Illogical Lines

         South America is full of strange places that defy explanation, but by far the most unusual is the Plains of Nazca.  Nazca is a valley in Peru, surrounded by mountains and covered in flinty soil that cannot support vegetation.  It is treeless and waterless, and, not surprisingly, nobody lives there.  Yet, carved into the rock of the plains, are lines – hundreds of them.  Some are gigantic drawings of birds and animals: some are just lines that run for miles, parallel to each other or intersecting, abruptly stopping and starting. 

            Scientific dating has determined the lines were cut into the plains about 1,500 years ago.  The unusual feature is that, although you can see the lines from the ground, you can’t see the huge patterns they make except from high in the air.  No one knows who made the drawings, but, more importantly, nobody can figure out how a people without the power of flight could make such accurate designs or why they would make them in the first place, given the fact that they could never see them. 

            Archaeologists maintain that the lines of Nazca are really a set of ancient Inca roads.  However, they don’t say why the Incas would build roads that run parallel to each other, start and stop in the middle of nowhere and be shaped like fish or birds.  Others have matched the lines to the positions of the sun, moon and stars and say that the plain is really a massive calendar.  Yet they fail to explain how anyone without the power of flight could ever read the calendar, or, more importantly, draw the thing accurately. 

            Of course, there is also speculation that the configurations are some sort of navigational aid for ancient space travelers.  Yet why would any being sophisticated enough to conquer space come to a fruitless, waterless plain?  Obviously, if these travelers did come from the far reaches of the galaxy, it’s almost certain that they had much better navigational equipment than lines scratched in the dirt.  Whatever the lines at Nazca represent or why they were made, will remain a mystery, for many, many years to come.

 The Coincidental Curse

             In November, 1922, a group of amateur archeologists, headed by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, opened the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamen.  Inside, they found treasure beyond the realm of dreams and a wealth of historical data that, even today, seventy years later, is still being analysed.  But they may also have found something else.  In March of 1923, before the tomb had even been properly explored, Lord Carnarvon fell ill and was taken to Cairo.  On the 6th of April, he was dead, presumably from an infection caused by a mosquito bite.  Nobody knows who started the rumor, but, within days, newspapers reports of Carnarvon’s death were talking about “the pharaoh’s curse” and saying King Tut had reached out from the grave and killed the man who had disturbed his final resting place.  The media, even in those days, knew a feeding frenzy when they saw one, and soon the story was being reported around the world.  Within a couple of years, the elaborate fiction was being taken for fact, and “the mummy” and “the mummy’s curse” had become monsters in league with Frankenstein and Dracula. 

            But was it all just a fiction?  Sometimes, fact and fiction get confused.  The facts are that, within six years of the opening of the tomb, a dozen people connected to the expedition were dead, including Lady Carnarvon, who, incredibly, also seems to have died from an infected insect bite.  In the following years, more people died, including Howard Carter’s personal secretary, Richard Bethell, whose body was found sitting in a chair and whose cause of death was never revealed.  Bethell’s father committed suicide, leaving a note which said, in part, “I really cannot stand any more horrors….”  And the list goes on — X-ray technician Reid, personal assistant Mace, Egyptologist Weigall, Canarvon’s half-brother Aubrey Herbert — until the only surviving member of the original expedition was Howard Carter himself.  During his lifetime (he died at age 66) Carter dismissed the curse as “coincidence.”  Coincidence or not, why so many people connected with Tut’s tomb died, under such mysterious circumstances, will remain a mystery.

 Gold in the Hole

            In Nova Scotia, Canada, there is buried treasure just waiting for someone to claim it, even though its exact location has been known for over 200 years.  The place is Oak Island, and it was first discovered in 1795, by a local boy who noticed a deep depression under an oak tree.  Like everyone in the area, he had heard stories about Captain Kidd’s treasure, so, the next day, he returned with a couple of friends to dig it up.  The boys soon found that the job was far beyond their capabilities.  At ten feet below the surface, they found a layer of oak logs, which they had to dig up and remove.  This happened again, at 20 feet, and again, at 30 feet.  Finally convinced that this was no easy treasure hunt, the boys gave up.  Since then, various treasure has ever been discovered on Oak Island, all evidence points to something buried in the earth.  Artifacts – including a bosun’s whistle, a ship’s iron mooring ring and even shreds of gold – have been found there. 

            Yet, nobody knows who buried the treasure or even what it is.  Obviously, the engineering is too extensive to have been done by a boatload of pirates.  The whole system must have taken hundreds of men, years to complete.  Where did the men come from?  What did they have that was so important that they went to such unbelievable lengths to keep it hidden?   How, given the difficulties, did they ever hope to retrieve it?  And lastly, why is there absolutely no hint in any historical record of Oak Island, lost treasure or the time, manpower and money it took to construct?  Today, people are still digging, but, until somebody finds something, Oak Island will remain a mystery.

The Stately Ghosts of England

            Most of Britain’s best ghost stories come from the huge family estates that are scattered over the countryside.  These are the great houses built by the aristocracy over the years.  It is here the spirit world tends to congregate, probably because the houses are big and have been lived in for centuries.  Few, if any, of Britain’s aristocracy lack a family skeleton or two, ready to come out of the closet and do some haunting.  Most of the Stately Homes of England have at least one resident ghost.  Woburn Abbey, the home of the Russell family, has an unearthly Abbott who was hanged from a tree outside the front entrance for speaking out against Henry VIII’s treatment of the church.  Apparently he’s still hanging around.  Salisbury Hall, once owned by Winston Churchill’s mother, is haunted by the ghost of Nell Gwynne, King Charles II’s famous mistress.  It’s also said that Winston himself drops in, from time to time, to enjoy a cigar.  Beaulieu, the home of Lord Montagu, has a noisy troop of medieval monks who regularly go about their business, both in the house and around the grounds. 

            Some ghosts are not so benevolent.  They have their origins in a violent past where legend and tales of bloodshed have more than a passing basis in truth.  Consider this story, from the time of Elizabeth I, about Littlecote Manor.  One night Mrs. Barnes, the local midwife, was summoned to the house.  She was directed to a chamber where she found an expectant mother, concealed by a hood.  Frightened, Mrs. Barnes nevertheless helped deliver the baby, a boy.  When she presented him to the man waiting in the next room, he seized the child from her and threw it into the fire!  I’m told both mother and son still haunt Littlecote. 

            Other ghosts have neither rhyme nor reason for their existence, nor purpose to their haunting. At Sawston Hall, the appearance of a rather pretty female ghost is always accompanied by giggling.  At Yarnton, the family is “warned” that the ghost is walking by a particularly sweet smell that precedes him.  At Mannington Hall, the ghost of what is believed to be the original owner only appears when someone is reading in the library. 

            Nothing shows how prevalent are the Stately Ghosts of England better than a letter which a newspaper mailed to the current owners of the historic homes of Britain.  It asked, first of all, if their houses were haunted and, secondly, if the newspaper could investigate the phenomenon.  Of all the letters mailed, there were only two negative replies!

The Scariest Place on Earth

            If ghosts exist anywhere, they’re in the Tower of London.  The place is so crowded with other-world spirits that it’s a wonder there’s room for the tourists.  The imposing center of British power was begun by William the Conqueror as a fortress and has been in use ever since, most recently as a place for Queen Elizabeth to stash the family jewels.  Its main function, over the years, was as a prison.  At one time, the place even had a torture chamber, complete with all manner of “persuasion” devices, including the famous rake, whereby ruling sovereigns could literally go to any lengths to get what they wanted.  Normally, they did. 

       The Tower of London is a catalogue of violence, mayhem and murder.  Needless to say, it’s restless with the spirits of those who came to bad and bloody ends there.  Almost everyone who has been around the Tower (either as a member of the staff or as a sentry guarding Queen Elizabeth’s baubles) has at least one story about its ghostly residents, so it’s no wonder they show them a healthy respect.  For example, one part of the Tower is called “Northumberland’s Walk” because the chances of meeting the Earl of Northumberland, a friend of Sir Walter Raleigh’s, are so good the guards travel in pairs. 

            Sir Walter himself has made dozens of appearances, including one recently where he was seen leaning in a doorway, smoking.  The image was so real the guard on duty called the Officer of the Watch who saw Sir Walter also.  It seems that, historically, the prisoner Raleigh was on such good terms with his guards that he would stop in, at night, for a chat and a drink.  Regardless, Charles I didn’t like him, and he cut off his head. 

            Many people have seen two little boys in the courtyard of the Tower.  These are the ghosts of Richard III’s nephews, playing in their dressing gowns as little boys will do.  Richard had them drowned in vats of brandy when their royal presence became inconvenient.

            Anne Boleyn is one of the most persistent of the Tower ghosts, appearing in several locations, both with and without her head.  Similarly, Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England for exactly 10 days, has appeared, looking rather lost and confused.  The most frightening phenomenon, however, is the ghost of the Countess of Salisbury.  At her execution, she refused to place her head on the block and ran shrieking through the Tower, pursued by her axe-wielding executioner who hacked her to death, when he caught her.  Apparently, this sinister scene has been re-enacted, more than once. 

            This is only a quick look at the best-known stories, but it’s safe to say that, on any given night, the Tower of London, filled with ghostly images from its 900-year history, may indeed be the scariest place on earth.

Nine things you probably didn’t know about… Business and Money

1. Travel is the world’s largest industry finally surpassing oil and coffee and # 4 is blue jeans.
2. On average, the Swiss earn more money than people in any other country.
3. There is an ATM machine at McMurdo Station Antarctica.
4. The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley’s gum, in 1974.
5. The 3 most valuable brand names in the world are Marlboro, Coca Cola and Budweiser in that order.
6. It costs more to make a penny than a penny is actually worth.
7. Every year, Coca Cola spends enough money on advertising to supply every family in the world with a free bottle of Coke.  Meanwhile, Crispy Crème donuts are so good the company doesn’t advertise at all.
8. The largest mall in the world is the West Edmonton Mall.  It has 800 stores, 110 restaurants and more submarines than the Canadian Navy.
9. In America there are twice as many credit cards as there are people.