oak forest, when Colby excitedly pointed
out a bright light that was moving above
the treetops. Over the next few minutes,
the light loomed larger and larger until it
took shape as a huge, glowing object —

i.

I:.
 FACT
According a series of
to
surveys coriducted by
opinion pollsters, about 1
in W Americans has seen
a UFO.
FACT
Former President Jimmy
Carter filed a report stating
thathe had sighted a UFO
in 1969,when he was
governor of Georgia.
"like a diamond of fire," as Vickie
described it later — with flames bursting
from beneath it. Then suddenly it
directly in their path. "Stop the car or
we'll all be burned alive," screamed
Vickie. Betty slammed on the brakes.
Blast of fire
The trio sat transfixed as the diamond-
shaped UFO hovered above the road,
just 65 yards away. From treetop level it
sank to within 25 feet of the highway,
emitted a blast of fire, and rose again.
did this several times, lighting up the
trees and the highway all around. The
occupants of the car climbed out to see
the object more clearly. The UFO
seemed to be made of dull aluminum,
with a row of blue dots, which may have
been lights, running across its center.
Occasionally it made a beeping noise.
The heat from the object was terrific.
Colby, frightened, begged his grand-
mother to get back She did,
in the car.
comforting the child, but Betty remained
outside. Finally the UFO moved up and
away, and Betty got back in the car —
which was now so hot that she could
not touch the door with bare hands.
Then, as the three watched from inside
the car, the air was filled with the
deafening noise of a swarm of
helicopters. "They seemed to rush in
from all directions," said Betty. "It
seemed like they were trying to encircle
the thing."
A giant Chinook
The occupants of the Oldsmobile drove
on another five miles to a point on the
highway where they could clearly see
the UFO in the distance, with the flock
of helicopters spread out around it. One
of them, which appeared to have the
distinctive shape of a giant, twin-rotor
CH47 Chinook, roared directly over
them as they watched. Altogether they
counted 23 machines of various kinds
was around the still brilliantly shining UFO.
For Betty, Vickie, and Colby, this
terrifying experience was just the
beginning of the story. During the next
few hours, all three developed extremely
painful swellings and blisters on their
skin, and suffered severe headaches and
stomach pains. In just a few weeks, they
all had lost some hair and had
developed eye problems. Their hair
It eventually grew again, but to this day
none of them has entirely recovered
their former spirits or good health.
Did the victims share a
delusion, perhaps triggered
by a low-flying helicopter?
It should be said that Betty, Vickie, and
Colby were not alone in seeing either the
UFO or the helicopters that pursued it
that night. They were simply the only
ones near enough to it to be physically
injured. Yet no official agency has
admitted having any helicopters — let
alone a fleet of 23 of them — in the area
at the time. The local civil airfields and
military airbases deny all knowledge of
such a fleet using their facilities or
showing on their radar.
Search for an explanation
So what did happen in East Texas on the
evening of December 29, 1980? Was the
UFO some form of alien craft that had
run into trouble, and had U.S.
government forces gone either to
investigate or to aid it in some way? Was
it a super-secret military device that had
temporarily escaped the control of its
helicopter escort? Does the U.S.
government know far more about UFO's
than it is prepared to admit? Or did the
three victims share a delusion, perhaps
triggered by a low-flying helicopter,
which so affected them that they
developed physical symptoms?
 ';

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On the face of it, it seems most likely But many investigators of the unknown FACT
that the Texas UFO was physically real. are prepared to turn this reasoning on its Over 70 gigantic stones,
Too many other people besides its head. Writers such as John Michell, each weighing between 30
victims saw it and its companion ,
author of A New View Over Atlantis, and 50 tons, were used to
helicopters. Doctors said that the assert that the ancients were in some construct the ancient stone
symptoms shown by the three victims ways superior to modern human circle at Stonehenge,
were consistent with exposure to intense beings - that they were in touch with England. According to
electromagnetic radiation in the ultra- powers of the mind we have forgotten Gerald Hawkins, author of
violet,microwave, and X-ray bands. how to use, and intuitively sensitive to a the book Stonehenge
Vickie Landrum was convinced that a spiritual universe from which our Decoded, it would have
secret military device was responsible materialist civilization has disastrously taken 1,000 men about
for her injuries.She and Betty Cash sued cut itself adrift. seven years to move the
the U.S. government for $20 million on stones to the site, with the
that basis. But in 1986 the case was Mysterious monuments simple technology
dismissed on the grounds that "no such The remnants of ancient civilizations available at the time.
object was owned, operated, or in the that have survived the attrition of time
inventory" of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air confront us with profound mysteries.
Force, or NASA. They undoubtedly show evidence of
In a world in which such experiences powers well beyond anything that our
as the Texas UFO sighting occur, it is not stereotyped image of "primitive" peoples
surprising that belief in the paranormal with only limited technology would lead
and the supernatural is so widespread. us to expect.
The huge statues on Easter Island in
the Pacific, the extraordinary network of
The ancients were in touch lines at Nazca in Peru, the pyramids and

with powers of the mind we temples of Egypt, the great stone circle
of Stonehenge in England, and many
have forgotten how to use. other ancient sites all bear impressive
witness to the knowledge and abilities of
There is nothing new about this: all our ancestors. These ancient builders
societies in recorded history have were evidently capable of precise
acknowledged the existence of ghosts astronomical observations and accurate
and spirits, and recognized the need to mathematical computations, as well as
either harness or protect themselves the technical feats involved in creating
against the hidden forces of the these imposing monuments.
universe.The Indian tribes of North Despite the theory popularized by
America had their shamans or medicine Erich von Daniken, that "ancient
men; the ancient Romans consulted astronauts" provide the key to the great
soothsayers and oracles; and even today early civilizations, there is no serious
the Chinese turn to geomancers, experts reason to doubt that our predecessors
in feng-shui, for advice on the energy created these mighty structures using
paths in the earth that might render a their own technology and for their own
site for a building unpropitious. ends — even if their purpose is, to us,
^ In our modern scientific age, it is often unfathomable.
tempting to regard the ancient
concern for the paranormal as a
delusion of humanity in its
k infancy, and to dismiss the
survival of such beliefs into
, the present day as a sign of
persistent backwardness.
 FACT
In the summer of 1982,
Geller urged readers of the
National Enquirer to
broken domestic
appliances by placing
them on top of his picture
in the Enquirer and talking
tothem for 10 minutes.
Hundreds of people all
over the United States
There is plentiful evidence that, before yet undefined form of energy that the
Uri the age of modern science, people were instruments and methods of orthodox
more at home with the paranormal. This science cannot detect. But this force
fix is revealed, for example, by one of the would certainly have
be very strange
to
more startling passages from that indeed, able to operate on, or perhaps
remarkable 13th-century eyewitness through, the human mind, yet also
account of the mysteries of the East, the creating physical effects such as
Travels of Marco Polo. levitation. And, unlike the forces familiar
to scientists, it would need to act across
The Khan's magician time as well as space.
The intrepid Marco, his father and This "energy hypothesis" is useful, if

reported broken items that uncle, were among the first Europeans yet to be proven, because we can apply
started to work. to set foot in China, arriving at Peking it to all kinds of bizarre events and ask

and the court Khan in 1275.

of Kublai whether or not they seem to involve
Among Khan had a
his retinue, the such a mysterious energy, in the so-
number of magicians, or bakhshi, whose called Rosenheim case, for example, it
powers were considerably more seems that only some such power could
spectacular than any yet shown by such have caused the disturbances.
modern-day wizards as Uri Geller. At
court feasts, the magicians would serve
Pictures swung, a filing
the Khan in style: "When the Great Khan
is seated in his high hall at his table, cabinet moved, drawers
which is raised more than eight cubits

FACT [12 feet] above the and the cups

floor, flew from desks, and pages
In 1971, underdose are on the floor of the hall, a good 10
ripped themselves from a
scientific scrutiny, Felicia paces distant from the table, and are full
Parise, a laboratory of wine and milk and other pleasant calendar.
assistant at the drinks, these bakhshi contrive by their
Maimonides Medical enchantment and their art that the full In the late 1960's a lawyer's office in
Center, New York, moved cups rise up of their own accord from Rosenheim, Bavaria, was plagued by
a quarter-full medicine the floor and come to the Great Khan astonishingly high telephone bills that
bottle six inches across a without anyone touching them." seemed to be due to rogue equipment.
flat surface, without Then engineers found that someone — or
physical contact of any Paranormal energy something — was making an astounding
kind. Concentrating Marco Polo makes no attempt to explain number of calls to the local time-of-day
intensely, she was able to he simply swears to its truth.
this feat; service.Worse, it transpired that the calls
stop or reverse movement But the modern mind cannot be content were being made faster than it was
of the bottle at will. without some attempt at a scientific humanly possible to dial them.
explanation of such strange powers. A Then began a series of electrical
reasonable hypothesis is that disturbances: fluorescent bulbs exploded
paranormal phenomena involve an as and were twisted out of their sockets.
The utility company put the office supply
on to an emergency generator, but the
problems continued. Pictures swung in
draft-free rooms, a filing cabinet
weighing 400 pounds moved of its own
accord, the office photocopier
repeatedly leaked chemicals although it
was not switched on, the drawers flew
from desks, and pages ripped themselves
from a calendar.
 FACT
To test the validity of
astrology, researcher
Edmund van Deusen
charted the relationship
between the date of birth
and profession of 163,953
individuals in the United
States and Canada. He
found there were indeed
statistically significant
correlations: librarians
tended to be born in Libra,
bankers in Virgo, lawyers
in Gemini, and army
officers in Leo and Scorpio.
FACT
In 1898, Morgan
Robertson published a
novel in which an
"unsinkable " transatlantic
liner called Titan strikes
icebergand sinks during
her maiden voyage.
Fourteen years later,
exactly the same fate befell
the real-life ocean liner,
the S.S. Titanic.
Investigators concluded, after moiiths of
iooiiing into every possible physical
cause and coming to a dead end, that
the source of all this mayhem was a
young secretary who, unhappy in love
and at work, was taking out her
resentment on the office — albeit
unconsciously. She, or the power of her
mind, had caused the disturbances by
bringing some force, or energy, into play
that no could
scientific instrument
detect. When
she left the company, the
disturbances stopped abruptly.
The search for truth
All modern investigators into psi —a
term that embraces all aspects of the
paranormal from spoon-bending and
levitation to poltergeists and
channeling — have learned from bitter
experience that they face two major
tasks when investigating apparent
paranormal events. The first is to
establish that the witnesses were neither
deceived by a hoax or practical joke,
nor simply mistaken. Then, even when
trickery and error have been ruled out,
there remains the far more difficult issue
of convincing skeptics that anything
an inexplicable has happened at all.
Scientific investigation
There has been serious scientific
investigation of the unknown ever since
the Society for Psychical Research was
founded in Britain in 1882 by some of
the most eminent scientists of the 19th
century. Extrasensory perception (ESP),
in particular, has been subjected to a
whole range of laboratory tests and at
one time even attracted the American
and Soviet military establishments,
searching for new methods of reading
one another's secrets.
Experiments conducted under strict
scientific conditions seem to have
shown that people can learn to control
events that appear uncontrollable — for
example, the score obtained by rolling
dice — by the power of thought alone.
This could offer an explanation for
various methods of divination, such as
tarot cards, 1 Ching, astrology, and
crystal-gazing,which are all essentially
attempts to foretell the future by tapping
hidden forces. The order
in which the
tarot cards are chosen or the pattern in
which the Ching sticks fall is apparently
1
dictated by pure chance. But perhaps
they are directed by the mind of the
diviner, or by an unknown force
susceptible to the mind's influence —
and this gives their "messages" their
sometimes surprising relevance.
Tarot cards, I Ching,
astrology, and crystal-gazing
are all attempts to foretell
the future by tapping
hidden forces.
But there is also a solid body of
defenders of scientific orthodoxy who
have yet to concede that anything
"paranormal" exists at all. Some of the
classic cases of psi are, nevertheless,
extremely well documented. How, for
example, could the 19th-century Scottish-
American medium Daniel Dunglas
Home have so thoroughly bamboozled
such large numbers of witnesses, many
of them drawn from the professional and
academic classes, when countless times
and in good light, he poked blazing fires
with his bare hands, elongated his body
by 8 to 10 inches, and levitated? On one
occasion, while Home was floating some
18 inches off the ground. Sir William
Crookes, one of the most noted scientists
of the day, passed his hands all around
Home's body and failed to find any
supporting device. Homenever objected
to such tests; indeed he welcomed them,
being as bewildered as anyone as to the
source of his powers.
-?te.>

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Genuine testimony, solid facts, and
inexplicable occurrences: these are
what make a real case for the existence
of paranormal forces. And there is no
shortage of remarkable incidents to
support that case.
Mysterious appearances
Take, for example, the astonishing story
of the mysterious disappearance and
reappearance of the Victorian medium
Mrs. Samuel Guppy. In London,
England, on the night of June 3, 1871,
Mrs. Guppy, who was well-known for her
ability to produce fresh flowers from
nowhere during seances, herself
appeared out of thin air, garbed in her
nightwear and clutching her accounts
book, and landed with a loud thud on a
tabletop at a seance in a house in
Lamb's Conduit Street, Clerkenwell. This
unannounced arrival must have
disturbed those present considerably, for
Mrs. Guppy was known as "the biggest
woman in London" and weighed over
230 pounds. Also disturbed, no doubt,
was the friend who was sitting with her
as she quietly attended to the household
accounts in Highbury, some three miles
away, at the moment she vanished.
Hypnotized subjects have
met their previous selves in
earher incarnations.
There have also been a wealth of claims
that people can move not only through
space but through time, or that time
itself may warp, taking people out of
their own era into another.
Hypnosis has been used in recent
years to "regress" subjects back into past
ages, where they have supposedly been
able to encounter their previous selves
in earlier incarnations. The revelation
that some apparent cases of regression
to previous lives were definitely invalid,
the supposed past lives being based on
buried memories of books the subject
truly had read in childhood, has not FACT
dampened enthusiasm for these voyages The Tibetans believe that
in time. Some researchers still believe their religious leader, the
they provide incontrovertible evidence Dalai Lama, is repeatedly
for the reality of reincarnation. reborn in a new human
Throughout history a surprising body. In 1990, Tenzin
number of distinguished citizens have Gyatso, the 14th Dalai
believed that they were not condemned Lama, celebrated his 55th
to only one life on earth. Among famous birthday — but if all his
believers in reincarnation have been not reincarnations are taken
only writers such as Walt Whitman and into account, he was
Ralph Waldo Emerson, but politicians, actually 600 years old.
businessmen, and military leaders,
including Benjamin Franklin, Henry
Ford, and Gen. George S. Patton.
Dreaming the future ^M^^M
Perhaps the best evidence that past and
futuremay be strangely mixed is to be
found in dreams. The number of
recorded examples of "premonitory
dreams" — in which the dreamer
foresees some disaster and is as a
consequence able to avoid it - is so
impressive that hardened skeptics can FACT
only respond by blankly asserting the Ambrose Bierce, an
impossibility of the fact, whatever the American journalist who
evidence. One man, David Booth of specialized as a collector
Cincinnati, had a vivid dream every of stories of mysterious
night for 10 consecutive nights, of a big disappearances, himself
three-engine American Airlines jet disappeared without trace
crashing. Then, on May 25, 1979, a three- in Chihuahua, Mexico, in
engine American Aidines DC-10 crashed December 1913.
on takeoff at O'Hare International
Airport in Chicago. David Booth's
nightmares stopped. Just as astonishing
was President Abraham Lincoln's dream,
in which he was walking through the
White House when he saw a flag-draped
coffin. "Who is it?" he asked. "The
President," came the reply. Just a few
days later, Lincoln was assassinated.
Premonitions of this kind raise the
question whether, if someone can
foretell the future, the future must have
already happened.
 FACT A British medium, Matthew Manning, extraordinary experiences reported by
In December 1972, an has even been reported to have made people resuscitated at the point of death
Eastern Airlines Tristarjet, two-way communication across time. In have seemed to give convincing
Flight 401, crashed into a the 1970's, Manning's house was confirmation to many of the traditional
Florida swamp, killing 101 haunted for a period by an entirely religious views of life after death.
people. Since then, crew solid-seeming apparition who called
members of other Eastern himself Robert Webbe and claimed to Ghostly visitations
Tristars have reported be a former owner of the 1 7th-century Visions of ghosts, which might logically
seeing lifelike apparitions house. Communicating through be taken as further reassuring evidence
of two of the dead crew on automatic writing, Webbe 's ghost of survival beyond the grave, have
over 20 occasions. apparently informed the medium that, to remained a source of fear rather than
him, it was Manning who was the ghost, hope, probably because ghosts are
a "ghoule of tomorrow." When Manning traditionally associated with troubled
asked him to whom he thought he was souls. This may be a genuine reflection
speaking, Webbe replied: "1 think of the "negative energy" that causes or
sometimes am going mad.
I I hear a transmits these echoes and reflections of
voyce in myne head which I hear talking murderers, the bereaved, or the heart-
to me." broken. But there are countless cases on
record of witnesses having no sense of
Backward through time | anything unusual or spine-chilling when
Apparent experiences of time travel encountering an apparition. ,

have been given a new legitimacy The archives of the Society for
through the amazing theories of modern Psychical Research contain numerous
physics. According to Albert Einstein's reports from the First World War of
special theory of relativity (1905), time is young combatants appearing to a
simply another dimension. When relative or friend at the moment of death.
mathematicians considering the strange
behavior of subatomic particles point
FACT out that one type of particle, the
"I saw him standing in the
On October 23,1 947, Dr positron, behaves exactly like another doorway, dressed in full
A. D. Bajkov, an American type, the electron, only moving
marine scientist, found fish backward through time, then anything flying clothes and smihng."
lying in the streets of seems possible.
Marksville, Louisiana, after One such case in 1918 was related by an
a sudden shower of rain. Life after death ; officer in Britain's Royal Naval Air
There were, he reported, Whatever the answer to riddles of this Service, whose friend and fellow officer
"sunfish, goggle-eyed kind, we all face one consequence of David McConnel had taken off in a
minnows, and black bass living imprisoned in a single dimension Sopwith Camel, promising to be back "in
up to nine inches long. "All of time: our own individual death. There time for tea." He came back early. His
had fallen from the sky, can be few questions in life more friend recalled: "1 saw him standing in
fresh enough to eat gripping than whether or not our the doorway, dressed in full flying
personalities survive death in some clothes and smiling. 1 remarked, 'Hello,
form. And the history of paranormal back already?' He replied, 'Yes, I got
phenomena provides a wealth of thereall right, had a good trip.' He said
provocative but imperfect evidence that 'Well, cheerio!', closed the door noisily
we do not cease to exist when we leave and went out." All this would have been
the earthly plane. In recent years, the perfectly normal, but for the fact that
McConnel had died that same afternoon
when crashed at 3:20 p.m. —
his aircraft
exactly the same time that he appeared
to his friend.
H;i

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 FACT While most troubled ghosts seem to be This affirmative creed of a future
In 1968, in a church at chained to the site of their unhappy irradiated with the light of the mind has
Porto Alegre in Brazil, a former lives, benign ghosts such as reawakened whole range
interest in the
large wooden over
crucifix McConnel appear to be projected over of unexplained phenomena. Whereas,
300 years old suddenly long distances. Either vk^ay, these vkfidely traditionally, psychic phenomena have
began to bleed. reported apparitions defy explanation in often been feared as a manifestation of
terms of contemporary science or dark forces, the New Agers in general
common sense. take a uniformly positive view.
Old-fashioned mediums have been
Manifestations of tlie unknown supplanted by New Age "channelers"
A terrifying encounter W\\h a UFO on a who claim to communicate the
lonely road in East Texas seems far enlightened views of spirit-beings with
removed from such matters as names like Seth and Zoosh. Faith healing
communications with the spirits of the has transmuted into crystal healing,
dead. Yet even this brief survey has exploiting the supposed vibrations of the
shown some of the connections that mineral for beneficent effect. The quartz
may exist between different crystal, radiating clear white light, has
manifestations of the unknown. It is as if become a symbol cosmic harmony.
of
we were trying to investigate the nature Thousands of Americans have embarked
of light, but could see it only as through on a quest to discover the secret powers
a prism, broken up into its constituent of the shaman and the yogi.
colors. We would know that red light
and blue light are aspects of the same
thing, butwould have no conception of New Age beliefs center on
FACT uniting them into one clear white
Questioned in a CBS News illumination — unless we were to take
an optimistic faith in the
poll in 1989, one American the most daring leap of the imagination. untapped powers of the
in four reported having
personal experience of human mind.
paranormal phenomena. Imagination is certainly a quality that the
New Age channelers and crystal-healers With visions of lost Atlantis intertwining
of recent years have in abundance. The with no less idealistic visions of a fresh
explosion of New Age beliefs, especially future for humanity just around the
in the United States, has centered on an corner, many New Agers seem to have
optimistic faith in the untapped powers abandoned the spirit of inquiry in the
that lie concealed in the human mind. search for belief and reassurance.
But belief need have nothing to fear
from a thorough and honest investigation
- if belief is well founded. It
of the facts
isonly through carefully considered
hypotheses, tested by experiment, that
the quest for the unknown can proceed
on any reliable, rational basis.
Those who take up the quest know
that the road will often be lonely,
and lined with mocking voices.
difficult,
But they also know that mockery will
never provide sufficient reason to
renounce the challenge that the
mysteries of the unknown always so
tantalizingly presents.
 CHAPTER ONE
\

Ancient
Builders
The sacred sites of banished peoples
and lost civilizations are scattered
across the globe, enigmatically
punctuating the landscape.
Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid, the
Ohio Serpent Mound, Chichen Itzd —
what can these monuments of the
past tell us of the wisdom of their
ancient builders?

In the earliest times, when humans lived in

roaming tribes of hunters and gatherers,
the.ir sacred places were natural sites, such
as springs, caves, peaks, trees, or rocky
outcrops, which were thought to be
inhabited by a god or spirit.

But frpm about 9000 b.c, when people

in Europe and Asia started
settling down to farm the
soil — the dawn of what
archeologists call the
ANCIENT BUILDERS

THE GODS THAT Neolithic or New Stone Age — certain involved in their
WALKED cultures began instead to build their construction has
The ancient stone statues that sanctified places. On the surface of a provoked endless
litter the barren, rocity
planet previously almost unmarked by speculation that
landscape of Easter Island, in
the activities of humankind, over the some other, more
the South Pacific, pose an
next 7,000 years great monuments arose. intelligent and
unsolved problem. They stand
They ranged from large stones technologically
between 12 and 15 feet high

and the largest of them weighs

(megaliths), either erected singly or in advanced
more than 80 tons. They were gaunt stone circles and rows, to the might
civilization
carved from rock from the sophisticated masonry of Egyptian and have had a hand
dormant crater of a volcano, Mayan pyramids and classical Greek in their building.
and we know that some were temples. Our ancestors also created Many of these
moved up to 10 miles away earthworks, drawing vast and complex ancient societies had myths that
from the crater to their present patterns of lines and images on the attributed all the wisdom and knowledge
position. But how? ground, and raising mounds to mark that humankind possessed to the
burial places and other sacred sites. teachings of a godlike visitor. Influenced
Manpower
In 1956 the explorer and
by UFO reports and the development of

archeologist Thor Heyerdahl

Awesome skills

tested a theory that the great

The quantity and quality of these
statues were moved using structures, produced with only limited On the surface of a planet
ropes and muscle power. Even technology, is astonishing. The most
using modern ropes, which are famous sites represent only a tiny
previously unmarked by
stronger than vine ropes, fraction of the total of those that have humankind, great
Heyerdahl's team was able to survived. There are over 900 stone
move a statue only 100 circles in the British Isles, for monuments arose.
yards, not 10 miles.
instance, and more than
Even so, the head was
800 in the West African space travel, a new version of this idea
damaged in the process.
region of Senegambia. Even has gained currency in recent times,
Nor could the statues
in our modern age, we can suggesting that the earth was visited
have been rolled along
on tree trunks, as were only gaze in awe at the thousands of years ago by beings from
the stones that formed work and skill that another planet. Their powers were so
the Great Pyramid. Trees went into the creation great that they were looked upon as
big enough to bear the of a mighty megalithic
weight simply cannot grow monument such as
on the island's poor soil. Stonehenge, in
southern England.
There are two
questions that
unavoidably come to
mind when
contemplating these
ancient how were
sites:

they built,and why? The Ohio Serpent Mound

Archeologists have Built about 100 B.C., this raised mound is over 400
argued convincingly yards long and traces the sinuous body of a snake.

that, given the

willpower and gods by our ancestors. It is claimed that
organization, ancient it was these ancient space travelers who

societies could were responsible for the construction of

certainly have built some of the greater monuments.
An Easter Island
all these The best known of the several writers
statue
Situated at Ahu Akin,
monuments who promoted these ideas is Erich von
near the west coast
unaided. But the Daniken, with his world bestseller
of the island, the .sophistication of Cfiariots of the Gods? In his book he
brooding appearance their design and claimed that the enormous stone figures
of the statue lends it the technical on Easter Island, for example, were
an air of mystery. achievement erected by unearthly beings. Although

26
 ANCIENT BUILDERS

Wall or skulls
Lost in the heart
of the Central
American jungles,
Chichen Itzd was
the most sacred
Mayan site. Of
the severed heads
that once decora-
ted its palisades,

only this relief

now remains

Diiniken did point out some unexplained

aspects of ancient artifacts and
structures, many of fiis ideas were
fanciful. Some, sucfi as tfie notion of
desert lines at Nazca, Peru,
being landing strips for
were
spacecraft,
demonstrably false.
Another possible
explanation for the
construction of the great
;^
monuments, much favored
among New Age cultists, is
that they were built by
survivors from a former
world civilization. The usual
candidate is Atlantis, first
described in the writings of
the Greek philosopher Plato
(429-348 B.C.). According
to the philosopher,
historians knew of a great
island that lay to the west
of Greece, upon which a
civilization had emerged that was highly
developed in technology and secret lore.
Ultimately, Atlantis was submerged by
a mighty cataclysm that
affected much of the
Mediterranean world of
its day. Only Egypt

escaped destruction.
Atlantean survivors
have been credited not
only with passing on
their wisdom to the
Egyptians, but also with
building the megaliths of
Europe and the great
temples and statues of
the Americas.

Colossal stone giant

Hundreds of these statues
are dotted over Easter Island.
ANCIENT BUILDERS

Machupicchu structures, have most remarkable and

The Inca mountain concluded that they mysterious structures.
fortress of Machu- are coded messages The largest and most
picchu was hidden in stone, recording important of the pyramids
from the world in
mathematical and of Egypt, its construction
a network of vines
astrological was a considerable feat of
high in the Andes
knowledge for engineering. Built during
mountains of Peru
posterity. Yet others the reign of the pharaoh
until 1911, when it

was rediscovered claim that the sacred Khufu (also known as

by the American sites are powerhouses Cheops) around 2500 b.c,
explorer Stephen of mysterious forces, it is made of about 2'/2

Bingham. that they mark the million sandstone blocks,

cfiakras, or energy each weighing about 2'/2
Implacable deities of stone points, of the planet, on a global grid tons. Even at 450 feet
The massive heads of kings or system only the ancient peoples were high, it is not as
gods stare at us across the sensitive enough to perceive. impressive today as when
centuries, a legacy of the first
it was first built, since the
great civilization of Meso-America
— The Great Pyramid top has been eroded
the Olmecs They flourished
from 1200 to 500
No single building has provoked as away, and the smooth
b.c in the fertile

lowlands surrounding the Gulf of

much speculation or wild fantasy as the limestone slabs that once
Mexico. The heads were carved Great Pyramid at Giza. The term faced the steep sides have
from volcanic rock up to 60 miles "pyramidiocy" has even been coined to long ago been removed.
away from the ceremonial centers refer to this outpouring of unlikely Many of the interesting
where thev are now to be found. theories. Yet there is no question that features of the pyramid

,««:..„._ the Great Pyramid truly is have led to sweeping

.:
.v.; ^'^"^v ! -^ _ w one of the world 's claims about the

. 'f 'L f i ' ' •

. •-/» *

Some researchers believe

the pyramids are coded
messages in stone,

recording knowledge for

posterity.

knowledge of the ancient Egyptians. For

instance, the site of the building is said
to revealan extraordinary grasp of
geography in a culture that, according to
accepted history, is not even supposed
to have known that the earth was round.
The pyramid, it is claimed, was
deliberately placed in the center of the
inhabited world. This point is almost
exactly on latitude 30° N and close to
longitude 31° E; the two lines that cross
more dry land than any others.
Of all the pyramids, the Great Pyramid
is the only one to have a network of
passageways built high into its structure.
This has been taken to suggest that it

may have been more than just a burial

chamber and monument. One 19th-
century astronomer, Richard Proctor,
claimed that the structure had originally
been built as an observatory or viewing
 ANCIENT BUILDERS

platform, being completed as a pyramid 2160 By aligning the building around

B.C. Pyramids at Giza
later on. He explained the presence of this and reflecting the starlight
passage, The Egyptian pyramids dominate

the passages as being both part of the up into a further passage above the first, the desert landscape

observatory apparatus and the system the builders were able to ensure the
used to align the pyramid. correct orientation of the pyramid.
Proctor's calculations were
astonishingly convoluted. He claimed Microcosm of world history
that the entrance passage was aligned Many other authorities have tried to
on the star Alpha Draconis, which, at explain why the ancient Egyptians went
3° 43' away, was very close to the to so much trouble in building the
celestial pole (the point in the sky pyramids. One approach holds that the
around which all the stars appear to dimensions of the pyramid are a PYRAMID ARITHMETIC
Did the ancient Egyptians know
revolve) in 3440 b.c. and again in mathematical code, expressing the
the dimensions of the earth? They
hidden knowledge of the ancient
may have, according to calcul-
Egyptians. The fact that the dilapidation
ations based on the presumed
of the structure makes it difficult to
measurements of the Great
come up with exact figures for the height Pyramid when it was in its original

and length of the sides of the pyramid state more than 2,000 years ago.
only fuels the fires of speculation.
Perhaps the strangest of all pyramid Multiple coincidence
theories was proposed by Adam A Greek writer of the second

Rutherford, president of the British century b.c, Agatharcides, refers

to the existence of a small
Institute of Pyramidology. He claimed
pyramid at the apex of the main
that the layout of the Great Pyramid was
structure. This was '/176 the total
a microcosm of world history, past and
size of the Great Pyramid.
future, with certain points in the
Multiplying the height of this small
structure referring to specific important
pyramid by the estimated total
dates. By analyzing the pyramid he pyramid height and then by
Soothsayer pyramid calculated that the "millennium," the 100,000 gives a figure of 131,383,296
This Mexican pyramid, built 2,000 years after the final thousand years of the reign of feet - which is the exact
Great pyramid, echoes the sacred structures of Egypt. Christ, should have begun in 1979. circumference of the earth.

29
,. !»«,»:
The Meaning
OF THE Megaliths
"/remember after dinner walking down to
the great Carnac alignments in the
The shadow stone
moonlight.. .their dark shadows a At Castlerigg, in Cumbria, England,
reminder of their darker past and our there is a standing stone that
ignorance of their makers and builders. throws a shadow two miles long

Glyn Daniel, The Hungry Archeologist in France at sunset on Midsummer Day.

HE MEGALITHS, ANCIENT STANDING STONES oftefl sitcd THE EARLY CALENDAR

Archeoastronomers claim that one
in wild and isolated locations, exert a strange
of the main motives of the ancient
fascination for modern man. They are a testament
builders was to trace the
to forms of knowledge, ceremony, and ritual that are
movements of the sun, moon, and
now a perplexing past. Traditional archeology
lost in
stars. Their buildings were, in

can tell us much about the mysterious view of the effect, observatories, using
world that gave rise to these sacred monuments, but shadows and light beams to chart

alternative approaches, perhaps less reliable but more seasonal changes in the heavens.

adventurous, have also made a valuable contribution to This enabled ancient peoples to

decoding the meaning of the megaliths. measure the passage of time with

great accuracy.

Stones and stars

One such approach archeoastronomy, the study of
is
The first observatories
The heavenly bodies had long
ancient astronomies. The subject acquired a scientific
been used for navigation, but
basis with the work of Sir Norman Lockyer around the
precise records
turn of the 20th century. A respected scientist and
were not
editor of the journal Nature, Lockyer established a possible until
connection between ancient buildings and the the construction
movement of the heavenly bodies. He discovered, for of a fixed

instance, that the axis of the Great Temple of Amon, at observatory,

Karnak in aligned with the setting sun on

Egypt, is where the

Midsummer Day. What is more, on that evening, a shaft movements of

of sunlight would have penetrated to the inner sanctum the heavenly

bodies could be
at the heart of the building. Was the temple, then, built
measured in
as a giant sundial, allowing the Egyptians to fix
relation to
precisely the date ofMidsummer Day?
unchanging Callanish,
Archeoastronomy came of age with the work of the landmarks. Scotland
Scotsman Alexander Thom in the 1960's. Inspired by Continued
the sight of the moon over the Callanish stones on the observations were then gradually
Isle of Lewis off the northwest coast of Scotland, Thom built up into an annual calendar,
surveyed many megalithic He claimed his
sites. recording the seasons and the
meticulous surveys showed that increase and decrease in the

many of the sites could have been length of the day.

used as astronomical observatories,

movements Planning ahead
giving readings of the
Working out planting and harvest
of heavenly bodies to a level of
times was obviously a matter of
accuracy far surpassing the needs
the greatest importance to early
of a simple agricultural society. For
farmers. But more than that,
example, he asserted that the stone megalithic structures indicated the
Broken stone rows that dot the landscape of timing of the solstices and
Le Grand Menhir Brise, Brittany could have enabled the equinoxes - the climaxes of the
at Carnac. Brittany, ancient inhabitants of that land to four seasons. These dates were
once stood some 70 calculate important dates by the assigned ceremonies of thanks-
feet tall.
relative position of the moon. giving, sacrifice, and invocation.

31
A Miracle of Sunlight
A society of Indians,living in the desert of New
Mexico a thousand years ago, devised a simple but
perfect instrument for measuring the passage of the
seasons. And it still works today.

Fajada
N THE SOUTHEAST FACE of sophistication, and their
Butte, at the entrance to Chaco ability to calculate the
Canyon in New Mexico, stands a times of sowing and
precise astronomical instrument. It can planting, and the precise
pinpoint the summer and winter timing of important
and shortest days —
solstices (the longest astronomical events, gave them the edge Fajada Butte, New Mexico
around June 22 and December 22), and over all the other cultures in the region. The butte rises spectacularly out

Whatever the of the surrounding desert of the

the vernal and autumnal equinoxes
(around March 21 and September 23).
This miracle of engineering is
stone, powered by and was
sunlight,
constructed about a thousand years ago.
Light-struck spirals
Three large stone slabs are positioned
vertically against the face of the butte.
The sun shines between these stones
cast daggers of light onto the rockface,
truth in this chicken-
San Juan basin, once the home of
and-egg debate, the discovery of such a
the Anasazi people. The Anasazis
built of complex system constructed from such
created an ingenious and accurate
simple components comes as a shock to
calendar on the southeast face of
the modern mind. It should also serve as
the butte
an example: how much of our
technology will still be functioning
perfectly a thousand years from now?
to HOW THE ANASAZI CALENDAR WORKS
The sun's rays sfiine through the spiral at midday. The winter solstice

and, on astronomically important days cracks between three stones to cast is signaled by two daggers of light
daggers of light on two spirals carved framing the main spiral at midday.
of the year, these light beams fall into
on the rockface behind. Four events The vernal and autumnal equinoxes
key positions on two spiral carvings.
in the astronomical year are clearly are both indicated in the same way:
The instrument was built by a farming
signaled. The summer solstice, when the large dagger of light appears to
people known as the Anasazi, who the sun is at its highest point in the the right of the center of the main
prospered from about a.d. 800 to 1250.
sky, is marked by the dagger of spiral, and a smaller dagger exactly
sunlight exactly bisecting the main bisects the small spiral.

Pueblo
Bonito

Recently, discoveries of artifacts have

suggested that the inhabitants of the
Chaco Canyon were administrators of a
large trading center. They constructed
hundreds of miles of roads, large-scale
and large and
irrigation systems, The Anasazi stone
complex houses, one of the most calendar
impressive of which is the 800-room,
multistory Pueblo Bonito.
Given the sophistication of the
Chacoan Anasazis, their creation of such
a calendar is not surprising. Or perhaps Vernal equinox Autumnal equinox
the calendar came before the

32
According to Thorn, the stone known as other Pueblo Indians of
Le Grand Menhir Brise near the Breton the Southwest, for
village of Locmariaquer could have instance, traditionally
acted as a massive foresight for lunar practiced sun-watching
observations from locations around as an aid to daily life.

Quiberon Bay. Now fallen and broken, The position of the

its height of 70 feet would have made it rising sun in relation to
the tallest standing stone in the world. particular points on the
horizon — a mountaintop
Quartz stone or gully — told them such
It is not only temples and stone circles essential information as the
that have attracted the attention of the time of year to sow and to
archeoastronomers. They have also harvest, and when they should
studied earth mounds in Europe dating observe the seasonal ceremonies
back to the Neolithic period. Some of required by their religious beliefs.
these, which served partly as tombs,
contain passageways that are almost Looking to the heavens
certainly aligned astronomically. In the Venus, the brightest object in the sky Chinese compass
mound at Gavrinis in Brittany, for apart from the Sun and the Moon, was The ancient Chinese put great
faith in their geomancers, the
instance, the passage contains a single important to the Indian civilizations of
experts in feng-shui who were
quartz stone which is placed at the Central and South America, particularly
supposedly versed in the mysteries
the Mayans, who dominated much of
of the earth forces. Even today,
Central America until the arrival of the
few Chinese would dare to build a
Europeans. They had learned through
house or temple without
observation how to predict accurately considering the balance of these
the movement Venus, as well as other
of occult patterns of energy This
heavenly bodies. This is shown by the compass was used by a geomancer
design of the 1,000-year-old Caracol, a in the practice of his art.

The burial chamber at

Newgrange was dehberately

Mayan pyramid of Kukulcan arranged so that a shaft of
This stepped pyramid at Ctiicfien Itzd, Mexico, casts
sunlight would illuminate it
a bizarre "serpent stiadow" at the time of the vernal
and autumnal equinoxes on Midwinter Day.
intersection of two separate lines, one cylindrical tower rising from a
deriving from the point where the sun rectangular base at Chichen Itza, a major
rises in midwinter, the other from the ceremonial center of the Mayans in the
most southerly point of the rising moon. Yucatan Peninsula of what is now
Mainstream archeology has been slow to Mexico. The windows of rhis observatory
accept the validity of these prehistoric align with key rising and setting points of
light shows. In 1989, however, Tom Ray, Venus, while the diagonals of the
an astronomer at the Dublin Institute for platform on which the tower stands
Advanced Studies, claimed to have indicate directions of the Sun.
statistical proof that the burial chamber Also at Chichen Itza is a stepped
at Newgrange, Ireland, was deliberately pyramid called the Castillo. At the two Silbury Hill, Wiltshire,

arranged so that a shaft of sunlight equinoxes each year, when the periods England
would illuminate the tomb on Midwinter of day and night on earth are equal, the This man-made hill is one of the

Day. The effect, Ray asserted, did not sun throws the jagged shadow of one of most impressive of prehistoric
mounds. It appears to be linked
occur by mere chance. the stepped corners of the pyramid onto
with other Neolithic sites along a
In the United States, researchers can a balustrade. The shadow not only gives
straight 'ley line.
turn to the living traditions of the Indians the impression of an undulating, slowly
for evidence of the astronomical moving snake, but also connects with a
practices of ancient man. The Hopis and carving of a serpent's head.

33
ANCIENT BUILDERS

The Atlantic stones A different approach to the meaning of Mystery Hill

The world's most Impressive the ancient sacred sites is found in the Sunset on the
megalitfiic sites — such as Carnac art of geomancy. The word originally winter solstice
in Britanny, where this standing over Mystery
described the process of telling fortunes
stone is found — form a chain Hill, Salem,
by reading the patterns formed by
spreading down the Atlantic New Hamp-
casting handfuls of soil. It was given a
seaboard from the north of shire Were
Scotland as far south as West
second meaning, however, when such megaliths
Africa. This has naturally led to
missionaries to China witnessed the actually solar
speculation that the builders of practice of feng-shui ("wind-water"), observatories,

the stone circles and rows may which the Chinese used as a method of used to follow
have migrated by sea in choosing a location for houses and the progress of
prehistoric times, bearing their tombs, and deciding the way that the seasons?
knowledge and their customs buildings should be
with them. positioned on the site. The Silbury Hill at Avebury in Wiltshire,

purpose of feng-shui was England, combines all these aspects. Its

Iways the same — to height and position are such that the
balance the energies ridge of nearby Walden Hill seems to
(known as c/? V) of brush the distant eastern horizon when
-f,
the earth and the viewed from Silbury's summit. From a
air in order to distinctive ledgelower down the mound,
make a location an additional skyline becomes visible.
more favorable
for human
One theory is that a
occupancy. The
missionaries used "universal force," said to
the oldword
"geomancy" for this
underlie all objects, is
system of sacred
especially concentrated in
geography.
Many more the sacred places.
geomantic systems
used in other parts of which allows a "double sunrise" to be
the world have now seen from Silbury at the beginning of
been found, and August, the time of the harvest festival
researchers have known as Lughnassadh in the Celtic
learned to study sacred calendar and Lammas in the Christian
sites using known year. Moreover, Silbury forms a link in a
geomantic principles. chain of alignments between all the
This approach involves major Neolithic sites in the area.
seeing how a site is
positioned in Sacred centers
relation to the Allgeomantic schemes involve belief in
heavens, and how an omphalos, or "world navel," the
it relates to its sacred center of the world from which
local landscape order was created out of chaos. The holy
and to other sites center of Jerusalem — sacred to Judaism,
*
in the region. Do Christendom, and Islam alike — is one
the sites form place that has been considered the site
alignments — of the omphalos. Another world navel
usually known as was at Delphi in Greece. The omphalos
ley lines? there is a lichly carved stone. The Ka'aba
In 1989 at Mecca in Saudi Arabia contains an
researcher Paul omphalos fashioned from a meteorite.
Devereux The notion of ancient monuments as
confirmed that focal points of energy has gained
Europe's tallest popularity with researchers in recent
prehistoric mound. years. One theory is that a "universal
 MEANING OF THE MEGALITHS

force," said to underlie all material martial arts adepts can project this force Scientific

objects, is especially concentrated in the from their hands. North American Indian method
unknown tribes had at least a dozen names, such Since 1977,
sacred places. This force, to
Dragon Project
modern science, was allegedly as po-wa-fia, manitou, and maxpe, for
scientists have
acknowledged in the past and sensed by "the force that was with them" in life.
taken readings
worshipers at the ancient religious sites.
of radiation
Most traditional peoples have, or have Physical force
levels and
had, a name for some sort of mysterious Questions about a universal force must magnetism at
life force. The Chinese feng-shui remain unanswered for now. But stone circles.

geomancers, as we have seen, had ch'i, researchers have found other intriguing
the same energy supposedly involved in energies at prehistoric sites. In the mid-
acupuncture. The Australian Aborigines dowsers and
1970's, for instance,

have kurunba, which they believe is physicists confirmed magnetic effects

concentrated at their totem sites. In around the Llangynidr stone near
Japan the force is known as ki, and Crickhowell in Wales. Belgian researcher
PierreMereaux found peculiar magnetic
Jerusalem and gravity readings around the Carnac
The Temple
Energized stone
stone rows in Brittany. Sacred sites seem This Kirlian photograph of a
Mount at
often to have been located close to standing stone was taken by
Jerusalem is
geological fault lines, which could give Dragon Project researchers Kirlian
one of the
rise to strange physical phenomena. photography places an object in a
sacred centers
of the earth in Perhaps only when we study the high-voltage field and records the

ancient sites from every possible angle energy discharge. In the center,
the old
we begin to solve the puzzle they energy flares off the stone; in the
geomantic will
foreground are tree shadows.
tradition. continue to present.

THE DRAGON PROJECT

In 1977 a Britain-based group of enthusiasts decided to subject ancient Strange sounds
sacred sites to rigorous examination. They called their enterprise the The tallest stone in the Rollright stone circle in Oxfordshire, England,

Dragon Project, because the dragon was used in ancient China as a was found to emit ultrasound (high-frequency sound inaudible to the
symbol for the hidden energy of the earth. human ear). Stranger still was the recording of babbling sounds inside
an Irish stone chamber. When the tape was replayed at a slower speed,

Radioactivity it reportedly became a voice saying: "Ghost is the listener."

Some sites were found to have relatively high radiation levels, mainly
because of the use of granite, a naturally radioactive rock, as a building Dream images
material. The King's Chamber in Egypt's Great Pyramid, for instance, is The project's most bizarre experiment is an attempt at
granite-clad. Some researchers believe that exposure to radiation of this "dream incubation." Researchers sleep at an-

kind could induce altered states of consciousness, causing visions and cient sacred sites and record their dreams.
Other "supernatural" experiences. The hope is that the hundreds of dreams
will reveal images that are induced
-^agnetism
Permanently magnetic stones, capable of affecting
compasses, and also weak magnetic fluctuations
measurable only by sensitive instruments
were found. Magnetism is also thought to
alter human consciousness. V)>1;

35
 Lore of the Stones
Legends from many parts of the world
refer to megaliths and stone circles. The
tales they tell are remarkably consistent.

TANDiNG STONES are often attributed by

The Tolvan stone folklore with the ability to move or to dance
as well as with the even more powers of
useful

HOLED STONES prophecy and healing, and as bringers of good luck Stone circle,
Stones containing iioles
and fertility. For example, water splashed on the stones Kur-Batch, Gambia

performed a variety of functions. at the most famous stone circle of them all, Stonehenge

The Tolvan fiole at Constantine in in the south of England, was

Cornwall, England, was used in supposed to have healing
baptism ceremonies. Babies were properties. Another myth links the
passed through the hole nine stone circle at Ka-Ur in Gambia,
times before being laid to sleep
with that at Stanton Drew in
on a grassy knoll nearby. Similar
England: the stones in both circles
traditions survive in connection
are supposed to be the petrified
with the Stone of Odin at Beltane
in Orkney, Scotland, the Long
members of a wedding party.

Stone at Minchinhampton,
Gloucestershire, England, and the Petrified pagctn elders
Speckled Stone at Tobernaveen The stones at Callanish in Scotland
near Sligo, Ireland. were considered to be the pagan
elders of the district, turned to stone
Men-an-tol stone, by the disapproving missionary St.
Cornwall Kieran. In another version of the story, a king set up the Stanton Drew,
People seeking cures are passed
stones with the help of a retinue of priests and African Avon, England
through the ring either three or
workers. The priests were left behind to instruct the
nine times in the opposite
local people in their rituals.
direction to the rays of the sun.
This legend may have some basis in fact. The
number of stone circles in the West African region of Creative customs
Senegambia alone is about 800, compared with about Whatever their original

900 in the whole of the British Isles. significance, standing stones and
Menantol Africa is generally accepted as menhirs came to be associated
stone the cradle of the human race, with fertility in the minds of local

and it has been suggested inhabitants all over the world. It

was customary in many places for

that the civilization that
marriages to be consummated
spawned the megaliths
near the stones, and for childless
may have spread
women to visit the sites in a quest
outwards from
for fecundity.
this continent The Iron
about 5,000 Pillar, part of
years ago. the Qutb Minar
near Delhi,
India, is 25 feet
high and 3 feet

in circum-
ference. Local

belief says that

Iron Pillar, people who

Delhi, India can stand with
their back
against the pillar, stretch their
arms around it and then clasp
their hands together, will be
successful in love.
Mobile megaliths St. Genevieve

Local legend has it that the Merry guards her

Maidens in Cornwall move in the flock in this
dead of night, as is the case with 16th-century
the column of menhirs at Menec, French
near Carnac, in Brittany. In Carnac painting
II parallel rows of menhirs, almost
1,100 in number, and about 110
yards long, lead to a huge
semicircle of stones. The myth A saintly shepherdess
Christian missionaries often built

churches on the sacred sites of

the pagans, hoping to convert the
local population by incorporating

some of the old religion. Visions

of the Madonna frequently appear

at springs, while some saints are

associated with stone circles. For

example, St. Genevieve is

sometimes depicted in a circle of

stones. The town she lived in -

Nanterre, outside Paris - had a
stone circle that was said to be
able to keep the floodwaters of

states that the stones are petrified Merry the Seine at bay. The saint herself

Roman soldiers. Every Christmas Maidens, interceded with her prayers to

night the spell is broken and they Cornwall save Paris from the ravages of

march down to the river to drink. Attila the Hun in a.d. 451. So
Similar legends surround other perhaps this

ancient stones, including the painting

Rollright stones near Oxford, symbolizes

England. Two large megaliths near the citizens of

the stone circle, the Kingstone Paris (the

and the Whispering Knights sheep) being

dolmen, are reputed to go down protected by

to a stream to drink at night. The Rollright the faith of

stones themselves are said to be a stones, St. Genevieve.

king and his retinue who were Oxford,

turned to stone by a witch. England

'^^^^'

Fertility
symbols Goddess, Oshun
Stones from River, Nigeria
Scotland to
Africa were
shaped into phallic symbols,

or carved into Mother Earth

effigies. At the Christianized
dolmen known as La Pierre

Chaude in Carnac, Brittany,

women would raise their

skirts in front of the dolmen

at full moon to invoke

pregnancy. Whether the

correct ritual performed at
the right stone ever improved
the fertility of man or woman, Phallic
or even the crop-bearing symbol,
potential of the land itself, Ballochry,
has never been established. Scotland
 Interpreting Stonehenge
"Stonehenge is unique...Jmmense and still, it

seems beyond man, beyond mortality. In its

presence, within those silent circles, one j

feels the great past all around.

Hawkins, Stonehenge Decoded Dr. William
Gerald S.
Stukeley

OR MANY CENTURIES, human- revealed to the world the fact

kind was baffled by the origins that Stonehenge points to "the

Druids and purpose of Stonehenge, one of whereabouts the sun rises, when the

Until banned from doing so in the the world's most famous prehistoric days are longest." But this promising lead
I980's, Druids gathered at the monuments, rising dramatically out of a was not followed up until modem times.
ancient monument to celebrate featureless plain in Wiltshire, England. Starting in the 19th century, archeo-
the summer solstice. By medieval times, legends proliferated logists established a number of clear

aiaout the ancient stones. Folk tales told facts. Stonehenge had been built over a
of the monument's strange supernatural period of some main
1,200 years in three
properties, and related how the huge stages. From about 3200 b.c. a circular
bluestones were transported all the way ditch was dug with an earth bank built
from Ireland to Stonehenge by inside it. A ring of 56 holes, known as the
Merlin, the magician at the Aubrey Holes, was excavated inside the
court of King Arthur. In bank. The Heel Stone stood outside this
the 18th century, the entrance. ^
English antiquarian
v..,,;^ Dr. William Stukeley
4.
.^.
y^-:
}

\ . r.

'

4
4 '• •-

Trilithons
Five of these
Heel Stone
trilithons —
This leaning stone, 20 feet high with 4 feet concealed
structures composed
underground, weighs an estimated 35 tons and stands
of two uprights and
within the Avenue leading to Stonehenge.
one horizontal stone
— were arranged in

a horseshoe
formation within the
sarsen circle. Three
complete groups still

stand. The name

"
'trilithon is derived
from the Greek for
'three stones.
 INTERPRETING STONEHENGE

In about 2200 b.c. the Avenue was dug such as Sir Norman Sightlines
and the four were
Station Stones Lockyer, Alexander When viewed from the
installed, as was an arrangement of large Thom, Gerard center of tfie sarsen

bluestones. In the third stage, from Vaucouleurs, and circle, the Heel Stone
aligns with the rising sun
C. A. Newham, has
at daybreak on
come closest to
"What purpose did it serve,
answering this key
Midsummer Day, at the
summer solstice The
this monument and question. These
existence of these
researchers have sightlines was finally
memorial of men?" established beyond proved by the computer
doubt that the calculations of
about 2000 b.c, the bluestones were stones are arranged astronomer Gerald S.
replaced by a circle of huge sarsen in a complex Hawkins in the 1%0's
(natural sandstone) boulders capped pattern related to
with lintels and enclosing five trilithons major astronomical events. It is probable
arranged in the shape of a horseshoe. conducted at the
that religious rituals
But as recently as the 1960's, sites were timed to coincide with these
American astronomer Gerald S. Hawkins important occasions, regarded as sacred
could write: "What purpose did it serve, by our ancestors. ^.
this monument and memorial of men
whose other memorials have all but
vanished from the earth?"
In fact, Gerald
Hawkins, along
with researchers

-J.

THE BUILDING OF STONEHENGE

•
'.>'

The Avenue
Originally a roadway enclosed by earth banks 47 feet
apart, the Avenue led to the northeast entrance
along the line of the rising sun on Midsummer Day.

n Stonehenge I c. 3200-2300 b.c. Ditch and bank dug;

Heel Stone positioned.

C3 Stonehenge II c. 2200 b.c. The Avenue dug, and 2

stones set up; 4 Station Stones set up; bluestones set in

horseshoe.
Stonehenge III c. 2000 b.c. Trilithons and sarsen circle

set up; 2 upright stones set up near entrance.

 Mysteries of the Maze
Since the dawn of civilization, mazes have
fascinated humankind. Labyrinth designs
appear on the stones of burial chambers
in Ireland that may be 4,500 years old.

COIN OF THE SECOND CENTURY B.C., foUnd at

Knossos has a distinctive circular
in Crete,
maze design with seven rings. Exactly the
Cretan same design appears mysteriously at different
coins periods in history on stones and
,rjfli|pSi^
artifacts as far apart as India,
THE CRETAN Norway, Ireland, England, and
LABYRINTH the state of Arizona.
The most famous maze What were these mazes
of all is the fabled
for? There are several
labyrinth at Knossos in
theories. Since labyrinth
Crete that housed a monster -:
carvings are often found
known as the Minotaur. The
actual site has never been found.
near sacred burial sites, they seem to

The legend is as follows:

Minos, king of Crete, held
over Athens, and every nine years
demanded tribute of seven youths
and seven maidens. They were
sent into the labyrinth (designed
for the king by his brilliant
engineer, Daedalus) to be killed
by the Minotaur, a monster that
was part man and part
have been strongly associated with
sway death in the mind of ancient man.
They were possibly a type of magic
device to ward off evil, or a symbol of
the passage through life, or through the
underworld after death. Or, they may simply
have been an ancient sign meaning "No Entry"
to the living.
Ornamental hedge mazes are a relatively recent Hollywood stone
bull
introduction, becoming common only about 400 years
ago. Those that survive in public gardens are still
popular today, especially with children. It may be that
the labyrinth still has a significance for our
subconscious minds, while its secrets recede even
further into our ancient past.

Ancient mazes
A granite stone from the Bronze among the Hopi Indians in Arizona.

Age, about 1500 b.c, discovered Even older designs based on a Tintagel carving
near Hollywood, County Wicklow mazelike spiral motif appear on
Ireland, was found to carry the entrance stone of the passage-
exactly the same maze design as grave at Newgrange, County Meath,
a coin minted in Knossos, Ireland, that is said to date

Crete, over 1,300 years back to 2500 b.c.

"Theseus and Ariadne" — later. Two more Bronze Carved stone at

Italian Renaissance painting Age carvings with the Newgrange
same design were
Theseus, a prince of Athens, found at Tintagel in

volunteered to go as one of the England, and there

sacrificial youths Minos beautiful

'
are similar mazes
daughter Ariadne fell in love with in Scandinavia.

him, and gave him a thread to They occur as a

unravel on his way to the center Manas-Chakra,

of the labyrinth. Theseus found a religious

and killed the Minotaur, followed emblem, in

the thread back out of the Rajasthan, India,

labyrinth, and returned home in and as a symbol

triumph to Athens of Mother Earth

40
 MYSTERIES OF THE MAZE

Snakes and spirals

This Australian Aboriginal
bark painting, by a member
of the Murinbatta tribe, is

from Port Keats in the

Northern Territory. Its

subject is the "Great Snake,"

that according to Aboriginal

culture is an important
creative being. Labyrinthine

circles and spiral designs are

a common feature in

Aboriginal art, and are

usually associated with

A maze and a motto Ceiling maze at Mantua creative energy. The spiral is Aboriginal bark painting
The maze was adopted as an connected with birth in cultures

emblem by the Gonzaga family, all over the world.

dukes of Mantua, during the Human bone

Renaissance. There is a ornament
magnificent painting of a This hei-tiki from English turf mazes
labyrinth on a wooden ceiling of New Zealand is a Turf mazes, although not
Maori hei-tiki
exclusive to England, are
the ducal palace at Mantua, Italy. body ornament,
The wording around the border of probably intended more common there than
the design commemorates the as a necklace. It anywhere else. One of the

crusade of Vincenzo Gonzaga was made in the early best-preserved examples is

against the Turks. Along the path 19th century, at Wing in Rutland. Turf has

of the maze the Gonzaga family from human been cut away from an area
motto is repeated again and bone. The spiral around 40 feet in diameter
again: "Maybe yes, maybe no." design is a to leave a raised path that
traditional leads to the center. Its

pattern that design is similar to that of

symbolizes the the turf mazes at Alkborough

masculine principle, in Lincolnshire and

and is used here to Breamore in Hampshire, and

signify the position of also the maze on the floor of

the major joints of the the cathedral at Chartres in

figure, at the shoulder France. As with many other

and the hip. turf mazes, it is near the site

of an ancient burial mound.

"Portrait of an Unknown Man

Labyrinth at Lucca

"All for love"

Painted on a wall in the cathedral
at Lucca, Italy, is a labyrinth 20

inches in diameter. Probably

dating from the 13th century,
Turf maze at Wing
it

originally had the figures of

Theseus and the Minotaur at the

center. These have long since Mystery man

been worn off by generation after This "Portrait of an Unknown Man"
generation of fingers tracing the is by Bartolommeo de Veneto, and
complex design. A Latin was painted around 1510. The
inscription reads: "This is the labyrinth on his chest is a symbol
labyrinth that the Cretan of secrecy. This theme is

Daedalus built, out of which reinforced by the "Solomon's

nobody could escape, except knots" on the rest of his garments,
Theseus; nor could he have done a design that combines the
it without the help of Ariadne and mystical symbols of swastika,
her thread, all for love." cross, and labyrinth.

41
 Turf maze at Alkborough St. Agnes stone maze
At Camperdeazil Point on St.

Agnes, one of the Isles of Scilly off

the southwest coast of

England, there is a

maze formed by a
pattern of loose
boulders. Boulder

A Lincolnshire labyrinth mazes are most often

At Alkborough, Lincolnshire, found in Scandinavia.

England, there is a turf maze The stone maze on St.

known as Julian's Bower or Gilling Agnes island is called

Bore. It is 40 feet in diameter and Troy Town, the name

the borders of the design are cut commonly given to turf

six inches deep into the turf. The Boulder labyrinth mazes in England, it is likely that

design is repeated at St. Agnes a ritual dance was performed

in stained glass there, and that the movement of
and on the the dancers through the maze in
stone floor some way reflected the movement
of the
Maze on of the sun through the heavens.

parish
tombstone Viking memorial stone
church of
Alkborough,
and on a

tombstone in the

cemetery. The first Uppland runestone

record of the maze is in a diary This memoria
written between 1671 and 1704, runestone at Uppland

but it is probably a lot older. A in Sweden dates back

later commentator refers to to Viking times, about
"running it in and out," and to A.D. 900. It has a

watching the villagers playing May complex meandering

Eve games there, "under an design featuring

indefinite persuasion of something serpent motifs. The

unknown and unseen cooperating lettering in the

with them." winding banner

refers to the person

Meaning of the maze commemorated by ''.

Various theories exist as to the the stone. The

original purpose of turf mazes. It
snake is the

has been suggested that they date Midgard, the

'
back to the serpent that -'

circles the globe

Roman
occupation in Viking

of Britain mythology. The

and are serpent and

courses for the spiral

the ancient, are

mysterious frequently

"game of
seen in

Troy." They labyrinths.

are often

found near
Maze in sacred sites
stained glass and probably
have ritual

significance, perhaps as a type of

magic to ward off evil. This would

help to explain how the designs
became adopted by Christianity
and were incorporated into some
European medieval churches.

42
 Amerindian miniature maze
This tiny basket, only three inches in diameter, was
handwoven from horsehair by a member of the Pima
tribe in southwest Arizona. The figure in the design is

an iitoi, or founding father, who climbed a mountain

to avoid a great flood. Having descended from the
mountain to found the tribe, the //to/ returned to the
heights by a tortuous path - symbolized by the
labyrinth design.

Labyrinth
design on
Nazca lines a basket
The strange lines, shapes, and
mazelike spirals etched on the
Nazca plains of Peru are thought
to be the work of a pre-lnca
civilization. Stones and pebbles
were systematically removed from
the ground to reveal the darker
soil beneath. Some of the straight

lines are aligned with stars and

are reputed to have an astrological

significance. The purpose of the

spiral designs remains a mystery.
 '^

The Candelabra
This unusual design is

carved in a hill of dry

sand on the coast of the
Paracas Peninsula in Peru,

not far from the desert

lines between Nazca and
Palpa. It is more than a
thousand years old.
Patterns in

THE Landscape
Megaliths, mazes, and monumental
constructions of wood, earth, and stone
are not the only legacy of the ancient
builders. Our ancestors also imprinted
complex patterns of lines on the
landscape; these remain among the
deepest mysteries of the ancient world.

HERE NOWHERE BETTER to study landscape

IS

North and South America. The

lines than in Stepping off a precipice
most famous are on the desert plains between Wide steps have been cut into the
rock face where the Anasazi roads
Nazca and Palpa, Peru, in the foothills of the Andes.
meet Chaco Canyon.
Hundreds of lines, varying in width, spread across
about 200 square miles of desert. At least 1,500 years
old, they cut straight through gullies THE DIRECT ROUTE
and up hills without deviation, An odd feature of the landscape

converging at mounds known as ray lines traced by the Anasazi (a

centers. In places they develop into name meaning "ancient ones") is

geometric figures or vast images of their Indifference to the lay of the

birds or beasts — including lizards, many cases

land. In they press on

across mountains and ravines as if

monkeys, spiders, and whales.
precipitous drops and sheer rock
We know how the lines were
faces did not exist.
created: the dark, oxidized desert
For instance, when an Anasazi
surface was removed to reveal a road in New Mexico comes off the
\a:ca moiikty lighter subsoil. But no one knows why high mesa, striking the bare
figure they were made. The Nazca Indians rimrock of the Chaco Canyon, it

who drew these patterns on the earth continues in a straight line, its

have themselves long since disappeared from the face course marked with edging stones.

of the planet, leaving this mysterious testament behind Where it comes to the top of the

them. One theory — that the lines were connected with canyon walls, steps lead straight

astronomy, pointing toward the sun and moon at down to the canyon floor.

certain key dates — has been largely discredited. Other

Stairs of the gods?
suggestions - that the lines may indicate water sources
These rock stairs, shown above,
or may direct worshipers toward mountain peaks are far too wide and steep to have
inhabited by their gods — are little more than been used for the practical
speculation. The mystery remains. purposes of travel or trade.
Elsewhere in the canyon there are

Lines across the Americas narrower steps with handholds,

Although the Nazca lines are the most famous in the that presumably were used for

world, they are far from unique. At sites across the everyday transportation.

Americas, ancient lines radiate over the landscape. In One possible explanation for

building such impractical straight

Bolivia, for instance, there are lines that are even more
roads is that they were
extensive than those at Nazca, and along them the
symbolically intended for use by
local Indians have placed their holy shrines. The Incas
the Anasazis' gods.
also had a system of lines, called ceques, that radiated
out from their imperial city, Cuzco in Peru. These
ceques are usually traceable in the city because roads
have been built along them. But until recently, the
ceques could only be traced outside the city by
following the alignment of the shrines dotted along

45
 lUt. Kalmit

their path. But now they have become still-visible ancient landscape lines. But
visible: they can be clearly seen in aerial the existence of such lines in the past
Old photographs that use infrared film. can be deduced from the alignment of
crossroads
In North America the Miwok Inciians sacred sites and other major landmarks.
Moat of
Hanhofen (now extinct) made perfectly straight On the island of Java in Indonesia, for
Castle tracks that ran for dozens of miles example, there is a line of Buddhist
Hanhofen through the California sierras, from one temples (including the famous
church
mountain peak to another. Farther to the Borobudur) many miles long, along
southeast, the - ~
which an annual
Anasazi (a name ceremonial
meaning "the
"A fairy chain, stretching procession occurs.
Dadenhofen
church ancient ones" given from mountain peak to In Cairo, Egypt, as

to an extinct many as 14
culture by the mountain peak, as far as mosques and
,aty gate Navajo Indians) Islamic tombs have
Maypole* stone basin the eye could reach." been found to
Speyer] had neither horse
cathedral nor wheel, yet built align with each
perfect 30-foot-wide other. Lines linking
main roads with churches, natural
equally exact features, and
tributary roads just ancient sites have
half that width. been well
These systems of documented
A CLASSIC LEY straight roads, more throughout Europe.
Researcher Ulrich Magin has than 1,000 years Some of the more
discovered a nine-point ley old, radiate around obvious of these
running for 17 miles on a west- alignments, where
Chaco Canyon in
east line from Mount Kalmit to the
landscape
New Mexico. They straight
cathedral in Speyer, Germany.
are difficult to see lines pass through
After the mountain, it passes
on the ground, many ancient sites,
through a crossroads, which dates
usually appearing have been termed
it at least to medieval times. Next
a square moat where as shallow "leys," and are now
on the line is

Hanhofen Castle used to stand, depressions, but accepted by

followed by the churches of since the 1980's archeologists as
Hanhofen and Dudenhofen. aerialphotography intentional, rather
has identified about than the product of
Direct line to tlie catliedral 500 miles of such chance. But as in
The ley then enters Speyer via the
roads; their full the Americas, their
Altportel, the 13th-century city
extent has still not exact purpose
gate. This gate is linked to the
been plotted. On Idealized ley tine remains unclear.
cathedral by Maximilianstrasse, a
the northern rim of This illustration gires an impression of the kind of The modern
road once used by German — —
markers churches hilltops stone circles that awareness of leys
emperors for their triumphal entry
Chaco Canyon, the
make up an ideal alignment on the British landscape.
and other land-
into the city, and which directly Great North Road
follows the line of the ley. meets the ruined Anasazi ceremonial scape due mainly to Alfred
lines is

A maypole on this street, a center of Pueblo Alto. Archeologists Watkins, who published his classic work
survival from pagan times, also have suggested that this center was a The OldStraigtit Track in 1925. On a hot
falls on the line, as does the most focal point of the roads, which implies summer afternoon in 1921, he was riding
ancient part of the cathedral. This that theywere themselves sacred. on horseback through the
is the Domnapf, a huge stone
Old World, with its denser beautiful countryside on thej
In the
basin in the courtyard, which was
population and long history of border between England
filled with wine for the citizens on
civilization, it is more difficult to find and Wales, an area he
the consecration of each new
bishop of Speyer.

I
Moat of\

Mt. Kalmit Old crossroads

Hanhofent
Castle
,U ..»'>l"' -'--s'-. •
nhofen

,«-.i=;s&!B^-
 Stone rows
The Merrivale stones on Dartmoor
in the southwest of England were
laid in a double row. and are
more than 2,000 years old.

ALFRED WATKINS
It was Alfred Watkins who coined
the term "ley." During fieldwork,
he encountered distinctive
boulders that he called "mark
stones," and he was convinced
that they had been set in place by
the original surveyors of the lines

thousands of years before.

Hilltops, too, were involved in

the alignments. Many were

crowned with prehistoric
earthworks. He called such
hilltops "initial points" and
claimed that they were used like

the sights on a rifle barrel to set

the course of a ley.

had known and loved for many years. like "a fairy chain, stretching from
Religious tradition
He reined to a halt on a high hilltop and mountain peak to mountain peak, as far
Old churches also fell on his leys.
took out a detailed map of the country as the eye could reach...."
At first glance, this seems difficult
spreading out below him. Noticing that Despite Watkins's deep mystical to explain, as the alignments were
the prehistoric sites on the map fell into intuition about the importance of the supposedly set down in prehistory,
straight alignments, he was suddenly system of leys he had discovered, he long before Christianity existed.
overwhelmed by a vision that struck rationalized them as being But Watkins
him, he later recalled, like "a flood of the remnants of a system of correctly pointed out

ancestral memory." It was a vision of traders' straight tracks, that it was the policy
of the early Christian
straight lines across Britain, linking initially sighted across the
missionaries to
ancient burial mounds, stone circles, country in the Neolithic
reuse pagan sites
churches, hilltops, and crossroads, each period, and marked by
where appropriate;
mounds and stones. He
so they would have
City gate conjectured that these old built their churches
The view straight paths were on traditional holy
through the maintained with modific- sites of the pagan
Altportel follows
ations until they fell into past. There are
the line of the
obscurity some time after numerous examples
ley up
Maximilian-
the Roman occupation of n Europe and South

Britain 2,000 years ago. America of churches

strasse directly
occupying prehistoric
to Speyer Alfred Watkins
religious sites.
cathedral German Holy Lines
Other ley markers
German researchers contemporary' with
recognized by Watkins included
Watkins came up with similar findings in ancient
river fords, holy wells,
their own landscape. Pre-eminent among crossroads, and
these were Josef Heinsch and indentations in the
Wilhelm Teudt. Teudt called his skyline produced
lines Heilige Linien by a dip in a

(Holy Lines). line of hills or

mountains.
1-innv

mum; Speyer
City gate Maypole Stone basin -- cathedral

WrSMBPSHB il I •
ANCIENT BUILDERS

'The Death of a Chief" appeared chiefly along leys,

Thismodern painting by Peter
which in some way were
Szumowski is said to illustrate
supposed to attract and
the lines of spiritual energy that
direct the extraterrestrial
radiate across a landscape
visitors' spacecraft.
scattered with ancient Indian
burial monuments Such theories have lost
much of their appeal in
more recent years. Few
serious researchers will now
accept the notion of leys
extending to a continental
scale, and the supposed
magnetic forces have
proved elusive to
measurement. Yet
continuing research in
countries all around the
world — in Israel, Egypt,
.lapan, China, Indonesia,
Cambodia, Germany,
France, Britain, and
particularly in North and
Undeterred by the scorn of professional South America — has produced more
archeologists, Watkins continued with and more evidence of alignments that fit

map and field work, and ley the definition of a ley as originally
photography, until his death in 1935. outlined by Alfred Watkins.
Interest in his work then dwindled for a
number of decades, until the 1960's,
when there was an enthusiastic revival
of ley hunting.
Under the influence of
the exuberant mysticism
of that psychedelic
decade, all kinds of
exotic additions were
made to Watkins's ley
theory. With the
application of a little

imagination, enthusiasts Indian snake pattern

projected alleged leys This boulder design can be found in Death Valley
across hundreds of miles, National Monument in southern California.

and even across

continents, linking the A universal pattern
pyramids of ancient Itappears that Watkins had perceived
Egypt with the stone the remnants of a deep and universal
circles of England. A pattern. But although there are almost as
myth grew up that many theories as there are claimed
Watkins had first seen alignments, we still cannot be certain
Viking burial site leys as glowing lines of energy. All sorts what the ancient builders had in mind
At this site at Nerresundby of investigators set out with a variety of when they began their work. It could be
Denmark. 628 stones mark the divining equipment and electronic that the ancient
peoples possessed a
graves of warriors: 200 of these
detectors — or simply applying their own view of the earth that
spiritual
form the outline of a huge
powers — to plot these magnetic
ship.
psychic contemporary research simply cannot
"energy lines" across the landscape. The fathom. Until we begin to learn more
ley craze also became linked to UFO about their worldview, the significance
sightings. Writers such as Aime Michel of these patterns in the landscape will
and Tony Wedd claimed that UFO's remain shrouded in mvsterv.

48
The Dragon's Path
To the present day, the Chinese believe that the landscape, like
all living things, manifests energy, known as ch'i. This energy
flows like a river along the "paths of the dragon.

HE ANCIENT Chinese art of flow. Otherwise, obstacles such as

divining lines of energy in tfie fountains or screen walls, which deflect
landscape is known as feng-shui. ch'i, are carefully sited to protect the
The flow of energy is like the flow of newly constructed building.
water, which can be encouraged or Energy flow along an uninterrupted
inhibited by buildings or by features of straight line is generally considered
the landscape. Ch 7 flows along the paths harmful. These conditions create a
of the dragon, or lung mei. Secret Arrow, or hyper-accelerated force,
The flow of energy is stronger in some dispersing any other beneficial energies. Auspicious bank
places than others, and this has Such an arrangement creates bad ch '/, In Hong Kong, even ultramodern
buildings that are not designed by
important implications for human causing endless problems and
Chinese architects, such as the
if the energy flow is too weak
activities, disruptions, which in another culture
Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank,
at the site of a building, then the might be described as the work of
are planned according to the
structures will lack support and the poltergeists or gremlins.
principles o/'feng-shui.
activities performed there will be
sluggish. If, however, the flow is too Imperial force
strong, then the energy force will be The enormous strength of the Secret
dangerous and overpowering. Arrow along a straight line is considered
favorable only along ceremonial routes
Avoiding the Secret Arrow to imperial shrines. Even then, the flow
Practitioners of the ancient art of feng- of energy is often deliberately
shui, known as geomants, still dictate the interrupted by bridges and
siting of buildings. Few Chinese would pagodas. The straight roads
care to build without first having radiating from the imperial
consulted such an expert. If the existing Forbidden City in Beijing were
landscape creates unfavorable an attempt to channel ch 7
conditions, then in theory the landscape towards the emperor on his
can be altered to improve the energy golden throne.

Focusing the ch'i

At the end of this long ceremonial
avenue, which leads to an
imperial tomb, a gate is

positioned to focus the flow of

energy rushing along the path
created for it

49
 Practical Ley Hunting
Using quite simple equipment and easily learned techniques,
amateur ley hunters can make a significant contribution to our
developing knowledge of ancient landscape patterns.

HE IDEA OF LEY HUNTING IS tO notation. In your fieldwork you will be

identify straight lines that link seeking to check the validity of the
four or five "markers." The landmarks plotted on the map, and
technique is most easily applied in the searching for other possible sites. Are
Old World, particularly in Britain, where they, in fact, valid ley markers? Is a
Inca leys centuries of human settlement have particular crossroads sufficiently ancient
Streets have been built along the littered the landscape with ancient sites to form a link in the ley? It is essential to
ley lines, or ceques, within the city that constitute valid ley markers. These obtain an exact sighting on each
of Cuzco, in Peru. geographical feature and to locate it with
include burial mounds, prehistoric stone
circles, hilltops, crossroads, ancient equal accuracy on the map. Take a
NEW WORLD LINES
settlements, forts, and churches. photograph of each ley marker and, if
Most ancient landscape lines in
The first step is to get a map of the possible, one that shows the relationship
North and South America are only
area you want to study; the most of one landmark to another on the ley
visible from the air, but there are
suitable scale is 1:50,000 (about 1 'A (this is surprisingly difficult to do).
a few places where they can still

be seen by observers on the

inches to 1 mile). A ley is never likely to

ground. Some traces of ancient be more than 25 miles in length, a Follow-up research
Indian tracks have been preserved distance that can be covered on a single Note down basic details such as the type
virtually untouched for thousands map sheet of this scale. of land and features of the surrounding
of years. They usually appear as Spread the map out and examine it landscape. And remember to follow up
depressions in the ground or as for suitable markers. Use a long your expedition by obtaining
lines of boulders, which were used transparent ruler to see whether four or information about the sites you have
to mark the edges of the road.
five of these landmarks align. If they do, plotted and the neighboring area^
draw a line on the map to join them up. from local libraries and
From the air
Aerial photography is beyond the
Make sure to use a very sharp, hard archeological groups.
pencil. The narrower the line on the
scope of the amateur ley hunter,

but is used extensively in the

map, the more accurate the alignment is
ongoing process of charting likely to be.
American leys. Infrared

photography is also useful: by From mapwork to fieldwork

highlighting changes in vegetation Before you travel to the potential ley site
coloring, it shows up paths that that you have plotted, it is a good idea
have been regularly trodden over
to transfer this line onto larger-scale
the centuries. The existence of
maps of 1:25,000 (2 '/s inches to 1 mile).
ceques, lines connecting shrines
Also make sure you establish an exact
and radiating out from the Inca
capital of Cuzco, Peru, were
compass bearing for the line.
confirmed in this way.
To embark on work in the field,
you need a compass,
will

Conservation and
binoculars, a camera,
The remoteness of the American notebook. The most
sites, although a problem for the important requirement is

ley hunter, is a blessing in accuracy '

'

disguise. It is obviously imperative observat

to preserve these ancient

markings, and the fewer the

visitors, the less likely the lines

are to suffer damage. Some sites

are officially protected, and you

may need permission to visit

them. Such information can be

obtained from archeological
organizations.

50
Winchester ley, England v-^y^
With its dense concentration of ancient sites, Britain

offers classic locations for ley hunting. The

Winchester ley is about eight miles long It passes -^
through six markers, starting north of Winchester at
Tidbuiy Ring, the site of a prehistoric camp. Four
miles farther on, near Wonston. is a long mound, or Jt^% •«•"

ancient burial earthwork. The ley continues to

Winchester itself site of a pre-Roman settlement,
^ TlOBuRY Rlh/q

and an important medieval city. The line passes ^"^

through the 12th-century St Bartholomew's Church ,

^^
and Hyde Gate, built on the site of Hyde Abbey, /Sf, t %
where King Alfred the Great is supposedly -^ '"^
t.
buried. It continues through the Lady ^<^Jk'
Chapel of Winchester cathedral and
ends south of the city at St
Catherine's Hill, where there "> M
J-
are the remains of an
ancient camp ^,
and a turf maze.

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Lo st Cities Olmec culture
It is generally agreed that the

roots of Mayan culture go back to

OF THE Americas Olmec

greenstone
the earlier Olmec civilization,

which appeared on the shores of

statue the Gulf of Mexico around 1500
B.C. The Olmecs were especially
Central and South America are scattered noted for their skill in sculpting

with impressive remnants of the Indian monumental stone heads and

empires that came to an end with the for their exquisite jade

carving. This greenstone

Spanish conquest of the 16th century. The statue depicts a young
Mayas, Incas, and Aztecs all raised mighty man holding an image of

palaces and temples, and adorned them the "werejaguar" - the

chief god of the Olmecs -
with paintings and artifacts of gleaming
who combines the features
splendor. These sites were the scene of of a large feline with those
magnificent, but mysterious and bloody of a human baby.

rituals, by which homage was paid to the

myriad gods who oversaw every |

aspect of life on earth.

The Pyramid of
the Soothsayer

The civilizations Funeral pottery

of Central and Much of what we know about the

South America Mayan religion comes from their

This map shows the legacy of funerary pottery, vessels

geographical extent of the that they buried with their dead. A

good example is ttis magnificent
ancient empires at the
height of their powers. ceremonial vase, dating from the
10th or nth century. The intricate

patterns commemorate a

disastrous flood that the Mayas

KEY believed was caused by a

The Aztec empire malevolent spirit.

The Mayan empire

Mayan vase
The Inca empire
i
ANCIENT BUILDERS

Mixtec mosaics
Mosaic was a Central American
specialty, the n:iost accomplished
practitioners being craftsmen of
1 he Aztecs settled in Mexico in the 12th
the Mixtec tribe. Rare and
century. By the 15th century they ruled the
precious materials were used in
largest empire ever known in Central America.
great numbers. This exquisite
Their capital, Tenochtitlan, was captured by
knife handle, depicting a

crouching man, may well have Spanish conquistadors in 1521 and razed to
been used in human sacrifices. the ground; Mexico City was built on its ruins.
Calendar stone
The society was full of contradictions: human
sacrifice was considered essential, yet in Ancient Aztec city

other ways the civilization was advanced, Teotihuacan was in ruins even in

Aztec times and was revered as a

with impressive achievements in engineering,
place of mystery. For the Aztecs
architecture, and sculpture. One magnificent
it

was "the place of the gods" to

artifact that has survived is a calendar known
which they made pilgrimages. The
as the Stone of the Sun, originally
Pyramid of the Moon was built of
found in the Temple of Huitzilo-
bricks faced with stone, and was a
pochtli in Tenochtitlan. spectacular building standing 200
feet tall at one end of the Avenue
of the Dead.

Sacrificial rites
The Aztecs worshiped many gods,
including the supreme
Huitzilopochtli, the sun god and
god of war; QuetzalcoatI, the
feathered serpent god; and his
brother, Tezcatlipoca, the god of The
chance and fortune. People and Pyramid of
animals were sacrificed daily to the Moon
the gods. Once a year, when
Tezcatlipoca was honored, a Divine powers
young man representing ideal The Aztecs believed their stone

beauty was picked to personify figures to be imbued with a

him, and was sacrificed in his divine power. The invading

name. The man's heart was torn Spaniards understood this and. to

out and his head displayed on a protect the Catholic faith,

skull rack in front of the temple. destroyed or buried every statue
they found. This enormous figure

of the earth goddess Coatlicue,

.Skull rack some eight feet tall, once stood
in a temple in Tenochtitlan. She
has two rattlesnake heads and a
necklace of human hearts

and severed hands,

with a skull for a
centerpiece.

Stone earth
goddess
 LOST CITIES OF THE AMERICAS

Nazca hummingbirds
The images of the ancient Indians

of South America reflect the

importance in their lives of birds

1 he Inca civilization originated near Cuzco
and animals, certain of which had
in Peru In the 12th century. By 1500 the Incas'
special significance. The Nazcas,
Chimu burial mask territory extended froin present-day Ecuador
forerunners of the Incas, scraped
in the north to Chile in the south. The Incas
spectacular line drawings out of
were not the only civilization in this area. the landscape of the arid coastal
They were preceded by the Nazcas in plains around \.d. 500. This long-
southern Peru (a.d. 200-600). and lived at billed hummingbird is so massive

thesame time as the Chimu people, whom that it cannot be seen at ground

they conquered in 1470. level, supporting the contention

Although they had no paper, or that such "earth pictures" were

intended for the eyes of the gods.
system of writing, the Incas built
The hummingbird also featured in
impressive palaces, temples, and
the patterns on Nazca pottery.
roads. Inca metaiworking skillswere
highly developed, and their ceramics and Nazca earth picture
Precious metal textiles were elaborate and beautiful.
For the Incas, gold was "the sweat
of the sun." Because of its divine

origin, it was reserved for religious

use, such as in temple ornaments,

and for the adornment of the

emperor and the most important

members of the nobility. This

13th-century Chimu burial mask is Sea liarvest

made of embossed sheet gold and The waters of the Pacific helped
was originally painted red, a to feed the ancient Indian

sacred color in ancient American societies of coastal South America

funeral rites. in more ways than one, since fish

was used both as a food and as Nazca pot

agricultural fertilizer. Sea with fisherman
creatures were prominent and net
motifs in ceramics,
paintings, and murals. One
example is this wall at the

Chimu capital of Chan

Chan in northern Peru
In 1400 Chan Chan,
Nazca
with a population of
pot with
about 50,000, was
huiTimingbird
the largest city in
motif
South America.

Inca doll

Cotton as precious as jade

The Incas buried their dead with
the tools they had used during
their lifetimes. This burial doll,

made from cotton and reeds, was

found with the body of a child.
The use of humble materials did
not make the work of art any less
precious. To the Incas all

materials were equally expressive Adobe wall at

of religious truths.
ipTTl
Chan Chan
Lines and Lights
For centuries strange light shows —
glowing orbs, flickering or Hooting beams,
bright Hashes —
have been reported at
sacred monuments and sites around the
world. Are they connected with faults in
the earth's crust?

HE EERIE ERODED LANDSCAPE of the PionaCleS

National Monument in southern California was
the setting for a peculiar play of light in the spring
of 1973. At dusk David Kubrin and his wife were
heading back to their car after a visit to the monument
when they saw an oval of golden light streaking at
speed just above the treetops. It swirled around and
came to a sudden halt, near enough to photograph. As
the holder of a doctorate in the history of science,
Kubrin was struck by the fact that the behavior of the
light clearly violated the laws of physics. When in

motion, produced shock waves in the air, suggesting

it

that it must have a certain mass. Yet it stopped

instantly, suggesting that it was weightless. Any object
of mass would have had to decelerate before stopping.

Geological factors
Such earth lights, or "spook" lights as they are better
known, have long been observed in different parts of
the world. That they really exist is beyond serious
doubt. But what could they be? And why do they

Light site
Castlerigg in Cumbria,

England (left), is

famous for its earth

light manifestations.

This dramatic

visualization (right) is

based on a sighting by
T. Sington m 1919.

occur where they do? One possible explanation lies in

geology. The Pinnacles National Monument site is

bounded on the east by the erratic San Andreas Fault,

a fracture in the earth's crust where the Pacific and
North American tectonic plates meet. It has been
suggested that the lights at this location may have
something to do with stress on the earth's rock
formation caused by seismic activity — the same
disturbances that produce earthquakes and volcanoes.

The cincient connection

Along the line of another geological fault lies the

ancient stone circle at Castlerigg in Cumbria, England.

Here, too, there have been numerous reports of
mysterious lights. It is possible that these lights may
have been observed by the ancient inhabitants of the

56
 LINES AND LIGHTS

"We then saw a

number of lights
in the direction of

the Druidical
circle. Whilst we
were watching,
one of the lights

came straight to
the spot where
we were standing;
at first very faint,

as it approached
the light
increased in
intensity. When it

came close it

slowed down,
stopped, quivered,
and slowly
went out."
Description of earth
ligiits at Castlerigg, by
T. Sington, 1919.

57
Spook lights area, and, being taken for a mystic or a for favorable energies in the form of
These Marfa lights were captured religious sign, were the reason for siting lights before conducting rituals.
on film by Jim Crocker in 1986.
the stone circle there. If there is a linli In the western mountains of China,
between earth phenomena and
light 8,000 feet up, lies Wutai, sacred to
MARFA LIGHTS
ancient sacred monuments, it may Tibetans, Chinese, and Mongols. Amid
For more than a century Marfa,
explain the findings of recent research the peaks in the plateau sits a collection
Texas, has been one of the best
locations for the appearance of
of 300 temples, that may well have been
unexplained phenomena. the inspiration for the fabled paradise of
light
"Fluffy balls of orange-
One of the most impressive Shangri-la. One temple was built by the
Marfa sightings occurred in March colored fire, moving Buddhists on the southern pinnacle to
1973, when two geologists, Pat allow obsen/ation of the Bodhisattva
Kenney and Elwood Wright, through space, unhurried Lights. In 1937, the writer John Blofeld
chased a couple of phenomenon and
lights, first in a

jeep and then on foot. They failed and majestic - truly a

witnessed
described
this
"fluffy balls of orange-colored
to catch up with the phenomena,
fitting manifestation fire, moving through space, unhurried
and recorded their distinct
and majestic — truly a fitting mani-
impression that the light had been
of divinity." festation of divinity."
toying with them. "It was a heck
of a lot smarter than we were."
Accounts of lights at ancient sacred

Wright told a reporter. that shows that many such monuments sites are just beginning to be
only
are built near lines of geological compiled systematically. Lights have
Tourist attraction faulting. The famous ancient Greek
This sign can be seen on Highway oracle at Delphi, for instance, was sited
90, seven miles
on a fault; fumes issuing from the earth's
east of
crust may have been responsible for the
Marfa.
prophetic trance of the Delphic
priestess. In the U.S.A., the
2,000-year-old Ohio Serpent
Mound is situated on top of a
crypto-volcanic area that is the
only region in North America
where geological faults are
highly concentrated.
Machupicchu in Peru is yet Mount Shasta
another example of one of the As the sacred mountain of several California Indian
tribes, Mount Shasta has been the site of strange
many fault-located sacred light

monuments around the world. phenomena over a long period of time.

Sacred locations been seen near the great henge circle at

There is strong evidence that Avebury in England, where, in the
earth lights have at times been summer of 1989, orange balls of light
attributed a religious were seen to descend into a local field.
significance. At Sorte In the U.S.A. during the 1970's, lights

Mountain, Venezuela, for were seen by trained observers and

example, native shamans look photographed on the Yakima Indian
 LINES AND LIGHTS

reservation in Washington. The from. Research is now starting

reservation is adjacent to the Cascade to reveal that they appear
Range, which includes Mount Shasta, a in regions that always /^h
peak that is sacred to all the local Indian contain one or more
tribes. This is also where pilot Kenneth specific features:
Arnold saw the "flying disks" in 1947 that geological faulting,
started the "flying saucer" craze. There is a history of
speculation that Arnold's "disks," and earthquake or
many other UFO may have been
sitings, volcanic activity,
earth light manifestations. And there is mineral deposits,
no question that the Cascades are or bodies of water.
seismically active, as the eruption of The lights display
Mount St. Helens in 1980 showed. electromagnetic
Indeed, virtually all earth light reports behavior — for
from across the U.S.A. come from areas example, they are
Over 100 locations
of geological faulting. attracted to charge ^<^^^^^
are known, including Marfa, Texas; collectors such as TV masts, '^^i
Maco Station and Brown Mountain, isolated buildings on faults, high-
North Carolina; Ada, Oklahoma; Uinta tension cables, and mountain peaks.
Basin, Utah; and the Hooker light on the But they also clearly possess more The Oracle at Delphi
Ramapo Fault near Washington mysterious properties. U.S. government Could escaping subterranean
Township, New Jersey. geologist John Derr has predicted that vapors have entranced the
This still does not tell us exactly what their study is sure to take us beyond the priestess before she proclaimed a
the lights are and where they come currently known limits of science. prophecy to the believer?

PROJECT HESSDALEN
At the beginning of the 1980's, the inhabitants of the remote valley of observation period ran from January 21 to February 26, 1984. The team
Hessdalen in Norway reported numerous cases of strange lights was armed with a wide variety of instruments including: a radar unit;

appearing in the area. There were blue and white flashes high in the sky, geiger counters; a magnetometer to measure changes in magnetic field; a
yellow and yellowish-white lights in the valley, and groups of lights spectrum analyzer to study radio emissions; a seismograph to measure
moving together near the mountaintops. movements of the earth's crust; and
When the Norwegian Air Force invest- sophisticated photographic equipment.
igated the phenomena in March 1982, 30 of Their main field headquarters throughout
the 150 inhabitants of the area claimed to this bitterly cold period, when
have seen the lights. The sightings went temperatures dropped as low as -30 F,

back as far as 1944, but locals were was a small trailer. Including temporary
reluctant to report them, assuming that volunteers, some 40 people were to

they would not be taken seriously. In become directly involved in the project.

addition to the reports of the lights, there

were also tales of strange noises, "deep Hard facts
booms," and "banging like thunder." A total of 188 lights were reported during
the month the experiment lasted. Although
The investigators move in some were definitely identified as aircraft
In June 1983 various UFO groups in llie Held site many were not.
lights,

Scandinavia formed Project Hessdalen to The trailer headquarters of Project Hessdalen was Some of the unattributable lights were
investigate these phenomena. The original surrounded by instruments set to record any phenomena. photographed, and three actually showed
up on the radar screen while
simultaneously being observed visually. Such "radar-visuals" are highly
prized by investigators. In one bizarre case, while the light remained
visible throughout, it appeared only on every second radar sweep. The
radar tracked another light traveling at a speed of over 19,000 m.p.h.

An astronomer's view
After these findings, it is hard to deny that something strange has been
occurring in and around the Hessdalen Valley. Although the phenomena
Hessdalen lights
were found to have peaked in 1984, sightings continued to be recorded.
Photographs such as these, taken
The veteran astronomer J. Allen Hynek visited Hessdalen and met the
in 1982, prompted the formation
leaders of the project in 1985. His pronouncement was simply: "We have
of Project Hessdalen in 1983.
something important in Hessdalen."

59
 .>y^' ».

^^i

:';^\^-
 CHAPTER TWO

Secrets of
THE Deep
The sea has always held a
fascination for humankind. It is vast,
ruthless, and unpredictable, and
some of the wonders of its depths
have proved impenetrable even to
modern science. Through the ages,
the oceans have been a rich source of
myth, legend, and superstition, as
well as the scene of real mysteries
and unsolved enigmas.

Stories of ghostly apparitions at sea are

common. Perhaps it is not surprising that
sailors on watch for hours over the immense
wastes of the ocean should let their eyes
deceive them. But some tales of ghost
ships \and marine phantoms are not so
easily explained away.
On the morning of July 1 0, 1 9 1 8, toward
the conclusion of the World War, the
First

U.S. submarine L-2 was patroling at

SECRETS OF THE DEEP

periscope depth dive one man deliberately threw himself

off Cape Clear, overboard. The dive itself was a disaster

Ireland, in the as the submarine was stuck on the

eastern Atlantic. seabed for 12 hours. Back in Bruges,
Suddenly, her while it was loading supplies for its first

captain, Lt. Paul operational voyage, a torpedo exploded,

F. Foster, sighted killing five enlisted men and
a 2nd
a target — the lieutenant. It dead officer who
was this
lean black shape was said to have come back aboard the
of a German U- submarine, to walk the narrow confines
boat lying dead in of the crew quarters and to stand, arms
the water. Clearly folded, on the bow.
marked on the "We were never a pack of nervous
conning tower fools," wrote one of the submarine's
was the number petty officers, "...we saw the ghost; we
65, and to his never imagined anything. What we saw,
surprise, he also we saw, and that was all."
saw the figure of
an officer, arms Exorcism ordered
folded across his Admiral Gustav N. von Schroeder, the
chest, standing on commanding officer at Bruges, ordered
the bow. that the vessel should be exorcised, but
The U.S. sub- the hauntings continued. The leading
marine began to gunner, named Eberhardt, committed
maneuver into an suicide after seeing the phantom; Petty
attack position, Officer Richard Meyer followed suit by
but torpedoes
its jumping overboard and swimming out to
were not needed. sea. Finally, when the submarine's
A massive commander insisted to Schroeder that
Admiral Schroeder explosion erupted on the UB-65, he too had seen the ghost, the entire
The German commander (shown blowing it The whole
to fragments. crew was replaced. Just two weeks later,
in the foreground) was forced incident had happened so quickly that U.S.S. L-2 watched the submarine's
to order the haunted UB-65 the watchers aboard L-2 could hardly mysterious, violent end.
to be exorcised by a member
believe what they had seen, particularly A German naval psychologist,
of the clergy.
as they found no wreckage and no Professor Hecht, conducted a thorough
sun/ivors. But on July 31, investigation into the haunting. His
1918, a terse bulletin report was never published, but he
issued by German Naval admitted that he could "put forward no
Headquarters confirmed alternative theory to the supernatural
thatUB-65 and its 34- agency which finally brought about the
member crew was destruction of this ill-fated vessel."
presumed lost.
missing,
And that was the end, The Flying Dutchman
or rather the beginning, of At least the UB-65 was a real ship. No
one of the most curious one knows for sure whether the
mysteries of modern phantom vessel known as the Flying
naval history. For the Dutchman has ever had any material
submarine UB-65 seems existence. But it has been sighted, and its
Ghost witness to have been haunted during the whole appearances have been recorded, in all
U.S. submarine of the 'L
°
class at of its brief two-year career. the oceans of the world — on one
sea in December 1916. It was a Built at Bruges, Belgium, in the occasion by a whole squadron of the
submarine of this class that saw autumn of 1916, it was one of a batch of British Royal Navy.
the ghostly end oA UB-65. 24 U-boats destined for the Flanders On July 11, 1881, H.M.S. Inconstant,
Flotilla, and carried a crew of 3 officers sailing as part of Admiral Lord
and 31men. It seemed jinxed from the Clanwilliam's Detached Squadron,
start. Five men were killed during its apparently encountered the phantom
construction, and just before the first test ship in the South Atlantic. On board the

62
 SECRETS OF THE DEEP

Inconstant were Prince Albert Victor,

duke of Clarence, and his brother FATA MORGANA
Prince George, later King George V of
England. Their account reads as
follows: "At 4:00 a.m. the Flying
Dutchman crossed
our bows. A
strange red light
as of a phantom
ship all aglow, in
the midst of
which light the
masts, spars, and
sails of a brig 200
yards distant
stood out in
strong relief as she
came up on the
port bow."
Meteorologists claim that both the which rays of light are "reflected." Objects
Royal cadets Suddenly it was
mysterious, ghostly Palatine Light seen off (like ship A) that are actually over the
Prince George and his gone. Thirteen
Rhode Island and some Flying Dutchman horizon become visible. The curve of the
brother Albert Victor officers and men, sightings can be explained by the earth means that the observer cannot really
including the phenomenon known as Fata Morgana, or see ship A. But, as the eye expects to
commander, saw the fiery ship, and it "loom of the sea." receive light in straight lines, the observer
was sighted simultaneously by the This atmospheric effect can distort, "sees" image B and its inverted image C.

crews of the corvettes Tourmaline and magnify, and invert images, in the same way Fata Morgana is most common around
Cleopatra. As the legend of the Flying that the sun's heat creates a mirage in the dawn and dusk, often as a storm builds up.

Dutchman predicts, the sailor who first desert or the illusion of shimmering water The Straits of Messina, between Sicily and

saw the strange vessel fell to his death on the flat surface of a road. the Italian mainland, are famous for such •,

from the rigging that very morning. Fata Morgana usually occurs when the sea mirages, which were supposed in local ^
is much colder than the atmosphere and legend to be caused by sorcery. The phrase
An equally well-documented and
has cooled the lower layers of the air. The Fata Morgana is the Italian version of the
more terrifying sighting occurred on the accompanying density changes alter the name of the sorceress Morgan le Fay, half-
last day of February 1857, off Tristan da
refractive index of the air and the angle at sister of the legendary King Arthur.
Cunha in the South Atlantic, when the
Flying Dutchman swept across the bows
Disappointment Islands in the Pacific.
This area has been renowned for
"A strange red light sightings of ghost ships for at least 300

as of a phantom ship all years. The story goes that the General
Grant had been pursued for days by a
aglow.. .came up on the mystery ship that many
aboard had thought was
port bow." the Flying Dutchman.
The mystery did not
of thecargo ship Joseph Somers. The end there. The General
crew and passengers later gave sworn Grant had been carrying
depositions that they had seen the a million dollars' worth
phantom ship's captain himself, a of gold dust when it
demonic Dutchman, with "dirty white sank. Several salvage
curls streaming, moon-face a mask of attempts were made, all

malevolence...." As the ghost vanished, unsuccessful. In March

the ship's cargo burst into flames. Those 1870, a salvage party of
on board were rescued at the last five men from the
minute by the sailing ship Nimrod. schooner Daphne entered the H.M.S. Inconstant
On May 13, 1866, the American cavern. ..and they were never seen again. The Inconstant almost ran down a
sailing ship General Grant was wrecked Safely back on dry land, the remaining phantom ship that was assumed
in a vast cavern beneath the cliffs of the crew of the Daphne later reported that, to be the Flying Dutchman.

> PAGE 66 63
 Nautical Superstiti ons
Sailors and fishermen are among the most
superstitious people alive. They work in
the open and have learned to respect the
Umbrellas and
power of the elements. Over the
cards centuries, seamen have therefore gone
Umbrellas to great lengths to avoid giving
and
offense to the gods of the
playing^
cardst
sea, who could unleash
are the destructive forces
usually of nature.
thought
of as taboo

at sea. Cards

have always
been connected Pig problems
Left boot
with fortune- Among Atlantic fishermen,
On the east coast of Scotland
telling and are especially in the West there is an ancient superstition
known as the devil's
Indies, "pig" was tradition-
among fishermen that a left boot
picture books. Some ally a taboo word.
I
is unlucky. If a left boot is trawled
say that they should The animal was up in the nets, it is spat on and
never be taken to sea. known instead as
thrown back as soon as possible.
others that the tearing up Curly-tail, Mr.

and casting overboard of a

Dennis, Gruff, Little
Fellah, the Grecian,
pack may produce a favorable^
change in the wind.
Turf-rooter. The
pig was treated
"
~
with great respect
because it had cloven hooves
like the devil, and was the
totem beast of the Earth
Mother, who controlled the
four winds. It was believed
that the mention of its name
could produce strong winds,
and that killing a pig on board
ship could bring on a "pig storm."

Priests
and parsons
In most European seafaring
Friday the 13th nations, clergymen are
"Friday sail, Friday fail" is an old traditionally unlucky. This may be
motto of New England fishermen because early sailors tended to
It was on Friday that the follow Christianity on shore but
temptation and the the pagan gods while at sea. A
banishment of Adanv''''^ Light of the moon priest at sea was thought likely to
and Eve from the; There is a superstition that the provoke a display of strength by
Garden of Eden moon is unlucky. In olden times, the maritime divinities. In Scottish
occurred, as well sailors would bow to the new fishing communities right up to
as the Crucifixion moon. They would also try to recent times, even to mention the
of Christ. Friday the avoid stepping on, or over, the word "priest" was thought to be
13th of any month is "moon line" - parts of the unlucky. Instead, fishermen used
an exceptionally deck that were illuminated euphemisms such as "gentleman
unlucky day on land and by the moonlight. in black," "upstander," or "man in
on sea. Even naval vessels the white collar." If carrying a
have been known to avoid parson was unavoidable, Scottish
putting to sea on such an seamen took care to wash out
inauspicious date. their boats thoroughly afterwards.

64
 NAUTICAL SUPEiRSTITIONS

Eyes TRUSTING TO
A seafaring TATTOOS
tradition of the in 1771 H.M.S.
Mediterranean and tfie Endeavour,
Far East is tfie painting of under the
"eyes" on each side of the bow of command of
-W^^Ut^ a boat. In ancient China this was the explorer

believed to help guide the ship. To Lt. James

the ancient Egyptians the eye was Cook, visited
that of the gods Osiris or Horus, Tahiti, and a
both of whom prevented harm seaman named
from black magic. The custom is Robert Stainsby
still followed today on Maltese had himself tattooed by a native

and Portuguese fishing boats. Even islander. The craze soon

in California, in 1940, the 17,000- caught on: apart from
ton freighter Mormacsun was the names of mothers,

launched with "lucky" eyes wives, and sweethearts,

painted on her bow. sailors sought to

increase their luck with

Right boot specially designed tattoos. A
Scottish fishermen traditionally crucifix on the back was popular,
believe that discovering a right as it was supposed to increase the

boot in their nets is lucky. It is chances of a Christian burial if the

nailed to the mast to bring sailor's body washed up on a

the boat good fishing foreign shore. A
and good fortune. Human sacrifice guiding star on

A three-knot wind in past centuries the least-valued the hand brought

According to the 19th- member of the crew was the sailor safely

century author Sir Walter sometimes sacrificed in the event home. A rooster and a

Scott, Bessie Millie of Orkney, of bad weather. This was pig, one tattooed on
one of the most northern usually the cook! Such each knee, magically
British islands, sold sailors customs are not forgotten. ensured that the seafarer never

a charm to end a calm. In 1930, when the bark went hungry - he carried with him

This cost sixpence, and Olirebankwas becalmed in his own "bacon and eggs."

was simply a piece of string the Atlantic, the crew threw

with three knots in it: untying overboard the cook's best

the first brought fair winds, the pair of pants!
-.^T'
second brought a gale, while the A sacrifice of dignity was
also effective: was said ^''
third knot brought a hurricane. it
\:>-
that a storm could be

FISHING CHARM calmed by a woman

The fishermen of northern France her breasts to it. Thi

ensure a good catch by hiding brandy why ships' figurehea

in an old bottle below deck, and a often of women nak

cuckolded man aboard the waist.
(particularly the captain)
I

is especially lucky. Maine

I

fishermen swear by the

ritual smoking of tobacco
before casting the nets.

,
The fisherman of Dorset,

England, also used to

deflect evil from

witchcraft by

hanging a
hagstone - a holed

stone - over the side

of their boats, in

Turkey, garlic is kept

on fishing boats for
the same purpose.
SECRETS OF THE DEEP

as they lay at anchor, the Flying

Dutchman had crossed their bows and
disappeared into a ghostly haze.
Many other sightings have been
recorded. The Flying Dutchman was seen
twice in Galveston Bay, Texas, in 1892.
On the second occasion, the Norwegian
ship Fair Hilda almost ran aground while
desperately trying to avoid
The Flying Dutchman is not the only
ghostly vessel seen on the wodd's
oceans.
England
All down
sightings of
fairly common. One,
it.

the coast of
phantom ships are
regular enough to
New
m
be a tourist attraction, appears between
The Flying Dutchman Christmas and New Year off the coast of

This illustration from a French
magazine of 1911 shows the Flying
Dutchman appearing on the
horizon. The two crewmen have
good reason to be disconcerted:
it
Rhode Island in a red ball of fire, similar 1
to that described in the Inconstant
incident. Known as the Palatine Light,
this alleged to be the ghost of the 18th-
is
century Palatine, an immigrant ship

a maritime superstition that the

is
deliberately lured ashore by wreckers.
first man to see the phantom ship
f^r'>
is doomed.
"The men said they
preferred facing AUied
warships rather than
being confronted by a
phantom vessel."

Various "natural" explanations for the

appearance of phantom ships have been
put forward. On the Caribbean island of
Carriacou, for example, where sightings
of a ghostly white schooner are
frequently reported, locals point out a
peculiarity of the Leeward Rocks.
Approached from one point, they are
simple needles of coral; from another
they appear as eerily blanched sailing
ships, dnving toward the shore.
To those who claim to have seen it,
the Flying Dutchman is real enough.
Toward the end of the Second Wodd
War, Admiral Kari Doenitz, Hitler's
commander in chief of submarines,
reported: "Certain of my U-boat crews
claim they saw the Flying Dutchman or
Admiral Doenitz some other phantom ship on their tours
Doenitz was Hitler's commander of duty east of Suez. When they returned
in chief of submarines in the to their base the men said they preferred
Second World War His U-boat facing the combined strength of Allied
crews reported many sightings of
warships North Atlantic rather
in the
phantom ships on their tours of a second time of
than know the terror
duty east of Suez.
being confronted by a phantom vessel."

66
 THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

THE ORIGINAL
DUTCHMAN
No one knows for certain the

origin of ttie Flying Dutchman

story, but it appears tfiat tlie name

may have been derived from a

person, rather than a ship. One
candidate for the title was Bernard
Fokke, captain of the 17th-century
Dutch ship Libera Nos, which was
renowned for making extremely
fast voyages. This ugly and bad-
tempered individual was therefore
suspected of being in league with
the devil. When Fokke did not

return from one of his voyages, it

was assumed that the devil had

claimed his soul.

Engraving of the Flying

Dutchman

Vanderdecken
Another well-known version of the
Flying Dutchman tale concerns a
man named Vanderdecken, who
captained a merchant ship in the

early 1600's. He refused to heave

to or shorten sail while rounding

the Cape of Good Hope in a storm,

despite the pleas of passengers

and crew. Lashing himself to the

wheel, he continued to drive

suicidally into the gale, singing

blasphemous songs. For his defiant

recklessness, he was sentenced by

God to sail on through the storm
for eternity.

The Dutchman
A painting of the ghostly Dutch
captain by artist Howard Pyle.

67
 The Mary Celeste Enigma
The disappearance of the crew of the Mary Celeste in mid-
Atlanticis the classic sea mystery. Over a century of speculation
has brought us no nearer to knowing the truth.

URING THE AFTERNOON of Winchester company, of which he was a

December 4, 1872, a 282-ton shareholder. A temperate man, he wisely
American brigantine was found allowed no alcohol on his ship while at
rolling in the Atlantic swells some 590 sea. Accompanying him on his first
miles west of Gibraltar, seaworthy but voyage in the Mary Celeste were his wife,
with not a soul on board. The derelict's Sarah, and their two-year-old daughter.
name was Mary Celeste, and she was to By Saturday, November 2, 1872, the
become a byword for maritime mystery. Mary Celeste's cargo — 1,701 red oak
The Mary Celeste was originally built barrels of denatured alcohol bound for
as the British ship Genoa, Italy — had
Amazon in 1860 been loaded
at Joshua Dewis's aboard. Capt.
shipyard on Briggs went ashore
Spencer's Island, for a final meal
Nova Scotia. With with his friend
a length of 103 Capt. David Reed
feet and her Morehouse,
brigantine rig, she master of the
was similar to British brigantine
James H. Winchester dozens of other f^ei Gratia, which
Winchester was head of the reliable, medium- was lying along-
shipping company that owned sized dee{>sea side his ship
the Mary Celeste. freighters plying The Mary Celeste awaiting a cargo.
the North Atlantic. The ill-fated vessel soon after she was built The Sandy
Sadly there was Hook Bay pilot
nothing reliable about the Amazon, boat towed the Mary Celeste downriver
other than a tendency to catastrophe. to an anchorage off Staten Island, on
For 10 years she suffered a series of November 5, where she lay for two days
disasters, including two collisions, a fire, waiting for a break in the weather.
and a near-fatal wreck. About 1870 she Finally, on November 7, 1872, she sailed
was bought by James H. Winchester, the out into the Atlantic — and into legend.
founder of a New York shipping
consortium. Winchester had her refitted, Adrift in the Atlantic
her hold and cabin remodeled, and her On November 15, the Dei Gratia put to
bottom sheathed in new copper. By sea with a cargo of petroleum, bound for
October 1872 the Mary Celeste had been Gibraltar. At 1:00 p.m. on December 4, at

re-registered as an American vessel and a point about halfway between the

was in the East River at Pier 44 in New Azores and the west coast of Spain, her
York City, awaiting her crew and cargo. helmsman spotted a brigantine with
The aboard was the captain,
first it was the Mary Celeste.
tattered sails;
Capt. David Morehouse Benjamin Spooner Briggs. He had
Portrait of the captain of the ship already held three successful
that found the Mary Celeste. commands
with the

68
Capt. Morehouse eyed his friend's THE CAPTAIN AND CREW
command through a telescope. She had Capt. Benjamin Spooner Briggs,

some sails up, but they were unbraced 37, had been born into an old

and flapping;nobody was at the wheel. seafaring family from Wareham,

Massachusetts. He was a religious
When there was no reply to his calls,
man and a teetotaler. A
Morehouse sent his first mate, Oliver
contemporary described him as
Deveau, and two seamen to board the
"bearing the highest character as
stricken vessel. She was totally deserted.
a Christian and as an intelligent
In the mate's cabin a chart showed and active shipmaster." Briggs's
the track of the vessel up to November wife, Sarah, accompanied him on
24. The main log, along with the this fatal voyage, along with their
captain's log, sextant, and ship's papers, two-year-old daughter. Sarah

was missing, and the cradles that had shared Briggs's faith, being the

held the ship's lifeboat on top of the daughter of a Congregationalist

minister from Marion,
main hatch were empty. A strip of railing
Massachusetts.
had apparently been removed to make it
easier to launch the boat; everything
Friends together
pointed to the crew having abandoned
Three of the crew were old
ship. But why? shipmates of Briggs; the first mate,
Boarding party Albert G. Richardson, a New
A burst barrel Reconstruction of the scene as a boarding party from Yorker, was married to the niece

There was damage to some of the sails the Dei Gratia approaches the deserted ship. of James Winchester, the

and rigging, but this appeared to have shipowner. Also from New York
occurred after the abandonment. One of had burst. Deveau also noticed that the were the second mate, Andrew

the pumps had been drawn from the main-peak halyard — a sturdy 100-foot Gilling, and the cook-steward,

sounding well as if to test how much rope — was broken, and a good deal of it Edward William Head, a Brooklyn

man "respected by all." The

water there was in the bilges. The water
was less than a foot deep — an
acceptable level. Plates and cutlery were
neatly stowed in the galley, and the beds
had been made, though an open
skylight had let seawater into the cabin.
Rough weather may have been
was missing. Whatever had happened, it
remaining four crewmen were
had happened fast. Almost all of the six-
German: Arian Martens, Gottlief
month supply of food and water Goodshaad (or Gondshaatt), and
remained on board, and among the two brothers from Schleswig-
many personal possessions left behind Holstein, Volkert and Boz
were tobacco pipes. A sailor might Lorensen. These last two had
abandon ship, but rarely his pipe. ended up in New York after being

anticipated, because some of the cabin Capt. Morehouse ordered Oliver shipwrecked and losing all their

windows were battened with wood. Deveau and the two seamen to patch up possessions on a previous voyage.

On deck, two or three of the hatch the Mary Celestes rigging. Two days later The crew had, of course, been

covers had been removed from the main approved by the fastidious Briggs.
the brigantines sailed for Gibraltar,
hold. The cargo was still on board, but on the night of December 12.
arriving
the end of one of the barrels of alcohol The Mary Celeste was immediately
impounded by Frederick Solly Flood,
attorney general for Gibraltar,

i.
SECRETS OF THE DEEP

who also convened the vice-admiralty sold by Winchester. After a dozen more
court for an inquest into the For
affair. years and at least as many owners, it was

the first time in its history no conclusion finally wrecked Chesapeake Bay.
in
was reached, but several theories were Since then many
theories have been
aired during the hearing. suggested to account for the mystery. It
will probably never be solved. But one
A drunken frenzy set of circumstances might fit the known
Flood accused some of the missing
First, facts.Transporting volatile liquids such
crew of having murdered the Briggs as alcohol in those pre-tanker days was a
family in a druni<en frenzy before risky business, and the hold of the Mary
abandoning it was a "dry" ship,
ship. But Celeste,newly rebuilt and with a copper
apart from the cargo,and anyone bottom, must have been almost airtight.
drinking the denatured alcohol would A buildup of vapor may have caused
Arthur Conan Doyle have been crippled by sickness and one of the kegs to blow its top, which
blinded long before inebriation. would have made a thunderous noise in
CONAN DOYLE'S CELESTE Next, Flood accused Briggs and that secluded space.
In January 1884 Arthur Conan
Morehouse of the crime of barratry (the
Doyle (later to become famous as
deliberate defrauding of a shipowner), Survival instincts
the creator of Sherlock Holmes)
by rigging the whole mystery, planning In such a case Briggs 's first reaction
published a short story entitled "J.

Habakuk Jephson's Statement" in

it over their supper together the night would have been to check the bilges to
the Cornhilt Magazine in London. before Briggs sailed. see if the hull had been damaged —
This referred to the mystery of the This was a gross libel on the known hence the drawn pump. Next, with a
Marie (not Mary) Celeste, and good characters of both captains; apart possible second explosion impending,
provided a fictional explanation from that, Briggs owned a one-third his instinct may have been to launch the
for the disappearance of the crew. share of the Winchester company and lifeboat to get his wife, child, and the
Conan Doyle based his story on would have been defrauding himself by crew out of harm's way, while he stayed
the character of an American
undertaking such a plan. aboard alone to investigate. He may
revolutionary named Septimus
Flood's third and final explanation have used the main-peak halyard as a
Goring. The plot involved the
was that the crew of the Dei Gratia had line between the lifeboat and the ship.
hijacking of a ship and the murder
murdered the crew of the Mary Celeste in But at that point a wind may have
of those on board by Goring and
accomplices. The ship was finally
order to claim the salvage reward. This sprung up, and the brigantine begun to
abandoned off the coast of Africa,
theory was dismissed by the court. Even- sail away. Unable to handle the ship by

hundreds of miles to the south of came to a close, and

tually the inquiry himself, Briggs would have tried to climb
its intended destination. Morehouse and his crew were awarded down the halyard to rejoin the others in
salvage money. The Mary Celeste com the lifeboat.The halyard was either
Magic talisman pleted its voyage to Genoa cut or cameapart. The over-
The narrator of the story, Jephson, and was then loaded lifeboat was swamped
was the only man spared, on
and the Mary Celeste sailed
account of a magical talisman he
on. This story is improb-
carried. He was allowed to escape
able, but, to quote
by Goring and returned to
Sherlock Holmes,
America to tell his story.

Conan Doyle used the real name

when you have
of the mystery ship, although
eliminated the
slightly changed, as well as several impossible,
other details supplied by the real- hatever is

life story of the disappearance. Sarah eft must be

The captain was said to be Briggs 's the truth.
traveling with his wife and child, writing
and the ship that eventually desk
picked up the derelict was given On the eve of
the name Dei Gratia. Apart from departure, the
these details, "J. Habakuk captain 's wife sat
Jephson's Statement" probably at her desk and
has no more or less truth in it wrote to her relatives.

than many other explanations of She complained of the

the tragedy. 'screechings and
growlings' the casks made as
they settled in the hold.

70
Possible Explanations
Of the many possible solutions to the Mary Celeste riddle that
have been suggested, only a few fit the known facts. Some are
patently ridiculous, and none of them is wholly convincing.

Mutiny An obvious explanation; Storm or tidal wave This is

but the crew seemed trustworthy, unlikely. Why would the crew

the captain was no tyrant, and abandon ship and take their

there were no signs of a struggle. chances in a small boat if the

Drunkenness Almost impos-
Mary Celeste wis not seriously
sible: the cargo of alcohol was the
damaged by wind or wave?
Explosion This is c[uite likely. only drink on board and that was
The cargo was known to be denatured, and thus undrinkable.
volatile, and when the ship was
found one of the barrels had burst,
and the hatch covers were off.

Fear of fire or further explosions

would help to explain why the

crew abandoned ship.

Piracy Unlikely. Why would the

pirates leave the valuable ship Madness A possible

and cargo? Records of the period explanation. The captain may have
also show that there were no gone quietly insane and ordered
pirates operating in that area. everybody into the lifeboat. Or he
Attacl( by Dei Gratia This may have gone berserk, and the
seems unlikely in view of the fact crew took to the boat

that the captains were good to escape.

friends. And how would the Dei

Gratia have caught the Mary

Sea monster attact( This is
Celeste, which had eight days'
theoretically possible. If the ship
head start?
was threatened by a monster
squid, whale, or other creature,

the crew might have launched the

lifeboat to get clear. But it is a
highly improbable turn of events.

Poisoning It has been suggested

that a form of fungus called ergot,
Conspiracy Briggs owned one- which can develop on stale bread,
third of his ship and would have may have caused suicidal insanity.
had little to gain by splitting the However, there was nothing wrong
salvage money with Morehouse. with the food and water found on
Such a plan seems out of board the ship.
character, risky, and
motiveless.

Waterspout If the Mary Celeste

had been hit by a waterspout, the

captain and crew might have Abduction by UFO A wildly

panicked and abandoned ship. unlikely theory that has neverthe-

This certainly would have caused less attracted a lot of attention in

low pressure, which may have recent years. As a point of detail,

drawn water up into the bilges it is very improbable that the crew

and convinced the crew that the would have launched the lifeboat

ship was sinking. before being abducted.

71
 The Bermuda Triangle
"They vanished as completely as if they
had flown to Mars.
Attributed to member Navy Board of Inquiry

NE OF THE MOST spectacular disappearances

associated with the Bermuda Triangle was
the loss on December 5, 1945,
of six airplanes and 27 men, in two
separate incidents. Opinions differ as
to whether or not this disaster should be
attributed to some mysterious or
Tracing the Triangle supernatural force.
The Bermuda Triangle is situated
in the western Atlantic, off the
The legend of Flight 19
southeast coast of the U.S.A. It is
The story usually told differs markedly from the
normally defined as the area
account. The legend is as follows:
official
within a triangle extending from
At 2:00 P.M., Lt. Charles C. Taylor took off in
southern Florida to the island of
Flight 19
Bermuda, south to Puerto Rico, good weather with a flight of five U.S. Navy
A flight of five Avenger torpedo
and then back to Florida. Many Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers on a
bombers similar to those that
disappearances ascribed to the traininghop over the Atlantic Ocean. In each plane
disappeared in the Bermuda
Triangle have actually taken place there should have been one pilot and two crew, but
Triangle in December 1945.
outside this area; in many other one crewman had failed to turn up because, he said,
cases it is not known exactly he had had a premonition of danger.
where the ship or plane was lost.
At 3:15 P.M., Taylor radioed the control tower:
According to the U.S. Coast
Guard some 150,000 boats cross Taylor: This is an emergency. We seem to be off course. We
the Bermuda Triangle every year. cannot see land... .Repeat.... We cannot see land.
Around 10,000 of these send a Tower: Wfiat is your position?
distress call. About five losses, on Taylor: We are not sure of our position. We cannot be sure
average, are recorded annually. just where we are.... We seem to be lost
"The Legend of
Tower: Assume bearing due west. the Bermuda
Taylor: We don know which way is
't west. Everything is

wrong. strange. ...We can 't be sure of any direction

. .
— even the Triangle is a
FLORIDA
ocean doesaJlook as it should....
manufactured
The control tower peSonnel were puzzled. Visibility
was good, and the sun was a sufe~gui4e to direction. mystery.. .repeated
Taylor had only to fly toward the sun toTiead-west.
so many times
What was preventing him from seeing the sun? Static
and interference made communications that it began to
progressively more difficult, but the control
tower picked up some conversation take on the aura
between the pilots. This included the
of truth."
observation that every gyro and magnetic
Lawrence Kusche
compass in the planes was "going crazy" —
The Bermuda Triangle
each showing a different reading. Shortly
Mystery — Solved
after 4:00 p.m., radio contact ceased.
There was worse to come. A Martin
Mariner flying boat with a crew of 13 was

m
immediately dispatched to Flight 19's last
reported position. Nothing more was heard

Missing Mariner from either Flight 19 or the Mariner — apart

A Martin Mariner flying boat was from a mysterious faint call sign "FT.. .FT...," presumably
lost during the fruitless searcfi for from Taylor's plane, FT-28. But this was two hours after
the planes of Flight 19. the Avengers should have run out of fuel and ditched

72
 BERMUDA THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE

^ Despite an enormous air search totaling

into the sea.
VICTIMS OF THE TRIANGLE 4, and covering 380,000 square miles, no
loo hours
Most authorities agree that these wretkage from the planes was found at the time.
ships and planes and their
passengers and crews have met
Little basis in fact
disaster within or close to the
In his book, Tlie Bermuda Triangle Mystery — Solved,
Bermuda Triangle.
published in 1975, Lawrence Kusche refused to accept
that there\was anything mysterious about the disappear-
Lost or abandoned ships: ances. He\old an equally gripping story of human error
1880 Atalanta, sail training ship
and simple 'misunderstanding, based on a careful study
1925 Cotopaxi, freighter
of the 400-page report of the U.S. Navy Board of Inquiry.
1950 Sandra, freighter
He pointed'out that the radio conversations reported
1955 Connemara IV, yacht
in the legend of.^ Flight 19 did not occur. At no stage did
1958 Revonoc, racing yacht
Taylor say that everything was "wrong" or "strange," or
1963 Marine Sulphur Queen,
that the ocean did not "look as should." The recorded Charles Berlitz
-^ tanker
it

1963 Sno' Boy, fishing boat radio transmissions-,show only that both Taylor's
compasses were malfunctioning. The final call sign of
BERUTZ AND THE
1967 Witchcraft, cabin cruiser
TRIANGLE
1973 Anita, freighter "FT... FT...." is attributed to desperate attempts by Miami
Charles Berhtz is the grandson of
1980 Mount Horizon, freighter Radio to contact the flight, rather than, as implied by
Maximilian Berlitz, founder of the
the sensahonalized ver^on, a radio communication
famous language schools. His
from beyond the grave. \ book. The Bermuda Triangle,

published in 1974, popularized the

Missing aircraft:
1945 Five Avenger bombers; one
A fatal error \ idea of a deadly region of the
The final fix on Flight 19's position shows it to be much ocean into which planes and ships
Mariner flying boat
further north than Taylor thought, over the Atlantic ventured at their peril.
1947 Superfortress bomber
1948 Star Tiger, Tudor IV airliner
rather than the Gulf of MexicoXTaylor had only recently
been posted to Fort Lauderdale, and Kusche suggests Aliens and Atlantis
1948 DC-3 airliner
Among the theories advanced by
1949 Star Ariel, Tudor iV airliner that he mistook Walker Cay in the Bahamas for the
Berlitz to explain the number of
1956 Marlin fljing boat Florida Keys. Once lost, his instincts to fly north and
losses in the area are:
1963 Two KC-135stratotankers east took the planes further away from base. Two
A large magnetic vortex
1965 C-119 Flying Boxcar cargo poignant radio transmissions from trainee pilots reveal through which a craft and its
plane that they had a better idea where they were: "Dammit, occupants could slip into a
1967 Chase YC-122 converted
if we would just fly west we would get liome." As different point in time and space.
glider
regards the weather, Kusche points out that it was The action of aliens from outer
1989 DC-3 spray plane
^____deteriorating fast. The board of space or from inside the earth.
inquiry was told that the sea The activation of man-made
was: "rough and unfavorable power complexes on the seabed
'i for a water landing." left by a previous civilization,

perhaps the lost city of Atlantis.

Kusche produces strong
evidence that the searth plane
The skeptical view
exploded in the air a few
Skeptics have countered by
minutes after takeoff at t'27 pointing out that the Bermuda
P.M., rather than shortly after Triangle is an area full of natural
4:00 P.M., as the Flight 19 \ hazards, especially unpredictable
legend implies. The master of weather. Given the heavy sea and
the S.S. Gaines Mills reported seeing an aircraft explode air traffic in the region, the
T'Ae^^Mariae-.Sulphur Queen
This ship was lostdTtTh«<QQstof
at the exact position and time that the flying boat \ recorded losses may not be
disappeared from the radar screen. remarkably high.
hFlorida in February 1963 with its

•^jjrea- of 39. The design of the ^verdict is that the Flight 19 incident was a
^\ tanker and the dangerous nature double trageclT-eauged by mechanical failure, human
of its cargo of molten sulfur are error, and bad weatherTA-flnystery remains, however.
now thought to have been major Kusche fails to mention the crevviiTctn-wiio failed to
factors in its disappearance. report for duty, perhaps because he is not riierrticixied
by the board. But if he did exist and he did have a^ ^
premonition, he may not have been alone. The report
confirms that Lt. Taylor himself asked to be excused
from leading Flight 19 only 45 minutes before takeoff. PUERTO RICO

73
 Monsters and Mermaids
Sightings of sea monsters and merfolk
have been reported in every ocean in
Hmmm^ the world since the beginning of
recorded history.

SP*P!H JyJ N THE E.ARLY YEARS of the laSt

century, monsters were
frequently sighted off the coast of
New England. Said one witness in August 1817: "His
Jonah in stained head was about as long as a horse's and was a proper
glass, France snake's head. ..his eyes were prominent and stood out
from the surface." Others remarked on the beast's
JONAH AND THE WHALE
undulating back and said they were certain that what
The story of Jonah and the whale
they had seen was neither whale nor shark.
is one of the most famous and
ancient tales of monstrous
One explanation for such sightings is that people
creatures of the sea. tend to identify what they see in terms of their own
In the Bible, Jonah was chosen knowledge and beliefs. The mythology of the sea has
by God to convert the heathens in been with us for so long that any unusual object is
Nineveh, but he fled from his duty likely to be described as a sea monster. In fading Whale tales
and escaped on a boat. God light, it is possible that a walrus could be mistaken for Until the modern scientific age,

punished him by sending a terrible merman, or a seal for a mermaid. On the other hand, real creatures, such as whales,
storm. When his fellow passengers
unknown sea monsters may really exist; certainly the were often confused with
learned that Jonah was the cause monsters of myth. Tall
oceans are vast
of the storm, they threw him stories about encounters
enough to hide
overboard, and he was swallowed with whales abounded. A
almost anything in
by a huge fish. (In later versions favorite was the sailors'
their unexplored
of the story this became a whale.) yarn in which a boat
depths. draws up alongside an
Swallowed whole island in mid-ocean, the

In the belly of the beast, Jonah Whale crew disembark and light

repented to God, and three days fantasy a fire, only to drown when
after he by artist their "island" - in reality

had been Julien Menu a whale - suddenly

swallowed, submerges. Variations on
the fish or Viking visions this fantastic tale were
whale spat Ninth-century widely believed until
him out Scandinavian craftsmen recent times.
unharmed. were inspired by tales of strange creatures

Over the encountered by their seagoing countrymen, x^iX

centuries, the the Viking marauders, as they sailed
story of Jonah the cold waters of the North

and the whale Atlantic. These elaborately

has been carved wooden heads of sea

depicted by monsters once decorated

countless objects buried with a Viking carving from
Armenian ^

artists, in Viking queen. They were Oseberg

Jonah, Lake
almost every found at her grave, the ship burial
Van, Turkey
medium Oseberg ship burial.

imaginable, from stained glass to

mosaic and carved stone.

Mosaic of Jonah,
Ravello cathedral,
Italy
 MONSTEf^ AND MERMAIDS

A sinuous serpent
This bronze sea serpent was known as a cult boat. It has been
made in Denmarlf around 3,( suggested that sightings of sea
years ago and formed serpents might have been based
on a glimpse of a line of

playful sea otters, their

backs bobbing in the

waves looking like the

curved coils of a long

serpent's back.

Pursued by an octopus
Giant octopuses have been sighted
in all the world's oceans. Japanese

legend has it that the Dragon King

rules a magical land beneath the
seas, and the sea creatures are his

vassals. This 19th-century

Japanese triptych illustrates the

.^Jv^story of a fisherwoman who

steals a jewel from the

Dragon King. She is

HC-^f^ forced to flee from a

The coils of Midgard whole host of sea

Made in Sweden during the monsters, among them

seventh century, this brooch a giant octopus.

depicts Midgard, the "world

serpent" - so-called because it

encircled the globe beneath the

oceans. In Viking folklore, storms
were said to be caused by the
writhing of the serpent.

Here be dragons...
Viking serpent brooch A map made in 1572 by Olaus
Magnus depicts the strange and
fearsome creatures said to infest

the Norwegian Sea. The most

famous of these was the Kraken,
which was reputed to pluck
sailors from the decks of their
ships. In modern times, the

Kraken has been identified

tentatively as a giant squid.
SECRETS OF THE DEEP

The mermaid in church Greek plate

The mermaid was a common depicting Triton and
subject for craftsmen in medieval Hercules
churches, usually serving as a
symbol of the lures of the flesh.

Represented as a beautiful
long-haired maiden from
the waist up, she usually
carries a comb in

one hand and a

mirror in the other.

From the waist

down she has the

tail of a fish. This

mermaid is in

Clonfert cathedral,
County Galway,
Ireland.

12th-century
mermaid
carving

Taken for a ride

Sea monsters and mermaids were
often depicted together. A dramatic
illustration from the German
magazine Jugend shows a mermaid
with flowing locks riding a serpent
across the waves of a foaming sea.
A similar theme appears on a 2,000-

year-old Greek jewelry box, but in

this case a Nereid, or sea nymph,
reclines on the back of a

mysterious sea creature.

Magazine cover, Monsters of Greek "The Freeing of Andromeda"
1897 mythology by Piero di Cosimo
According to Greek myth, the
Mediterranean Sea abounded in

other-worldly perils. For example,

Perseus spied Andromeda about
to be sacrificed to a sea monster.
He fell in love with her and saved
her life by killing the beast. More "Ulysses and the Sirens" by
decorative but equally dangerous Herbert Draper
were the Sirens,

mermaids whose
bewitching voices
lured sailors to

their deaths.

Ulysses told his

men to block their

ears with wax and

chain him to the
mast so that he
could become the
Greek only mortal to

silver listen to their

jewelry box songs and survive.

76
 MONSTERS AND MERMAIDS

Triton versus Hercules Mermaid look-alikes MODELS FOR MONSTERS

This ancient Greek plate Many ingenious models of Are sea-monster sightings really
shows the god Triton grotesque beings, half-human, just fleeting glimpses of such rare
locl<ed in mortal combat half-fish, were constructed in the creatures as the giant squid, the

with Hercules, the greatest 19th century, principally by the elephant seal
of the Greek heroes. Triton fishermen of Japan. One of these or the
/
was a merman, offspring of was the star attraction of Phineas basking
/ a mortal mother and T. Barnum's touring show in 1842, shark?

^^L Poseidon, god of the sea. where it was exhibited as a Some experts

^^V Although less well "mermaid." Real fish were used in believe so.

^V remembered today, merme n the construction of these models.

^m were once as Giant squid I jWA coelacanth
W common in The Kraken,
myth as Fake mermaids for example, a monster
mermaids. much feared by Norse sailors, may
have been inspired by the giant
squid, which measures up to 60

feet long.

Basking shark <

The huge but harmless basking
shark, often seen at the surface,

could be mistaken for a monster.

In death, its appearance is even

Double-tailed duo more sinister: as parts of the

The way merfolk are depicted corpse rot, it seems to develop a

varies widely.Two tails are long, thin neck and four legs.

quite common, as in these

representations of a 13th- Lost species
century merman from Rare species of giant fish continue

Berchtesgaden, Germany, and to be discovered. The 14-foot

Merman carving
a mermaid on the seashore megamouth shark was unknown
from Germany
from a late 15th-century French until 1976, while the first

manuscript. coelacanth, thought to have been

extinct since the age of the

dinosaurs, was caught in 1938. The

monsters of legend may yet await

us in the sea's mysterious depths.

Chinese dragons
In Chinese mythology, dragons were good Mermaid in
rather than evil. Cloud dragons, such as these French
from an 18th-century carved red lacquer vase, manuscript
are also associated with the oceans. On the
vase, nine dragons in all are shown pursuing
pearls among the clouds.

The serpent's
fishwives
In the Hindu legends
of India, the wives A monster chart
of the snake Kaliya, who Early mariners genuinely believed
symbolizes death and the that sea serpents and monsters
underworld, are depicted as fish- were as real as crabs, lobsters,

tailed spirits, very similar to seals, and fish. This 16th-century

mermaids in the traditional chart shows some of the creatures

folklore of the West. Here Kaliya is that were reputed to lurk in

trodden down by the dancing feet distant oceans.

of Krishna.

77
Arkeology James Irwin
Astronaut turned

The story of the Flood and Noah 's Ark is ark-hunter.

one of the greatest sea mysteries.

Mountaineers, archeologists, explorers,
pilots, and even astronauts have been
involved in "arkeology" —
the search for
the remains of the original ark.

STOOD GO the surface of the

N 1971, AS HE
moon looking back on the greenish blue orb
of the earth through the vastness of space,
astronaut James Irwin's thoughts turned to the Old
Testament. Like Noah in his ark, Irwin and his fellow
travelers had made landfall after a perilous journey.
There and then, Irwin vowed that when his NASA days
were over he would set out to find the remains of the
original ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey.
If such a vow coming from a man of Irwin's

scientific background seems eccentric, his

obsession was not unique. Many
respectable modern archeologists
believe that something more than
myth lies behind the detailed
account in Genesis of Noah's divine
mission to build an ark and save
selected creatures from the Flood.

The Flood legend

Classical sources too support the
Greek mythology, Prometheus
story. In
annoys Zeus, who decides to drown
humankind in a flood. But Prometheus
warns his son Deucalion, who weathers Animal pens
the storm in an ark (or chest) with his wife
The Bible describes an
eventually coming to rest on Mount ark with a cavernous interior
Parnassus. In the fourth century b.c. Plato Presumably this was crammed
added the tale of Atlantis, the drowned continent, with pens where the animals
while the writer Lucius of the second century a.d. told were tethered.
of a Syrian version of the Deucalion saga. Taken
together, these impressive ancient accounts of floods
seem to verify each other.
Early 18th-century thinkers
took the Genesis version of
the story at face value, the
only argument being over
dates. Dr. James Ussher, an
early-18th-century archbishop
Wooden construction
of Armagh in Ireland, used
According to the Bible, the ark
Old Testament dates and
was made of gopher wood, the
genealogies to arrive at a date
ancient name for white oak.
of 2349 B.C. for the Flood,
Mount Ararat, Turkey compared with 4004 b.c. for
the Creation.
Toward the end however, advances
of the 18th century,
in geology began to suggest that the world was older

78
The crew's quarters
The cabins of Noah and
his family on the top deck.

THE ARK RECONSTRUCTED

This artist's impression of what Noah's aric may have Watertight seams
looked iiice during its construction is based on the According to the Bible
detailed information given in Genesis. pitch was used to caulk
God commanded Noah to build an arlc with three the seams of the ark,
stories, a roof, and a door set in one side. Once both inside and out
constructed it was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits across

the beam, and 30 cubits tall. The ancient cubit

measure equals approximately 18 inches.
A wide gangplank would have been necessary to Curved beams
allow the multitude of animals to enter the ark, and, Contemporary' craftsmen would have
in order to support the colossal weight of the vessel, exploited the natural curves of timber
wooden scaffolding would have been used to prop up to construct the hull

the ark until the flood waters could float it.

Interlocking joints
The vast curved hull would have required
skillful carpentry.

79
 than either of these dates. The the deluge, which precisely described
publication of Charles Darwin's what would happen if a cyclone drove
revolutionary ideas in Tfie Origin of the waters of the Persian Gulf over the
Species in 1859 had a further impact on low lands Mesopotamia. Particularly
of
scientific opinion. Darwin's theories moving was the scene of desolation he
appeared to discredit Genesis as a described after the flood: "I looked at the
historical document. He asserted that face of the world and there was silence,
the species of animals currently all mankind was turned to clay."
on earth
existing So the reality of
had been the flood legends
produced not by was once more the
the Creation, but center of dispute,
by evolution. but with a new
But the flood twist. Was Noah
story would not only a garbled
go away. As version of earlier
anthropologists or had both
tales,
studied far-flung he and Utnapishtim
cultures in the been involved in
wake of deluges? Had their
Darwinism, they - flood also engulfed
found close Sir Leonard Woolley on site at Ur the Eskimos,

Gilgamesh
variants of the Aztecs, and
The chronicle of this Babylonian Noah story over the world. India,
all Aborigines in a single global catastrophe,
hero records the Sumerlan flood. China, Burma, Malaya, Hawaii, all had or had there been a period of deluges all

their versions of the flood, as did the over the worid?

Aborigines of Australia, the Maoris of It was not until 1930 that the British
THE SUMERIAN FLOOD New Zealand, and many North and archeologist Sir Leonard Woolley settled
Utnapishtim, a citizen of
South American Indian tribes, including the Mesopotamian flood dispute.
Shurrupak on the banks of the
Euphrates, received warning of the
the Eskimos. Woolley had been excavating the Royal
forthcoming deluge in a dream. Cemetery at Ur in Iraq, digging straight
The god Ea instructed him to
Carved in clay down and uncovering
build a large boat: Then, in the 1870's, layer upon layer of
These are the measurements of came the sensational artifacts that had been
the bark as you shall build her: discovery of the clay deposited over the
let her beam equal her length, let tablet library of the centuries.Below these
her deck be roofed like the vault 7th-century b.c. king was a thick layer of
that covers the abyss: then take
Ashurbanipal at mud, which had
up into the boat the seed of all
Nineveh on the Tigris, obviously been
living creatures
in what is now Iraq. deposited by water. Far
A week's work Among the too high to be river
Utnapishtim had the boat built in
20,000 inscribed mud, it baffled
seven days. It had seven decks in
tablets, 12 told the Woolley, who ordered
all, with nine bulkheads, and story of the the dig to continue.
covered an acre in area. Pitch and Babylonian hero After about nine
asphalt were used to make it Gilgamesh and dated Flood map feet, the mud petered
watertight. Utnapishtim filled it from the Sumerian The extent of the flood on the out, to be replaced by
with provisions, and took with him civilization of about Mesopotamian plain. rubble in which were
all his family, plus domestic and
4000 B.C. — very much deposited flint tools
wild animals, and craftsmen.
earlier than either Genesis or the early and fragments of crudely made pots —
After si.x days of heavy rain and
Greeks. And the 11th of these tablets an unmistakable Stone Age settlement.
flooding, the boat grounded on
includes a conversation between Woolley consulted with his colleagues,
Mount Nisir. A week later

Utnapishtim released a dove, then

a swallow, then a raven The raven
found land and did not return,
which was the long-awaited sign
that the flood was subsiding.
Gilgamesh and a man named but there was only one conclusion to be
Utnapishtim, who, like Noah, had built a reached. He telegraphed the British
boat to escape a flood sent by the gods. Museum: "We have found the Flood!"
Meteorologists were fascinated by Over the next few years similar shafts
Utnapishtim's account of the onset of were sunk over a wide area of the

80
 ARKEOLOGY

region. By plotting the thickness of the the site and stated that he
mud Woolley decided that water
layer, had found the prow and
had spread inland about 400 miles from which
stern of the ship,
the Persian Gulf to a breadth of about was made of thick wood
100 miles. was a vast flood in the
"It of a dark red color. Deep
and the Euphrates
valley of the Tigris snow had unfortunately NOAH'S ARK
which drowned the whole of the obscured the interior. Uod warned Noah that he

was going to flood the earth to

inhabitable land," concluded Woolley; In 1914, a Russian fighter pilot
destroy the wickedness of
"For the people who lived there, that named Roskowski reported that he had
humanity, and instructed him to
was all the world." flown over the remains of the vessel on
build an ark:
Could Noah have built a vessel to the southern flank of Ararat. Despite the Make yourself an ark of gopher
escape such a catastrophe? According to war, Czar Nicholas 11 sent a military wood; make rooms in the ark, and
shipbuilders, archeologists, and expedition of 150 men, which found the cover it inside and out with
geologists, the answer was yes. Neolithic shipand took photographs and pitch.. ..the length of the ark three
people had the tools, materials, and measurements. Sadly their report hundred cubits, its breadth fifty

skills, and the ark described in Genesis vanished three years later during the cubits and its height thirty

would have been perfectly seaworthy. Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. cubits. ..with lower, second, and
third decks. Genesis 6:14 - 16
So the hunt for the ark itself began
God told Noah to the ark
again in earnest, centering on the Ancient hand-hewn timber fill

with provisions, and at least two

volcanic mountain mass of Ararat, a More recently, an expedition led by the
of every species of living creature
16,000-foot-high range about 25 miles French explorer Fernand Navarra
on the earth, as well as his sons
reported finding what looked like a and their wives.
vessel about 13,800 feet up and sunk in a
glacier. The ship was about 450 feet long A hard rain falls
(roughly the length of the ark described When God sent the rain, it went
inGenesis) and had sloping sides. on for 40 days and nights, and the
Navarra made three expeditions between Flood bore the ark away. All the

1952 and 1955, bringing back pieces of mountains on earth were covered,

apparently hand-hewn timber of great and every living thing died, except
those on the ark. The Flood lasted
age, although Carbon-14 dating tests
150 days.
proved inconclusive.
When the waters began to
In 1965, the Daily Telegraph of
recede, the ark came to rest on
London, England, published an aerial the mountains of Ararat. Noah
photograph of the outline of a boat sent out a dove, to see if the land
about 400 feet long. Despite protests had dried out. The dove returned
from orthodox geologists that the shape with a leaf from an olive tree. On
Searchers for the ark was probably a freak glacial formation, its second flight it did not return
Members of the 1984 expedition to Mount Ararat, several more expeditions, mainly at all - so Noah knew that the
including James Irwin (left).
Turkish-American, made the icy climb to Flood was over.

find what may or may

long and 12 miles wide stretching not be Noah's Ark. The
between the Caspian and Black Seas, on expedition of August
the border between the Soviet Union, 1984 included as one
Turkey, and Iran. There were several of its members
intriguing though undocumented reports astronaut James Irwin,
to encourage the new "arkeologists," as the vow he
fulfilling

those involved in the quest for the ark had made on the
were called. moon.
Much of Ararat was actively volcanic, The leader of this
and in 1840, after an eruption, Turkish expedition, Marvin
workmen reported seeing the prow of a Steffins, a director of
large ship jutting from a glacier on the U.S. International
mountain slopes. Geologists made the Expeditions, brought
difficult climb, confirmed the find, and back fossil samples. He
were said to have entered three admitted that the real evidence would Timbers of the ark?
chambers of the ship. In 1893 Dr. Nouri, need long excavations to dig out, but Traces of old timbers found on

archdeacon of Jerusalem, rediscovered added, "we believe this to be the site." Mount Ararat.

81
 ''3S35

CHAPTER THREE v

Treasure r

Over the centuries, treasure hunters

of all kinds have risked and lost
their lives in obsessive searches for
the hidden riches of the past. From
the desert tombs of the pharaohs to
the dank, green forests of rural
England to the ramshackle gold rush
towns of the Wild West, they have
sought the earth's legendary hoards.

At 1:55 A.M. on April 4, 1923, the Egyptian

capital, Cairo, was plunged into darkness
by a power At precisely the same
failure.

moment, in a Cairo hotel, an English

aristocrat, Lord Carnarvon, died of
pneumonia brought on by blood poisoning ,

following a mosquito bite. Carnarvon had

provided the financial backing for one of
the most obsessive treasure hunts of all
time, the search to uncover the tomb of the
teenage pharaoh Tutankhamen in

~<HXf''-^
yyc
 '^_^

*--/.

:L::-^^K-t''~\.'x:z.:

./>-//

// / /

mm
TREASURE SEEKERS
Anglo-Saxon armor
In 1939 the remains of a
1,000-year-old burial ship were
discovered at Sutton Hoo. Suffolk,
England. Fantastic jewelry was
found, together with various
domestic and military items,
including this warrior's helmet.
84
Egypt's Valley of the Kings. And his one person
death started the legend of the Curse of to escape the
the Pharaohs. supposed
With Carnarvon's support, British curse was
archeologist Howard Carter had sought Carter: he
the tomb for a quarter of a century, died of
fighting against themounting sltepticism natural causes
of his colleagues and almost impossible 17 years later,
working conditions. Yet finally, on in 1939. Of course,
November 5, 1922, he was in a position skeptics have
to cable Carnarvon: "At last have made a disputed that Golden vessel
wonderful discovery...." Tutankhamen's there was anything A Peruvian ceremonial
tomb had been found — the mummified strange in the fate water pot.
body of the pharaoh surrounded by the of Carnarvon or
numerous objects of gold and other the other alleged victims of
precious metals with which he had Tutankhamen's curse. But the belief that
been buried over 3,000 years before. hidden treasures are defended by
mystical forces is old and powerful.
A dark legacy
Once the euphoria had died down, Myth and reality
rumors began to circulate of a In mythology stretching back to the
darker side to the pharaoh 's legacy. beginning of civilization, secret hoards of
Three weeks after the discovery, a treasure are depicted as being guarded
sandstorm blew up around the by a monster or to be attained only after
entrance to the tomb. According to overcoming a series of challenges. In
one account, a hawk, the royal Nordic myths, for instance, the hoard of
emblem of the house of Egypt, the Niebelungen was defended by a
emerged and swept majestically dragon that the hero must slay; and in
away from the mouth of the tomb the Greek legend of the Golden Fleece,
toward the west, the traditional site Jason and the Argonauts could reach the
of the "other world" beyond death precious goal of their quest only after
in Egyptian mythology. many extraordinary adventures.
In the realm of treasure seeking, the
Guardian of the tomb border between myth and reality is
Was there a malevolent guardian of always hard to draw. One of the greatest
the tomb, left by the pharaohs more lost treasures of all time, for example, is
than 1,000 years before the birth of that recorded in the story of El Dorado,
Christ?Could the ancients have used which means "the gilded one." For a
now-lost psychic talents to put curses century after the discovery of America
on those who dared to defile their by Christopher Columbus in 1492,
ancient burial sites or hoards of hidden European adventurers sought the fabled
royal treasures? Such apparently gold in the as yet unexplored reaches
farfetched speculations were fed by one of South America — and
single detail of Carnarvon's
death in Cairo six months after the
opening of the tomb.
The mosquito bite that Treasures
had indirectly killed him ofUr
was on his left cheek — and The royal
treasures of the
Tutankhamen's mummified
ancient
body bore a scar in precisely the
Sumerian city of Ur
same place.
were unearthed by
Over the following years, a seemingly Englishman Sir Leonard
unaccountably high number of deaths Woolley in the 1920s This
occurred among those connected with 'He-Goat Caught in a
the project — frommurders and suicides Thicket" was found in the
to car accidents and fatal illnesses. The great death pit.
the search has continued into the 20th The Great
century. Yet many
have historians Gold
claimed that El Dorado was never more Buckle
Part of the
than an illusion generated by the fever
Sutton Hoo
of greed. Even the adventurers who
treasure,
sought this fabulous wealth, many losing
this intricate
hazardous quest, could
their lives in the
made
buckle is

not agree whether El Dorado was a city of over 14 ounces of

or a person! Yet there is now strong solid gold.
evidence that, behind the legend, there
lay a solid basis in reality. The brother of one of the original TREASURES LOST
Spanish conquistadors lowered the lake Great finds, such as the Sutton

Golden inauguration level by 10 feet, using a huge gang of Hoo burial ship, discovered in

Dorado story that England in 1939, remind us of the

The version of the El slave laborers equipped with buckets.
lost treasures that are still waiting
now appears most credible concerned a Some 5,000 pesos of gold were found,
to be found.
priest-king so rich and powerful that he but the main body of the treasure eluded
could afford to throw away vast the searchers. Thirty-five years later a
Ark of the Covenant
quantities of gold and jewels. wealthy merchant from Bogota, Don Where, for example, are the great
This "gilded one" ruled on the shores Antonio Sepulveda, obtained permission golden menorah, the Ark of the
of Lake Guatavita, a volcanic crater-lake from the Spanish authorities to dredge Covenant, and the Table of
some 30 miles north of what is now the lake. A large Indian workforce cut a Shewbread that were carried off

Bogota in Colombia. The Spaniards hole in the lake wall, causing the water from Solomon's Temple in

learned that whenever a new king was level to drop by 15 feet. Gold objects Jerusalem by the Roman emperor
appointed, he was dusted all over with and a huge emerald were found before Titus in A.D. 70?

pure gold and, accompanied by four the hole filled in.

chieftains, set off on a raft across the Crown jewels
Where are the crown jewels of
lake. On reaching the center of the lake, Thwarted by nature
King John of England? In the fall
the king bathed in the waters, washing Over the next four centuries, there were
of 1216 the king's belongings,
the gold dust off his body; at the same many other efforts to locate the drowned
apparently including the royal
time a great pile of gold and emeralds hoard, yet all failed. At the beginning of regalia, were being transported
would be tipped over the edge of the the 20th century, a British company across the treacherous tidal mud
raft. This prodigious treasure presumably called Contractors Ltd. succeeded in flats of the Wash between Norfolk
accumulated in the thick mud on the entirely draining the lake by digging an and Lincolnshire. An unusually
lake bottom. underground tunnel. At first the bottom high tide washed over the team of

The hunt for .^i^^—ss&ssc was so thick with mud that no one could porters, leaving no survivors, and

the gold walk on it, but by the following day, it no sign of the crown jewels.

began as had dried solid in the sun. Unfortunately

Knights Templar
early as by the time drilling equipment was
What has become of the treasure
1545. brought in, the mud had blocked the
assembled over two centuries by
tunnel, and the lake had filled up again.
the Knights Templar, the military
In 1965, the Colombian government order founded to protect pilgrims
declared the lake a national monument, to the Holy Land' In 1307 the

banning any further draining. Thus the Templars' leaders were massacred
prospect of discovering whether the and the order dispersed by King
storywas myth or reality was lost. Philip IV of France. But they had

Evidence turned up in 1969, however, time to conceal their riches, many

that gave considerable credence of which must still lie hidden.

to the entire story. In a cave near

Ceremonial Bogota, two peasants found a
knife solid gold model of a raft,
Made in the
dating back to El Dorado's
Uth or 13th
time, complete with the
century A.D., this
figures of the priest-king and
figure probably
his four chieftains. Perhaps all The
represents a
Peruvian god. It
those who the
lost their lives in golden
is decorated with quest for the elusive El Dorado had not raft of El
turquoises. been pursuing an illusion after all. Dorado?

85
 Secret Hoards
"After terrifying brushes with a moray
eel.. .Hamilton began to think that the
treasure was guarded by some force he
"
could not conquer.
Riches from the deep
HERE IS TREASURE HIDDEN all over the woHd, and Unlike stories of buried riches,

every now and then somebody uncovers a nevv tales of sunken treasure are

often based on fact. Over the

hoard. Sometimes it is found by accident, though
many people would like to believe.
centuries, many valuable
not as often as
cargoes have been raised from
Sometimes the story of missing treasure has been
the ocean floor. With the
passed on from generation to generation, but its
advent of increasingly
location has been forgotten. Many people
sophisticated diving and sonar
have sought it, and at last, in what seemed equipment, more discoveries
the least likely place, it suddenly turns up. are probable.
Sadly, humangreed has not changed
'*"^ over the centuries, and tales of violence
and death attach to many hidden
hoards. These treasures seem to have a
will-o'-the-wisp quality about them:
they are found and lost, rediscovered,
and then vanish again. And always,
men are killed and lives are ruined. The
treasure almost invariably seems cursed.

Treasure in the crypt

The story of the Tuamotu treasure is a case in point. It

begins in Peru in 1859, when four mercenaries

apparently learned of a great treasure stored in the
crypt of the church at Pisco, on the coast of Peru. They
were an unsavory bunch of rogues: a Spaniard, Diego
Alvarez; an Englishman, Luke Barrett; an Irishman, Jack
Pirate treasure
Killorain; and an American, Arthur Brown, it was a
The popular image of the pirate
renegade priest. Father Matteo, who told them of the
burying his booty for safekeeping
— treasure: 14 tons of golden ingots, 7 great golden
has little basis in reality
although this fact fails to deter candlesticks encrusted with jewels, 38 diamond
treasure seekers in possession of necklaces, 2 chests (one filled with uncut stones and
'authentic' maps. the other with Spanish silver doubloons), and a great
quantity of jeweled rings, bracelets, and crucifixes.
Alvarez and Killorain began to attend mass at the
church at Pisco. When the time seemed right, they told
the local priests that they had learned Father Matteo
was planning to steal the treasure. Wouldn't it be a

good idea, they said, to move it? The priests agreed and
chartered a vessel, the Bosun Bird, to carry the treasure
toanother church up the coast at Callao. The
mercenaries kindly offered their services as guards.
As soon as the ship was out at sea, they slaughtered
the priests, the captain, and the crew, and set course
westward in search of an uninhabited Pacific island.
Eventually, in December 1859, they made a landfall in
the Tuamotu Islands, part of French Oceania. There
they found a small atoll that they believed was called
Pinaki and, with a great deal of labor, sank most of the
treasure in a small pool, keeping only a fraction of the -*^ >3P
86 I t d
 SECRET HOARDS

Commemorative coin
was struck to
This coin
commemorate William
Phips's discovery of the

Concepcion in 1687.

SUNKEN TREASURE
On October 31, 1641, the merchant
ship Concepcion, a member of a

Spanish treasure fleet, struck a

coral reef north of what is now

the Dominican Republic. Eleven
days later the ship finally broke up
and sank, taking its fabulous

treasure to the bottom of the

ocean. Only half of the 500 crew
and passengers survived.

Locating the wreck

There were many attempts to find

the wreck. Boston sea captain

William Phips located the ship
encased in coral 46 years later and
brought up a substantial amount
of treasure. But Phips had found
only part of the wreck, and the
many American, English, Spanish,

and West Indian treasure seekers

who tackled the problem over the
centuries had no success at all.

Operation Phips
Then, in the 1970's, an archetypal

treasure hunter, the American

Burt D. Webber, decided that he
would try to find the wreck. He

named the expedition Operation

Phips after his predecessor. An

experienced diver, with a larger-
than-life personality, Webber
convinced hard-nosed investors to
commit their dollars. His unfailing

leadership and limitless energy

inspired his long-suffering divers

in their pursuit. The team's efforts

were rewarded
when, on
November 30, 1978,

the first of many

coins was found.
That day's entry in

the log read:

"Praise God,

silver pieces of

eight were
•ecovered
n great quantities. Concepcion 's
An immense cargo
treasure had been A diver with
found - the part of the
hunter's perpetual haul.

dream realized.

87
gold for their immediate needs. They The pear-shaped pool
then sailed on to Australia where, off Howe sold all he possessed and arrived

the coast near Cooktown, they scuttled in Pinaki in February 1913, where he
the Bosun Bird and rowed ashore in a built himself a hut. For 13 long years he
small boat, announcing themselves as dug trenches in the sand of the beach
shipwrecked mariners. without success, before he heard that
another atoll was reputed to be the true
Lack of finance site of the burial. This islet had all the

Having covered their tracks successfully, essential landmarks: the coral pinnacle

they had planned to sail back and on the east side of the reef, the pear-
recover the bulk of the treasure. But the shaped pool, and the seven blocks of

gold they had brought with them was coral close by.
insufficient to finance an expedition, Probing in the sand beside the pool

and they could find no backers who with an iron bar, Howe struck wood and
would believe their cover story - that dug up a chest filled with uncut rubies,
they had fortuitously stumbled upon a long diamond necklaces, and much
map of where the treasure was buried. more. After three more days, he
They decided to try to raise more
money by working in the Australian
Howe struck wood and dug
gold fields. Soon afterwards, however,
Alvarez and Barrett were killed, and up a chest filled with uncut
Brown and Killorain, involved in a
murder, were sentenced to 20 years' rubies, long diamond
imprisonment. Brown died in prison. much more.
necklaces, and
In May 1912 a former gold prospector
called Charles Howe showed some
kindness to a tramp, a man he discovered the chest of doubloons. But
described as "altogether the most he had no way of transporting these
frightful-looking dwarf that ever
little finds; so he buried them again in sacks

escaped out of a picture-book." Four in the sand. Then he returned home to

months later, Howe was called to the find backers for a proper expedition.

deathbed of the tramp in a Sydney Six years later, in 1932, he had

hospital. The man identified himself as succeeded in organizing this expedition,

"Japonica Jack" Killorain. He gave but there were frustrating delays. To
Howe a chart drawn by Alvarez and occupy the time, Howe decided to go
made him promise to search for the prospecting in the Australian bush.
treasure. He died three hours later. Sadly, he was never heard of again.
Finally, in January 1934, the
expedition - minus Charles Howe -
arrived in Tahiti. There were six men,
including the diver George Hamilton,
who later wrote a book about the search.
They found the atoll and dug where
Howe had told them to, but found
nothing. No doubt to protect his own
interests, Howe had given them the
wrong directions; so they turned next to

the pear-shaped pool.

The floor of the pool was covered with
sand and broken coral. Hamilton began
searching the sand, and on his sixth
attempt, six feet into the sand, his drill
struck something that was neither sand
nor rock. They built a wall of corrugated
iron around the spot so that the sand
could be excavated, but as fast as they
dug the sand slid back from the

89
TREASURE SEEKERS

surrounding waters. After terrifying Mountains of gold

brushes witfi a giant octopus and the Another hoard of Spanish gold is said to
biggest moray eel he had ever seen, lie in the Hembrillo Basin west of the San

Hamilton began to thini< that the Andres Mountains in New Mexico. The
treasure was guarded by some force story begins near the end of the 18th

that he could not conquer. century, when a French nobleman,

Eventually the money ran out Philippe La Rue, arrived in the area and
and the fateful expedition discovered a gold mine. When the
had to return to Australia. As Spanish authorities in New Mexico heard
far as anyone knows, there the news, they sent out soldiers from
have been no further Mexico City, who tortured La Rue to
expeditions to the islands. death in a vain attempt to make him
The treasure is presumably still divulge the location of the mine.
there, waiting to be discovered. Many years later the Apache chief
Victorio made his headquarters in the
THE LOST DUTCHMAN MINE Hembrillo Basin, from which he led raids
many stories of treasure have
Unfortunately, fortune came to an abrupt halt when they
become so intertwined with legend, yarn were attacked by Indians and Weiser was
spinning, and downright lies that the truth fatally wounded. Many others also perished
"Where gold goes, blood
the search for the mine, often in sinister
and the treasure, if it ever existed, appear to in

circumstances, but Waltz returned to the

flows. Been a lotta blood
be gone forever. The Lost Dutchman Mine
provides one such tale. mountains over the years to collect further
flowed because of that hill,
The mine is supposedly situated in the booty. Waltz died in 1891, leaving only

Superstition Mountains, 40 miles east of sketchy, inadequate directions to the mine. good buddy, and it's my
Phoenix. The first Europeans to see the A 20th-century victim of the search for

mountains were probably Spaniards, who the mine was Adolph Ruth. An elderly guess it ain't done flowing
had traveled up from American, Ruth disappeared
into the mountains in 1931.
yet. You'll see."
Mexico in the mid-

16th century. They Six months later his skull Mrs. Ova Noss
were told by the and then his body were
Indians that this was found. He had been shot
along the Rio Grande Valley. He robbed
a sacred area, very twice in the head and then
mail coaches and churches, and it is
rich in gold. decapitated. In his pocket
said that he even carried off the treasure
Presumably, investigators found a small

book containing directions of the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico,

Mexican miners
heard the tales of to the mine and the words who was deposed and shot in 1867. A
untold riches, then Veni, Vidi, Vici. But neither small rocky hill, some 500 feet high, has
disregarded the the mine nor his murderer been named Victorio Peak in memory of
potential Indian was found. his profitable exploits.
threat in order to A further clue to the

mine's whereabouts had

work the region. But Dramatic discovery
the Apaches took been let slip by Weiser, who
Seventy years later, in November 1937, a
their revenge when, indicated that its position
small hunting party, which included
in 1848, they was marked by a large
local homesteader Milton "Doc" Noss
massacred the Manga Colorado boulder. There was just such
and his wife. Ova, set out from Hatch,
miners. The Apache chief who led the a boulder near the site of

Less than 20 years 1848 massacre. the old Indian massacre

New Mexico. Scrambling alone over the
later, the "Dutchman" ground. In the late I940's, rocks of Victorio Peak, Noss stumbled
appeared on the scene. Jacob Waltz was in engineer Alfred Strong Lewis was searching onto a shaft that seemed to lead down
fact a German mining engineer who had in the area when he decided to dislodge into the very heart of the mountain. He
apparently found the location of the the "marker" boulder. Underneath it, he sensibly kept the discovery to himself,
Superstition Mountain mine. There were found a lode of rich ore, but it soon and a few days later he and his wife
claims that a Mexican benefactor had became obvious that this was not the main returned to explore further with ropes
provided him with a map. The tale may well shaft. Perhaps that now lies awaiting
and flashlights.
have been a convenient cover story to discovery in the surrounding area.
According to Noss, he soon
explain away the sudden appearance of gold Despite the fact that others have also
discovered a cavern "big enough for a
achieved by other, illegal, means. lost their lives in the quest, treasure
freight train," scattered with human
Waltz and his accomplice, Jacob Weiser, hunters still search the mountains with
varying degrees of expertise, hoping to
skeletons. Noss counted 27 of them,
did, however, travel into the mountains and

return with gold. Unfortunately, their good make their fortune. each with hands bound behind its back.
But he was even more struck by the

90
 SECRET HOARDS

Access denied THE PRACTICAL SIDE

In 1953 the U.S. Army took over It seems obvious why so many
land west of the San Andres expeditions in search oQreasure

Mountains and turned it into the have failed

miserably. The
White Sands Missile Range.
adventurers^
Although Ova Noss pointed out that
have
she had an entirely legitimate claim
set
to mine on Victorio Peak, she was
off with large
denied access. The zone was closed to quantities of
everyone except officially authorized optimism,
military personnel. determination, and
The White Sands affair has since often greed, but

developed into a longdrawn-out legal generally with very little

White Sands National battle. In 1963 the Denver Mint obtained else. The sensible
Monument and Ova Noss treasure hunter makes
careful preparations.

— guns, Those hundreds of gold

Other contents of the cave
Finding the facts
swords, and saddles, a stack of leather bars, and even Emperor Rumors abound concerning
pouches stuffed to the brims with gold, the whereabouts of secret
and "thousands of bars of gold, stacked Maximilian's treasure, may hoards. To avoid a
like cordwood." haphazard approach,
yet be discovered.
thorough research should be
Rock fall conducted into the background
There is some evidence, in the form of permission to dig, between missile- information. The location and

photographs said to be in the possession testing schedules, from July 13 through history of the area should be

of the Noss family, that "Doc" brought September 17. Although thousands of studied, using reliable government
survey maps.
up a number of gold bars and other tons of rock and earth were moved
valuables during the next two years. But during the search, the entrance to the
Treasure trove
in 1939 he foolishly decided to make mine was not discovered.
It is important to find out who
access to the treasure easier by blasting would benefit from any valuable
open the mouth of the cave. The result Multiple claims discovery. The regulations
was a disastrous fall of tons of rock, In 1972, nationallyknown attorney regarding the ownership of a
which sealed up the opening. F. Lee Bailey announced that he treasure trove can be complicated
It was not until February 15, 1946, that represented 50 claimants who knew the and need thorough clarification

"Doc" Noss finally filed a claim on the location of the cave. Ova Noss was not before the actual search begins.

Victorio Peak mine. In 1949 he went into
According to Noss, he
discovered a cave, "big
enough for a freight train,"
scattered with human
among them. After lengthy legal action,
in March 1977 the army allowed six Choosing equipment
Equipment and clothing - and, if
claimants to mount a 14-day exploration
needed, weapons - should be
on the missile range. Professional
chosen carefully, and expert
treasure hunter Norman Scott, head of
advice sought where necessary.
Expeditions Unlimited Incorporated, was
employed to make the attempt. Scott The elements
moved in an army of men equipped In hot regions dehydration can be
with an array of modern hardware from a killer. Exploration should be

skeletons. bulldozers to helicopters, but after undertaken only

13 days' hard toil, the in winter, when
partnership with a miner called Charles unsuccessful search of the temperatures

Ryan. They planned to tunnel the gold mountains was are cooler and
finally abandoned.
water is usually
out of the cave and fly it across the The numerous gold seekers
available.
Mexican border. The project was well were denied access to the whole
advanced when Noss and Ryan area for the next 12 years. But
Keeping
quarreled violently, and Ryan shot Noss then, in 1989, the authorities
track
dead. By strange coincidence, on that permitted Norman Scott to Travel plans
very same day Noss's son, Marvin, whose explore Victorio Peak one more should be
part in the elaborate plan had been to time. Those thousands of gold bars, and logged with family or friends.
pilot the plane carrying the treasure, was even the Emperor Maximilian's fabulous Diaries and maps should always
badly injured in an air crash. stolen treasure, may yet be discovered. be kept methodically.

91
 Quest for the Grail
"/ will make here a
vow... I shall labour
in the quest of the Grail. ..and never
"
shall I return till I have seen it.

Sir Gawain in Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

HE FABULOUS AND MYSTERIOUS STORY of the Holy Glastonbury Tor

Grail emerges obscurely from the mists of
first The Tor, a high mound
that rises mysteriously
legend in the Conte del Graal, written about 1 180
from the marshy flat land
by the medieval French poet Chretien de Troyes. This
of the county of Somerset,
incredible tale, of which only a part has survived, tells
England, is inextricably
Siege Perilous of a Welsh youth, Perceval, living at the court of the
linked to the Grail story.
In this painting by Scottish artist English king Arthur. It is believed that the Tor
Sir William Russell Flint, Sir Fearing that his mother is dying, Perceval sets off to was the magical, ethereal
Galahad joins the knights of King journey homeward. He comes to a river where he Isle ofAvalon of
Arthur's Round Table. Galahad
meets a man fishing, who invites him to his nearby Arthurian legend.
alone is able to sit, unharmed, in
castle. In the castle Perceval encounters a squire
the "Siege Perilous" — the Seat of
carrying a white lance dripping with blood, and a
Danger This indicates that he is
beautiful girl bearing a Grail. The poet does not say
destined to find the Holv Grail
exactly what the Grail is, but describes it as made of
gold, set with jewels, and giving off a brilliant,

unearthly light. At dinner, the Grail is passed in front of

everyone as each course is served, but Perceval, the

poem tells us, "did not ask concerning the Grail, whom
one served with it."

Perceval is shown to his bed, and in the morning the

castle is deserted. Riding away into the
forest, he meets a maiden. She tells

him that the castle belongs to the

Fisher King, who has been
crippled in battle by a javelin
that has pierced both his thighs.
Perceval should, she says,
have asked about the
lance and Grail, for his
questions would have
cured the Fisher King.
Back at Arthur's court he
is told that, if the Fisher
King is not healed, "ladies
will lose their husbands,
lands will be laid waste. ..and
many knights will die."

Origins of the Grail

This Grail of mystical powers
became associated with the
medieval Christian cult of the
relics of the Crucifixion. The
wood of the cross
itself, the nails, the
crown of thorns, the
lance used by the
centurion Longinus
to pierce Christ's side,

» PAGE 96
 QUEST FOR THE GRAIL

WHAT IS THE GRAIL?

The best-known image of the Grail

is that of a gem-encrusted

drinliing cup made of a precious

metal. It is supposedly the very

cup used by Christ at the Last

Supper, and then by Joseph of

Arimathea to catch Christ's blood

at the Crucifixion.

Kilkhampton cup
A 19th-century image
of the cup used at
the Last Supper.

Benevolent stone
In Wolfram von Eschenbach's
13th-century version of this story,
ParzivaL the Grail is a sacred

stone, able to provide unlimited

amounts of food and drink.

Holy bloodline
Some modern researchers believe

that the Grail is not an object at

all, but that it represents the
bloodline of the family of Christ,
the Sangreal or royal blood.

Healing cauldron
Celtic legend says the Grail is a

healing cauldron that is able to

discriminate between good and

evil. The deserving sick are placed

in this cauldron to be cured.

Dramatic detail
The scenes on the inside of the
Gundestrup bowl include one of
a warrior being plunged into a
large cauldron.

93
 Long Ago in Camelot...
In the presence of King Arthur and the knights of the
Round Table, the wizard Merlin predicts the birth of one
who will sit in the "Siege Perilous" the seat that is —
mortally dangerous to all but the knight who is to
fulfill the task of finding the Grail.

c— •^-1 AUNCELOT, KING ARTHUR'S bravest knight, arrives

ll^rttt in a pleasant town where the townspeople
beg him to save a damsel who is being held
captive in a tower by an enchantress. Launcelot frees
the gid who is called Elaine, daughter of King Pelles.
Together they ride to Pelles' kingdom. He is known
as the Maimed King of the Wasteland Kingdom
because, many years ago, a knight called Balin
pierced his side with a spear. At this
blow all the buildings in Pelles'
kingdom tumbled to the ground, all

vegetation withered, every fish left

the waters, and Pelles' wound would

not heal. Only the purest knight that
ever lived could restore Pelles and
his kingdom to life.
Elaine falls in love with
Launcelot. Their union is

encouraged by the king, who has

prior knowledge that the result will be
a son, Galahad, and that "by him the
Holy Grail should be achieved."
Launcelot is tricked into bed with Elaine, who uses
sorcery to pretend to be his true love, King Arthur's
wife, Queen Guinevere.

Many years later the court is gathered in

* Camelot when a maiden

She demands, on behalf
arrives
of King Pelles, that
on horseback.

Launcelot should travel with her to an abbey in the

forest. There they find the fully grown Galahad, and
Launcelot is asked to knight him. A few days later
the new knight arrives in Camelot.
The knights are sitting at the- Round Table when
Galahad is led into the hall by an old man, who
indicates that he should sit in the "Siege Perilous," the
Seat of Danger. This he does and all the knights To the great
around realize that this is the "best knight of the sorrow of those
world" who is destined to find the Holy Grail. who are left behind, 150
The Grail appears in Arthur's hall that very night. knights depart on the Grail
All present are struck dumb until the Grail has quest. Some women wish to follow
gone. Following the appearance of the Grail, the them but all of the knights swear that they will be
knights rise one after another and vow to go in celibate during the quest. At their going Arthur
search of it. remembers Merlin's prophecy that the start of the Grail
<i:x
quest would signal the end of the glorious order of the
knights of the Round Table.
 Last Supper and Joseph of Arimathea. As several <~
of the knights fail in obvious that
their quest, it is

this is a result of the Grail sorting out the good from

the sinners. During the knights' travels they have many
further revelations made to them. Finally father and
son, Launcelot and Galahad, are reunited. They spend
six months sailing the seas, before they continue
their quests alone, Launcelot being blown back out
to sea and Galahad setting off into a forest.
Launcelot lands at the rear of a castle, which he
enters. He comes to a locked room and, realizing
that the Grail lies inside, he prays to be allowed to see
it once more. The door opens and there, amidst

dazzling light, is the Grail. Launcelot tries to enter the

room but is transfixed. He falls into a coma and
hovers between life and death for 24 days.
When Launcelot regains consciousness, he
learns he is in the castle of King Pelles and that
he will come no closer to finding
the Grail, for his past sins hinder
him and render him powerless.
Launcelot realizes that his quest
has ended and returns to Camelot.
Galahad, meanwhile, meets up '^I't

with Bors and Percival, and they

ride to King Pelles' castle. Galahad
has finally returned home and he is
greeted by King Pelles, who knows
that theprophecy of the Grail is

about to be realized.
<L
In the presence of the Grail, the
maimed King brought
Pelles is

before them. Christ himself appears

from the Grail and feeds them with a marvelous
sacrament, charging Galahad with the task of
returning the Grail to the Holy Land and promising
him the gift of spiritual life. Galahad uses the blood
from a bleeding spear to cure King Pelles. The
is healed his kingdom too comes
instant Pelles
back to and as the three good knights ride away
life

from his can smell the fresh perfume of

castle, they
newly budded flowers, leaves, and grasses and
hear the sounds of birds singing.
Galahad, Percival, and Bors take the Grail back to
the Holy Land, along with the spear. A year later
On the first Galahad is made king, but on his death shortly
day the afterwards the vessel and the spear are taken up to
knights ride out as if in a Heaven by a Godly hand, along with his soul. Percival
single body, but on the second lives as a holy man until his death, just over a year
day they separate and ride in bands of later. Having buried Percival, Bors returns to Camelot
two's and three's. The i<nights experience a series to tell the remarkable tale of the Holy Grail.

of adventures. Gradually the meaning of the quest

becomes clear, as various hermits explain the origins Based on Sir Thomas Malory's Arthurian tale

of the Grail by telling the story of the Morte d'Arthur, written in about 1485.
 by Joseph of Arimathea, the man who,
according to the Bible, buried Christ's
crucified body. Joseph is supposed to
have taken the Grail to Calvary and
caught in it the blood that flowed from
the wound in Christ's side. But it was the
Burgundian poet Robert de Borron,
writing in about 1200, who identified the
Grail of Joseph with the cup used at the
Last Supper, when Christ said "This is my
blood of the covenant, which is poured
out for many." Matthew 26:28
A few years later the Bavarian poet
Wolfram von Eschenbach wrote another
version of Perceval's adventures,

"The Grail was the fruit of

blessedness. ..its delights

the shroud
which His
in
were very like what we are
body was
told of the Kingdom of
wrapped — all these
""
were eagerly sought Heaven."
Seal of the knights after,and fragments of extremely
This Templar seal shows two doubtful origin were lovingly revered. Parzival in which the Holy Grail is a
knights riding one horse, and But there was another priceless relic that stone guarded by a secret order of
bears the inscription "Seal of the named Templeisen. Parzival
everybody searched for fruitlessly: the knights
Soldiers of Christ The Knights
"
cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. In comes Maimed King,
to the hall of the
Templar have often been
time this came to be identified as the and sees the Grail, "which surpasses all
identified with the Templeisen
Holy Grail. earthly perfection." At dinner,
guardians of the Grail in Wolfram
Within 20 years of Chretien de "whatsoever one reached his hand for,
von Eschenbach 's Parzival. Much
speculation surrounds the Troyes's Grail story, the tale had been he found it ready, in front of the Grail,
whereabouts of the Templars elaborated upon by writers all over food warm or food cold, dishes new or
great fortune which was lost in Europe, and it has old,meat tame or
the 14th century. There are also remained the subject game. ..for the Grail
thosewho claim that the knights of commentary and was the fruit of
knew of the secret location of the controversy ever since. blessedness, such
Grail itself
The many versions of abundance of the
the Grail legend differ sweetness of the world
in significant ways, but that its delightswere
all contain enough ver\' like what we are
similarities to link them told of the Kingdom of
in some way. Heaven."
In a second tale, The story of the
written shortly after de Holy Grail was never
Troyes's death, the supported by the
knight Sir Gawain sees Christian church. And
the Grail, which moves \ et, as the Grail stories
about the dinner table proliferated, they
by itself, filling the wine became ever more
cups and serving each Knights Templar Christian. Authors
course. The white lance A I3th-centur\' effigy of a member of wrote about the Grail
the military religious order
dripping with blood, he in a religious context,
is told, is that used by the centurion and stressed that only the pure could
Longinus to pierce Christ's side. Another hope to see it. In the 13th-century Queste
author explains that the Grail was made del Saint Graal, the saintlv Sir Galahad

96
 QUEST FOR THE GRAIL

seeks and eventually finds the Grail. But reveal its

he is dying, and at his death: "...the two secret

remaining companions saw quite plainly powers.
a hand come down from Heaven, but Elements of
not the body it belonged to. It the Grail story
proceeded straight to the Holy Vessel appear in
and took both it and the lance, and many pre-
carried them up to Heaven, to the end Christian myths
that no man since has ever dared to say The Celtic gods
he saw the Holy Grail." known as the
Tuatha de Danaan
Magical objects possessed a magic
Over the centuries and throughout the cauldron, an all-
world storytellers and scribes have conquering spear, a sword
found a rapt audience for their tales of a that could not be overcome, and The Gundestrup cauldron
magical object, its origins shrouded in the Lia Fail, the stone of fate. Similar
mystery, that will one day be found and objects occur in legends in Egypt and
CELTIC CONNECTIONS
China. Perhaps humankind simply revels
Joseph of Arimathea The Grail story has much in
in inventing mysteries for which there are
Could this enigmatic biblical character really have common with Celtic legends from
traveled from the Holy Land to England, bringing the
no easy answers.
the pre-Christian era.
Holv Grail with him?
Glimmer of truth The Phantom's Frenzy
But could there be a reality behind the In the Irish story The Phantom's
proliferation of Grail myths? Some people Frenzy, the hero. Conn of the

have certainly believed so, and have Hundred Battles, visits the hall of

attempted to locate the story in the real the sun god Lug. He is served by a

history of Britain. The quest for the Grail girl in a golden crown, who before

became an essential part of the story of giving him ale asks, "To whom
shall this cup be given?" Lug
King Arthur, and gradually the sacred
replies, "Serve it to Conn of the
relic became associated with
Hundred Battles."
Glastonbury in Somerset, supposedly
Arthur's "sweet isle of Avalon," where he
The thirteen treasures
ruled over his British kingdom. It was In the Mabinogion, a collection of
said that Joseph of Arimathea had Welsh stories, four magic vessels
carried the Grail across Europe until he must be found for a wedding feast:

reached Glastonbury, where he founded a cup, which provides the finest

drink; a platter on which all can

find the meat they desire; a never-
Perhaps humankind simply empty drinking horn; and the

revels in inventing cauldron of Dyrnawg. This

cauldron is also listed in the 16th-

mysteries for which there century Thirteen Treasures of the

Island of Britain. It would only
are no easy answers. boil meat for a brave man.

the first Christian church in England. His Restoring life

staff, stuck into the earth, grew into the The cauldron that belonged to

Glastonbury thorn tree, which flowered Bran the Blessed, also in the

every Christmas Day. And the Grail was Mabinogton, would restore the

hidden in the Chalice Well, which for dead to life: "A man of thine slain

today, cast him into the cauldron,

centuries was renowned for its
and by tomorrow he will be as
miraculous healing waters.
well as he was at the best...."
Joseph was said to have been
A cauldron, or bowl, that adds
accompanied by his brother-in-law, substance to the tale was found in
Bron, a name that is also given to the a peat bog at Gundestrup in

Fisher King in more than one of the Grail northern Denmark. Scenes on the
romances. This is sufficiently close to inside include a warrior being

that of Bran, the hero of a Celtic version plunged into a large receptacle.

97
Hitler and the Lance The Crucifixion
In this painting by 15th-century
Flemish artist Hans Memling the
Like the legendary Holy Grail, the spear of
lance of the Roman centurion
Longinus is said to date From the time of Longinus is shown piercing

the Crucifixion and is traditionally Christ 's side.

believed to hold the key to untold powers.

To many notorious leaders throughout the Habsburg regalia to
history its possession has always been be carried off to
highly coveted, down to the Third Reich of Nuremberg, the birth-
Adolf Hitler. place of the Nazi
movement. It was as if he
believed that possession
LIT WHEN THEY Came to Jesus, of the lancewould make
and saw that he was already him as powerful a
'dead, they did not break his legs. conqueror in Europe as
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with its former owners.
a spear, and at once there came out blood On October was loaded onto an
13 the lance
and water." John 19:33 - 34 armored train armed S.S.
and, accompanied by an
Thus the centurion Longinus fulfilled the guard, was taken to St. Catherine's Church in
prophecy that not a bone of Christ's body Nuremberg. For more than five years Hitler held
would be broken at His death. The spear undisputed sway in Europe; then came D-Day
was inevitably sought as an invaluable relic md the Allied landings. After heavy bombing
by medieval Christians. of Nuremberg in October 1944, the lance
Over the centuries there have been several and the rest of the Habsburg regalia were
possible claimants to the title Sacred Lance, but it is hurriedly buried in a specially
the spear to be found in the old palace of the constructed vault.
Habsburg emperors — the Hofburg in Vienna — that Six months later, the American
holds the most authentic claim to the name. According ^Seventh Army surrounded the city
toGermanic tradition, in the ninth century the lance ^and, after four days of formidable
was carried by the first Holy Roman emperor, bombardment, eventually took
Charlemagne, through 47 victorious campaigns. possession. On April 30, 1945,
Charlemagne met his death only when he accidentally the lance was discovered in
dropped the lance. The tales of the spear's magical its underground chamber

powers grew as it passed ''\

and seized in the name of
through the hands of the U.S. government. It is

Saxon and Hohenstauffen thought that it was on

rulers. It was possessed for that same evening, a
a while by Frederick few hundred miles
Barbarossa, son of the away, in his
Hohenstauffen dynasty. bunker in Berlin,
Holy Roman emperor, and <v^ that Hitler put
conqueror of Italy.
ni.- t
Object ofe power
'

^^ T-iBk.
5^\ , ,

a pistol to his
.

Barbarossa met the same

Thespeanspartot
The Habsburg treasure,
\ ^jj^J^^
now \ |^^^|^B^ head and
,

fate as Charlemagne: he to be found in Vienna. GermanTS^^K^t^^^^^^^ shot

dropped the lance as he dictator Adolf Hitler allegedly ^^^^^^^^^k. himself.
crossed a stream and died became obsessed with the lance
just minutes later. The and believed that, if itwas in
Adolf Hitler spear eventually passed to his possession, its power would
the Habsburgs. enable him to achieve his
ambitions to conquer Europe
Adolf Hitler, a penniless painter of watercolors in
and beyond. Hitler may have
Vienna in 1913, was fascinated by the lance and the
thought that the mystical
stories that linked it with generations of conquering
had
qualities of the lance
German emperors. On March 14, 1938, as chancellor of
many conquering
assisted the
Germany, he proclaimed the annexation of Austria into German emperors who
the Third Reich, and within days had given orders for preceded him.

98
 QUEST FOR THE GRAIL

Templar tradition and to know their

secrets, and some have even said that
they knew the whereabouts of the Holy
Grailitself. But without some solid

evidence these are empty claims.

Recently, in France, it has been The ruins of the abbey
suggested that the word Sangreal (as the The mortal remains of King
Holy Grail appears in some early Arthur and Queen Guinevere
manuscripts) should be read as sang real were said to have been found in

(royal blood) and that the reference is to the ancient cemetery of

the descendants of the Frankish Glastonbuty Abbev in 1190.

Merovingian kings, whose line died out

in A.D. 752, or even to those of the blood
of the family of Christ.

Today, in the museum

in Glastonbury, there is a

bronze bowl, neatly

decorated with a circle of
studs. Could this really be
the Holy Grail?

In 1 190, just as the first tale of the Grail

was being written, the monks of
Glastonbury claimed to have found the
grave of Arthur, but the bones they
excavated have long been lost. Today, in
the museum in the town, there is a
King Arthur bronze bowl, small but beautifully made,
The stoiy of King Arthur is ever popular. So that no and neatly decorated with a circle of
knight might appear superior to the others, they sat studs. It is clearly a ceremonial object,
around a democratic Round Table. It was the quest
not a domestic one, and is believed to
The sacred chalice?
for the Holy Grail that caused the knights to depart have been used in rituals by the lake This unassuming bowl dating
from Camelot, leaving their king to mourn the end of
dwellers who had their settlement from 250 b.c. fits the popular
the 'truest knighthood that ever were seen together
nearby. Could this really be the Holy image of the Grail and can be
of the story, to suggest that there is a Grail? It remains overwhelmingly found in the museum at

connection. And above the waters of the probable that the sacred chalice is onlv Glastonhun:

RiverDee at Llangollen, which Perceval an object of myth.

would have had to cross on his way
back into Wales, stand the ruins of Dinas
Bran, Bran's castle. Is this, then, the
home of the mysterious Fisher King?
There are other claimants. The
Templeisen, who guarded the Grail in
Wolfram von Iischenbach's Parzival,
have been identified with the Knights
Templar, a warrior order founded in
1118. The order was dispersed, and
many of the knights executed, early in
the 14th century, but much of their
wealth was never recovered. During the
last200 years, many people have
claimed to be the inheritors of the
 Breaking
THE Rules
It appears thdt there may be living
among us certain individuals not
bound by the physical and mental
rules of life —
individuals like the
medium D. D. Home, who was
apparently capable of enduring
extreme heat with no effect, of
practicing levitation, and even of
changing the shape and size of
his own body.

No medium was more intrigued by inis

own paranormal powers than the

extraordinary Scottish-American psychic
D. D. Home, and few have been as willing
,
, to submit to scientific investigation.
'*_ Daniel Dunglas Home was born in
Scotland in 1833 and grew up in Hartford,
Connecticut. It was in the United States
that he began to develop his psychic
powers and came to rival the originators of
 /i /

|;~3^^/
BREAKING THE RULES

DISAPPEARING ACT Victorian fireplace — otherwise some of

At one time or another most his effects, such as floating lights, would
people have wished they could have been scarcely visible. But the light
disappear. During the 1960's, Dr.
was certainly clear enough for his every
William Neff apparently became
action to be seen. He had no assistant,
suddenly invisible on three
occasions, demonstrating a talent
as other mediums often did. On
innumerable occasions he performed at
that would have helped his career
as a stage magician no end. But
short notice in houses he had never
he had no control over its onset previously visited, which offered him no
and was not even aware that it chance to set up any secret apparatus in
was occurring when it did.

Once he vanished during his act

Witnesses claimed to see
in Chicago, and another time
before his terrified wife at home. Home's flesh stretching and
distorting as he grew up to
Daniel Dunglas Home
12 i nches tal ler.
the spiritualist movement, the Fox sisters,
in popularity. He went to London in 1855 advance. And he was always willing to
and soon attracted the attention of be searched before a sitting. It is not
the city's fashionable society. surprising that several stage magicians
who attended Home's sessions, in the
Overnight sensation hope of proving him a fraud, confessed
Home could perform an enormous themselves completely unable to explain
repertoire of improbable feats. As well what they had seen. In his book Lights
Dr. William Neff as the rapsand spirit messages common and Shadows of Spiritualism, published
to everyseance then and now, he could in 1877, Home many pages
himself spent
Expert witness
The third occasion was witnessed
cause heavy Victorian tables and chairs castigating fake mediums and the tricks
by the broadcaster Long John
to rise into the air — and, on occasion, they used to gull the credulous.
Knebel, who was himself highly the people sitting in the chairs as well.
skeptical about paranormal He often materialized disembodied Legendary levitation
phenomena. Knebel described hands that then floated about the ^^•'fe^l^ The authenticity of
what happened in his book The seance room, moving objects and many of Home's own
Way Out World. He was watching writing messages — tfiese hands could feats are not beyond
Neff perform at the Paramount be grasped, but then question — in particular,
Theatre in New York City, when "it
melted away on doubts surround his
-^xVL ^
seemed that Neff's body was
human contact. "^p^^ most famous act of
becoming minutely translucent"
Musical instruments levitation.
until "you could see the traveler
curtain clearly behind his
would float and play at /y The
transparent figure."
Home's command. legend
Even as he faded from view, Trumpets and accordions' says that on
Neff's voice remained perfectly were favorites, and were often brought ^
the night of either
audible. Then, wrote Knebel: who suspected that
by skeptics December 13 or 16,
"Gradually a rather faint outline, Home's own instruments were 1868, in front of three
like a very faint pencil sketch of mechanically operated. His suitably astonished
Neff, appeared again." Neff himself extraordinary physical feats included witnesses — Capt.
claimed to have been completely
plunging his face and hair into hot Charles Wynne, Lord
unaware of the event.
coals, bodily levitations, and Adare (later the earl of
spectacular stretchings. Witnesses to Dunraven), and the
these elongations claimed to see his , Master of Lindsay (later
flesh distorting as he grew up to 12 Lord Lindsay) — Home
inches taller. actually floated out of
Unlike most mediums of the era, one fourth-story
Home did not hold his seances in window of a London
darkness. He operated in subdued house and then came
light — gaslight turned down back in through
low or the light from a large another.

102
 BREAKING THE RULES

But exactly what did happen on that most bizarre phenomena were seen to
memorable night has never been occur. His accordion, which so often
satisfactorily determined. played by itself, is now in the possession
Not only is the precise date of the of the Society for Psychical Research in
whole event in question, but the London. It contains no clockwork or
witnesses failed to agree on which other non-musical mechanism, nor any
London house they were actually in that indication that it has ever done so.

night, on the weather conditions, on the Perhaps most significant in any

size and number of windows, or even on
which floor the levitation took place.
Capt. Wynne's only recorded comment
on the event was perhaps the most
reliable: "Home went out of one window
and came in at another."
assessment of Home's abilities, he never
took money for his demonstrations. If he
was a fraud, he was one of the greatest
frauds ever. If he was genuine, he was
one of the most extraordinary and
inexplicable of men.

Defying gravity and belief THE FOX SISTERS

Almost the only thing Lindsay and Adare During the second half of the 19th murdered and whose remains lay

agreed on was that Home exited from a century, the middle and upper buried under the house.

window in room next to the one in

the classes in the United States, Within just a few short days, the

which they were sitting. He did not float

Britain, and much of Europe sisters, and the mysterious raps,

became fascinated, not were a local sensation. Two

out of the window before their eyes. He
if

indeed obsessed, by seances years later the girls had

left the room, telling them on no
and mediums. Yet the become national celebrities,
account to move from their places, and
spiritualist movement had performing a full repertoire that
then reappeared standing upright started modestly enough, when included table-turning and
outside the window of the room he had two young girls, the Fox sisters, "direct voices," in which the
just left. He opened the window and suddenly claimed to possess a spirits spoke directly through them.
climbed in, presumably from the highly unusual talent - the Margaretta Fox It was not long before many
balcony. Was it levitation that ability to communicate with the others found that they, too,
transported Home
across empty space dead. Genuine or not, the girls possessed the psychic gift that

that night? Or,more mundanely, was he were certainly in
extraordinary talents.
able physically to climb from window to
The world first
window to fake the effect?
possession of some enabled them to produce these
extraordinary manifestations, and parlor
heard of the power of seances soon became the rage.
all

paranormal communication as a direct

Whatever the answer. Home was
result of the strange events that occurred Fall from grace
never caught cheating in any of his
in a simple wooden house in Hydesville, The Fox sisters continued to work as
demonstrations, which numbered over New York, on March 31, 1848. For mediums during the 1850's, while
some time before, the spiritualism spread throughout the

was thinking how

"I inhabitants, Margaret and John Western world. Then, in 1857,

Fox and their two daughters Margaretta's husband, the Arctic

astonished a poHceman Catherine, aged 12, and explorer Elisha Kent Kane,
Margaretta, aged 14, had been died. Without his support, she
would have been if he disturbed at all times of the took to drink and drugs. The
day and night by inexplicable pressures of celebrity so young
had looked up and seen rattlings of the walls and also took their toll on Catherine;
various items of furniture. she too became an alcoholic.
me floating between 1888, in desperate need of money,
In

Pioneering spirits Cathie Fox the two sisters were paid $1,500 by
the windows."
According to a sworn statement the New York Herald to confess to
D. D. Home signed by Mrs. Fox: "The children A
fraud and deceit. year later, they
heard the rapping and tried to make similar retracted the confessions.
1,500 in the course of 25 years. He sounds by snapping their fingers. Cathie Did they cheat? They were never detected
impressed the French emperor Napoleon clapped her hands and said 'Mr Splitfoot, doing so. And in 1904, after their deaths, a

III and the Russian czar Alexander II do as I do!' The sound instantly followed wall in the house in Hydesville collapsed,

with his powers, and was happy to be with the same number of raps." revealing the remains of a body, whose

investigated by some of the most Before long, the girls had established an identity was never discovered. This indicated
alphabetical code to interrogate the noisy that something quite real may have lain
eminent scientists of the day. Witnesses
entity. They soon became convinced that behind the birth of spiritualism and the
overwhelmingly agreed that he
the noises were being made by the spirit of remarkable, and influential, careers of
remained fully visible during seances
a 31 -year-old -peddler who had been Margaretta and Cathie Fox.
and several feet away from where the

103
 Body Magic
The human body is sometimes capable of
the most amazing feats — wild talents in
apparent defiance of the laws of nature.

7ow CAN SOME PEOPLE Walk on burning coals,

withstand injuries that should cause
unbearable pain, or apparently float in the air?

Such abilities have often been dismissed as trickery, or

else attributed to some supernatural agency.

Inrecent years, medical research has proven that
human beings can change their body's functioning
through the power of the mind. This line of Hindu ritual

investigation could hold the key to many, if not all, Thaipusam festival, Singapore.

apparently inexplicable physical abilities.

Still, no one knows exactly how this power of the

THE POWER OF THE LORD mind could actually work, or why faith plays such a
Strange physical feats have often
large part in
been attributed to the power of
these feats.
God. It is a Christian tradition that

those blessed with great godliness

can also be given strange physical
powers. According to Catholic
histories of the lives of the saints:

St. Francis of Paola (died 1507)

could handle fire without ever
being burned.
During religious ecstasies and
devout prayers St. Catherine de
Ricci (1522-90) was known to give

off sweet odors.

Other saints have been given
the gift of bodily elongation in

which parts of the body are

stretched, causing excruciating

pain. On one occasion, St.

Catherine of Genoa's (1447-1510)

Suffer the faithful
arm is said to have grown by more
Religious faith seems to enable
than five inches.
some believers to do the
In 1497, 21 distinguished
impossible. They are protected
witnesses saw Blessed Stefana
from the heat of fire, the sting of
Quinzani suffer painful bodily
venomous snakes, and the pain of
changes in imitation of Christ's
self-mutilation by their unquest-
suffering on Calvary.
ioning belief in their gods.
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Devotees of some Hindu
often levitated during her ecstatic
cults, and the dervish sect
prayers. "It seemed to me," she
of Islam, prepare
wrote, "as if a great force beneath
themselves by fasting
my feet lifted me up. I confess that
and praying before
it threw me into great fear."
sticking skewers and
hooks into their flesh or

walking on fire. The true

believer seems to come

through the experience
remarkably unscathed; others,
perhaps lacking in true faith,

have been known to suffer

,>>-^ grievous injuries.

104
 BODY MAGIC

Eating glass Monsieur Mangetout

A
halo of spikes Attich Abdellah from Morocco. Michel Lotito and his potentially
The wounds do not bleed and lethal diet.

leave no scars.

Strange eating habits

Human pincushions Fire-eating Eating metal, glass, and other
Religious devotees engaged in To spit fire, fire-eaters fill their oxygen and cannot burn. When indigestible items has long been a
ritual self-mutilation appear to mouths with a flammable liquid the stick is removed, it will catch favorite of sideshow performers,
feel no pain, even when hanging and blow it out at a fire stick. To fire again, giving the illusion that the most famous of whom is the

in mid-air with hooks in their swallow fire, they put a burning it had been burning all the time. Frenchman Michel Lotito, known
backs. Scientists suspect that they stick in the mouth; then they No amateur should attempt these as Monsieur Mangetout (Mr. Eat-

may be able to produce large quickly close their lips around it. tricks, for even professionals have All). He travels the world

quantities of endorphins, the The fire is thus deprived of suffered hideous injuries. providing weird entertainment

morphinelike substances that are with his outrageous dietary habits.

manufactured by the brain to He says that he eats an average of

block pain. two pounds of metal a day,

This does not explain, however, washed down with mineral oil and
why the wounds neither bleed nor gallons of water. Over the years

leave scars. Perhaps the he has eaten bicycles, television

explanation lies in the superb sets, and even a Cessna 150 light

control many Eastern mystics aircraft (which took over two

have over their circulatory years of dedicated munching).
systems - it is known that they There does seem to be a
can slow their heart beat and rational explanation for Lotito's

change their blood pressure; it abilities. Scientists have found

may be that they can also reduce that his stomach and intestinal

the blood flow to their capillaries. walls are twice as thick as the

average person's, while his

digestive juices are unusually

strong. Lotito himself ascribes his

Hung from hooks success to the time and date of
A Hindu anticipates his painful his birth - midday on June 15,
religious ordeal - which he believes holds
1950
some unspecified mystical
significance, as it is exactly
halfway through the century.

Playing with fire

French fire-eaters demonstrate
their dangerous skills to the
Parisian public.

105
BREAKING THE RULES

Secrets of the Sadhus

The Sadhus, or holy men of India,

spend a lifetime searching for

ultimate union with God. Along

the way, they master the eight

great siddhis (accomplishments),
among them levitation, telepathy,

clairvoyance, premonition and,

finally, nirvana. Through

meditation, they are able to
produce physical changes in their

body temperature, heart rate,

blood pressure, and brain waves

that enables them to withstand

Mind control pain and cold and to remain

A fire-walking immobile and
experiment. Granada unblinking for
Hills. California, 1984. long periods
of time. y

Sparks fly
/
A spectacular Balinese fire dance.

Fire-walking
/
Fear of fire's searing fieat is

universal, and yet across the

world, from Bali to Mexico, there
are people who are able to

overcome that fear and walk

J^y i
triumphantly across beds of
burning coals unscathed. In fact,

fire-walking has become popular

even in the United States in
recent years. Many fire-walkers

feel that they are protected by

their gods. Scientists have

suggested a number of more

mundane theories - the Psychic entertainer
"leidenfrost" effect in which sweat English magician Doc Shiels Liftoff
forms an insulating cushion of levitates his daughter American kvitator Peter Sugleris
steam under the feet; the walker's leaves the ground.
minimal contact with the ground
(lasting less than half a second Walking on air
per step); the trancelike state of Levitation, the ability to suspend
most fire-walkers, which produces the laws of gravity that bind us to
an anesthetic effect; or even the the earth, is generally considered
fact that burning embers are poor to be impossible. But these
conductors of heat so the fire is photographs of Doc Shiels and
just not very hot. But what none Peter Sugleris seem to suggest

of these theories can explain is otherwise. And with little thought

why clothes do not burn or why, if of magic or mysticism, school-
fire-walking is governed by children all over the world play
ordinary physical laws, some fire- levitation games in which a group
walkers are seriously injured, of youngsters try to lift a friend
while others seem to escape using only their fingers. Indian
completely unscathed. holy men also claim to be able to
levitate by using their mystical
powers, but there has never been
a scientific study to prove it.

106
 BODY MAGIC

Scientific application Daubed with ash MIND OVER MATTER

Yogis are reflective and mystical A holy man assumes the classic For thousands of years, mystics
devotees of the Hindu philosophy meditative and yogis from cultures all over
that believes in the suppression pose. the world have been able to
of the activities of the mind, regulate their own physical state
body, and will, with the ultimate through the act of meditation.
aim of freeing the inner self. They Now similar powers are being
have been able to provide used in the most advanced
valuable clues for researchers hospitals in the Western world.
about the power of the mind over
the body. Scientists believe that
yogis are able to produce "theta"

brain waves (slow brain waves

common to the dreaming stages
of sleep) through meditation, /'

and to slow their breathing

and heartbeat at will.

Biofeedback therapy
Contemplative stance Electrodes measure the patient's

A holy man meditates while standing pulse rate, and the variations are

on one leg at Varanasi, India. represented visually by changes in

Science meets mysticism the brightness of an image.

Rope trickery
( A yogi is prepared for a biofeedback test

The Indian rope trick, in which a i

magician makes a rope rise into

the air, becoming stable enough

to support the weight of a child
assistant who climbs it, has
fascinated experts and audiences
for years. There are explanations
Conscious control
as to how the trick is carried
In the medical profession, some 20
out, such as suspending a
or 30 years ago, the pioneers of
wire 30 feet above ground
biofeedback technique concluded
between two hills,
that the only reason we could not
surreptitiously attaching a
control our so-called involuntary
hook to the rope, and then
functions, such as heartbeat and
throwing the hook over the
blood pressure, was because we
wire. The almost impossible
could not actually see or hear
requirements, both of location
them. It followed that if we could
and skill, may explain why the The Indian rope trick
be made conscious of what is
trick is so rarely The trick as performed in the mid-1930's by
happening inside our bodies, we
•/^ii performed - thus Karachi and Kyder — eccentric Englishman
^" ensuring its cult Arthur Darbv and his son.
would then be able to exercise

some control over those areas.

status.

Vital functions
Electronic instruments have since
been developed that can literally

- and quite painlessly - "feed

back," both visually and audibly,
information about automatic
nternal functions. Patients are

trained to respond to this

information. Thus in witnessing a

visual display of, for example,
their own heartbeat, they are able
to concentrate on it and regulate
it. So, although no one knows
exactly how it works, biofeedback
has demonstrated the power of
the mind over bodily functions.

107
 The Immortal Count
"This extraordinary man.. .would say in
an easy, assured manner that he was
300 years old, that he knew the secret of
the Universal Medicine, that he possessed
a mastery over nature, that he could
melt diamonds.. .all this, he said, was a
mere trifle to him. "
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova

ON THE TRAIL OF N 1760, WHEN COUNTESS VON GEORGY heard a

THE COUNT
Over the centuries there have
been many sightings of Count de
Saint-Germain, and many
as to his origins and his ultimate,
unconfirmed, demise.
1600's Transylvania
Born illegitimate son of
Prince Franz-Leopold
footman announce the arrival of Count de
Saint-Germain at a soiree at the Paris house of
Madame de Pompadour, mistress to the French king
theories
Louis XV, the aging aristocratic lady was intrigued. She
had known a Count de Saint-Germain in 1710, in
Venice, where her husband had been a diplomat.
Perhaps, the countess asked, this was the present
count's father?
Madame," he answered, "but myself
"No, 1

Ragoczy. was Venice at the end of the last and

living in
1600's the beginning of this century; had the honor to
I

Bohemia Born pay you court then."

illegitimately in "Forgive me, but that is impossible!" exclaimed
Lentmeritz,
the startled countess. "The Count de Saint-Germain 1

to a noble Rosicrucian.
knew in those days was at least 45 years old. And you,
1710 Italy Born in
at the outside, are that age at present."
San Germano, son of a
"Madame," replied Saint-Germain with a smile, "1 am
tax collector.

1710 Italy Seen,

very old."
appearing to be a 45-year-old "But then you must be nearly 100 years old," said the
man, in Venice, by Countess countess in amazement.
von Georgy. "That is And he
not impossible," answered the count.
1737 Persia Five years at the proceeded to give the countess such a detailed account
court of the shah. of life in Venice 50 years earlier that she could only
1760 France At the house of accept that he was telling the truth.
Madame de Pompadour in Paris,
seen again by Countess von Georgy
Biblical connections
still looking 45 years old.
Saint-Germain was to be connected with even more
1784 Germany His death
startling statements than this. It was said that he had
reported in Eckernforde.
1785 Germany Seen with
been a guest at the wedding at Cana when Jesus of
pioneer hypnotist Anton Mesmer. Nazareth performed his first miracle, turning the water
1793 France Present at Marie into wine. Apparently one of his friends in those days
Antoinette's execution in Paris. had been Anne, the Virgin Mary's mother, and he
1799 France Witness to himself had proposed that she should be recognized as
Napoleon's seizure of power. a saint — in a.d. 325, at the Council of Nicaea.
1804, 1813, 1820 France Such claims are but even the verifiable
fantastic,
Seen by Countess d'Adhemar. facts about Saint-Germain are extraordinary. He first
1897 France Singer Emma
came to the notice of European high society in Vienna
Calve autographs her picture to
- ^,1^ in 1742, where he arrived after five years at the
Saint-Germain "the great " "%,
shah of Persia's court. There he had learned the
chiromancer, who has
jeweler's craft, and to speak the native
told me manv truths."
1972 France On language, Farsi; he also spoke fluent French,
television, Richard German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian,
Chanfray claims to be the and English, and knew Chinese, Sanskrit, ancient
mysterious count. Greek, Latin, and Arabic as well.

108
I
 Over the next four decades and her diaries has often been
Saint-Germain was questioned, according to Mrs. Cooper-
constantly on the move, Oakley, author of a comprehensive
staying in the major volume on the life of the count
towns of Europe for published in 1912, there are documents
brief periods and pertaining to Saint-Germain in the
^ ^^^^^^^ dazzling everyone he possession of the d'Adhemar family.
'^y^'^^'^^
'-« rn^^ ^'^^ l^'^ prowess
on the violin, his The saga continues
diamond-studded And still the mysterious count's
clothes, his ability as a reappearances continued. In 1897 an
painter (he had autographed portrait of the French singer
perfected a remarkable Emma Calve was dedicated to Saint-
technique for painting Germain, and in Paris in the 1970's a
jewels), his brilliant man called Richard Chanfray claimed to
conversation, and his unchanging be the still-living count.
Vital symbols youthfulness. In the mid-1 740's he So exactly who was — or is — the
For the alchemist, the sun and the carried out secret diplomatic missions Count de Saint-Germain? Some of the
moon represent the path through on behalf of King Louis XV in England, wilder stories about him — such as those
life, as well as rebirth and and then did the same at the Hague in
possible immortality. 1760, where he met up with another
adventurer on a diplomatic mission, the Voltaire described Saint-
infamous lover Casanova.
Germain as "a man who
In 1768 he went to the court of
Catherine the Great in Russia, where for never dies, and who knows
two years he advised the commander of
the imperial Russian armies in a war everything."
against Turkey. With the Turks defeated,
he left Russia and traveled to Germany. linking him with the Holy Family — were
In 1779 in Hamburg he met Prince almost certainly rumors spread by Saint-
Charles of Hesse-Cassel, and went to live Germain's enemies at the French court to
in the Prince's castle at Eckernforde for make him appear ridiculous.
the next five years; and it is there that, But even the 18th-century French
according to the parish records, he died philosopher Voltaire, habitually a
on February 27, 1784. rational and skeptical observer of the
world around him, described Saint-
Life after death? Germain as "a man who never dies, and
According to many others, however, the who knows everything," and there is

count did not die in Eckernforde. A year certainlysomething strange about Saint-
after his reported death, Saint-Germain Germain's widely reported failure to age.
Modern count
In 1972 Richard Chanfray claimed was seen in Wilhelmsbad in Germany Countess von Georgy, whom Saint-
to be Saint-Germain, still alive in with the pioneer hypnotist Anton Germain so surprised when they
the 20th century. Chanfray later Mesmer. In 1788 he was seen in Venice met again in 1760, stated that
committed suicide. and Vienna, and in Paris where, still in Venice in 1710, the count
looking no older than 45, Saint-Germain had given her an "elixir"
visited the Countess d'Adhemar, an that for a quarter of a
intimate friend ofQueen Marie century preserved the
Antoinette, to warn the French royal beauty she possessed at
family of the coming revolution; both the age of 25.
women recorded the event in their If there is an
diaries. Countess d'Adhemar reported explanation for all this,

seeing him, still looking like a man in his itprobably lies in Saint-
mid-forties, five more times: in 1793, Germain's ability as an
when Marie Antoinette was guillotined; alchemist. Everywhere he
in 1799, when Napoleon seized power in went he set up an
France; and in 1804, 1813, and 1820. elaborate laboratory, and he
Although the existence of the countess was renowned for his

110
 THE IMMORTAL COUNT

prodigious scientific i<nowledge. Wiien

THE ALCHEMISTS
Richard Chanfray maintained on French
television in 1972 that he was the still-
living Saint-Germain, he "proved" his
point by apparently turning lead into
gold in front of the cameras. And it is
fundamental to alchemical lore that
success in performing this operatioh is
accompanied by the blessing of eternal
physical life — immortality.

Contemporary alchemist
Saint-Germain is not the only person
alleged to have discovered the secret of
eternallife through alchemy. There is,

forexample, the mysterious Fulcanelli,

Originating with the Arabs in Egypt some
author of a series of occult books
1,400 years ago, alchemy was a form of
published in Paris in the 1920's. Those
mystical chemistry that, its practitioners
who knew him personally — notably his
claimed, held the secret of turning base
former pupil, Eugene Cansaliet — said Alchemical images
metals, such as lead and tin, into pure gold.
that Fulcanelli was elderly, rich,
The alleged key to the alchemists' power The secret "science " of alchemy generated a
enormously erudite, and possibly of was the philosopher's stone, a potent rich symbolism to express its arcane
noble lineage, but that he refused to substance also known as the universal knowledge. The figure of the androgyne, both
divulge his true identity. Cansaliet solvent, which was supposed to effect the male and female in one body, was especially
claimed on one occasion,
that, magical transmutation of matter. significant in alchemical lore.

Fulcanelli had given him a minute

quantity of what he called "powder of Lust for gold FLEGnAT
Throughout the Middle Ages, the alchemist
projection" that, added to four ounces of
was a powerful, mysterious figure, courted
molten lead, turned it into pure gold.
by the princes of Europe greedy for an
Cansaliet last worked with Fulcanelli
inexhaustible source of wealth. Of course
when the alchemist was 80. Thirty years alchemy never actually worked, but the
were to pass before the two met again, promise of free gold was too alluring to
at a castle in the mountains near Seville, resist, even after repeated disappointments.
Spain. But, said Cansaliet, Fulcanelli Gradually, over the years, alchemy took on
looked like a man of 50, although his a more spiritual quality, without losing any

true age must have been nearer 110. In of its mysterious aura. The philosopher's

1981 Cansaliet, then aged 80 himself, stone was identified with the elixir of life,

claimed to have met Fulcanelli again on and the making of gold came to be viewed
as only a symbol of the alchemist's true
several occasions; but he had observed
pursuit - immortality.
that Fulcanelli had gradually taken on
the appearance of a woman. This,
Eternal life
according to the literature of Inevitably, the secret of eternal life was
alchemy, is one of the more found to be just as elusive as the secret of
bizarre side effects of success
creating gold. But it also proved equally
in the Great Work, as the was sunk
irresistible, and many a fortune in
alchemist himself gradually the tortuous quest for the fabulous elixir
becomes a perfect being, that could defeat age and death.
neither male nor female,
but androgynous. Hidden truths
Could Saint-Germain and The magical practice of alchemy largely died

Fulcanelli possibly have out with the dawn of the modern scientific

shared the same elusive age 300 years ago. Some researchers still

believe, however, that although many

alchemical knowledge?
alchemists were undoubtedly charlatans,
Whatever the reality of their
others had genuinely been on the track of
strange and long lives, they
hidden truths that may yet be confirmed by
were certainly both intriguing and the progress of science.
charismatic characters.

Ill
 The Marks of Christ
Stigmata are repetitions of the wounds believed
to have been suffered by Christ at His
Crucifixion: the holes made by the nails in His
hands and feet, by the crown of thorns on His
THE CRUCIFIXION forehead, and by the spear in His side.
Historians have argued that the
wounds exhibited by stigmatics do
not, in fact, correspond with the
NEXPLicABLY, FROM THE FIRST recordcd casc of
actual wounds of the Crucifixion. stigmatization — that of St. Francis of Assisi in

1224 — to the present day, hundreds of people

have been marked with these replicas of the wounds
of Christ's Passion.
Why — and how — does it happen? Can deeply
devout Christians really share in Christ's sufferings
siinply by meditating on them'J' r ^ .,^. i

Is stigmatization a strange '

-^

clinical condition, in some

way akin to hysteria? Or is it,

in fact, no more than a

particularly clever hoax?
There is probably no simple answer. The Catholic
Church treats cases of stigmatization with great
skepticism, and earlier this century ordered stigmatit
Padre Pio to keep out of the public eye. While
psychiatrists term it psychologically induced
bleeding, the church believes there are three
possible explanations: divine revelation; the work
Medieval stigmatic the devil to confuse the faithful; or conscious or
unconscious suggestion. But no one theory works for

Historical evidence suggests that

all the great variety of known cases.

the Roman method of crucifixion

was to tie the arms to the cross

with ropes and then to drive nails

through the wrists. So the
stigmata may in fact accord with Christ on the cross
the wounds shown in Renaissance A crucifix showing the wounds
paintings and in church statuary, that the stigmata mimic

rather than with the actual

method that we now understand
would have been used for a Antonio Ruffino
crucifixion at the time of Christ's In 1951 Antonio Ruffino saw an
execution. They may correspond apparition of the Virgin Mary and
to the idea of Christ's wounds, received the stigmata. To mark
rather than the reality. the visitation, Ruffino built a
Cloretta Robinson chapel on the site, south of Rome.
The case of Cloretta Robinson, a He subsequently bled from his
Baptist from West Oakland, hands and feet for over 40 years.
California, is unusual in that she is

the first known non-Catholic

stigmatic. At the age of 10, in 1972,

she developed stigmata for several

days over Easter, She was
examined by two doctors, neither
Roman crucifixion
of whom could find any medical
explanation for the blood that
appeared on her hands, feet, left

side, and forehead.

112
 THE MARKS OF CHRIST

FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Padre Pio St. Francis of Assisi is the first

A model of piety and humility and person recorded to have

probably the most venerated of developed stigmata. His
modern-day stigmatics, Padre Pio stigmatization occurred in 1224.

was laid to rest in southern Italy He was praying outside his

in 1968. A Capuchin monk, he had spiritual retreat, a cave in the

bled continually for over 50 years. Apennines, when he saw a winged

He hid his wounds from public seraph in the skies and fell into a

gaze, staying within the walls of swoon. According to contemp-

the monastery of San Giovanni "Pope Gregory" orarv' accounts, the stigmata

Rotondo in Foggia, and appeared Clemente Dominguez, from Palmar appeared as he struggled to his

in public only to say Mass (right). de Troya in Spain, proclaimed feet and called for help. In the

His stigmata first appeared in himself Pope Gregory XVlll in the words of his biographer, Thomas
1918, just three days after the late 1970's, and periodically Celano, writing in 1226: "His

Capuchins had celebrated the developed the wounds of Christ's hands and feet seemed pierced in

Feast of the Stigmata of St. Passion, including a chest wound the midst by nails, the heads of

Francis of Assisi. and the marks of the crown of the nails appearing in the inner
thorns. Dominguez claimed to part of the hands and in the
have had heavenly visions each upper part of the feet, and their

night since being blinded in a car points over against them....

accident in 1976. In contrast to Moreover his right side, as if it

Padre Pio. Dominguez openly had been pierced by a lance, was

flaunted his wounds and reveled in overlaid with a scar, and often

the devotion of his followers. shed forth blood...."

Teresa Neumann
Born in Bavaria in 1898, Teresa Christ's Passion every Friday. Each
Neumann was bedridden, blind, week, on that day, wounds
and paralyzed by the age of 20, appeared in her hands, feet, and
apparently as a result of a side, and she wept blood-tinged
hysterical reaction to a fire at a tears, sometimes losing nearly a

neighboring farm. A few years pint of blood. However, she was

later, she had a vision of St. always well again by Sunday, the
Theresa of Lisieux, after which her wounds miraculously healing by
afflictions were suddenly cured then. The authenticity of her

and she herself developed stigmata was vigorously challenged

stigmata. For over 30 years, until throughout her life, but fraud was
her death in 1962, she suffered never proved.

113
Intrusions from Elsewhere
"That is my daughter.,.. Why, she has been
in heaven 12 years. Yes, let her come, we'll
be glad to have her come. "
Mr. A. B. Roff

HERE MAY BE FEW CLAIMANTS tO physical

immortality, but there are hosts of others who
will attest to the survival of the personality after
death. By no means do
do so from religious
all

on the evidence
conviction: they take their stand that
some dead people have communicated quite
who are still alive. But these
convincingly with those
apparent communications can sometimes occur in the
most disturbing fashion.

Spirit control
In July 1877, 13-year-old Lurancy Vennum of Watseka,
had a seizure and announced that she could
Illinois,

see heaven and angels, as well as people whom she

had known but who were now dead. Her startled and

When Lurancy saw her real family

during this time, she treated them
as strangers.

distressed family eventually took the advice of their

neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Roff, and called in Dr. E. W.
Stevens of Janesville, Wisconsin. Mr. Roff brought Dr.
Stevens to see Lurancy in January 1878. By this time
she was in a state of constant inner turmoil. The doctor
succeeded in calming her, only to hear her say that a
spirit called Mary Roff wanted to take control of her.
Mr. Roff exclaimed "That is my
daughter; Mary Roff is
-•
my girl.Why, she has been in heaven 12 years. Yes,
let her come, we'll be glad to have her come."
Mary Roff had also suffered from dreadful
seizures and she finally died in 1865 at the
age of 18 following a particularly terrible fit.
Now, it seemed, her spirit wanted to return
to this life by possessing Lurancy
Vennum's physical body. From that time,
Lurancy — or Mary Roff — began to
demand to "go home to her parents,"
and on February 11, 1878, she did so.
Once inside the Roffs' house, she
immediately recognized clothes,
belongings, friends, and relatives,
and talked familiarly about
events from Mary's past that
had occurred up to 25
years previously,
before Lurancy
 INTRUSIONS FROM ELSEWHERE

was born. When Lurancy saw her real person at all and thought no more about
family during this time, she treated them it. But at a seance a year or two later.

as complete strangers. Jack Toyer, a developing medium, told

Then, on May 7, "Mary Roff" sat him, in a somewhat disapproving voice:
down, closed her eyes, opened them, "Tom. ...There's a spirit form, of an old
and said: "Where am I? was never here
I Mexican in a big black hat, standing
before." Lurancy had apparently behind you, you know."
reappeared in her own body. But five "Well, don't know who he is," said
i

minutes later, she was behaving like Fox, "but he's welcome."
Mary Roff again, and continued to Soon after this, Fox himself went into
alternate between the ^^^^^^^^. ^^^^^^^^ a trance and in a voice
two personalities until not his own boomed
May 21, when "Mary" A psychic artist had out: "Who the bloody
announced that it was hell d'ye think you're
time for Lurancy to
painted the picture of calling an old Mexican? A girl possessed
no old Mexican, Lurancy Vennum was 13 years old
return, and said good- Doc Tester several I'm
when she was allegedly possessed
bye to the Roff family. mate. My name's Doc
by the of a dead neighbor,
Lurancy happily years before. Tester." Then, through spirit

Mary Roff.
returned home, and only Fox, Doc Tester
on rare and brief launched into a long
occasions after that did talk about healing. After
the spirit of Mary Roff this. Fox heard no more

return to disturb her. from, or about, Tester

Skeptics point out that for years.
Lurancy may have In the early 1970's
picked up the Fox was invited to the
knowledge of the Roff house of some new
household that she friends for tea. When he
displayed as "Mary" from arrived, the first thing
conversations between he saw was an oil

the Roffs and her own painting of a man

parents. Without dressed in black, with
consciously logging the black hair, and a wide-
fact that she had heard brimmed black hat. At
these details, they may once he asked his
Doc Tester
have been stored in her hostess whom the
Portrait bv John Burrell.
memory. A genuine picture represented.
mental disturbance may have brought "You tell me," she said.
forth a secondary personality capable of "His name's Doc Tester, he's
fastening on to this unconscious Australian, and he worked in the
material. But we cannot rule out the outback," Fox heard himself saying
possibility that, in some sense, Mary Roff before he had a chance to think.
really did take over Lurancy Vennum's "He's been waiting here three years for
body for a time. you," said his hostess.
Fox was completely amazed. How
Outback physician could anyone else know about Doc
The more recent case of British medium Tester? How had anyone been able to
Thomas Fox provides remarkably paint this picture, or be sure that he
convincing evidence that possession is would get to know about it? Then the
not just a product of the "victim's" mind. story came out.
In the late 1960's a medium named John Burrell, a psychic artist, had
Billy Elton said that one of Fox's spirit painted the picture several years before.
guides — the spiritual entities through There were two unusual things about his
whom a medium makes contact with art. He only painted portraits of the dead,

other spirit forms — was

an Australian whom he had never seen in the flesh or
called Dr. Tester.Fox had never heard, in photographs, and he always painted
seen, or sensed the spirit of such a with his eyes closed, in a state of trance.

115
BREAKING THE RULES

Among the pictures of spirit guides he comfortable on his couch. He would

painted was a portrait in oil of a black- then close his eyes and start to breathe
haired man, who was wearing a black deeply and evenly. Once in this
hat.He looked a bit like a character trancelike state, Cayce would be told the
from a western, except that in the name and location of his subject.
background of the picture there were Despite the large distances that often
sheep, not longhorn steers. separated healer and patient, Cayce was
"It's not yours," he had said when he apparently able to visualize the patients,
gave away, "and it's not
it for you. But describe what he thought their illnesses
hang it on your wall. This an is were, and then prescribe suitable
Australian doctor, and he's somebody's treatments. Between 1901 and 1945 he
THE SLEEPING PROPHET healer in spirit. Someone will be along gave thousands of readings, many of
Psychic doctor Edgar Cayce was eventually to collect it." them for people he had never met,
born on a Kentucky farm in 1877 correctly diagnosing their illnesses and
and died While
in 1945. in a trance
Dust from the bush prescribing cures. A huge archive of
he was apparently able to answer
Today the painting hangs in Fox's these readings is on record at the
questions about the past, dwelling
consulting room in London. Fox is Association for Research and
extensively on the role of the lost
convinced that Tester has, indeed, done Enlightenment, an organization which
civilization of Atlantis and its

importance in the evolution of

spiritual healingthrough him, guiding was founded by Cayce in 1934, in

humankind. Many of his readings

his physical actions while he is in a state Virginia Beach, Virginia.
relating to the past give extensive of trance. Fox says that he has Cayce was frequently called the
detail regarding the location of since found out that Tester Sleeping Prophet because he
numerous historic sites, but as yet was an ordinary country always worked in a trance.
none of these has been subject to doctor, working in the He believed that the
the serious archeological research Australian outback in information he received
necessary to verify his claims. was so accurate because
the 1920's. Tester
would spend weeks he had the gift of
Alarming revelations
at a time riding from paranormal access to the
Like Nostradamus in 16th-century
station to station and "Akashic records." This
France, Cayce made predictions
regarding the future, and there are
from settlement to term comes from the
those who claim that many have settlement on Sanskrit word akasha,
been proved accurate. His horseback — which which means "the
devotees believe that he foresaw accounts for his fundamental etheric
the two World Wars, the 1929 Wall scruffy attire: he substance of the
Street crash, the discovery of the wears old clothes, Thomas Fox universe." These records
Dead Sea Scrolls, and the which are covered are allegedly a repository
invention of lasers. Among his
with dust from his journeys in the bush. of everything that has been said and
many predictions is an alarming
The most remarkable part of this story done since the beginning of time.
claim regarding a massive
is that three mediums besides Fox
upheaval in the world due to
come about around the year 2000.
himself independently either saw or Time theories
This would result in major
were aware of Doc Tester, two of them Albert Einstein suggested that time is an

geographical changes, including before Fox himself had known anything eternal "now," through which our lives
the destruction of Los Angeles and about his spirit guide; and the man who move in a single, arbitrary direction.
San Francisco by massive painted Tester's picture was someone Paranormal talents may be the ability to
earthquakes. During a prophetic whom Fox had never met. But are we move mentally in other directions
dream he had in 1936, Cayce flew really to believe Doc Tester is a spirit, or through time. If this is true, we are as yet
over a destroyed city in the is he perhaps a figure from Fox's unable to solve the mystery of what it is
process of being rebuilt. On asking
unconscious which the other mediums that gives psychics their peculiar power
thename of the city he was told:
were "tuning into" telepathically? Or is to navigate across time unconstrained by
"New York."
there another explanation? the rules that govern the rest of us. But
It will not be long, therefore,
such a notion could well explain Cayce's
before we will all be able to judge
the authenticity of Cayce's
Psychic consultant phenomenal accuracy as a psychic
predictions for ourselves. One theory was suggested by Edgar healer, the apparent possession of
Cayce, one of the most famous psychic Lurancy Vennum, and the unanimous
healers of all time. In preparation for and unprompted agreement of several
what he called a reading, Cayce would psychics on the appearance of Thomas
loosen his clothes and make himself Fox's spirit guide. Doc Tester.

116
Prophet of Doom
Nostradamus — physician, alchemist, and
philosopher — probably the world's
is
best-known prophet. His predictions have
continued to stimulate enormous interest
for over 400 years.

ORN MICHEL DE NOSTRADAME On December 14,

1503, in Saint-Remy, Provence, in the south

of France, Nostradamus studied philosophy
and medicine, and soon earned a reputation as a great
healer during the plague of Montpeliier in
Nostradamus and the queen
the 1530's — though, tragically, his wife
Nostradamas's predictions were held in high esteem
and children perished in the epidemic. during his lifetime. Queen Catherine de Medicis
In 1550 he published his first almanac and other members of the French royal family courted
of prophecies for the coming year. He htm assiduously in an effort to unlock the secrets of
later wrote a complete series of 10 their destiny.

Centuries, written in enigmatic quatrains

(four-line verses), predicting world events
end of the world in 3797.
The rise of Hitler
up until the
One of Nostradamus's most famous
Nostradamus 's verses are not easy to
predictions (Centuries 11:24) allegedly
understand. Nevertheless, they have been
many concerned the emergence of Hitler as the
interpreted as offering predictions of
leader of Nazi Germany. As usual with
major historical events.
Nostradamus, the prophecy is couched in
Birth of an emperor such genera! terms that it
The following quatrain could apply to many possible
(Centuries 111:35) is situations. But the similarity
supposed to prophesy the between the name "Hister"
birth of Napoleon: that appears in the prediction
In the profoundest part of the and "Hitler" is quite uncanny:
west of Europe Beasts wild with hunger will
— A child will be bom of a swim across rivers.
poor family The greatest part of the field
By his speech he will seduce will oppose Hister
a great company, In a cage of iron he will drag
Greater in reputation than in the leader
the Kingdom of the East When German offspring
knows no law.
Atomic bombs
This verse {Centuries 11:6) is The benefit of hindsight
held to prophesy the Detractors have claimed,
atomic bombing of however, that Nostradamus's
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: prophecies are no more than
Near the harbor and in ambiguous guesswork and
I

two cities 1 that it is only with hindsight

Will be two scourges — *j that any credibility can be
of which like has not given to his. writings.
been seen Certainly, no one has
Hunger, pestilence within, succeeded in using his
people by sword evicted prophecies to foretell precise
Will cry for help from the Napoleon Bonaparte future events. But they remain
great immortal God. an intriguing enigma.

117
 • •

./,

^
ib
^^r^^^^*

• •*
^ 1 .

mm ^

*
*• # CHAPTER FIVE

Windows
IN Time and
Space
Einstein's theories have led us to
consider time as a dimension like
any other. Perhaps the people who
tell of finding themselves suddenly
in
another time or place are travelers
in this uncharted dimension?

The late Ivan Sanderson, well-known

naturalist, scientist, and researcher of
psychic and supernatural phenomena,
recounted in his book More "Things" the
following dramatic example of a timeslip
that he himself experienced. While
engaged on a biological survey in Haiti, he
and found themselves marooned
his wife
one evening when their car
in^the jungle
broXe down. They set off walking along
 the road cut through the thick tropical time, or dimension of reality. It sounds
hoped
vegetation, in the direction they like science fiction, but physicists have
would eventually lead them home. argued that it is theoretically possible for
other dimensions of reality to exist.
A strange vision One of the corollaries of Einstein's
Tired and thirsty, and despairing of theory of relativity is that time is not a
getting back to their beds that night, constant. It is a fact that an astronaut, for
Sanderson and his wife simultaneously example, sent on a journey at very high
experienced a strange and vivid vision. speed, ages less than the rest of us left
Suddenly, the overhanging trees of the behind on earth. This stretching of time
jungle transformed themselves into a leads us to wonder whether it is possible
narrow city street stretching ahead of actually to reverse it.

them. moonlight Sanderson

In the bright Recent discoveries in space include
could make out that the houses were of the phenomena called black holes, well-
Ivan Sanderson three stories, over- like centers of high
Before his Haitian experience, hanging the road, density that will not
Sanderson, an eminent scientist which was cobbled even allow light to
and naturalist, had never taken and dotted with large escape the tremendous
any great interest in the occult He
patches of mud. The force of their
did not actively disbelieve in it
warm glow of gravitational pull.
but he was, as he saw it, far too
candlelight shone Scientists have
busy catching up with the "more
pragmatic facts of life
from behind some of speculated that black
the small leaded holes may act as
windows. Although pathways to other
the air was still, universes. The matter
lanterns in iron frames flowing into them may
hanging from the be pouring into other
house fronts swung in regions of space and
unison, as if blown by time of which we have
the wind. Both absolutely no
Sanderson and his A medieval view of the cosmos knowledge. Who knows
wife were convinced For centuries, it was believed that the what other gateways to
that they had been earth was at the center of the universe It strange and distant
transported to a street may be that our current concept of time dimensions may exist?
will prove to be equally misguided.
in Paris, France, 500 Windows in space or
years before. time could provide the
For several minutes they compared answer to all sorts of anomalous
notes and remarked several authentic phenomena: ghosts, telepathy,
details of a 15th-century Paris street precognitive dreams, out-of-the-body
scene. Then, feeling weak and dizzy, experiences, past lives, disappearances,
they sat down on what they perceived to appearances of strange people and
be a large, rough curbstone. Abruptly animals, and UFO's. It is possible, for
the vision faded, and they found example, that ghostly phenomena could
themselves once more ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ be a glimpse of the
back in the jungle. past, as seen through
Some interesting and Suddenly, the one of these
occasionally disturbing "windows." Ghosts are
hypotheses have been
overhanging trees of
usually dressed in the
Albert Einstein advanced to explain the jungle transformed costume of the period
Einstein, the father of modern such odd experiences. in which they lived,
physics, established that time is The most popular is the themselves into a and are sometimes
not a constant Today most
void, hole, or window reported to have
people perceive time as a linear
in our world through
narrow city street
walked on a former
progression. Other theories have
been formulated, however, that
which a person, stretching ahead floor level, or through

suggest the possibility of seeing

creature, or object can doors that no longer
pass through into of them. exist. Occasionally
the future before the present
another place, planet, the observer so fully

120
 PanBCUssjcs WINDOWS IN TIME AND SPACE
<H'n'WeUs>
enters the phantom's world that the THE TIME ANOTHER DIMENSION?
MACHINE
reality of the present vanishes altogether. Only recently have
scientists sought in
This too fits neatly into the theory, and
earnest to extend the
would occur when the observer actually
boundaries of our
passes through the window, rather than
existence, by discovering
merely looking through it.
further dimensions for
Precognitive dreams require another humankind to explore. But
shift of the imagination. Current thinking for centuries philosophers
suggests that the dreamer is actually and writers have been toying
receiving telepathic messages from with this concept.

someone in the future. If this is so, we

have accept that we are not at the tip
to Time traveling
H.G. Wells's book, The Time
of the "Arrow of Time," but probably
Maciiine, published in 1895, was
somewhere back along the shaft. December 8-9 in
one of the earliest to explore the
Indeed, to assume (as we have done for the Victoria Hotel.
possibilities of travel in a fourth
centuries) that we are in the vanguard of About 4:00 a.m. they were
dimension, that of time. Wells
time as it marches steadily forward may awakened by strange noises. As himself described his novel as an
prove to be as presumptuous as Cumpston got out of bed, a hole "assault on human self-
Aristotle's view of the earth being at the appeared in the floor. He found himself satisfaction," for the possibilities
center of the universe. being dragged toward the opening, and raised by time travel merely

it is reported that only the prompt action highlight the complacency of

Reality in parallel of his wife in pulling him back from the humankind in assuming that it

Science fiction gives scientists and brink saved him. already knows the basic principles
that rule the universe.
others freedom to speculate to a degree The couple fled in their nightclothes
denied them elsewhere, and has to the nearby railway station, where they
Flatland
produced a number of intriguing were arrested. The subsequent police
Edwin Abbott's book, Flatland,
theories. Parallel worlds, for investigation showed the
published in 1884, gives an even
example, could prove the Cumpstons' hotel room to be better example of how each new
solution to the problem that apparently normal. The dimension is incomprehensible
arises if the past is altered police said that they had until it is physically perceived. In
by a visitor from the had a "collective the book, the inhabitants of the
future. Parallel worlds hallucination." If so, it one-dimensional Lineland find it

would be created every was severe enough to impossible to conceive of a two-

time history was cause a respectable dimensional place called Flatland,

j

changed, allowing our elderly couple to jump whose inhabitants in turn cannot
accept the existence of a three-
own world to carry on as out of a hotel window
dimensional region named
before. It has also been in their nightclothes on
Spaceland. A denizen of Flatland
suggested that there may a chilly December night.
is baffled by a visit from a sphere
be several realities There are innumerable from Spaceland; he has no way of
occupying the same examples of such stories. understanding where it has come
spatial coordinates as our Can they really all be the from, being able only to sense in

own. In these "other worlds," product of hallucinations, or two dimensions.

people may have advanced at John Aubrey elaborate lies? The 17th-century
different rates from us. In this writer John Aubrey records in his Borders of fantasy
case, sightings of UFO's and monsters of Miscellanies an extraordinary tale of The obvious analogy is our

various types may just be fleeting displacement in space. "A Gentleman of blinkered view of the universe. We
are aware of the existence of four
glimpses through the curtain that hangs my Acquaintance, Mr. M. [possibly the
dimensions, but it is possible,
over the window separating these Dominican friar, Father Munson] was in
suggests Abbott, that there are as
parallel worlds. Portugal, Anno. 1665, when one was
many more again. His book
Could an interdimensional window burnt by the Inquisition for being
highlights an opinion often
explain the terrif>'ing experience of brought thither from Goa in East India, in
expressed by the more open-
Thomas B. Cumpston? According to a the Air, in an incredible short time." The minded researchers into
report in The Times of London of question remains whether this was a unexplained phenomena. If, they
December 11, 1873, Cumpston and his madman or a fool, or, like the say, like the scientific

wife were an elderly couple who had Sandersons and the Cumpstons, just establishment, we judge data on
traveled from their home in Leeds to another victim who stumbled through a too narrow a basis, we are likely
Bristol, and there spent the night of window in time and space. to remain in the dark forever

121
 Dream Time
dream the future, then it
!fit is possible to
must have already happened. This was the
starting point of J. W. Dunne's theory of
time, which suggests that within any one
human being, there is an infinite series of
different selves, each one experiencing
time in a different way.

THE SPRING of 1902 J. W. sense view of

^r Dunr
Dunne, a British infantry officer the worid of
Dunne in ig in South Africa, experienced time as a linear
a vivid nightmare. In his dream, he was progression of past,
J. W. DUNNE standing on a mountainous island when present, and future. He
John William Dunne was born in
jets of steam began to flash out from attacked those who "while willing
1875, the son of a general in the
fissures in the rock. Realizing that the to concede that we habitually observe
British Army. He followed the
island was a volcano about to
in fact events before they occur, suppose that
same career as his father, and was
wounded in action during the
explode, Dunne was desperate to save such prevision may be treated as a minor
Boer War in South Africa in 1900. the inhabitants. He appealed in vain to logical difficulty." It was his view, on the

He was also an aircraft enthusiast the French authorities to mount an contrary, that "If prevision be a fact, it is
during the hazardous early days of evacuation. a fact which destroys absolutely the
flight. In 1907 he designed A few days while the dream was
later, entire basis of all our past opinions of
Britain's first ever military still mind, Dunne opened his
fresh in his the universe."
airplane. His fame as a copy of the London Daily Telegraph to
philosopher of time resulted from Fixed futures
find a news item describing a tragic
the publication of his book An Dunne attempted to set out a new view
natural disaster on the French
Experiment with Time in 1927.
Caribbean island of Martinique. The of time and consciousness that would
None of his subsequent works
island's volcano, Mont Pelee, had just account for the premonitory dreams he
achieved the same renown or
popular success. He died in 1949.
erupted causing heavy loss of life.

"If prevision be a fact, it is

Fact and fantasy
Such premonitory dreams were not a fact which destroys
unusual in Dunne's experience. For
many years he had slept with a absolutely the entire basis
note pad and pencil by his
of all our past opinions of
bedside, methodically recording
his everydream as soon as he the universe."
awoke".Time and time again he
discovered that the dreams was sure he had experienced. His time
contained elements that turned theory was complex and, some would
lUt to be glimpses of the future, claim, both confusing and confused. Yet
mixed in with when published as An Experiment with
memories of Time in 1927, it met with critical acclaim
his past and and became a bestseller.
fragments Like many philosophers and scientists
of pure in the 20th century, Dunne rejected the
fantasy. To everyday common sense idea of time
Dunne it being a succession of moments leading
seemed that directly from the past into an as yet
i.
the existence nonexistent future. He felt that this
of these concept of time was proved by his
dreams of the premonitory dreams to be false. If it was
ture" over- possible to dream of the future, then the
ed the futuremust already exist — it must in
hole common some sense have already happened.
 O ^-y^^.
";
can see what is RECORD YOUR DREAMS
k

^
-^
track
passing outside the
window
ahead
at present.
is
But the
something he
Dunne suggested
anyone can use
"dreams
a techniqae that
for spotting

of the future":

Keep a pen and note pad by

can only discover in the course of
your bedside to record your
time. There is another observer,
dreams immediately on waking.
however, hovering in a helicopter high
Focus vour attention on a
Dunne came to the conclusion that what
single dream incident at a time.
he was able to see in his dreams were This will normally recall more
not future events themselves, but his "The distinction between
associated dream material.
own future experience of events. He past, present, and future Write down every detail of
believed that he had not foreseen the your dream at once. You will find

volcanic eruption, for example, but the is an illusion, although a that dreams slip out of the
experience of reading the newspaper memory very easily.

article about the eruption. Strong

persistent one." Sometimes it may be difficult

evidence for this view was provided by Albert Einstein to tell whether a dream is about
what happened yesterday or
one striking detail of his Martinique
tomorrow. Make sure to record
volcano dream. Dunne remembered, in above the railway track. This second
your dreams on nights before a
the dream, insisting that the lives of observer can see not only where the
sudden change in routine.
4,000 people were at risk. According to train has come from and where it is now,
Re-read your earlier accounts
the newspaper headline he later read, but can also view whatever lies ahead, of dreams at the end of each day.
40,000 people had lost their lives. When which, to the train-bound observer, is the Look for connections with recent
Dunne had first glanced through the invisible future. happenings. The glimpse of the
news story, however, he had misread the future may lie in one fragment of
headline figure as 4,000. So what had Human immortality a dream story, and will almost

appeared in his dream, he suggested, In Dunne's view, these two observers certainly be mixed together with

was a trace of his future misreading of both exist within the same person. other material taken from past
experiences or unconnected with
the figure in the newspaper. Neither During waking time, the train-bound
any waking experience.
figure corresponded to the actual observer, enclosed in linear time, blots
number of people killed in the eruption. out the higher view of the observer
hovering above. But at night the higher
Premonitory dreams observer's view, with its mix of past,
Dunne's theoretical solution to the present, and future, is dominant.
problem of premonitory dreams His faith in this theory led him to
involved the idea that, within any one a belief in human immortality.
individual human being, there is an Since part of a human
infinite series of different "selves," each being stands outside
experiencing time in a different way. the linear time of
To simplify, imagine an individual the clocks, he
personality split into two observers. The argued, this
first observer is like a passenger on a part would
train being carried at a steady rate from not die with
the past into the future. Immersed in the time-
he can remember the
linear time, bound
stationsand countryside he has passed body and
through on the journey already, and he brain.
 Arrivals
AND Departures
The annals of history are full of mysterious
appearances and disappearances. Many
can be proved never to have happened;
many others have the most mundane
explanations; a very few are truly baffling.

HERE ARE NUMEROUS STORIES, Several well

Lord Stanhope documented, of the sudden appearance of
people and animals in settings where they are
A NOBLE CAUSE? strange and out of place. These are sometimes cited as
An enigma to the general public,
supporting evidence for the theory that it is
Kaspar Hauser was also a mystery
possible to slip through an interdimensiona
to those who knew him well.
window from one time, or from one place
Some believed he was a genius.
to another.The most famous case of
Others thought him an imbecile.
To the eccentric Englishman Lord
sudden, incongruous appearance is that
Stanhope, Kaspar was a human of Kaspar Hauser.
toy who could be used to On the afternoon of Whitmonday, 0^^ ^i©*
entertain his friends. May 26, 1828, ateenage boy hobbled
into Unschlitt Square in the Bavarian
»»%
Nuremberg and approached a
city of
cobblernamed Georg Weichmann. He
showed him an envelope that was
addressed to "The Captain of the 4th
Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, in
Nuremberg." The captain's name was
Wessenig, and the boy was taken
A
to his house.

Bizarre behavior
Capt. Wessenig was not
in. While the boy waited

for him to return, his

Paul von Feuerbach bizarre behavior drew
the attention of the

Stanhope may have adopted

Kaspar to help the grand duke of
captain's servants.
tried to pick
He
up the
S
Baden hide the secret of Kaspar's flame of a candle
identity. Rumor had it that Kaspar with his bare fingers,
was a son of the house of Baden, and cried out with
spirited away at birth and astonishment when
replaced by a dead peasant baby. he was burned. He
was terrified almost
Two suspicious deaths
out of his wits by
Stanhope tried to quash this story,
the chiming of a
but the rumors persisted. A friend
grandfather clock.
of Kaspar, the eminent
criminologist Paul von Feuerbach,
The smell of

tried to prove his noble birth but cooking food

died before he could do so. Many disgusted him, and
say he was poisoned. Like Kaspar he refused all
himself, Feuerbach took a secret nourishment except
to the grave. bread and water.

124
ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES

Kaspar continued
to behave
incongruously, as
if he had never
come across
the most
commonplace
objects and
situations.

19thcentury Nuremberg
This painting shows the German
city of Nuremberg as it was in the

early 19th century. The

photographic representation of
the wandering boy is from a
popular film by Werner Herzog

125
 When Capt. Wessenig thecity. There was much speculation

eventually arrived, the about where he had come from and

boy presented him with who he might really be. The controversy
two letters. One, became even more intense when, on
purporting to be from a poor
asked the writer of the
r-^^ iri,

second to take care of her child

until he was 17 years old, then to
make sure that he enlisted in his
father's cavalry regiment. The second
letter appeared to have been written
by the recipient of the first and was
intended for Capt. Wessenig. The author,
who claimed to be a poor laborer, said
that he had kept the boy confined
<u^ indoors all his life.
Both letters were fakes. The
^.. handwriting was similar, the paper was
r^
the same, and the ink on both was
equally fresh. They were not, however,
written by the boy, who
Kaspar was found
unconscious. He had been
attacked by a stranger
wearing a silken mask.
October 7, 1829, Kaspar was found
unconscious in the cellar of the house in
which he lived. He claimed that he had
been attacked by a stranger wearing a
silken mask.
The authorities nov<' moved Kaspar
into the care of the criminologist and

^ i4 forged letter
was able only to write his
name — Kaspar Hauser — in
Kaspar was carrying a childish scrawl.
two letters when tie was
found. This one written
is
Aptitude for leEirning
as if from his mother, asking
Kaspar continued to
the recipient to look after the boy
behave incongruously, as if
until he reached the age of 17.
he had never come across
The other letter was supposed to
the most commonplace
be from the recipient of the first,

written a number of years later

objects and situations. But

However, both were in the same his aptitude for learning

handwriting and written in the was remarkable, and he
same ink. was soon able to read,
write, and adopt civilized
behavior. He then told his
own story. He claimed to
have been kept in a small,
dark room all his life. Bread
and water were placed in
his cell when he was
asleep. Sometimes the
water would taste strange
and he would fall asleep
soon after drinking it. On
these occasions he would
wake to find his cell
cleaned and his hair and
nails cut.The only person he had ever legal expert Paul Johann Anselm Ritter
seen was a man who one day came into von Feuerbach. He was convinced of
his room and taught him to write his Kaspar's noble birth and pronounced
name and to pronounce a few simple that: "Kaspar Hauser is the legitimate son
phrases. This man had later led him of royal parents and was put out of the
upstairs to daylight and taken him to the way to open succession to other heirs."
Nuremberg.
outskirts of In May 1831 an eccentric English
The sudden appearance of such an nobleman. Lord Charles Stanhope,
enigma caused a sensation throughout began to take a keen interest in Kaspar,

126
 ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES

first arrived in Nuremberg.

And what motive could he
possibly have had for such
an elaborate charade?

The Green Children

An even more mysterious
tale of sudden and
incongruous appearance
concerns the Green
Children of Woolpit in
Suffolk, England. This
strange talewas told by two
medieval chroniclers, Ralph
of Coggeshall and William
of Newburgh.
One autumn during the
reign of King Stephen
(.^.D. 1135-54),some
harvesters came upon two
children, a boy and a girl,
in a ditch. They were "clad
in garments of a strange
hue and unknown texture,"
but the most remarkable
thing about them was their
.-^mmm^-L^ green skins. In his account,
Ralph of Coggeshall added
Kaspar's paintings that nobody could understand their
Kaspar produced these two watercotors of a flower language. They were taken to the home
and some fruit. Each has his signed visiting-card of Sir Richard de Calne at Wikes, where
inserted in the corner of the frame. they wept bitterly and refused all food
except green Kaspar's coat
This coat the one Kaspar was
adopted him, and moved him to nearby beans. is

wearing when he was fatally

Ansbach. Here, on December 14, 1833,
stabbed while walking in the
Kaspar was stabbed while walking in the
park in Ansbach. The gash made
park. The wound, though superficial,
by the murder weapon is
proved fatal, and Kaspar died just three ringed in this photograph.
days later.

A royal changeling?
Kaspar's murder fueled yet more
speculation about his origin. The most
popular theory was that he was the
legitimate heir to a very high position,
possibly the grand duke of Baden.
I Others said he was a fraud. How did
he come to have a healthy complexion
when he first if he had spent
appeared,
darkened cell? they
his entire life in a
asked. They even went as far as to
suggest that he had staged the attacks
himself in order to reawaken public
interest in his story.
Kaspar's amazing tale may not have
been entirely true. But we do know that
his feet were badly blistered when he
 The boy died interesting points. The estate at Wikes
within a few certainly existed, and records show that
weeks, but the there was a family named "de Calna"
girl survived, there in the 12th century. William of
gradually lost Newburgh was well acquainted with the
her green hue, gullibility of fellow chroniclers, and
and spent freely admits that he refused to
at first
several years as believe the tale: "I thought it
a servant in the ridiculous.. .until I was overwhelmed
household of Sir with the weight of so many and such
Richard. She was credible witnesses." Ralph of Coggeshall
said to be
"rather loose
and wanton in
She and the boy had Hved
her conduct," in a green, twihght world
but eventually
she married, and called St. Martin's Land.
the course of the
rest of her life is claimed to have gone as far as to
unknown and interview Sir Richard de Calne and his
will,no doubt, family, who
confirmed the story.
remain so. It seems most
likely, however, that the
According to country people might simply have
her story, she embroidered a story about the discovery
and the boy had of two ordinary stray children. In
lived in a green, medieval times green was regarded as a
twilight world supernatural color, and green beans
Church banner that they called St. Martin's Land. Just were also thought to have special
The tiny village of Woolpit in before they were found, they had been properties. It is also the favored color of
Suffolk England, has a long but transported from there in some kind of aliens in science fiction, which may be
uneventful history. The sudden
magical manner. "little green
reflected in the sightings of
appearance of the Green Children
An analysis of this story men," a common phenomenon of the
is commemorated on a banner in
yields some last 40 years.
St Mary's Church, and in the

design of the
market cross in
Arriving by UFO?
the center of Archbishop Agobard of Lyons in France
the village tells another story of people from
unknown lands. In his 9th-century Liber
de Grandine et Tonitruis, he tells of four
"cloud sailors" from a land called
Magonia. Agobard came upon a mob
about to kill three men and a woman
whom they claimed had descended
from "aerial ships," and whom they
thought were sorcerers. "In vain," writes
Agobard, "the four innocents sought to
vindicate themselves by saying that they
were of their own countryfolk, and had
been carried away a short time since by
miraculous men who had shown them
unheard-of marvels."
Agobard was not in the slightest awed
by the claims of either the four strangers
or the startled townspeople of Lyons. He
Market calmly announced with great authority
cross at that the strangers' story was obviously a
Woolpit lie. He added that the townspeople

128
The UFO Connection
In the last 50 years, a new explanation has been suggested for some
of the more baffling cases of appearance and disappearance.

VER THE CENTURIES, pcoplc havc advanced many For five days vast tracts of the
theories to explain mysterious events, and these Arizona desert and forest were
reflect the preoccupations of each age. In ancient combed for any sign of him.
times such events were thought to be the worl< of the His companions were
gods; more recently, elves and fairies were often said to questioned thoroughly by the Travis Walton
be involved. Since 1947, when the first "flying saucer" police, but they appeared to
was sighted, most reports of mysterious arrivals and be telling the truth about his disappearance.
departures have involved visitors from other planets. Finally, Walton reappeared in Heber, a small town
close to Snowflake. He was scared and dazed, but when
Abduction! he recovered, he told an amazing story. Apparently,
On November 5, 1975, Travis Walton, a young forestry after being knocked unconscious by the light, he had
worker from Snowflake, Arizona, was taken on a been abducted by fetus-like alien creatures in a
strange journey. As he was on his way to work with five spaceship. After they had examined him thoroughly,
companions, they became aware of a bright light they had replaced him on earth — five days later and
hovering over their truck. The driver stopped, and several miles away from the abduction site.
Walton went to investigate. Suddenly there was a flash
of light, and he fell to the ground. The driver panicked The Cergy-Pontoise ciffair
and drove away. When his fellow workers returned to A similar case of abduction was reported from France,
the spot, the light had gone — and so had Walton. in December Very early one morning, in Cergy-
1979.
Pontoise, near Paris, Franck Fontaine and his two
SPACE SHIPS AT ANGKOR WAT? friends, Salomon N'Diaye and Jean-Pierre Prevost, were
Was it reolly o fleet of space ships that <

Angkor Wot ond r«mov«4 Its population to onotbor loading up their car, preparing to go to a market.
plonet? Anywoy, Iti peopio could not hove vonlshod
more completely than If this hod been a r*aRty! Prevost saw a UFO in the sky, and pointed it out to
N'Diaye. Fontaine was sitting in the car some distance
away. Suddenly his two
friends saw Fontaine and
the vehicle enveloped in
light. They said
a ball of
they saw a light-beam
shoot up into the sky,
and Fontaine was gone.
They reported to the
police that he had been
abducted by aliens.
The case caused a
sensation. Here at last
was a UFO abduction
with witnesses.
A week later, Fontaine
Franck Fontaine
returned. He said that he
awoke in a cabbage field near the spot where he was
abducted. Not realizing what had happened, he
assumed that the car had been stolen. He went straight
to the apartment of his friends. He was astonished to

Sci-fi fantasy
discover that he had been away so long.
The ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia suffered a massive loss of At first, he could remember nothing of this period of
population in tfie early 15th century. This dramatic reconstruction missing time. Later, some confused memories surfaced
from a I930's sci-fi magazine illustrates one of the more outlandish of having been aboard a spaceship. He suspected that
explanations that have been advanced: that a fleet of spaceships the extraterrestrials had imposed a "block" on his mind
arrived one day and abducted the whole population. to prevent him recalling any details.

129
WINDOWS IN TIME AND SPACE
Beasts from the Beyond
Cryptozoology, the "science of hidden animals," investigates the
creatures that appear where and when they are least expected.

VERY YEAR, ALL OVER the WoHd,
seemingly normal, responsible
members of society claim to see
animals that are either "known" not to
exist or to live in areas other than where
they are sighted. Large apelike creatures,
wolves and huge wild cats in the
suburbs, even monsters in freshwater
lakes, are reliably reported by a number
of witnesses.
A further puzzling fact is that
experienced hunters, using all the latest
technology, including helicopters, have
searched for these monsters
immediately after some sightings and
them, and then lope into the forest. The
color film they shot of the event has
since been exhaustively examined and
has never been proved a fake.
if
The Loch Ness monster
In Scotland, the Loch Ness monster is
another example of a mysterious beast
that has eluded capture by man.
Although the monster has frequently
been sighted, innumerable expeditions,
over many decades, have failed to find
any solid proof of "Nessie's" existence. Bigfoot
Are there really wondrous Investigator Rene Dahinden
creatures in our midst? The beside a sculptural representation

window of Bigfoot at Willow Creek,

have failed to discover anything. No theory says that
The sculpture, by Jim
skeletal or other remains of these m they are indeed real but California.

strange creatures are ever found. ^ simply do not live in

McClarin, is eight feet tall

Supporters of the theory of windows our dimension.

in time and space find this anomaly easy Perhaps the
to explain. Obviously, they say, these creatures do . ,-.

animals are merely glimpsed through the not exist at

interdimensional curtain and do not all and are
exist in' our own space-time continuum merely
at all. Other authorities tend to scrutinize hallucin-
the evidence more closely. ations or
Perhaps the most famous of all these hoaxes, i
creatures an apelike humanoid that
is If they are
goes by many different names. To how
real,
Americans he is Bigfoot or Sasquatch, much
the Russians call him Alma, and in the longer can
Himalayas he is known as the Yeti. they elude
us in a
Huge footprints world whose
Bigfoot is reputed to be covered in wildernesses
reddish-brown hair and to stand are being
between 6 and 10 feet tall, walking on ; eroded
two legs. He has a receding forehead every day?
and almost no neck. Numerous huge
footprints have been found, and over
2,000 sightings have now been recorded,
in nearly every state in the United States,
and even in New York City.
One of the best-documented
appearances of Bigfoot occurred in
1967. Roger Patterson, a rancher, and an
Indian friend went hunting for Bigfoot at
Bluff Creek in northern California. They
both saw a female Bigfoot emerge into a
clearing, less than 400 feet away from
 Vision at Versailles
If windows in time are all around us why
do they open for some people but not for
others? Why, for instance, should two
levelheaded, well-educated, middle-aged
Edwardian ladies have been chosen to
pass through the barrier of time, to
witness the lives of courtiers who had
The women 's march been dead for over a hundred years?
This 19th-century painting by
Val Prinsep shows the
NE AUGUST AFTERNOON in 1901, tWO
revolutionary women leading
sprightly English ladies. Miss Anne
Marie Antoinette and her two
Moberley and Miss Eleanor Jourdain,
children back to Paris.
were visiting the Palace of Versailles while
LAST DAY AT THE PALACE on vacation in France. Both ladies shared
On October 5, 1789, as famine an interest in history and had some I k
gripped France, the women of academic standing: Miss Moberley was
Paris marched the 12 miles to the principal of St. Hugh's College, Oxford,
Versailles to demand bread from and Miss Jourdain was headmistress of a
King Louis XVI himself. school outside London.
That afternoon was like any
After touring the palace, they had set off
other at the palace. The king had
in search of the Petit Trianon, a seven-
gone shooting, while the queen
roomed pavilion built in the grounds by Louis
spent the afternoon in the garden

of the Petit Trianon.

XV and given by his successor, Louis XVI, to his
wife. Queen Marie Antoinette. It was here, wearing

Awesome mob rustic dress, that the queen liked to play at being a
When the mob arrived, its number milkmaid with her ladies in waiting.

had swelled to 7,000, many of

whom were armed with makeshift

weapons. The king ordered that
Two gardeners busy at work seemed
every piece of bread in the palace
oddly clad, in long gray-green coats
should be given to the women,
but this did not satisfy them. They and three-cornered hats.
were intent on venting their anger

on Marie Antoinette, who was The Petit Trianon was proving difficult to find, and
reviled for her rumored soon the two ladies were lost. The sultry afternoon was
starting to have a strange effect on them — inducing a
extravagance. At 5:30 a.m. the next
day a group of women broke in
feeling of almost dreamlike melancholy. Nothing
and decapitated two guards
seemed quite real. Two gardeners were busy at
before heading for the queen's
work, and although they seemed oddly clad,
apartments shouting "Death to
in long gray-green coats and three-cornered
the whore!" Marie Antoinette fled,
dressed only in a petticoat. hats, neither of the ladies thought to
question why these workmen should have
"Take them to Paris!" been masquerading in 18th-century dress.
The king and queen finally had to When asked for directions, the gardeners
confront the mob. Hoping to told them to go straight on.
prevent further bloodshed, they
agreed to be taken to Paris. Louis
Strange sensations
put his trust, he said, in the love
As they walked on, both ladies began to feel
of his good subjects. But his
weighed down by some inexplicable sadness,
subjects had no love left for the
man they viewed as a tyrant - on
while it seemed that the landscape around
January 21, 1793, he was beheaded them had taken on a "flat" two-dimensional
on the guillotine, and nine appearance, reminiscent of theatrical scenery. Their
months afterwards Marie feeling that nothing was quite real was further
Antoinette suffered the same fate. heightened as their path took them close to a small

132
w 1<C>.

The phantom queen

This dramatic visualization

shows the scene on the terrace

of the Petit Trianon as
xperienced by Miss Moberley
on August 10, 1901. The woman
has been identified as Marie
Antoinette, who has also

appeared to other visitors to

the Trianon. Did the queen 's

violent death somehow "fix'

her memoty for all time in a

place where she had once

been so happy?
The inset pictures show Miss
Jourdain (above) and Miss
Moberley (below).
 garden pavilion, or
summerhouse, in
which a swarthy,
sinister-looking man
was seated. He wore
a black cloak with a
sombrero-style hat
shading his face.
Suddenly they
heard the sound of
low-cut fichu neckline topped off with a
white hat. As they passed, the woman
looked them straight in the face. Miss
Moberiey wrote later that although she
was quite pretty, there was something
rather haggard about her appearance.
The ladies passsed her without
speaking, and Miss Moberiey felt herself
in the grip of an unpleasant sensation, as
if walking in a dream. Then she glimpsed

footsteps as the lady again, this time from behind,

someone ran up to and she experienced a sensation of relief
them. As Miss that Miss Jourdain had not stopped to
Moberley recalled speak to her. Miss Jourdain, as it turned
later, this man, in out, had not seen her at all.
contrast to the one
they had seen in the Spirits revived
summerhouse, was A young footman then appeared who
"distinctly a directed them to the entrance of the
gentleman" — tall Petit Trianon. There they found
and handsome with themselves in the midst of a wedding
black curly hair. He party, the presence of which did much
Marie Antoinette also wore a dark cloak and a sombrero- to revive their spirits. When they felt their
Marie Antoinette, born in 1755, style hat. He spoke with some urgency, equilibrium was restored, they returned
mas the daughter of the Habsburg and directed the ladies to the house. to their hotel.
emperor Francis I and the empress Miss Jourdain, who had a good grasp of It was not until a full week later that-
Maria Theresa of Austria. At 15 she
French, thought his accent curious. As the two ladies actually discussed wh^i
was married to the French
quickly as he had appeared he seemed they had experienced at Versailles. Miss
dauphin Louis, and four years
to disappear into thin air again. Moberiey asked Miss Jourdain if she
later she became queen of France.
They now crossed a bridge over a thought the Petit Trianon was '-':

She was at one time considered

man-made ravine, into which haunted, and Miss Jourdain replied
the loveliest sovereign in Europe.
By the time of her death on the gushed a small waterfall, and that yes, she did. The two began to

guillotine, however, on October 16,

they found themselves in the compare notes and found that their
1793, she was a frail, wizened, garden of the Petit Trianon. A perception of events differed quite
white-haired woman, although lady was seated on the terrace considerably. In particular. Miss
only 38 years old. that ran around the building. Jourdain had not seen the woman on
She seemed to be busy the terrace, although she had felt the
sketching. She was wearing a presence of someone near to
long, pale green dress with a that spot and had actually

^'^.ft'
'«^
 VISION AT VERSAILLES

pulled her skirt out of the way as she man they had
passed. One thing both agreed on, seen in the
however, was that the place had a very summerhouse
strange, oppressive atmosphere. was the Count
de Vaudreuil, a
member of the
Miss Moberley felt herself queen's inner
circle of
in the grip of an unpleasant
courtiers; that the
sensation, as if she was lady they had
seen sketching
walking in a dream. had been none
other than the
Their curiosity whetted, the two women queen herself;
returned several times to Versailles. and that the man they had seen running Temple of Love
There they were unable to retrace their had been a messenger hastening to warn Numerous attempts have been
steps. Everything had changed; the the queen that the mob from Paris was made to discredit the ladies'

summerhouse did not appear to be the marching on Versailles. The curious claims It has been argued, for

same was no one dressed

building; there accent Miss Jourdain had noticed would example, that the elegantlempk
de TAmour (Temple of Love) was
in 18th-century fashion; there was no have been Austrian, as the queen
the pavilion where the ladies saw
sense of eeriness; the woods and paths employed many attendants from her
the sinister-looking man on that
had gone; the ravine, the bridge, and the native land.
August afternoon in 1901. When,
waterfall had all disappeared. In other
however, Miss Moberley and Miss
words, the 20th-century reality appeared Impressions of the past Jourdain revisited Versailles,
to bear little resemblance to the scene The two ladies came up with an nothing in the modem layout
they had originally witnessed. explanation of their ghost story. They seemed familiar to them. They
Intrigued, the two ladies undertook to had not seen ghosts, they said, but had were resolute in their claim to
research the history of the Trianon and received "impressions." Perhaps the have seen the garden on their first
found much evidence support their
to strength of the queen's sense of shock visit as it was in the I8th century.

theory that they had slipped back to the and horror had become imprinted on
world of Marie Antoinette. They the Petit Trianon, fixing images in the
concluded that the landscape where she had once been so
sinister-looking happy. After the storming of the Palace
of Vereailles life never returned to
normal for the French royal family. Four
years later the king and queen met their
deaths on the guillotine, and their two
surviving childrenwere imprisoned and
died in mysterious circumstances.

i>
Double Vision
There are many reports of people
appearing two places at once.
in More
eerie still is the apparition of a
doppelganger — a double of yourself that
istraditionally regarded as a warning of
your impending death.

ALONZO DE BENAVIDES of the

N 1622, FATHER
Isolita Mission in New Mexico wrote to Pope
Urban VIII and King Philip IV of Spain to inquire
who had been sent before him to convert the Jumano
Indians. Each year when they came to trade, they
begged the missionary to send a priest to live among
them. They insisted that they had been instructed in
Christianity by a "lady in blue." Seeing a painting of a
European nun, they said that their lady was similar in
appearance, but very young.
This caused some consternation among the Catholic
authorities, because, to their certain knowledge, no
one had been sent as a missionary to that area. They
had, however, heard a report that a 20-year-old nun
from Agreda in Spain, Sister Mary of Jesus, claimed to
have converted native Indians in North America,
without leaving her convent.

Skeptical religious authorities

The church authorities of that time were particularly
wary of the claims of religious hysterics, and viewed
the case with extreme skepticism. But in this case
some investigation was thought to be necessars'. It
was not until nine years later, however, after
Father Benavides had
returned to Spain, that he
was sent to interview Sister
Mary. By then she was 29
years old and Mother
Superior of the convent.
Sister Mary could confirm
theappearance and
customs of the Jumano
Indians in accurate detail.
She could not explain the
phenomenon, but
doubted that she had
been physically
transported to America.
She could only suggest
that the angels took on
St. Anthony of Padua her form to work with
This Portuguese saint was the natives.
reliably reported, by many The apparent
witnesses, to have appeared to be in two
abilit}'
at worship in two churches
places at one time
at the same time.
(called bilocation)

136
 •m

c A

'1

-
1

If rt

A missionary of the mind

Sister Mar)' of Jesus never left

her Spanish convent But she

claimed to have visited the
Jumano Indians of New Mexico
on more than 50 occasions, and
to fiave converted them to

Chnstianity. Her story stood up

under rigorous examination, and
she eventually became a
celebrity and a personal friend

of Philip IV of Spain.
 seems to have been a fairly common,
and very useful, attribute of various
Cfiristian saints and mystics. In 1227 St.
Anttiony of Padua, tfie Portuguese
Franciscan friar, was apparently the
subject of a double sighting in Limoges,
in France. On Holy Thursday, he was
preaching a sermon in the church of St.
Pierre du Queroix at one end of town.
He then remembered that he was
supposed to be chanting prayers with the
friars of his own community in their
chapel across town.

A double booking
Itis reported that he broke off in the

middle of his sermon, knelt down, pulled

his hood over his head and remained
quite still for several minutes. While this
was happening, he is said to have
simultaneously appeared in the chapel,
chanted the prayers, and then left. As he
withdrew from the chapel, he raised his
head at the church and continued to
address the congregation.
The Indians in New Mexico and the
chapel congregation in Limoges may
have seen what is known as a "wraith,"
or "fetch," of the real person. Several
explanations have been suggested for
.?•*»« these sightings of doubles. Simple
hallucination does not appear to
account for them, especially when it is
reported that more than one person sees

At certain times our astral

body is free to move
around on its own, and
may appear to otliers as

a wraith.

the wraith. Some researchers have

suggested that they may in fact be the
result of some sort of out-of-the-body or
other-body manifestation.

Physical and astred bodies

The idea that different parts of our
beings may be able to move separately is
an ancient concept. One theory suggests
that we are made up of a physical and
an astral body. At certain times our astral
body is free to move around on its own.
and may appear to others as a wraith.
This would explain, for example, to her horror, saw
another strange and well-documented Sagee and her
manifestation of bilocation that double both helping
occurred on September 22, 1774. St. to fix her dress.
Alphonsus Liguori, then bishop of St. The most
Agata dei Goti, fell into a deep trance at extraordinary report
his episcopal palace near Naples. At the involved all 42 of the
same time he appeared in the chamber students at the
of the dying Pope Clement XIV at the school on a warm
Vatican in Rome. He stayed to assist in summer day in 1846.
prayers and consolations and left the The girls were in a
chamber after the death of the pontiff. A room with a view of
few minutes later he awoke, back in the the garden, where
palace, and described the scene he had Sagee was gathering
just witnessed. flowers. When the
teacher supervising
Twin teachers them went off to
One of thebest-known cases of speak to the
bilocation occurred in 1845 at a girls' headmistress, Sagee 's
school near the Baltic Sea in what is double appeared at
now Latvia. The story was told to Robert the teacher's chair to
Dale Owen, an American writer and watch over the class.
psychical researcher, by a young The report
German woman, Julie (later Baroness) continues that the
von Gijldenstubbe, who attended the "real" Sagee seemed to be drained of A spirit bodyguard
exclusive Pensionat von Neuwelcke. color while the double could be seen It This memorable photograph,
Emilie Sagee was a young French was as if the double drew its strength taken at a seance in Paris in 1908,

captures the occultist Dr de Sarak

teacher, popular with both students and from the woman visible in the garden.
during an out-of-the-body
staff. But shortly after she arrived at the When questioned, Sagee said that she
experience. While his physical
school, she had felt concerned
body remained lying on the couch,
became the subject that the students
it is reported that his astral self
of controversy. She should not be left visited a friend's apartment The
was occasionally unattended. She porter claimed to have seen him
said to be in more was then overcome arrive, and the doorbell was rung,

than one place at by weariness, just but there was no one at the door
the same time. when the double when it was opened. The figure

One day her was seen. visible behind Dr de Sarak in this

pupils reported photograph is supposed to be a

Grand Master From Beyond, who
that in the middle A parliamentciry
has the task of guarding his
of a class, while appearance
physical body while the astral self
Sagee was working Accounts of
is absent
at the blackboard, bilocation are not
her double restricted to the
appeared and distant past,and
began to go sometimes have
through the exact the most reliable
same movements of witnesses. In
but without 1905 Sir Gilbert
holding the piece Parker, a member
of chalk. In of the British
another incident Padiament, saw Sir
one of the Frederick Came
students, Antonie Rasch sitting in his
von Wrangle, usual place
fainted in fright attending a debate
when she looked in the House of
in the mirror and. Bishop Alphonsus Liguori Commons on a

139

Doppelgangers in art
Many artists and writers have
used the theme of doppelgangers,
or personal doubles, in their work.
This painting by the pre-
Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti
shows two young lovers being
confronted by their doppelgangers
in a romantic image of impending
doom. Oscar Wilde explored the
idea of a double in The Portrait of
Dorian Gray, as did the mystery-
writer Edgar Allan Poe in his story
William Wilson.
140
Famous
Reflections
Many well-known figures have
seen wraiths or doppelgangers,
not all of which have been
forecasts of doom. Such
sightings are different from
precognitive dreams like that
experienced by Abraham
Lincoln, foretelling his own
assassination; the percipient is
awake, and fully aware of his
or her surroundings.
topic of particular interest to him. He
found nothing abnormal What
in this.
was peculiar was that Sir Frederick was Ben Jonson
Not long before the dramatist died
stricken with influenza at the time, and
in 1637, he saw the wraith of his
according to members of his household,
son. Perhaps this unusual
did not leave his bed that day.
appearance was effected by their
strong mutual desire to say
Foreccist of doom?
farewell before his death.
Although stories of seeing a
double of someone are
common enough, in
general most people are
reluctant to report
something that might simply
be dismissed as a
hallucination. Perhaps such
incidents are normally only
mentioned or recalled
when an unusual event
occurs soon afterward. This
would account for the
popular superstition that
seeing your own
doppelganger is a forecast
of yourimminent death or a
terrible tragedy.
 Catherine the Great JOHANN WOLFGANG VON
of Russia GOETHE
The appearance of her double In his autobiography the German

seated on the imperial throne poet Goethe reports two different

so incensed the empress that sightings of doubles. In the first

Guy de Maupassant instance, Goethe was riding along
she ordered it to be shot.
The French writer was haunted by
This had no apparent effect. the road to Drusenheim, having
a doppelganger toward the end of
just said good-bye to his
his life, when he was increasingly
sweetheart, Friederike, when he
plagued by mental illness. On one
saw someone who looked exactly
occasion his double entered the
like himself riding toward him
room, sat down opposite him, and
wearing a gray suit trimmed with
dictated exactly what he was
gold. These clothes were
writing. Maupassant describes a
completely unfamiliar to him.
similar experience in his short
Eight years later, on
story "Lui."
another visit to

Friederike, he found

himself riding in the

same direction as the

vision, wearing
exactly the clothes

he had seen eight

years before.

A phantom friend
In the second
instance, Goethe was
on his way home
when he came upon
his friend Friedrich

Johann Wolfgang in the street. Friedrich was

von Goethe wearing Goethe's dressing gown
and slippers. When Goethe arrived

home, there was his friend dozing

by the fire wrapped in the dressing

':? gown and wearing the slippers.
John Donne Friedrich had borrowed the
One of this 16th-century poet's dressing gown after he had been
stock subjects was death and drenched by a downpour on his

mortality. When in Paris on a way to the poet's home,

visit, his wife appeared to him he was
holding a newborn baby. Sadly, at leeping,

the very same time back in Friedrich

England, his wife had dreamed that
just given birth to a . he had gone
stillborn child. •^ off to meet

Percy Bysshe Shelley

V
When the 19th-century poet

saw his wraith in Italy,

pointed toward the

Mediterranean Sea.
it

1
«
A short time later he was
drowned there while
sailing in a small boat.

This painting by Louis

Queen Elizabeth I of England
Fournier depicts the
Shortly before her death, the queen saw her doppelganger
unfortunate poet's
laid out on her bed, forecasting her demise.
cremation on a funeral pyre.

141
WlVTl^T^VT"
Hopis. 33. 40
Sanderson, Ivan. 119-120, 120 Stanhope. Lord Charles. 124. Thorn. Alexander. 31, 33, 39 Veneto. Bartolommeo de. 41
Sangreal (royal blood), 93, 99 126-127 Time, 14, 19-20 Venezuela. Sorte Mountain. 58
Sarak, Dr de, 139 Statues dimensions, 116, 120-121. 122-3 Vennum. Lurancy. 1 14-1 15. 115
Scandinavia, 40. 42, 84 Easter Island, 26, 27 measurement. 31-33. 32. 33 Versailles. 132-135. 133. 135
artifacts. 74. 75 Meso-Auierican, 28, 52, 53, 54, 54 premonitions. 19. 122-123 Victorio (.Apache chieQ. 90
Schroeder. Admiral Gustav N. von, Steffins, Marvin, 81 Time Machine. The (H. G. Wells). 12! Victorio Peak. 90-91
62.62 Stigmata, 112-113, 112 Tintagel. carving. 40 Vikings. 42
Science fiction. 121. 121. 128. 129 Stonehenge, 13. 36. 38-39. 38. 39. Titanic (steam ship). 16 burial mound. 48. 74
Scott.Norman. 91 See also Megaliths: Standing Titus. Emperor. 85
Sea charts, 75. 77
Sea monsters. 71. 74. 74. 75, 76. 77
Sea mysteries. 61-63. 66-70. 72-73
Seances
D. D. Home. 100. 102-103
stones.
Stonehenge Decoded (G. Hawkins).
13. 38. 39
Stone of Odin. Orkney. 36
Stone of the Sun. Aztec. 54. 54
Tolvan stone, the. 36
Tombstone mazes. 42
Toyer. Jack. 115
Travels of Marco Polo, 14
Treasure. 82. 84-85. 84. 86. 87
w
Wales. 31.35. 97
Fox sisters, 103 Stones Spanish. 86. 87. 88. 89-91 Walton. Travis. 129. 129
Mrs. Guppy, 19 rows. 31. 47 Treasure hunters. 82. 84-85. 87. 91 Waltz. Jacob. 90
Secret Arrow, energy lines, 49 with holes. 36 Troyes. Chretien de. 92. 96 Watkins. Alfred. 46-48. 47
Senegambia. 26. 36. 36 See also Megaliths: Standing Troy town. St. Agnes, 42 Way Out World. The (J. Knebel). 102
Sepulveda. Antonio. 85 stones: Stonehenge. Tuamotu treasure, 86, 89-90 Webbe. Robert. 20
Shamans (medical men). 13. 22. 58 Stukeley. Dr William. 38. 38 Tuatha de Danaan, 97 Webber. Burt D.. 87
Sharks, 77 Sugleris. Peter. 106. 106 Turf mazes, 41,42, 51 Wedd. Tony. 48
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 141 Superstitions at sea. 64, 65 Tutankhamen, tomb. 82. 84 Weiser. Jacob. 90
Shiels. Doc, 106 Suryavarman II. Emperor. 129 Wells. H.G. 121
Ships, phantom, 62-63, 66, 66, 67 Sutton Hoo. Suffolk. 84. 85 Wessenig. Capt,. 124. 126
Siege perilous, 92
Silbury Hill, Wiltshire, 33, 34
Sington, T., 57
56.
Symbols. 37. 40. 41, 42
alchemy. 22. 110. Ill
u
UB-65 (submarine). 61-62
Whales. 74
White Sands Missile Range, 91
Whitman, Walt, 19
Skulls. Chichen Itza. 27. 54 Wilde, Oscar (The Portrait of Dorian
Society for Psychical Research. 16. UFO's, 8, 48. 129-130 Gray). 140
20 physical symptoms of. 10. 13 William of Newburgh, 127, 128
Sorte Mountain. Venezuela. 58 science fiction. 121. 128. 129.
in William Wilson (E. A. Poe). 140
South America. 48 Table of Shewbread. 85 130 Winchester, James H.. 68-69. 68
Indian tribes. See individual tribe. Tarot cards. 16 "Ulysses and the Sirens" (H. Draper). Winchester cathedral. 51
e.g.. Chimus. Tattoos. 65 76 Wing, turf maze. 41
Space. 14. 120-121 Taylor. Charles C, 72, 73 Uppland runestone. 42 Woolley Sir Leonard. 80-81. 80, 84
Space travelers. 26. 120-121, Telepathy 120 Ur 80. 80. 84 Woolpit. Suffolk. 128
128-130 Temples. 27. 54. 58. 135 U.S.A.. 10. 13. 16.22.48 Wright. Elwood. 58
Speckled Stone, Sligo, 36 Egypt. 31. 46 Ussher Dr James. 78 Wutai. China. 58
Speyer. ley line, 46-47 Greece. 26. 34. 58, 59 Utnapishtim. 80. 80
Spirals, 41,42, 43 Teresa of Avila. St.. 104
"Spook" lights. 56-59. 56-57, 58, 59 Tester Doc. 115-116, 115
Stained glass. 42. 74 Teudt, Wilhelm, 47
Stainsby. Robert. 65 Thaipusam festival, 104
Standing stones, 36. 36. 37. 40 "Theseus and Ariadne." 40 Yakima reservation. Washington,
Carnac. 31.33. 34. 35. 37 Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Vanderdecken. Capt.. 67 58-59
See also Megaliths: Stonehenge. Bntam. 97 Vaucouleurs. Gerard. 39 Yogis, 22, 107

PHOTOGRAPHIC SOURCES
AA Picture Library 41br: Ancient Art and Architecture Collection: 31bl,
35cl, 52br, 77cr, be, 97t. 120c: Archiv fiir KunsI und Geschichle: 126t, 130t,
141cr: Arizona Historical Society: 90b: Associated Press: 1 12c, P. Begg: 72t; J.
J. Berrier: 87br: Birmingham Museum euid Art Geillery: 94cl, cr. b:
66bl. 72b; Kent Archives Office, Maidstone/Chevening Trustees: 126b. 127t:
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna: 98br: Linden Museum. Stuttg£u-t: 55br:
William MacQuitty: 27c. 36br 49br; Mansell Collection 43bl. br 64br 68tr
69bl. 70t. 17t. c; Markgrafen Museum. Ansbach: 127b; S. & O. Mathews: 99tr:
1

Bridgeman Art Library: 48t. 76br (Ferens Art Gallery). 77bl (VcSiA Museum).
95cr 98tr (Giraudon). 10411. 1 17b. 125 ("Wolverhampton Art Gallery). 135t. 1361.
1 40b (Walker Art Gallery. Liverpool). 1 4 1. br: Courtesy of the Trustees of the
British Museum: .54tl:J-LCharmet:33tr, 37tl, 66tl, 74cr 75br 76cl, 113tr, 124br,
134tl, 134-5, 139b: Board of Trustees of the Chevening Estate/Newbery
Smith Photos: 124tl: P. Clayton: 40tl: Bruce Coleman Ltd.: 27bl, br (C Zuber),
37bl (J. Fernell), 38br (G. Dore), 40br, 48br (C. Ott): Colorific/E. Hartley: 107c:
J. Crocker: 58t: James Davis Travel Photography: 49t, 54cr: Edwin A. Dawes
Collection: 102c: Delaware Art Museum: 66r: P. Devereux: 26br (National
Parks Service), 32t, 35tr cr, 36tl, 39t, 45r, 47bl, br, 58bl, br: L. A. East: 87tr:
Tony & Marion Morrison; 29b, 43cl, 45c, 50t, 53br, 55bl: NASA: 78l; National
Archives; 73b; National Portreiit Gallery; 140c; Peter New2irk's Pictures 67r
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105bl; Penguin Books Ltd.: 121tr; University Museum, University of
Pennsylvemia: 80tr; Photoresources: 76tl, 82; Picturepoint 105tl; Pix
Features: 113bc, br: PIfuiet Earth Pictures/P. Scoones; 77tr; Axel Poignant
Archive: 41tr cr, 42br; Popperfoto; 63t, 981. 120b: Rex Features: 81c (SIPA).
105tc. tr (J. Selby). 1 10b (SIPA): Jeff Saward/Caerdroia; 43tl; Scala; 40tr 54cl.
74bl. 76tr cr. bl: J. Schuessler 1 (insets); Science Photo Library: 107tr br (M.
1

Editions du G.E.O.S.: 129br: Robert Estall: 33b, 34t, 35b, 36cr, bl, 37cl, 38tl, Dohrn). 1 18-9; Spectrum Colour Library: 65br. 103br: Frank Spooner Pictures/
128t: E. T. Archive: 75tr, 77cl, br. 1 13tl. c. 130b: Mary Evans Picture Library: Gamma: 81b: Staatliche Museum. Berlin: 59t: Sutcliffe Gallery: 65bc:
59c. b (Project Hessdalen). 64c. 65ct. 86bl. 92tl. 102t (Soc. for Psychical Syndication International/ Aldus Archive: 46c. 129bl. 132tr br; Topham
Research), b, 103t (Psychic News), b (Soc. for Psychical Research). 107b. 1 12tl. Picture Source; 118 (insets): David Towersey/Tattoo Club of G.B.: 65tr; Verlag
113bl. 115t. 116t. 121b. 132tl. 139t. 141cl: Fitzwilliam Museum. Cambridge: Urachhaus. Stuttgart: 124bl: Victoria & Albert Museum: 43cr: White Sands
41bl. 140t: Werner Forman .Archive: 28b. 33c. 48bl. 53tr. bl. 54tr. bl. 74tr. br, Missile Range: 91tc: Tim Woodcock: 47t; Woodmzuisteme Ltd.: 141 bl: George
75cr. bl. 93br: Fortean Picture Ubrary: 40ct. b. 42tr (P Broadhurst). 75. 92-3, Wright: 43tc: ZEFA: 24 (Hales). 26bl (C. Caket). 26t (K. Roehrich). 28tl (Hoflm-
106c (L. Lawry), b (Dr B. E. Schwarz), 1 12br (Dr E. R. Gruber). 120t (A. C. Burch). 32bl. 86r (Voigtmann). 91tl (Steenmans): Michael Zeilik: 32br (inset).
Roberts). 129t (D. Stacey). 131 (R. Dahinden): T. Fox: 1 15c: Giraudon: 40bl.
52t: Glastonbury Antiquarian Society /Somerset C.C. Museum: 99b: John b - bottom; c - center; t - top:
Reader's Digest Fund for the
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Blind is publisher of the Large-
32br: Susan Griggs: 54br (R. Frerck), 64bc (A. Woolfitt), 65tl (M. Boys), 85br (V.
Engelbert), 106tr (N. Benn): Sonia Halliday: 74tl (L. Lushington), cl (J. Taylor):
Type Edition of Reader's Digest.
For subscription information
Robert Harding: 34b, 55bc. 78b. 81t (British Library). 106tl. 107 tl. tc (J. H. C. Efforts have been made to
about this magazine, please
Wilson); Michael Holford: 12. 38bl. 52c. 53tl. 55cl. 80tl. 84. 85t, bl. 94-5: contact the holder of the
contact Reader's Digest Fund
Hulton-Deulsch Collection: 108t, I22t: Hutchison Library: 36tr (J. H. Brimah), copyright for each picture.
for the Blind. Inc.. Dept. 250.
37cr (J. H. Brimah). 44 (H R. Dorig). 49bl. 55tr cr. 104tr (I Lloyd), cr: Image In several cases these have
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Pleasantville, NY 10570.

bl, 77tl, ct. 93tr. 96t. b. 97b, 99tl. 1 1 1. 1 12tr: Imperial War Museum: 62. 63br. we offer our apologies.

144
ISBN 0-89577-359-7