Missing But Not Lost, Jodee Redmond [love letters to the dead .txt] 📗

receiving this form of "treatment." Could this be the placebo effect in action or are some patients actually being healed?


What is a Water Witch?

Dowsing is a general term used to describe the art of discovering things that are hidden. It is also known as water witching. A water witch uses a forked stick or a rod to find water located underground. A pendulum can also be used for this purpose.

Diving Rod

A forked twig is the instrument normally used to find underground water. Most practitioners of the art of dowsing use a stick taken from a willow tree for this purpose. The reason is simple: willows are thought to be attracted to water. They require a moist environment to grow properly. The theory is that there is some element in the twig that acts in conjunction with the diviner to find the underground water.

Ancient Practice

Images of people holding tools in a forked shape have been found in artwork from ancient Egypt and China. This may indicate that dowsing was practiced by these people. The Bible contains an account of Moses using a rod to find water (Numbers 20:11).
During the Middle Ages, dowsing was used to find coal deposits. Martin Luther referred to the practice as "the work of the devil." The term "water witch" is derived from this comment.

How Does It Work?

One theory about dowsing is that the dowser establishes a connection on a psychic level with the substance or object being sought. Another idea put forward about dowsing is that all things are surrounded by a type of energy field. The dowser has the ability to locate and zero in on the vibrations given off by whatever object or substance he or she has been asked to find.
The act of picking up on these vibrations or energy causes the dowsing rod or pendulum to move. The pendulum or diving rod moves in response to the diviner's questions or thoughts. A rod will pull down when the diviner comes close to an underground source of water.

Another piece to the puzzle is that the diviner may have a heightened ability to interpret clues contained in his or her physical environment. This ability may well be something the diviner is not consciously aware of.

Albert Einstein on Divining

While skeptics argue that dowsing doesn't work because it is impossible to measure its success in controlled conditions, Albert Einstein believed that dowsing was legitimate. He felt that the dowsing rod was a tool that could demonstrate the human body's nervous system's reaction to certain as-yet-unexplained factors.


Part III: Mysterious Places

Missing But Not Lost: Bermuda Triangle Mystery
The Witchraft disppeared in the Bermuda Triangle in December 1967. The occupants are considered "missing - but not lost at sea".

On the evening of December 22, 1967, hotel owner Dan Burack and a friend boarded Burack's 23-foot-long cabin cruiser, the Witchcraft in Miami. The purpose of their trip was to travel a short distance off shore to observe the Christmas lights and the Miami skyline. They stopped near Buoy #7 - less than one mile from shore.

Burack was by all accounts an experienced and careful yachtsman. The Witchcraft was equipped with life jackets and floatable seat cushions. Burack also had a flotation device installed in the hull to render the boat "unsinkable" - even if the boat was completely flooded, a part of the hull would remain above the water.

All was well until approximately 9 p.m., when Burack radioed the Coast Guard stating that he had hit something and would need a tow back to the harbour. He did not indicate there was an emergency; one would assume that the rudder or propeller had been damaged in some fashion, but that the hull was still intact. Burack stated that he had flares ready and would fire one to indicate his exact position.

The Coast Guard responded immediately and arrived at the Witchcraft's reported location at approximately 9:20 p.m. No sign of the vessel or its occupants was found. No further message was received; no flares were sent up; no debris or bodies were recovered.

A 1,200 square mile search was started that night. Nearby vessels were asked to be on the lookout for the Witchcraft. When the search was finally called off on December 28 (having covered an area of 24,500 square miles), not a single clue as to what happened had been found.


The Mysterious Piri Reis Map: Antarctica in an Ice-Free State

How could a sixteenth century Turkish admiral have drawn an accurate map of Antarctica?

The Piri Reis map, discovered in 1929, was drawn on a gazelle skin. It was drawn in 1513 by an admiral of the Turkish Fleet named Piri Reis. The map is extraordinary because not only does it show the west coast of Africa and the east coast of South America, it also depicts the northern coast of Antarctica. Keep in mind that this map was drawn 300 years before Antarctica was “discovered”!
Notes made by Reis on the map indicate that he used a number of other maps as sources of information for the map that he drew. Due to his elevated status in the Turkish Navy, Reis was able to access the resources of the Imperial Library of Constantinople.

Scientists have examined the map and concluded that the Piri Reis map shows an amazingly accurate depiction of Antarctica's coastline. The coastline must have been mapped before it was covered by the ice-cap, which is now about one mile thick.
In the past, scientists felt that the ice-cap that now covers Antarctica was about one million years old. That would mean that the map was drawn based on information gathered a million years ago. This would be impossible because man did not exist at that time.

Further study has indicated that the last time period during which the Antarctic was free of ice ended approximately 6,000 years ago. When the ice-free period began is still unclear, although it has been estimated at somewhere between 13000 BC and 9000 BC.

The Piri Reis Map, which dates back to 1513, has been found by modern scientists to be amazingly accurate. Is it possible that the information it contains came from a lost civilization? Or an alien one?

In 1953, the Piri Reis Map was examined by the experts from the United States Navy Hydrographic Bureau. An expert on ancient maps was called in to assist.

In order to check the map's accuracy, a grid was prepared and the information from the Piri Reis Map was transferred onto a globe. Not only was the map completely accurate, but the Hydrographic Office was able to correct some errors on modern-day maps!
The startling conclusion of the experts who examined the map was that the only way a map with this level of accuracy could have been drawn would be through the use of data collected from an aerial survey! What civilization would have existed 6,000 years ago with this level of technology?

Further study of the Map's properties revealed that although it was plotted using units of measurement we are familiar with (latitudes and longitudes), it was copied from much earlier maps that were prepared using spherical trigonometry, which was developed by modern man in the middle of the 18th century. Whoever made the earlier map would have known that the Earth was round and was also able to accurately perform the steps required to calculate its circumference (within 50 miles).

One theory about how the coast of Antarctica could have been mapped so accurately puts forward the idea that Antarctica was not always located at the South Pole. Some scholars have suggested that at one time Antarctica was located 2,000 miles to the north and that over time its location slowly shifted south.

We might be able to accept that at one point in time Antarctica was located further north and wasn't always ice-covered. As for who was able to draw such an accurate map so long ago, that mystery remains unsolved.


The Construction of Stonehenge

The name "Stonehenge" means "hanging stone". This ancient monument can be found on England's Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire. It still captures our imagination to this day,

Stonehenge was built in three or four stages over a 1,500-year-period. While experts disagree with respect to when the building commenced, it is thought to have started sometime between 3800 B.C. - 2800 B.C. The main phase of construction on the site took place between 1800 B.C. - 1400 B.C.

The first step in the process was to dig a very large, circular ditch. 56 pits were also dug. These are called the Aubrey Holes (named for John Aubrey, who discovered them in the 17th century). The Aubrey Holes are now filled in with concrete. The Heel Stone was the first one to be brought to the site. It is still in its original position.
Two other rings of pits (known as the Y and Z Holes) can be found between the Aubrey Holes and the circles of stone that form the centre of Stonehenge.

In approximately 2100 B.C., 80 bluestones were either transported from Wales or retrieved from where they were left by glaciers (if you agree with the new theory on the matter). If, in fact the bluestones were brought from Wales, it is thought that the stones would have been transported by raft along the coast of Wales. The journey would continue by water (local rivers) and land (stones dragged on rollers) to Stonehenge where they were placed in two circles.

At a later date, the bluestones were torn down and replaced by 30 sandstone monoliths, known as "sarsens". The sarsens measure approximately 5 m in height and are estimated to weigh approximately 26 tons each! Ball and socket joints were used to secure the lintels on top of pairs of vertical stones. Interestingly enough, Merlin the Magician has been credited with putting the lintels into place. The previously dismantled bluestones were re-erected inside the circle of megaliths - they are the small pillar stones on the site. Holes were also dug outside the main circle in preparation for the construction of a double circle of bluestones, but for some reason this part of the project was never started.

A large block of green sandstone - known as the Altar Stone - was put into place during the final phase of construction.


Why Build Stonehenge?

Temple, Burial Ground, Observatory, or Ancient Calendar

Was it a temple, burial ground, observatory, or an ancient calendar?

Stonehenge was built in several stages over a period of 1,500 years. Part of the site was dismantled, only to be repositioned at a later date. If we assume that humans make time for the things that are important to them, then we can conclude from the time and effort put into construction at Stonehenge that this site was very important to the ancient people who built it. But what was it for, exactly?

Here are some possibilities:

A 17th-century architect named Inigo Jones thought Stonehenge was a Roman temple. By the time the 18th and 19th centuries rolled along, popular opinion had changed - Stonehenge was thought to be a Druid temple for sun-worship. (The problem with this theory is that Stonehenge was finished 1,000 years before the Druids came to prominence.

Who Were the Druids?

The Druids were a group of priests who trained for a period of up to 20 years to prepare for their roles as guardians of sacred lore. They were responsible for the administration of justice and were advisors to the rulers of Britain, Ireland, and France.

The word "Druid" is a Celtic