REAL GHOST STORIES FROM RUSSIA ABOUT THE BOOK She is Mother Russia, the largest nation in the world, and her turbulent history has left her filled with restless spirits. Footprints in the Snow is a collection of true and documented stories of the paranormal from Russia and Eastern Europe. Excerpts, in shorter and less detailed form, have been published in numerous Russian and English language publications, primarily through the Illya Resink Library Collection and in various local magazines and newspapers along with such prestigious US and UK publications such as "Fate" and "Phenomenon" Magazines. Footprints in the Snow: True Stories of Haunted Russia is a reporter's view of documentable paranormal incidents. The stories are told through the eyes of a professional skeptic, one who does not “see ghosts behind every tree.” Statistically, more than 96% of all such stories turn out to be quite natural in origin. There are exceptions. The stories in this collection have all been thoroughly investigated and documented. These are not the high profile cases you hear about all the time. Most of them are little known outside their immediate area and only by the people immediately involved. You will not find "Ivan the Terrible" or "the lost Princess Anastasia" in these pages. Those cases have been treated frequently enough already. What you will find are some documented and verifiable accounts of paranormal activity in this country that have, so far, defied any rational or normal explanation. They are interesting and informative reading and entertaining. These are true reports of actual happenings presented in a way that leaves it to the reader to decide the cause of these "footprints in the snow." EXCERPT My apartment building is located just across the street from an elementary school and kindergarten that have served our community for more than seventy years. Here in Russia, this isn’t unusual. The school was part of Lenin’s first Five-Year Plan, and was one of the more successful parts. Late at night, long after the school is closed and completely empty, we can hear children laughing and playing in the playground. It lasts for about five minutes—a relatively long time; but when you look out the window you see nothing. There are no children there. Everyone in the building is used to this. It happens several times a year, and it’s gone on for decades—at least fifty years— So has what follows. After about five minutes, there is a high-pitched, screeching sound, followed by an explosion. Then the sound of children playing turns to screams, and then stops. Welcome to Russia, arguably the most haunted land on earth The stories that you are about to read in “Footprints in the Snow” have all been thoroughly investigated and documented. I trust that you will also find this to be interesting and informative reading. Hopefully, it will also be entertaining. Attend a quiet family picnic in the forest where a soldier of the Second World War lies in an in an unmarked grave and ill-repose – and cries out to a little child to find him. Stand in shock and awe as a tomb is opened after seventy-six years and the horrible cause of a woman’s nightmares is found. Watch as a little girl plays at the feet of her aging parents – half a century after her death -- and smile at the continuing presence of – in spirit – of “The Countess,” a little grey cat that never knew she was a cat. March stalwartly across the length of Russia – in the heart of winter – with the rag-tag but undefeated soldiers of the “Legion of the Damned,” as they try to shepherd their families to safety across the wild Ural Mountains – every winter for more than 175 years. These accounts are all -- each and every one -- true reports of actual happenings. It is up to the reader to decide the cause of these “footprints in the snow.” Nineteen years is a long time to spend in any country not one's own. In that time, Dr. Choron has learned a lot about life and living in Russia, especially about the Paranormal. In these pages the reader can literally hear the staccato notes played by the “Drummer Boy of Taratovka” as he warns his loved ones of fire – year after year after year. These pages take you on a visit to the office and the home of one of the most blatantly evil men the world has ever seen, where his presence is still felt half a century and more after his death; and into the bowels of the most notorious prison that the world has ever seen – a place that Alexander Solsinitsyn called the “inner circle of hell.” Here, in “Footprints in the Snow,” the reader can go along to the barricades during the “August Revolt” of 1991 and stand beside a man who has come there to fight for freedom for the second time in 100 years. He or she can know that love lasts forever as they walk down a quiet village street, smile and wave at the pretty little girl in the garden who will always and forever be a child, or as you hear the story of the little boy who will never – ever – leave his mother, and the teenage girl who is known as the “Angel of the Mourning.” Stand in a tiny cemetery and watch the little girl that a whole town calls “Our Little Hero” play at the feet of her parents … alongside her sixty-five year old grave – seen by all but those who love her most. Enjoy your stay in paranormal Russia – live in buildings alongside men, women and children who have resided in the same apartment for five generations – and more -- and in some cases for centuries. Enjoy your stay in a hotel in which room service is provided by a pretty young maid – who was murdered ten years before your arrival -- and look out the window and see the young woman who has been standing on the platform waiting for the train – since a cold and windy night in the winter of 1972. Ask the neighbors about their daughter’s “invisible playmate.” The reader can ride along with a young policeman as he follows a running ten-year-old child down the darkened streets of a small town in a desperate attempt to save an orphanage from fire – for the second time in fifty years. Visit the teachers of the “world’s oldest straight-A student.” Go on investigations with Major Maslov, the police prefect who is constantly called on when a case is “just a bit odd.” Or -- they can follow along as all of Russia watches on television, reads the papers and listens on the radio about the heroic trek of “the Legion of the Damned” as they leave their bloody footprints indelibly imprinted in the snows of the Siberian wastes – year after year -- just as they have for almost two centuries.

Dr. J. Lee Choron is not a “parapsychologist, nor does his professional degree represent any paranormal pursuit or study. He is a PhD optical engineer and has spent a lifetime as a photo analyst, reporter and journalist. He is a “professional skeptic.” He is not a man who “sees ghosts” behind every tree or around every corner. He does not believe that everything that goes “bump” in the night is from “beyond.” He has investigated and documented these accounts thoroughly. The stories within the pages of “Footprints in the Snow” are taken from literally hundreds of stories concerning “hauntings” and “sightings” from all over the great land of the Tsars. They are largely unknown in the west, but they are the best of the best. Dr. Choron is a collector of facts. He makes no judgment and no assumptions as to the causes of these incidents. The facts are here. It is up to the reader to decide for themselves why there are so many “Footprints in the Snow.” ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. James L. Choron is a journalist and writer living in Mamontovka, a suburb of Moscow. He has resided in the Russian Federation for more than sixteen years, and is a former senior executive with the Eastman Kodak Company. He is currently owner and Chief Executive Officer of Old Guard Productions, a company dealing in motion picture and television logistics and properties, and American Business Training, a company which deals with sales and customer service training for Russian companies seeking to introduce Western business practices and standards. Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in the small East Texas town of Center, he holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Stephen F. Austin State University and a masters and PhD from Moscow State University in the same subject as well as a graduate degree in optical engineering. A working journalist for slightly more than thirty-five years, he has columns in numerous publications in both Russia and the United States. He has numerous hobbies, primarily related to paranormal and historical research, both of which he has been involved in for over twenty years. He has published a number of independent articles on paranormal encounters and activities and on historical topics, and is a staff member on several online publications and forums dealing with history and the paranormal. ABOUT THE BOOK TITLE: Footprints in the Snow: Tales of Haunted Russia AUTHOR:R: James L. Choron PUBLISHER: Zumaya Publications LLC GENRE: Body/Mind/Spirit/Parapsychology/General FORMAT: Trade paperback, perfect-bound, 260 ppl, $14.99 USD, Trim Size 5 X 8; ebook, $6.99 ISBN: 978-1-934135-06-8, paperback; 978-1-934135-07-5, ebook RELEASE DATE: February 2007 DISCOUNT TERMS: There is a 40% for distributor fulfillment, 50% for prepaid publisher fulfillment, 35% for consignment. Books, though listed as not returnable at Ingram, can be returned, if undamaged, to Zumaya for a refund. We encourage booksellers to only order as many copies as they honestly believe they can sell, otherwise, we being as resource-wasteful as the other guys. For bulk and wholesale orders or special orders (including autographed copies) orders please contact Ms. Elizzbeth Burton at editorial@zumayapublications.com "FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW" IS AVAILABLE IN THE US AND UK FROM: AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, LIGHTENING SOURCE/INGRAM, FICTION WISE OR FROM ANY FINE BOOKSELLER. KEYWORDS Russia, ghost, ghosts, haunting, spirits, life after death, true ghost stories, James L. Choron, J.L. Choron, history, Russian history, paranormal. AUTHOR CONTACT INFORMATION You may contact the author, Dr. J. Lee Choron at Lord_Jim@mtu-net.ru Your comments and feedback are always welcome. Dr. Choron is available for both print and electronic media interviews upon request.

HOW OLD IS THE GREAT SPHINX OF GIZA?

A research team has discovered physical evidence that the Great Sphinx of Giza, Egypt, may date from 5000 and 7000 BCE and possibly earlier. In response, archaeologists have thrown mud at geologists, historians have been caught in the middle, and the Sphinx, having revealed one secret, challenges us to unravel even greater ones. The discovery originated half a century ago in the work of a neglected French scholar, R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz (1891-1962). Between 1937 and 1952, Schwaller undertook a survey of the Egyptian Temple of Luxor. His measurements of the floorplan and other detailed observations of the ruins disclosed geometrical relationships not previously suspected. These were confirmed by French archaeologists. Schwaller found similar relationships at other sites. He reported his findings in 1949 and gave a fuller account in 1957. A reviewer for the Journal of Near Eastern Studies urged his colleagues to pay serious attention to Schwaller's work, which challenged the notion of Egypt's mathematical inferiority and suggested a new dimension to Egyptian religious belief. But Schwaller stirred up opposition by the speculative meanings that he assigned to Egyptian architecture and inscriptions, and other scholars dismissed his findings. Schwaller observed a curious physical anomaly in the pyramid complex at Giza. The erosion on the Sphinx, he noted, was quite different from the erosion observable on other structures. Schwaller suggested that the cause of erosion on the Sphinx was water rather than wind-borne sand. At the time, nobody understood the implications of this observation and it went largely unnoticed until the 1970s, when the independent Egyptologist John Anthony West took up the question. What is now the Sphinx head was probably at one time an outcrop of rock. The 240-foot body of the monument, in the shape of a recumbent lion facing east, was excavated from the limestone bedrock of the Giza plateau, forming an open enclosure around it. A small temple, the "Sphinx Temple," stands in front of the monument. This and an adjacent temple to the south, known as the "Khafra Valley Temple," originally stood close to the Nile river. The Valley Temple is at one end of a long 1600 foot causeway that leads to the Mortuary Temple in front of the Pyramid of Khafra (Chephren). The Sphinx and Valley Temples consist of huge limestone blocks quarried from the enclosure and refaced with Aswan granite. To the northeast of Khafra's pyramid lies the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) and to the southwest lies the Pyramid of Menkaura (Mycerinus). Causeways also link the Khufu and Menkaura pyramids to valley temples along the ancient Nile. Archaeologists attribute the Sphinx to the Old Kingdom fourth dynasty ruler Khafra, who reigned from 2520-2494 BCE. West compared the erosion on the Sphinx, on its temples, and on the enclosure walls to the erosion of other structures on the Giza plateau. On the Sphinx and its nearby walls, the rock was worn badly, giving it a sagging appearance. Edges were rounded and deep fissures were prominent. On structures elsewhere on the plateau, the surfaces showed only the sharper abrasion of wind and sand. Egypt experienced periods of heavy rainfall in the millennia that marked the post-glacial northward shift of the temperate zone. This period lasted from about 10,000 to 5000 BCE and by its end the Sahara had turned from green savanna into a desert. A shorter but more intense period of rainfall lasted from about 4000 to 3000 BCE, tapering off by the middle of the third millennium. West thought that flooding from the post-glacial transition caused the distinctive weathering on the Sphinx complex, which meant that the Sphinx must have been carved during or before the transition. Orthodox archaeologists refused even to consider West's hypothesis. But in 1990 West persuaded Robert M. Schoch, a geologist at Boston University, to examine the question. Curious, Schoch agreed and the two visited Giza in June 1990. Archaeologists agreed that the Sphinx complex stood close to earlier flood levels and that flooding probably reached the base of the Sphinx on occasion. However, flood levels have declined since Old Kingdom times. Schoch observed that erosion was heaviest on the upper parts of the Sphinx and enclosure walls, not around the base, where flooding should have undercut the monument. This upper surface weathering was typical of damage by rainfall, as were the undulating impaction pattern and fissures on the Sphinx and nearby walls. Schoch noticed that the limestone blocks on the Sphinx and Khafra Valley Temples were similarly eroded and that some of the refacing stones appeared to have been form-fitted to the eroded blocks behind them. Inscriptions suggest that the refacing stones dated from the Old Kingdom, which suggested that the original walls eroded long before. On a second trip to Giza in April 1991, West and Schoch brought Thomas Dobecki, a geophysicist from Houston, Texas, to carry out a seismic survey of the enclosure foundations to determine whether the underlying rock showed evidence of precipitation damage. The degree of subsurface weathering could be measured by bouncing sound waves off of deeper layers of rock. With the permission of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, the team carried out sound-wave tests through the floor of the enclosure. Schoch and Dobecki discovered that the enclosure floor in front and alongside of the Sphinx had weathered to a depth of six to eight feet. They also discovered that the back of the enclosure had weathered only half as far. Schoch agreed that the floor behind the Sphinx had been excavated during the Old Kingdom but he concluded that the sides and front of the monument were twice as old. Assuming a linear rate of weathering, Schoch estimated the date of the Sphinx and most of the enclosure to between 5000 and 7000 BCE, far earlier than the date of 2500 assumed by archaeology. Schoch noted that weathering could have been non-linear, slowing as it got deeper because of the increasing mass of rock overhead. On this assumption, the Sphinx could have been significantly older than 7000 BCE. Egyptologists dated the Sphinx to Khafra from several kinds of evidence. A stela from the New Kingdom reign of Thutmose IV (1401-1391 BCE) stands in front of the monument, and an inscription that has since flaked off contained the first syllable of Khafra's name. Statues of Khafra found in his Valley Temple also seemed to associate the complex with Khafra, and the Sphinx head was assumed to be his as well. Finally, the causeway from Khafra's pyramid was built into the Khafra Valley Temple. There was some uncertainty about the date even before West opened the question. Egyptologists agree that repair work to fill in fissures or to protect corroded areas on the monument took place in the New Kingdom no later than about 1400 BCE. This gave little over a millennium for the erosion on the Sphinx to have reached such proportions as to require protective mortaring and partial covering. During much of this time, the main body of the Sphinx was probably buried in sand. The other evidence linking Khafra to the complex was circumstantial. The syllable khaf, for example, could have had other meanings. West disproved one piece of supposed evidence. With the help of a New York City police artist, Detective Sgt. Frank Domingo, West compared the head of the Sphinx with a known head of Khafra. Sergeant Domingo generated profiles of the two heads by computer and by hand and found a very different facial structure in the profile of the Sphinx compared to the profile of Khafra. The difference is easily seen in photographs of the two heads. West and Schoch presented their evidence with considerable trepidation before the Geological Society of America meeting in San Diego on October 23, 1991. Instead of finding some obvious flaw in their results, a number of geologists offered their support. In newspaper interviews and private correspondence, however, other geologists raised two objections. One asked if the seismic refraction data coincided with a natural fluctuation in the rock layer itself. In fact, the seismic profile did not follow the natural dip of the rock. Another geologist proposed that the entire Sphinx , and not just the head, was a natural outcrop of rock. Such an outcrop, known in geology as a "yardang," could have eroded for millennia before being carved. But the Sphinx body and nearby temple blocks matched the stratification pattern of the excavated bedrock. They had clearly been carved out of the plateau along with the enclosure floor. Only the head could have been an outcrop. Schoch believed that the head, which was too small in proportion to the body, had probably been recarved in historic times from an earlier lion's head. As publicity for the findings began to appear, some archaeologists denied the possibility of an earlier date. "There's just no way that could be true," countered one scholar, who pointed to the absence of known government and civilization from the earlier period. "There are no big surprises in store for us," declared another scholar. The American Association for the Advancement of Science scheduled a session to debate the issue at its annual meeting in Chicago on February 7, 1992. A leading authority on the Sphinx, Mark Lehner, director of the American Research Center in Cairo, defended an Old Kingdom date for the Sphinx. He was joined by a geologist, K. Lal Gauri of the University of Louisville, who had studied the Sphinx for a decade. Robert Schoch and Thomas Dobecki defended their results suggesting an earlier date. After reviewing the standard reasons for dating the Sphinx to Khafra, Lehner asked the basic question raised by his colleagues in archaeology: where was the civilization that had to have existed to carve the Sphinx and build the temples so many millennia before the Old Kingdom? Archaeology had found no evidence of civilization in Egypt that far back. The Egyptians of the post-glacial transition were primitive "hunters and gatherers" who could not have built such a monument. Gauri circulated a short paper that attributed the erosion on the Sphinx primarily to geochemical effects associated with either an upward seepage of groundwater or with atmospheric condensation and evaporation, which occurred even in the dry climate of the area. But in his own paper, Schoch addressed this objection. Until recently, the water table lay too far below the enclosure floor to be a serious factor. There was evidence of condensation damage to the Sphinx and its temples, but such damage was common to all of the structures on the Giza plateau and was in his view the least serious kind of weathering. It could not account for the nature and severity of the impaction patterns on the Sphinx and its temples. To the problem of archaeological context for an earlier Sphinx, Schoch replied that urban centers had existed in the eastern Mediterranean at Catal Huyuk from the seventh millennium and at Jericho from the ninth millennium BCE. At Jericho there were large stone walls and a thirty foot tower. No such settlement had been found in Egypt itself but clearly there was civilization in the region. More evidence could be under millennia of Nile river silt. An advanced civilization may not have been necessary. A Neolithic culture was able to erect Stonehenge in Britain. The AAAS meeting broke up in words that, according to The New York Times, "skated on the icy edge of scientific politeness." A writer for the AAAS magazine Science wrote that Schoch "hadn't convinced many archaeologists or geologists" of his findings. In fact, Schoch had received offers of support from geologists after the October and February meetings. Even some archaeologists accepted his geological findings without conceding the conclusion to which they pointed. West spent the next eighteen months producing a documentary for television that attracted thirty million viewers when it aired in the United States on November 10, 1993. The Giza monuments have long been a subject of mystery and speculation. Arabs called the Great Sphinx the "Father of Terrors," while many Western writers have seen in the Pyramids everything from tombs to secret wisdom. John Anthony West has suggested that an ice age date for the Sphinx raises anew the question of a lost ice age civilization, possibly the Atlantis of ancient legend. The evidence dating the Sphinx to an earlier time does not prove such legends. But if the hypothesis of rainfall erosion is true, it does call the known chronology of African and indeed world civilization into question. The evidence for an earlier Sphinx raises additional questions: If the Sphinx complex is so much older, who built it and why? Should we be more tentative in what we assume about the first half of the last ten thousand years? If so, how should that affect what we know about the second half? Some answers may be forthcoming in the next few years as the new findings are examined and tested. Until then, the Sphinx challenges us to rethink our history and keep an open mind. LINKS TO OTHER PYRAMID WEBSITES ARCHEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS AT GIZA THE THREE SECRET DOORS MORE THEORIES TOP SECRET WEBSITE GIZA PLATEAU GIZA GRAVITY SURVEY THE WATER SHAFT OF THE SPHINX THE OSIRIS SHAFT WEBSITE OF DR ZAHI HAWASS

EXTRAORDINARY POWER OF THE WHITE POWDER GOLD THE WHITE POWDER GOLD OF THE ANCIENTS Since his latest book, Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark, was published in February 2003, best-selling author Sir Laurence Gardner has been giving worldwide lectures about the rediscovery of arcane knowledge—in particular, the extraordinary powers of white powder gold. When gold and platinum-group metals are transformed into the monatomic state, a fine white powder is produced. This substance was used by pharaohs and kings of the ancient world. It was also part of the secret knowledge of mediaeval alchemy and the Knights Templar. Research on this has been forging ahead, and some amazing properties of high-spin monatomic elements have now been scientifically confirmed. This has huge and potentially revolutionary implications. Humanity now has within its reach a potential cure for cancer without drugs or surgery, an environment-friendly alternative to fossil fuels, a means to transform human consciousness, the possibility of low or zero-gravity flight, space travel by manipulation of space-time, and access to other dimensions (which scientists have now proved to be real). In this interview conducted at Growing Needs Bookshop in Glastonbury, England, Laurence talked about some of the latest developments in this field. We began by discussing how news of its use as a cure for cancer has begun to spread to the mainstream environment. Atasha McMillan MONATOMIC ELEMENTS, HEALING AND ANTIGRAVITY Laurence Gardner (LG): I've been talking about gold as an effective catalyst in cancer treatment for a long time—and it is now happening. The World Gold Council is confirming this in its literature, and the Securities & Exchange Commission, Washington, DC, is now publishing it in its bullion prospectus. The S&EC also reports on other aspects that I have written about in the past. Future applications for gold, it says [reads from S&EC prospectus], "are in pollution control, clean energy generation and fuel cell technology. In addition, work is under way on the use of gold in cancer treatment." Atasha McMillan (AM): Are the research tests for this being done mostly in America? LG: They're being done all over. Scientific journals from Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Singapore, Israel, Britain and America are all commenting in this regard, with headlines such as "The Amazing Properties of Monatomic Gold." There are no limitations on this now. Singapore University is making great progress with gold in cancer treatment, and Rice University, Texas, has reported amazing success in recent remedial trials with nano-gold. AM: You've said that monatomic elements can be used in connection with space travel. Can you explain a bit more about that, and about how research in that area is progressing? LG: Monatomic transition-group elements were classified some time ago as "exotic matter" because they have a negative energy density and the ability to manipulate space-time. Physicists now say that exotic matter is the key to travelling enormous distances—seemingly faster than the speed of light, but with an acceleration rate of zero. They are looking at the concept of moving the space instead of the spacecraft—that is to say, contracting space-time in front of the ship, with a commensurate expansion of the space-time behind it. NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project is leading the research in this regard. We also have the aircraft industry investigating the concept of antigravity flight. Monatomic elements are operative high-temperature superconductors, and superconductors will levitate. They have a null magnetic field and will repel external magnetic fields. The Center for Advanced Study in Illinois has classified superconductivity as "the most remarkable physical property in the universe." So, as the UK Ministry of Defence has stated, "Anti-gravity propulsion is now coming out of the closet". In this arena, Boeing is working on Project Grasp at its top-secret Phantom Works in Seattle, and British Aerospace has its parallel Project Greenglow. There is also a new UK–US joint venture called Project Falcon. Back in August [2003], British Aerospace and Boeing met at the Pentagon to talk about their plan for a 6,000-miles-per-hour aircraft—that's around five times the speed of the now redundant Concorde. AM: You have also mentioned the prospect of teleporting matter from one place to another. LG: Yes; nanophysics and monatomic sciences are now leading us into some astonishing new realms. NASA and the Ohio Aerospace Institute are talking about teleportation as if it's just around the corner. By the use of coupled quantum systems, they'll soon be able to teleport matter instead of moving it physically. "By this means," they say, "even people could be transported by sending enough classical information." So, by the time we get round to the kind of high-speed antigravity aircraft they think they can produce, we might not even need aircraft! In fact, they say that a digital cloning process is also possible—meaning that we could actually be in more than one place at the same time! AM: And yet the ancient people knew about these things? LG: They certainly knew about monatomic elements and superconductors, even if they didn't understand the science behind them. There were various names and terms for these phenomena in different cultures. As for the scientific aspects, maybe they didn't know specifically that these magical powders resonated with DNA or that they were immune system enhancers but they undoubtedly knew of their healing and anti-ageing properties. They also told of levitation, movement into parallel dimensions, communication with gods, and the like. In so many instances, their descriptions were commensurate with modern scientific discoveries; they just used different terminology. They might not have known precisely what they were dealing with, but they clearly knew about the substances in action. AM: You said at a recent lecture that monatomics could improve memory and learning abilities. LG: Absolutely. In fact, some remarkable tests were conducted last year by the Alphalearning Institute at the World Trade Center in Lugano. They are specialists in behavioural sciences and learning deficiencies such as dyslexia and ADHD. Over a number of weeks, they gave measured doses of monatomic supplements to ten volunteers—males and females of varying ages. The results were quite staggering. Their EEG brain scans showed a significant enhancement of alpha waves, leading to perfect hemispheric left and right brain synchronisation. This facilitates heightened learning ability, memory and creative skills, and a substantial lowering of the stress factor. Their report stated that the results were both immediate and cumulative, while being a significant aid in exam-type situations, whether mental or physical. ARK OF THE COVENANT AND THE TEMPLARS AM: Was the Ark of the Covenant connected to the white powder of gold? LG: Yes; it was all part of the same sequence in Exodus—the events at Mount Sinai, when Moses burnt the golden calf and turned it into a powder that he fed to the Israelites. AM: Do we know where the Ark went? LG: Well, from Sinai, it was eventually taken to Jerusalem and placed in the Temple's holy sanctuary. AM: Some people say it was stolen by a son of Solomon and Sheba, and taken to Ethiopia. LG: That was a concept which arose in a 13th-century book called the Kebra Nagast ("The Glory of Kings"). It was designed to cement a Judaic history for the new royal dynasty in Ethiopia, but it was entirely fictional. It works quite well for the modern Ethiopian tourist industry, whose representatives say they have the Ark locked away in a crude 1960s building at Aksum. But no one has ever seen it—not even the Patriarch of the region. It's just a story. What they actually have there is a manbara tabot—a casket that contains a venerated altar slab. They carry this through the streets annually, beneath a draped cloth. AM: Where did the Ark go then? LG: In biblical terms, it remained in Jerusalem for many generations after King Solomon. It is mentioned repeatedly throughout the Old Testament to the time of the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The Ark was then hidden by Hilkiah, the High Priest, before the Temple was destroyed in around 586 BC. At that time, the Captain of the Temple Guard was Hilkiah's son Jeremiah, whom we generally think of as a prophet. Prior to the Babylonian invasion, Hilkiah instructed Jeremiah and the Guard to hide the great treasures of Jerusalem—the Ark, the Anointing Stone, etc. In the main, they were secreted in tunnels beneath the Temple—except for the Stone, which Jeremiah subsequently carried westwards. In Ireland it became the anointing stone of the Scots kings—the Stone of Destiny, transported by the kings to their new-found Scotland in the fifth century. Anyway, a record was kept of those items hidden beneath the Temple. This record was retained within the Order of the Temple Guard, who were in effect the original Knights Templar. Then, around 1,700 years later, the Templars were reconstituted from French and Flemish knights after the First Crusade. They established their base in the Mosque, which then stood on the old Temple site, and excavated to bring up the treasures. They knew exactly what they were looking for, and where to look. Interestingly, they left their own relics for a future generation. In 1894, from beneath the Temple of Jerusalem foundations, British military engineers brought up 11th- and 12th-century Templar swords, crosses and various items from way down below the El Aqsa Mosque. So there is no doubt that the Templars were there. Their patron, Bernard de Clairvaux, recorded their homecoming in 1127. They were protected en route, he said, by a military guard to safeguard them from papal interference. Once returned to France, the Templars became the most powerful organisation the world has ever known. They were both influential and wealthy, establishing the Western banking system on the Islamic model. They were bankers to just about every royal court in Europe and, in time, developed the concept of insurance companies in Scotland. At the same time, they became the primary ambassadors to the Middle East. The biggest of all projects that the Templars undertook was the building of the great Gothic cathedrals in France—the Notre Dame cathedrals. Even today, architects are in awe of the extensive, unsupported roof spans. Many still claim that in theory they are impossible. AM: How did they do it? LG: Well, we know that cathedral stones are highly paramagnetic, and that the Gothic arch design further aids the antigravity thrust of the buildings. Certain granites, sandstones and other rock types are also high in monatomic elemental content, and we know that these elements have levitative qualities—especially if subjected to strong magnetism or frequencies, which repel them. Bluestone granite, as at Stonehenge, is a good example of a stone that can react in some opposition to gravitational thrust. Stonehenge, Herod's Temple, the Giza pyramids and the Gothic cathedrals all fall into a category of "How did they do it?" They all contain gigantic blocks of enormous weight, carried to impossible heights and difficult locations. Even modern cranes would find such constructions hard to replicate. But none of this is impossible if one is dealing with stones that can be triggered to react against gravity and Earth magnetism, somehow pushing away and thereby reducing their physical weight. It has been noticed in Templar constructions, Chartres Cathedral in particular, that people walk taller inside the buildings than they do outside. They actually stand more erect—pushing upwards, so to speak—in the confines of these magical edifices. AM: Why did the Church oppose the Templars? LG: If they were capable of such techniques, if they knew about monatomic elements and gravity, and if they also had the Ark of the Covenant, it's hardly surprising that they became feared by the Pope and the European monarchs. Their patron, St Bernard, was a Cistercian abbot and, apart from the cathedrals, loads of Cistercian abbeys were also constructed during the same era. So there is no doubt that the Templar/Cistercian building methods were fast as well as awesome. It's also apparent why the Catholic Church was so resentful of the monks of Bernard's Order, who eventually linked up with the more ancient Celtic Church in Scotland. They were in the final throes of building the cathedrals when the Papal decree went out against them in 1307. They were kicked out of France and the rest of Europe, and under papal edict were to be persecuted in all Catholic countries. England was predominantly Catholic at that time, but Scotland wasn't—so many of the Templars went to Scotland under the protection of Robert the Bruce. In 1317 he established a new Order as a cover for Templars when travelling abroad. They were known as the Elder Brethren of the Rosy Cross. It was the original Rosicrucian fraternity. AM: I see from your website that you belong to the Knights Templar of St Anthony. What kind of role do the Templars play in our world now? LG: The Knights Templar of St Anthony is the oldest legitimate historical order of Templars still in operation. It was founded for Mary Queen of Scots when she came to Scotland after being Queen of France, and is still under the protectorate of the Royal House of Stuart. In the reign of Mary's son, King James VI, they built King James's Hospital in Edinburgh and The Royal Hospital at Leith. In essence, they were a socially orientated fraternity with Scottish interests at heart. It's much the same today, really. The Order is still concerned with Scottish traditions, culture, education and heritage. SPECULATION ON THE ARK'S RESTING PLACE AM: So when the Pope hounded the Templars out of France in 1307, did they take the Ark of the Covenant with them to Scotland or somewhere? LG: The last historical record of the Ark is at Chartres Cathedral, where a relief inscription on an entrance pillar says, "The Ark of the Covenant was yielded from here." There is no record of it ever having left that place. It was not buried there, taken from there or sent anywhere from there. The word used is "yielded," which means "given up" or "let go." I have discussed this aspect of the Ark's history in Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark and have presented an hypothesis. It seems perhaps a little far-fetched but, knowing what we now know about superconductors and monatomic elements, it is a feasible possibility. AM: You think it was moved into another dimension? LG: Yes, I think so. And when you look at the cathedral's original construction, the set-up could have been right for this. Seventeenth-century documents from the Académie Française and the Royal Society in London relate that there was a great golden plate in the middle of the famous Chartres labyrinth. Today there are just the cut brass studs which held it in place. Also, there was a magical stone of some sort in the roof space above it. This was lost in the debris of the roof fire in 1836, but was originally placed there for some specific purpose by the Templars. If it were perhaps a stone of monatomic iridium crystal or some other energetic superconductive device, it could well have been triggered to the transition-group metal below in order to create a flux-tube portal between them. We know that the Ark was a very powerful capacitor and, in conjunction with monatomic elements (the manna placed in the Ark), it could become a superconductor with its own Meissner field. Hence, as detailed in the Torah and Talmud, it would levitate above the ground. We also know from recent experiments with monatomic elements that they can be heat-triggered to move out of our space-time. Bringing these things all together, therefore, it is possible that the Ark is still at Chartres, but simply not in our space-time—maybe "yielded," for want of a better term, into another parallel dimension. AM: Things can actually be sent into other dimensions? LG: Yes, and brought back. Hal Puthoff, the director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas, wrote in a report some years back that when particles begin to resonate in two dimensions, they should lose 4/9ths of their weight [see "Gravity as a Zero-point Fluctuation Force", Physical Review A 39(5), 1 March 1989]. Subsequent tests with monatomic elements revealed that they, too, would lose 4/9ths of their weight during thermo-gravimetric analysis. With increased heating, the weight would reduce to absolute zero—at which point they disappeared altogether. On subsequent cooling, however, they would return to a visible state. We know, therefore, that it's possible to transport matter into other dimensions. What we don't know is the key to unlocking the Ark—if indeed it is there to be unlocked. Maybe it was triggered by a sound wave, maybe a light wave; but either way we would need to know the resonance frequency. As I said, it's just an hypothesis, but it is a possibility. In a way, it's the sort of thing that NASA and others are now working on with regard to the teleportation of matter, as we discussed earlier. Interestingly, Royal Arch Freemasonry—or Royal Ark, as it used to be—is firmly centred on the traditional mystery of a sacred keystone and a golden plate. ARCANE KNOWLEDGE AND SECRET SOCIETIES AM: Is Arch the same as Ark, then? LG: In a certain context, yes. The Greek word ark, meaning "gathering box," is arc in English and arche in French. The Oxford Word Library defines the word ark as an obsolete form of the modern English word arc. It was equivalent to the Latin arca, a "chest," "box" or "coffer." Archaeology was about a quest for the Ark. Storage places are called archives. Ancient mysteries are called arcane. Ark-based construction, as used by the Templars, became known as architecture, from which we also get arch, architrave, etc. Masonic lore was based on arcane architectural geometry, and the term Royal Arch or Ark stemmed from this. In Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark, I've included a colour plate of Templars in 1147, twenty years after they returned from Jerusalem. The painting, from the Château de Versailles, depicts them with the Ark of the Covenant at the Paris Chapter House. AM: An idea that goes round a lot is that the world is really ruled by secret societies. What do you think of that? LG: I don't really see that as being the case. There are societies, fraternities and establishments which are secretive, and many of our prominent leaders belong to them, but I don't see the groups themselves as running anything. They just provide venues of mutual interest at which to meet. For example, one might say that numerous of our governors are Freemasons. By implication, therefore, we are governed by Freemasons—but that does not mean their individual or combined lodges control the world. They do not. I know many politicians who are members of the British Library and indeed often meet there. But that does not mean we are ruled by a cabal of book readers. I have been a Freemason and a British Library member, but I've never controlled anyone. AM: So, are you a Freemason? LG: Not any more. For many years I was affiliated with the City of London financial sector, and it was part of the scene to belong to a City lodge. It was just the same as being expected to fraternise in this or that wine bar. Business and trades people do much the same at a provincial level, belonging to the local Rotary Club, Round Table or whatever. They all provide venues for those with common interests, but these associations do not run the world—even if some of their individual members have a hand in that regard. If a Scout leader happens to run someone down in his car, it doesn't mean that the Scouts are training terrorists! It simply doesn't work that way. Anyway, after some twenty years in Freemasonry, I resigned in 1984—mainly because I got thoroughly bored with it all. I had expected to learn such a lot, but actually learned nothing of much consequence except how to perform ceremonial ritual. I suppose if one wants somewhere to be every Monday night and a group of people to be with, then it provides a suitably fraternal environment. But, in the end, I found better things to do. All I really discovered in terms of "secrets" was that their biggest secret is that they've forgotten what their secrets are! Even the ritual maintains that the true secrets of the Craft were lost long ago. What I never experienced was anything covert in the way that one imagines a secret society. So, either it wasn't there, or it was very cleverly concealed from me for twenty years. There are, however, secretive aspects of government that I really don't like. Elected politicians are supposed to represent and report to their electorate, not keep secrets from them. Take the Bilderberg Group, for example. Industrialists, bankers and whoever are perfectly entitled to meet and discuss things which they are not required to disclose publicly afterwards. We all have such meetings in our daily lives, but don't feel the need to broadcast everything we've discussed with our colleagues. What I object to is that our elected representatives do attend such meetings, but then consider their electorate irrelevant—perhaps keeping secret certain information which they should pass on. Maybe they feel that insider knowledge gives them an edge for their power base. But that really bothers me. Do they emerge in a position whereby they're working for themselves and their colleagues, and not necessarily for us? I'm pretty sure that's often the case. So, it's a matter of getting those in positions of elected influence to recognise that their responsibility is to be servants of society and not to lord it over society. AM: How do you think that could be managed? LG: We keep hearing these politicians issuing statements such as, "And when we came to power..." Power! Who gave them power? They represent us. We appoint them. We pay their salaries. I think the whole political structure needs to be reviewed. Throughout the so-called democratic world, we have allowed a reversal of the way things are supposed to be. We ask for guardianship, protection and economic management, but they give us laws, restrictions and controls. They totally ignore national written constitutions which "belong" to the people and whose terms and conditions they are supposed to uphold. But whose fault is that? It is our fault. We have allowed it to happen. What we have to understand is that the politicians will not change unless we make them change. It's our car, and they are our chauffeurs. What we want is an adequate ride, not to be told how to sit. Nor do we want them keeping secrets—like, we're going to run out of gas at the next turn. But, as I said, they won't change voluntarily from a position that suits them. We have to change them by making our demands fully apparent. FROM DIANA TO THE KABBALAH AND BEYOND AM: What do you think of the Paul Burrell book about Princess Diana that's recently come out? LG: I've read some of it. And I've read bits and pieces serialised in the press. From what I can see, there doesn't seem to be much that's new or unexpected. What is interesting is that it's coming from a close-to-home, in-house perspective rather than from an outside biographer . AM: Do you think Burrell is telling the truth? LG: I have no reason to doubt it. I don't see that he has any particular, underhand motive. I think perhaps, if he had been treated differently by the Establishment, he might have thought twice about some of the content. But, under the circumstances, he clearly decided to publish anyway. I've not seen anything particularly offensive against the Royal Family in his work. In fact, it's taken the edge off things to some extent. Many people were looking quite harshly at Prince Philip, for example, whereas, according to Burrell, Philip's relationship with Diana wasn't that bad. What I do like about Burrell's book is that it has, once again, prevented the Princess from being conveniently airbrushed from the historical scene, as many would prefer. AM: So that's the Burrell book. How would you describe your own writing motivations? LG: I feel that, because of what I research and write, I have a particular responsibility to the readers of my work. This means that when I discover interesting or important things I feel obliged to pass on the information. So that's my primary consideration. Apart from the fact that I enjoy my work, I have the advantage of being a totally free agent. I am not running for any office, nor bound to any master—so the only people I need to please are my readers. AM:Where do you do all your research? Is it all publicly available? LG: There's very little that isn't publicly available. And if it isn't, I make it publicly available by writing it. The main problem is not lack of accessibility, but of how easily accessible some things might be. I might find something that's available in some monastery in Tibet—so it's publicly available, but how accessible is that for you? Researching and writing is what I do, just like other people are lawyers, carpenters or whatever. So, I just get stuck in and work at it, following the leads like a detective of sorts, trying to discover "who done it and to whom." AM: Do you have any idea what you're going to do next? LG: Each book in my Grail series has been designed to answer the most asked questions that arose from the previous one. So I'll be continuing on the same basis. I've been travelling a lot during past months, but am planning to write the next book this year. In previous editions, I have dealt with Grail-related religion, history, mythology and science. The next book will look more closely at philosophies such as the Grail Code and Kabbalah. Also, a lot has happened on various scientific fronts since I wrote Lost Secrets, so I'll be including some updates in this regard and very possibly getting back into some of the sacred geometry that I introduced in the first edition of Bloodline of the Holy Grail. Right now, however, I am currently involved with the making of a Hollywood movie based on Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark. We are casting now and should begin shooting in the summer, so that will be pretty time-consuming this year. It has also been suggested that I should write a novel to parallel the film. So that's another possibility if I have the time. AM: What kind of film is it? LG: The Hollywood Reporter has classified it as a "sci-fi adventure,”which just about sums it up. It's an action thriller, based essentially in modern Los Angeles, but embodies many scientific aspects from Lost Secrets: time warping, parallel dimensions and the like. In general terms, it concerns the historical and current aspects of monatomic elements, but within the wrap of a fictional story. AM: Can you tell us anything about the story? LG: There's a related page on my website, with a link to the production company's site. Basic information and progress updates are being posted as we go. Currently, there's a scene-setting video trailer online, prepared by Living Element Pictures of Los Angeles, but this will be replaced with something more directly representative in time. The film is currently under the working title, The Christian, and the basic format for the story is given as follows [he reads from a promotional poster]: "Since the inception of the DNA Crime Lab in San Diego, California, over 592 crimes have been solved by DNA match. But one puzzling case remains a mystery. May 16, 2003—a 30-year-old white male, identified only as Chris Doe, was arrested on burglary charges in LA County and later released on $1,000 bail. Chris Doe has a positive DNA match to the Shroud of Turin. He is now wanted for questioning by the authorities and by the scientific community." AM: I read an interesting book called The Second Messiah, which says that the image on the Shroud of Turin is really of Jacques de Molay. LG: That's a book by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas—one of a number of suggestions about the Shroud. Others reckon it might be Leonardo da Vinci. Various ideas have been put forward over the years, but the traditional view is that the Shroud was the burial cloth of Jesus. The weave of the cloth and the type of material are certainly old enough, and pollen has been found embedded which is undoubtedly Syrian. At present, no one really knows the true origin of the Shroud, and even scientists argue about various aspects of its analysis. For our film purposes, however, we are concerned only with the DNA analysis of the blood embedded in the cloth, and with the blood group. These have been specifically identified, and the DNA tests were done in the 1990s at the University of Texas. The information is actually held on file by the San Diego DNA Crime Lab, so it ties in rather well with our screenplay. POSTSCRIPT In a recent email about this film project, Laurence said: "All is going well to the extent that the film producers have now also optioned my other three books. It rather looks now as if screenplays will become very much a part of my life as well as writing books." ABOUT THE INTERVIEWEE Laurence Gardner, Kt FSA, is an internationally known sovereign genealogist, historical lecturer and the appointed Jacobite Historiographer Royal. Distinguished as the Chevalier de St Germain, he is Presidential Attaché to the European Council of Princes, Prior of the Sacred Kindred of St Columba, and a Knight Templar of St Anthony. His latest book, Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark, is published by HarperCollins/Element (2003, see article in NEXUS 10/02 and review in 10/03). His previous books are the worldwide best-selling and award-winning Bloodline of the Holy Grail, Genesis of the Grail Kings and Realm of the Ring Lords (reviewed in NEXUS 4/01, 6/03, and 8/01). Sir Laurence can be contacted via his website ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER Atasha McMillan, after graduating with a degree in English literature, received training and experience in mainstream journalism, working on newspapers and magazines. She left that world behind some years ago, and now concentrates on freelance writing for the new age/alternative/counterculture market.

UNSOLVED MYSTERY LINKS

PLEASE NOTE: Many of these links lead to websites which deal with particular types of mystery, including various sciences, ancient cultures, conspiracy theories and so forth. Articles from some of these websites will be posted on appropriate pages of THINKING SERIOUSLY HAUNTED HISTORY OF AMERICA STEPHEN HAWKING’S UNIVERSE MYSTERY ADVENTURES UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF HUMAN HEALTH THE PARTICLE ADVENTURE OUTSIDE ONLINE UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OPEN QUESTIONS CHEMTRAIL CENTRAL ANTI WAR - 9/11 UNSOLVED MYSTERIES BLOGGING THE MYSTERIES