Rock Eagle Mound

Rock Eagle Mound

While Stonehenge and Easter Island are the most well-known ancient monuments, America is littered with mysterious wonders predating the Historical narrative we've been taught.  Rock Eagle Mound in Putnam County, Georgia, is one of those that has yet to be explained.

Thought to be at least 1500 years old, Rock Eagle Mound may be twice that age.  The actual bird represented by the rock mound has a wingspan of 120' and is unknown, as well.  While assumed to be an effigy mound, as Native American burial mounds are scattered across the continent, no one knows the monument's true purpose.  If Eagle Rock Mound is a Native American effigy mound, some scholars think it may predate all other effigy mounds in America.

Many Native American tribes revered animals -- particularly animals of prey -- as they practiced Shamanism, and other forms of Animism.  Eagle Rock Mound may well be a monument to the Spirit of Eagle, or even The Great Spirit itself.

However, Zoroastrians often depicted the Creator (the Supreme Being, Ahura Mazda, or Ormazd: Lord of the Wise) as a winged bird of prey, carrying the sun across the sky, or swallowing it at nightfall -- and, in many instances, this bird appears to be an eagle!  Could Canaanites or their predecessors have visited North America?

Some believe Ormazd became the Biblical Mithras, and may have been the idol of a secretive cult within the ranks of Roman soldiers around the time of Christ ¹.  And while that theory seems to lack basis (and may be politically motivated), if true, it could mean that Romans were in North America far earlier than believed.

All told, Eagle Rock Mound in Georgia remains one of the most mysterious man-made monuments in the United States of America!

The picture above was lifted from www.ExploreGeorgia.org, and is shared under Fair Use.

¹ As most of the information surrounding this particular "cult" comes from Biblical text, Mithras may have referred to gold -- often used to represent the sun.  The "Cult of Mithras" might refer to mercenaries, or soldiers easily bribed, within the ranks of the Roman Guard.  Rome was notoriously corrupt, especially at that time.

© The Weirding, 2018

Squanto was Real, and He was an Escaped Slave

Squanto

According to tradition, Squanto was an English-speaking Native American who proved invaluable to the survival of the Pilgrims, teaching them the ways of the Native Americans, and translating for them. It was with his help that Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and Indians first came to pass.

The truth, however, is much spottier: Squanto was captured by British slave traders in 1614, then sold as a slave in Spain. He escaped to England before making his way back to Cape Cod in 1619. Sadly, his home village of Patuxet had been wiped-out by disease.

There were 35 Pilgrims among the Mayflower's 102 passengers, and Squanto taught them to cultivate corn, as well as where to hunt and fish. The Indians celebrated an autumnal harvest feast, and it is probable that they invited the Pilgrims to attend, but the Pilgrims held no such observance. Pilgrims did not become part of the traditional Thanksgiving myth until the 1890s.

President Abraham Lincoln set aside Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863, specifically to create unity in a divided nation. Squanto, or Tisquantum, is believed to have died in 1622.

© The Weirding, 2017

The "Lost" Thunderbird Photo

The "Lost" Thunderbird Photo

Thunderbirds -- and "living dinosaurs," in general -- are a difficult topic to discuss, due to religious Fundamentalists, moneyed "experts" who receive backing from shady organizations and are known to falsify research, and a general lack of evidence that has been made public.

Many photos, video documentation, even alleged specimen, regarding a great number of topics we discuss exist in private collections that are not accessible to the public.  Some can be found in reputable books (where they were licensed for publication), others in privately-owned museums (where no photography is allowed), and elsewhere -- just not online.  Uploading them can result in termination of accounts (though the images are usually just reported/removed), and has -- as they are protected by Copyright and similar restrictions.

Stories of Thunderbirds go back centuries, but appear to be specific to North America.  While tales of winged, sky-faring, man-eating beasts appear in cultures worldwide, the very term is taken from Native American accounts.  Early settlers' accounts repeatedly mention the fear American Indians had of these creatures, and record tales of their attacks on people -- mostly children.  These scant details bear the hallmarks of Legend, but the story goes deeper.

Accounts of posses being amassed, and hunts organized, for Thunderbirds also exist in historical record.  In several cases, these hunts were carried-out by otherwise serious-minded, "common" people of Anglo-Saxon descent who may have been swept-up by hysterical tales of recent attacks, or sightings in the area.  Others were expeditions carried-out by wealthy trophy hunters -- even more important, as it proves that belief in these tales was strong enough to entice men of a higher status (and assumptively better education) into paying top-dollar, and traveling the world to brave unchartered territory, just for the chance to nab one!

There are a handful of similar photos, all of which appear to be fakes based on the fabled accounts of "The Lost Thunderbird picture" -- none of which mention Vicksburg or the Civil War, by the way.  Most Thunderbird accounts of that period came from the American Southwest -- Arizona and the immediate area, to be precise.  Some of these tales were likely cases of mistaken identity coupled with fear -- the product of conditioning from hearing tales of such fearsome, loathsome beasts since childhood -- others, however, are not as easily dismissed.

And, though some modern researchers have conducted studies that seemingly "prove" modern people untrained in Zoology often misidentify known creatures -- not something serious researchers question in the first place -- their apocryphal data proves nothing regarding the knowledge of ancient tribal peoples whose entire lives were spent living and working in tandem with their natural surroundings.  This is especially true of American Indian culture, which revered nature and the animal kingdom.  On a separate note, the very hypothesis smacks of racial bias, as it seems to "confirm" the era's prevailing, racist views toward Amer-Indians more than anything.

This alleged picture of a Thunderbird hunt may well be the "Lost Thunderbird Photo" of paranormal lore.  While many have attempted to debunk it, no conclusive evidence proving its fraudulence has come to light.  Proffering that it may have been a hoax of its day -- a staged photo in front of a theatrical prop or taxidermic creation -- is a sound approach toward establishing reasonable doubt; resorting to claims of digital manipulation is lazy at best, and not at all convincing.  As always, I am not claiming this is an authentic photograph; I remain hopefully skeptical that it is, and so far unswayed by attempts to debunk it.

Especially since I am not sure how this picture made it online, because I think it belongs to a private collection.  Most of the photos from said private collection are unavailable online (although many are available in print), so I am not entirely sure how this particular photo of an alleged Thunderbird hunt around the turn of the 19^th-Century persevered.

Though I, too, may be mistaken.

© The Weirding, 2017

New Pics of Ancient, Uncontacted Peruvian Tribe Driven into Brazil by Illegal Construction and Logging

Ancient Peruvian Tribe Driven to Brazil by Illegal Loggers

A human rights organization released pictures of a previously uncontacted Peruvian tribe on Monday to heighten awareness of logging laws in the country. The organization warns that the tribe is likely to come into conflict with other tribes fleeing their homes, as well as the vicious loggers themselves, as loggers illegally encroach on their territories.

Human rights activists and organizations have pushed Peru for tighter logging regulations for years, yet the country has done little to nothing... but illegally sell more Amazon tribes' lands to shitbag construction companies protected by paramilitary organizations like TigerSwan, SIS, and Raytheon.

© C Harris Lynn, 2011

Mexican Officials Seek "Lost Island"

Mexican officials are desperately searching for Isla Bermeja, a long-lost island which first appeared on 18^th-Century maps.  They claim the US is encroaching on Mexican borders, and locating the island would help prove this claim.  Experts believe the sea bottom in the area, to which Mexican officials have already made claim, to be rich with oil.  However, reconnaissance allegedly shows nothing in the area.

Old maps were largely made by copying existing maps, and errors could appear on maps for centuries.  As more explorers made their ways into unchartered territory, and more of the land was explored, these errors were corrected on newer maps.  Isla Bermeja may never have existed, though other popular theories say an earthquake could have removed it, global warming could be to blame -- or the US bombed it!

Experts dismiss this latter claim, but say they will seek more funding to continue searching for the lost island of Isla Bermeja.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009