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Orcadian
stones
The
megalithic stones of the Orkneys are one of the most enigmatic
monuments of Europe. But why are such gigantic structures
found here? |
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The
sacred island of the Moon
Loch
Maree, in Scotland's Wester Ross, was a key religious centre
in both pagan, Christian and Viking times. The specific
sacred centre was Isle Maree, where bull sacrifices occurred
until the 17th century. The island also is home to one of
the few surviving intact stone circles in the world. |
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Iona,
the sacred island
Iona,
a small island off the west coast of Scotland, is considered
to be one of the most holy places in the world. But is this
due to the pioneering Christianisation efforts of the early
Irish missionary St Columba, or the island’s sanctity
itself? |
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Glen
Lyon: the valley of the Sun God
Glen
Lyon, in Pertshire, is one of the most remote locations
in Scotland, but also one of the few places where Scotland's
Celtic past was kept alive, particularly a veneration of
the old Celtic deities, from the Sun God Lugh, to the Creator
Goddess the Cailleach.
Supplementary photograph section
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Kilmartin:
the original Scottish capital
Kilmartin
Valley is remote, even by Scottish standards, but may have
been a forgotten centre of prehistoric activity. Archaeology
is slowly uncovering that this tranquil valley may have
been, in the past, one of the most important centres –
and the true heart of Scotland. |
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The
fairies of Doon Hill
Doon
Hill and the Old Kirk in Aberfoyle, will forever be associated
with the Reverend Robert Kirk, a priest who is more notorious
for his belief in fairies than his Christian preachings.
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The
Scottish Grail castle ?
Is
there any chance that the famed Grail castle is not in France,
but instead is located in Scotland? If one follows the Arthurian
tradition, rather than the traditions of the Grail, that
is apparently where one ends up. |
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The
Stone of Destiny: sacred kingship in the 21st century
The
Scottish Stone of Scone – or Stone of Destiny –
is probably one of the most famous and only remaining reminders
of ancient and sacred kingship. |
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As
we walked through fields of prayer
Just
west of Aberdeen, a forgotten megalithic landscape could
contain written evidence of an ancient Mediterranean connection.
But it definitely contains memories of a once sacred landscape,
which became the Pictish heartland. |
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Callanish:
the Hyperborean temple
Callanish
is one of the most beautiful, but also most remote stone
circles in Europe. That in itself is a major clue that it
was likely a temple known to the ancient Greeks, who linked
it with their god Apollo and a mysterious island known as
Hyperborea. |
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Avebury-Stonehenge:
a scale model of Atlantis?
Few
have looked at Avebury and Stonehenge, pondering whether
they might be part of a larger complex. But when that question
is asked, an altogether different one bubbles to the surface:
could this complex also be linked with Plato’s fabled
lost civilisation of Atlantis? |
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Glastonbury:
England’s oldest sacred landscape?
Glastonbury
is often seen as England’s new age capital, with legends
of King Arthur and Jesus, and the Grail. But behind such
modern inventions, could the area be indeed a sacred landscape,
much older than Stonehenge? |
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Prehistoric
Lakeland
In
what is now a primary tourist destination, the British Lake
District was, 5000 years ago, a hub of megalithic building
activities and industrial creation of "products"
that were exported throughout the British Isles - and beyond. |
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Anglesey:
Druid’s island
On
the Welsh isle of Anglesey, the Druids made their last stand
against the Roman invaders. Was it evidence of the sanctity
of the island, parts of which are known as "Holy Island"? |
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The
Giantess’ Landscape
Forty
miles east of Anglesey, in the famous Welsh coastal resort
of Llandudno, is the peninsula that is known as Great Ormes
Head. Here, the world’s largest prehistoric industrial
site has been discovered. But elsewhere on Anglesey, recent
discoveries have unearthed Neolithic remains that rival
Newgrange and Stonehenge – though not in fame. |
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In
search of Middle England
Rather
than go in search of the mythical Middle Earth, for thousands
of years, people have tried to locate the centre of England.
Retracing their steps reveals how accurate our ancestors
were in mapping the island, accomplishing an almost impossible
task with apparently no scientific instruments.
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Dracula
in Britain
Just
over a century ago, the novel Dracula was published, written
by the Irish author Bram Stoker. It created a widespread
interest in vampirism and depicted Eastern Europe as a rather
macabre country. But was Stoker inspired by Eastern Europe,
or instead legends and sites of the British Isles? |
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Fairy
dust: the Cottingley fairies
In
1983, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths stated that back
in 1917, they had perpetrated a majestic hoax. Their world
famous photographs, showing the girls in the company of
fairies dancing around them, were paper cut-outs, supported
by hatpins. It had fooled both sceptics and believers.
|
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The
Hitching Stone
An
enigmatic boulder on the moors of Yorkshire reveals an intriguing
mythological dimension, which is now mostly forgotten. |
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Mother
Shipton: prophetess or witch?
Mother
Shipton’s Cave and the nearby Petrifying Well in Knaresborough
is England’s oldest tourist attraction. The story
of the prophetess seems to be too good to be true –
and seems to be just that… |
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London’s
Celtic “heritage”
From
the 18th century onwards, a “Druid history”
of London was slowly discovered – or imagined –
on London’s landscape. It reached a climax with the
English mystic William Blake, who transformed it into a
sacred site – the Heavenly Jerusalem. |
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Royston
Cave: creating a medieval magical centre
The
underground cave of Royston, sitting as it does at the crossroads
of the town, has created a lot of interest and controversy.
Is it, as some suggest, a medieval Templar church or is
it instead one part of a larger pagan landscape, whereby
a sacred centre was created? |
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Hell,
no damnation
The
Hellfire Caves are located just outside of West Wycombe.
Built around 1750 by the second Sir Francis Dashwood, the
Earl of Rosse (1708-1781), they are an intriguingly named
site… named after the Hellfire Club, founded by the
same earl… and for more than two centuries linked
with an awful lot of intrigue… |
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The
Loki Stone
Genuine
religious artefacts that portray the devil are – for
obvious reasons – rare. But in northwest England,
a devil’s stone is one of two in Europe that have
survived across the centuries. |
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St
Edmund’s Masonic Church
Labelled
by experts as a “temple to Freemasonry” and
“a total concept as exotic as Roslin Chapel in Scotland”,
St Edmund’s Church in Rochdale (Greater Manchester)
is one of England’s hidden gems. So much so, that
it is totally unknown. |
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The
Rushton Rebus
Rushton
Lodge – better known as the Triangular Lodge –
is considered by many to be a folly – a building without
a real purpose. But the history of the structure is more
than interesting, inviting the question whether it might
not actually contain a veritable secret message, so far
not uncovered. |
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The
Irish stellar giants
In
the west of Ireland, the area of Knocknarea and Carrowmore
forms an enigmatic but incredibly old sacred landscape,
which archaeology has only recently begun to understand.
|
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Croagh
Patrick: Transforming the Green Serpent
Nothing
seems to be more Irish than St Patrick. Nothing seems to
be more Christian than the life of this saint. But at the
same time, it are his legends that provide an inroad into
the way Ireland was before and at the time of Christianity’s
arrival. |
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The
centre and divisions of sacred Ireland
Ireland
has maintained its sacred division of the land into the
21st century, though the site of Uisneach, from which the
land was divided, is not the best known feature or most
widely visited site of the island. But together with the
other sacred sites, it continues to reveal insights into
the pagan organisation of the land. |
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Newgrange:
empowering the salmon of wisdom
Newgrange
is considered to be the most complex megalithic site in
Ireland – and Europe. But despite the enormous focus
on its solar display, little else is known about the framework
in which the site was developed. |
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Round
towers: lanterns of the dead
The
Irish round towers are enigmatic constructions: refuges,
belfries or “needles” in the system of leylines
have all been proposed as their true purpose. Could it be,
however, that they were beacons for the souls of the dead?
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Glozel:
the fraud or find of the 20th century?
From
1924 to 1938, a total of some 3,000 artefacts, variously
dated to Neolithic, Iron Age and Medieval times were unearthed
from Glozel, a hamlet some 17 km from the French spa town
of Vichy. For some, it is one of the greatest archaeological
discoveries ever; for others, it is one of the most notorious
hoaxes. |
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Archaeological
Trench Warfare at Glozel
When
artefacts unearthed at Glozel, France, in the mid-1920s
didn't fit the accepted scholarly explanation of human prehistory
in that region, archaeologists engaged in a bitter battle
that has still not seen a clear winner. |
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Dynamite,
Father de Coma and his abbey
Another
enigmatic priest, this time in the small village of Baulou,
created a building frenzy in the style of the mysterious
priest Saunière of the neighbouring Rennes-le-Château...
but in the end, his domain was dynamited on orders of the
local bishop. |
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Counting
stones
Thousands
of megaliths are aligned in neat stone rows in and near
the town of Carnac, in Brittany. What purpose could they
have served? |
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The
French Rosslyn?
St
Bertrand de Comminges has what is popularly called “The
Cathedral of the Pyrenees”. But you could also argue
it is France’s answer to Rosslyn… predating
it, and with a potentially genuine Templar link. |
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Chartres:
the Virgin Mary’s Seat on Earth
Chartres
Cathedral is seen as one of the most important Gothic cathedrals.
It is a mystical place, where alchemists and symbolists
have tried to unveil its mysteries – and pilgrims
have come for thousands of years, even before the Cathedral
was erected. Does that explain why Chartres, a rather small,
unimpressive town, was seen as the “Seat of the Virgin
Mary on Earth”? |
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Gisors:
the cutting of the Priory
The
French town of Gisors is believed to be – and was
– the cradle of the Priory of Sion. The question is:
why… and have we all been staring in the wrong direction?
|
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Mitterrand’s
Great – Unknown – Work
The
glass pyramid of the Louvre, La Défense, even the
quaint “Monument to the Rights of Man” are known
to sit within the French President François Mitterrand’s
enigmatic building obsession. But Cergy-Pointoise’s
“Axe Majeur” is both the largest and never cited
work developed under Mitterrand’s reign. So why is
it so unknown? |
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The
Wewelsburg: the Nazi Grail Castle
It
is said that the Wewelsburg was going to be the “Grail
Castle” of the Nazi regime, once it had established
itself as rulers of the world. Is this true, and, if so,
what was their ambition in this vast building project? |
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Extersteine:
the quest for Germany’s roots
In
the 1920s and 30s, the Nazi party used the study of the
Irminsul, “the Great Pillar”, as the cornerstone
forging a renewed Germany identity. The enigmatic rock formation
known as the Externsteine became the focus of these endeavours.
|
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The
Heights of Athens
Athens
is not only the capital of Greece, it is also considered
to be the cradle of democracy. But what is less known is
that Athens, as a city, has its own sacred geography, echoing
the Greek philosophy for which it would become famous. |
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Know
Thyself
Delphi
was one of – if not the – most important sites
of the first millennium BC. Disappointing archaeological
results in the late 19th century pushed it into the background,
but in recent years, the fame of Delphi is slowly rising
again, like the vapours once rose from its famed chasm.
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Egypt:
origin of the Greek culture
Greece's
culture lies at the origin of western civilisation. But
for more than a century, its ancient Egyptian origins have
steadfastedly been denied and brushed aside, in an effort
to maintain an outdated status quo. |
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Crete:
isle of the dead?
The
Greek island of Crete is home to the "Minoan"
civilisation. But is it a genuine civilisation, or a vasal
state of Egypt - and what is new research showing us about
its relationship with the enigmatic Hyksos? |
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The
Phaistos Disc: roll ‘em
The
enigmatic Phaistos disc has been interpreted in so many
different ways that most have given up all hope that it
may ever be properly understood. But amongst the myriad
opportunities, there is one possibility that is supported
by the available evidence. |
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The
wheels of Greek astronomical science
The
Antikythera device is an oop-art: an out of place-artefact.
Dating from the 1st century BC, it is more than a millennium
older than comparative calculators found so far.
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Europe’s
pyramid history unveiled
In
recent years, two pyramid complexes have been uncovered
in Europe: one in Italy, another in Bosnia. After
less than one year’s of analysis, the Bosnian pyramid
is already identified as an artificial structure, thus finally
providing proof that Europe does have a pyramid past.
|
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Of
Romulus and Homer
Though
many will identify Romulus and Remus as the mythical origin
of Rome, is that all there is to know about the birth of
what would become one of, if not the biggest empire in history?
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Hell
on Earth
The
Bay of Naples was seen as Hell on Earth, an entrance into
the Underworld, but also the site of one of the most famous
oracles: that of Cumae, a mystery that is still surrendering
– slowly – some of its mysteries. |
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The
Alchemical Chapel
The
Neapolitan Chapel of Sansevero is one of the most enigmatic
chapels in Europe, if only because its creator, Raimondo
di Sangro, was deemed to be the Leonardo da Vinci of his
time. |
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The
towers of Sardinia
The
nuraghi on the Italian island of Sardinia are one of the
least known, but most remarkable legacies of the “Stone
Age”. If ever the Flintstones were real, it seems
they were natives of Sardinia. |
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The
mysterious seafarers of the “faraway island”
The
ancient necropolises of the Italian island of Sardinia have
been linked with the fairies, its gigantic tombs with giants.
Built by the Ozieri culture, they were a mysterious seafaring
culture known as the Shardana. |
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Old
Europe
Before
Sumer, Crete or the Maltese civilisation, there was “Old
Europe”, or the Vinca culture… a forgotten,
rather than lost civilisation that lies at the true origin
of most of our ancient civilisations.
|
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Malta:
the small island of the giants
A
small island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea contains
some of the biggest megalithic monuments. Built before the
pyramids by apparently a peace-loving people, the question
is who they were and why they disappeared so suddenly. |
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From
the otherworld to another world?
Malta’s
Hypogeum is a unique structure of the ancient world. So
unique, that we know little about its purpose, which for
some was a collective burial site, for others a temple.
But the structure comes with a series of intriguing accounts,
including one leading all the way to another dimension.
|
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Stuck
in a rut?
The
Maltese cart ruts are considered to be one of the most enduring
ancient enigmas. But could it be that they are precisely
what their name suggests: cart ruts?
|
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Bruges:
the Jerusalem of the North
Off
the beaten tourist track in the Venice of the North –
Bruges – stands a small chapel, commonly known as
the Jerusalem Church. Built by a rich Italian merchant family,
the chapel is one of the city’s most enigmatic gems
and might hold one of its most precious relics. |
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Wanted
for theft: Nostradamus
Professor
Rudy Cambier came to an astonishing revelation when he read
Nostradamus' quatrains: they were not written in French,
but in Picardian, the language of the area he grew up in,
and a language he knew perfectly. Reading the "prophecies"
properly, Cambier discovered that the Centuries were not
prophecies at all, but were therefore not less intriguing
or important. What they revealed was that Nostradamus had
stolen a 300 year old manuscript from a Belgian monastery,
detailing the last days of the Knights Templar, and their
provisions to safeguard their treasure. |
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Göbekli
Tepe: the world’s oldest temple
A
12,000-year-old temple that is being excavated in Turkey
is rewriting the historical record and seems to belong to
a larger, hitherto unknown civilisation that is slowly being
uncovered. |
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The
Burrows cave: African gold in Illinois
The
story of the Burrows Cave is a story about archaeology,
but also of human behaviour. It is the story of an alleged
cave containing the tomb of an African king, having reach
America (Illinois) in the first century AD – and the
subsequent controversy the artefacts from this cave were
able to make.
Supplementary photograph
section |
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Copper:
a world trade in 3000 BC?
Europe’s
economy between 2000 and 1000 BC stood and fell with copper,
used for the creation of bronze. At the same time, large
quantities of copper were mined in America, though no-one
seems to know who was using it. A question of a world economy,
and supply and demand? |
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Canyonitis:
Seeing evidence of ancient Egypt in the Grand Canyon
Is
there, within the Grand Canyon, an enigmatic system of tunnels
that is evidence of an ancient Egyptian voyage to America?
Is it all bogus? Or is the truth most likely somewhere in
between? |
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Wupatki:
a Toltec outpost?
Did
the Mayan and Toltecs of Mexico have a “northern colony”
as far north as Arizona? Archaeological evidence shows that
the sacred centres of the so-called Hohokam conform to a
Mexican template. |
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America’s
Nazca lines
Along
the Colorado River, a number of geoglyphs are carved out
of the desert floor that are on par with the mysterious
markings in the Peruvian desert near Nazca. However, the
American “intaglios” are far less famous.
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The
power of Sedona
Claims
of vortexes, new age stores and a town that was founded
in 1902 might make Sedona an unlikely claimant to being
one of the oldest settlements in America. But that is precisely
what the Yavapai creation legends claim. |
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The
Wanderers of the Fourth World
The
Ancestral Puebloans have left a legacy of stunning cliff
dwelling in the canyons of the Four Corners. Today, the
mythology of the Hopi is able to shed refreshing insights
into a people who believe that they alone hold our world
in balance. |
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Light
and shadows
Rock
art is a widespread phenomenon across the world. But in
the deserts of western America, rock art is almost omnipresent,
but at the same time little-understood and only recently
studied. What do these drawings reveal about our ancestors?
|
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Christians
don’t worship here any more…
The
village of San Juan Chamula, in the mountains of Chiapas,
is a Mayan village, masking as a Christian community…
but Christian it isn’t… |
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Mayan
Magic
The
Yucatan with its Mayan temples and pyramids is a magical
land. But what these buildings reveal, is that the Maya
seem to have placed major emphasis on magic. |
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Rebuilding
creation
Like
so many other cultures, the Mayan religious centres were
designed along the principles of sacred architecture, which
retold the story of creation. |
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Orion's
Image
The
New World equivalent of the Gizeh pyramids may well be Teotihuacan,
even in as much detail that its layout also mimics astronomical
information, even that of Orion’s Belt. |
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Maize:
food from the Gods?
In
a 1982 exhibition, the Mexican National Museum of Culture
claimed that maize was “not domesticated, but created”.
Indeed, maize is accepted as Man’s first, and perhaps
his greatest, feat of genetic engineering. So much so, that
it is even said to be a gift from the gods.
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The
Stone Head
A
photograph of an enigmatic head in the Guatemalan jungle
is one of those discoveries that quickly achieved notoriety,
and equally fast disappeared from the radar. Still, further
efforts should perhaps be made to further the cause of this
enigma.
|
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The
Quest For The Metal Library
A
system of tunnels and caves beneath Ecuador and Peru is
reputed to hold an ancient treasure-house of artefacts including
two libraries, one containing inscribed metal books and
the other storing tablets of crystal. |
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The
legend of Akakor
In
the fourth Indiana Jones movie, our archaeologist-adventurer
goes in search of a lost “kingdom of the crystal skull”.
It appears that this is none other than the legendary Akakor,
which became famous in the 1970s. But is the legend too
good to be true? |
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Terra
Preta
In
the depths of the Amazonian basin, a specific type of soil
is found that is known to be of human origin – but
which modern science has so far been unable to reproduce.
It seems to have been “primitive man’s”
attempt to terraform the Amazon into fertility. |
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Jurassic
Library
According
to geological evidence, the Age of Dinosaurs and the Age
of Man are separated by roughly 60 million years. That has
not deterred the dream-spinners of Hollywood from supposing
that dinosaurs survived into the present (The Lost World),
or that they can be genetically recreated (Jurassic Park).
other movies in this genre have played with the idea that,
somehow, man and the dinosaurs may have co-existed. |
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Viracocha's
Voyage
The
Sacred Valley of Cuzco, incorporating Ollantaytambo &
Macchu Picchu, is more than a collection of impressive monuments:
it is the backdrop of the story of the civilising creator
god, Viracocha. |
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Caral:
the oldest town in the New World
The
pyramids of Caral presented a veritable breakthrough for
the New World. Their dating: 2600 BC, older than the pyramids
of Gizeh... |
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Nazca:
Airport of the Gods?
The
Nazca lines have been an enigma and centre of controversy
since von Däniken made the lines world famous in the
late 1960s. Though the controversy has continued, largely
undetected, some intrepid researchers and scientists have
most likely been able to answer the enigma. |
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Fake
Porn
The
Peruvian Ullo temple with its giant phalli seemed to good
to be true – a largely intact temple in which a cult
of fertility had survived the onslaught of Christianity? |
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The
Gold of Gran Paititi
With
the Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire, many of its cities
were destroyed or abandoned. Some of these would survive
in name only; some, such as Macchu Picchu, were later rediscovered.
None is more lost, and sought after, than Gran Paititi –
for there it is, apparently, where the lost gold treasure
of the Incas is. |
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The
stone heads of Easter Island
The
stone heads of Easter Island have cast an almost magical
spell on anyone that has seen them – if only in a
photograph. Though often eyeless, they still gaze along
the shores of the island. What were they built for and who
were the artisans of these mysterious creations?
|
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Karnak:
The largest temple on Earth
The
religious complex of Karnak, in Luxor, is the largest ancient
religious site in the world. It was the Vatican of its day
– and four millennia after its heydays, continues
to dwarf all other religious buildings. Here, we are confronted
with the reason what has made Egypt so enchanting.
|
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Heliopolis:
Egypt’s radiance
Heliopolis
was ancient Egypt’s most magnificent temple. Today,
nothing remains, its stones dispersed over various buildings
of medieval Cairo. Equally, its true importance lies scattered
in various ancient accounts, from Diodorus Siculus, Plato,
and many others. |
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Let
there be light!
Deep
inside the crypts of the Egyptian temple complex of Denderah
is an enigmatic room, which for some depicts evidence that
the ancient Egyptians knew the secret of electricity. But
could it be that the scenes reveal an even bigger mystery?
|
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The
Labyrinthine Search
Destroyed
for some, intact and waiting to be discovered for others,
the labyrinth of Hawara was one of ancient Egypt’s
greatest achievements, on par, if not surpassing, the fame
of the pyramids. |
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Dogon
Shame
Modern
research has shown that the Dogon did not possess a belief
that they originated from Sirius, or were visited by beings
from that planet. Instead, it seems this myth was written
into the records by early French anthropologists. |
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Giza's
Wall of Crows
Giza
boasts the biggest ancient sculpture, the Sphinx, and the
last surviving wonder of the world, the Great Pyramid. But
the biggest man-hewn stone is not to be found in either
of them. An impressive stone worked into a wall, situated
off the beaten track, weighs an estimated three hundred
tons. |
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On
the wings of a kite
How
were the pyramids built? How were obelisks erected? A new
theory from a group of American amateur kite enthusiasts
has provided new inroads in trying to answer this mystery.
|
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The
Egyptologist, the Sphinx and the cover-up
The
clampdown on excavations at many archaeological sites in
Egypt and the inconsistent attitudes of antiquities supremo
Dr Zahi Hawass on the existence of tunnels and cavities
within the Giza Plateau suggest a hidden agenda is being
played out. |
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Found:
one Ark of the Covenant?
Just
before the First World War, a team of European explorers
went to Jerusalem, to dig for the Ark of the Covenant...an
expedition that has largely been forgotten, though it was
one of the most intriguing ever.
|
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China's
Great Pyramids Controversy
The
existence of pyramids in China was a controversial topic,
until Hartwig Hausdorf went into China, in the early 1990s,
and came away with evidence that China had indeed its own
ancient pyramids. |
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The
Stone Discs of Baian-Kara-Ula
Did
aliens crashland on Earth? The story of the Dzopa and the
stone discs of Baian-Kara-Ula was a controversial topic,
made famous by Erich von Daniken. Hartwig Hausdorf queried
the Chinese authorities about the subject, and a remarkable
story resurfaced. |
 |
The
Dropa tribe and their stone discs revisited
More
than a decade ago, Hartwig Hausdorf reignited the debate
as to whether aliens had crashlanded in the remote Chinese
mountain range of Baian-Kara-Ula. Over the past decade,
several elements of the story have been confirmed. |
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White
Masters in the deserts of China?
The
discovery of Caucasoid mummies in China shows that East
and West might have been meeting since the Bronze Age. Do
they validate some of the ancient legends? |
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The
automatic writings of Jung
Carl
Gustav Jung is notorious for being more “liberal”
in his psychology than his friend Freud. But what is less
known, is that Jung was more of an alchemist and Gnostic,
then a psychotherapist. |
 |
With
his head in the stars
Carl
Sagan led a controversial life. Forever in search of life
in the universe, he was nevertheless adamantly opposed to
“pseudoscience”, such as UFOlogy and crop circles.
Sagan was no stranger to controversy… and in the end
became a controversy himself. |
 |
The
Hyper-dimensional ambassador
Terence
McKenna was for
some more guru than a man whose lifestyle had been moulded
by very deep experiences of an alternative reality. For
the rest of his life, he would strive to bring awareness
of that dimension to our reality. |
 |
Mr.
Mack goes to the UFO convention
Harvard
Professor John Mack was what many people believed the phenomenon
had always been lacking: a big-time professor who spoke
up for the reality of the phenomenon. Nevertheless, his
message was more complex… |
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Michael
Scott: the Scottish wizard
Scott,
“the Wizard of the North”, is credited variously
as Scotland’s first scientist, alchemist, sorcerer
and astronomer. He is also one of Scotland’s forgotten
geniuses. Who is the man behind the myth? |
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Socrates,
that’s the question
He
is one of the world’s best known names, yet we know
very little about him. And though some have labelled him
the father of Western philosophy, it may be that he was
not that father at all. |
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Mirin
Dajo: Wonderman
Just
after the Second World War, the Dutchman Mirin Dajo made
himself into a living enigma, as his body was able to be
pierced repeatedly, without suffering any internal injury
or even bleeding. Sixty years on, the world has largely
forgotten what he did, even who he was. |
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The
Master: Philippe de Lyon
Philippe
de Lyon was one of the most famous thaumaturges of all times;
he was also one of the most impressive clairvoyants of the
19th century. Aide to the Russian Tsar before the controversial
Rasputin – who seemed to take up the space Philippe
left behind – he was both revered and controversial,
and according to some, on par with Jesus himself. |
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Otto
Rahn: author, poet, Grail seeker, SS officer
The
German author Otto Rahn wrote a series of books on the Grail,
which he believed was physically real, and not merely the
figment of medieval authors’ imagination. His quest
took him to the South of France, where his excavations have
since fuelled speculation that he and the Nazi regime of
his time “might” have uncovered the Grail.
|
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Raymond
Abellio: a modern Cathar?
The
French politician and author Raymond Abellio could be one
of modern history’s most enigmatic characters…
if his career and reputation were known outside of France,
where he is largely an unknown entity. |
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Cave
paintings: entrancing the Otherworld
New
research is showing that the cave paintings, most tens of
thousands of years old, are the earliest religious expressions
of the vision quests of the shaman-priests. |
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Prehistoric
"plane" flies !
Three
Germans have created a scale model of the enigmatic "insect",
identified by Erich von Däniken as an airplane. |
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The
rise of the Watchers
The
Watchers: legendary angelic creatures mentioned in ancient
documents - but apparently also the identity of the grey
alien beings of modern UFO abduction. A study in parallels
- whether genuine or mythical... |
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Food
of the Gods ?
Are
mushrooms the real food of the gods? Does it contain a hallucinogenic
substance that was known and used by ancient cultures and
its priests to gain access to the World of the Gods? |
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The
alternative conquest of the Moon
Man
officially set foot on the Moon for the first time in July
1969. Or if you believe we never went to the moon: it is
promoted that we officially set foot on the Moon for the
first time in July 1969. But there have been stories that
extraterrestrial beings had already been to the Moon, or
had a basis there… and even that we ourselves went
to the Moon long before Neil Armstrong. |
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Casting
Stones
The
“megalithic civilisation” in Western Europe
is still a civilisation that is ill-understood, if only
because it has suffered from decades of scientific neglect.
At present, some of the answers about the monuments they
left behind is becoming clearer, but questions remain as
to who this civilisation was, and what became of them.
|
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Atlantis
= Cyprus ?
The
lost civilisation
of Atlantis has been located virtually anywhere in the world…
and some have even gone as far as space… Researcher
Robert Sarmast has now concluded that the lost civilisation
must have been located near Cyprus… and he may be
right. |
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Tweet
tweet: the language of birds
The
“bird language” or “Green language”
is an intriguing system of codes, practiced by some traditions.
But what lies at its origins – and could its origin
actually not be a language, but what many termed the original
method of communication? |
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Origin
and symbolism of the crystal skulls
The
mysterious crystal skulls are likely to have originated
in Central America and may have performed an important role
in re-enacting the Mayans' creation myth and networking
their temple complexes. |
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The
Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull Mystery
The
account of the finding of the world-famous crystal skull
in the Mayan city of Lubaantun was a cover story to hide
the truth about how explorer Mike Mitchell-Hedges actually
acquired it. |
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The
road not taken
The
Cult of Mithras, rather than Christianity, almost became
the religion that dominated Western Europe. It failed, but
intriguingly, we now hardly know anything about it. |
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Run
for the gods
The
notion of sport as a religious exercise seems alien to us
– with only the Olympic Games having some remnants
of this sacred character. Indeed, the earliest athletes
were said to have been the gods and mythical heroes themselves.
|
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Where
art thou, Troy?
It
may come as a surprise, but the location of Troy is once
again in dispute. Rather than Turkey, new thinking places
it in Northern Europe… or even our skies. |
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Biblical
rationality
The
list of prediluvian patriarchs is for some evidence of the
veracity of the Bible, for others evidence of the impossibility
of the biblical accounts. But whereas some accounts are
based on faith and the sceptical arguments have logical
holes, a third alternative seems required. |
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Reaching
for the skies
The
Great Pyramid, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,
remained the world’s tallest monument for several
millennia. But in the late 19th century, Mankind once again
began to reach for the sky – sometimes with imagination
and symbolism, sometimes purely because it could, and wanted
to show as much. |
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The
wooden book of Montségur
In
the early 20th century, a series of palm leaves, containing
anomalous writing, were apparently discovered within a hidden
cache of the walls of the Cathar castle of Montségur.
Though without any intrinsic value, the “wooden book”
– as it became known – would become the centrepiece
of the esoteric and metaphysical community; its discoverers
even labelled it “the Oracle” and said it was
able to contact the hidden masters of Agharta. |
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Rolling
Stones
Bosnia
not only has pyramids: it also has a number of enigmatic
stone spheres, on par with similar balls found in Costa
Rica several decades ago. So far, no-one has been able to
explain the Middle American balls; can the Bosnian discovery
assist in revealing their purpose? |
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Ripper
magic
Long
before Hannibal Lecter, Jack the Ripper was the first serial
killer that attained worldwide notoriety. But could he have
been a murderer that was performing a magical ritual? |
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11:23
All
numbers are equal, but some numbers are less equal than
others. And in recent years, it is clear that a lot of attention
is being focused on the numbers 11 and 23. Why? |
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The
Cathars: the struggle for and of a new Church
The
“Cathar heresy” that struck Southern France
in the 13th century, and which was viciously persecuted
by the Church, remains a pool of interest and intrigue.
What really happened, and what did they truly believe? |
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The
Labyrinth Way
Labyrinths
are a cross-cultural phenomenon, found in millennia old
caves and medieval Gothic cathedrals. What do they represent?
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