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How Meditation Sets You Free by Destroying You

You do not exist in the way you think you do. We have a cultural understanding that we, our personal identities, are somehow the consequence of billions of neurochemical reactions per second in our brains. Our sense of self is then merely the froth of hyper-complex activity occurring under the surface of our skulls. This is demonstrably not true.

Amnesia and Identity

A curious thing happens when people get amnesia, specifically retrograde amnesia, which is the garden variety amnesia we think of from soap operas and is usually caused by a head injury. Not only do they lose the memories of what happened, they also lose huge chunks of their identity such as favorite flavors of ice cream, fear of snakes, whether they wake up early or late, how they like their coffee, etc. Much like the phrase "you cannot step in the same river twice", Jill with retrograde amnesia is not the same Jill she was before the accident. She is definitely the same biological human but in every sense of the word, Jill is an entirely different person. This fact is important to understand because it is so counter-intuitive. Our identities are not the results of years of conditioning and hardwired in our brains after decades of experience. Rather, our identities are constructed in real time, second by second. This has actually been tested in the lab, regarding phobias. It is now known that phobias are a self-reinforcing condition that causes a person to maintain the phobia by remembering the fear of the phobia habitually. Each subsequent avoidance of the initial object of fear reinforces the fear and strengthens it. By administering a drug which interferes with the memory as it is being recalled, phobias can be shut off instantly and somewhat permanently, much like a global amnesia. If Jill can wake up from a car accident and be a completely and entirely different Jill, how is that even possible? This all relates to the Default Mode Network, the DMN.

The DMN

Our brains are constantly narrating our lives, much like the author's voice in Stranger than Fiction. We are telling ourselves what we like, do not like, prefer, fear, dream about, lament, etc constantly. Rather than being a book set in stone, memory is the air our brains breathe to construct ourselves in real time and when it is disrupted, we instantly change. The DMN is actually a very complex system which uses various parts of the brain. This is one of the reasons that it has only recently been accepted as scientific truth. It is responsible for most brain related disorders we think of today like Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder, etc. By scanning people's brains in real time, as they are cognitively engaged, we now know that the DMN is most active when someone is daydreaming, thinking about themselves, others, planning the future or thinking about the past.

Default Mode Network in Action - Image Credit Public Domain The way this aligns with the Buddhist notion of suffering should not go unnoticed. Daydreaming and self-referential thought is one of the primary focal points of attack for Buddhist practices. The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There’s only one moment for you to live.Buddha

Surfing the Present

Mindfulness, which is all the rage these days, is much like the science of Buddhism with the extraneous religious elements discarded. The way we understand Mindfulness today is due largely to the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, who adapted Zen Buddhist practices and scienced them up for the masses. The goal of mindfulness practices is very straightforward, live in the present. Meditation is almost a way of creating a gradual amnesia which erodes the DMN's power over us and liberates us from suffering by reducing the DMN's power to generate anxiety through fear. When we sit and try to not think, we are actively combating the voice inside our heads, which is the DMN. The DMN is so pervasive, it is by far the biggest hurdle to the mindfulness beginner. As the DMN becomes weaker through meditation, a strange thing happens. We are no longer as constrained by our identities, much like a person with amnesia. Jill can do things Jill did not think she could do previously because the voice inside of Jill's head is weaker. Jill is increasingly more free to be anyone she wants to be rather than seeing her choices limited to "things that Jill sees herself as being able to do".

Default Mode Network of Non-Meditators vs Meditators and during meditation. Image Credit Research Gate The goal of mindfulness is the erosion of the self because that self is inherently constrained. All of our mental suffering is the product of the DMN. Our fears, paranoia, addictions, bad habits, etc are the result of the voice inside our heads and finding the ability to hush that voice is the most liberating thing of all. The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. Buddha Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/exactly-mandela-effect/ Read the full article

#featured #Meditation #Mindfulness #science

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How a Psychic Experience Lead to the Body of Richard III

Philippa Langley, who is president of the Richard III society, had an overwhelming feeling she was walking on the grave of the late king in 2012. She was right.

Richard III - Image Credit Public Domain Richard III was not treated kindly by history. He was murdered on August the 22nd in 1485 during the last major battle in the War of Roses, the Battle of Bosworth field. He was buried in a makeshift grave in a friary nearby. In 1538, the friary was dissolved and the grave was lost to history. Some rumors circulated that the body was thrown into the River Soar at the Bow Bridge, which was nearby. In either case, the location of Richard III's body has remained a mystery for over 500 years. In 2012, the president of the Richard III Society was on a trip to Leicester where she was looking to find more clues as to the location of Richard III's remains. Recently, they had found living descendants of Richard III and had DNA samples to make any connection they could find. Some friends had recommended that Langley park in a parking lot, which was used by social services. When she was getting out of her car, she noticed something was strange. I am standing on Richard's grave.Philippa Langley A year later, Langley returned and the feeling was even stronger. Plus, for some unknown reason, someone had spray painted an R over the parking space. After her initial shock, Langley convinced local authorities to dig underneath the parking space where they discovered a skeleton. The skeleton was not entirely normal because the individual suffered severe scoliosis, something that was not known about Richard III. However, the DNA results came back as conclusive. Richard III had been found, by nothing more than premonition. Langley said that she had spent so much time thinking about Richard III that she saw him as a living person rather than a historical figure. That may be good advice for any budding psychics out there! Source: The Guardian Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/the-curious-case-of-prince-singh/ Read the full article

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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The Curious Case of Prince Singh

In an 1893 issue of the journal Studies in Psychical Research, a curious story was published of a Prince of Lahore by the name of Prince Victor Duleep Singh, who saw the image his father materialize to him in the form of an oil painting.

Lord Carnarvon of King "Tut" Fame - Image Credit Public Domain Prince Singh, who was one of the last princes of the Lahore dynasty, had been traveling through Europe and he landed in the company of Lord Carnarvon, the same Carnarvon that would go on to discover the tomb of King Tutankhamun. After going to the theater earlier that day in Berlin, they returned to their lodgings. While in his room, he had trouble sleeping with the light on. Electric lights were new to him. While he was staring at the wall, he noticed something strange about an oil painting. It contained the living image of his father, the Majarajah Duleep Singh, glaring at him.

Prince Victor Duleep Singh Singh was clear that it was not an optical illusion in that he was not staring at a painting that "looked" like his father. He was seeing the head of his actual father. I went to bed, leaving, as I always do, a bright light in the room (electric light). As I lay in bed I found myself looking at an oleograph which hung on the wall opposite my bed. I saw distinctly the face of my father, the Maharajah Duleep Singh, looking at me, as it were, out of this picture; not like a portrait of him, but his real head. Prince Singh Prince Singh then approached the image, which was simply staring intently at him, only to discover that the painting looked nothing like a human head. It was, instead, a picture of a girl leaning over a balcony holding flowers in her hand.

Maharajah Duleep Singh - Image Credit Public Domain The next day Singh told Carnarvon about his strange experience as soon as he woke up. That evening, Lord Carnarvon received two telegrams for the Prince. As soon as Carnarvon entered the room, he immediately knew what had happened. My father is dead.Prince Singh His father had died the night before of an apoplectic seizure. Singh later recalled that his father told them that if they were not together when his father died, he would try to visit him. Lord Carnarvon confirmed the Prince's account. I can confirm Prince V. Duleep Singh's account. I heard the incident from him on the Sunday morning. The same evening, at about 12 p.m., he received a telegram notifying him of his father's sudden illness and death. We had no knowledge of his father's illness. Lord Carnarvon Similar stores of clairvoyance are not uncommon. We previously covered the famous philosopher Emmanuel Swedenborg's similar experience. Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/unraveling-the-curse-of-the-pharaohs/ Read the full article

#AncientEgypt #Carnarvon #ghost #PrinceSingh

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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Did a Group of Monks Witness an Asteroid Crashing into the Moon?

On June 18, 1178 AD, a group of five monks in Canterbury observed a series massive explosions on the moon. What were they?

Christ Church at Canterbury - Image Credit Public Domain The story comes to us from Gervase of Canterbury, who as an early English chronicler for the abbey of Christ Church in Canterbury. According to Gervase, a group of five monks were sitting on a hill outside of a monastery when they saw the event take place. The upper horn split in two. From the midpoint of the division a flaming torch sprang up, spewing out, over a considerable distance, fire, hot coals and sparks. Meanwhile the body of the Moon which was below writhed, as it were in anxiety, and to put it in the words of those who reported it to me and saw it with their own eyes, the Moon throbbed like a wounded snake. Afterwards it resumed its proper state. This phenomenon was repeated a dozen times or more, the flame assuming various twisting shapes at random and then returning to normal. Then, after these transformations, the Moon from horn to horn, that is along its whole length, took on a blackish appearance.Gervase of Canterbury According to modern research, this may have been the impact event that created the crater Giordano Bruno, named after the famous esoteric mystic we have covered before.

The Massive Crater of Giordano Bruno - Image Credit Public Domain According to NASA scientists, the rays that can be seen in zoomed out photos of the crater indicate that it is fairly recent and could easily match with the time period reported by the monks.

The ray patterns overlay nearly all of the other craters in the region. Image Credit Public Domain In fact, the ray patterns are so large, they exceed that of any other crater on the lunar surface, indicating that the impact is not only fresh but would have been profound. Some scientists, however, proposed another theory. They believe that the monks could have observed a meteorite entering the earth's atmosphere and passing in front of the moon, from their perspective. This would have created the illusion of the moon wobbling, due to the effect of heat in the atmosphere, as well as audible sounds. This would not explain the curious observation that the fiery event created a crescent on the dark side of the moon, illuminating the side that would not normally be lit. This detail seems to line up better with the Giordano Bruno impact event, thought to have been asteroid or comet around 2 miles in diameter. Regardless, we have no other accounts from the time period which chronicle the event, at least none that we have found so far, so the mystery continues. Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/people-who-built-stonehenge-came-from-mediterranean/ Read the full article

#ancientmysteries #Astronomy #NASA #science

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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What Happened to the Great Labyrinth of Egypt?

In antiquity, there are numerous mentions to a labyrinth of astounding complexity in Egypt. Several Greek scholars traveled there and saw it firsthand, including Herodotus. Why have we not found the Great Labyrinth?

In the 5th century BC, Greek Historian Herodotus, also called the Father of History, traveled to Egypt to tour its marvelous architecture and learn from its ancient priests. He also came across a labyrinth of unbelievable complexity. They made a labyrinth a little way beyond the lake Moeris and near the place called the City of Crocodiles. I have myself seen it, and indeed no words can tell its wonders; were all that Greeks have built and wrought added together the whole would be seen to be a matter of less labor and cost than was this labyrinth.Herodotus - Histories Book II According to Herodotus, the labyrinth had two levels, one underneath the other. At the time of his visit, he was only permitted to tour the top level and what he found was astonishing. Though the pyramids were greater than words can tell, and each one of them a match for many great monuments built by Greeks, this maze surpasses even the pyramids. It has twelve roofed courts, with doors over against each other: six face the north and six the south, in two continuous lines, all within one outer wall. There are also double sets of chambers, three thousand altogether, fifteen hundred above and the same number under ground. We ourselves viewed those that are above ground, and speak of what we have seen; of the underground chambers we were only told; the Egyptian wardens would by no means show them, these being, they said, the burial vaults of the kings who first built this labyrinth, and of the sacred crocodiles.Herodotus - Histories Book II The labyrinth consisted of a massive set of rooms, totally 3,000 exactly, with giant courtyards. At the time of Herodotus, it was still being used ceremonially and he was not permitted to enter further. Other Greek writers have also mentioned it. Another Greek writer by the name of Diodorus Siculus had this to say: When one had entered the sacred enclosure, one found a temple surrounded by columns, 40 to each side, and this building had a roof made of a single stone, carved with panels and richly adorned with excellent paintings. It contained memorials of the homeland of each of the kings as well as of the temples and sacrifices carried out in it, all skilfully worked in paintings of the greatest beauty.Diodorus Siculus The famous Jesuit polymath, Athanasius Kircher, produced the first known drawing of the structure but based it mostly on sources we have mentioned above.

The Great Labyrinth as imagined by Athanasius Kircher. Image Credit Public Domain With such a massive structure being seen by so many ancient writers, why we not found it?

The Expedition to Hawara

A report from the 19th century found that there was a massive stone plate beneath the sand near the Black Pyramid of Hawara built by Amenenhat III. Unlike the Great Pyramid at Giza, the pyramid was built mostly of mud brick and then encased with limestone tiles. These tiles may have had the same designs seen by Herodotus. However, the tiles were cannibalized for other projects in the Middle Kingdom. In 2008, a Belgian artist by the name of Louis de Cordier, financed an expedition, known as the Mataha (Arabic for Labyringth) expedition, to see if there was anything to the findings of the 19th century. Using ground penetrating radar, they did indeed find the signatures of a massive complex of walls, well exceeding 1 million square feet. However, the famously conservative Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities has suppressed further expeditions to explore the structure. The team does plan to use the data to render a 3D model of what they found, so we can look forward to that. Until then, it exists only in our minds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=84&v=EqmpT6T_2tU&feature=emb_logo Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/why-did-the-ancient-egyptians-mummify-millions-of-sacred-birds/ Read the full article

#AncientEgypt #ancientmysteries #Egypt

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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Ancient Egyptian Electric Light or Something Else?

The Dendera light is one of the most difficult objects to explain from the ancient world. In what appears to be an obvious depiction of advanced technology, we are left to wonder what on earth this could have been and how it could have been built in a civilization with no known instances of electricity. Is the Dendera light a relic of some lost ancient technology or are we misinterpreting the image? Is it evidence of an ancient Egyptian electric device? The Dendera light is a reference to a relief found in the Temple of Hathor. The image, shown above, seems to show a transparent enclosure with a snake inside it. The snake appears in a similar curl pattern to that of modern light bulb filaments. At the end, it is resting on a pillar which looks very similar to an electric coil with arms stretched out where there would normally be positive and negative electrical connections.

Is this another Out of Place Artifact?

Some researches have noted that the temple ceilings show no evidence of soot or smoke residue, which would normally indicate torches were used. At the same time, there is no hard evidence of that an ancient Egyptian electric light bulb existed other than this image. However, as with the Baghdad Battery, there is more than meets the eye.

The Conventional Explanation

According to most archaeologists, the figure represents a lotus flower which spawns a snake from within. This fits well with the growing consensus that ancient Egyptians used the blue lotus flower to create a powerful psychedelic effect. In fact, the blue lotus flower is featured on nearly every single ancient Egyptian panel. However, this particular depiction is very different from any other depiction from the region at the time. Although this would fit well with conventional Egyptology, there does not seem to be any similar imagery associated with these very established Egyptian ideas outside of the Dendera complex. Inside the complex, there are numerous other images similar to the one shown above, such as this one:

Testing an Ancient Egyptian Electric Device

Some scientists were so convinced that the Dendera Light is an example of ancient Egyptian electrical knowledge, that they built one themselves and tested it. In the video below, you can see it working: Although this does appear to be a fully functional lightbulb, it does raise the question as to what the source would have been for an ancient Egyptian electrical system? Perhaps the Baghdad battery is part of this lost technology?

But Wait

Maybe there are clues within the text itself that is written all around the depictions. And here is where it gets interesting. According to thelivingmoon.com, the text contains these cryptic lines: Resomtus is alive with gloss in the sky (and) lives at the day of the New Year celebration. He lights up in its house in the night of the child in his nest, by donating the light to the country from the birth bricks. That certainly seems to hint more directly at something other than a lotus flower. We may never know exactly what the Dendera Light is but it certainly does seem out of place doesn't it? Read the full article

#AncientMystery #AncientTechnology #Egypt #OutofPlaceArtifacts #UnsolvedMystery

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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Is this Ancient Gear Mechanism the First Computer on Earth?

The Antikythera mechanism, as it is known, is quite possibly earth's first computer and the most ancient gear system ever found. Found in about 150ft of water off Point Glyphadia, near the island of Antikythera, the mechanical device is composed of ancient gears made mostly from bronze and wood. The remaining bronze pieces were so badly corroded that the entire machine appeared to be a blob of badly corroded metal. It was not until later, until the archaeologist Valerios Stais noticed a gear shape that the reality began to hit that this was no common piece of metal. Since then, the mystery has only deepened. According to Wikipedia: Generally referred to as the first known analogue computer, the quality and complexity of the mechanism's manufacture suggests it has undiscovered predecessors made during the Hellenistic period. Its construction relied upon theories of astronomy and mathematics developed by Greek astronomers, and is estimated to have been created around the late second century BC. At this point, no predecessors have been found. To put this in perspective, a device of this complexity would not be seen again for over 1500 years. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

What does the Antikythera Mechanism do?

For a long time, scientists and archaeologists had no idea. However, with modern day technology, much of the original mechanism has been reconstructed, virtually anyway. We now know that it was a very sophisticated ancient clock which calculated the Egyptian civil calendar, the Greek signs of the zodiac on the front. On the back, it calculated solar eclipse dates as well as the dates of the next Ancient Olympic Games as well as their respective locations. Keep in mind, this is the first instance of an ancient gear composed of metal.

Who build this Out of Place Artifact?

There are many theories about who built the device, with most theories trying to link it to one of the more famous Greek scientists or philosophers that we know about. It is possible that it was built by someone whose name we will never know. However, one particular theory stands out which links the box to Archimedes or Hipparchus: The tradition of making such mechanisms could be much older. Cicero wrote of a bronze device made by Archimedes in the third century B.C. And James Evans, a historian of astronomy at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, thinks that the eclipse cycle represented is Babylonian in origin and begins in 205 B.C. Maybe it was Hipparchus, an astronomer in Rhodes around that time, who worked out the math behind the device. He is known for having blended the arithmetic-based predictions of Babylonians with geometric theories favored by the Greeks. - Via The Smithsonian This would explain the esoteric nature of the device. What we do know, thanks to modern technology, is that the gears themselves were hand cut. There does not appear to be any evidence of advanced manufacturing. In fact, the irregularities of the teeth indicate that the device may not have been incredibly accurate.

A Deeper Mystery

Despite all of that, the device raises a number of perplexing questions. This is the first known instance of using metal gears in this way and the gearing is astoundingly complex. The device contained over 30 gears with very complex gear ratios. This sophistication indicates that it was not the first device of its kind and may not even be the best device of its kind. It's possible that, due to the Egyptian connection, it is an imitation of some other ancient device which is now lost to us, similar to the Dendera Light depicted in ancient Egyptian art. Read the full article

#ancientmysteries #Antikythera #Archimedes #Greece #Hipparchus #OutofPlaceArtifacts #UnsolvedMystery

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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Andrew Jackson and the Bell Witch Cave

The Bell Witch Cave is perhaps the most famous and well documented paranormal encounter of the 19th century. How on earth did the future president Andrew Jackson get into a supernatural confrontation with a ghost witch?

The Bell Witch

The Bell Witch was a poltergeist phenomenon in the early 1800s that plagued a family living northwest of Nasvhille, Tennessee. The encounters centered around the Bell family which consisted of John Bell and Lucy Bell who were the parents of Betsey and Drew Bell.

The Bell Family Home One night in 1817, John Bell noticed what seemed like a spectral dog near their home. When he pulled out his gun and fired at the creature, it immediately disappeared. A slave of the Bell family, named Dean, would also see the same dog following him on walks to see his wife. A few days later, young Drew Bell saw a huge bird sitting on a fence post that flew away. Drew described the bird as being of an "extraordinary size". Shortly after this, Betsey Bell saw a young girl in a green dress swinging from a rope attached to a large oak tree. Around this time, the Bell family started to notice that the poltergeist was starting to disturb the house. They would hear dogs fighting inside the home but no dogs were inside or outside. They also began to hear scratching sounds, as if something was clawing the beds. Shortly afterward, John Bell's mouth became paralyzed and he could not speak.

Drawing of the Bell Witch This is when the encounters began to physically affect the family. The entity started pulling the sheets off the bed, scratching their skin, pinching and slapping them. Betsey began to attract most of the attention of the evil spirit. As things began to spiral increasingly out of control, the Bell family turned to their neighbors for help. Over time, the spirit began to speak to everyone who was near the house. It referred to itself as Old Kate Batts' witch and when asked what she was, the spirit responded: I am a spirit; I was once very happy but have been disturbed.The Bell Witch As the story began to spread, more and more people came to test the witch in various ways. The witch reportedly would leave while people were speaking to it and travel to other homes, return and repeat conversations heard in private. An English born man stopped by at one time who was skeptical of the entire thing. During the night, when his parents in England would be awake, the witch woke him and began speaking to him in his parents voices. They were worried about him because the witch had projected his voice to them in England and the witch was channeling their conversation in real time. He fled the house and apologized for his skepticism.

Andrew Jackson vs. the Bell Witch

Most of what we know about this story comes from a book published by a descendant of the Bell family in 1894 called An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch which used letters, witness testimony and other evidence to construct a detailed account of the circumstances. This would be enough to question the Andrew Jackson story had it not been mentioned repeatedly by people who knew him, well before the book was published. History has not been kind to Andrew Jackson and rightfully so. He was responsible for horrific treatment of local indigenous populations and, in many ways, represented the Old South in the worst ways. However, he was by all accounts, not afraid of much.

Portrait of Andrew Jackson Jackson grew up nearby, on the other side of Nashville. Having heard about the situation the Bell family was in, he ventured with some of his men to visit them and remedy the problem and brought with him a wagon full of supplies. As they approached the family's property, their wagon became stuck. Thinking there was a rock holding the wheel, the men jumped down to find that nothing at all was holding the wheel but the wagon was completely stuck. At this point, Jackson exclaimed: By the eternal, boys, it is the witch.Andrew Jackson when Encountering the Bell Witch The witch replied to Jackson: All right General, let the wagon move on, I will see you again tonight.Bell Witch to Andrew Jackson According to witnesses who heard the voice, it had a metallic quality and seemed to come from the bushes. Among Jackson's men was a braggart who said that he was not afraid of the witch because he had experiences with witches before. The man was subsequently beaten by the witch and pulled out of the Bell house by the nose which amused Jackson greatly. By the eternal, boys, I never saw so much fun in all my life. This beats fighting the British.Andrew Jackson regarding the Bell Witch Presumably, at this point, Jackson and his men gave up on defeating the supernatural entity.

Aftermath

As the family became weary of attention and constant torment from the witch, they became increasingly desperate for it to stop. At some point, the witch indicated she would leave when Betsey Bell marries Joshua Gardner, who were engaged at the time. However, the engagement was broke off due to the constant interference of the witch.

The funeral of John Bell. The story seems to have ended with the death of John Bell. In an account from 1880, before the famous book was written, the Tennessee Historical Society published an account of how it played out. At one time a vial of poison was found in the flue of the chimney, and being taken down, Dr. George B. Hopson gave one drop to a cat, causing its death in seven seconds. The witch claimed to have put the poison there for the purpose of killing Mr. Bell. Being asked how it was going to administer the poison, it said by pouring it into the dinner pot. It is remarkable that, although he enjoyed good health up to the time of this event, Mr. Bell died within days after the vial was found, being in a stupor at the time of his death. From this time the people visited the house less frequently, although the witch would now and then be heard.Sketch of Robertson County by the Tennessee Historical Society According to one report, the witch laughed and sang drinking songs during John's funeral. The Bell Witch encounters reportedly continued into the 20th century, with several additional events reported in the early 1900s. As the cold fluorescent light of modernity sank in, however, and the darkness of uncertainty was pushed further and further from our minds and the encounters waned. The exact details of the events are well beyond our reach now, having occurred in a sparsely populated area on the frontier of the expansion westward. However, the story had untold witnesses and evidence survives in scores of letters and books regarding the testimony. It is sometimes said that poltergeists are a product of our fear and subsist from it. More than figments of our imagination, they squeeze their way into our world, feeding off our fears to become increasingly material. John Bell saw a large spectral dog, the boy saw a giant threatening bird and Betsey saw a ghost girl swinging from a tree. As that fear snowballed and involved dozens of other people, the poltergeist would have gained increasing power. All we have to fear is fear itself, we are told. The Bell family saw that play out in a supernatural fashion for years. Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/cave-containing-witches-marks-discovered-in-england/ Read the full article

#andrewjackson #bellwitch #poltergeists #tennessee

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How did the Ancient Mayans Discover Zero?

In the history of mathematics, the concept of the number zero is a real revolution and has only been discovered a handful of times. The Ancient Greeks did not have a number for zero and the ancient civilizations of Sumeria and Babylon only used it partially. How did the Mayans happen upon it 2,000 years ago?

Why do we need a number for nothing?

Zero is a debatable concept and was famously debated by Ancient Greeks (who ultimately decided against the entire idea) all the way down through the medieval period. However, all modern numerical systems depend on it. Zero is important because of its use as a placeholder, at least initially. In any numerical system with a base, a number indicating no numbers for that placeholder value is important so that the numerical system can easily expand.

Mayan numbers, using a base-20 system. For example, if I have a base-10 system, like we use today, and I say that I want 1 tens of horses but not eleven horses or nine horses, I need to be able to place a number indicating no ones in that column. We famously use the Arabic numbering system and zero came to us through the Arabic-Indian system in the 11th century via the Islamic scholar Al-Andalus, who was living in Muslim occupied Spain at the time. Prior to that, Westerners had been using the Roman numeral system, which was inferior in many ways.

The Mayan Numerical System

Rather than using a base-10 system, the Mayans used a base-20 system to count. For their calendars, they adapted it to a base-18 system since it would fit more closely with their calendar year. The Mayan system was very easy to use since adding and subtracting was as simple as transposing dots or lines.

Addition in Mayan. In fact the oldest example of the use of the system is found outside of the Mayan territory. Known as Stela 2 at Chiapa de Corzo.

Diagram of Stela 2. However, they realized that they needed a placeholder to indicate no value for that position and they chose to use a seashell for this position. The reason for the seashell may be unclear but it could represent an empty shell, which could have contained a pearl or oyster. This was a part of their numerical system as far back as the very beginnings of their civilization and some scholars think that it may have come to them through the Olmec civilization, a civilization older than the Mayan.

The Mayan Calendar

The numerical system used by the Mayans was used extensively and most commonly used for dates. They believed that the beginning of time occurred on August 11, 3114 BC (according to our calendar) and marked all dates relative to that prehistoric date. Through an elaborate and complex astrological-calendrical system, they devised what is now known as the Long Count Calendar System which was possibly used by the Olmecs but definitely in the early Mayan period and was later used by the Aztecs in Northern Mexico. Bizarrely, we now visualize the Mayan calendar system as a series of turning wheels, even though the Mayans themselves never discovered the wheel or axle. They did, however, have extremely advanced astronomical knowledge, famously exemplified by the fact that their estimation of the solar year at 365.2422 days is much more accurate than anything used until the 20th century and is much more accurate than our current leap-year system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-LRNVqWDeg

A Destroyed History

The Mayan writing system, a hieroglyphic system, was the most advanced of the writing systems in the Americas. The Spanish conquest of the "New World" was particularly brutal on Mesoamerica. As missionaries, led primarily by Bishop Diego de Landa, tried to convert the indigenous peoples of the region, they worked tirelessly to destroy their works of art and records.

Example page from the Dresden Codex, one of the only surviving books from the Mayans. We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction.Bishop Diego de Landa It is estimated that Mayans had thousands of codices, chronicling their history for 800 years. Many missionaries from the time reported that there were still priests who could read the books to them. However, every known codex was destroyed except for four that remain and all of them are from the post-classical period. We may never know how they discovered zero or many of the details of their works since so much was lost to religious intolerance. Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/why-did-the-ancient-egyptians-mummify-millions-of-sacred-birds/ Read the full article

#AncientMystery #history #Mayans

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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A Primer on the D. B. Cooper Mystery

In 1971, a mysterious man wearing a suit boarded a flight from Portland to Seattle, ordered some drinks, hijacked the plane, negotiated a ransom, refueled the plane, took off again and parachuted out into the void of infinite forests of the Pacific Northwest with a suitcase full of money. Who was he?

What We Know

The D. B. Cooper mystery is a real rabbit hole of interesting details. There are details about the details that can be discussed ad infinitum (the amount and type of rare metals found on things he touched, for example). However, we are going to summarize the key story here. The avid reader will find a plethora of reading material out there in the expansive annals of armchair speculation. On a flight from Portland to Seattle on November 24, 1971, an attractive man wearing a suit and smoking on the back of the 727 ordered a bourbon and soda. He was wearing a black raincoat, a dark suit with a white shirt, a black tie, and a pearl tie pin. All of the other passengers had been offered to sit up front but the man, whose ticket was issued to Dan Cooper, was sitting in the back. One other person was sitting in the back, a sophomore from the University of Oregon. As the flight progressed, Cooper handed the flight attendant, Florence Schaffner, a note after she had sat down to make small talk with him. Schaffner pocketed the note, apparently because she both thought he had given her his phone number and wanted to retain said phone number. At that point, Cooper says "Miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb." Schaffner read the note but it was later given back to Cooper and she could not read the exact details but that the general idea was he had a bomb in a briefcase. He then asked her to sit with him. She asked to see the bomb and he opened the briefcase enough for her to see two rows of four red cylinders connected with wires to a battery. He then shut the briefcase and told her his demands. He wanted $200,000 in "negotiable American currency" (which apparently sounded as weird in the 1970s as it does to our ears today), four parachutes and a fuel truck waiting at the airport to fill the plane back up. After Schaffner relayed the demands to the crew and returned, Cooper was wearing sunglasses, leading to the infamous FBI sketch we know today.

FBI Wanted Poster of D. B. Cooper The crew told the passengers that there was a mechanical issue with the plane and for two hours, they circled over Puget Sound while Cooper negotiated with the FBI over his demands. During this time, Cooper made small talk with the flight attendants and made a few curious comments that are important to the story. At one point, he looked down and said "Looks like Tacoma down there". He also commented that McChord Air Force Base was only 20 minutes from the Tacoma airport. Both of these comments would shape the rest of the investigation and may already have your gears cranking. After a series of further negotiations on the ground and a slight refueling problem, Cooper told the crew to take off and fly to Mexico city as slow as possible, at a low altitude, with the landing gear down and the rear airstairs open. The pilot told him that, following that plan, there would definitely not be enough fuel to make it anywhere near there and Cooper and he decided they would refuel in Reno. The pilot also told Cooper that the rear airstairs could not be down when the plane takes off. Cooper argued that the plane can take off with the rear airstairs open but, rather than argue, he would open it later.

Example of airstairs on a 727 at the time. At that point, the Air Force had dispatched fighter jets and they were following the plane. In total, there were five aircraft following the 727. The plane was only going right above 100 miles per hour and had only been flying for about half an hour when the airstairs were activated. Just prior to closing themselves off in the cabin, one crew member saw Cooper tying something around his waist. Later, it would be discovered that he had used one of the primary parachutes for its straps, probably for that purpose. In fact, he chose to use as his primary chute the more manual of the two options he had. At this point, Cooper presumably jumped out of the plane somewhere near Lake Merwin or South of Ariel, Washington. However, not a single person witnessed the jump. Evidence We know that Cooper left behind some of his clothing, including the black tie. Later, fingerprints and some DNA were lifted from the clothing. These fingerprints and DNA have not yet matched any living person but the DNA were partial matches to begin with, meaning the samples were not perfect.

Tie worn by Cooper which was used for fingerprint and DNA evidence. The authorities released the full list of serial numbers that were on the bills. They also offered a reward, as did a number of other organizations, for anyone who could produce a single bill that had found its way into circulation. So far, nobody has successfully found a single bill in circulation. In 1980, a boy named Brian Ingram was playing on a beach on the Columbia River, near Vancouver, Washington and found three stacks of money which totaled to $5,800, all badly eroded, buried in the sand. The money was confirmed to have been part of the ransom money paid to Cooper. The bills were still wrapped in rubber bands and were in the exact same order as when given to Cooper.

What We Think We Know

We know his name was probably not Dan Cooper, and with even more certainty, was not D. B. Cooper. A journalist tracked down a D. B. Cooper which seemed to fit the background of someone who could pull off the hijacking but that person was quickly ruled out. However, the journalist confused the names and released the name in an article as D. B. Cooper, which is how it came to be the way it is today. Cooper's knowledge of the plane and his specific instructions for flying it, including the exact angle of the flaps, seems to indicate he was very educated about flight. This led the FBI to focus on people with military backgrounds or people working in aviation.

The Pacific Northwest is profoundly remote and difficult to search. Traces of titanium and other metals were found on the tie. This seems to indicate that Cooper was probably working in advanced manufacturing somewhere. However, there were many possible factories where he could have been exposed to such metals in the area and the evidence was circumstantial at best. The money that was found had been eroded in a rounded way, with the corners being rounded off pretty heavily. Based on this, most people believe Cooper did not bury the money in the sand but it rather came down from upstream in one of the many tributaries.

Some of the money found by Brian Ingram. In 1978,instructions for lowering the rear airstairs of a 727 was found by a deer hunter on a logging road near Castle Rock, Washington. This is well north of the primary search location but it is not out of the realm of possibility considering the stormy conditions on the night of the event. In 2017, some amateur investigators found the remnants of a parachute strap in the area, as well as a piece of foam. It is suspected that they could be related to the case but it has not been confirmed.

What We Do Not Know

Despite intense efforts to re-enact the jump and the path of the plane, the area in which Cooper could have jumped out of the plane is vast. The entire region is covered in thick Northwest forests which are about as remote as you could get in the continental US. The area has been narrowed and widened tremendously and there is almost no consensus about where he could have jumped out exactly. In 2009, someone realized that Dan Cooper was also the name of an obscure French language comic about a Canadian pilot who parachutes out of planes and even took ransom money in a backpack. The comic was in print from 1957 to 2010 and somehow escaped public attention nearly the entire time. The circulation of the comic was really centered in France, Belgium and French speaking Canada. Based on this, some people have speculated that Cooper must have at least seen the comic and could have either been in the military in Europe or could have been French Canadian. Cooper did use the strange phrase "negotiable American currency", which is not something you would expect to hear and could indicate that English was not his primary language. However, all witnesses said that the man did not have a discernible accent, indicating he may have grown up outside of Quebec, where French speakers in Canada are much less likely to have an accent. The back and forth with the pilot about where the refuel is bizarre, since Cooper seemed to have planned on jumping out as soon as possible regardless. He must have known that the crew would notice the change in cabin pressure and would realize, due to the parachute request, that he had jumped out.

What We Know We Do Not Know

D. B. Cooper became a folk hero in a way that perhaps no other person since the cowboy bandits of the 19th century has been able to match. In the months and years following the case, there were numerous copycat attempts.

Richard Floyd McCoy, Jr The most famous of these was Richard Floyd McCoy, Jr. who pulled off a nearly identical hijacking in 1972 from the San Francisco airport and jumped out into the desert near Provo, Utah. He was caught with handwriting analysis, put in prison and escaped with another inmate by ramming through the fence of the prison with a garbage truck. He was then killed in a shootout in Virginia Beach. The FBI focused heavily on McCoy but largely ruled him out as a suspect because he did not match the physical description of Cooper. Due to the extensive time the crew spent with Cooper, his physical appearance has been used to rule out various suspects, some of whom have even confessed to being Cooper on their deathbeds. Most importantly, we do not know if Cooper even survived the jump. The conditions were horrific with heavy rain and wind. Anyone who has ever seen Twilight can attest to the fact that jumping out into the endless sea of fir trees, in the dark, with a parachute has a very low chance of success. The money that was found had washed down the river and seems to indicate that it was not inside the bag he had used to carry it. More importantly, the media attention surrounding the case was so extreme that people did report finding money with serial numbers within a digit or two from Cooper's bills. This seems to indicate that, had a bill showed up in circulation, it would almost certainly have been found at some point. In 1980, Mount Saint Helens erupted and covered much of the area in volcanic ash. It is possible that any surviving evidence was destroyed or buried as a result of that event and that we may never know the actual identity of D. B. Cooper. In all likelihood, Cooper will recede into the past like Billy the Kid and become just another legend of the American West. Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/the-dyatlov-pass-incident-revisited/ Read the full article

#DBCooper #FBI #UnsolvedMystery #Washington

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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What do we know about Göbekli Tepe, the oldest city in the world?

Deep in the hills of Turkey lie the ruins of the oldest known city on Earth. It is so ancient, it predates domesticated food and plants. Woolly Mammoths were still roaming the arctic and Native Americans had not crossed the Bering Straight yet, according to mainstream archaeology. What do we really know about Göbekli Tepe and what does it say about us?

A Settlement of Hills

The Sumerians, the oldest known civilization, believed that an ancient set of deities, a set of deities known only as the Annunaki, came to humanity on the sacred mountain of Ekur and brought them the domestication of animals, agriculture and weaving. Göbekli Tepe may have been the origin of this myth. Göbekli Tepe is in the Anatolia region of Turkey, which is between the Tigris and Euphrates, situating it in the general area where the Garden of Eden supposedly existed. The site consists of about 20 'tells' which are hills. Each tell has a circular structure dug into the hill with massive pillars. On average, each pillar is about 20 tons and 6m or 20ft high. The pillars were set directly into pre-carved slots in the bedrock. These pillars presumably upheld a roof over each structure and most of them feature elaborate carvings in relief, the oldest such carvings on Earth. The earliest layers discovered so far date to around 10,000 BC.

Example of a column carved with a detailed lizard in relief.

Detail of lizard carving.

The Younger Dryas

During this time, there was a major cooling event known as the Younger Dryas. Details about this event are hotly debated. Some people believe it happened due to changes in the solar cycle and others believe that it was caused by a cataclysmic comet strike which would have destroyed much of humanity. The latter is building consensus among geologists. A tell at Göbekli Tepe. Image by Teomancimit - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 We are currently in the Holocene epoch, according to geologists. Prior to this was the Pleistocene. The Younger Dryas event is the boundary between the two. It is precisely during this time the mark of the Neolithic age (New Stone Age). Geologists used to believe that the cooling, which resulted in the last ice age, was somewhat gradual, occurring over a few hundred years. Pollen samples suggest that this happened much more quickly than we previously thought. There have also been small glass beads found on layers across the Earth, from this time, suggesting there may have been a major impact of a comet or asteroid, causing vitrification of sediment. Such an event would have been catastrophic for humanity. If the impact occurred in the ocean, there would have been massive tidal waves around the world. If it hit in the ice of Canada, which some are suggesting, it would have caused global wildfires and something like a nuclear winter, which would have killed a significant portion of humanity in weeks. Recent evidence suggests that it was a comet, around 100km in diameter, which broke apart into large chunks, striking different parts of the Northern Hemisphere. This event may be the key to understanding Göbekli Tepe.

Agriculture and Civilization

It is a well known fact that civilizations did not arise until the discovery of agriculture. Every ancient civilization that we know of today was built on a major crop or crops. Egypt had vast stores of grain, as did Sumeria. Göbekli Tepe predates all known agriculture except the most primitive version of wheat, known now as Einkorn wheat, which was discovered within 20 miles of Göbekli Tepe at roughly the same time as people were building the first layers.

Closeup of Einkorn Wheat. Some anthropologists believe that Göbekli Tepe served as a refuge from the ice age following the Younger Dryas event. It was in a fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates and would have been suitable for the start of agriculture. Many people fleeing the frozen North and arid South would have found it the perfect refuge. They may also have found ways of dealing with the catastrophic loss of their cultures. In the region, wild wheat was growing plentifully and would have been a suitable first crop since it would have been through slight interventions that the concept of agriculture would develop. These early attempts at growing wheat would have presumably been to mitigate unpredictability of access to food and to increase the yield per acre, which is the only thing that could sustain a dense community anywhere. Much like Cahokia, in Missouri, it would have been a largely ceremonial settlement until the advent of increased agricultural output.

Cults of the Dead

Before humanity believed in gods and goddesses, ancient religion was shamanistic, much like in parts of the world today. Rather than worship different deities, these peoples venerated their ancestors and sought to contact them through various rituals. The rituals are different from culture to culture but, in some cultures, this was done by making carvings into skulls and leaving them in sacred places or leaving the corpse outside to be eaten by vultures, a form of burial known as Sky Burial. Interestingly, the myth of Prometheus may be a reference to that ancient practice. Skull cults have been found throughout the region near Göbekli Tepe. They are often found deposited in "skull depots" or ceremonial locations where ancient Neolithic people would place them. Typically, they were placed near a monument or megalithic structure. They are sometimes found with deep incisions along skull lines or with holes drilled through them. This is the variety found at Göbekli Tepe.

Totem found at Göbekli Tepe showing the skilled artistry of the people at that time. Image By Cobija - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 During this time, Göbekli Tepe would have been surrounded by lush areas inhabited by deer, gazelles, pigs and waterfowl. Indeed, the bones of all of these animals are found throughout Göbekli Tepe. However, the animals carved into the columns of each circular structure are other wild animals in the area. It is believed that these served as totems where local hunter gatherers would offer game as sacrifices, marking the beginning both of a veneration of the dead and a sense of religion.

Putting it All Together

Considering the growing consensus that a large collision of some kind preceded the last major cooling event, we can reasonably conclude that the damage was profound and any budding communities on susceptible shorelines or in forested areas burning due to wildfires were probably obliterated. Such a trauma would be on a massive scale and humanity would seek warmer climates and protection. Indeed, in mythology around the world, flood myths and myths of great fires are probably ancestral memories passed down through untold generations of these events. They would have found that oasis in Anatolia at the time, making it a natural spot for them to congregate.

Flow of agriculture with Göbekli Tepe being at the center of the oldest origin, dating back to 10,000 BC. Image by Joe Roe - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 With so many people hunting the lands at the same time, the community was probably never a major city in the way we think of them today. The amount of game per acre would not have been enough to sustain a large population and lacking any form of domesticated plant or animal, the early structures probably served as shrines for those grieving the dead. Imagine being a primitive person in a world that changed overnight and everyone near you is fleeing South to warmer climates. You come across a lush landscape and hundreds of people who have suffered the same loss of family and friends you did. You must grieve your loss and emotionally process the vast pain around you. At Göbekli Tepe, you find that spiritual catharsis that you need. Over time, more and more people come and there is less and less game. People start turning to the land, to the abundant wild wheat in the area and learn to harness it because being together and farming is better than braving the wild wilderness of uncertainty again. Göbekli Tepe is the oldest city on Earth and quite possibly the oldest city which could have even existed. While the first layers were probably mostly ceremonial, the region supported a large population which interacted more, perhaps, than any other population previously. Before we had horses, cows, pigs, chickens, religion, numbers, courts, schools, writing, prisons, laws, fruits and vegetables of any kind, we had Göbekli Tepe and it was so valuable that we figured out a way to stay there and be together and giving the world a roadmap for the future of humanity. Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/the-oracle-at-delphi-was-the-most-important-woman-of-the-ancient-world-who-was-she/ Read the full article

#ancientmysteries #featured #GobekliTepe

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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The Dyatlov Pass Incident Revisited

The infamous Dyatlov Pass Incident captures the modern imagination because of how bizarre the circumstances are surrounding the deaths of the nine hikers who tried to cross Kholat Syakhl, which translates to the Dead Mountain in English. Does new research into UFOs, Soviet Missile tests or psychedelic mushrooms help explain the mystery?

An Overview

For a super quick overview of the Dyatlov Pass Incident, you can also see our video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTmNJX6w7o4 In 1959, a group of ten skiers took off on a skiing expedition into the Ural Mountains of the Soviet Union. All members of the team were very experienced hikers. Some were certified in mountain climbing as well as hiking. In either case, Kholat Syakhl is not known to be a dangerous hike, especially considering the skill of the team. The team was lead by Igor Dyatlov, for whom the pass is known in the modern imagination. Before reaching the point at which the incident happened, one of the hikers by the name of Yuri Yudin, turned back because he was not feeling well, leaving the remaining eight hikers: Yuri Nikolayevich Doroshenko, Lyudmila Alexandrovna Dubinina, Yuri (Georgiy) Alexeyevich Krivonischenko, Alexander Sergeyevich Kolevatov, Zinaida Alekseevna Kolmogorova, Rustem Vladimirovich Slobodin, Nikolai Vladimirovich Thibeaux-Brignolles and Semyon Alekseevich Zolotaryov.

This is a photograph of the tent taken by the initial investigation team. Some have noted that the ski pole in the back of this image did not move when compared to an image taken by the hikers while setting up the tent, indicating that there was not an avalanche. The team set off from the town of Vizhai to cross over to the town of Otorten. On February 1st, they started to move through the pass but started to veer off course because of a major snowstorm. After realizing they were off track, they made camp. That night, there was a mysterious incident which resulted in the deaths of all nine hikers. Piecing together the details from their diaries and evidence found at the camp, the tent had been cut open from the inside and the hikers had run down the mountain, away from the tent, some of them partially clothed. Two of the hikers (Krivonischenko and Doroshenko) were found near a large pine tree in nothing but their underwear. They seemed to have built a fire nearby. Some of the branches of the pine tree were broken, indicating that one of them had tried to climb the tree to look for something. Dyatlov, Kolmogorova and Slobodin were found in the snow between the tree and the camp, at various distances (300, 480 and 630 metres) from the tree. The other four hikers would be found four months layer under heavy snow.

These are the bodies of the two victims found in only their underwear. They were not under much snow at all. Nearly all of the mystery surrounds the details of the investigation that followed. The facts that are known are as follows. The tent was cut open from within the inside. The two hikers found near the tree (Krivonischenko and Doroshenko) were found naked other than their underwear. However, some of their clothing was found on the three hikers found between the tree and the cap, indicating that the others may have salvaged some clothes from those two, presumably after they had perished. In general, there was a lack of clothing, as if the hikers had ran from the tent without grabbing anything at all. Lyudmila Dubinina was found with quite a bit of her face missing including her eyes, lips and part of her skullbone. Semyon Zolotaryov was missing his eyeballs and Aleksander Kolevatov was missing his eye-brows. Only the hikers' footprints were visible and their paths did not indicate any sort of struggle. Some of them did not even have shoes on initially, supporting the idea they ran out of the tent without any time to prepare. One of the hiker's had a very high level of radiation on his clothing. Krivonikschenko's camera was found and contained several images from the expedition. Check Out More Russian Mysteries: https://buzzesque.com/top-10-russian-mysteries/

The Theories

Avalanche An obvious theory in such a mountainous and frigid region would be they were either in the middle of an avalanche or were fleeing from one. Looking at the area though, this is extraordinarily unlikely. The slope was not steep, there were no snow patterns indicating anything other than steadily accumulating snow and in the more than 100 expeditions to the region since then, there have not been avalanche conditions in any of them. None of the bodies were covered with more than a few inches of snow and none of the trees seemed damaged from any sort of avalanche. Murder There was a theory that the indigenous people of the region, known as the Mansi may have attacked the hikers for invading their lands. No evidence supported this theory however. The Mansi people were not quick to attack others, there were no footprints other than those of the hikers in the snow and none of the bodies indicated any normal physical violence. Three of the bodies did have injuries but seemed to resemble some physical force but not anything resembling normal human violence. Dubinina and Zolotaryov both had major chest damage, which struck investigators as similar to that of a car crash. None of the bodies had any external wounds. It was almost as if they were crushed by some mysterious force. The other six deaths were easily attributable to hypothermia.

Photos of Mansi markings were found on photos taken by the hikers in the days preceding the event. Wind There are several theories involving wind as a mechanic. One is that of katabitc winds which are winds that are high in moisture, carried down the surface of a mountain by gravity. These types of winds are common under certain circumstances. The idea is that the winds would have been so strong, the hikers would have panicked and ran out of the tent with whatever clothing they could grab. Another wind theory is that proposed bye Donnie Eichar in his book Dead Mountain. Eichar proposes that the wind around the mountain created a type of vertex which could produce a very low frequency (VLF) sound which is thought to cause panic attacks in humans. He proposes that the hikers ran out in a panic and three of the hikers ran into the ravine and died from the fall. Both of the wind theories rely on the notion that the hikers ran out in a panic, almost presupposed by the cut in the side of the tent. However, initial reports from the first investigation indicate that the footstep patterns are of a normal walking speed and not from people running and stumbling down the side of a mountain. Military Tests The most common theory regarding military tests is that the Soviet Union was testing parachute mines in the area and the concussive nature of the weapons would have caused a sense of delirium in the hikers. The idea is that the hikers cut a hole in the tent, stepped out and saw the flash of bombs on the side of the mountain and decided to retreat to the woods where they would be safer. There are records of military tests of that nature around the time the team was in the area. The main reason for the theory is to explain the radiation on the clothing of one of the individuals. Later analysis indicates that radioactive weapons would have caused the same fallout on the clothing of all the individuals. UFOs The UFO theory is based on some of the earliest evidence from the investigation. One of the leading investigators, Lev Ivanov, noticed that the tops of the pine trees were burned. There had been reports of fireball like UFOs on the mountain around the time of the disappearance. Whether this also coincides with the military tests is unknown. One intriguing bit of information from another investigator is that the burn marks on the tree did not seem to indicate an epicenter but rather they seemed to come from a beam of concentrated energy. That investigator actually went on to become a UFO consultant for the KGB.

Some have argued that this photo, found as the last photo on Krivonischenko's camera, resembles the glowing orbs of a UFO. This appears to have been a technical shot though, to finish out the reel. Shrooms

Fly Algaric was plentiful in the region of the incident and was used by Mansi shaman for mystical purposes. As bizarre as it sounds, mushrooms are one of he recurring alternate theories which could explain some of the bizarre behavior pieced together from the evidence. The idea is as follows. The local indigenous people in the region, the Mansi, practice a form of shamanic religion in which local mushrooms are used by shamans to travel to the spirit world and help those plagued by illness or to communicate with the dead. Shamanic culture in Siberia is extremely well studied and there are numerous books about findings from a plethora of anthropological studies in the region. The shamans value a particular mushroom, Fly Algaric, so much that they dress up like them. Fly Algaric (Amanita Muscaria), as far as magic mushrooms go, is a particularly toxic mushroom and is not easily processed in its natural form. It is so toxic that the shamans prefer to intake the naturally occurring psychedelic in another form, reindeer urine. Yes, that's right, reindeer pee. Reindeer have a physiology much more suitable for processing the toxins in the mushroom and the psychoactive component of the drug, Musciomol, comes out in their urine. Shamans will collect the snow where the reindeer pee, drink it, get high and then pee again into the snow and, in an even more bizarre urine transaction, reindeer will even drink the shaman pee, creating a cycle of acquiring the drug. If Fly Algaric looks familiar, it may be because of Alice in Wonderland where the mushroom is featured in artwork. In fact, the mushroom helped inspire the book due to some of its side effects such as macropsia in which things look larger than they are, making the person feel small. It can also cause the opposite effect, micropsia. These can even occur simultaneously, creating the effect known as Alice in Wonderland syndrome. Other effects are becoming delirious, entering a trance state, sweating and twitching. The theory, as it applies to this case, is that the hikers may have found a bag of mushrooms hanging on a tree, something the shaman do to dry them out, and may have experimented with them during the night. Not understanding how toxic the mushrooms are, they would have entered a nearly hypnotic state, prone to easy suggestion. They may have also begun sweating and felt as though the natural environment would not harm them. In a hasty decision, they may have exited the tent by cutting it open, walked slowly down the hillside and built a fire. Within a few minutes, considering the conditions, the exposed hikers would have succumbed to hypothermia and the others would attempt to go back to the tent to get supplies. The mushroom theory is interesting because it explains so much of the evidence. The mushrooms definitely grow in the area and photos taken from the hikers' cameras show Mansi markings all around the area. Death by Yeti Several of the hikers had cameras and all of the cameras were analyzed to see if there were clues hidden in events of the days preceding the incident. In one of these photographs, some argue, there is a figure which resembles a Yeti or what we think a Yeti might look like. The figure does not seem to have any equipment and is just crossing in front of a clearing. It's not clear if the image could have been a blurry photo of one of the hikers or the infamous snow monster. Most of the speculation around the Yeti theory relies on the fact that some of the hikers (those found in the ravine) had broken ribs and other bones. Also, these are the same hikers which are missing eyeballs and tongues. The idea is that a Yeti could explain the cause of these injuries. The Yeti theory is problematic though because it does not seem to fit with the notion that there were no other footprints coming or going from the scene. The injuries of the hikers in the ravine could also be explained by fall damage and predation.

This photo is the last photo from Thibeaux-Brignolle's camera. Many have speculated it is a photograph of the infamous Russian snow monster, the Yeti. The 2015 Investigation In 2015, Russia launched an investigation of the incident again, this time through the ICRF (Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation) due to outcries from family members of the deceased. Their findings, again under pressure to come up with an answer, relied on the notion that a slow movement of heavy wet snow down the side of the mountain (a super slow avalanche) confused the hikers by pushing their tent. Not realizing that the situation was still reparable, they panicked, cut a hole in the tent and ran outside. The theory is that the two who ran out in their pajamas ran to a firepit which already existed next to the pine tree, thinking they could stay warm. The weather conditions at the time were quite severe with a heavy snow falling and temperatures well below zero and nearly hurricane force winds. A lot of the findings from the 2015 investigation highlighted the inexperience of the team in such conditions. Many have argued, however, that the group was not that inexperienced. Some were certified in mountain climbing and hiking and would have known not to make such basic mistakes as going outside in just pajamas. There's also the troubling fact that they would even be in pajamas with hurricane force winds pummeling the side of a small tent.

In Conclusion

A monument now stands to commemorate the lives of the nine hikers who died in the Dyatlov Pass incident. Of all the theories, the mushroom theory tends to best explain the evidence we find. We know that the tracks did not indicate panic. We know that some of the hikers were in pajamas in profoundly disturbing weather conditions. We know that at least 6 of the hikers died from hypothermia as the direct cause of death. The evidence from the area, such as burn marks on the trees or could indicate some yet unknown theory. The Dyatlov Pass Incident stands out as one of the stranger stories out of the former Soviet Union and, due to the passage of time as well as the change in political structure there, the truth is probably too far gone for us to come up with definitive answers today. It will go down in history as one of the strangest and most documented unexplained events of the 20th century. However, it is such a rich source of speculation that we may revisit it ourselves in future articles as armchair sleuths come up with more ways to try to explain such a disparate set of facts. Read the full article

#dyatlov #dyatlovpass #featured #russia #russianhikers #siberia #sovietunion #uralmountains

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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Just How Big was the Largest Flying Dinosaur? Huge.

Quetzalcoatlus was the largest flying dinosaur and the largest flying creature ever to have existed. It stood as tall as a giraffe when it was on the ground.

What was Quetzalcoatlus?

Quetzalcoatlus eating small dinosaurs. Image by By Mark Witton and Darren Naish - Witton MP, Naish D (2008) Quetzalcoatlus is named after the Aztec feathered serpent deity Quetzalcoatl. It was a dinosaur of the Late Creteaceous period, which was about 100 million to 60 million years ago (later than the large dinosaurs like T-Rex), in North America. While not technically a dinosaur, it was part of the family of pterosaurs which lived in that period was related to other large pterosaurs. A few skeletons of Quetzalcoatlus have been found, including some rather complete skeletons. They show that Quetzalcoatlus was indeed a pterosaur, with a very large skull and it may have spent quite a bit of time hunting on the ground as well. Quetzalcoatlus lived in North America and most of the remains have been found in Texas.

Quetzalcoatlus skeleton at the Houston Museum of Natural Science

How big was Quetzalcoatlus?

Quetzalcoatlus was indeed extemely large. It was at least 10ft tall at the shoulders when standing up and most scholars believe it was slightly taller than a full grown giraffe at the head. The wingspan of Quetzalcoatlus has been subject to debate. When the Texas remains were initially found, paleontologists thought the wingspan could be as high as 50ft. Current estimates, based on subsequent findings, put Quetzalcoatlus's wingspan at 36 to 39ft.

Two different species of Quetzalcoatlus compared with a full grown man. By Matt Martyniuk (Dinoguy2), Mark Witton and Darren Naish That would make Quetzalcoatlus's wingspan, which is over 10 meters, making it about the same size as a private airplane, such as a Cessna.

By The Nature Box - CC BY-SA 4.0 Getting an estimate on the weight of Quetzalcoatlus is much more difficult since we have no tissue samples and the bones have been petrified. Estimates range from 150lbs for a normal individual to nearly 1,000lbs. However, the consensus among paleontologists now is that an average individual weighed about 200–250 kg (440–550 lb).

Other Giants

As seen in the above photograph, there were actually two different sub-species of Quetzalcoatlus. The smaller one had a wingspan of around 18ft, making it about half the size. Originally, when they found the smaller skeletons, the idea was that they may be juvenile specimens of the same species. Supsequent research indicates, though, that they are a different sup-species. Quetzalcoatlus northropi is the large one and Quetzalcoatlus sp. is the small one. In Europe, there was a very similar pterosaur, known as Hatzegopteryx, which was roughly the same size. It may have been slightly heavier and had a large head with a more pronounced crest running down the middle.

Hatzegopteryx was roughly the same size as Quetzalcoatlus northropi. By Mark Witton Both species fed on small dinosaurs which could be up to the size of a human. In the case of Hatzegopteryx, it lived on an island of dwarf dinosaurs near present day Transylvania, Romania. Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/largest-insect-of-all-time-discovered/ Read the full article

#Dinosaurs #Hatzegopteryx #Quetzalcoatlus

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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What are these Russian Nanospirals?

In 1991, Geologists found several mysterious machine pieces while excavating in the mysterious Ural mountains, at the confluence of the Kozhim, Narada, and Balbanyu rivers, while looking for gold deposits. The pieces were embedded in 100,000 year old rock and have various machined shapes and distinct chemical compositions. Ooparts (out of place artifact), as they are often called, are items that are found that seem impossibly out of place. These are the most perplexing ooparts found so far.

Highly magnified image of tungsten nanospiral found in Russia - Image Source: CosmoTV The most mysterious type of part found were nanospirals, spirals so small they could only be seen with a microscope, down to 1/10,000th of an inch. Based on their estimations, the spirals had to be 100,000 to 300,000 years old. They were found between two distinct strata with the top layer being 20,000 years old and the layer beneath being 300,000 years old. According to Russian Academy of Sciences, the larger pieces were made mostly of copper but the smaller pieces were made of tungsten and molybdenum. The geologists studying the metals said they were not of a natural origin. According to Dr. E.W. Matvejeva, from the Central Scientific Research Department of Geology and Exploitation of Precious Metals, they are of a "technological origin". According to the Epoch times, the artifacts have been studied at facilities in Helsinki, St. Petersburg, and Moscow. One of the principal researchers by the name of Dr. Johannes Fiebag died in 1999 and there do not seem to have been any subsequent investigations. At first, there was a theory they were parts that had fallen from rockets from a launch site in Plesetsk. A report in 1996 ruled that possibility out, saying the parts were found at too great a depth. You can see the segment about them on Ancient Aliens here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcoaDllsiic The Ural mountains are full of mysteries, the most famous of which is the Dyatlov Pass Incident where a group of Russian hikers were all found dead of a mysterious compelling force. The area is famous for shamanism and numerous UFO sightings. Is this the evidence of an alien presence hundreds of thousands of years ago? The evidence is still out but it definitely warrants further research! Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/top-10-russian-mysteries/ Read the full article

#ancientmysteries #nano-spirals #nanospirals #russia #uralmountains

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buzzesquenews · 4 years

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Did Moses See God Because of a DMT Experience?

The story of the burning bush and Moses's experience with God is very well known but some people think the key to Moses's religious experience was actually something else all together. Let's examine the evidence.

Summary of the Burning Bush Story

For those who do not remember or may not know the story of Moses and the Burning Bush, here is the entire Biblical reference: Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.Exodus Chapter 3 1:6 In short, he comes across a bush that is on fire, looks around and hears the voice of God speaking to him from a bush. He seems surprised that he has spent so much time near the bush to find it still on fire. God then has an elaborate conversation with him, disclosing his plans for the nation of Israel.

What is DMT?

Also known as the "spirit molecule" or "hipster LSD", DMT is a chemical present throughout nature, including in our own brains. Dimethyltryptamine, the technical name, is easily derived from a number of plants found throughout the world. When purified, it can be smoked, taken orally or injected. Unlike LSD and "magic mushrooms", DMT leads to a nearly instant trip that is short lived and unusually intense. Burning Bush by Sébastien Bourdon DMT has become famous for a couple of reasons. One reason is that it is the first psychedelic substance to be studied since the 60s. Famously, it was studied by Richard Strassman from the University of New Mexico from 1990 to 1995. There is a wonderful documentary about his findings but, in summary, nearly all of the patients rated the study as the most significant event of their lives and the majority felt like they were communicating with a super-human intelligence, regardless of their religious affiliation. Strassman himself quit research entirely to focus on it because he felt that conducting studies such as that were not honoring the power of the drug. DMT is also famous as being the active hallucinogen in Ayahuasca, the ceremonial brew used for thousands of years in South America, which originated in the Amazon. Ayahuasca also has something called a MAOI (Monoamine oxidase inhibitor) which slows the breakdown of the molecule in our bodies and allows it to be absorbed slowly, extending the experience to a few hours.

How would Moses have found it?

Since ancient times, the Burning Bush has been referenced as coming either from the Acacia bush that grew in the region or the a similar bush with the scientific name, Peganum harmala. In Islamic tradition, it is the latter but in Christian and Jewish traditions, it is assumed to be the Acacia bush. The Acacia tree is the most mentioned species of tree in the Bible, it turns out. The Ark of the Covenant is also made of Acacia wood. In either case, both species of tree are the two species of trees with the highest DMT content in the Middle East and are sometimes still used today for purifying it in illegal drug labs.

An example of a bush in Israel which contains high levels of DMT - Image by By Marco Schmidt - Self-photographed In fact, there are reports of people having a mild trip by smoking pulverized acacia bark, similar to what may have been practiced by this ancient shaman in Bolivia. There is circumstantial evidence that ancient Israelites may have been aware of its effects. A professor by the name of Benny Shannon at Hebrew University in Tel Aviv put out a paper claiming that the use of entheogens (psychedelics that have a spiritual dimension). In it, he puts forth the case that MAOIs were very common in the region and there are Islamic, Zoroastrian and Jewish references to those plants as well as their infusion into a drink. He also argues that Manna from heaven may have been involved. A more likely possibility is that Moses may have inhaled a lot of smoke from the bush, providing a noticeable spiritual experience. It would have seemed entirely out of the ordinary in a world where alcohol and common modern drugs are always manipulating our mindset. There is no direct evidence, yet, that something like Ayahuasca in ancient Israel or the Middle East in general but other entheogens such as "magic mushrooms" were easy to find. Similar to the Oracle at Delphi, there could also be some geological reason for the experience. There are also biblical references to entheogens, like this one: And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah: Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes. And she said unto her: Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son’s mandrakes. Genesis 30: 14–15 Mandrakes were a highly psychoactive drug commonly used in the ancient world. For now, we can only speculate but after Shannon's research, other archaeologists are beginning to look for connections. Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/1000-year-old-shaman-drug-pouch-found/ Read the full article

#Bible #DMT #history #Moses #Psychedelics

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