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3月29日 Just because you're paranoid...Just because you're paranoid
doesn't mean somebody
isn't out to get you!
I spend a lot of time checking out conspiracy websites. For the most part they are the paranoid yammering of a few who believe there is some great conspiracy with evil intents for them! They are terrified of covert surveillance by secret agencies that have no other goal than to subjugate them personally. Sometimes these paranoid types hit closer to the truth than even they know!
China believed to be behind cyber spy network
Classified documents compromised in 103 countries, researchers say
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29935591/ I'm no fan of the People's Republic of China. Their human rights record seems to get overlooked by everybody from the United Nations to President Obama. If you really want to know how they feel about us just start doing some Google searches on 'Assassin's Mace'. Just remember that our government is begging them to buy up our debt. If they don't buy our debt this could potentially upset the whole stimulus plan. Of all the nations we would want to have help our country out I really wonder if the PRC is such a wise choice? Yeah, I'm sure we carry out our own fair share of espionage. We may have the most technically sophisticated intelligence gathering agency in the world in the form of the NSA. I just don't think our current administration is up to the task of handling the People's Republic of China if push comes to shove. Heck, look at the wonderful job we are doing of preventing North Korea from launching their missile! Here are some files to get your own paranoia rocking and rolling! http://cid-1d453b3f1aac40ac.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.res/1D453B3F1AAC40AC!2150?sa=529877912
Just remember the Olympics with all those happy Chinese dancers!
Crypto-history: The Rock Lake EnigmaCrypto-history:
The Rock Lake Enigma
Last night Laurie and I were listening to "The Darkness at the Edge of Town" radio show. I think that most people who listening to it just call it "Darkness Radio" or some other variation of the name. It is, without a doubt, probably one of the very best radio shows on the paranormal available today. Here is the link to their website:
 The Darkness at the Edge of Town
One of the things I particularly like about this show is that the host, or hosts (depending on their current employment situation with KTLK), are directly involved in paranormal field investigation work themselves. There are some radio talk shows that touch on the paranormal but have no direct involvement other than chatting with the people who do the actual work. Dave and Tim actually have done the leg work of the field; they talk with the personal experience of the research. They are also open-minded to the different disciplines and philosophies that cover the broad spectrum of the field.
Last night they had on an author and researcher that is of particular interest to Laurie and me. Frank Joseph is editor-in-chief of 'Ancient America' magazine and the author of several books on archaeology in the Americas before the arrival of Columbus. He also has an excellent website for the magazine:
 The cover of a copy of
'Ancient American'
The whole topic of the history of the America before the arrival of Columbus is something of a taboo subject to some academics. The idea that there was ever any advanced civilization in the Americas before 1492 is a loaded topic. Frank Joseph is a archeological researcher literally digging up evidence to support the conclusion that socially and technically advanced groups of people were here long before our current historical understanding. Some of this research is revolutionary in the implications it has for our perceptions of the past, the current day, and the future.
Last night he was talking about the long-standing enigma of Rock Lake in Wisconsin. There is more and more hard evidence that a sophisticated society existed there possibly as much as 3000 years ago. The evidence that has been found indicates that a community capable of large construction projects existed here long before the birth of Christ. This ancient society was known of but not connected to the indigenous Native American tribes that would occupy the area later in history. Frank Joseph is one of the people actively uncovering more of this lost civilization's ancient structures:
 Reprint of 1937 drawing of some of the Rock Lake Pyramids.
This is challenging research for the people involved in it. There is little to no funding for the groups that do the field work needed to uncover the ruins of these past civilizations. The sites seldom have any sort of legal protection from people damaging or pilfering them. The formal academic circles seldom lend any sort of support or even intellectual recognition. Still the fact remains that evidence is being found that contradicts traditional perceptions of the past.
This is also a field that is no stranger to the paranormal. It is often hard to get the people actively involved in field research to talk about the incidents that take place. I can understand why they don't talk about what they sometimes encounter; they are already working in an area vulnerable to ridicule by the entrenched academics. The fact of the matter is most of the locations being researched have long histories of paranormal events.
 Archie Eschborn's book on the Rock Lake Pyramids and
the Legend of the Rock Lake Serpent.
Rock Lake is actually only one of many such sites on the North American continent. Other such locations are Sedona:
or the Hudson Valley:
The Hudson Valley UFO sightings just happened to occur
in an area loaded with a lot of mysterious ruins.
This all just leads to what I am personally interested in. Most of us go through the public school system and learn the dogmatic official version of history. This is an indoctrination of sorts; we are taught what has been ordained as the correct account of how humanity came to where it is now. I have often found that various facts get ignored as the sanctioned histories are compiled. The unusual thing is how zealously some people defend the accepted versions of history; to introduce new facts is to risk getting yourself branded as a heretic of sorts.
This is not to say there are no 'historical hucksters' out there. One of my favorite examples is the infamous 'Philadelphia Experiment'. The story of the allegedly teleporting warship grew into several books and two Hollywood B-movies. The funny thing was when some researchers finally went to the trouble of talking with actual crew members of the USS Eldridge the truth was revealed. If there was a real mystery here it was not with the DE-173 USS Eldridge:
 USS Eldridge: the infamous warship of the
'Philidelphia Experiment'.
I think it is going to fall to some of us to push ahead with our personal research inspite of the denial by the official academic community or the undermining by opportunistic charlatans. The truth will only be revealed in the collection of facts and the scientific advancement of these topics. Frank Joseph is going a long way towards this with his research on Rock Lake.
3月25日 History UncoveredHistory Uncovered
British code crackers reunite, with pride unbroken
The 'Turing Bombe'
This is not a new story. If I remember right 'Ultra' was declassified in the late 1970's. I was in the College of History at the University of Minnesota at the time and it was interesting to see how the historians had to change their ideas about the Second World War. It was quite the revelation to find out that we had been reading almost all the German encrypted communications throughout most of the war. It was also interesting to learn the lengths to which the British government went to keep the program secret - even thirty years after the war! What I haven't seen stated in any of the news stories about this secret wartime project was why it was kept secret for over thirty years after the war was over. The reason, as I understand it, was that the Russians captured quite a few of the German 'Enigma' encryption machines at the end of the war. The Russians took quite a liking to the machine and started using it themselves! It wasn't until the 1970's that the Soviets converted their secure communications over to more sophisticated encryption methods. This change to a more secure encryption standard made the knowledge gained from the 'Turing Bombe' obsolete and it was finally possible to tell the story. It just always makes me wonder what else is still secret?
The rebuilt 'Turing Bombe'. The original machine was destroyed at the orders of Winston Churchill in order to preserve the secrecy of the project. 3月22日 Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln in the Oval OfficeWinston Churchill and
the Oval Office
 Sir Winston Churchill
This is almost old news now but it just kept sticking in my mind. President Obama apparently decided to get rid of a bust of Winston Churchill that was in the Oval Office. As I understand it he replaced it with a bust on Abraham Lincoln. Now I have nothing against President Lincoln but I do have a special fondness for Winston Churchill. We often forget how much we owe 'Winnie'. As we currently understand the history of the Second World War he largely kept England from surrender by the strength of his will. There is more evidence all the time that there were people in the British government at that time who would have gladly negotiated a peace with Nazi Germany. Winston would have no part of this. He kept England in the war and it eventually served as the springboard from which the Allies went on to crush Hitler.
Now this all makes me wonder why President Obama would decide to remove Winston from the Oval Office? I can understand the idea of having Abraham Lincoln replace Winston. It might just seem right to replace a British leader with an American leader in the White House. Some of us do remember that the only reason the White House is white is that they painted the scorched ruins white after the British burned it in 1814. I like to think we are beyond that grim little chapter of our history.
I also read one blogger who claimed this is because President Obama can not forgive the British for their colonial past and especially their role in Kenya. I've never seen anything said or written by Obama to support this potential bias agains the British. I would like to think that our President knows enough history to understand that the British Empire abolished slavery thirty years before the United States did. The Royal Navy then went on to effectively crush much of the slave trade.
The Royal Navy crushed the Slave Trade.
My problem is that I have a more cynical view of why, possibly, Winston was banished from the White House. If you study the life of Winston Churchill you will find out he was no friend of socialism. I just can't help but wonder is President Obama couldn't stand the cold glaring eyes of Churchill looking down on him.
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance,
and the gospel of envy,
its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Winston Churchill
 Sir Winston Churchill with a cigar.
of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. 3月19日 Tommy Mischke emerges from the shadows!Tommy Mischke emerges
from the Shadows!
I try to check the statistics on the blog every so often. There are all sorts of people who check out the 'Booming Prairie Chicken' for the couple postings I made about Tommy Mischke. Now I didn't agree with everything Mischke said but I did love the way he said it. The man is an artist of the spoken word. When KSTP 1500 cut Tommy loose I did have some mixed feelings; he seemed like such an essential part of the station.
Today I finally discovered what happened to the 'Madman' Mischke:
Radio rebel still doing it his way
I'm no fan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and their highly biased content but they did give Tommy a nice write up. Here is a link to the new 'Mischke Madness':
So all of you freaks who have missed Tommy now know where you can find him. I'm just glad he landed on his feet and kept on going...
3月15日 Some mysteries are as close as your local library...Some mysteries are as close
as your local library...
We love doing research into various historical mysteries. Some of these events enter the realm of the paranormal; some are just simply strange. Ghost hunting has become simply incidental to what we do. I never cease to be amazed how often the places and events we are learning about also involve a haunting. It might just be that so many of these historical episodes involve death. Once people start dying they often take the facts with them and leave a ghost behind.
The thing that seems funny to us is how often people interested in the paranormal neglect background historical research. Now in the case of ghost hunting one of the reasons has been to help validate their findings from field research. The idea is that if they get a EVP that is talking about panning for gold and then the ghost hunters learn that a gold prospector once lived at the location it helps establish their findings. There is something to be said for this. If all you are interested in is ghost hunting I can accept this line of reasoning.
Laurie and I are interested in a lot more than this. Some mysteries don't have all that much to do with the paranormal but a lot to do with our long standing perceptions of what actually happened. All we are really trying to do is get at the truth of what happened. Far to often I see various people trying to use history to support their particular viewpoints. Lately we are seeing a lot of people trying to support their political ideals with their perceptions of the past. I'm afraid that people like Laurie and I irritate these people by challenging their beliefs with a simple thing called the facts.
We like to get as close as possible to whatever historical subject we are researching. This can be literally as close as a real physical proximity to where the events took place. If you are doing research on Black Hills ghost stories it can be easier, and a lot more fun, to actually be in the Black Hills! You might be amazed how many important materials are as close as a local public library. The problem is you might have to travel to that library. It is a wonderful thing that many of these libraries can be contacted over the internet. Just about every library has a website. The problem is that finding the information you actually need usually comes down to actual being at the library and going through the tedious process of fingering your way through their materials. This can be a time intensive task and we never have as much time on any trip as we actually need.
This brings you to the matter of doing the research from home and using the materials that are available. Not all history books are equal; you have to learn to judge the relative values of the materials you can get your hands on. We try to find primary sources whenever possible. These are often the books published by the participants in various events. The value of these books is subject to critical examination; some people write books to paint a particular picture of their participation in the event. You always have to ask yourself if the author has an agenda in the writing of their book. One of my favorite subjects for this is the Battle of the Little Bighorn; long after the last gun was fired on June 25th 1876 people are still fighting over exactly what happened. It is just like this with almost any historical event.
The best primary sources are often the journals and letters written by participants during the events. Quite often they are writing these before specific agendas have crept their way into what they are telling about. Sometimes the author is telling things without knowing that they are writing facts that will be someday be critical to our understanding of what happened. The problem for somebody doing the research is to examine how the journal or letters are being presented. It is a very rare event that you will have direct access to the original journal or collection of letters. Most of us have to rely on the books published by others with the various journals and letters. What this means is that you should be examining the content with a mind to whether the editor had a agenda in what they published. Did they just publish what they wanted to publish and not the full content of what the writer was reporting?
I want to give a wonderful example of a primary source than hasn't suffered much editting and is a potential goldmine of research information:
 Siege Train:
The Journal of a
Confederate Artilleryman in
the Defense of Charleston
Edited by Warren Ripley
1986, Published for the Charleston Library Society
by the University of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1-57003-127-4
You want to know one of the very first things I look for in a primary account that helps verify that it contains all the information provided by the author? It is going to contain a lot of tedious information. I don't think most people write that many letters or journals anymore but there was a time when they did. The fact of the matter is that people would write down a lot of mundane information. You're going to see them telling about the simple things that concerned them. It is in the wading through this that you often find the historical tidbits that pertain to what you are researching.
The book 'Siege Train' contains such information in abundance and some is only of interest depending on what you are researching. I'll tell the historical wargamer that this book is chock full of the facts about military life and odd facts and figures that mean a lot to somebody trying to quantify things onto the game table. For somebody researching some of the mysteries around the Civil War siege of Charleston this book may also have your facts. The thing that really makes this book valuable is that it contains the full content of what Major Edward Manigault wrote. The editing was limited to some corrections of spelling and punctuation but Warren Ripley, the editor, provides footnotes as to these edits.
You'll find a lot of such books were the editor only concerns themselves with the writings that they judge to pertain to particular events. I don't like leaving this decision to others; I prefer the full text of the writer and leaving this judgement of their values to me. This only means a lot of potentially tedious reading for me. The thing is if you are making a serious attempt at your research it is inevitable that you will have to do a lot of such reading.
3月8日 Knights of the Golden CircleKnights of the Golden Circle
 The "Golden Circle".
The historical mysteries surrounding the American Civil War are actually fairly numerous. Ghost hunters have long known that if you want to find a haunted location just look around any Civil War battlefield. The fact of the matter is that you can find books of ghost stories related to this on the discount shelves of most large book stores. If you want my personal recommendation it won't be for a book but a magazine:
Blue and Gray Magazine.
This magazine has published some excellent issues on haunted locations of the American Civil War. Some of the background research they provide would greatly assist the serious paranormal researcher. Now some of these might only be available at this point through Ebay or a specialty bookstore but they are well worth the investment.
Right now I am more concerned with far less supernatural mysteries of the war. It seems to me that the end of just about any and every war leaves questions unanswered. Sometimes the only people who could answer the questions go to the grave without ever leaving a single letter or note to provide a clue. I think some survive the war only to fade into obscurity. They never even know they could have provided the answer to future historian's questions.
I think the 'Knights of the Golden Circle' are one of these mysteries. The KGC actually predates the Civil War; they were originally a group working towards the expansion of Southern slave interests into various Caribbean states. They advocated the annexation of these countries to become slave states in order to insure their political majority in Washington. Their efforts are not to be taken lightly; back before the Civil War you can find historical accounts of various 'filibustering' expeditions. These were formal invasions staged by American citizens of small sovereign nations with the intent of taking them over to establish independent states. Some of my research indicates that the KGC was at least sympathetic if not constructively supportive of these efforts.
Probably the most famous of the 'filibusters' was William Walker. Heck, I even think they made a movie about his little historical misadventure!
 William Walker
 The 1987 movie about Walker.
Now I haven't found a direct connection between Walker's efforts and the KGC but the Knights were certainly sympathetic to such efforts. The coming of the Civil War would shift their efforts into a considerably different direction. The goal now was not the expansion of Southern slave interests but the survival of what was now a Southern slave state. This is when the efforts of the KGC start becoming increasingly mysterious. They were always a somewhat reclusive group but with the bombardment of Fort Sumter they rapidly took on the mantle of a subversive organisation to Federal authorities. They largely went underground in the Northern states and it is somewhat murky as to the extent of their activities.
Eventually the leaders within the Confederate government saw that they couldn't win a long war with the Union. In terms of material and human resources the Southern state was in no position to wage a war of attrition with the North. It was then seen by some in the South that unconventional measures would be necessary for their survival. It seems that there isn't much in terms of official historical records that survived the war. Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin burned almost all the records of Confederate clandestine efforts shortly before the fall of Richmond in April 1865. Benjamin would then flee the South and live in exile in England for the rest of his life. He would also never leave a hint about what he knew about Confederate secret operations during the war.
 Judah P. Benjamin
Confederate Secretary of State
Connections between the KGC and clandestine efforts of the Confederacy are murky at best. One of the best books I have ever found that deals with some of this is: Come Retribution:
The Confederate Secret Service and
the Assassination of Lincoln
William A. Tidwell with
James O. Hall and
David Winfred Gaddy
1988, University Press of Mississippi
ISBN 0-76070-381-7
 Come Retribution
This books goes a long way towards answering some of the questions about Confederate clandestine efforts during the war. It also demonstrates that the Confederate Secret Service was more than aware of the KGC. It is more difficult to establish how closely they worked with each other. There were people associated with the KGC that were involved with John Wilkes Booth and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The Confederacy saw the KGC as a way to establish an armed resistance movement within the Northern states but this never blossomed into what they really needed.
With the end of the war the role of the Knights of the Golden Circle would change again. There was no longer a Southern state for them to assist. This is when a true mythology begins to come about around the KGC and the "Lost Cause". There were former Confederates that chose to flee the country after the collapse of the South. It is interesting to look at what happened to many of these folks that left. Just look up 'Confederados' on the internet sometime. Some of them managed to escape to Brazil and set up a colony of sorts there.
Sons of Conderate Veterans - Brazilian Chapter
 Some descendants of the original 'Confederados' during
a festival celebrating their Southern Heritage.
I haven't found any information supporting any alleged connections between the 'Confederados' and the KGC. It seems to me that the Confederates that chose to flee the country eventually either came back peacefully or committed themselves to their new homes. Still I've found questions that remain about activities of the KGC after the war. Probably the most famous recent example of this was the movie 'National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets'.
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
If you get the DVD, at least with the one Laurie and I got, they have a nifty little featurette on the Knights of the Golden Circle. It doesn't provide much more than a few minutes of cursory information but it is fun to watch. The movie itself ends up in the Black Hills around Mount Rushmore; this was another draw for us to get the movie. We love the Black Hills.
Now when it comes to serious current research on the KGC I've found a couple of very interesting books and websites. I'm going to start with a Yahoo discussion group that doesn't get as much attention as it deserves:
I really do find this discussion group somewhat amazing. It seems like a week doesn't pass without a posting of some incredible bit of information. If you follow up on some of the postings here you can find some interesting background information around everything from Confederate secret operations in Canada to just what Jesses James ties to the KGC might have been. I can not recommend this group enough. Even if you don't have much to contribute it is worth it just following the things they turn up.
I think this book got a lot of treasure hunters taking the legends of the lost gold of the Confederacy quite seriously again. It also has a lot of information on the Knights of the Golden Circle:
Shadow of the Sentinel:
One Man's Quest to find the
Hidden Treasure of the
Confederacy
Warren Getler and Bob Brewer
2003, Simon & Schuster
ISBN 0-7432-1968-6
 Shadow of the Sentinel
This book contends that the KGC was a very real movement after the war. One of their major concerns was with raising the gold they thought would be needed to fund a new Southern rebellion. It looks like the rebellion never came to be but the gold might have been collected. You have to remember that this is just one of the legends around lost Confederate gold. The thing that makes this stand above some of the other books on the topic is the authors have facts to support their ideas. They even have a little gold to support their ideas as well...
3月1日 Events at the Booming Prairie Chicken...Events at the
Booming Prairie Chicken...
This last week I got a lot of messages from different people asking me what Laurie and I were up to. Usually this time of year we are getting ready for another roadtrip to somewhere. Not this year. It isn't that we don't want to be on the road again. It is just that circumstances in our professional lives, our jobs, are preventing this until at least May.
Yeah, this sucks.
This doesn't mean that we are not busy with other things. I am currently working on plans for a possible field trip in the future. You're probably going to see me posting a lot of stuff on the history of the American Civil War. All of this time at home will provide me with a chance to get some valuable research done. The 'War between the States' was not only a pivitol point in the history of the United States but it also generated an amazing paranormal and hidden history all its own. Most people readily think of the hauntings associated with Gettysburg battlefield. What most people don't seem to know is that just about every battlefield of the American Civil War has phenomena associated with it. There are also a number of historical mysteries associated with the war that have never been resolved. One of the more romantic and popular mysteries is finding out just what happened to all that Confederate gold after the war?
Well, you will probably see a lot more on this over the next few months. I am even following up on a mystery from the Civil War that might have eventually lead to the Black Hills of South Dakota. It really is amazing to see where some of these former Confederates ended up. Some of them were definitely not 'reconstructed' by the experience of defeat. The facts are some of them might have even held onto the hope of the Confederacy eventually rising again.
Any specific projects in paranormal research cooking?
Laurie and I have also picked up some incredible new equipment for the pursuit of the paranormal. If you are a 'ghosthunter' the technology available is rapidly changing. Up until recently people doing research into the paranormal were largely confined to adapting existing equipment to their pursuits. There was no such thing as equipment designed with the specific intention of detecting or recording activity associated with paranormal incidents. Now we are not only seeing devices being built with this goal in mind but some very talented geeks working to refine the technology. I am working very hard to make sure one of these gadgets gets a proper field testing.
Politics and the 'Booming Prairie Chicken'?
Yes, we are putting up some political commentary on the blog. The 'Booming Prairie Chicken' has never been exclusively about politics. There are literally thousands of blogs yammering on about one political issue or another. The thing that bothers me is when somebody tries to twist history to support their political position. Very often this abuse of history goes largely unanswered. In a free society this sort of thing can not be allowed to go unchallenged. I will probably continue to post my ideas and opinions on this as long as various politicians continue to piss me off.
History is a science of gathering the facts about events and gaining an understanding of what happened. The basic events do not change; only the depth of our knowledge about the specific events. Very seldom is this fundamental understanding of what happened changed. The area of interpretation is where controversy lies. I find far too many people today picking through history like the fresh produce at the grocery store. They want just the vegetables that will make the salad they are trying to create. So when you get people comparing President Obama to Abraham Lincoln I am going to take exception. Lincoln proved by his actions in his four years that he was one of our greatest presidents. President Obama is yet to prove anything. |
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