Split Rock is near the township of Laura, south of Cooktown. It is a dry sandstone environment. There are 3 main panels of artworks to explore. Artwork is superimposed with layers of images on top of each other so it can be difficult to make out individual objects. Many animals are recognisable such as bats, dogs and emus. Things I noticed: One panel of artwork looks similar to Bradshaw paintings. There is a large faint python image going across the main panel. Some of the dog looking images could be extinct tigers (Thylacine). I discovered a few hand prints and a fish image that are adjacent to one of the panels and are probably missed by most visitors.
Black Mountain is an eerie place - just south of Cooktown in North Queensland Australia - this place has Aboriginal reports of giant snakes, historical reports of cattle and drovers disapearing into the dark caverns, and farmers reporting a large (extinct) Tiger on the loose that attacks cattle. Don't go climbing it or might disapear into the dark depths below.
Girringun Aboriginal Art Gallery in Cardwell Australia displays fascinating Aboriginal artifacts including weapons as well as hunting and gathering equipment. Cardwell Museum located in the Centre of Cardwell just off Hinchinbrook Island has an array of artifacts from settlement. Two of these I found very interesting:
1. Tiger in Queensland, Australia. The plaque reads: Alfred Arthur Hull, Surveyor and Artist - 1871, 26th “… and a native tiger roaring close to our camp; the tiger came within one hundred yards of our tent, but we could not get a shot at him, owing to the darkness and the scrub. I believe it is not generally known that there is such a thing as a native tiger in Queensland, but it is nevertheless a fact.” 2. An unknown early shipwreck just north of Cardwell - canon balls found in a creek. Just north of Carwell is wreck creek (interesting name) where several canon balls from an unknown decaying ship wreck were found in 1864. The canon was retrieved and restored, mounted on the Cardwell foreshore jetty. Apparently two lads attempted to ignite the canon in 1872 for the Governor’s ship arrival, it did not ignite. Later a group of locals ignited the canon and it exploded. No parts of the canon have been located since. Refer to plaque for more detail. There are things called metal detectors and it would be interesting to scan the shallows and sandbars of wreck creek - watch out for crocodiles! Exploring Santiago Chile after the 2010 8.8 magnitude earthquake. I visited the Museum of Natural History (Museo Nacional de Historia), which is a huge building. Massive cracks in the walls were evident. In the centre of the museum a large whale skeleton was once stretched across the room. At the time of my visit it was shattered into pieces on the floor. There is an upstairs room at the museum dedicated to Easter Island display of artefacts. I was very keen to investigate and photograph particularly Rongorongo inscriptions. Easter Island (Rapa nui) is located a short 6hr flight west of Chile and belongs to Chile. While at the museum our Brasilian Tour Guide (Yes Brasilian in Chile) was able to convince the museum staff that I was a famous photographer from Australia who was doing a piece on Easter Island and allowed me to access the Easter Island museum room upstairs. It was off limits to visitors due to the extensive damage from the earthquake that had made it unsafe! It was dark but I did my best to photograph everything quickly. I was also given the business card of the Director of the Museum and said that if I email him I could be sent images of the Rongorongo inscriptions, that are housed in a safe location off limits to visitors. While in Santiago a visit to Plaza de Armas (The Plaza of Arms) is a must. There is a plaque on the plaza floor that shows the original native settlements before conquistadores civilized them. Across the plaza is the Metropolitan Cathedral, Palacio de la Real Audiencia de Santiago, the beautiful Correo Central. A museum is housed here with artefacts. You wouldn’t think you would find Saber-Toothed Cats and the very frightening Naeglele’s Giant Jaguar in Los Angeles right? Yet here they are in the middle of Los Angeles suburbia! Along with Short-faced Bears, thousands of Dire Wolves, Bison, Pigs, Deer, Tapir, Horses, Camels, Giant Ground Sloths, Mastodon, and a very frightening bird called Merriam’s Teratorn (wingspan 3.2m). Yes Hollywood was once filled with these animals and Indians who hunted them. Animals that got stuck in the black ooze were food for predators who often became stuck themselves. Thus there are a large number of fossil predators recovered from the pits. A menagerie of animals lived in Los Angeles, Southern California USA, which was once an open plain that was lush open grazing fields with streams. Many of these animals were preserved in the Tar Pits (Asphalt). The Tar Pits still bubble with gasses today! Oil Wells still operate on the soil of Los Angeles today pumping crude from the depths that are the remains of plants and animals and other organisms, which perished in the Global Flood and were preserved as crude oil or asphalt.
I explored the Tar Pits and museum of Rancho La Brea, located at Hancock Park, Los Angeles. Several human artefacts were also found in the La Brea Tar Pits including a basalt cogged-stone wheel and deer bone hairpins, hunting objects, and worked wood. Local Indian’s would utilise the tar for waterproofing objects and other uses. A human skull of an 18yr old woman (La Brea Woman) and several skeletal elements were found in one of the pits. For more information read: Brancho La Brea - Death Trap and Treasure Trove, George C Page, Special Edition, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Edited by John M Harris, TERRA Vol.38, No.2, April/May/June, 2001. Rancho La Brea: Treasures of the Tar Pits, John M Harris, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Foundation, 2010. The first time I heard about Ed Leedskalnin & Coral Castle I could not sleep! How did this small-framed man single-handedly move and sculpt huge blocks of limestone stone weighing tonnes? Ed Leedskalnin had told people he knew “how the Egyptians had built the Pyramids". He also experimented and wrote about his theories of magnetism… Magnetism was known in ancient Egypt. For example, Plutarch references Manetho (Historian of ancient Egypt) "They often call Isis by the name Athena, which expresses some meaning as "I came from myself", and is indicative of self-orientated movement. But Typhôn, as I have already mentioned, is called Sêth, Bebôn, and Smy, these names implying a certain violent and obstructive force, or a certain opposition or overthrow. Further, as Manetho records, they call the loadstone "the one of Hôrus", but iron "the bone of Typhôn" Just as iron is often like to be attracted and led after the stone, but often again turns away and is repelled in the opposite direction. So the salutary, good, and rational movement of the world at one time attracts, conciliates, and by persuasion mollifies the harsh Typhonian power; then again, when the latter has recovered itself, it overthrows the other and reduces it to helplessness."(1) Interesting marginal note in Manetho(1): "2 Smy is not a name of Typhôn, but may mean "confederate" in Egyptian (from sm', to unite). In religious texts the phrase Sêth and his sm'yt, i.e. "Sêth and his confederates" often occurs. See Kees Sêth in Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, R.-E. ii A. 2 (1923), cols. 1896 ff. 3 Interesting confirmation of the correctness of Plutarch and Manetho is given by G. A. Wainwright in his article "Iron in Egypt" (J. Eg. Arch. xviii. 1932, p.14). He compares Pyramid Texts, § 14, "the bi' which comes forth out of Setesh," and refers to Petrie's discovery at Kâw (an important centre of Sêth worship) of great quantities of gigantic bones, collected in piles: they were chiefly of hippopotami, - mineralised, heavy, black bones, of a metallic lustre and appearance. It is clear that they were considered sacred to Sêth, as they were wrapped in linen and were found here and there in tombs in Kâw." A loadstone is a former name for magnetic stone. Typhôn is where the word Typhoon comes from. There is an interchange between electricity and magnetism and probably gravity (repulsion and attraction). From Manetho's statement in Plutarch it is clear that ancient Egyptians were familiar with the properties of magnetism - perhaps electricity too? In 2015 I investigated Coral Castle first hand. Coral Castle is located at 28655 South Dixie Highway Florida. I took as many photos and examined as many aspects of the Castle as possible in the short time I had (Taxi waiting outside and it was raining). Besides the many stone objects and the moat like area surrounding the castle walls (where some of the slabs of stone were excavated from) there is a museum, which contains some artefacts and historical images. For more information regarding Coral Castle go to www.coralcastle.com Edward Leedskalnin was an immigrant who moved to USA from Riga Latvia and settled in Florida in 1923. He purchased an acre of land first in South Florida and began to build a Coral Castle. However, in 1937 Ed relocated his castle to 10 acres at Homestead Modello and re-built Coral Castle (Rock Gate or Rock Gate Park). It was his home and also an amusement park that he would charge tourists to enter. All of Ed Leedskalnin's tools were homemade from recycled car parts from the tip. Apparently Ed was very secretive about his techniques and would stop working when people were near. He often worked at night and it was reported that some children had seen Ed floating large blocks of stone through the air like hydrogen balloons. Furthermore, it was reported that when Ed had rapidly moved his large blocks to a new location to build the current Coral Castle in the late 1930’s. A paid farmer transported the relocated stones and was amazed at how fast Ed had loaded the trailer with the giant stones. No one saw Ed load or unload the stones as he worked during the night. He often worked on his Stonehenge at night - Interestingly, Ed states in Magnetic Current that the Sun sends out individual magnets that rotate the Earth and this could be a reason he worked only at night so that the Sun’s magnets would not interfere with his magnetic work. Ed would often refer to his “Sweet Sixteen” or Latvian girlfriend, who had jilted him, in both his sculptures and writings. Some theorists have proposed some hidden meaning regarding Ed’s referral to his “Sweet Sixteen”, in that it could be code words for something else to do with anti-gravity. Did I notice anything at Coral Castle that could give some clues as to how Ed moved large blocks of stone or any clues to anti-gravity? Yes I did notice something that I have not read anyone else mention - 5 times I noticed the same 6 pointed star symbol - The first is as soon as you enter the property Ed has the welcome sign on a 6 pointed star, then the Polaris telescope (the tallest stone on the property, then cut into the rock against a wall near the obelisk, and one of the pools of water (is not round but a 6 pointed star shape), a 6 pointed star in the so-called moon fountain. What this means I don’t know except it has something to do with Polaris the North Star! It seems Ed was obsessed with the North Star and incorporated it into his sculptures. Ed would visit the library in Florida and read regarding the sciences. Ed was apparently well read in astronomy and had developed a sundial for telling the time. He also had shapes of several planets arranged in his sculptures around the wall and had a Polaris telescope built into the rocks. Prior to my trip to Coral Castle I had read several books about Ed and several of Ed’s own publications. Ed Leedskalnin published five short manuscripts such as: Magnetic Current A Book in Every Home, Magnetic Base Cosmic Force Mineral, Vegetable, & Animal Life Other books written about Ed Leedskalnin: Coral Castle - The Mystery of Ed Leedskalnin and His American Stonehenge (By: Rusty McClure and Jack Heffron) Mr Can’t Is Dead! The Story of the Coral Castle (By: Orval Irwin) The Enigma of Coral Castle (By: Ryan. Stoner) There is also a rare Latvian history of Ed Leedskalnin’s life titled Korallu Pils by Andris Stavro published in 2005 in Latvian. I can't find a copy of this and it sells for hundreds of dollars! Ed Leedskalnin would experiment with Magnetic Current and had developed his own unique theories about magnets. He believed that individual north and south magnets are in all things, more in some things such as iron. He believed that there were invisible north and south magnets that run against each other in a right-hand twist direction and that channelling these individual magnets in paths and in great numbers could provide useful power to do work. Interestingly, in A History of Electricity(2) Des-cartes describes the same observation regarding magnetic lines of force of the right-hand twist as Ed Leedskalnin had, stating: “The spirals which can enter at one end of the conduits cannot enter at the other end - apparently on the principle that a right hand threaded screw cannot enter a left hand threaded nut…”. Magnetic north and south lines of force run in opposite directions to each other in a helical twist - a double helix! It is interesting that all life is built on a double helix and it appears the magnetic substance that keeps planets in motion also functions as a double helix! I have not heard of anyone else make this link… He also believed that these individual magnets are in all things and are the life force of the universe that keep the Earth spinning and the Moon in it's place. These individual magnets are the smallest of things because they can go through anything. In Magnetic Current Ed describes magnetic experiments to illustrate principles. He describes how to make a device called a Perpetual Motion Holder that illustrates how permanent magnets are made - to make the individual north south magnets run in an orbit that never stops. Ed died on the 7th December 1951 without leaving obvious clues as to how he achieved Coral Castle. I recommend a reading of Ed Leedskalnin’s works, while adding drawings of his experiments. If you have time and a shed you could recreate his experiments. Also, read the following if you can find a copy: Electricity in the 17th & 18th Centuries - A study of Early Modern Physics (1979), JL. Heilbron, University of California Press. Experimental Researches in Electricity, Michael Farraday. References 1. Manetho, Loeb Classic Library, Translated by W.E.Waddell, (1940), The Sacred Book, Fr. 78, 79, Harvard University Press, p.191. 2. A History of Electricity (1975) by Park Benjamin, Arno Press, NY, p.359 In the remnant Atlantic rainforest South of Rcife in north-eastern Brasil lies a domed Catholic cathedral hidden in jungle vines. It is on a hill chocked by rainforest about 100m inland from the Atlantic Ocean.
When I first visited the site a village guide directed a group of use through the jungle to the site. It was well hidden. The Dutch first arrived in north-east Brasil in 1630-1654 but were soon defeated by the Portuguese who colonised instead. The cathedral in the jungle appears to be a Catholic church from the time of Dutch and Portuguese colonisation. Only local seaside villages knew of its location. However, in recent years the land has been purchased by a private investor who has located the cathedral and plans to set it up as a tourist attraction. In the north-east of Brasil/Brazil there is a state known as Paraíba. It contains, in its interior, many enigmatic inscriptions in stone. It is believed that indigenous people carved these inscriptions in the remote past. More than 25 locations have been identified where these types of inscriptions have been found carved into stone in Paraíba. The largest display of these can be found at Pedra do Ingá. This appears to be the closest location of these carvings toward the Atlantic Ocean. These inscriptions are made in sandstone along the banks of a stream. Similarity to the Dogon people of MALI ?There appears to be a very similar stylistic representation between the Pedra do Ingá inscriptions and that of the Dogon people of Mali in Africa. Mali is located in central west Africa. Mali and Paraíba are slightly above and below the equator, respectively, on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Notice the artwork paintings of the Songo shelter of the Dogon people. Some images painted in the Songo Shelter appear to be exactly the same as the Pedra do Ingá inscriptions and those of other inscriptions in Paraíba. References
1. A PEDRA DO INGÁ - Itacoatiaras na Paraíba, (2007), Vanderley de Brito, JCR Grafica E Editora, João Pessoa, Brasil. |
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