Archeologist finds 3,000-year old Hebrew text

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An Israeli archaeologist has discovered what he says is the earliest-known Hebrew text, found on a shard of pottery that dates to the time of King David from the Old Testament, about 3,000 years ago.

Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem says the inscribed pottery shard -- known as an ostracon -- was found during excavations of a fortress from the 10th century BC.

Carbon dating of the ostracon, along with pottery analysis, dates the inscription to time of King David, about a millennium earlier than the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, the university said.

The shard contains five lines of text divided by black lines and measures 15 by 15 centimeters, or about 6 inches square.

Archaeologists have yet to decipher the text, but initial interpretation indicates it formed part of a letter and contains the roots of the words "judge," "slave," and "king," according to the university. That may indicate it was a legal text, which archaeologists say would provide insights into Hebrew law, society, and beliefs.

The researchers say the text was clearly written by a trained scribe.

The shard was discovered at the Elah Fortress in Khirbet Qeiyafa, about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem. The fortress, measuring 2.3 hectares (about 5.7 acres), is the earliest-known fortified city of the biblical period in Israel.

Excavations began there in June. So far, just four percent of the site has been excavated, the university said.

Because the ostracon is similar to that found in other Israelite settlements, and because no pig bones were found at the site, archaeologists say the site was likely part of the Kingdom of Judea. Jewish dietary laws forbid the eating of pork.

Among the artifacts found at the site are more than 100 jar handles bearing distinct impressions which may indicate a link to royal vessels, the university said. Such a large quantity found in such a small area is "unprecedented," the university said.

The site of Khirbet Qeiyafa is located near the place where the Bible describes the battle between David and Goliath -- the Elah Valley, which shares its name with the fortress.

Garfinkel said it is the only site in Israel in which to investigate King David.

"The chronology and geography of Khirbet Qeiyafa create a unique meeting point between the mythology, history, historiography and archaeology of King David," he said.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are the earliest-known copies of the Bible, some dating back about 2,000 years.

It is widely believed that the first set of Dead Sea Scrolls was discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd who ventured into a cave in the Judean Desert in search of a lost sheep or goat.

The texts, written on crumbling parchment and papyrus, were found wrapped in linen inside earthenware jars

Read more unexplained mysteries at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com

For more details go to http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/10/30/israel.ancient.text/index.html

History of Mysterious Halloween

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31, usually by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most commonly in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Canada and sometimes in Australia and New Zealand. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century.

The term "Halloween" derives from Hallowe'en, an old contraction, still retained in Scotland and some parts of Canada, of "All Hallow's Eve," so called as it is the day before All Saints day (observed by some Christians, including Roman Catholics), which used to be called "All Hallows," derived from All Hallowed Souls.

In Ireland, the name was Hallow Eve and this name is still used by some older people. Halloween was formerly also sometimes called All Saints' Eve. The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan traditions, until it was appropriated by Christian missionaries (along with Christmas and Easter, two other traditional northern European pagan holidays) and given a Christian reinterpretation.

In Mexico, All Saint's Day, following Halloween, is the Day of the Dead.

Halloween is also called "Pooky Night" in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the puca, a mischievous spirit.

"Punkie Night" is observed on the last Thursday in October in the village of Hinton St. George in the county of Somerset in England. On this night, children carry lanterns made from hollowed-out mangel-wurzels (a kind of beet; in modern days, pumpkins are used) with faces carved into them. They bring these around the village, collecting money and singing the punkie song. 'Punkie' is derived from 'pumpkin' or 'punk,' meaning 'tinder.'

Though the custom is only attested over the last century, and the mangel-wurzel itself was introduced into English agriculture in the late 18th century, "Punkie Night" appears to be much older even than the fable that now accounts for it. The story goes that the wives of Hinton St. George went looking for their wayward husbands at the fair held nearby at Chiselborough, the last Thursday in October, but first hollowed out mangel wurzels in order to make lanterns to light their way. The drunken husbands saw the eerie lights, thought they were "goolies" (the restless spirits of children who had died before they were baptized), and fled in terror. Children carry the punkies now. The event has spread since about 1960 to the neighboring village of Chiselborough.

In the United Kingdom, the pagan Celts celebrated the Day of the Dead on Halloween. The spirits supposedly rose from the dead and, in order to attract them, food was left on the doors. To scare off the evil spirits, the Celts wore masks. When the Romans invaded Britain, they embellished the tradition with their own, which is the celebration of the harvest and honoring the dead.

These traditions were then passed on to the United States. Anoka, Minnesota, USA, the self-proclaimed "Halloween Capital of the World," celebrates with a large civic parade.
Halloween is sometimes associated with the occult. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the "liminal" times of the year when the spirit world can make contact with the natural world and when magic is most potent.

Read complete history of halloween at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/halloween.html

U.S. pilot was ordered to shoot down UFO

He was told to never talk about Cold War incident; files now are public

LONDON - An American fighter pilot flying from an English air base at the height of the Cold War was ordered to open fire on a massive UFO that lit up his radar, according to an account published by Britain’s National Archives on Monday.

The fighter pilot said he was ordered to fire a full salvo of rockets at the UFO moving erratically over the North Sea — but that at the last minute the object picked up enormous speed and disappeared. The account, first published in Britain’s Daily Star newspaper more than 17 years ago and to this day unverified by military authorities, was one of many carried in the 1,500 pages the archives made available online.

The unnamed pilot said he and another airman were scrambled on the night of May 20, 1957, to intercept an unusual “bogey” on radars at a Royal Air Force Station Manston, an airfield at the southeastern tip of England about 75 miles from central London.

“This was a flying object with very unusual flight patterns,” the pilot said, according to a typed manuscript of his account mailed to Britain’s Ministry of Defense by a UFO enthusiast in 1988. “In the initial briefing it was suggested to us that the bogey actually was motionless for long intervals.”

Ordered to fly at full throttle in cloudy weather, the pilot said he was given the order to fire a volley of 24 rockets at the mysterious object.

“To be quite candid I almost [expletive] my pants!” the pilot said, saying he asked for confirmation — which he received.

Retired U.S. airman Milton Torres told Britain’s Sky News on Monday that he was the pilot and has spent 50 frustrating years attempting to uncover the truth of his aerial encounter. Speaking from his home in Miami, Torres said he never saw the UFO with his naked eyes, but watched in awe as it appeared on his jet’s radar and sped off before he had chance to fire.

Complete story at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/ufo-shot-down.html

Video: Tree man cured

THE world's infamous Tree Man is well on the road to recovery, after amazing footage has revealed most of his gnarled warts have disappeared. Discovery channel has been following the whole case form begining. The expert found Dede, from Indonesia, suffers from the Human Papiloma Virus (HPV), or common warts.

In Dede's case, due to a low immune deficiency, the virus flourished to a massive, debilitating infection.

Over nine months, Dr Gaspari issued Dede with chemotherapy and performed gruelling surgery to remove 13lbs of branch-like warts. Discovery channel will be presenting a complete documentary on the case.

Now Dede is transformed.

He says: "In the past I couldnt even put on my own shirt. Now I can do it myself. It's wonderful."

Secrets of the Hollow Earth

The interior of the Earth, some believe, is home to strange races of technologically advanced beings. Who are they and where are the hidden entrances to their subterranean cities? Many readers of the paranormal and the unexplained are familiar with the theory that the Earth is hollow. The idea is based on the ancient legends of many cultures that say there are races of people - entire civilizations - that thrive in subterranean cities. Very often, these dwellers of the world beneath are more technologically advanced than we on the surface. Some even believe that UFOs are not from other planets, but are manufactured by strange beings in the interior of the Earth. Who are these strange races of beings? How did they come to live inside the Earth? And where are the entrances to their underground cities?

Agharta
The Network. One of the most common names cited for the society of underground dwellers is Agharta (or Agartha) with its capital city of Shamballa. The source for this information, apparently, is The Smoky God, the "biography" of a Norwegian sailor named Olaf Jansen. According to Agartha - Secrets of the Subterranean Cities, the story, written by Willis Emerson, explains how Jansen's sloop sailed through an entrance to the Earth's interior at the North Pole. For two years he lived with the inhabitants of the Agharta network of colonies who, Emerson writes, were a full 12 feet tall and whose world was lit by a "smoky" central sun. Shamballa the Lesser, one of the colonies, was also the seat of government for the network. "While Shamballa the Lesser is an inner continent, its satellite colonies are smaller enclosed ecosystems located just beneath the Earth' s crust or discreetly within mountains."

How and Why They Went There. The many cataclysms and wars taking place on the surface drove these people underground, according to Secrets: "Consider the lengthy Atlantean-Lemurian war and the power of thermonuclear weaponry that eventually sank and destroyed these two highly advanced civilizations. The Sahara, the Gobi, the Australian Outback and the deserts of the U.S. are but a few examples of the devastation that resulted. The sub-cities were created as refuges for the people and as safe havens for sacred records, teachings and technologies that were cherished by these ancient cultures."

The Entrances.
There are allegedly several entrances to the Kingdom of Agharta throughout the world:

1. Kentucky Mommoth Cave, in south-central Kentucky, US.
2. Mount Shasta, California, US - the Agharthean city of Telos allegedly exists within and beneath this mountain.
3. Manaus, Brazil.
4. Mato Grosso, Brazil - the city of Posid supposedly lies beneath this plain.
5. Iguaçú Falls, border or Brazil and Argentina.
6. Mount Epomeo, Italy.
7. Himalayan Mountains, Tibet - the entrance to the underground city of Shonshe is allegedly guarded by Hindu monks.
8. Mongolia - the underground city of Shingwa allegedly exists beneath the border of Mongolia and China.
9. Rama, India - beneath this surface city is a long lost subterranean city, they say, also named Rama.
10. Pyramid of Giza, Egypt.
11. King Solomon's Mines.
12. Dero Caves

Read complete article at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/hollow-earth.html
North and South Poles.

The WTC Tragedy: Was It Prophesied?

Was the unspeakable horror of September 11 foretold by prophets and psychics? While the best-known names of prophecy seem to have failed, some eerily accurate visions and predictions have come from unexpected sources.

After the initial shock of the deeply tragic and violent attacks of September 11 on New York and Washington turned to grief, confusion and anger, many who believe in ESP, psychic predictions and prophecy were asking: Where were the psychics? Why didn't they predict this monumental act of terror and loss of human life?

Perhaps the attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon were foreseen, but apparently not by Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Very soon after the terrorist attacks, Internet e-mail and certain websites were flooded with "prophecies" that were said to come from the writings of the famed 16th century French astrologer, Nostradamus. Whenever some great tragedy strikes, it seems, Nostadamus's quatrains (four-line verses) are scrutinized to see if some significance can be found. Some interpreters of his writings believe he has successfully predicted the rise of Hitler, the assassination of President Kennedy and other significant events of the 20th century. Sure enough, a quatrain widely spread by e-mail was purported to be a clear reference to the destruction of the WTC:

In the City of God there will be a great thunder,
Two brothers torn apart by Chaos,
while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb,
The third big war will begin when the big city is burning.

Read complete story at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/wtc.html

The Vampire's ghost of Guadalajara

Maria was always an inquisitive girl. She liked to poke and prod around everything she encountered ever since she was a young child. Her family had lived on Nardo street in Guadalajara, Mexico all of her young life.

Like most of the children in her neighborhood the streets were their playground and she had explored every nook and cranny of the streets that surrounded her home. One spot that truly fascinated her was the cemetery that was only a few blocks away, El Panteon de Belen. It is an ancient cemetery with many supernatural legends surrounding its occupants. Maria was only two years old when she first went there on November 2nd during a festival for the day of the dead. The cemetery had been turned into a museum long ago and the day of the dead celebrations would go on into the night with puppet shows and plays preformed throughout the graveyards property. She didn’t know when she first heard the story of the Vampire’s grave, it seemed as though it had been a part of her experience of El Panteon de Belen for as long as she could remember.

The story is told that long ago there was a vampire who stalked the countryside of Guadalajara in the early 19th century. Livestock and newborn babies were attacked in the middle of the night and all of their blood was drained from their lifeless bodies. The local citizens were on alert and during the dark hours of early morning a man was seen skulking back into his house after another reported attack of El Vampiro. A mob was formed and they burst into his house and killed him while he lay in his bed. A crude wooden stake was driven through his heart and he was buried unceremoniously in El Panteon de Belen. The stick was fed by his preternatural blood and soon it grew into a massive tree that burst open the tomb of El Vampiro. Legend has it that if you cut a limb from the tree you will see blood mingled with the sap ooze from the stump. An old prophecy claims that one the tree completely overgrows the grave and pushes the coffin up to the ground, El Vampiro will be free to rise again and take his revenge upon the citizens of Guadalajara.

This story fascinated and frightened Maria, and she would often stare at the opened hole of the crypt of El Vampiro whenever she visited the cemetery. Sometimes she was sure she thought something moved in the shadows, but her mother told her that her imagination was overactive from watching too many movies on television. But as she grew, the fascination with the crypt and the certainty that something was moving in its stygian darkness motivated her to visit the grave more frequently.

When she was 11 she her curiosity about the site was peaked and she decided to investigate the grave up close without anyone to bother her. After her parents had gone to bed she snuck out of the house after midnight and stealthfully walked the busy streets of Guadalajara and climbed the walls of El Panteon de Belen. The caretaker was usually guarding the grounds with his dog but luckily for her they had retreated to some location or another and she was not harassed as she made her way through the moldy and decaying crypts to the great tree. When she arrived at the grave of El Vampiro she stood undecided for a few moments as fear gripped her heart, but she then cast these feelings aside and boldly skirted the makeshift fence that was erected to keep out the curious and vandals during normal visiting hours.

Read complete article at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/Guadalajara-Ghost.html

Shroud of Turin stirs new controversy

A Colorado couple researching the shroud dispute radiocarbon dating of the alleged burial cloth of Jesus, and Oxford has agreed to help them reexamine the findings.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The tie that binds John and Rebecca Jackson is about 4 feet by 14 feet, woven of herringbone twill linen. It once led to their romance; years later, it still dominates their thoughts and fills their conversations. It brought Rebecca, an Orthodox Jew, to the Catholic Church; it led John to suspend himself from an 8-foot-tall cross to study how blood might have stained the cloth. Together, the two have committed to memory every crease, scorch mark and unexplained stain in their years-long pursuit of the mystery: Is the Shroud of Turin -- which allegedly bears the image of a crucifixion victim -- the burial cloth of Jesus? In 1988, science seemed to put that question to rest. Radiocarbon dating by three separate laboratories showed that the shroud originated in the Middle Ages, leaving the "shroud crowd" reeling. Shroud skeptics responded, "We told you so." The Catholic Church admitted that it could not be authentic. Many scientists backed away.

But John Jackson, one of the shroud's most prominent researchers, was among those who insisted that the results made no sense. Too much else about the shroud, they said, including characteristics of the cloth and details in the image, suggested that it was much older. Twenty years later, Jackson, 62, is getting his chance to challenge the radiocarbon dating. Oxford University, which participated in the original radiocarbon testing, has agreed to work with him in reconsidering the age of the shroud.

If the challenge is successful, Jackson hopes to be allowed to reexamine the shroud, which is owned by the Vatican and stored in a protective chamber in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. Jackson, a physicist who teaches at the University of Colorado, hypothesizes that contamination of the cloth by elevated levels of carbon monoxide skewed the 1988 carbon-14 dating by 1,300 years.

"It's the radiocarbon date that to our minds is like a square peg in a round hole. It's not fitting properly, and the question is why," he said. On that point of Shroud of Turin, Christopher Ramsey, head of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, seems to agree. "There is a lot of other evidence that suggests to many that the shroud is older than the radiocarbon dates allow, and so further research is certainly needed," says a statement on his website. "Only by doing this will people be able to arrive at a coherent history of the shroud which takes into account and explains all of the available scientific and historical information."
Read complete article at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/shroud-of-turin-1.html

Abduction: The Screams of Thousand Oaks

I meet most of my clients in a public place. That public place is usually Starbucks. I am sitting outside of Starbucks sipping on my caramel frappachino, wondering what I will learn this day. The air is gray, with the Northern California fires plummeting smoke into our atmosphere, but yet, I still want to sit outside and prepare for my interview. I am also waiting for another HPI Investigator/Ufologist named Holly DeLaughter, who will assist me in this interview. Today is June 26, 2008, Thursday.

Our client Steve Campbell approaches me and shakes my hand. Holly gets comfortable and will interject questions during the interview if there is something that peaks her curiosity during the interview process. I ask Steve to create a time line of events and he begins with how everything first started.

Year: 1960

Location: New Mexico

Steve and his brother are living in New Mexico with their parents. He remembers becoming paralyzed and seeing something by his brother. He was unable to describe what he saw next to his brother

Year: 1964

Location: Arlington, Texas

Steve experiences what Ufologists consider the Oz Factor. He is in a forest and everything around him is surreal. When this occurred he was either in the 3rd or 4th grade. He describes being sick as a dog a few days afterword

Read complete article at http://www.theunexplainedmysteries.com/alien-abduction.html

Unexplained Mysteries of Alien Abduction, Rape, Female Aliens and Sex

There is a widespread belief that alien beings have traveled to Earth from some other planet and are doing alien sex and reproductive experiments on a chosen few. Despite the incredible nature of this belief and a lack of credible supportive evidence, a cult has grown up around it. According to a Gallup poll done at the end of the twentieth century, about one-third of Americans believe aliens have visited us, an increase of 5% over the previous decade.

According to the tenets of this cult, aliens crashed at Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. The U.S. Government recovered the alien craft and its occupants, and has been secretly meeting with aliens ever since in a place known as area 51. The rise in UFO sightings is due to the increase in alien activity on Earth. The aliens are abducting people in larger numbers, are leaving other signs of their presence in the form of so-called crop circles, are involved in cattle mutilation, and occasionally provide revelations such as the Urantia Book to selected prophets. The support for these beliefs about aliens and UFOs consists mostly of speculation, fantasy, fraud, and unjustified inferences from questionable evidence and testimony. UFO devotees are also convinced that there is a government and mass media conspiracy to cover up the alien activities, making it difficult for them to prove that the aliens have landed.

It is probable that there is life elsewhere in the universe and that some of that life is intelligent. There is a high mathematical probability that among the trillions of stars in the billions of galaxies there are millions of planets in age and proximity to a star analogous to our Sun. The chances seem very good that on some of those planets life has evolved. It is even highly probable that natural selection governs that evolution (Dawkins). However, it is not inevitable that the results of that evolution would yield intelligence, much less intelligence equal or superior to ours. It is possible that we are unique (Pinker 1997: 150 ff.).

We should not forget, however, that the closest star (besides our Sun) is so far away from Earth that travel between the two would take more than a human lifetime. The fact that it takes our Sun about 200 million years to revolve once around the Milky Way gives one a glimpse of the perspective we have to take of interstellar travel. We are 500 light-seconds from the sun. The next nearest star to Earth's sun (Alpha Centauri) is about 4 light-years away. That might sound close, but it is actually something like 24 trillion miles away. Even traveling at one million miles an hour, it would take more than 2,500 years to get there. To get there in twenty-five years would require traveling at more than 100 million miles an hour for the entire trip.* Our fastest spacecraft, Voyager, travels at about 40,000 miles an hour and would take 70,000 years to get to Alpha Centauri.

Read complete article at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/alien-sex.html

Spells to become a vampire

A vampire is a mortal creature that has for some reason rejected its soul, expelling it from and giving control of its actions to the sensual body, the source of the reaction, the remnants of the soul, or a conglomerate of all three. While the most common way to become a vampire is to be initiated by another vampire, or to become a source via demon possession or disease, there are also some magical methods which can be used.

Vampires are born out of a fundamental change which can occur in the physical bodies of creatures which possess a soul. In most mortals the soul is the fundamental source for action, creating the original impulses which eventually become the person's acts. It is also a passage through which the creature can gain a small amount of the infinite power underlying the universe, power which is necessary for the functioning of a self conscious being.

A vampire is born when a mortal creature undergoes a change which causes the sensual physical body to revolt against the soul, usually expelling it, and taking control of the creature. The actions of the being are then controlled by either the remaining physical brain, the remnant of the soul, whatever caused the expelling of the soul, or a conglomerate of these forces. It is this emphasis on the physical body to the exclusion of the soul, which causes many vampires to be obsessively sensual and addicted to their own suddenly intense perceptions.

There are many things which can cause a creature to become a vampire. These include certain forms of intimate demonic possession, various viruses, the casting of spells to become a vampire, or mental disease. Each of these causes has its own peculiar nature, and can result in very different outcomes for the victim.

Read complete article at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/become-vampire.html

Famous paranormal researcher returned from the dead?

The spirit of Montague Keen watched helplessly as his body was loaded into an ambulance. His wife, Veronica, stared blankly into the distance, tears flooding down her face. Her friends whispered words of hope, but in her heart she knew her husband was dead.

Moments before his, Montague was engaged in a passionate debate on the paranormal at the Royal Society of Arts in London. But then a massive heart attack felled his mortal body in the blink of an eye. As his life slipped away, the 78-year-old reaffirmed the pact he had made with his wife. Both promised that whoever died first would work from the spirit world to prove that life continued after death. It was a romantic pledge on an epic scale and one that Monty was determined to keep.

And now, scientists in America appear to have found compelling evidence that Montague’s soul has indeed survived physical death and is working from the spirit world to fulfil his promise to Veronica. “Monty still exists,” says Professor Gary Schwartz of the University of Arizona. “He is passing information to us through mediums. It’s clear to me that Monty is continuing his work from the other side.”

Montague Keen died on January 15 2004 following a massive heart attack. Although he earned his living as a gentleman farmer and journalist, his first love was the paranormal. He was a member of the committee of the Society for Psychical Research for many years and investigated many strange phenomena such as crop circles and life after death. Because of his track record, many researchers believed that if anyone could return from the spirit world with evidence of life after death, it would be Montague. They did not have long to wait.

Read complete article at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/return-from-dead.html

Unexplained Mysteries of The Psychic Echo

Delicate ethereal whispers dance effortlessly upon the waves of the paranormal ocean. Patterns of energy in the form of thoughts impress themselves upon the soul of the empathic medium. A psychic echo reverberates with varying intensity within the all seeing eye of the crown chakra.

When desiring to enhance one’s psychic ability, it is essential to comprehend the universal laws of the mystic phenomena. First and foremost, the law of permission. You may not read someone until they have explicitly given you permission, both verbally and energetically. Verbally, they must ask you personally to perform a reading for them, but energetically, they must offer their energy to you. This can be done is many, many different fashions. With palm reading, they open both of their hands to you, allowing their subconscious to lower the powerful conscious walls of the mind which restricts the energy flow.

Basic understanding of the art of palmistry is obviously helpful, but once the psychic mind tunes into the energy, the lines on the hands are no longer necessary. Reading the palm is merely opening the door to receiving the information embedded in the energy of the individual.

All forms of psychic readings must first begin with the full acceptance and permission of the client or the energy will not be read easily or effectively. Attempting to read an individual’s photograph without specific authorization can lead to an ineffective or inaccurate reading. There must be a mutual compliance between the parties.

Upon completing the affirmation stage, you must then proceed to the appreciation stage. To receive energy, you must first give energy. This stage is the most challenging because you have to send a pure form of positive energy to, often times, a stranger. In essence, you must impress feelings of love, light and respect with the utmost intention of assisting them on their spiritual journey. This selfless and powerful energy message is literally going to envelop the aura of the client and in turn they’re energy will be rebounded to you like a psychic echo. Whether in person, by telephone or a photograph, the echo location will resound with the sender.

Read the complete article at http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/psychic-echo.html

Unexplained Mysteries of Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin (or Turin Shroud) is a linen cloth bearing the image of a man who appears to have been physically traumatized in a manner consistent with crucifixion. It is kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. It is believed by many to be a cloth worn by Jesus of Nazareth at the time of his burial, two days prior to his alleged resurrection.

The image on the shroud is much clearer in black-and-white negative than in its natural sepia color. The striking negative image was first observed on the evening of May 28, 1898 on the reverse photographic plate of amateur photographer Secondo Pia who was allowed to photograph it while it was being exhibited in the Turin Cathedral. According to Pia, he almost dropped and broke the photographic plate from the shock of seeing an image of a person on it.

The shroud is the subject of intense debate among some scientists, people of faith, historians, and writers regarding where, when, and how the shroud and its images were created. From a religious standpoint, in 1958 Pope Pius XII approved of the image in association with the Roman Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, celebrated every year on Shrove Tuesday. Some believe the shroud is the cloth that covered Jesus when he was placed in his tomb and that his image was recorded on its fibers at or near the time of his alleged resurrection. Skeptics, on the other hand, contend the shroud is a medieval forgery; others attribute the forming of the image to chemical reactions or other natural processes.

Various tests have been performed on the shroud, yet the debates about its origin continue. Radiocarbon dating in 1988 by three independent teams of scientists yielded results published in Nature indicating that the shroud was made during the Middle Ages, approximately 1300 years after Jesus lived. Claims of bias and error in the testing were raised almost immediately, and were answered by Harry E. Gove ] and others. Yet the dating controversy has continued. Follow-up analysis published in 2005, for example, claimed that the sample dated by the teams was taken from an area of the shroud that was not a part of the original cloth. This analysis itself is questioned by skeptics such as Joe Nickell, who reason that the conclusions of the author, Raymond Rogers, result from "starting with the desired conclusion and working backward to the evidence". Former Nature or Philip Ball has said that the idea that Rogers steered his study to a preconceived conclusion is "unfair" and Rogers "has a history of respectable work".

To read complete article http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/turin-shroud.html

CIA and Secrets of Mind Control

After the end of World War II, German scientists were being held in a variety of detainment camps by the allies and Russians. In 1946, President Truman authorized Project Paperclip to exploit German scientists for American research, and to deny these intellectual resources to the Soviet Union. Some reports bluntly pointed out that they were “ardent Nazis.” They were considered so vital to the “Cold War” effort, that they would be brought into the US and Canada. Some of these experts were accused of participating in murderous medical experiments on human subjects at concentration camps. A 1999 report to the Senate and the House said that “between 1945 and 1955, 765 scientists, engineers, and technicians were brought to the US under Paperclip and similar programs.”

According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s Fact Book, the NSC (National Security Council) and the CIA were established under the provisions of the National Security Act of 1947. In December 1947, the NSC held its first meeting. James Forrestal, the Secretary of Defense, pushed for the CIA to begin a ‘secret war’ against the Soviets. Forrestal’s initiative led to the execution of psychological warfare operations (psy-ops) in Europe. CIA personnel were not opposed to working with Nazi doctors who had proven to be proficient in breaking the mind and rebuilding it. In some cases military bases were used to hide these covert activities. It was decided that the communist threat was an issue that took priority over constitutional rights.

The concept of running a secret ‘black’ project was no longer novel. In 1941, Roosevelt had decided, without consulting Congress, that the US should proceed with the utmost secrecy to develop an atomic bomb. Secrecy shrouded the Manhattan Project (the atomic bomb program) to the extent that Vice President Harry Truman knew nothing about it. The project meant that by 1947, the US Government had already gained vast experience in the initiation of secret operations. The existence of ‘black projects’ funded by ‘black budgets’ was withheld not only from the public, but also from Congress for reasons of national security.

A declassified CIA document “Hypnotic Experimentation and Research, 10 February 1954” describes a simulation of relevance to the creation of unsuspecting assassins: “Miss [whited out] was instructed (having previously expressed a fear of firearms in any fashion) that she would use every method at her disposal to awaken Miss [whited out] (now in a deep hypnotic sleep). Failing this, she would pick up a pistol nearby and fire it at Miss [whited out]. She was instructed that her rage would be so great that she would not hesitate to “kill” [whited out] for failing to awaken. Miss [whited out] carried out these suggestions to the letter including firing the (unloaded) gun at [whited out] and then proceeded to fall into a deep sleep. Both were awakened and expressed complete amnesia for the entire sequence. Miss [whited out] was again handed the gun, which she refused (in an awakened state) to pick up or accept from the operator. She expressed absolute denial that the foregoing sequence had happened.”

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