UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES - The Egyptian lamp

UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES - The Egyptian lamp

A strange thing, which can be found in an underground cavern below the Hathor-temple in Dendera, Egypt. A few pictures of bulb-like devices (Egyptian Lamp), into which two small arms reach before its thick, rounded end. These arms are supported by a column which looks much like a modern high voltage insulator. At the thin end however runs something like a cable into the glass bulb. From this striking out and almost reaching the arms on the other side a snake can be seen, hanging in the air. The whole arrangement has a striking resemblance to an electric lamp. The Baghdad battery

The clay jar and others like it are part of the holdings of the National Museum of Iraq and have been attributed to the Parthian Empire — an ancient Asian culture that ruled most of the Middle East from 247 B.C. to A.D. 228. The jar itself has been dated to sometime around 200 B.C. It was first described in 1938 by German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig, and to this day, it is uncertain whether Konig dug it up himself or found it archived in the museum. So how is it that a 2,000-year-old clay jar can be called a battery? Those who’ve examined it closely say that there’s little else that it can be. The nondescript earthen jar is only 5½ inches high by 3 inches across. The opening was sealed with an asphalt plug, which held in place a copper sheet, rolled into a tube. This tube was capped at the bottom with a copper disc held in place by more asphalt. A narrow iron rod was stuck through the upper asphalt plug and hung down into the center of the copper tube — not touching any part of it. Fill the jar with an acidic liquid, such as vinegar or fermented grape juice, and you have yourself a battery capable of generating a small current. The acidic liquid permits a flow of electrons from the copper tube to the iron rod — an electric flow — when the two metal terminals are connected.

This is known as an electrochemical reaction, and it’s not any different from how the batteries in your Walkman work. Experiments with models of the Baghdad Battery have generated between 1.5 and 2 volts. Not a lot of power. So what would batteries have been used for 2,000 years ago? It’s well known that the Greeks and Romans used certain species of electric fish in the treatment of pain — they’d literally go stand on a live electric eel until their gout-pained feet went numb. Perhaps the battery was used as a ready source of less slimy analgesic electricity. Other theories hold that several batteries could have been linked together to generate a higher voltage for the use in electroplating gold to a silver surface. More experiments with several Baghdad-type batteries have shown this to be possible. The little jar in Baghdad suggests that Volta didn't invent the battery, but reinvented it. 

The Baghdad Battery, sometimes referred to as the Parthian Battery, is the common name for a number of artifacts created in Mesopotamia, during the Persian dynasties of Parthian or Sassanid period (the early centuries AD), and probably discovered in 1936 in the village of Khuyut Rabbou'a, near Baghdad, Iraq. These artifacts came to wider attention in 1938 when Wilhelm König, the German director of the National Museum of Iraq, found the objects in the museum's collections. In 1940, König published a paper speculating that they may have been galvanic cells, perhaps used for electroplating gold onto silver objects. This interpretation continues to be considered as at least a hypothetical possibility. If correct, the artifacts would predate Alessandro Volta's 1800 invention of the electrochemical cell by more than a millennium. 

The Baghdad Battery 

In 1936, while excavating ruins of a 2000-year-old village near Baghdad, workers discovered mysterious small vase. A 6-inch-high pot of bright yellow clay dating back two millennia contained a cylinder of sheet-copper 5 inches by 1.5 inches. The edge of the copper cylinder was soldered with a 60-40 lead-tin alloy comparable to today's solder. The bottom of the cylinder was capped with a crimped-in copper disk and sealed with bitumen or asphalt. Another insulating layer of asphalt sealed the top and also held in place an iron rod suspended into the center of the copper cylinder. The rod showed evidence of having been corroded with an acidic agent. 

The vessel showed signs of corrosion, and early tests revealed that an acidic agent, such as vinegar or wine had been present. In the early 1900s, many European archaeologists were excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites, looking for evidence of Biblical tales like the Tree of Knowledge and Noah's flood. 

Konig did not waste his time finding alternative explanations for his discovery. To him, it had to have been a battery. Though this was hard to explain, and did not sit comfortably with the religious ideology of the time, he published his conclusions. But soon the world was at war, and his discovery was forgotten. Scientific awareness More than 60 years after their discovery, the batteries of Baghdad - as there are perhaps a dozen of them - are shrouded in myth. 

"The batteries have always attracted interest as curios," says Dr Paul Craddock, a metallurgy expert of the ancient Near East from the British Museum. 

"They are a one-off. As far as we know, nobody else has found anything like these. They are odd things; they are one of life's enigmas." 

No two accounts of them are the same. Some say the batteries were excavated, others that Konig found them in the basement of the Baghdad Museum when he took over as director. There is no definite figure on how many have been found, and their age is disputed.

Most sources date the batteries to around 200 BC - in the Parthian era, circa 250 BC to AD 225. Skilled warriors, the Parthians were not noted for their scientific achievements. 

"Although this collection of objects is usually dated as Parthian, the grounds for this are unclear," says Dr St John Simpson, also from the department of the ancient Near East at the British Museum. 

"The pot itself is Sassanian. This discrepancy presumably lies either in a misidentification of the age of the ceramic vessel, or the site at which they were found." 

Underlying principles 

In the history of the Middle East, the Sassanian period (circa AD 225 - 640) marks the end of the ancient and the beginning of the more scientific medieval era. 

Though most archaeologists agree the devices were batteries, there is much conjecture as to how they could have been discovered, and what they were used for. 

How could ancient Persian science have grasped the principles of electricity and arrived at this knowledge? 

Perhaps they did not. Many inventions are conceived before the underlying principles are properly understood. 

The Chinese invented gunpowder long before the principles of combustion were deduced, and the rediscovery of old herbal medicines is now a common occurrence. 

You do not always have to understand why something works - just that it does. 

Enough zap 

It is certain the Baghdad batteries could conduct an electric current because many replicas have been made, including by students of ancient history under the direction of Dr Marjorie Senechal, professor of the history of science and technology, Smith College, US. 

"I don't think anyone can say for sure what they were used for, but they may have been batteries because they do work," she says. Replicas can produce voltages from 0.8 to nearly two volts. 

Making an electric current requires two metals with different electro potentials and an ion carrying solution, known as an electrolyte, to ferry the electrons between them. Connected in series, a set of batteries could theoretically produce a much higher voltage, though no wires have ever been found that would prove this had been the case. 

"It's a pity we have not found any wires," says Dr Craddock. "It means our interpretation of them could be completely wrong." 

But he is sure the objects are batteries and that there could be more of them to discover. "Other examples may exist that lie in museums elsewhere unrecognised". 

He says this is especially possible if any items are missing, as the objects only look like batteries when all the pieces are in place. 

Possible uses 

Some have suggested the batteries may have been used medicinally. 

The ancient Greeks wrote of the pain killing effect of electric fish when applied to the soles of the feet. 

The Chinese had developed acupuncture by this time, and still use acupuncture combined with an electric current. This may explain the presence of needle-like objects found with some of the batteries. 

But this tiny voltage would surely have been ineffective against real pain, considering the well-recorded use of other painkillers in the ancient world like cannabis, opium and wine. 

Other scientists believe the batteries were used for electroplating - transferring a thin layer of metal on to another metal surface - a technique still used today and a common classroom experiment. 

This idea is appealing because at its core lies the mother of many inventions: money. 

In the making of jewellery, for example, a layer of gold or silver is often applied to enhance its beauty in a process called gilding. 

Grape electrolyte 

Two main techniques of gilding were used at the time and are still in use today: hammering the precious metal into thin strips using brute force, or mixing it with a mercury base which is then pasted over the article. 

These techniques are effective, but wasteful compared with the addition of a small but consistent layer of metal by electro-deposition. The ability to mysteriously electroplate gold or silver on to such objects would not only save precious resources and money, but could also win you important friends at court. 

Let's hope the world manages to resolve its present problems so people can go and see them. 

A palace, kingdom, or even the sultan's daughter may have been the reward for such knowledge - and motivation to keep it secret. Testing this idea in the late seventies, Dr Arne Eggebrecht, then director of Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, connected many replica Baghdad batteries together using grape juice as an electrolyte, and claimed to have deposited a thin layer of silver on to another surface, just one ten thousandth of a millimetre thick. 

Other researchers though, have disputed these results and have been unable to replicate them. 

"There does not exist any written documentation of the experiments which took place here in 1978," says Dr Bettina Schmitz, currently a researcher based at the same Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum. 

"The experiments weren't even documented by photos, which really is a pity," she says. "I have searched through the archives of this museum and I talked to everyone involved in 1978 with no results." 

Tingling idols 

Although a larger voltage can be obtained by connecting more than one battery together, it is the ampage which is the real limiting factor, and many doubt whether a high enough power could ever have been obtained, even from tens of Baghdad batteries. 

One serious flaw with the electroplating hypothesis is the lack of items from this place and time that have been treated in this way. 

"The examples we see from this region and era are conventional gild plating and mercury gilding," says Dr Craddock. "There's never been any untouchable evidence to support the electroplating theory." 

He suggests a cluster of the batteries, connected in parallel, may have been hidden inside a metal statue or idol. 

He thinks that anyone touching this statue may have received a tiny but noticeable electric shock, something akin to the static discharge that can infect offices, equipment and children's parties. 

"I have always suspected you would get tricks done in the temple," says Dr Craddock. "The statue of a god could be wired up and then the priest would ask you questions. 

"If you gave the wrong answer, you'd touch the statue and would get a minor shock along with perhaps a small mysterious blue flash of light. Get the answer right, and the trickster or priest could disconnect the batteries and no shock would arrive - the person would then be convinced of the power of the statue, priest and the religion." 

Magical rituals 

It is said that to the uninitiated, science cannot be distinguished from magic. "In Egypt we know this sort of thing happened with Hero's engine," Dr Craddock says. 

Hero's engine was a primitive steam-driven machine, and like the battery of Baghdad, no one is quite sure what it was used for, but are convinced it could work. 

If this idol could be found, it would be strong evidence to support the new theory. With the batteries inside, was this object once revered, like the Oracle of Delphi in Greece, and "charged" with godly powers? 

Even if the current were insufficient to provide a genuine shock, it may have felt warm, a bizarre tingle to the touch of the unsuspecting finger. 

At the very least, it could have just been the container of these articles, to keep their secret safe. 

Perhaps it is too early to say the battery has been convincingly demonstrated to be part of a magical ritual. Further examination, including accurate dating, of the batteries' components are needed to really answer this mystery. 

No one knows if such an idol or statue that could have hidden the batteries really exists, but perhaps the opportunity to look is not too far away - if the items survive the looming war in the Middle East. 

"These objects belong to the successors of the people who made them," says Dr Craddock. "Let's hope the world manages to resolve its present problems so people can go and see them." 

In 1940, Willard F.M. Gray, an engineer at the General Electric High Volatage Laboratory in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, read of Konig's theory. Using drawings and details supplied by German rocket scientist Willy Ley, Gray made a replica of the battery. Using copper sulfate solution, it generated about half a volt of electricity. 

In 1970s, German Egyptologist, Arne Eggebrecht built a replica of the Baghdad battery and filled it with freshly pressed grape juice, as he speculated the ancients might have done. The replica generated 0.87V. He used current from the battery to electroplate a silver statuette with gold. 

This experiment proved that electric batteries were used some 1,800 years before their modern invention by Alessandro Volta in 1799. It also seems that the use of similar batteries can be safely placed into ancient Egypt, where several objects with traces of electroplated precious metals have been found at different locations. There are several anomalous finds from other regions, which suggests use of electricity on a grander scale. 

The Riddle of "Baghdad's batteries" 

Arran Frood investigates what could have been the very first batteries and how these important archaeological and technological artefacts are now at risk from the impending war in Iraq. 

I don't think anyone can say for sure what they were used for, but they may have been batteries because they do work Dr Marjorie Senechal 

War can destroy more than a people, an army or a leader. Culture, tradition and history also lie in the firing line. Iraq has a rich national heritage. The Garden of Eden and the Tower of Babel are said to have been sited in this ancient land. 

In any war, there is a chance that priceless treasures will be lost forever, articles such as the "ancient battery" that resides defenceless in the museum of Baghdad. 

For this object suggests that the region, whose civilizations gave us writing and the wheel, may also have invented electric cells - two thousand years before such devices were well known. Biblical clues 

It was in 1938, while working in Khujut Rabu, just outside Baghdad in modern day Iraq, that German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig unearthed a five-inch-long (13 cm) clay jar containing a copper cylinder that encased an iron rod. 

UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES - PIRI REIS MAP

UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES - PIRI REIS MAP

In 1929, a group of historians found an amazing map drawn on a gazelle skin. Research showed that it was a genuine document drawn in 1513 by Piri Reis, a famous admiral of the Turkish fleet in the sixteenth century. His passion was cartography. His high rank within the Turkish navy allowed him to have a privileged access to the Imperial Library of Constantinople.

The Turkish admiral admits in a series of notes on the map that he compiled and copied the data from a large number of source maps, some of which dated back to the fourth century BC or earlier. CONTROVERSY
The Piri Reis map shows the western coast of Africa, the eastern coast of South America, and the northern coast of Antarctica. The northern coastline of Antarctica is perfectly detailed. The most puzzling however is not so much how Piri Reis managed to draw such an accurate map of the Antarctic region 300 years before it was discovered, but that the map shows the coastline under the ice. Geological evidence confirms that the latest date Queen Maud Land could have been charted in an ice-free state is 4000 BC.

On 6th July 1960 the U. S. Air Force responded to Prof. Charles H. Hapgood of Keene College, specifically to his request for an evaluation of the ancient Piri Reis Map: 

6, July, 1960
Subject: Admiral Piri Reis Map
TO: Prof. Charles H. Hapgood
Keene College
Keene, New Hampshire


Dear Professor Hapgood,
Your request of evaluation of certain unusual features of the Piri Reis map of 1513 by this organization has been reviewed. The claim that the lower part of the map portrays the Princess Martha Coast of Queen Maud Land, Antarctic, and the Palmer Peninsular, is reasonable. We find that this is the most logical and in all probability the correct interpretation of the map. The geographical detail shown in the lower part of the map agrees very remarkably with the results of the seismic profile made across the top of the ice-cap by the Swedish-British Antarctic Expedition of 1949.
This indicates the coastline had been mapped before it was covered by the ice-cap. The ice-cap in this region is now about a mile thick. We have no idea how the data on this map can be reconciled with the supposed state of geographical knowledge in 1513.
Harold Z. Ohlmeyer Lt. Colonel, USAF Commander

The official science has been saying all along that the ice-cap which covers the Antarctic is million years old. The Piri Reis map shows that the northern part of that continent has been mapped before the ice did cover it. That should make think it has been mapped million years ago, but that's impossible since mankind did not exist at that time. 

Further and more accurate studies have proven that the last period of ice-free condition in the Antarctic ended about 6000 years ago. There are still doubts about the beginning of this ice-free period, which has been put by different researchers everything between year 13000 and 9000 BC. The question is: Who mapped the Queen Maud Land of Antarctic 6000 years ago? Which unknown civilization had the technology or the need to do that? It is well-known that the first civilization, according to the traditional history, developed in the mid-east around year 3000 BC, soon to be followed within a millennium by the Indus valley and the Chinese ones. So, accordingly, none of the known civilizations could have done such a job. Who was here 4000 years BC, being able to do things that NOW are possible with the modern technologies? 

All through the Middle Ages were circulating a number of sailing charts called 'portolani', which were accurate maps of the most common sailing routes, showing coastlines, harbors, straits, bays, etc. Most of those portolani focused on the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas, and other known routes, just as the sailing book which Piri Reis himself had written. But a few reported of still unknown lands, and were circulating among few sailors who seemingly kept their knowledge about those special maps as hidden as they could. Columbus is supposed to have been one of those who knew these special sailing charts. 

To draw his map, Piri Reis used several different sources, collected here and there along his journeys. He himself has written notes on the map that give us a picture of the work he had been doing on the map. He says he had been not responsible for the original surveying and cartography. His role was merely that of a compiler who used a large number of source-maps. He says then that some of the source-maps had been drawn by contemporary sailors, while others were instead charts of great antiquity, dating back up to the 4th century BC or earlier. 

Dr. Charles Hapgood, in his book Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings (Turnstone books, London 1979, preface), said that: It appears that accurate information has been passed down from people to people. It appears that the charts must have originated with a people unknown and they were passed on, perhaps by the Minoans and the Phoenicians, who were, for a thousand years and more, the greatest sailors of the ancient world. We have evidence that they were collected and studied in the great library of Alexandria (Egypt) and the compilations of them were made by the geographers who worked there. Piri Reis had probably come into possession of charts once located in the Library of Alexandria, the well-known most important library of the ancient times. According to Hapgood's reconstruction, copies of these documents and some of the original source charts were transferred to other centers of learning, and among them to Constantinople. Then in 1204, year of the fourth crusade, when the Venetians entered Constantinople, those maps begun to circulate among the European sailors. 

Most of these maps - Hapgood goes on - were of the Mediterranean and the Black sea. But maps of other areas survived. These included maps of the Americas and maps of the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. It becomes clear that the ancient voyagers travelled from pole to pole. Unbelievable as it may appear, the evidence nevertheless indicates that some ancient people explored Antarctic when its coasts were free of ice. It is clear too, that they had an instrument of navigation for accurately determining the longitudes that was far superior to anything possessed by the peoples of ancient, medieval or modern times until the second half of the 18th century. [...] This evidence of a lost technology will support and give credence to many of the other hypothesis that have been brought forward of a lost civilization in remote times. Scholars have been able to dismiss most of those evidences as mere myth, but here we have evidence that cannot be dismissed. The evidence requires that all the other evidences that have been brought forward in the past should be re-examined with an open mind.' (Ibid.) 

In 1953, a Turkish naval officer sent the Piri Reis map to the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Bureau. To evaluate it, M.I. Walters, the Chief Engineer of the Bureau, called for help Arlington H. Mallery, an authority on ancient maps, who had previously worked with him. After a long study, Mallery discovered the projection method used. To check out the accuracy of the map, he made a grid and transferred the Piri Reis map onto a globe: the map was totally accurate. He stated that the only way to draw map of such accuracy was the aerial surveying: but who, 6000 years ago, could have used airplanes to map the earth?? The Hydrographic Office couldn't believe what they saw: they were even able to correct some errors in the present days maps!! The precision on determining the longitudinal coordinates, on the other hand, shows that to draw the map it was necessary to use the spheroid trigonometry, a process supposedly not know until the middle of 18th century. 

Hapgood has proved that the Piri Re'is map is plotted out in plane geometry, containing latitudes and longitudes at right angles in a traditional 'gid'; yet it is obviously copied from an earlier map that was projected using spherical trigonometry! Not only did the early map makers know that the Earth was round, but they had knowledge of its true circumference to within 50 miles! Hapggod had sent his collection of ancient maps (we will see the Piri reis map was not the only one...) to Richard Strachan, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hapggod wanted to know exactly the mathematical level needed in order to draw the original source maps. Strachan answered in 1965, saying that the level had to be very high. In fact Strachan said that in order to draw such maps, the authors had to know about the spheroid trigonometry, the curvature of the earth, methods of projection; knowledge that is of a very high level. The way the Piri Reis map shows the Queen Maud land, its coastlines, its rivers, mountain ranges, plateaus, deserts, bays, has been confirmed by a British-Swedish expedition to Antarctic ( as said by Olhmeyer in his letter to Hapggod); the researchers, using sonar and seismic soundings, indicated that those bays and rivers etc, were underneath the ice-cap, which was about one mile thick. 

Charles Hapggod, in 1953, wrote a book called 'Earth's shifting crust: a key to some basic problems of earth science', where he made up a theory to explain how Antarctic had been ice-free until year 4000 BC. (visit the Bibliography ) The theory summing up is as follows: The reason Antarctic was ice-free, and therefor much warmer, it is to be found in the fact that, at one time, its location wasn't the south pole. It was located approximately 2000 miles further north. Hapgood says this 'would have put it outside the Antarctic Circle in a temperate or cold temperate climate'. 

Read more information about Pole Shifting. The reason why the continent moved down to its present location has to be found in a mechanism called 'earth-crust-displacement'. This mechanism, not to be confused with the plate-tectonics or the continental drift, is one whereby the lithosphere, the whole outer crust of the earth 'may be displaced at times, moving over the soft inner body, much as the skin of an orange, if it were loose, might shift over the inner part of the orange all in one piece'. (Charles Hapgood, 'Maps of the ancient sea-kings', cited, visit the Bibliography for more info). 

This theory was sent to Albert Einstein, which answered to Hapgood in very enthusiastic terms. Though geologists did not seem to accept Hapgood's theory, Einstein seemed to be as much open as Hapgood saying: 'In a polar region there is a continual deposition of ice, which is not symmetrically distributed about the pole. The earth's rotation acts on these unsymmetrically deposited masses, and produces a centrifugal momentum that is transmitted to the rigid crust of the earth. The constantly increasing centrifugal momentum produced in this way will, when it has reached a certain point, produce a movement of the earth's crust over the rest of the earth's body....' (Einstein's foreword to 'Earth's shifting crust' p.1) 

Anyway, whether Hapgood's theory is correct, the mystery still thrills. The Piri Reis map is something which is not supposed to exist. I mean that by no means there was supposed to be anyone that far back in time able to draw a map of such precision; in fact the relative longitudinal coordinates are totally accurate, as stated by Official studies on the map that we saw above. And this is a demonstration of impossible technology: the first instrument to calculate the longitude in a approximately correct way has been invented in 1761 by the english John Harrison. Before there was no way to calculate the longitude in an acceptable way: there could be errors of hundreds kilometers.... And the Piri Reis map is just one of several which show supposedly unknown lands, impossible knowledge, precision which still today would surprise........ 

In fact Piri Reis himself admitted he based his map on way older charts; and those older charts had been used as sources by others who have drawn different maps still of great precision. Impressive is the 'Dulcert's Portolano', year 1339, where the latitude of Europe and North Africa is perfect, and the longitudinal coordinates of the Mediterranean and of the Black sea are approximated of half degree. An even more amazing chart is the 'Zeno's chart', year 1380. It shows a big area in the north, going up till the Greenland; Its precision is flabbergasting. 'It's impossible' says Hapgood 'that someone in the fourteenth century could have found the exact latitudes of these places, not to mention the precision of the longitudes...' Another amazing chart is the one drawn by the Turkish Hadji Ahmed, year 1559, in which he shows a land stripe, about 1600 Km. wide, that joins Alaska and Siberia. Such a natural bridge has been then covered by the water due to the end of the glacial period, which rose up the sea level. 

Oronteus Fineus was another one who drew a map of incredible precision. He too represented the Antarctic with no ice-cap, year 1532. There are maps showing Greenland as two separated islands, as it was confirmed by a polar French expedition which found out that there is an ice cap quite thick joining what it is actually two islands. 

As we saw, many charts in the ancient times pictured, we might say, all the earth geography. They seem to be pieces of a very ancient world wide map, drawn by unknown people who were able to use technology that we consider to be a conquer of the very modern times. When human beings were supposed to live in a primitive manner, someone 'put on paper' the whole geography of the earth. And this common knowledge somehow fell into pieces, then gathered here and there by several people, who had lost though the knowledge, and just copied what they could find in libraries, bazaars, markets and about all kind of places. 

Hapggod made a disclosure which amazingly lead further on this road: he found out a cartographic document copied by an older source carved on a rock column, China, year 1137. It showed the same high level of technology of the other western charts, the same grid method, the same use of spheroid trigonometry. It has so many common points with the western ones that it makes think more than reasonably, that there had to be a common source: could it be a lost civilization, maybe the same one which has been chased by thousands years so far? 

The Discovery of Oak island Treasure

The Discovery of Oak island Treasure 

One summer day in 1795 Daniel McGinnis, then a teenager, was wandering about Oak Island, Nova Scotia (see Geography) when he came across a curious circular depression in the ground. Standing over this depression was a tree whose branches had been cut in a way which looked like it had been used as a pulley. Having heard tales of pirates in the area he decided to return home to get friends and return later to investigate the hole. 

Over the next several days McGinnis, along with friends John Smith and Anthony Vaughan, worked the hole. What they found astonished them. Two feet below the surface they came across of layer of flagstones covering the pit. At 10 feet down they ran into a layer of oak logs spanning the pit. Again at 20 feet and 30 feet they found the same thing, a layer of logs. Not being able to continue alone from here, they went home, but with plans of returning to search more. 

It took the three discoverers 8 years, but they did return. Along with The Onslow Company, formed for the purpose of the search, they began digging again. They quickly got back to 30 foot point that had been reached 8 years ago. They continued down to 90 feet, finding a layer of oak logs at every 10 foot interval. Besides the boards, at 40 feet a layer of charcoal was found, at 50 feet a layer of putty, and at 60 feet a layer of coconut fiber. 
At 90 feet one of the most puzzling clues was found - a stone inscribed with mysterious writing. After pulling up the layer of oak at 90 feet and continuing on, water began to seep into the pit. By the next day the pit was filled with water up to the 33 foot level. Pumping didn't work, so the next year a new pit was dug parallel to the original down to 100 feet. From there a tunnel was run over to The Money Pit. Again the water flooded in and the search was abandoned for 45 years. 

The Booby Trap

As it turns out, an ingenious booby trap had been sprung. The Onslow Company had inadvertently unplugged a 500 foot waterway that had been dug from the pit to nearby Smith's Cove by the pit's designers. As quickly as the water could be pumped out it was refilled by the sea. This discovery however is only a small part of the intricate plan by the unknown designers to keep people away from the cache. In 1849 the next company to attempt to extract the treasure, The Truro Company, was founded and the search began again. They quickly dug down to 86 feet only to be flooded. Deciding to try to figure out what was buried before attempting to extract it, Truro switched to drilling core samples. The drilling produced some encouraging results.


 

First Hints of Treasure

At 98 feet the drill went through a spruce platform. Then it encountered 4 inches of oak and then 22 inches of what was characterized as "metal in pieces""; Next 8 inches of oak, another 22 inches of metal, 4 inches of oak and another layer of spruce. The conclusion was that they had drilled through 2 casks or chests filled will coins. Upon pulling out the drill they found splinters of oak and strands of what looked like coconut husk. 

One account of the drilling also mentions that three small gold links, as from a chain, were brought up. Unfortunately no one knows where they have gone. Interestingly, the earth encountered beneath the bottom spruce platform was loose indicating that the pit may have gone even deeper. A later group of searchers would find out how much deeper. 

The Truro Company returned in 1850 with plans to dig another parallel hole and then tunnel over to the Money Pit. Just like before, as they tunneled over, water began to rush in. They brought in pumps to try to get rid of the water but it was impossible to keep the water out. During the pumping someone noticed that at Smith's Cove during low tide there was water coming OUT of the beach. This find lead to an amazing discovery - the beach was artificial. 

Artificial Beach

It turns out that the pit designers had created a drain system, spread over a 145 foot length of beach, which resembled the fingers of a hand. Each finger was a channel dug into the clay under the beach and lined by rocks. The channels were then filled with beach rocks, covered with several inches of eel grass, and then covered by several more inches of coconut fiber. The effect of this filtering system was that the channels remained clear of silt and sand while water was still allowed to flow along them. The fingers met at a point inland where they fed sea water into a sloping channel which eventually joined the Money Pit some 500 feet away. Later investigations showed this underground channel to have been 4 feet wide, 2 1/2 feet high, lined with stone, and meeting the Money Pit between the depths of 95 to 110 feet. 

To the Truro Company, the answer was now simple - just block off the water flow from the beach and dig out the treasure. Their first attempt was to build a dam just off the beach at Smith's Cove, drain the water, and then dismantle the drain channels. Unfortunately a storm blew up and destroyed the dam before they could finish. An interesting note: the remains of an older dam were found when building the new one. 

The next plan was to dig a pit 100 feet or so inland in the hopes of meeting with the water channel underground at which point they could plug the channel. This scheme too failed. And this was the last attempt by the Truro company to uncover the secrets of Oak Island. 

From WIkipedia :

Oak Island is a 140-acre (57 ha) island in Lunenberg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The tree-covered island is one of about 360 small islands in Mahone Bay and rises to a maximum of 35 feet (11 m) above sea level. 

Oak Island is noted as the location of the so-called Money Pit, a site of numerous excavations to recover treasure believed by many to be buried there. Despite great effort and expense, no treasure has been found, and skeptics have dismissed it as a sinkhole and natural cavities. 

The island is privately owned, and advance permission is required for any visitation. 

History of the Money Pit

Early accounts

There are many 19th-century accounts of Oak Island, but they are conflicting, not contemporary, and not impartial. Further, physical evidence from the initial excavations is absent or has been lost. 

In 1795, 16-year-old Daniel McGinnis discovered a circular depression in a clearing on the southeastern end of the island with an adjacent tree which had a tackle block on one of its overhanging branches. McGinnis, with the help of friends John Smith and Anthony Vaughan, excavated the depression and discovered a layer of flagstones a few feet below. On the pit walls there were visible markings from a pick. As they dug down they discovered layers of logs at about every ten feet (3 m). They abandoned the excavation at 30 feet (10 m). This initial discovery and excavation was first mentioned in print in the Liverpool Transcript in October, 1856. More 19th-century accounts followed in the Liverpool Transcript, the Novascotian, British Colonist, and A History Of Lunenburg County (however, the latter account was based on the earlier Liverpool Transcript articles and does not represent an independent source). 

About eight years after the 1795 dig, according to the original articles and the memories of Vaughan, another company examined what was to become known as the Money Pit. The Onslow Company sailed 300 nautical miles (560 km) from central Nova Scotia near Truro to Oak Island with the goal of recovering what they believed to be secret treasure. They continued the excavation down to approximately 90 feet (27.43 m) and found layers of logs or "marks" about every ten feet (3 m) and layers of charcoal, putty and coconut fibre at 40, 50 and 60 feet (12, 15 and 18 m). 

According to one of the earliest written accounts, at 80 or 90 feet (27 m), they recovered a large stone bearing an inscription of symbols. Several researchers are said to have attempted to decipher the symbols. One translated them as saying: "forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried." No photographs, drawings, or other images of the stone are known to have been produced prior to its claimed disappearance circa 1912. The symbols currently associated with the "forty feet down..." translation and seen in many books first appeared in True Tales of Buried Treasure, written by explorer and historian Edward Rowe Snow in 1951. In this book he claims he was given this set of symbols by one Reverend A.T. Kempton of Cambridge, Massachusetts.[10] Nothing more is known about Kempton's involvement in the Oak Island tale. 

The pit subsequently flooded up to the 33-foot (10 m) level. Bailing did not reduce the water level, and the excavation was abandoned. 

Investors formed The Truro Company in 1849, which re-excavated the shaft back down to the 86-foot (26 m) level, where it flooded again. They then drilled into the ground below the bottom of the shaft. According to the nineteenth-century account, the drill or "pod auger" passed through a spruce platform at 98 feet (30 m), a 12-inch head space, 22 inches (560 mm) of what was described as "metal in pieces", 8 inches (200 mm) of oak, another 22 inches (560 mm) of metal, 4 inches (100 mm) of oak, another spruce layer, and finally into clay for 7 feet without striking anything else. 

Oak Island Association and Old Gold Salvage group years

The next excavation attempt was made in 1861 by a new company called the Oak Island Association which resulted in the collapse of the bottom of the shaft into either a natural cavern or booby trap underneath. The first fatality during excavations occurred when the boiler of a pumping engine burst.[11] The company gave up when their funds were exhausted in 1864. 

Further excavations were made in 1866, 1893, 1909, 1931, 1935, 1936, and 1959, none of which were successful. Another fatality occurred in 1887, when a worker fell to his death.[11] (Six people have been killed in accidents during various excavations.) Franklin Roosevelt was part of the Old Gold Salvage group of 1909 and kept up with news and developments for most of his life. 

Gilbert Hedden and William Chappell years

In 1928, a New York newspaper printed a feature story about the strange history of the island. Gilbert Hedden, operator of a steel fabricating concern, saw the article and was fascinated by the engineering problems involved in recovering the putative treasure. Hedden collected books and articles on the island and made six trips there. He even ventured to England to converse with Harold Tom Wilkins, the author of Captain Kidd and His Skeleton Island, believing he had found a link between Oak Island and a map in Wilkins's book. 

The very wealthy Hedden then purchased the southeast end of the island. He did not start digging until the summer of 1935, following excavations by William Chappell in 1931. In 1939, he even informed King George VI of England about developments on Oak Island. 

The 1931 excavations by William Chappell sank a 163-foot (50 m) shaft 12x14 feet to the southwest of what he believed was the site of the 1897 shaft, close to the original pit. At 127 feet (39 m), a number of artifacts, including an axe, an anchor fluke, and a pick were found. The pick has been identified as a Cornish miner's poll pick. By this time, the entire area around the Money Pit was littered with the debris and refuse of numerous prior excavation attempts, so exactly to whom the pick belonged is unverifiable. 

Restall family and Robert Dunfield years

Excavation by the Restall family in the early 1960s ended tragically when four men died after being overcome by fumes in a shaft near the beach. In 1965, Robert Dunfield leased the island and, using a 70-ton digging crane with a clam bucket, dug out the pit area to a depth of 134 feet (41 m) and width of 100 feet (30 m). The removed soil was carefully inspected for artifacts. Transportation of the crane to the island required the construction of a causeway (which still exists) from the western end of the island to Crandall's Point on the mainland two hundred meters away. 

Triton Alliance years

Around 1967, Daniel C. Blankenship and David Tobias formed Triton Alliance, Ltd. and purchased most of the island. In 1971, Triton workers excavated a 235-foot (72 m) shaft supported by a steel caisson to bedrock. According to Blankenship and Tobias, cameras lowered down the shaft into a cave below recorded the presence of some chests, human remains, wooden cribbing and tools; however, the images were unclear, and none of these claims have been officially confirmed. The shaft subsequently collapsed, and the excavation was again abandoned. This shaft was later successfully re-dug to 181 feet (55 m), reaching bedrock; work was halted due to lack of funds and the collapse of the partnership. 

The Money Pit mystery was the subject of an episode of the television series In Search of..., which first aired January 18, 1979, bringing the legend of Oak Island to a wider audience. Previously, the story had only been known among locals, treasure hunting groups, and readers of sensational magazines and anthologies. 

During the 1990s, further exploration was stalled due to legal battles between the Triton partners. As of 2005, a portion of the island was for sale with an estimated price tag of $7 million. A group called the Oak Island Tourism Society had hoped the Government of Canada would purchase the island, but a group of American businessmen in the drilling industry did so instead. 

After Triton

It was announced in April 2006 that partners from Michigan had purchased a 50 percent stake in Oak Island Tours Inc. for an undisclosed amount of money. The shares sold to the Michigan partners were previously owned by David Tobias; remaining shares are owned by Blankenship. Center Road Developments, in conjunction with Allan Kostrzewa, a member of the Michigan group, had purchased Lot 25 from David Tobias for a reported $230,000 one year previous to Tobias selling the rest of his share. The Michigan group, working with Blankenship, has said it will resume operations on Oak Island in the hope of discovering buried treasure and the mystery of Oak Island. 

Treasure theories

There has been wide-ranging speculation as to who originally dug the pit and what it might contain. Later accounts claim that oak platforms were discovered every 10 feet, but the earliest accounts simply say that "marks" of some type were found at these places. They also claim there were "tool marks" or pick scrapes on the walls on the money pit and that the dirt was noticeably loose and not as hard packed as the surrounding soil. One expedition claimed to have found the flood tunnel at 90 feet, and that it was lined with flat stones. However Robert Dunfield (a trained geologist) wrote that he carefully examined the walls of the re-excavated pit and was unable locate any evidence of this tunnel. The five box drains made from flat stones did exist and were identified and recorded by the Restalls. 

Pirate treasure

The cipher stone, which one researcher is said to have translated to read "Forty feet below two million pounds are buried", was allegedly last seen in the early 20th century (exact dates are a topic of controversy). Some accounts state that Smith used it as a fireback in his fireplace, while others claim it was last seen as a doorstep in a Halifax bookbinder's shop. The accuracy of the translation, whether the symbols as commonly depicted are accurate, or if they meant anything at all, remains disputed. Some believe the pit holds a pirate treasure hoard buried by Captain Kidd or possibly Edward Teach (Blackbeard), who claimed he buried his treasure "where none but Satan and myself can find it." 

Some also hold to the theory that Kidd conspired with Avery and Oak Island was used as a pseudo community bank between the two. 

Man made structures under Oak Island do in fact exist as discussed in many books, including a book written by Lee Lamb, daughter of Robert Restall.[16] Whether these structures are the remains of prior excavation attempts or artifacts left behind by those who allegedly built the Money Pit are unknown. It is known that several documented post-1860 treasure recovery attempts, as described above, ended in collapsed excavations and flooding. 

Naval treasure

Others agree it was dug to hold treasure, but believe this was done by someone other than pirates, such as Spanish sailors from a wrecked galleon or British troops during the American revolution. John Godwin argued that, given the apparent size and complexity of the pit, it was likely dug by French army engineers hoping to hide the contents of the treasury of the Fortress of Louisbourg after it fell to the British during the French and Indian War. 

Marie Antoinette's jewels

There is a story, like most others regarding the island, that lacks adequate archival sources, or any quoted sources at all, which places the priceless jewels of Marie Antoinette (which are historically missing, save for some specimens in the collections of museums worldwide) on Oak Island. During the French Revolution, when the Palace of Versailles was stormed by revolutionaries in 1789, Marie Antoinette instructed her maid or a lady-in-waiting to take her prized possessions and flee. Supposedly, this maid fled to London with such royal items as Antoinette's jewels and perhaps other treasures, such as important artwork or documents, secreted away either on her person (one variation suggests sewn into her underskirts in the case of the jewels, though fails to mention artwork) or as her luggage; it is even said she was perhaps assisted by the remaining officers of the French navy during the uprising at the queen's behest. 

The story then goes on to say that this woman fled further afield from London to Nova Scotia and through the royal connections she would have had during her service to the queen at Versailles, managed to contract the French navy to help construct the famed 'pit' on the island. This theory, as noted, lacks recognized documentation other than that which is folkloric in nature, involves the French navy, which, during the Revolution had an uncertain level of authority, and would place the construction of the Oak Island structure very close to its initial discovery by Daniel McGinnis in 1795. Whether such a complex engineering effort could have been completed in that small space of time is questionable, though no official date of its construction exists. However, other theories do suggest the structure is French and naval in style. 

Exotic treasure

Still others have speculated that the Oak Island pit was dug to hold treasure much more exotic than gold or silver. In his 1953 book, The Oak Island Enigma: A History and Inquiry Into the Origin of the Money Pit, Penn Leary claimed that English philosopher Francis Bacon used the pit to hide documents proving him to be the author of William Shakespeare's plays,[18] a theory recently used in the Norwegian book Organisten (The Organ Player) by Erlend Loe and Petter Amundsen. It has even been asserted that the pit might have been dug by exiled Knights Templar, and that it is the last resting place of the Holy Grail. 

CAN EVIL SPIRITS BE GOOD

CAN EVIL SPIRITS BE GOOD?

Dear Father John, since bad spirits are very manipulative by nature is it possible for bad spirits to OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERApresent themselves as good in certain circumstances in order to fulfill their plan and if so, what are some ways to distinguish that representation? 

Yes indeed, evil spirits are experts at deception. Our Lord, speaking of the devil, pointed this out: “When he [the devil] tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” And St. Paul states this explicitly: “And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). The modus operandi of demons is deception and dissimulation. For this reason, exorcists are forbidden from engaging in conversation with devils – they may only ask questions necessary for the rite of exorcism itself.

Take the High Road

The best way to avoid being deceived by duplicitous tempters is to stay focused on the one who is the Truth and the Light: Jesus Christ. If we make the positive, proactive, loving cultivation of our friendship with Jesus into the great obsession of our lives, we will make it very hard for the devil to deceive us. This proactive approach to our spiritual journey is what Jesus was referring to when he exhorted us all to “But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides” (Matthew 6:33).

Of course, “fixing our gaze on Jesus” (Hebrews 3:1) involves using all the normal means for spiritual growth that we have at our disposal: daily prayer (vocal, mental, liturgical), frequent reception of Communion and confession, spiritual reading, self-denial and discipline, active love for our neighbor, fidelity to God’s will and the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, ongoing study of our faith, spiritual direction, etc… When we do these things, we are doing our part in the arena of spiritual warfare, and we become much less vulnerable to the deceits of the enemy. This is what St. Paul meant when he described “putting on the armor of God”:

Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:13-17).

Know Your Enemy

Much has been written through the centuries about the deceitful tactics of the devil, and your continuing study of the spiritual life will certainly bring you into contact with a lot of this material. It may be worth mentioning here a few rules of thumb about the devil’s methodologies, without trying to be exhaustive.

If someone is already on a path of sin in their life, if they are moving away from God, the devil will in general try to keep that person comfortable and at ease. He will suggest thoughts of self-justification (“I’m not as bad as everyone else… I’m just doing what other people are doing… No one can really follow the Ten Commandments anyway… God is merciful and he won’t blame me for my sins…”). Notice how these kinds of thoughts aren’t really false, but they can blind someone from seeing the full truth about their actions; they can dull a person’s conscience.

If someone is on the path of Life, actively and intentionally pursuing greater intimacy with Christ, the devil will switch tactics. He will insinuate doubts, scruples, and contradictions that stir up turbulence in a soul, tiring the person out and impeding them from continuing forward: “God can’t really love me the way the Gospels say he does… My sins and failures are too much for God’s mercy… I just don’t know if I should pray the full Rosary every day or just one decade – I feel so guilty just praying one decade!…” The point of these smokescreens is to distract and tangle a person so that they lose their focus on God’s quiet voice in their heart.

The devil will also tend to tempt us in areas where we are weakest – either by temperament, by vice, or even by wounds that we received while growing up: all of these can make us vulnerable. This is why it’s so important to cultivate true and humble self-knowledge, and to ask for that grace.

Sneaking in the Back Door

If our spiritual enemies can’t convince us to commit evil actions, they will often try to convince us to over-commit ourselves in doing good. Stimulating our vanity or our unhealthy emotional patterns that make it hard for us to establish healthy boundaries, he will make it hard for us to say “no” when we ought to. This opens us up to wrongly continuing in destructive relationships, or simply exhausting ourselves doing too many things – good things, but more than what God actually is asking of us. These are common challenges for Christians who are well along on their spiritual journey. They need to be addressed in spiritual direction before they lead to burn-out, cynical frustration, or paralyzing discouragement.

In general, the inspirations of the Holy Spirit are sweet, insistent, and gentle. And when we follow them, they bring us interior joy and peace, even if they require self-sacrifice and uncomfortable generosity. In contrast, temptations from the evil spirit tend to be somewhat noisy and violent, passing, and strident, even when they seem to be drawing us to something that appears to be good in itself. And after we follow them, we end up feeling a certain emptiness and vague sense of dissatisfaction or courseness.

My favorite book illustrating the devil’s usual tactics is C.S. Lewis’s classic: The Screwtape Letters. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it! And if you like to listen to books, there is a wonderful dramatized recording of this one produced by Focus on the Family. Here’s a promo of it. And here is a link to the product.

Stay on the High Road

These are just a few rules of thumb. It is not always easy to apply them in real life situations. It takes knowledge, prudence, and experience. But they may give you something to think about. I would like to end where I started, though: the best defense is a good offense. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,” and you will surely keep the devil on his heels. As St. James puts it, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8).

TRUE PARANORMAL ORB PHOTOGRAPHS

On a recent investigation Night Shade Paranormal Research Society captured a photo of a genuine paranormal orb at the Thompson House. The Thompson House is a bar and concert venue, across from Newport on the Levee, in Newport Kentucky.  This location is known to have a high level of paranormal activity.  The investigation took place on February 9, 2014 between Noon and five PM.

The majority of orbs that appear in photos taken at known paranormally active locations are usually out of focus particles of dust floating near the camera lens and being illuminated by the flash or other light source.  The particles may appear somewhat differently depending on the composition of the dust. To illustrate this fact, the following two pictures were taken under controlled conditions demonstrating an example of dust orbs.  The first photo is the room devoid of dust orbs except one that appears to be near the top of the lampshade by the far wall. The coat tree is placed in the picture as a distance reference. It is about two and a half feet away from the camera lens.
                                                   Image 1 Dust orb experiment

Immediately after taking the first picture, shown above, we shook a dusty rag about two feet in front of the camera, waited a few seconds for the disturb air to settle then snapped the following picture.

Image 2 Dust orb experiment

The room now appears to be filled with orbs. It is a natural tendency to assume that the larger orbs are the closest to the camera, which in deed they are.  However, the dust particles appearing as different sizes of orbs are in reality only a few inches from the camera lens. Look closely at the photo above, none of the orbs are obscured by the coat tree or any other object in the room.  Even the very small orbs are between the coat tree and the camera.

Dust orbs can be very problematic when conducting a paranormal investigation.  To truly validate an orb as being paranormal, there must be some gauge of distance and/or some outstanding characteristic not usually seen in a dust orb. This gauge of distance is provided in the following photos taken at the Thompson House.

Events leading up to and just prior to when the following photographs were taken are as follows:

Marcia Treadway, Lead Investigator for Night Shade Paranormal Research Society and Jennifer (a friend and team member who is also a sensitive) were alone on the second floor near the stairway to the third floor.  They both heard a noise above them on the third floor.  The noise occurred again and both of them went to the third floor to investigate, but the host of the investigation had locked the gate to the large room that was used as the servant’s quarters.  Jennifer started back down the stairs with her dowsing rods in hand with the intention of doing a session on the second floor. Marcia noticed that Jennifer looked as though she “felt” something and stopped on the third floor landing and began taking the sequence of photos that are shown below.

The following picture (Image1) was taken from the third floor landing.  Notice the orb appearing in the doorway of the second floor landing.  In this picture we have no reference of distance for this orb. At this point, it could be a paranormal orb or it could be a dust orb.

 Image 1

In the following picture we zoom in to get a closer look.  Notice that the orb does not have a darker nucleus like the usual dust orb.  Instead it has mottled shading on its surface.

 Image 1 zoom

In the following picture we increased the contrast to enhance the details of the orb.  Notice the mottled shading of the surface and a brighter halo on the periphery.  However, we still have no gauge of distance between the orb and the camera.

 Image 1 zoom & increased contrast

In the following picture we now know the distance of the orb from the camera.  The orb is now partially obscured by the header of the third floor.  This provides strong evidence that this orb is of paranormal origin.  It is important to note that the two pictures (Images 1 & 2) were taken just seconds apart.

Image 2

In the following picture we zoom in to get a closer look.  Notice that the orb still retains the same characteristics as in the first image.  There is also another orb that appears to be further down the hallway.

 Image 2 zoom

In the following picture we increase the contrast to enhance the details of the orb.  Notice it still has mottled shading of the surface and a brighter halo on the periphery.  We cannot say for sure that the smaller orb is of paranormal origin, but it does seem to have the halo characteristic similar to the larger orb.

 Image 2 zoom & increased contrast

In the following picture (Image 3) we see that the orb is beginning to fade.  The smaller orb that appeared in the lower left of the picture appears to be a dust orb.

 Image 3

From the photographic evidence presented above we can safely conclude that the orb captured in the photos is most likely of paranormal origin.  It is safe to assume that the orb is not self illuminating at a wave length visible to the human eye, and its composition is either a substance or some type of energy field that partially reflects the light from the cameras flash.  The light fixture with the blue bulb hanging below the header is approximately 5 inches in diameter.  Comparing the size of the orb to the light fixture the orb appears to be at least five inches in diameter.