America's Stonehenge & Beyond
Think back to grade school for a moment. What did you learn the oldest structures in the world were? How about just in America? Who were you taught were the first people to sail from Europe to America?
I've never really considered myself to be much of a student – the classroom setting was always a struggle for me. But the more distance I have on my formal education, the more I've discovered this inquisitive, perpetual learner within myself. These days, I find myself becoming more and more amazed by how much is yet to be uncovered at the deepest depths of our oceans, on the surfaces of our most remote islands, buried beneath countless layers of desert sands, and hidden in plain sight right in our own backyards.
We live on a planet that's 71% water and we've only explored about 5% of it. And within that minuscule 5%, we've found sunken cities, devices that resemble computers (checkout the Antikythera mechanism), seemingly impossible sea creatures (look up Comb jellies and immortal jellyfish), and who knows what else has been lost to the passage of time that we've yet to rediscover. Believe it or not, we actually know more about the surface of Mars than we do the bottom of our own oceans. Isn't that astounding?!
And what about our lands? Well, our lands represent 1% of our Earth's livable space and yet there are still uncharted acres. And I can count on all ten fingers and toes and yours as well, how many sites we've discovered on dry land that defy everything we thought we knew about human history.
It's like we're living in these giant sandboxes, surrounded by seas, and we're digging up new glimpses into our past all the time. And we have archaeologists, oceanographers, and explorers of all kinds to thank for the excavations that are underway every day. But why do we have to work so hard to learn about their findings? Why isn't information about our ancient history more readily available?
Since I began doing some digging of my own, I've become absolutely certain of one fact in particular: there have been many forgotten chapters of human history and our planet's remote past. And too many clues into our distant past are being overlooked or not examined closely enough when they should be making headlines and rewriting history.
And the evidence of civilizations, perhaps even more advanced than we are today, can be found all throughout the world. Starting with the mysteries of how and why the many megaliths and monoliths across our planet were constructed thousands of years before they "should've been." From the pyramids of Mexico, Egypt, China, and beyond to the 887 moai statues that stand guard of Easter Island, and the seemingly impossible ancient structures of South America like Sacsaywaman, Pumapunku, Tiwanaku, and Machu Picchu. And my latest fascination: Nan Madol of Micronesia.
Modern archeology and anthropology tell us that the first hominins (our extinct, direct ancestors) first appeared between 2-2.5 million years ago. And even back then, they didn't look or live anything like we do today, that is at least, as far as we know. Mainstream scientists claim that the first modern humans emerged only 200,000 years ago. But back in the 1930s, an inexplicable artifact was discovered near London, Texas. The London Hammer was found in a wall of 140-million-year-old sandstone and just might be the oldest manmade object we've yet to unearth. And as if that wasn't fascinating enough, the hammer's handle not only showed signs of petrification, a process that takes millions of years to occur. And even more incredibly, the hammer's steel top even shows signs of coalification, a process that takes hundreds of millions of years to occur.
Even further evidence that proves this artifact really is as old as it seems: several studies concluded that the materials making up the hammerhead consist of predominantly iron, small amounts of chlorine and sulfur, but no trace of carbon whatsoever. What's so interesting about this is that modern manufacturing of steel always produces some percentage of carbon. We've never created steel tools that are completely carbon-free. And this is one of many out-of-place artifacts found throughout the world. If you're intrigued, research King Tut's dagger, the Baghdad batteries, the Wedge of Auid, and the Ben Ben Stone as well.
Too many discoveries are written off as non-monumental when they should be rewriting our history books. I remember learning in school that the Great Pyramids of Giza were the oldest, standing, manmade structures on Earth until I learned that the Sphinx was likely built long before the pyramids came into existence. Some have even estimated that the Sphinx could've been built before the great flood(s). And I make reference to more than one flood because I'm still perplexed by the list of civilizations who've documented "flood myths" or wrote about the impending doom of such an event. And not-so-ironically, we find evidence of a catastrophic flood(s) around the world, for example, the water erosion along the base of the Sphinx that causes much debate as to its true age.
As of today, the oldest manmade, monolithic structures we've ever discovered are those of Gobekli Tepe in Southeastern Turkey. They're estimated to have been constructed over 12,000 years ago, and modern-day stone masons agree that attempting to recreate the site today would be a monumental feat. AND these structures are part of a stone complex so enormous we've actually only uncovered about 4% of it to date. The rest of its 18-foot, towering t-shaped columns are still hidden deep beneath the desert sands. And by the way, archeologists believe that this site was very intentionally and very methodically buried as opposed to just being buried by the passage of time. It's as though the site was no longer of use, but still so highly revered that it was deemed worthy of careful preservation.
So we're talking about massive stone pillars, each weighing up to 16 TONS (think the weight of 8 cars, roughly 32,000 lbs each) with intricate carvings of birds, insects, and creatures that are foreign to life as we know it. And they were all carved and created before the use of the wheel, before writing, before any kind of modern technology. But we also know that structures of this magnitude could not have been built without the use of advanced machinery or some kind of lost technology.
Scientists and archaeologists have even proposed that the Neolithic builders of this site were part of some kind of "skull cult" after uncovering hundreds of human and animal skulls and skeletons dispersed throughout the region. Many of the skulls and bones they found were intentionally carved with long, straight grooves, one even had a hole drilled through it, and others remained uncut. So, I'll just go ahead and ask it: What in the name of Indiana Jones was going on in Turkey 12,000+ years ago?!
Ok, clearly, I could talk and write about this stuff for days. But until recently, it all felt very physically distant, since countries like Turkey, Egypt, and England are not yet drivable from America. But a few months ago, I learned that mysterious ancient sites are actually scattered throughout the U.S. with a curiously high concentration in the Northeast. And back in October, I had the pleasure of discovering the oldest manmade stone construction ever uncovered in the United States: America's Stonehenge in Salem, New Hampshire.
While mapping out my road trip from New York to Maine and looking for some cool stopping points along my route home, roadtrippers.com gave me exactly what I set out to find. Upon my arrival in the museum at America's Stonehenge, a kind gentleman gave me a map and some background info and offered up a brief, 10-minute video that was playing on a loop in a quiet room. And those 10 minutes felt like they flew by in two with questions and curiosity quickly mounting in my mind. I just had to get out and see this place. So I opened my map and the back door to 110 acres of wonder and the earliest traces of human history I'd ever set eyes or boots on.
As I zigzagged through the maze of megalithic chambers, around the monumental walls and past the 9,000-pound sacrificial table(!), I felt compelled to whip out my handy dandy notebook to jot down questions for the kind gentleman who welcomed me. Questions like: who built this place and how and why and when? And where did they come from and would they—could they…what is this place?!?!?
Granted, a handful of the answers to these questions were printed in the brochure I was given back in the museum, but I was too eager to explore to pause and read anything. Honestly, I tried, but my brain just wouldn't cooperate. There was too much to take in all around me. So, after exploring the nooks and crannies of the main site, I wandered along the Astronomical Trail, where I'd have my first physical encounter with archeoastronomy.
I felt like I was walking around a giant sundial as I gazed out over the great stones that looked like giant, oversized arrowheads pointing up to the sky. Later, I learned that each one of those pointy stones had been positioned to align with something specific in the sky about 4,000 years ago and that there have been 26 confirmed astronomical alignments up there on Mystery Hill. Each stone is the perfect viewing place for different astronomical events like the summer and winter solstices and the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Today, some of the alignments are ever-so-slightly off due to Earth's tilt, but everything would have aligned perfectly around 1800 BC. And it is no coincidence whatsoever that 1800 BC was also revealed to be the construction era of the main site at America's Stonehenge's, thanks to the capabilities of carbon dating.
Much like England's Stonehenge, these stones are essentially an ancient astronomical calendar that was and still can be used to predict annual lunar and solar events. Its builders were not only extremely advanced in stone masonry, they also possessed a profound understanding of astronomy, and in turn, archeoastronomy. But who exactly were they, and why did they build this profound place? The "who" is still a mystery, but the owners and researchers suspect it was created for ceremonial purposes. One thing's for sure: America's Stonehenge is the oldest evidence of prehistoric stone construction we've found in the U.S.
And it begs the questions: how did ancient prehistoric cultures have the astronomical understanding that we have today, or perhaps even beyond what we have today? And what role did the sky and astral occurrences play in their lives?
This remarkable historic site has been under the care of the site's president and my now good friend, Dennis Stone, and his family for over six decades. And even after all this time, they're still uncovering new features at their site. For example, Dennis's son Kelsey, made an incredible discovery while viewing their site using Google Earth. He drew a perfectly straight line across the globe from their site's summer solstice alignment and realized that it ran right through another prehistoric monument that's still shrouded in mystery. The ley line connects America's Stonehenge with England's Stonehenge, which is perhaps the world's most recognized, ancient megalithic site whose builders also remain unnamed.
And interestingly enough, as that ley line continues east, it runs right through Beirut, Lebanon, home of the Phoenicians, an ancient seafaring civilization from 1200 BC who were actually responsible for inventing the alphabet we use today. And what makes this even more interesting, is that at America's Stonehenge, Dennis's family discovered what they've named, the Baal Stone, which is one of the many examples of ancient Phoenician carvings that have been found along the coast, all the way from Maine to Brazil. These findings place Eastern Europeans in America around 3500 years ago; thousands of years before we formerly thought they had arrived. And this is just one of the many reasons why people like Dennis and I believe that it's time to rewrite our history textbooks.
Other ley lines connect America's Stonehenge with other baffling stone structures on our planet, such as Machu Picchu, Chaco Canyon, the pyramids of the Canary Islands, and my personal favorite: the great Moon Pyramid of Teotihuacan in Mexico. The Moon Pyramid is not one that everyone's heard of, unfortunately, but trust me when I tell you I've done quite a bit of research, and the pyramids of Teotihuacan (translation: City of the Gods) are some of the most enigmatic structures on our planet. Not only because they were inhabited by people who didn't have a written language, but also because in recent years, an enormous pool of liquid mercury (something incredibly difficult and dangerous to create) was found beneath the great pyramid, by way of an underground chamber that was discovered accidentally in 2003, along with anomalous elements that aren't found anyplace else on Earth.
I find it utterly fascinating that so many perplexing places are linked together by drawing perfectly straight lines through their coordinates. And I continue to be amazed by the more information I uncover (and that I learn from Dennis Stone's teachings) about our remote past. There is so much more to America's ancient history than we've been taught, and that mainstream archaeology is willing to admit.
In New England alone, there are at least 800 features similar to those on Mystery Hill, and you can find comparable stone walls, chambers and even pyramidal structures in Alabama, Eastern Colorado, Rhode Island, Woodstock, New York, and the Berkshires in Massachusetts. Egypt, as we all know, boasts three staggering pyramids, but did you know that 136 more have been discovered throughout the land?
Since visiting America's Stonehenge, I've learned that St. Louis, Missouri used to be referred to as "Mound City" for being home to 120 pyramids. And that the U.S. is home to approximately one million mounds; some effigy, others flat-topped pyramids, some truncated pyramidal mounds, and thousands of geometric shapes (check out Serpent Mound in Ohio for one of my road trip destinations for next year). And what sometimes keeps me up at night, is that not enough is being done to learn more about the builders of these sites. No one is really discussing them, and they're not getting the protection and recognition they deserve.
A number of New England's ancient stone ruins disappeared in the 1960s due to the construction of the highways. It makes me think of the tragic ransacking and looting that's been taking place in the Middle East for decades. If we're not preserving these ancient sites, we're risking letting these invaluable chapters of our planet's history getting erased.
This is the kind of thing I could've talked to my new friends, up at America's Stonehenge about all night, the day they welcomed me like family and shared stories and learnings with me. During my visit, I was lucky enough to also get to meet Dennis's friend, Susan McNeill Spuhler. She's a wonderful woman who's been bringing believers like me together for the past seven years at the annual Greater New England UFO Conference in Leominster, Massachusetts. Susan also invited me to the Danbury UFO Conference back in October and introduced me to everyone cool, for an epic all-day affair I'll remember very fondly forever.
And since meeting my new friends up north, I've discovered some fascinating facts about the region I've lived most of my life: the Hudson Valley. Not only has it been a hotspot for UFO sightings since at least the 1900s, but it's also home to a high concentration of mysterious stone chambers. Similar to some of the features at America's Stonehenge, these chambers consist of massive, multi-ton rock slabs fashioned together incredibly without the use of any adhesive or binding agents. And there are about 200 of them right here in Westchester & Putnam counties. With few clues as to what they were used for, I can only speculate that they had extraordinary significance to their builders due to their astronomical alignments and the enormous undertaking required to build such structures.
Again, I ask: why was it so important for ancient man to create these formations in such a precise way that they'd align with lunar and solar events? And how did they accomplish such monumental feats?
I'm extremely passionate about finding the answers to these questions, putting to rest any false notions about our ancient past, and protecting and raising awareness of these significant archaeological sites. And I feel very fortunate to have found a few new friends who share this same interest and mission.
I feel like fate brought me to America's Stonehenge that day. I experienced something truly profound there, and I've learned a great deal ever since. My friend Dennis is a fountain of invaluable knowledge. He's just as, if not more passionate than I am about protecting these precious places and learning more about their builders. And he works tirelessly to spread the word about these historical sites that just aren't being talked about enough. Dennis regularly talks on radio shows across the nation, and his site has been featured on tv shows throughout the decades such as America Unearthed, Ancient Aliens, History's Mysteries, Secret Passages, Weird or What, and In Search Of, to name a few.
In his family-run museum, you can view some of the incredible historic and prehistoric artifacts they've uncovered throughout the years. And out on the hill, you can walk the trails that wind through some of the most incredible stone structures our nation has to offer. And you can even meet their alpacas, take part in an archeological dig and take a guided group or individual tour with the most knowledgable person in the world about America's Stonehenge.
I want to learn everything there is to know about our planet's forgotten history, about who built the mysterious structures that populate it and how, why, and when they did it. I want to be able to recite these lesser-known facts as quickly and efficiently as Dennis can tell you about his site and so many others because it's so important that these parts of our past never be forgotten.
If you've made it this far, I'm sincerely grateful for your interest in the information I'm sharing. And this post is a tribute to your continued learning and mine, to the new friendships I've found, and of course, the forgotten architects, travelers, and archaeoastronomers from many years past, and the lost chapters of human history that we are so eager to recover.
