Secrets of the Preseli Bluestones

first visited Stonehenge as a small child and became fascinated by what to me seemed a place of magic and fairytales. During the 1980s I lived in the Preseli Hills in West Wales, near to the actual source of the inner Bluestone circle and began to realise that there was much more to Stonehenge than I had ever imagined.

For centuries, Stonehenge has fascinated the peoples of the world and even today, with all our modern wonders, it receives almost a million visitors per year who travel to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England just to spend some time basking in its magic. "Who? why? how?" are the questions that have captured the public's imagination. Most tourists when they think of Stonehenge immediately bring forth to mind the huge trilithons made of Sarsen stone, a stone local to the Marlborough Hills in Wiltshire, but for me the real magic is to be found in the inner horseshoe made of the Preseli Bluestones.

The development of Stonehenge can be divided into several phases. The earliest archaeological evidence dates the beginning of Stonehenge to around 8000 BC when the site was cleared in the centre of a forest there, with an avenue leading to the nearby river at Amesbury. Postholes that possibly held 'totem' poles have been found, aligned east-west and could have acted as equinox-sighting markers. In 7460BC the whole of the British Isles was inundated with flood waters due to a comet impact. A 1000 years later these two posts were replaced by two more poles only 350 metres away from the originals, also aligned east-west. The next phase was the building of an embankment and ditch around 3020BC. Unusually for a henge, the ditch was built outside the bank. The ditch (moat) was 97 metres in diameter: 6 metres wide and between 1.3 to 2.1 metres deep. The builders then erected two parallel entry stones on the north east of the circle, aligned to the summer solstice sunrise. Just inside the bank they also dug and almost immediately refilled a circle of 56 shallow holes known as the 'Aubrey holes', possibly to hold sighting poles used to predict eclipses. The site appears to have been in regular use until around 2600BC when it was abandoned for almost half a millennium.

Around 2100 BC the Preseli Bluestones were brought from West Wales and erected in a circle (the X and Y Holes) also aligned to the summer solstice, and a widened approach was constructed. Around 100 years later, this first Bluestone circle was dismantled and work began on the final stage of the site. The Bluestones were rearranged in the horseshoe and circle that we can still see today. The next phase of Stonehenge saw the arrival of the Sarsen stones which were arranged in an outer circle with a continuous circle of lintels. On the inside of this five trilithons were placed in a horseshoe arrangement, part of which we can still see today. Since that time, Stonehenge has been systematically destroyed and recreated by various peoples throughout history. The most recent reconstruction took place as late as the 1960s. The only way an accurate picture can be visualised of a complete Stonehenge is through the plan of the holes in the ground.

Although we now believe that we know how the stones were erected, the reason why the Bluestones were brought from over 250 miles away from the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, West Wales has remained a mystery. There has been much speculation and research as to how the feat was achieved.

The mythology attached to the moving of the Preseli Bluestones to Stonehenge has been attributed to the magic of Merlin. In Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, Aurelius Ambrosius sends his brother Uther to bring the Giant's Dance from Mount Killaraus in Ireland, at the suggestion of Merlin, to be used as a memorial for the dead slain in the Night of the Long Knives. It is probable that this account contains a trace of an oral tradition that the stones were transported from a great distance, over water, by 'superhuman' powers. At this time, the Preseli Hills were ruled over by the Kings of Ireland. However, the Merlin talked about in the 12th Century and the Merlin of the Welsh legends supposedly existed during the Dark Ages, some 4,000 years after the Bluestones were moved.

To medieval man in Geoffrey of Monmouth's time, the stones were so huge and unwieldy that none of their own engineering techniques would have been capable of moving or erecting them, so it is only natural that they believed that such an undertaking was a magical one. As Arthur C Clarke said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", although perhaps in this case it should be considered as any sufficiently different technology.

One current theory speculates that the stones were dragged by roller and sledge from the inland Preseli Hills to the sea at Milford Haven. From there they were sailed along the Welsh south coast to Bristol, then up the Avon to a point near what is now Frome in Somerset. From there the stones were probably pulled overland to a place near what is now Warminster in Wiltshire and then floated down River Wylye to Salisbury, up the Salisbury part of the Avon river to West Amesbury, near Stonehenge.

In 2000 a group of local volunteers from Pembrokeshire gathered to attempt to re-enact this ancestral journey by moving one three-ton Preseli Bluestone block from its source in the Preseli Hills to Stonehenge as a Millennium Project. The idea was to use wooden rollers for the land routes and a curach raft for the sea route from Milford Haven to Bristol and then to take it up the River Avon with the final overland journey to Salisbury Plain. Unfortunately the design of the raft failed and the project was abandoned through lack of funds.

In fact, this was not the first time that such a project had been undertaken. In 1954, the boys from Bryanston and Canford Schools in Dorset attempted a similar feat. They moved a four-ton concrete block over a short distance of land and floated it to show that such a thing was possible. Another recent Stonehenge project was the raising of a 40-tonne trilithon made out of concrete that a team of engineers successfully completed for the BBC series "Secrets of Lost Civilisations", using the ancient technology of levers and wooden A frames.

There are still some academics who believe that the stones were moved by glaciation as 'erratics', but our having recently submitted Preseli Bluestones to geological analysis and that of previous researchers concludes there is no doubt that all of the 45 Bluestones left at Stonehenge come from the Preseli Hills, with each stone identifiable to specific areas of those hills and they have no glaciation markings on them. There are certainly no other stones on Salisbury Plain showing glaciation markings. The environmental archaeology of the area also disputes this geological theory (see Boscombe Bowmen).

The 45 remaining stones at Stonehenge, now called Bluestones, are in fact a mixture of spotted dolerite, blue dolerite, rhyolite, volcanic ash and one of Cocheston sandstone (which is a pale green stone studded with garnets). This particular stone is commonly called 'The Altar Stone' and also has its source near Preseli. It would thus seem that they had a very particular 'shopping list' when they chose their stones, although the effort in obtaining them was considerable. Of course, there is no reason to suppose that these primitive people were not able to harness the use of beasts of burden to move the stones across land and so the difficulties of the movement and the erection of the stones are now overcome but we are still left with the question why? Why these stones? Now at last, after 5,000 years, we believe that we have uncovered this part of the mystery.

The geological name for Preseli Bluestone is Dolerite which is an intrusive volcanic rock of plagioclase feldspar and is in fact harder than granite. Forms of dolerite are found all over the world and were used for making tools to work on granite statues in ancient Egypt. Polished Bluestone axe-heads from Preseli have also been found but whether these were ceremonial axe-heads or actually used as tools is unknown. In 2001 I discovered a memorial stone in the Preseli Hills which had been polished and then, during a geological survey, the Bluestones were cut open and then the proverbial penny dropped. Inside the stones we found feldspar crystal formations and mica. When polished, the stone looks like the night sky studded with stars and now, having seen its beauty when polished, it seemed obvious to me that this was reason enough to move them and erect a circle of them. The ancient Egyptians revered Lapis Lazuli (Blue Stone) for the same reason.

The Preseli Hills themselves are crisscrossed with ley lines, ancient trackways, standing stones, burial chambers and stone circles and the hills sparkle with shining white crystal quartz. Even during early Christian times, the place was considered almost as holy as Jerusalem and Rome. This is also the land of Druids who still continue this 5,000-year old tradition of building stone circles in Wales each year for their National Eisteddfods.

Locally, the stones are considered as stones of healing and magical and as stated in the early Welsh mythologies, such as the Red Book of Hergest and the Black Book of Carmarthen, Merlin transported some of them to build Camelot, thus Preseli is Merlin and Arthur territory, home to the fairies and gods of the Underworld.

It has also been speculated that Stonehenge was built as an astronomical observatory and to have a circle of standing stones polished to such a degree that they looked like the night sky seems fitting. It also seems possible that the whole of Stonehenge was also dressed and polished and that Salisbury Plain where it stands is another candidate for the 'Round Table'.

Early in the 20th century the English astronomer Norman Lockyer demonstrated that the north- east axis at Stonehenge aligned with the summer solstice sunrise. This led other scholars to speculate that the builders were simple sun worshippers. In 1963 an American astronomer Gerald Hawkins, argued that Stonehenge was a complicated computer for predicting lunar and solar eclipses but such "romantic" interpretations were severely criticised by the archaeological establishment, who preferred their own baseless speculation that it was a place of pagan worship built by 'primitives'.

One would think that an astronomer would have far greater qualification to assess any possible astronomical qualities for the structure, even if its early dating happens to mean that it is considered the property of archaeologists.

Archaeologists are very good at digging and dating, but many of them seem to think that it is illegitimate to try and understand the motivation and mindset of the people whose debris they examine in minute detail. So what is it that made the Preseli hills and Stonehenge so special and of such significance to pre-historic sky watchers? The answer lies with a strange property that would have been of immense importance to them. At Stonehenge's Latitude 51¡.10«.42««.N, at the time of the Equinoxes (around 21st March and 21st September) the rising sun appears exactly due east and the setting sun due west, causing the morning and evening shadows to align in a straight line. On every other day of the year the sunset and sunrise will occur either further north or south and will not line up. Furthermore, at Stonehenge's latitude, a similar alignment also occurs at summer solstice (the day of maximum daylight, around June 21st) and on the winter solstice (the day of minimum daylight, around December 21st), when the line of sight to the rising sun is in a direction precisely the reverse to that of the setting sun. The 'Heel Stone' at Stonehenge demonstrates this by its shadow In simple terms, this means that when the solstices are viewed from Stonehenge, the shadow cast by a pole placed to mark the position of the sunrise on the horizon will perfectly align with a shadow cast from a second pole marking the sunset.

This latitude continues due west to Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel whose longitude (4 degrees 40 minutes 15 seconds West) which then continues north through the Preseli Hills. This triangle of sight exactly replicates the triangle formed at Stonehenge by the 'Station Stones' which form part of the Aubrey circle to the ratio of 2500:1.

These are just some of the Secrets of the Preseli Bluestones. We expect more to be revealed as research continues.

Suggested further reading:

Prehistoric Preseli Ð A Field Guide : P.J.Figgis, Attelier Productions

The Measure of Albion : Robin Heath and John Michell, Bluestone Press

Uriel's Machine: C.Knight and R Lomas Century Books - http://www.knight-lomas.comlomas.com/

The Modern Antiquarian: Julian Cope, Thorsons - http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/

The Nazis Found Atlantis With All Its Evil Technological Booty

12,000-year-old unexplained structure

For a more thorough analysis related to the geological existence for sites such as these, visit: http://welteislehre.com/

Amazing find (History Chanel docum.) in what is now Turkey, 12,000 year-old circular city. Twice as old as any city in Mesopotamia. The Germans are excavating it.

No stone-cutting tools used.

The Secret Apollo Astronaut Experiment Withheld From NASA

If you are looking for wonderful inpirations into the area of science related to consciousness, take a look at Edgar Mitchell’s foundation – the Institute of Noetic Science.
The institute of Noetic Science is a nonprofit membership organization located in Northern California that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness – including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. The institute explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor.
The word “noetic” comes from the ancient Greek nous, for which there is no exact equivalent in English. It refers to “inner knowing,” a kind of intuitive consciousness – direct and immediate access to knowledge beyond what is available to our normal senses and the power of reason.
The vision for creating the Institute of Noetic Sciences came in 1971. Nations throughout the world had galvanized around the exciting frontier of space exploration. The potential for scientific understanding of our world seemed unlimited to a naval air captain named Edgar Mitchell. He was a pragmatic young test pilot, engineer and scientist; a mission to the moon on Apollo 14 was his “dream come true.” Space exploration symbolized for Dr Mitchell what it did for his nation as a whole – technological triumph of historical proportions, unprecedented mastery of the world in which we live, and extraordinary potentials for new discoveries.
But it was the trip home that Mitchell recalls most. Sitting in the cramped cabin of the space capsule, he saw planet Earth floating freely in the vastness of space. He was engulfed by a profound sense of universal connectedness – an epiphany. In Mitchell’s own words: “The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes. . . . The knowledge came to me directly.”Mitchell faced a critical challenge. As a physical scientist, he had grown accustomed to directing his attention to the objective world “out there.” But the experience that came to him in space led him to a startling hypothesis: Perhaps reality is more complex, subtle, and inexorably mysterious than conventional science had led him to believe. Perhaps a deeper understanding of consciousness (inner space) could lead to a new and expanded view of reality in which objective and subjective, outer and inner, are understood as co-equal aspects of the miracle and mystery of being.
The Telepathic Experiment
A telepathic experiment conducted during the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 proved distance is not a barrier. The experiment was not authorized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), nor was it announced until the mission was completed. Astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell conducted the experiment with four recipients on Earth, 150,000 miles below. Mitchell concentrated on sequences of twenty-five random numbers. He completed 200 sequences. Guessing 40 correctly was the mean chance. Two of the recipients guessed 51 correctly. This far exceeded Mitchell’s expectations, but still was only moderately significant.
After his safe return “home,” Mitchell sought out others who likewise felt the need for an expanded, more inclusive view of reality. They resolved to explore the inner world of human experience with the same rigor and critical thinking that made it possible for Apollo 14 to journey to the moon and back. In 1973, this small group of explorers founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences – derived from the Greek word nous, meaning something close to “intuitive ways of knowing.” Dr Mitchell’s story is told in the book:
The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronant’s Journey…
The mission of these noetic scientists was, and has been, to expand our understanding of human possibility by investigating aspects of reality – mind, consciousness, and spirit – that include but go beyond physical phenomena. They seek to seek to understand the inner world as thoroughly as we have the outer world – based on the premise that what finds expression in the world at large is a reflection of our interior landscape. Today, three decades later, the institute carries out its mission as a worldwide research, education, and membership-based organization in Petaluma, California.
The institute’s work is dedicated to transforming contemporary worldviews on the relationship between consciousness and matter. The implications of our empirical research and community education efforts extend far beyond the laboratory and the lecture hall. Indeed, our work speaks to a shift involving humanity’s deepest knowing and understanding of ourselves and our universe.
Test Your PSI:Blending scientific research with Internet technology, IONS’ Senior Scientist Dean Radin has developed online games that test individual’s psi abilities. By participating in these games, you can help provide data that is used in our research on consciousness.
Blending scientific research with Internet technology, IONS’ Senior Scientist Dean Radin has developed online games that test individual’s psi abilities. By participating in these games, you can help provide data that is used in our research on consciousness.
Visit the website of Noetic Science at:http://www.noetic.org/
http://www.shiftinaction.com/

Theories About Atlantis and Very Intresting Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TikLwo78tKE :Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-4nQyNLJVE :Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmI1JZhAGNU :Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZn-DhV4L0o :Part 5

It was for Greek philosopher to bring to the world the story of the lost continent of Atlantis.

His story began to unfold for him around 355 B.C. He wrote about this land called Atlantis in two of his dialogues, Timaeus and Critias,around 370 B.C. Plato said that the continent lay in the Atlantic Ocean near the Straits of Gibraltar until its destruction 10,000 years previous.

The Capitol of Atlantis
Plato described Atlantis as alternating rings of sea and land, with a palace in the center 'bull's eye'.

Plato used a series of dialogues to express his ideas. In this type of writing, the author's thoughts are explored in a series of arguments and debates between various characters in the story.

A character named Kritias tells an account of Atlantis that has been in his family for generations. According the character the story was originally told to his ancestor Solon, by a priest during Solon's visit to Egypt.

According to the dialogues, there had been a powerful empire located to the west of the "Pillars of Hercules" (what we now call the Straight of Gibraltar) on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. The nation there had been established by Poseidon, the God of the Sea. Poseidon fathered five sets of twins on the island. The firstborn, Atlas, had the continent and the surrounding ocean named for him. Poseidon divided the land into ten sections, each to be ruled by a son, or his heirs.

The capital city of Atlantis was a marvel of architecture and engineering. The city was composed of a series of concentric walls and canals. At the very center was a hill, and on top of the hill a temple to Poseidon. Inside was a gold statue of the God of the Sea showing him driving six winged horses.

About 9000 years before the time of Plato, after the people of Atlantis became corrupt and greedy, the Gods decided to destroy them. A violent earthquake shook the land, giant waves rolled over the shores, and the island sank into the sea never to be seen again.

At numerous points in the dialogues Plato's characters refer to the story of Atlantis as "genuine history" and it being within "the realm of fact." Plato also seems to put into the story a lot of detail about Atlantis that would be unnecessary if he had intended to use it only as a literary device.

In "Timaeus," Plato described Atlantis as a prosperous nation out to expand its domain: "Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent," he wrote, "and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia."

Plato goes on to tell how the Atlanteans made a grave mistake by seeking to conquer Greece. They could not withstand the Greeks' military might, and following their defeat, a natural disaster sealed their fate. "Timaeus" continues: "But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea."Interestingly, Plato tells a more metaphysical version of the Atlantis story in "Critias." There he describes the lost continent as the kingdom of Poseidon, the god of the sea. This Atlantis was a noble, sophisticated society that reigned in peace for centuries, until its people became complacent and greedy. Angered by their fall from grace, Zeus chose to punish them by destroying Atlantis.By Plato's account, Poseidon, god of the sea, sired five pairs of male twins with mortal women. Poseidon appointed the eldest of these sons, Atlas the Titan, ruler of his beautiful island domain. Atlas became the personification of the mountains or pillars that held up the sky. Plato described Atlantis as a vast island-continent west of the Mediterranean, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. The Greek word Atlantis means the island of Atlas, just as the word Atlantic means the ocean of Atlas.

READ MORE: http://www.lost-civilizations.net/theories-about-atlantis.html

ANCIENT ALIENS FROM MARS

COULD HUMANS BE FROM MARS?EXPLORING THE ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES OF ANCIENT ALIENS AND HUMANS


A new and exciting theory to the possibility of ancient aliens and their past 
influence on human civilizations has been captivating many for years.  But 
what if the Ancient Alien theory has more to the story?  What if Ancient Aliens 
are not from distant planets, but rather, from a dormant neighbor that once 
held a civilization of ancient humans!

Image 1.1 - Building on Mars shows you an areal view of an archaeological 
site on the surface of the Martian planet.  Many have suggested that this is 
simply a geological site that can be explained through natural means; 
however, it is safe to say it looks like many archaeological sites here on earth. 
Modern archeology has allowed us to learn that the greatest Earthly 
civilization emerged nearly 6,000 years ago, older than the Greeks, Incas and 
even the Mayans.

The people of this society were called Sumerian's, of the land of Sumer, 
located in the great plains between the Euphrates and Tigress Rivers, 
today's modern day Iraq.  Without the ability to have ground work 
(excavations) done on the planet Mars, it will  be uncertain if an ancient 
race once lived there.  Like the Sumerians, it was very difficult to determine 
the existence of this society  do to weather, new settlement of an area, 
and/or a total landscape change.

Nevertheless, it is clear that something once stood on the surface of Mars, 
but it will be sometime until we are able to analyse who the Martians were 
and where they went.  However, looking into Earth's history we are able to 
get a better understanding of what was happening to Mars and where the 
Martians went.

We ask, are humans from Mars and could humans be the ancient aliens 
many past civilizations mentioned?

Looking particularly at the Mayan account of Pakal, we see that some how he was perceived to have been a god of some 
sort.  When he left, he was depicted leaving on what looked to be like a spaceship.  So where did he go?  Perhaps the 
truth is more than we can handle, and we are the very Martians we are looking for!

Ascending beings have always been recorded in history but with no means of knowing where they came from.  Many 
would suggest that Mars once hosted a vibrant and habitable planet for Humans.  If a human population once existed on 
Mars then it would begin to explain many mysteries that reside here on Earth, but why would all the technology and 
advancements vanish when they moved to Earth?  

Theory Number 1: Are we genetically altered or created beings?

This has been a long standing theory when Martians and our history 
are talked about.  Could it be possible that we are created beings from 
a race of aliens that once lived on the Martian planet?  Observing the 
past orbits of our planets it could be possible that the Martian surface 
supported life and that this civilization created humans through genetic 
alteration.

In this theory we ask, what happened to this advance race of aliens 
and why didn't they stay on earth if their planet was no longer 
habitable?  Obviously these are questions that will always elude us 
unless we find solid evidence in the form of artifacts and/or 
archaeological evidence on the planet Mars.  Perhaps an advance 
alien race found a more suitable planet else where in the Milkyway 
Galaxy and they left our solar system.  Wherever they went, the 
mystery remains here on earth and all we can do is theorize about 
what happened.

Theory Number 2: Humans are from Mars

It has always been believed that if there was a race of aliens (Martians) 
on the planet Mars they would have been technologically advanced 
and superior than our current civilization; however, theory number two 
would suggest that Martians were at somewhat close to our modern 
age technology and knowledge.  This would make a mission to save 
their race from a dying planet very difficult in means of preserving 
everything they have amounted.  Picture a civilization with a 
technology like that of the 1960 space program.  Could such a 
civilization land on earth (where more humans could have existed) and 
re-establish a technologically advance civilization again?  Perhaps 
they did and our technological advancements have been knowledge 
that has once existed and we are once again beginning to perfect it.

Our interest in Mars is one of "home sickness" and our desire to 
re-visit our past.  If we truly are "beings" that came from Mars long ago, 
then we are the descendants of the Martian people and going to Mars 
to seek our history becomes more than just a journey into the Solar 
System, but rather, our historic duty and obligation!

WHAT IS THE GHOST

The belief in manifestations of the spirits of the dead is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism and ritual magic—are specifically designed to appease the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary essences that haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life, though stories of phantom armies, ghost trains, phantom ships, and even ghost animals have also been recounted.[2][3]In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, life-like visions. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a séance.

Further information: spirit, soul (spirit), anima, genius (mythology), and Geist

Terminology

The English word ghost continues Old English gást, from a hypothetical Common Germanic *gaistaz. It is common to West Germanic, but lacking in North and East Germanic (the equivalent word in Gothic is ahma, Old Norse has andi m., önd f.). The pre-Germanic form was *ghoisdo-s, apparently from a root denoting "fury, anger" reflected in Old Norse geisa "to rage". The Germanic word is recorded as masculine only, but likely continues a neuter s-stem. The original meaning of the Germanic word would thus have been an animating principle of the mind, in particular capable of excitation and fury (compare óðr). In Germanic paganism, "Germanic Mercury", and the later Odin, was at the same time the conductor of the dead and the "lord of fury" leading the Wild Hunt.

Besides denoting the human spirit or soul, both of the living and the deceased, the Old English word is used as a synonym of Latin spiritus also in the meaning of "breath" or "blast" from the earliest attestations (9th century). It could also denote any good or evil spirit, i.e. angels and demons; the Anglo-Saxon gospel refers to the demonic possession of Matthew 12:43 as se unclæna gast. Also from the Old English period, the word could denote the spirit of God, viz. the "Holy Ghost". The now prevailing sense of "the soul of a deceased person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form" only emerges in Middle English (14th century). The modern noun does, however, retain a wider field of application, extending on one hand to "soul", "spirit", "vital principle", "mind" or "psyche", the seat of feeling, thought and moral judgement; on the other hand used figuratively of any shadowy outline, fuzzy or unsubstantial image, in optics, photography and cinematography especially a flare, secondary image or spurious signal.[4]

The synonym spook is a Dutch loanword, akin to Low German spôk (of uncertain etymology); it entered the English language via the United States in the 19th century.[5][6][7][8] Alternative words in modern usage include spectre (from Latin spectrum), the Scottish wraith (of obscure origin), phantom (via French ultimately from Greek phantasma, compare fantasy) and apparition. The termshade in classical mythology translates Greek σκιά,[9] or Latin umbra,[10] in reference to the notion of spirits in the Greek underworld. "Haint" is a synonym for ghost used in regional English of the southern United States,[11] and the "haint tale" is a common feature of southern oral and literary tradition.[12] The term poltergeist is a German word, literally a "noisy ghost", for a spirit said to manifest itself by invisibly moving and influencing objects.[13]

Wraith is a Scottish dialectal word for "ghost", "spectre" or "apparition". It came to be used in Scottish Romanticist literature, and acquired the more general or figurative sense of "portent" or "omen". In 18th- to 19th-century Scottish literature, it was also applied to aquatic spirits. The word has no commonly accepted etymology; OED notes "of obscure origin" only. An association with the verb writhe was the etymology favored by J. R. R. Tolkien.[14] Tolkien's use of the word in the naming of the creatures known as the Ringwraiths has influenced later usage in fantasy literature.Bogie is an Ulster Scots term for a ghost, and appears in Scottish poet John Mayne's Hallowe'en in 1780.[15][16]

A revenant is a deceased person returning from the dead to haunt the living, either as a disembodied ghost or alternatively as an animated ("undead") corpse. Also related is the concept of a fetch, the visible ghost or spirit of a person yet alive.

Anthropological context

Further information: Animism, Ancestor worship, Origin of religion, and Anthropology of religion

A notion of the transcendent, supernatural or numinous, usually involving entities like ghosts, demons or deities, is a cultural universal.[17] In pre-literate folk religions, these beliefs are often summarized under animism and ancestor worship.[18]

In many cultures malignant, restless ghosts are distinguished from the more benign spirits involved in ancestor worship.[19]

Ancestor worship typically involves rites intended to prevent revenants, vengeful spirits of the dead, imagined as starving and envious of the living. Strategies for preventing revenants may either include sacrifice, i.e., giving the dead food and drink to pacify them, or magical banishment of the deceased to force them not to return. Ritual feeding of the dead is performed in traditions like the Chinese Ghost Festival or the Western All Souls' Day. Magical banishment of the dead is present in many of the world's burial customs. The bodies found in many tumuli (kurgan) had been ritually bound before burial,[20] and the custom of binding the dead persists, for example, in rural Anatolia.[21]

Nineteenth-century anthropologist James Frazer stated in his classic work, The Golden Bough, that souls were seen as the creature within that animated the body.[22]

Ghosts and the afterlife

Further information: Soul (spirit), Psyche (psychology), Underworld, Hungry ghost, and Psychopomp

Further information: Ghost Festival, All Souls' Day, Day of the Dead, and Ghost Dance

Although the human soul was sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient cultures as a bird or other animal, it appears to have been widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction of the body in every feature, even down to clothing the person wore. This is depicted in artwork from various ancient cultures, including such works as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which shows deceased people in the afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress.

Fear of ghosts

Main article: Fear of ghosts

Information Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost

Maya were responsible for a number of remarkable scientific achievements--in astronomy, agriculture, engineering and communications.

 

The Ancient Maya

Mayan civilization lasted for more than 2,000 years, but the period from about 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., known as the Classic Period, was its heyday. During that time, the Maya developed a complex understanding of astronomy. They also figured out how to grow corn, beans, squash and cassava in sometimes-inhospitable places; how to build elaborate cities without modern machinery; how to communicate with one another using one of the world’s first written languages; and how to measure time using not one but two complicated calendar systems.

Mayan Astronomy and Calendar-Making

The Maya strongly believed in the influence of the cosmos on daily life. Consequently, Mayan knowledge and understanding of celestial bodies was advanced for their time: For example, they knew how to predict solar eclipses. They also used astrological cycles to aid in planting and harvesting and developed two calendars that are as precise as those we use today.
The first, known as the Calendar Round, was based on two overlapping annual cycles: a 260-day sacred year and a 365-day secular year. Under this system, each day was assigned four pieces of identifying information: a day number and day name in the sacred calendar and a day number and month name in the secular calendar. Every 52 years counted as a single interval, or Calendar Round. After each interval the calendar would reset itself like a clock.
Because the Calendar Round measured time in an endless loop, it was a poor way to fix events in an absolute chronology or in relationship to one another over a long period. For this job, a priest working in about 236 BC devised another system: a calendar that he called the Long Count. The Long Count system identified each day by counting forward from a fixed date in the distant past. (In the early 20th century, scholars found that this "base date" was August 11 or August 13, 3114 BC.) It grouped days into sets, or cycles, as follows: baktun (144,000 days), k’atun (7,200 days), tun (360 days), uinal or winal (20 days) and kin (one day).
The Long Count calendar worked the same way that the Calendar Round did--it cycled through one interval after another--but its interval, known as a "Grand Cycle," was much longer. One Grand Cycle was equal to 13 baktuns, or about 5,139 solar years.

Chichén Itzá

The Maya incorporated their advanced understanding of astronomy into their temples and other religious structures. The pyramid at Chichén Itzá in Mexico, for example, is situated according to the sun’s location during the spring and fall equinoxes. At sunset on these two days, the pyramid casts a shadow on itself that aligns with a carving of the head of the Mayan serpent god. The shadow forms the serpent’s body; as the sun sets, the serpent appears to slither down into the Earth.

Mayan Technology

Remarkably, the ancient Maya managed to build elaborate temples and great cities without what we would consider to be essential tools: metal and the wheel. However, they did use a number of other “modern” innovations and tools, especially in the decorative arts. For example, they built complicated looms for weaving cloth and devised a rainbow of glittery paints made from mica, a mineral that still has technological uses today.
Until recently, people believed that vulcanization--combining rubber with other materials to make it more durable--was discovered by the American (from Connecticut) Charles Goodyear in the 19th century. However, historians now think that the Maya were producing rubber products about 3,000 years before Goodyear received his patent in 1843.
How did they do it? Researchers believe that the Maya discovered this process accidentally, during a religious ritual in which they combined the rubber tree and the morning-glory plant. Once they realized how strong and versatile this new material was, the Maya began to use it in a variety of ways: to make water-resistant cloth, glue, bindings for books, figurines and the large rubber balls used in the ritual game known as pokatok.

The Decline of the Maya

Despite the Maya’s remarkable scientific achievements, their culture began to decline toward the beginning of the 11th century. The cause and scope of the decline is a matter of some debate today. Some believe that the Maya were wiped out by war, while others attribute their demise to the disruption of their trade routes. Still others believe that the Maya’s agricultural practices and dynamic growth resulted in climate change and deforestation. While much of what was left of the ancient Maya culture was subsumed by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century, the legacy of Mayan scientific achievement lives on in the discoveries that archeologists continue to make about this amazing ancient culture.

Infromation source: http://www.history.com/topics/mayan-scientific-achievements

Baba Vanga - Prophecies of the Bulgarian Prophet

Vangelia Pandeva Dimitrova, also known as Baba Vanga, also know as Vangelia Gushterova - her married name, is one of the lesser-known prophets in Western Culture. Prematurely born October 3, 1911 and dying August 11, 1996, she grew to be one of the great prophets of the European countries. She was born in Bulgaria - Ottoman Empire, Yugoslavia, Macedonia or whatever it was and is if you want to get technical - and she spent most of her life living in a small village in the Kozhuh Mountains.

As the story goes, at the age of 12, the young Vangelia was lifted by the wind in a storm and thrown to the ground. She was found with sand and dirt in her eyes and she eventually became blind. Her gift of foresight soon began to show afterwards. Her name, Vangelia, actually translates from Greek to mean "Herald of the Good Message". She would eventually be referred to as Baba Vanga. Baba means grandmother or old woman, but in this case I think it could be similar to Baba Yaga - an Eastern witch-like woman who is sometimes portrayed as a wise giver of advice for those that seek it from her.

Indeed that's what she was. People would line up to get advice on loved ones, illnesses, etc. She had a good knowledge of herbal remedies and prescribed these often. She was also able to communicate with spirits and could "see" a person's life and intentions as though it were a movie to her.

Baba Vanga is credited with foretelling many future events that have already happened. During the earlier years, it is said that her older brother, Vasil, had joined the army and was ready to go to war. Baba Vanga cried and begged him not to go as he would die at the age of 23. Despite the warning, her brother left and eventually surrendered to the Germans who tortured and later executed him. She is believed to have predicted the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Chernobyl disaster, the death of Princess Diana, Boris Yeltsin's electoral victory and the date of Stalin's death but I can't find the original prophecies to verify these.

Over the years, she was visited by many political leaders, including Adolph Hitler. Always the one to turn away bad people after exposing their hidden secrets, Hitler was seen leaving Baba Vanga's house in a bad mood. Had she booted him with harsh words or just told him a future he didn't want to hear I haven't found.

September 11

In 1989 she predicted the World Trade Center disaster in the following statement:

"Horror, horror! The American brethren will fall after being attacked by the steel birds. The wolves will be howling in a bush, and innocent blood will be gushing."

"Brethren" is believed to refer to the "Twin" Towers or the "Brothers". "Steel Birds" are obviously the jets. The part about the bush is believed to refer to President Bush.

Russian Disaster

In 1980, she even predicted:

"At the turn of the century, in August of 1999 or 2000, Kursk will be covered with water, and the whole world will be weeping over it."

Kursk was the name of a large city in Russia, also the site of the largest tank battle of WWII. Nobody could understand how the city would be covered by water but the meaning was clear on August 12, 2000, when the Russian submarine, Kursk, named after the city, suffered an explosion and left the survivors for dead at the bottom of the ocean. I remember this news story well. The Russian government did nothing to try and rescue the survivors while the British and Norwegian rescue attempts failed. Baba Vanga was even able to predict the month and a 50% chance of the year this would happen.

Communications with Spirits and Aliens?

She is also known in the U.F.O. community for claims that she speaks with an Alien race named the Vamfim. As she regularly conversed with spirits, who knows if it's real or hoaxed (on the aliens' account if we take Vanga for her word). They claim to be from the 3rd planet or realm from Earth - depending where you look. They're here to help and there are many references to the Vamfim around the net now. I do believe it was Baba Vanga who started the belief in the Vamfim but I'll save more on that for possibly a future article when I have more information.

Some people that have studied Baba Vanga's predictions say that she was roughly 80% accurate. However, as can be expected, there are the skeptics that believe many of her predictions were written after the fact. Since Vanga was only semi-literate, her prophecies were written down by those around her. As she is well-known in Europe, she is relatively unknown in the West and I have no mention of her in any of my books and the only information I can find is online which deals mostly with her life and the summed up list of correct predictions. The only books I can find of her have yet to be translated to English so it doesn't look like I can research more than I have for the last few hours online.

Vanga's Future Prophecies

The following list of future events was found both written in Serbian and English - the English version supposedly translated from original "Russian" but since the entire rest of the page is an obviously copied/pasted Wikipedia article I refuse to link to it. I'm only using that as reference to the translated Serbian list found on www.vojvodinacafe.com (Thanks, Igor!).

2008: Baba Vanga speaks of conflicts in "Indonesia" leading to the upcoming WWIII, but I've seen some people say that Indonesia had been mistranslated and it's meant to read "India". This will also involve the attempted assassinations of 4 heads of state. Since I'm writing this in January 2009 I've seen numerous names thrown out as possible candidates for the assassination bit - including Barack Obama due to the white supremacists' foiled plans. Think what you want about this one.

2010: World War 3 begins in November 2010. Starting as a regular war, it will progress to a nuclear and chemical war. Vanga says the war will be finished by October 2014.

2011: As a result of the war, radioactive showers will destroy almost all life in the Northern Hemisphere. The remaining Europeans will face an even further threat from the Muslims who will use chemical weapons to finish them off.

2014: As another result of the chemicals and nuclear weapons during the war, most of the world population will have skin cancer and other skin diseases.

2016: Europe is nearly uninhabited.

2018: China will become the new superpower. The exploiters will become the exploited.

2023: The Earth's orbit will change.

2025: Europe is still very underpopulated.

2028: A new energy source will be found. Hunger is overcome. A manned space flight will leave for Venus.

2033: The world water levels will rise as the polar ice caps melt.

2043: Economy is good. The Muslims will run Europe.

2046: All bodily organs can be reproduced, becoming the easiest and most popular method of treatment.

2066: The U.S. uses a new climate-changing weapon on Muslim controlled Rome.

2076: Communism takes over.

2084: Nature is reborn.(??)

2088: A new disease makes you grow old in seconds.

2097: The Fast-Aging Disease is cured.

2100: Man-made sun is lighting up the dark side of the planet.

2111: People become robots. Probably like androids.

2123: Wars between small countries. The big countries stay out of it.

2125: Signals from Space will be received in Hungary. (People will be reminded of Baba Vanga - probably due to her alien subjects)

2130: With the help of the aliens, civilizations will live underwater.

2164: Animals turn half-human.

2167: A new religion.

2170: Major drought.

2183: A colony on Mars will become a nuclear power and ask for independance from Earth. (Like the U.S. asked from England.)

2187: 2 large volcanic eruptions will be successfully stopped.

2195: The sea colonies will have energy and food.

2196: Asians and Europeans will be completely mixed.

2201: Temperatures drop as the sun's thermonuclear processes slow down.

2221: In the search for extra-terrestrial life, humans will come in contact with something terrible.

2256: A spaceship will bring a new disease to Earth.

2262: Planets will slowly change orbits. Mars will be threatened by a comet.

2271: Physics laws will be changed.

2273: White, black and yellow races will form 1 new race.

2279: Power will be obtained from nothing. (Possibly a vacuum or a black hole.)

2288: Possible time travel and alien contact.

2291: The sun grows cooler. Attempts will be made to make it hot again.

2296: Strong explosions in the sun. The forces of gravity will change. Old space stations and satellites will fall.

2299: In France, a resistance movement will rise against Islam.

2302: Important laws and secrets of the universe are revealed.

2304: Secrets of the Moon are also revealed.

2341: Something terrible will approach Earth from Space.

2354: An accident on the artificial sun will result in drought.

2371: World hunger.

2378: A new and fast-growing race.

2480: 2 artificial (man-made) suns will collide and leave the Earth in the dark.

3005: A war on Mars will change the trajectory of the planet.

3010: A comet will hit the moon. The Earth will be surrounded by a ring of rock and ash.

3797: By this time, everything on Earth will die. However, human civilization will be advanced enough to move to a new star system.

And just when I thought this long look into a possible future by Baba Vanga was finished, I found a whole bunch of reposts of even more dates on many blogs and forums. Not sure where they originated from either. These next ones are copied since all the sites are the same - these aren't in my words, that is.

3803: A new planet is populated by little. Fewer contacts between people. Climate new planet affects the organisms of people - they mutate.

3805: The war between humans for resources. More than half of people dying out.

3815: The war is over.

3854: The development of civilization virtually stops. People live flocks as beasts.

3871: New prophet tells people about moral values, religion.

3874: New prophet receives support from all segments of the population. Organized a new church.

3878: along with the Church to re-train new people forgotten sciences.

4302: New cities are growing in the world. New Church encourages the development of new technology and science.

4302: The development of science. Scientists discovered in the overall impact of all diseases in organism behavior.

4304: Found a way to win any disease.

4308: Due to mutation people at last beginning to use their brains more than 34%. Completely lost the notion of evil and hatred.

4509: Getting to Know God. The man has finally been reached such a level of development that can communicate with God.

4599: People achieve immortality.

4674: The development of civilization has reached its peak. The number of people living on different planets is about 340 billion. Assimilation begins with aliens.

5076: A boundary universe. With it, no one knows.

5078: The decision to leave the boundaries of the universe. While about 40 percent of the population is against it.

5079: End of the World.

Of course, only time will tell on how accurate Baba Vanga really was and we won't be around in this lifetime to see the long-into-the-future prophecies. If the first few predictions come true over the next few years, then we'll be in for a seriously rough ride.

I'll finish this with Baba Vanga's own words:

"Never take on the fools. They are not so dangerous as they seem, do not try to change them. Morons can do you more harm. They can do something that will cause quite a stir among all the people."

information source: http://www.theastralworld.com/prophecies/babavanga.php  

Bermuda Triangle - What is Happen there?

This fascinating video looks at the group of aircraft that were the first of thousands to go missing inside the mysterious Bermuda Triangle in 1945, in the BBC show of the same title.

information source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraftand surface vessels are said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Popular culture has attributed these disappearances to the paranormal or activity by extraterrestrial beings.^[1]

Documented evidence indicates that a significant percentage of the incidents were spurious, inaccurately reported or embellished by later authors, and numerous official agencies have stated that the number and nature of disappearances in the region is similar to that in any other area of ocean.^[2][3][4]

The area is one of the most heavily traveled shipping lanes in the world, with ships crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft regularly go back and forth between Florida and the islands. It is also a heavily flown route for commercial and private aircraft heading towards Florida, the Caribbean, and South America from points north.The boundaries of the triangle cover the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas and the entire Caribbean island area and the Atlantic east to the Azores. The more familiar triangular boundary in most written works has as its points somewhere on the Atlantic coast of Miami; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the accidents concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits.

History

Origins

The earliest allegation of unusual disappearances in the Bermuda area appeared in a September 16, 1950 Associated Press article by Edward Van Winkle Jones.^[5] Two years later, Fatemagazine published "Sea Mystery at Our Back Door",^[6] a short article by George X. Sand covering the loss of several planes and ships, including the loss of Flight 19, a group of five U.S. NavyTBM Avenger bombers on a training mission. Sand's article was the first to lay out the now-familiar triangular area where the losses took place. Flight 19 alone would be covered in the April 1962 issue of American Legion Magazine.^[7] It was claimed that the flight leader had been heard saying "We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white." It was also claimed that officials at the Navy board of inquiry stated that the planes "flew off to Mars." Sand's article was the first to suggest a supernatural element to the Flight 19 incident. In the February 1964 issue of Argosy, Vincent Gaddis's article "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle" argued that Flight 19 and other disappearances were part of a pattern of strange events in the region.^[8] The next year, Gaddis expanded this article into a book, Invisible Horizons.^[9]

Others would follow with their own works, elaborating on Gaddis's ideas: John Wallace Spencer (Limbo of the Lost, 1969, repr. 1973);^[10] Charles Berlitz (The Bermuda Triangle, 1974);^[11] Richard Winer (The Devil's Triangle, 1974),^[12] and many others, all keeping to some of the same supernatural elements outlined by Eckert.^[13]

Larry Kusche

Lawrence David Kusche, a research librarian from Arizona State University and author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved (1975)^[14] argued that many claims of Gaddis and subsequent writers were often exaggerated, dubious or unverifiable. Kusche's research revealed a number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies between Berlitz's accounts and statements from eyewitnesses, participants, and others involved in the initial incidents. Kusche noted cases where pertinent information went unreported, such as the disappearance of round-the-world yachtsman Donald Crowhurst, which Berlitz had presented as a mystery, despite clear evidence to the contrary. Another example was the ore-carrier recounted by Berlitz as lost without trace three days out of anAtlantic port when it had been lost three days out of a port with the same name in the Pacific Ocean. Kusche also argued that a large percentage of the incidents that sparked allegations of the Triangle's mysterious influence actually occurred well outside it. Often his research was simple: he would review period newspapers of the dates of reported incidents and find reports on possibly relevant events like unusual weather, that were never mentioned in the disappearance stories.

Kusche concluded that:

• The number of ships and aircraft reported missing in the area was not significantly greater, proportionally speaking, than in any other part of the ocean.
• In an area frequented by tropical storms, the number of disappearances that did occur were, for the most part, neither disproportionate, unlikely, nor mysterious;
• Furthermore, Berlitz and other writers would often fail to mention such storms or even represent the disappearance as having happened in calm conditions when meteorological records clearly contradict this.
• The numbers themselves had been exaggerated by sloppy research. A boat's disappearance, for example, would be reported, but its eventual (if belated) return to port may not have been.
• Some disappearances had, in fact, never happened. One plane crash was said to have taken place in 1937 off Daytona Beach, Florida, in front of hundreds of witnesses; a check of the local papers revealed nothing.
• The legend of the Bermuda Triangle is a manufactured mystery, perpetuated by writers who either purposely or unknowingly made use of misconceptions, faulty reasoning, and sensationalism.^[14]

Further responses

When the UK Channel 4 television program "The Bermuda Triangle" (c. 1992) was being produced by John Simmons of Geofilms for the Equinox series, the marine insurance market Lloyd's of London was asked if an unusually large number of ships had sunk in the Bermuda Triangle area. Lloyd's of London determined that large numbers of ships had not sunk there.^[15]

United States Coast Guard records confirm their conclusion. In fact, the number of supposed disappearances is relatively insignificant considering the number of ships and aircraft that pass through on a regular basis.^[14]

The Coast Guard is also officially skeptical of the Triangle, noting that they collect and publish, through their inquiries, much documentation contradicting many of the incidents written about by the Triangle authors. In one such incident involving the 1972 explosion and sinking of the tanker SS V. A. Fogg, the Coast Guard photographed the wreck and recovered several bodies,^[16] in contrast with one Triangle author's claim that all the bodies had vanished, with the exception of the captain, who was found sitting in his cabin at his desk, clutching a coffee cup.^[10] In addition, V. A. Fogg sank off the coast of Texas, nowhere near the commonly-accepted boundaries of the Triangle.

The NOVA/Horizon episode The Case of the Bermuda Triangle, aired on June 27, 1976, was highly critical, stating that "When we've gone back to the original sources or the people involved, the mystery evaporates. Science does not have to answer questions about the Triangle because those questions are not valid in the first place... Ships and planes behave in the Triangle the same way they behave everywhere else in the world."^[17]

David Kusche pointed out a common problem with many of the Bermuda Triangle stories and theories: "Say I claim that a parrot has been kidnapped to teach aliens human language and I challenge you to prove that is not true. You can even use Einstein's Theory of Relativity if you like. There is simply no way to prove such a claim untrue. The burden of proof should be on the people who make these statements, to show where they got their information from, to see if their conclusions and interpretations are valid, and if they have left anything out."^[17]

Skeptical researchers, such as Ernest Taves^[18] and Barry Singer,^[19] have noted how mysteries and the paranormal are very popular and profitable. This has led to the production of vast amounts of material on topics such as the Bermuda Triangle. They were able to show that some of the pro-paranormal material is often misleading or inaccurate, but its producers continue to market it. Accordingly, they have claimed that the market is biased in favor of books, TV specials, and other media that support the Triangle mystery, and against well-researched material if it espouses a skeptical viewpoint.

Finally, if the Triangle is assumed to cross land, such as parts of Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, or Bermuda itself, there is no evidence for the disappearance of any land-based vehicles or persons.^{[citation needed]} The city of Freeport, located inside the Triangle, operates a major shipyard and an airport that handles 50,000 flights annually and is visited by over a million tourists a year.^[20]

Supernatural explanations

Triangle writers have used a number of supernatural concepts to explain the events. One explanation pins the blame on leftover technology from the mythical lost continent of Atlantis. Sometimes connected to the Atlantis story is the submerged rock formation known as the Bimini Road off the island of Bimini in the Bahamas, which is in the Triangle by some definitions. Followers of the purported psychic Edgar Cayce take his prediction that evidence of Atlantis would be found in 1968 as referring to the discovery of the Bimini Road. Believers describe the formation as a road, wall, or other structure, though geologists consider it to be of natural origin.^[21]

Other writers attribute the events to UFOs.^[22] This idea was used by Steven Spielberg for his science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which features the lost Flight 19 aircrews asalien abductees.

Charles Berlitz, author of various books on anomalous phenomena, lists several theories attributing the losses in the Triangle to anomalous or unexplained forces.^[11]

Natural explanations

Compass variations

Compass problems are one of the cited phrases in many Triangle incidents. While some have theorized that unusual local magnetic anomalies may exist in the area,^[23] such anomalies have not been found. Compasses have natural magnetic variations in relation to the magnetic poles, a fact which navigators have known for centuries. Magnetic (compass) north and geographic (true) northare only exactly the same for a small number of places – for example, as of 2000 in the United States only those places on a line running from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico.^[24] But the public may not be as informed, and think there is something mysterious about a compass "changing" across an area as large as the Triangle, which it naturally will.^[14]

False-color image of the Gulf Stream flowing north through the western Atlantic Ocean. (NASA)

Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is a deep ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and then flows through the Straits of Florida into the North Atlantic. In essence, it is a river within an ocean, and, like a river, it can and does carry floating objects. It has a surface velocity of up to about 2.5 metres per second (5.6 mi/h).^[25] A small plane making a water landing or a boat having engine trouble can be carried away from its reported position by the current.

Human error

One of the most cited explanations in official inquiries as to the loss of any aircraft or vessel is human error.^[26] Human stubbornness may have caused businessman Harvey Conover to lose his sailing yacht, the Revonoc, as he sailed into the teeth of a storm south of Florida on January 1, 1958.^[27]

Violent weather

Hurricanes are powerful storms, which form in tropical waters and have historically cost thousands of lives lost and caused billions of dollars in damage. The sinking of Francisco de Bobadilla's Spanish fleet in 1502 was the first recorded instance of a destructive hurricane. These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle.

A powerful downdraft of cold air was suspected to be a cause in the sinking of the Pride of Baltimore on May 14, 1986. The crew of the sunken vessel noted the wind suddenly shifted and increased velocity from 20 mph to 60 - 90 mph. A National Hurricane Center satellite specialist, James Lushine, stated "during very unstable weather conditions the downburst of cold air from aloft can hit the surface like a bomb, exploding outward like a giant squall line of wind and water."^[28] A similar event occurred to the Concordia in 2010 off the coast of Brazil.

Methane hydrates

Main article: Methane clathrate

Worldwide distribution of confirmed or inferred offshore gas hydrate-bearing sediments, 1996.
Source: USGS

An explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of large fields of methane hydrates (a form of natural gas) on thecontinental shelves.^[29] Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water;^[30][31][32] any wreckage consequently rising to the surface would be rapidly dispersed by the Gulf Stream. It has been hypothesized that periodic methane eruptions (sometimes called "mud volcanoes") may produce regions of frothy water that are no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without warning.

Publications by the USGS describe large stores of undersea hydrates worldwide, including the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United Statescoast.^[33] However, according to another of their papers, no large releases of gas hydrates are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years.^[15]

Rogue waves

In various oceans around the world, rogue waves have caused ships to sink^[34] and oil platforms to topple.^[35] These waves, until 1995, were considered to be a mystery and/or a myth.^[36][37]

Notable incidents

Main article: List of Bermuda Triangle incidents

Theodosia Burr Alston

Further information: Theodosia Burr Alston

Theodosia Burr Alston was the daughter of former United States Vice President Aaron Burr. Her disappearance has been cited at least once in relation to the Triangle.^[38] She was a passenger on board Patriot, which sailed from Charleston, South Carolina to New York City on December 30, 1812, and was never heard from again. The planned route is well outside all but the most extended versions of the Bermuda Triangle^{[citation needed]}. Both piracy and the War of 1812 have been posited as explanations, as well as a theory placing her in Texas, well outside the Triangle.

Schooner Carroll A. Deering, as seen from the Cape Lookout lightvessel on January 29, 1921, two days before she was found deserted in North Carolina. (US Coast Guard)

Ellen Austin

The Ellen Austin supposedly came across a derelict ship, placed on board a prize crew, and attempted to sail with it to New York in 1881. According to the stories, the derelict disappeared; others elaborating further that the derelict reappeared minus the prize crew, then disappeared again with a second prize crew on board. A check from Lloyd's of London records proved the existence of the Meta, built in 1854 and that in 1880 the Meta was renamedEllen Austin. There are no casualty listings for this vessel, or any vessel at that time, that would suggest a large number of missing men were placed on board a derelict that later disappeared.^[39]

USS Cyclops

Main article: USS Cyclops (AC-4)

The incident resulting in the single largest loss of life in the history of the US Navy not related to combat occurred when USS Cyclops, under the command of Lt Cdr G.W. Worley, went missing without a trace with a crew of 309 sometime after March 4, 1918, after departing the island of Barbados. Although there is no strong evidence for any single theory, many independent theories exist, some blaming storms, some capsizing, and some suggesting that wartime enemy activity was to blame for the loss.^[40][41] In addition, two of Cyclops's sister ships, Proteus and Nereus were subsequently lost in the North Atlantic during World War II. Both ships were transporting heavy loads of metallic ore similar to that which was loaded on Cyclops during her fatal voyage. In all three cases structural failure due to overloading with a much denser cargo than designed is considered the most likely cause of sinking.

Carroll A. Deering

Main article: Carroll A. Deering

A five-masted schooner built in 1919, the Carroll A. Deering was found hard aground and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on January 31, 1921. Rumors and more at the time indicated the Deering was a victim of piracy, possibly connected with the illegal rum-running trade during Prohibition, and possibly involving another ship, SS Hewitt, which disappeared at roughly the same time. Just hours later, an unknown steamer sailed near the lightship along the track of the Deering, and ignored all signals from the lightship. It is speculated thatHewitt may have been this mystery ship, and possibly involved in the Deering crew's disappearance.^[42]

Flight 19

Main article: Flight 19

US Navy Avengers, similar to those of Flight 19.

Flight 19 was a training flight of five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that disappeared on December 5, 1945, while over the Atlantic. The squadron's flight plan was scheduled to take them due east from Fort Lauderdale for 141 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 140-mile leg to complete the exercise. The flight never returned to base. The disappearance is attributed by Navy investigators to navigational error leading to the aircraft running out of fuel.

One of the search and rescue aircraft deployed to look for them, a PBM Mariner with a 13-man crew, also disappeared. A tanker off the coast of Florida reported seeing an explosion^[43] and observing a widespread oil slick when fruitlessly searching for survivors. The weather was becoming stormy by the end of the incident.^[44] According to contemporaneous sources the Mariner had a history of explosions due to vapour leaks when heavily loaded with fuel, as for a potentially long search and rescue operation.

Star Tiger and Star Ariel

Main articles: G-AHNP "Star Tiger" and G-AGRE "Star Ariel"

G-AHNP Star Tiger disappeared on January 30, 1948 on a flight from the Azores to Bermuda; G-AGRE Star Ariel disappeared on January 17, 1949, on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica. Both were Avro Tudor IV passenger aircraft operated by British South American Airways.^[45] Both planes were operating at the very limits of their range and the slightest error or fault in the equipment could keep them from reaching the small island. One plane was not heard from long before it would have entered the Triangle.^[14]

Douglas DC-3

Main article: NC16002 disappearance

On December 28, 1948, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, number NC16002, disappeared while on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami. No trace of the aircraft or the 32 people onboard was ever found. From the documentation compiled by the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation, a possible key to the plane's disappearance was found, but barely touched upon by the Triangle writers: the plane's batteries were inspected and found to be low on charge, but ordered back into the plane without a recharge by the pilot while in San Juan. Whether or not this led to complete electrical failure will never be known. However, since piston-engined aircraft rely upon magnetos to provide spark to their cylinders rather than a battery powered ignition coil system, this theory is not strongly convincing.^[46]

KC-135 Stratotankers

On August 28, 1963, a pair of US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft collided and crashed into the Atlantic. The Triangle version (Winer, Berlitz, Gaddis^[8][11][12]) of this story specifies that they did collide and crash, but there were two distinct crash sites, separated by over 160 miles (260 km) of water. However, Kusche's research^[14] showed that the unclassified version of the Air Force investigation report stated that the debris field defining the second "crash site" was examined by a search and rescue ship, and found to be a mass of seaweed and driftwood tangled in an oldbuoy.

Connemara IV

A pleasure yacht was found adrift in the Atlantic south of Bermuda on September 26, 1955; it is usually stated in the stories (Berlitz, Winer^[11][12]) that the crew vanished while the yacht survived being at sea during three hurricanes. The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season shows Hurricane Ione passing nearby between the 14th and 18th of that month, with Bermuda being affected by winds of almost gale force.^[14]