Senator Barry Goldwater served as a Major-General in the Air Force, as the Republican Party’s nominee for President of the United States in the 1964 election, and as the Chairman of the U.S. Government’s Senate Intelligence Committee. On March 28, 1975, Goldwater wrote the following, highly thought-provoking words to a UFO researcher named Shlomo Arnon: “The subject of UFOs is one that has interested me for some long time. About ten or twelve years ago I made an effort to find out what was in the building at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where the information is stored that has been collected by the Air Force, and I was understandably denied this request. It is still classified above Top Secret.”  

Goldwater later clarified, and expanded on, this by revealing that years earlier none other than U.S. Air Force General Curtis Le May had given him, Goldwater, absolute hell for daring to ask if he could see the USAF’s top secret UFO data  rumored to be stored at Wright-Patterson – which many UFO researchers believe may possibly include preserved alien corpses and recovered extra-terrestrial hardware and technology. Moreover, Le May told Goldwater, in just about the sternest of all tones conceivably possible, not to even think about bringing up this matter with him again – ever.

But, this was not the only time when Goldwater approached officialdom on a matter of some secrecy and relative to an enigma that was of interest to the U.S. Intelligence community. The second such example, however, was linked with a definitive puzzle of biblical proportions: that of Noah’s Ark, an issue that has fascinated and intrigued the CIA for years.

On September 1, 1978, Goldwater wrote a letter to the then-Director of the CIA, Stansfield Turner that began as follows: “You may think this is a screwball request and it may be, but I would like to know if you can do anything about it.” Goldwater went on to ask if “satellite photography” could be searched “to determine whether or not something in the way of an archaeological find might be located near or on top of” Mount Ararat.

Goldwater explained to the CIA director that he had received a letter “from a man in whom I have great confidence, who certainly is no nut, who knows Turkey rather well but who feels that there is reason to believe the Ark may be resting at or near the top of the mount. I assure that I will keep this at any classification you want it kept and if you desire me to go to the devil, I know the way.”

The CIA responded that it had no data on file suggesting the Ark of Noah had been identified or located anywhere on Mt. Ararat, or indeed anywhere else. Goldwater’s comment that he would understand if the Ark issue was of “any classification” that might result in the CIA telling him to “go to the devil,” however, is extremely – and eerily - reminiscent of that earlier experience with General Curtis Le May in the 1960s, in relation to the rumors concerning what may have been hidden deep below Wright-Patterson Air Force Base of a specifically alien nature.

If Goldwater – who had a deep, personal interest in UFOs – had even the slightest inklings or suspicions that official research into Noah’s Ark was somehow a matter of national security, rather than just a subject of religious or archaeological proportions, then this might very possibly explain why he anticipated being told to go to hell by the CIA in 1978, in much the same way that Le May had less than tactfully suggested to him years earlier in relation to rumors of captured UFOs held at Wright-Pat.

And why, precisely, might the CIA’s interest in Noah’s Ark be considered a matter having a bearing upon national security? Much more will be revealed this year…

The ancient Hindu epics are rife with tales of the strange and fantastic. Elements described within consist of elaborate tales of massive wars, superheroes, and gods that walk alongside common mortals. And yet, perhaps no subject hailing from the Sanskrit fables has captured the minds of ancient mystery proponents better than the flying vehicles of ancient India, known today as vimanas.

Vimanas are, without question, mentioned throughout many of the ancient Vedic texts, proving they certainly are not a concept that originates entirely from recent times; but if not sophisticated avionics of the modern variety, what then might they have been? Could it be possible that some elements regarding the vimana mystery–specifically our interpretation of these objects as technologically advanced aircraft that existed in ancient India–could be a result of our own desire to superimpose modern themes and ideas into the framework of the ancient Indian epics?

Before we get to the discussion of flying craft, there are a few things we must look at first with regard to the exact meaning of what a “vimana” is, in order to better unravel why I feel there may be misinterpretation associated with their presence in literature. One thing that we must take into consideration is that “vimana” is a word used to describe a number of things in a variety of different contexts throughout the Vedas. For instance, vimana can translate to mean the innermost sanctuary of a Rama temple (sometimes called an “adytum,” though this word actually has its origins in the Greek, rather than the Sanskrit). A variety of different temples, palaces, shrines, towers, and other structures associated with kings, emperors and divinity were also called “vimanas” in the Vedas, roughly translated to mean “a god’s palace.”

Some scholars assert that from this interpretation of the word, references in the Ramayana to Ravana’s flying palace “Pushpaka” may lend credence to the idea that a vimana is some kind of “floating palace.” From a modern perspective, we might also take this to mean a “flying vehicle,” too… after all, we can’t think of many buildings that float; on the other hand, plenty of different kinds of flying vehicles that exist in modern times come immediately to mind (though interestingly, some of our own modern flying warplanes have been called “fortresses” at various times, too).

The expression “Chariots of the Gods,” popularized by Erich von Daniken, also stems from the Vedas too, in reference to some of the vimana craft described variously as flying carts, seats, or thrones. But again, many of these same descriptions often described the vimanas in question as resembling various kinds of abodes, buildings, palaces, or towers. Some of these were understood to be capable of flying or hovering, and in modern times, their presence has been interpreted by some ancient astronaut proponents as evidence of “space stations” and similar “flying fortresses” that existed in ancient times. While we can’t rule anything out, this may indeed represent a bit of a hypothetical leap to be made; furthermore, here again the modern bias with regard to this interpretation seems rather obvious.

There are still other meanings of the word vimana, however, that should be taken into consideration. In the Vimanavatthu, a token prayer or text used as the inspiration for a Buddhist sermon was once referred to also as a “vimana.” Futhermore, some “vimana” references dealt merely with scientific methods of making precise measurements, as well as a more general meaning that involved medicines used to treat various ailments. But no less, the link between vimanas and aircraft remains a tenet even in the modern Indian languages (sometimes used literally as a term meaning “aircraft”). Vimanapura is also an Indian word synonymous with the Bangalore HAL Airport. What this shows is that, yes, vimana means “flying vehicle,” and certainly, many references within the vedas refer to such things.

But if it is clear that vimanas are indeed mentioned in the ancient Sanskrit texts, and that this term was used, at least on occasion, to describe flying objects, then where is the so-called “controversy” regarding vimanas? In truth, where I think our modern interpretation of such things becomes misleading is when we take “vimana” to mean anything more specific than merely an “ancient flying machine.” In other words, to assert that they were a technological device using highly advanced, anti-gravitic science and engineering that may have involved mercuric engines, etc, is something that, based on my own research, likely stems from constructions or misinterpretations from the earlier part of the last century. The same may not be said entirely of the vimanas themselves however, as one cannot refute their presence in the ancient texts, at least by virtue of their frequent mention, and various descriptions.

And in truth, much of this modern idea of the inner mechanics of vimanas stems from a single manuscript, authored around 1920, called the Vaimanika Shastra. This work is based entirely on information allegedly channeled by the author, Pandit Subbaraya Shastry, and the information contained within has been chalked up by most aeronautics experts in modern times as being pure rubbish, to put it nicely. To illustrate this, the following statement by the late John B. Hare of the Internet Sacred Text Archive discusses the shortcomings in people’s interpretation of the Vaimanika Shastra’s content over the years:

The Vymanika Shastra was first committed to writing between 1918 and 1923, and nobody is claiming that it came from some mysterious antique manuscript. The fact is, there are no manuscripts of this text prior to 1918, and nobody is claiming that there are. So on one level, this is not a hoax. You just have to buy into the assumption that ‘channeling’ works. … there is no exposition of the theory of aviation (let alone antigravity). In plain terms, the VS never directly explains how Vimanas get up in the air. The text is top-heavy with long lists of often bizarre ingredients used to construct various subsystems. … There is nothing here which Jules Verne couldn’t have dreamed up, no mention of exotic elements or advanced construction techniques. The 1923 technical illustration based on the text … are absurdly un-aerodynamic. They look like brutalist wedding cakes, with minarets, huge ornithopter wings and dinky propellers. In other words, they look like typical early 20th century fantasy flying machines with an Indian twist.

Thus, in the absence of much of a justifiable link between the ancient flying vimanas and modern avionics (or even anti-gravitics), we are left to attempt to decipher by peering through the proverbial mists of time as to what, exactly, these “vimanas” actually were. Were there mechanical flying ships buzzing around in ancient India, or were these the chariots of the proverbial gods (or aliens)? Or, just perhaps, could some of our own understanding of the vimana mystery even stem from fanciful elaborations of these myths and legends, filtered through cultural windows that project the world of today onto mysteries of the past?

There are a number of ancient city sites throughout the world today, existing in remnants of lost metropolises and societies from the past, that boast curious, history-altering potential that are both incredible and terrifying. It seems very startling, for instance, that places like Mohenjo-daro, a once prosperous ancient city in modern day Pakistan, seems to bear trace evidence of some kind of cataclysmic event in it’s historic past that, even by today’s standards, remains difficult to explain.

Granted, if we are to utilize modern conventions available to us in the present day, a number of the peculiarities about this particular location can (and do) bear remarkable similarity to the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. The problem, of course, is to attempt to reconcile with the anomalies of places like Mohenjo-daro by asserting that nuclear explosions–the likes of which have been seen previously only at places like Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII–could have occurred thousands of years ago.

 While I’m hesitant, as many probably should be, to say there is definitive proof of nuclear weapons being used in ancient or even prehistoric times, I don’t think it can be argued that nuclear events of some variety–perhaps even naturally occurring–did occur in Earth’s distant past. In my latest contribution to the ongoing series of anthologies released by New Page Books, titled Exposed, Uncovered and Declassified: Lost Civilizations and Secrets of the Past, I chose to address this rather touchy subject specifically. This is both due to the fact that the idea of ancient societies with advanced technology has always fascinated me, as well as the fact that I do think that a wealth of information exists that can be directly linked with prehistoric nuclear events.

One interesting example of this is an article that was penned by researchers Richard B. Firestone and William Topping, titled “Terrestrial Evidence of a Nuclear Catastrophy in Paleoindian Times.” The article appeared in Mammoth Trumpet Magazine‘s March 2001 issue, and recounted curiously high levels of radiocarbon data gathered from the Great Lakes Region of the United States. According to the authors, “The entire Great Lakes region (and beyond) was subjected to particle bombardment and a catastrophic nuclear irradiation that produced secondary thermal neutrons from cosmic ray interactions.” Indeed, it was a wide scale nuclear event dating back to Paleo-Indian times, and though the authors speculate that a supernovae might have been the cause for the event in question, it remains uncertain exactly what else could account for such an anomaly.

While this event (which I’ll argue does prove that nuclear events, albeit natural ones) could have occurred in our prehistory, places like Harrappa and Mohenjo-daro in modern day Pakistan present a number of problems that aren’t so easily reconciled. In addition to the presence of vitrified stone, the likes of which was discovered after being melted by the intense heat of the atomic weapons used in Japan during WWII, there have also been stories regarding incredible levels of radiation among the bodies of those found at Mohenjo-daro. Russian munitions expert and researcher Alexander Gorbovsky wrote in 1966 that the radioactivity in question was, in fact, as much as fifty times higher than average.

What could possibly account for such strange circumstances at the excavations of ancient city sites and other locations? Can we chalk all such instances up to being random acts of nature… which conveniently appear to have targeted specific metropolises of the ancient world? Must we consider that our ancestors could have indeed harnessed the power of the atom thousands of years before the Manhattan project performed its tests at Alamogordo, or could there be other scenarios (even otherwordly in nature) that are at play here?

Ganzfeld… this peculiar word sounds like it should be the name of a prominent wizard-type character from Tolkien’s Middle Earth; and yet, the actual meaning behind the term “Ganzfeld Technique”, while far more esoteric in an rather literal way, is nonetheless quite recognizable once described… and even for those who don’t make the immediate associations between the practice and the process underlying it. 

The Ganzfeld Technique, to put it in general terms, denotes the use of ping pong ball halves placed over the eyes with hope of inducing an altered state of consciousness. This is achieved by allowing the participant to be fooled into perceiving an optical illusion, as presented by the luminous white subspace that seemingly hovers right before the eyes. The optical illusion that becomes apparent, however, can hardly comprise the essence of the experience, let alone justify it’s popularity in tests of the psychic kind over the last several decades.

Every so often, we see wholesome offerings that deal with such seldom-discussed subjects, and one recent article, appearing at the Mind Hacks website, does just this. Well, in truth, the article is really a synopsis regarding a special issue of the science journal Cortex (which deals with cognitive science), which recently featured an entire issue dedicated to “the neuropsychology of paranormal experiences.” In it, a number of different descriptions of Ganzfeld-inspired visions people have had are described, attained during these individuals’ experiences with of the sorts of hallucinatory effects the Ganzfeld technique is so famous for causing.

I should note here that I too have experimented with this simple, mind-altering technique a number of times in the past, and even recount many of these experiences in my book Magic, Mysticism and the Molecule. Arguably, part of what could have contributed to any hallucinatory circumstances in my particular case may have had more to do with the company I kept at the time. In fact, I’d wager that many of you would also see aliens and non-Euclidean geometric tesseracts if you spent enough time wearing ping pong balls over your eyes while Joshua P. Warren leaped around in his living room, brandishing colored lights in each hand and waving them over your face; I’ve had this happen more times than I’m proud to admit (and verily, such circumstances can at least partially be attributed to why the aforementioned book ended up being dedicated to Warren and his mischief, which I’ve grown to admire and appreciate more and more a time passes… but I digress).

In conjunction with many of the Ganzfeld experiments I undertook while writing Magic, Mysticism and the Molecule, I explored with equal enthusiasm the strange process of mirror gazing; specifically a setup popularized in the research of Dr. Raymond Moody, M.D., which he calls the psychomanteum. Despite having some interesting experiences using the Ganzfeld technique, the mental processes that one engages while gazing into reflective surfaces in a dark room never cease to amaze me; below is a brief recounting of one session I relate in my book, which took place in Warren’s own homemade “theater of the mind” (a.k.a. his spare bedroom, equipped with a comfortable chair and a fairly large mirror on the adjacent wall):

There
 were
 no
 spirits
 of
 the
 dead,
 no
 phantom
 wiener‐dogs,
 and
 not
 so
 much
 as
 a
 glimpse
 of
 Cthulhu’s
 dark,
 serpentine
 tentacles.
 There
 was,
 however,
 one
 interesting
 phenomenon
 that
 occurred
 during
 this
 session
 which
 may
 be
 worthy
 of
 mention:
 it
 involved
 a
 bizarre
 pattern
 of
 shapes
 and
 images
 I
 witnessed—though
 vaguely—where
 in
 a
 few
 fleeting
 moments
 I
 do
 recall
 seeing
 what
 could
 be
 likened
 to
 anthropomorphic
 shapes
 with
 enlarged
 heads.
 Even
 as
 I
 stared
 at
 these 
shapes, I 
found 
their 
silhouettes 
to 
be 
similar 
to 
that 
of 
alien
 “grays.”
 What
 were
 these
 images?
 Could
 strange,
 human‐like
 shapes of this sort indeed be an archetypal element within every person’s subconscious?

Who knows exactly what may be the cause behind such anthropomorphisms that one tends to muster while gazing into dark reflective surfaces… or in the case of the Ganzfeld experimenter, the whitewashed optical depth that is so conducive to a variety of geometric weirdness and utterly fantastic visions from the mind’s playground. Rather than to try and surmise some rationale for this phenomenon myself, I’m content for now to leave you with this meditation, penned by the French writer of tragedies, Pierre Corneille, who said that, “An example is often a deceptive mirror, and the order of destiny, so troubling to our thoughts, is not always found written in things past.”

Perhaps, then, we might guess that the order of destiny can be discerned from things written at other times–the future, for all we know–or at any other temporal junction one could imagine, so long as it isn’t that fleeting moment that so often escapes us; that which we call the present. If this weren’t the case, it is hard to understand what archaic circumstances otherwise might have drawn our predecessors toward the reflective surfaces and smoky diffusion that, to this day, yield potential for altering our conventional notions of reality… and all by merely gazing into them.

It has long been speculated by linguists, historians and anthropologists alike what circumstances might have led to the use of language by early humans. In fact, considering the subtleties interwoven into our culture through the use of symbolism, it might be argued that the manifestation of abstract thought itself, and the eventual human intelligence that would form around it, could be directly attributed to the use of vocalizations; the same could be argued for the later implementation of written language as well. 

Regardless of what effects language may have had on us as a species over time, it is less easy to discern exactly how the use of language came about to begin with. The theories for this are as wide and varied as the many dialects and varieties spoken throughout the nations of the world… and some of them get into the territory of the downright weird, too.

My earliest interest in this subject stemmed from a book written by journalist John McCrone called The Ape That Spoke: Language and the Evolution of the Human Mind, in which he posed the theory that spoken forms of communication were a sort of “trick” stemming from the need to communicate in order to survive. Namely, this sort of communication had to do with primitive warning cries used to denote the presence of any number of predators, which over time may have begun to become distinct relative to the danger presented. Eventually, early humans would not only use audible mimicry to sound cries that were indicative of certain predators or other dangers, but the use of vocalizations for representation of other things such as food, home, friends, etc would likely have become habitual.

This notion has a rather interesting Fortean tie-in, too: Smoky Crabtree, one of the characters at the center of the so-called “Fouke Monster” scare of the 1960s and 70s, also described that the creature–alleged to be a Bigfoot-type animal living in the remote swamps around Southern Arkansas and nearby Texarkana–would use mimicry to sound at times like various other animals. If this is true, it might stand to reason that the serious study of primate vocalizations, or even those of alleged relic hominids like Sasquatch, could point to a better understanding of the rudiments of human language, also.

But I digress… despite the popularity of theories like those proposed by McCrone, there are indeed stranger ideas pertaining to how humans may have first developed the ability to communicate with arbitrary vocalizations. This would involve a sort of regiment within the branches of linguistics known as discontinuity theory, whose poster child (and damn-near lone supporter in academia) is linguist and political critic Noam Chomsky. “There is a long history of study of origin of language, asking how it arose from calls of apes and so forth,” Chomsky wrote in his Language and Problems of Knowledge in 1988. “That investigation in my view is a complete waste of time, because language is based on an entirely different principle than any animal communication system.”

Chomsky’ views are even more strange when it comes to actual theories regarding how early man may have began using language, and more importantly, why. In 2000, Chomsky tackled the situation yet again in his The Architecture of Language:

‘To tell a fairy story about it, it is almost as if there was some higher primate wandering around a long time ago and some random mutation took place, maybe after some strange cosmic ray shower, and it reorganized the brain, implanting a language organ in an otherwise primate brain… [this] may be closer to reality than many other fairy tales that are told about evolutionary processes, including language.”

Then again in 2004, Chomsky’s essay Language and Mind: Current thoughts on ancient problems further argued his feelings that some “instantaneous” emergence of language might have actually occurred (apparently taking the “cosmic ray shower” more seriously… or something similar to it, at very least), resulting in a near-perfect early spoken language that literally may have erupted into use overnight.

Chomsky’s theories regarding language are as radical as anything the man has ever written politically or otherwise, and he has drawn an equal number of critics in both areas, despite his innovative approaches to understanding such complex issues. Could it indeed be the case that early humans were somehow exposed to a kind of external influence that resulted in sudden, drastic changes in their operation? And if so, what kinds of factors could have lead to such an aberration forming what is, arguably, the very basis of human society and culture as we know it today?

In the centuries before phrases like “flying saucers” and “Unidentified Flying Objects” became common vernacular, thousands of people claimed to have witnessed bizarre lights and strange boat-like vehicles traversing the heavens. Skeptics dismiss these reports as misidentified natural phenomenon like comets and meteors, but ancient alien theorists are equally convinced that these odd objects prove that our world has been receiving extraterrestrial visitors for generations.

While it would seems as if there’s at least a kernel of truth in both camps; what we’re focusing on here is a fascinating, and oft neglected, footnote to the sky ship mystery. A series of bizarre events that took place over the course of more than a millennia — from the dark ages to the wild west — involving UFOs dropping anchor over the Earth… literally.

SKY SHIPS AND ANOMALOUS ANCHORS:

Sightings of what our ancestors often referred t as “sky ships” or “cloud ships” have been occurring since the dawn of recorded history.  Alexander the Great and his vast army allegedly observed three soaring discs, which were described as “shining silvery shields, spitting fire around the rims,” during the siege of Tyre in 329 BC. These “shields” were said to have annihilated a stone wall with a lightening-like beam weapon.

Eyewitness and artist, Hans Glaser, carved an extraordinary woodcut that shows an epic battle of sky machines, which supposedly took place over Nuremberg, Germany on April 4^th, 1561. According to reports, just after dawn broke that April morning, hundreds of German citizens beheld a spectacle the likes of which the Earth has rarely (if ever) seen when what was described as a “war in the heavens” took place in the skies above their fair city. The woodcut included images of cylindrical mother ships emitting spherical attack “pods,” a gargantuan, spear-like vessel and even seemed to indicate a pair of decidedly pre-Roswell UFO crashes.

As frequent as UFO sightings have been through the ages, it could be argued that the sky ship frenzy didn’t peak until the late 1800s, when newspapers throughout the world were infested with accounts of anomalous, self illuminated, intelligently controlled aircraft navigating American airspace at rates of speed that were, at the time, unfathomable.

These craft occasionally assumed classic saucer or cigar shapes, but they were also quite often described as being stereotypically ship-like, complete with crews of “sailors” and anchors, which were used to both moor and assist these strange craft in making sharp turns.

While the sky ship flap of the 19^th Century plays a significant role in the enticing enigma of the arcane anchors; we must go back in time to events that took place over 1,000-years before to truly begin our tale.

956 AD — Cloera, Ireland

Most modern reports claim that first known account of a sky ship dropping anchor was penned by an aristocrat known as Gervase of Tilbury between 1210 and 1214  — with most pinpointing the date at 1211 — but these reports would seem to be off by about 250-years, give or take a decade or two.

In his 1970 book “UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse” — which was republished in paperback under the title “Why UFOs” — journalist, paranormal investigator and “Mothman Prophecies” author, John Keel –who was the recent subject of an article by Micah Hanks — claimed that an obscure Irish tome regally titled “Speculum Regali” or “The King’s Mirror” was the first to the punch in 956 AD.

The following account, which is often — and evidently mistakenly — credited to the aforementioned Gervase of Tilbury, regards the ostensibly extraterrestrial crew of what the Irish often referred to as a “demon ship” and their potentially disastrous run-in with a group of rustic churchgoers. The translated text from the Speculum Regali is reprinted word for word as it appeared in Keel’s book:

“There happened in the borough of Cloera, one Sunday, while the people were at Mass, a marvel. In this town is a church dedicated to St. Kinarus. It befell that an anchor was dropped from the sky, with a rope attached to it, and one of the flukes caught in the arch above the church door. The people rushed out of the church and saw in the sky a ship with men on board, floating before the anchor cable, and they saw a man leap overboard and jump down to the anchor, as if to release it. He looked as if he were swimming in water. The folk rushed up and tried to seize him; but the Bishop forbade the people to hold the man, for it might kill him, he said. The man was freed, and hurried up to the ship, where the crew cut the rope and the ship sailed out of sight. But the anchor is in the church, and has been there ever since, as a testimony.”

The United States Air Forces Academy textbook, “Introductory Space Science, Volume II, Department of Physics, USAF” which was edited by one Major Donald G. Carpenter and Lt. Colonel Edward R. Therkelson — also made reference made to the Cloera event. The book was allegedly removed from the USAFA curriculum in the 1970s, due, in part, to the controversy surrounding Chapter XIII — Unidentified Flying Objects. Here is an excerpt:

“Even the Irish have recorded strange visitations. In the Speculum Regali in Konungs Skuggsiá (and other accounts of the era about 956 A.D.) are numerous stories of “demonships” in the skies. In one case a rope from one such ship became entangled with part of a church. A man from the ship climbed down the rope to free it, but was seized by the townspeople. The Bishop made the people release the man, who climbed back to the ship, where the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and sailed out of sight… In all of his actions, the climbing man appeared as if he were swimming in water. Stories such as this makes one wonder if the legends of the ‘little people’ of Ireland were based upon imagination alone.”

While the first instinct for most (including myself) is to assume that this is nothing more than a fanciful tall tale born of boredom or perhaps a difficult to decipher parable about being merciful to strangers, there would be other events that transpired centuries before, which seem to lend at least a bit of credibility to the Speculum Regali’s report.

After 548 AD — County Offaly, Ireland

The famed monastery of Clonmacnoise was founded on the banks of the River Shannon by St. Kieran in 548 and survived millennia of raids and invasions, until it was finally destroyed by English invaders in 1552. The monastery was the site of many epic battles and significant events, but none quite so strange as the legendary encounter the Clonmacnoise monks had with a sky ship and its occupant.

Nobel Prize winning Irish poet — as well as Harvard and the Oxford professor — Seamus Heaney wrote a poem celebrating the heroic efforts of the monks of the monastery, who saved the life on a struggling aeronaut. Heaney’s poem, “From Lightenings: VIII,” which was published in his 1991 book “Seeing Things,” tells of the oft told tale of a strange ship that came down from the sky while the monks were engaged in prayer. The poem is reprinted here:

The annals say: when the monks of Clonmacnoise
Were all at prayers inside the oratory
A ship appeared above them in the air.

The anchor dragged along behind so deep
It hooked itself into the altar rails
And then, as the big hull rocked to a standstill,

A crewman shinned and grappled down the rope
And struggled to release it. But in vain.
‘This man can’t bear our life here and will drown,’

The abbot said, ‘Unless we help him.’ So
They did, the freed ship sailed, and the man climbed back
Out of the marvellous as he had known it.

The pious monks who inspired this poem were, like so many of their brethren, engaged in the process of transcribing sacred texts and they managed to commit this fantastic encounter to the written page, thus preserving it into modern times. Yet another piece of historical text that would seem to confirm the existence of “sky sailors” hailed from the 9^th Century AD, and emanated from the pen of the…

Archbishop Agobard of Lyon

A prolific author and notorious anti-Semite,  was a Spaniard who was born in the year 775. Agobard moved to Lyon, France in 792 and would take his vows of priesthood in 804, eventually becoming the archbishop of Lyon during the Carolingian Renaissance.

Sometime after he received his vows, Agobard scribed the Latin text for “Liber Contra Insulam Vulgi Opinionem” roughly translated as “On the other hand — the opinion of the common people.” In this manuscript the archbishop wrote a denunciation against the provincial and — at least in Agobard’s estimation — naïve residents of Lyons, who were known to believe in a “certain region called Magonia from whence come ships in the clouds.”

The pilots of these sky ships were called “storm wizards” and they had a penchant for stealing any booty that had been destroyed by the storms that they navigated with apparent ease. They were also notorious for bribing human collaborators with, of all things, vegetables. According to Agobard:

“[The storm wizards] in order carry back to that region [the sky] those fruits of the earth which are destroyed by hail and tempests; the sailors paying rewards to the storm wizards and themselves receiving corn and other produce.”

The archbishop also testified that he bore witness to three men and a woman who had apparently plummeted from one of these floating vessels:

“Out of the number of those (who) believe those things possible, I saw several exhibiting in a certain concourse of people four persons in bonds — three men and a woman like they had said had fallen from those same ships, and they had brought, them before the assembled multitude to be stoned. But truth prevailed.”

While most assume that Agobard is claiming to have he stepped in and used his influence to prevent their deaths, some accounts maintain that they were executed all the same , which just goes to show how difficult it is to wrestle the truth from these antiquated accounts. The next anomalous anchor report comes to us from the ever popular…

Gervase of Tilbury

The Gervase of Tilbury or, as he was known to his peers, Gervasius Tilberiensis, was born in 1150 and lived to the ripe old age (especially in those harrowing days) of 78-years.  The Gervase was a lawyer, statesman and writer, who — like Charles Fort, Frank Edwards, John Keel, Jerome Clark, Jacques Vallée and scores of others — was seemingly compelled, either by choice or the behest of his rich benefactors, to chronicle some of the stranger stories he stumbled across. One such tale was that of (you guessed it) a UFO and its misplaced anchor.

The tale of the anchor and the sky ship from whence it came was published in the “Otio Imperialia” or “Recreation for an Emperor,” which he wrote for his patron, Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV, between the years 1210 and 1214. The event, which purportedly occurred in Tilbury, England in 1200 or 1207, was similar to the Cloera event in that it involved a church, but this time the conclusion of the encounter would be much more tragic than the one that took place in Ireland.

According to the report chronicled in the Otio Imperialia, in the midst of the Sunday mass parishioners were startled by a loud noise emanating from outside the church. The worshipers and the vicar swiftly made their way outdoors to investigate the source of this mysterious clamor when they noticed what they described as an “anchor,” which had become entangled with an old gravestone that had been incorporated into the churchyard wall. Here is a translation of Tilbury’s account from the Otio Imperialia:

“A strange event in our own times, which is widely known but none the less a cause of wonder, provides proof of the existence of an upper sea overhead. It occurred on a feast day in Britain, while the people were struggling out of their parish church after hearing high mass. The day was very overcast and quite dark on account of the thick clouds. To the people’s amazement, a ship’s anchor was seen caught on a tombstone  within the churchyard walls, with its rope stretching up and hanging in the air. They were advancing various opinions on the matter to each other, when after a time they saw the rope move as if it were being worked to pull up the anchor. Since, being caught fast, it would not give way, a sound was heard in the humid air as of sailors struggling to recover the anchor they had cast down.”

At this point one of the air ship’s mysterious occupants — or “sailor” as he was dubbed by Gervase — was apparently commanded to dive overboard and make his way,  hand over hand, down the rope in order to dislodge the trapped anchor. The virtually weightless humanoid managed to extricate the anchor, but at a terrible cost:

Soon, when their efforts proved vain, the sailors sent one of their number down; using the same technique as our sailors here below, he gripped the anchor-rope and climbed down it, swinging one hand over the other. He had already pulled the anchor free, when he was seized by the bystanders. He then expired in the hands of his captors, suffocated by the humidity of our dense air as if he were drowning at sea. The sailors up above wasted an hour, but then, concluding that their companion had drowned, they cut the rope and sailed away, leaving the anchor behind. And so in memory of this event it was fittingly decided that that anchor should be used to make ironwork for the church door, and it is still there for all to see.”

According to folklorist Katharine Briggs, this strange tale is unrelated to any other British legend or supernatural tradition and is therefore:

“One of those strange, unmotivated and therefore rather convincing tales that are scattered through the early chronicles.”

It would seem that Ms. Briggs didn’t do her research because the ancient Britons were evidently chock full of mystifying air ship stories.

1211 — Kent, England

Another account which is also often attributed to Gervase allegedly occurred in 1211 (or possibly 1214 — these dates are exceedingly difficult to pin down) in Gravesend, which is located in northwest Kent, England. Again the event involved a group of churchgoers who were attending services. This time the folks claimed to have seen the curious anchor plummet from the heavens and, much like in the Tilbury case, snag itself onto a tombstone in the graveyard which was adjacent to the church.

In another moment that smacks of déjà vu, the parishioners rushed outside to see an inexplicably floating sky ship and what can only be qualified as humanoid sailor leaping over the side. As in the previous account, there is no report of this aeronaut being tethered to the ship — or wearing any sort of protective gear for that matter — as it slowly made its way toward terra firma.

The God fearing mob — no doubt incited by fear or perhaps overcome by the exhilaration of contacting what may well have been construed as a  divine life form — attempted to subdue the aeronaut, but he must have heard of the fates of this less fortunate brethren and was too swift and managed to scurry back up the “rope” unharmed.  The lucky sky swimmer’s comrades saw what transpired from high above and sagely cut the tether that attached their craft to the trapped anchor and the vehicle “sailed out of sight.”

According to legend a local blacksmith made ornaments from the abandoned anchor that were used to adorn the lectern in the house of worship. An alternate version of the tale suggests a more grim fate for our poor aeronaut and, like his Tilbury counterpart, the being was said to have “drown” in the arms of his assailants, at which point its fellow crew members cut him and the anchor loose. In this version of events the anchor was melted and forged into new hinges for the church doors.

According to other (as yet unsubstantiated, sources) another sky ship was allegedly spied in British skies over Bristol in 1270. Unlike the previous cases, this vessel was said to have actually landed without the assistance of an anchor, but when the sky pilot descended the ladder to the firmament it apparently suffocated in our atmosphere.

Now before we get caught up in assuming that these are all just loosely cataloged medieval fairy tales, let’s jump forward to the 19^th Century where a supposedly real life game of “Cowboys and Aliens” was playing out over the vast blue skies of the American west.

SKY SHIPS INVADE THE WILD WEST:

Just when it seemed that tales of unusual sky ships were safely relegated to the Dark Ages, newspapers across North America were riddled with strange tales of mysterious aircraft soaring through the expansive, blue skies and, as should be expected, a few of the cloud dodging boats came equipped with anchors.

April 5, 1897 — Sioux City, Iowa

The first known report of a UFO dropping anchor in the 19^th Century was published in the April 5^th, 1897, edition of the Saginaw, Michigan “Evening News.” The newspaper reported that a farmer by the name of Robert Hibbard had an all too close encounter with a sky ship anchor on March 26^th, 1897.

The event — which allegedly took place just 15-miles outside of Sioux City, Iowa — is so farcical on the surface that it almost seems like it could be the plotline for an unproduced silent comedy wherein Buster Keaton battles a flying saucer. I’ll let an excerpt from the original article speak for itself:

“On the night in question, he [Hibbard] says he was tramping about his farm in the moonlight… when suddenly a dark body, lighted on each side, with a row of what looked like incandescent lamps, loomed up some distance to the south of him at a height of perhaps a mile from the ground. He watched it intently until it was directly over his head. At this point the skipper evidently decided to turn around. In accomplishing this maneuver the machine sank considerably. Hibbard did not notice a drag rope with a grapnel attached which dangled from the rear of the car until suddenly, as the machine rose again from the ground, it hooked itself firmly in his trousers and shot away again to the south. Had it risen to any considerable height, the result, Hibbard thinks, would have been disastrous. Either his weight was sufficient to keep it near terra firma, however, or the operator did not care to ascend to a higher level.”

The anchor apparently dragged the panicked farmer nearly 30-feet before he stumbled onto his salvation. The Evening News goes on to tell of Hibbard’s daring (albeit embarrassing) escape from the clutches of certain doom:

“On the bank of the dry run, where the farmer finally made his escape, grows a small sapling. Hibbard passed near this obstruction in his flight, and as a last resort, grabbed it with both hands. Instantly there was a sound of tearing cloth and the machine went on with a section of Hibbard’s unmentionables, while Hibbard himself fell precipitately into the run. He related his experience to several neighbors and despite their grins of incredulity, firmly maintains the truth of the story.”

His neighbors might have been understandable incredulous, but, according to the report, there were those who reckoned that Hibbard’s tale was true… or, at the very least, that he believed it was:

“Hibbard’s reputation for truth has never been bad, and the general opinion is that either he ‘had ‘em’ or dreamed his remarkable experience.”

April 26, 1897 — Merkel, Texas

This would not be the last run-in with an anomalous anchor that would occur in the United States. According to a story printed in the pages of the Houston “Daily Post” on April 28^th, 1897, the citizens of Merkel, Texas had an odd encounter with an illuminated air ship, which one eyewitness allegedly claimed was “cigar shaped.” Here’s an excerpt from the story:

“Merkel, Texas, April 26 — Some parties returning from church last night noticed a heavy object dragging along with a rope attached. They followed it until in crossing the railroad it caught on a rail. On looking up they saw what they supposed was the airship. It was not near enough to get an idea of the dimensions. A light could be seen protruding from several windows; one bright light in front like the headlight of a locomotive.”

As if that weren’t bizarre enough, the parishioners had a face-to-face encounter with a uniform clad member of its crew. According to the Daily Post:

“After some ten minutes, a man was seen descending the rope; he came near enough to be plainly seen. He wore a light-blue sailor suit, was small in size. He stopped when he discovered parties at the anchor and cut the rope below him and sailed off in a northeast direction. The anchor is now on exhibition at the blacksmith shop of Elliott and Miller and is attracting the attention of hundreds of people.”

Should we suppose that the blue clad sailor “cut and run” due to the fact that so many of his ancestors had been accidentally killed by human beings or is this a case of the creative journalism that was so prevalent in that unrestricted era? Either way whatever became of this allegedly alien artifact is unknown.

April 26, 1897 — Aquila-Hillsboro, Texas

That same night, in the Aquila-Hillsboro region of Texas, an unnamed lawyer got the shock of his life when he saw a brightly lit craft zoom overhead.  The object was so startling that his panic stricken horse bucked; almost toppling the carriage it was pulling. Suddenly the primary light on the UFO went out, revealing a row of smaller lights on the underside of the dark, cylindrical object, which supported what the lawyer described as an “elongated canopy.”

Later that same evening, the lawyer, who was now making the return trip home, claimed that he saw the same sky ship ascending to the cloud cover. The moment that the UFO reached the milky canopy it took off in a northeasterly direction at a tremendous rate of speed, occasionally emitting bursts of light.

There are also rumors that at some point during this flap of anchor antics a farmer — whose location was apparently unknown — watched in stunned horror as a member of his cattle herd became hooked on a sky ship anchor in a similar fashion to Hibbard, with presumably dire results. Sadly, neither the outcome of this odd encounter, nor the fate of this unfortunate bovine, were disclosed.

Okay, now that we’ve got the basic (although at times contrary) facts in these strange cases,  let’s try to start piecing this puzzle together. To that end, the first question we must ask is…

SERIOUSLY?

It’s a fair question. I mean, what kind of vessel can slip the surly bonds of Earth, but still requires an anchor to perch itself into a stationary position? It defies the imagination.  And what of our ostensibly diminutive, occasionally blue clad, sky sailors? Can these eyewitnesses really be describing living, breathing (and sporadically suffocating) beings or is this all a grand pile of hogwash? Assuming — for the sake of discussion — that the above accounts are essentially true, let’s take a look at some of the “unusual” suspects…

ANCIENT ALIENS:

Perhaps the most popular hypothesis regarding the identity of these unusual atmospheric mariners is that they hail from out of this world. The fundamental problem with this hypothesis is that aliens are supposed to represent intelligent, non-indigenous species that have travelled to our planet (or dimension) in mechanically complex vehicles, which are often described as metallic discs or glowing cigar-shaped objects.

If we subscribe to the common assumption that extraterrestrial visitors are a foreign and technologically advanced species, then how does one explain the primitive nature of sky ships? How can these vessels defy gravity, yet still require a tool as primitive as an anchor to stabilize their craft?

Also worth noting is the way in which aeronauts seem to float through the atmosphere with an apparent lack of and propulsion or protective gear. Their ability to hover almost weightlessly invokes recollections of 20^th Century encounters with ostensibly alien explorers like Finland’s Kinnula Humanoid or Japan’s Alien Cosmonaut; the core difference being that the last two were clad in the extraterrestrial equivalent of deep sea diver or pressurized space suits.

If these aeronauts really were aliens, they they should have had access to the kind of tech that would help them to survive in the unforgiving environment of a foreign planet. It makes absolutely no sense that they would they expose themselves to the harsh climate and atmosphere of our planet — resulting in the apparent sphyxiation of so many — when they could have simply equipped themselves for the trip.

While there are many researchers who still associate this phenomenon with these archaic alien reports, there is a growing contingent who feel that these entities have a suspiciously paranormal presence. Does this mean that we might be dealing with…

SUPERNATURAL BEINGS:

Right out the gate I am dubious of this theory. To begin with, how the heck can a paranormal entity asphyxiate? I’ll be the first to admit that I am no authority regarding the life spans or Achilles’ heels of most mystical or metaphysical manifestations — with the obvious exceptions of wooden stakes and silver bullets — but it seems to me that some sort of enchanted creature, elemental, fairy, angel, demon or even demi-god ought to be able to survive in the atmosphere of Earth.

Nevertheless, it is interesting to ponder why it is that the vast majority of these visitations have occurred near churches. Is it possible that these creatures are attracted to the consecrated nature of these structures? Or — bearing in mind the fact that many Christian structures were erected on sacred pagan land — could these be strange “faerie” vehicles visiting areas that were revered by the ancients who worshiped them in years past? It might explain the anachronistic nature of the vessels. Who knows?

And what of these so-called “Storm Wizards” who plundered the land following tumultuous tempests and traded with the human beings who assisted them. Could these perhaps be the legendary “wee folk” who were so often prone to initiating contact with the human race during medieval times? Or is this more akin to the “angelic” or “sacred deity” encounters that riddle the Bible, the Bhagavad-gītā, the Torah, the Qur’an and scores of other holy texts?

Perhaps the truth is that these were merely non-terrestrial tourists. After all cathedrals and churches were far and away the largest manmade structures in Europe during the 13^th Century — the same could also be said for the American west in the 19^th Century — so perhaps they just caught the eyes of these stratospheric seafarers. There’s even the chance that these vessels just got accidentally caught on these soaring structures, in the same way colossal radio towers can jeopardize modern day aircraft. So if we rule out E.T.s, angels and elves, then we’re forced to consider that they may be…

ATMOSPHERIC HUMANOIDS:

First off, if we are trying to ascertain what kind of creatures might be capable of living in the upper atmosphere, then we are forced to conclude that these entities must be — like other atmospheric monsters that supposedly swim through the sky — “lighter than air.” We must also conclude that they are susceptible to the dangerous pressure and dense atmosphere that exists on the surface of the Earth in the same way human beings are unable to survive the deepest depths of the oceans without hi-tech support.

I recognize how ridiculous the above proposition is. It’s one of the most ludicrous things I’ve ever read — much less written — but  still, when I read tales of the Storm Wizards sailing through the clouds on currents of air, following the storms and searching for “sunken” treasure, my mind fills with child-like wonder. I realize, of course, that these were myths concocted by men who could not even fathom what the world would look like soaring through the wild blue yonder, but it is fun to contemplate living in a time when such a fantastic possibility might have been true — or at least easier to believe.

Of course, it goes without saying that if these fantastic, low density beings ever existed they must have gone into hiding since Wilbur and Orville Wright pioneered heavier than air travel. Perhaps the technological evolution of these entities ran parallel (or faster) than our own. Maybe those colossal UFOs seen by highly trained pilots — as well as land bound spectators — worldwide are really the floating cities that these humanoids have constructed to hide from prying terrestrial eyes and protect themselves from the constant air traffic that has filled the skies in the past century or so.

Okay, for the time being let’s abandon this “flight of fancy” and mull over the simple fact that sky ships and their gravity retardant crews are most probably nothing more than a…

MYTH:

It goes without saying that the similarity between these allegedly disparate occurrences transcends the merely mindboggling and delves into the realm of the outright unbelievable. This has led many researchers to suggest that these events are really just retellings — with minute variations — of a single event, which may or may not have actually happened.

In the March 7^th, 1897 edition of Utah’s “Salt Lake Tribune,” a retelling of the classic Cloera cloud ship mystery in an article titled: “A Sea above the Clouds — Extraordinary Superstition once prevalent in England.” This article predates the Sioux City event by almost a month and it’s hard not to assume that it may well have been the inspiration for Hibbard’s harrowing encounter.

In fact, one would be remiss to ignore the general lack of journalistic integrity that was displayed by the press in that era, especially in frontier town where the rule was “do anything that makes a buck.” There is a real chance that these 19th Century sky anchor accounts are embellishments or UFO sightings or outright fabrications.

Still, researchers have confirmed the existence of Hibbard and most of his ilk, and one must wonder why someone would subject themselves to the public ridicule which almost certainly accompanied the publishing of these reports. It is possible (albeit exceedingly unlikely) that these strange creatures from the sky — especially if they do have a paranormal bent — started hearing a long absent buzz about their existence following the publication of the “cloud ship” story in Utah and decided to pop down and say howdy to their Earthbound neighbors… Like I said, it’s possible, but not likely.

11th Century — Off the Irish Coast

Then there’s also the “Liber Hymnorum” to take into consideration. This 11^th Century Irish tome was a collection of hymns, legends and historical accounts that was very popular in liturgical circles. Among the many traditional Gaelic tales this epic contains, the one that seems most pertinent involves a conventional, human built, ocean going ship whose anchor became trapped on the tower of an “underwater oratory.”

In this story a brave monk dove into the briny depths in order to liberate the anchor. The youthful holy man shimmied down the thick chain only to find that the anchor ensnared on a marine monastery. Through means which can only be called supernatural (or possibly hyper-technological) this young monk is taught how to extract oxygen from the salt water by the inhabitants of this amazing submerged city and is allowed to remain for a full year.

Following his tenure at this waterlogged metropolis, the monk returned to the same ship he had saved the year before, which had anchored in the same spot (as planned, one supposes) to pick up the brave young man. The Monk even brought with him a souvenir from his sojourn; the bell from the submerged church which had originally captured the ship’s anchor. According to the Liber Hymnorum, this bell was on display at the convent of St. Brigid, at least during the 1000s.

It’s been indicated that the stories of sky ships catching their anchors on churches (or adjacent stony outcroppings) are merely re-workings of this famed fable; wherein the sky becomes the ocean and Earthlings its underwater denizens. The only problem with this assumption is the fact that the first known legend of a sky ship anchor hails from 956, at least half a century before the above legend. That having been stated, Irish sky ship tales go back even further to the Agobard of Lyon’s alleged 9th Century run-in with sky pilots, not to mention the Clonmacnoise monks encounter, which may well date back to the 6th Century.

Perhaps it is just as likely (or unlikely, as the case may be) that the original sky ship story — through numerous retellings, embellishments and perhaps an honest mistake or two — transformed from a strange UFO encounter into the aquatic version of the same saga. Considering that these accounts involve “ships” dropping “anchor” it’s conceivable that the “sky” portion of these odysseys got lost as the legends passed via word-of-mouth from village to village.

CONCLUSION:

Whether we’re dealing with myth, parable, mystic ships, aliens, Druidic deities or an as yet undiscovered species of atmospheric humanoids — and yes, I just shook my head with incredulity as I typed those words — the great air ship flaps of the middle ages and the wild west will remain a fascinating enigma; and the supplemental mystery of the sky anchors only serve to further fascinate any researcher who chooses to delve into this subject. In the end, it was perhaps Keel who put it most succinctly:

“We have only two choices: We can either dismiss all four of these stories as being somehow derivative of one another and pure poppycock; or we can assume that mysterious airships, all dragging anchors, appeared in 956, 1200, and 1897. There are, in fact, a number of other reports in which UFOs were said to be dragging something along the ground. That still doesn’t prove that anchors are standard equipment on some of the objects. If they were using anchors, what could the purpose have been? Could some of the early UFOs have been so primitive that the only way they could hover was by being anchored to the ground? Would spaceships from another world require anchors?”

These are all good questions and perhaps the answer will lie at the base of some as yet unexcavated archeological site on the Emerald Isle… but, even more likely, it will remain where it always lurked, in the extraordinarily fertile imaginations of ordinary human beings.

Joseph Selbie, co-author of The Yugas, joins us to talk about his research into eastern beliefs on the cycles of time and its influence on humankind’s consciousness and civilization’s development.

Do hidden cycles of time trigger the rise and fall of mankind? What does the future have in store for our species?

Read on for show notes, book links and more.

Joseph Selbie

The Yugas

More graphs to come ~ Ben

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Could ancient civilizations have harnessed the power of the atom? What about advanced aircraft capable of out-maneuvering our best jet-propelled planes? What if this civilization existed thousands of years ago? It doesn’t really sound possible, does it? But the truth is that, while we can’t be certain that any such civilization did ever exist, there are a startling number of references in documents dating back to ancient times, as well as the occasional appearance of artifacts that seem chronologically “out of place,” pointing to far more advanced engineering concepts that may have existed in our prehistory than most are willing to consider.

For instance, when one begins to look at some of the passages contained within the ancient Vedic epics of India, there are a number of rather odd things that tend to appear, especially for those of us interested in UFOs and anti-gravity. Reports of flying craft called vimanas are not just mentioned casually; in fact, epics like the Sanskrit Mahabharata seem to impart even more concrete details which, remarkably, may pertain to the methods of propulsion these strange craft could have used.

There are a number of references that have been made over the years regarding the use of mercury in powering machinery, and perhaps more importantly, knowledge of this passed down within the Vedas. Ancient sites in many parts of the world, ranging from South America to China and other locations, have been found to have contained devices–and even what might be likened to elaborate conduits, piping systems, and other bizarre arrangements–which were believed to have been designed to contain the substance. This could have been for any number of reasons; mercury is unique, since by virtue of being metallic it is a conductor, and yet it also maintains a liquid form at reasonably temperatures. Alchemists in the middle ages, while unaware of properties such as electrical conductivity, still considered mercury a sort of “primary element” capable of being transmutated into gold and other metals. But the fluid state of mercury may be of far greater importance today, as its ability to conduct electricity while in a liquid form like this may present unique possibilities when it comes to mechanical engineering and the creation of electromotive devices capable of producing current.

We bring all this to the table here because ancient references to a “mercury vortex” housed within an iron box, as indicated in translations of Sanskrit texts such as the Mahabharata, would be the ideal means of propulsion for the proposed vimanas of ancient India. Researchers in modern times like Professor Peter Thomson, looking at such passages as clues, have even gone so far as to attempt to design what has variously been called a “Charged Sheath Vortex” or some other kind of “mercuric engine” that could produce the sorts of effects desired… but exactly what effects would we hope to create with engines using a mercuric component like this, and would they be capable of propelling craft through the air in unconventional ways?

It is understood that during World War II, the Nazis had hoped to create some sort of aircraft that might have utilized mercury or vortex technology in order to achieve antigravitic effects; in other words, they may have hoped to design unconventional aircraft that were propelled through the air using technology working harmoniously with the Earth’s natural gravitation field. Interestingly, one alleged device, known as Die Glocke or “The Bell” was said to have been related to such studies, and was filled with a purplish “mercury like” substance referred to as Element 115. Some researchers, including Joseph P. Farrell and Henry Stevens, have attempted to guess the possible function and uses for such a device, with the latter of these two supposing the mercury substance could have been what is called “Red Mercury.” This substance, however, believed to exist throughout the 1970s and ’80s with potential uses in nuclear weapons development and stealth technology, is now understood to have been a likely hoax. Indeed, alleged “red mercury” sales taking place on the black market may have actually had to do with a substance that may or may not have even existed, and the use of “red” in the title, rather than indicating anything about the color, may have merely been a reference to Russian origins for this non-existent substance.

Nonetheless, it is interesting that allegations about the existence of a Nazi antigravitational project which incorporated mercury (whatever the actual variety in question may have been) have come to light; especially since it is known that Hitler and the Nazis, with their various occult fascinations, had also been very intrigued by the ancient Sanskrit epics. These, as we already know, described UFO-like “vimanas” that had obvious appeal for use in wartime. But if such craft ever existed, in a chronological sense, this would have had to be thousands of years ago. Thus, is it more likely that what we’re dealing with in the Vedas would actually represent a mythology which, interpreted through the language barriers, cultural perspectives and technological windows of modern society, would only appear to be indicating some ancient advanced civilization? If this were the case, could it be that the alleged Nazi experiments being described here were merely the result of happenstance?

Perhaps so… although it is interesting nonetheless that in addition to the Nazis, scientists ranging from J. Robert Oppenheimer (of the Manhattan Project), to those involved in more modern Chinese government programs, all find that the ancient Vedas of India seem to hold the key to some kind of knowledge… perhaps even something capable of reshaping the future as we know it. What if many of the UFOs we see today are in fact the product of revisiting ancient technologies that once existed here on Earth? If this is the case, why might such technologies have ever been lost? Does this mean we should continue to capitalize on such technologies, or could a future await us that promises some ultimate self-destruction? We can only hope that if such supposed knowledge ever did exist, and that if it hindered the ancients with such apocalyptic results, perhaps our own advancement as a civilization will be undertaken in ways more conducive to our survival as a species.

No matter how you choose to look at the situation, this is good advice for the innovators among us today seeking to capitalize on such things as weapons development… and whether or not theories pertaining to ancient societies are mere fairy tales. Our quest for knowledge, if not obtained and wielded with care, could result in things of far greater detriment to our existence than we may realize; according to some, at least, such cataclysm may already have taken place here on Earth, albeit in our ancient past.

The recent discovery of 17 pyramids, 3,000 separate structures and up to 1,000 tombs beneath the surface of the Egyptian desert via infrared satellite scan once again raises the inevitable question; just how much do we really know about the past history of the Earth and the resourcefulness of ancient cultures worldwide?

The answer to this question is more than likely ‘not a great deal’. Sure, mainstream archaeology and history would have us believe that human beings only became civilized enough to be capable of building advanced structures within the last 6,000 years or so, but the actual truth may be more amazing that we let ourselves realize.

Examples of ancient human ingenuity and brilliance are practically everywhere throughout the world; an excellent example is Pumapunku in Bolivia. This site, located around 70 kilometers west of the modern city of La Paz is home to a number of ancient architectural wonders. A structure known as the ‘Plataforma Lítica’ at this site includes a red sandstone block which weighs 131 metric tons, and was quarried near Lake Titicaca roughly 10 kilometres away. Just how the Incans managed to move this gigantic monolith is still a matter of contention among many archaeologists. The wonders of this ancient site don’t stop there; the majority of Pumapunku is constructed from stones carved so perfectly and fitted together with such precision that not even a razor blade would pass between the gaps! In addition, none of these blocks are held together with the aid of mortar, an impressive feat indeed.

So who were the creators of Pumapunku, and what methods were used to construct such a wondrous place? Did the Incans have access to advanced building techniques, now lost in the annals of time? Were they assisted by their ‘gods’ with technology, possibly extraterrestrial in nature? Was this site even built by the Incans, or did they claim it for their own hundreds or even thousands of years later? Consider another angle; is Pumapunku even as old as the scientific community believes, or is the site considerably more ancient, perhaps beyond the limit of what we assume to be the beginning of  human civilisation? The mystery continues.

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When it comes to ancient mysteries, History Channel’s popular program Ancient Aliens features some of the wildest and weirdest around.

Yesterday, while recovering from the mass consumption of homemade pleasantries in the aftermath of the Thanksgiving holiday, I settled in and began watching a few episodes of the aforementioned program that dealt with some of the classic theories of advanced civilizations that may have existed before our own.

To assume that intelligent beings may have existed on planet Earth in prehistoric times is quite a stretch. After all, one would think that ample evidence for such civilizations would still exist today, if they had been present on Earth during earlier epochs. But truth be known, a variety of tidbits have surfaced over the years that do amount to being  prehistoric technological “anomalies.” Consider microscopic metallic springs and other mechanical devices found embedded in ancient stone in parts of Russia; or the highly efficient sewage systems that were found at the excavation of historic sites like Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in modern day Pakistan; and finally, the classic “batteries” discovered near Baghdad, Iraq, which some have speculated were used in rituals and possibly even early attempts at electroplating. Indeed, there is at least some evidence that technology far exceeding what we might expect from the ancient world did exist. Still, when cross-examining the evidence of many of these claims, the circumstances often prompt a few revisions in the typical line of thought that is frequently applied.

For instance, one unique claim which, thanks to programs like Ancient Aliens, has become prevalent again recently has to do with the notion that ancient Egyptians had been involved in hybridization processes. In essence, the theory is that humans were being scientifically spliced together with animals to create “hybrids,” which in turn appear in various artistic depictions found at archaeological sites throughout Egypt. Conventional interpretations of this Egyptian art suppose instead that these beasts were merely the gods and deities worshiped by ancient civilizations; but could they have been representative of something else… and something that actually existed?

To engage this notion from a different perspective, let’s consider the technical renderings of a famous polymath who wouldn’t stake his claim in history for another several centuries: Leonardo da Vinci. With all his technical knowledge and mechanical prowess, imagine if da Vinci had only been able to render two-dimensional, almost child-like representations of his experiments. As we know from his various drawings, da Vinci (also one of the most skilled artists to ever live) had managed to include detailed instructions documenting his various experiments and studies. Much the same, it would be interesting indeed if a civilization like the ancient Egyptians had somehow harnessed the technical abilities to create such freaks of nature as human-animal hybrids so long ago, and yet the artwork which commemorated the act remained so simplistic and primitive.

To be fair, it must be noted that not all the art stemming from ancient Egyptian is as simplistic as the hieroglyphics commonly associated with pyramids and burial sites. Take, for instance, many of the sculpted faces decorating various sarcophagi. These were anything but primitive, instead featuring exotic and beautifully detailed representations of the rulers entombed within. Here, once we consider that such technical prowess in the arts had actually existed in various capacities among the ancients, it is even stranger to contemplate why no record of their abilities to manipulate the science of creation would ever have been produced. Obviously, Egyptian approaches to architecture, science, mathematics and the arts were perhaps the most advanced anywhere in the world at the height of their culture; but to assume that they had mastered genetic manipulation and hybridization that would rival our own knowledge today is far-fetched, at best.

Further proof that Egyptian “monsters” were likely mythological representations is exemplified in the way that civilizations elsewhere had been incorporating similar imagery into their art. Both the ancient Greeks and Hindu cultures featured human-like gods and characters, often displaying animal-like attributes with great frequency. Ganesh, commonly depicted with an elephant head, is only one of several human-hybrids that rank among the deities in Hindu religious depictions, while the satyr and Medusa represent characters prominent in Greek mythology which bear similar hybrid qualities. It would be fair to say that ancient people, much like you and I, had maintained a fascination with strange, out-of-this-world creatures. Modern readers of fantasy and science fiction will find that they are no-less familiar with hybrid creatures, but their presence in literature spanning the last several decades still cannot be correlated directly with the existence of actual hybrid monstrosities existing today. Why might this be any different for ancient societies?

Altogether, it is likely that a number of ancient civilizations may have harnessed technology that would surprise us today for their forward-thinking. Additionally, there may have been other groups of people who existed even further back, perhaps so long ago that no written history or ancient artifacts remain to commemorate their legacy. Nonetheless, could some of the known civilizations of the ancient world have harnessed scientific and technical knowledge that rivaled ours today?

If this seems unlikely, perhaps we could infer one final assumption as an alternative: when it comes to the idea of ancient interaction between aliens and early civilizations, perhaps instances of out-of place technology present in ancient artwork don’t represent anything these people created at all. Instead, maybe they were simply observers, and the actual creators of the apparatus committed to stone and paper over the years actually belonged to someone–or something else. Therefore, following this logic, advanced technology may have existed thousands of years ago, after all… although it was never our own!