America's Stonehenge

I’m writing to you from Wiseman’s View near Linville North Carolina, deep in the Pisgah National Forest where I’m waiting for sundown in hopes of catching a glimpse of the mysterious Brown Mountain lights. It’s the perfect place to reflect on another recent journey I took to a place that harbors many ancient and peculiar secrets.

Near the small town of Salem New Hampshire there exists one of the most enigmatic sites in New England, the origins and true purpose of which may never be known for sure.  While traveling in the Boston area last month I couldn’t resist making the short 40 trip north to see it for myself. It’s called America’s Stonehenge has been featured on such shows as America Unearthed and In Search Of. Known previously as Mystery Hill, America’s Stonehenge is a large complex composed of buried chambers made from quarried stone,  enclosures and standing stones placed at some very deliberate locations around the complex. The site has continually perplexed researchers and has been the source of much controversy and speculation. 

Carbon 14 dating from features including a man-made fire pit indicates human habitation nearly 4000 years ago. While this does not provide a construction date for the entire complex it does show that there was human activity from a very early time in history. But possibly the most intriguing characteristics of America’s Stonehenge are those from which it derives its name. Are you ready? The various megaliths existing around the site are aligned with astrological events such as the Summer Solstice Sunrise and Spring and Fall equinox sunrises as they would have occurred around 1500 BC thus proving it was not the first Dunken Donuts.

Other inexplicable features are present at the site. At the center of the complex, just above the dank underground room known as the Oracle Chamber, there is a stone table. It features a groove carved into the surface presumably to allow a liquid to drain from the surface of the slab and into a receptacle. Was this used as a sacrificial table as the name of the feature suggests? Standing beside this alter deep in the woods my own dark imagination was set in motion as I imagined blasphemous rites of unspeakable terror being performed at this isolated monument. But I’m not alone in my thinking.   

This very location was the setting which inspired The Dunwich Horror, a story written by H.P. Lovecraft in the 1920’s.

Even more curious is the function of the Oracle Chamber itself which seems by design to allow sound to travel up a shaft from the underground room and project loudly into the area of the Sacrificial Table.

There is much speculation as to the origin of the complex. Some insist that Native Americans are responsible. Still others point to similarities between its construction and structures found in the British Isles. It has even been suggested that the site was built by Irish Monks or the Phoenician culture. My personal theory is that the site is European in origin and possibly the work of pagan worshipers or at least non-orthodox, Christian ascetics escaping persecution.

Whatever, the case may be one thing is certain. The site has been heavily altered and used for purposes ranging from a hide-out for escaped slaves to a haven for the 19^th century homeless. Having been partially dismantled by previous owners in order to sell its quarried stones, much research is still needed to reconstruct the original form and determine the intended function of the site. 

If you’re ever in New England and looking for a unique excursion that will leave you puzzled, I recommend a visit to this place. For more info visit: stonehengeusa.com 

Semper Explorandum

Mountains of Madness: Nazis UFOs and lost civilizations in Antarctica

It’s the coldest and most desolate location on the planet with recorded temperatures reaching 80 degrees below zero. Eternally frozen and shrouded in ice, Antarctica contains enormous mountain ranges that separate vast tracts of blinding white landscape that routinely experience blizzards of hurricane force. Nearly twice the size of Australia, the white continent still holds countless mysteries waiting to be explored.

 As a young man I was first inspired by the beauty of the landscape and the immortal accounts of men like Ernest Shakelton who led the famous Endurance expedition during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.  Later I began to read about numerous UFO sightings and of theories surrounding possible ancient civilizations whose ruins might lie deep beneath the ice or within one of the massive cave systems. Some theorists even believe that one of these openings may lead to another world inside our own planet. I recently stumbled upon one of these openings while looking at satellite imagery available on Google Earth. The opening is triangular and measures roughly 280 feet in width and 130 vertically.  The cavern is located at exactly 66°33'11.88"S Latitude and  99°50'19.53"E Longitude near the northern coast of the continent between the Queen Mary and Knox Coast. As I search for further details on this particular cave my imagination runs wild. After all, rumors of secret Nazi installations in the Antarctic have been around since the end of World War II. And just what was Admiral Karl Dontiz referring to in 1943 when he told Adolph Hitler that he had created “an unassailable fortress for the Fuhrer on the other end of the world.”?  Is this where the scores of missing German submarines and other technology were hidden after the war?

 As if Nazi’s, UFOs and giant caves were not enough to drive my obsession to visit this frozen realm,   author H.P. Lovecraft invokes the white continent as the location for his 1931 horror novella, At the Mountains of Madness. In the story a research team encounters an ancient colony of monstrously exotic extraterrestrials that killed most of the expedition party including a dog.

Evidence suggests that Antarctica wasn’t always covered in ice and could have contained civilization. Core samples extracted in 2012 indicate the existence of tropical flora on the continent. Furthermore, one of the earliest maps depicting Antarctica is known as as the Piri Reis map. It was drawn using maps from deeper antiquity and accurately depicts the Northern Coastline of Antarctica with no ice! While it’s believed that the last time Antarctica was unfrozen was during a time that predated the oldest civilizations, we should question the accepted rate at which Antarctica was frozen in ice.  In 1990 the recovery of several World War 2 aircraft that remained undisturbed in Greenland demonstrated that it’s possible for 263 feet of ice to form within only half a century.

My curiosity is fueled by so many aspects of this region. Rumors abound on the internet of secret alien bases located beneath the ice. I’m not saying it’s all true. But a significant number of UFO cases have taken place in Antarctica and documented by the Argentine military.

Do I have designs underway for an expedition to Antarctica in the near future? I’d like nothing more than to announce this very thing.  However, Antarctica must for now take a back seat to other priorities like taking my family to Disney World. Such an endeavor requires a much larger budget, the right team and a great deal more preparation.  The Siberian Taiga is a more likely destination for the next big expedition but that shall be a topic for future editions. Until then.  Semper explorandum!