A 1950 memo describing the recovery of three ‘flying saucers’ in New Mexico has been viewed millions of times since it was released in the FBI digital archive as part of the Freedom of Information Act.

The one-page memo was sent by Guy Hottel, the head of the FBI’s District of Columbia field office, to FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover. The memo contained information that Hottel had received from an about a possible UFO discovery.

"An investigator for the Air Force stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico," Hottel wrote.

"They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots.”

The fumbling response from the FBI failed to provide a believable explanation:  "It is simply a second- or third-hand claim that we never investigated."

You can read more here:

A documentary by Dr Steven M. Greer, who is founder of The Disclosure Project and The Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI), will be released on the 22^nd of April, revealing information that will change our idea about Extra-terrestrials.

A panel of highly credible witnesses who will testify about their experience on the UFO topic will present classified projects showing that the technology available will make mainstream energy producers (oil, coal and nuclear power) needless and that is the main drive behind the secrecy on the topic of UFO. In the documentary, images of a humanoid body that is said to be of unknown classification will also be included.

Amardeep Kaleka who is rewarded with the Emmy Award in 2011, is the film director and promises that watching the movie will be a profound experience.

Even if a fraction of the information presented is true, it is a very important documentary to watch. You can read more here.

A passenger plane with 220 people on board came within 300 feet of colliding with a “blue, yellow and silver” object, which loomed ahead of the Airbus A320 and then flew underneath it.

The startled pilot and co-pilot, who were making their final approach into Glasgow airport, immediately contacted air traffic control to report the sighting, saying “Not quite sure what it was but it’s definitely quite large and it’s blue and yellow.”

On the ground, the A320 pilot gave a further description to the Glasgow aerodrome controller. He said: “We seemed to only miss it by a couple of hundred feet – it went directly beneath us… Wherever we were when we called it in it was within about 10 seconds. Couldn’t tell what direction it was going but it went right underneath us.”

The pilots filed an official report with the UK Airpox Board, who investigate near-misses, stating that the collision risk was high.  

The investigation has ruled out a fixed-wing aircraft, helicopter, weather balloon, glider or para-glider, adding to the mystery.  While air traffic control did not detect anything in the area, Prestwick airport did detect an “unidentified track history” 1.3 nautical miles east of A320’s position 28 seconds earlier.

The investigation board has ruled that it has insufficient information about the incident to determine a cause or the risk.

By April Holloway

Recently we reported on the discovery of a tiny 6-inch hominid skeleton found in Chile’s Atacama Desert with unusual characteristics, as shown in the Sirius Documentary.  The specimen was subjected to extensive medical examination including a range of genetic test and the results found that there was nothing in the DNA that could conclusively prove that the subject is non-human.  As Gary Nolan, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University stated: "I've only scratched the surface in the analysis. But there is nothing that jumps out so far as to scream 'nonhuman'".  In fact, it concluded that the 6-inch creature was nothing other than a 6 to 8 year old girl!

Following this report, the mainstream media jumped into action with mass reporting along the lines of ‘what a relief, it is a human being after all’.  However, this story is far from finished.  A number of scientists are not satisfied with this final conclusion and have remarked that there has been a complete lack of scientific enquiry into the still unexplained characteristics of the hominid.  In particular, it has 10 ribs instead of the 12 that humans have, its miniscule growth rate is at odds with the surrounding skeleton, 9% of the skeleton’s genes did not match up with a reference human genome, and then of course, is the elongated skull.

While some have brushed off these inconsistencies as mere mutations, no scientist or doctor has yet been able to describe a mutation that could account for such unusual characteristics.  "There is no known form of dwarfism that accounts for all of the anomalies seen in this specimen," Ralph Lachman, a professor emeritus at the UCLA School of Medicine, wrote in a report on the skeleton.

It seems entirely plausible that an extraterrestrial could have a large portion of ‘human DNA’ but with some differences, particularly if we consider the hypothesis of Intelligent Design. Couldn’t this then account for the 9% mismatch between the genes of the tiny hominid and those of the human genome?  The questions surrounding this remarkable little created are far from answered.

By April Holloway

Justinian was one of the most powerful emperors of Byzantine. His goal was to restore the power of the Roman Empire and for that reason started a series of military campaigns to reclaim land that was once part of the glorious Roman Empire.

However once he started his campaigns a deadly disease appeared in the middle of the sixth century BC. It is suggested that the disease was brought through rats from Egypt and spread to the Mediterranean countries. When it reached Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, it is said that it killed almost half the citizens of the city population. Almost 50 years after the beginning of the plague the casualties of the pandemic numbered between 25 and 100 million in Europe and Asia.

A historian of that Era, Gregory of Tours, wrote that when the Plague started, a number of unusual events took place during the years of the plague. Brilliant lights appeared in the sky and other celestial phenomena. It was so intense that they believed that it was a punishment of God and was identified with the apocalypse.

We are not sure if extra-terrestrial beings were responsible for the Plague, but scientists recently believe that they have identified the bacteria responsible for the Plague and is called Yersinia pestis. The same bacteria is also connected to other pandemics in the history of humanity such as the Black Death who was responsible to have killed more than 60% of Europe’s population in the 13^th century. The research took place by investigating the DNA of 6^th century skeletons that were found in Germany where the bacteria was identified.

The question though remains, if the specific bacteria was responsible for such large devastations, and since strange celestial events took place during all of those Plagues, is it possible for the specific bacterial strain to have been brought to Earth either through extra-terrestrial intelligence or through meteors? The meteor hypothesis theoretically is possible and can explain how the Plagues appeared simultaneously in many different countries and isolated areas. William Bramley in his book the ‘Gods of Eden’ refers to texts mentioning bright flying objects spraying gas which was the ‘mist’ that caused the Black Death.

By John Black

One of the most interesting latest videos of UFOs is the video of what appears to be an unidentified flying object (UFO) entering the Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico which was recorded on May 30 by the daily video monitors of Televisa, a Mexican media company.

Televisa monitors the volcano on a daily basis and this video is a time lapsed video, which means video images taken at a specific interval. A special effects expert who has worked for the US Navy and Congress in Washington, was asked by Huffington Post about the authenticity of the video and, after analysing the video, he concluded that the video appears genuine.

However, he says that since the video is time lapsed, the speed that you see is not the real speed and if played at real speed then the speed is similar to aircraft speeds. This doesn’t mean that it is an aircraft though, although he suggests that it may be an ‘illusion’ giving you the impression that it goes down while it goes away. If you watch the video carefully that may be the case but it is not for sure.

It is interesting to mention that there was a similar video taken last year by the same company showing another object, cigar shaped this time, entering the volcano. Mutual UFO Network suggested that this may have been a meteor.

The reality is that since it is a time lapse video, it is difficult to say with certainty.

By John Black

For 60 years, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been scanning our universal horizons for signs of intelligent life, listening and waiting for a signal to come bouncing back to Earth.  But now, beginning in just four days time, a new strategy is being added into the mix – Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI).

The METI concept involves a more active approach in that instead of waiting for a signal to reach us, a message will be sent out from Earth into outer space, in the hope that it will be picked up by any intelligent alien race that is out there. 

The first long-duration METI project will be launched on 17^th June by Lone Signal, a crowd-funded project set up by a group of businessmen and entrepreneurs utilizing the Jamesburg Earth Station radio telescope in Carmel Valley, California, which was constructed in 1968 to support the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing.

“As soon as I can remember, I looked up at the stars and I thought, ‘Is there anybody looking back at me?’ I think there’s just an inherent curiosity we all have,” Lone Signal chief marketing officer Ernesto Qualizza said. “We all want to see what’s on the other side of the next hill, and this is an extension of that curiosity.”

The Lone Signal project is unique in that it is not only sending out one message, as previous projects have done. It will be sending out a continuous stream of content received from contributors from all over the world. Anyone with an internet connection will be able to send their own message or photo through the Lone Signal programme, offering a way to unite people around the world in the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life.

The Lone Signal project will draw upon latest knowledge about planets that meet conditions for habitability when deciding where to direct its signal.  It will begin with Gliese 526, a red dwarf star only 18 light-years from Earth, which is thought to be surrounded by a system of planets with potential habitable qualities.

The signal itself will be composed of 1′s and 0′s (binary) and will contain basic information about our civilization, our solar system and some basic science.  An adjacent frequency will also be sent out with the crowd-sourced information from individuals around the planet who will contribute material via social media to send out.

To begin beaming your messages into deep space, logon to the Lone Signal website.

By April Holloway

The 15^th Century Voynich manuscript is considered to be the most mysterious text ever uncovered as it has never been decrypted despite over a century of attempts to uncover meaning and more than 25 different analyses from top minds around the world.  This has led some to claim that it is nothing more than an elaborate hoax. However, a new study published in the journal Plos One, suggests that the manuscript does hold a genuine message and may have been constructed to hide secret information.

The 240 page book, which uses a cryptic language and numerous illustrations depicting astronomical, biological, cosmological, herbal and pharmaceutical themes, was discovered in 1912 by a Polish-American named Wilfrid M. Voynich. Numerous studies have shown that the unknown language does show similarities to known languages and the latest finding supports the hypothesis that there are meaningful words and messages within the text. 

Marcelo Montemurro, a theoretical physicist from the University of Manchester, UK, has been analysing the manuscript’s linguistic patterns for years and believes he is getting closer to unravelling its mysteries.  Using a computerised statistical method to examine patterns of how the words were arranged, Dr Montemurro and colleagues found evidence that content-bearing words occur in clustered patterns where they are required as part of the information being written. Moreover, the semantic networks show that related words share structure similarities, which is a pattern observed in known languages.

Dr Montemurro believes that such patterns indicate that the Voynich manuscript is no hoax. "It's not easy to dismiss the manuscript as simple nonsensical gibberish, as it shows a significant [linguistic] structure" he said. It is unlikely that the patterns were deliberately incorporated into the text as part of a hoax as knowledge of those linguistic structures did not exist at the time the manuscript was created.

As for the meaning of the text, that still remains elusive. Craig Bauer, author of ‘Secret History: The Story of Cryptology’ believes it could be hiding something significant. "It could solve a major crime, reveal buried treasure worth millions or in the case of the Voynich manuscript, rewrite the history of science," he said.  While Dr Bauer originally believed that the Voynic manuscript was a hoax, the latest findings have swayed his opinion and he know believes it holds something meaningful and Dr Montemurro agrees: "There must be a story behind it, which we may never know”.

By April Holloway

A 4,000-year-old ancient Egyptian statue locked away in a secure display case at the Manchester Museum in England has shocked curators by rotating on its own.

The 10-inch tall statue of a man named Neb-Senu, which was originally an offering to the god Osiris, was recovered from a mummy’s tomb more than 80 years ago and has been on display ever since.  But just in the last three weeks, the statue has started turning around without any human intervention.

"I noticed one day that it had turned around. I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key." curator Campbell Price said.  “But the next time I looked, it was facing in another direction — and a day later had yet another orientation."

Ancient Egyptians believed that if a mummified body was damaged or destroyed then the statues buried along with them could act as an alternative vehicle for their spirit. There are also myths and legends associated with Egyptian curses that take effect when a tomb has been disrupted. 

Price claims that he and other Egyptologists are not usually superstitious about those types of things and his first concern was that someone was getting access to the statue and moving it, so he set up a camera to record the statue day and night. When viewing the video of the statue at high speed, the rotation of the statue can clearly be seen without any human intervention.

Physicist Brian Cox believes that the statue is moving as a result of differential friction – a subtle vibration between the statue and the glass shelf it is placed on. This explains why the statue only appears to be moving when visitors are in the museum.  Price, however, is still sceptical since the statue has been on the same surface for 80 years and has never moved before.

For now, the case of the rotating Egyptian statue remains a mystery….

By April Holloway

Deep in north central New Mexico is the sleepy little town of Dulce.  Dulce is located on the Archuleta Mesa on the Colorado - New Mexico Border.  It is home to about 3000 residents and is the capitol of the Jicarilla Apache Nation.  For as small and as insignificant as this remote location may sound, it became the center of controversy in the early 1980's.  Physicist and inventor, Paul Bennewitz claimed he had discovered an underground base occupied by extraterrestrials near Dulce.  His story quickly spread through the UFO community.  Allegations th at surround the base include human abductions ("alien abductions") by these extraterrestrial beings.  He also asserted that the extraterrestrials were engaging in the development of advanced technology including genetic manipulation.  Their plan, according to Conspiracy Theorists, is to control the government and gain ultimate control of the Earth by means of a New World Order.  Stories have emerged regarding an untoward alliance between humans and the inhabitants of the Dulce base which include ties to shadow governments via secret societies such as the Illuminati, the Masons, the Bilderberg Group and the Skull and Bones. 

Dulce is not the only place on earth where it is believed underground bases exist, but it is the one which has received the greatest notoriety in recent times.  Subterranean bases, according to Conspira cy Theorists, can be found around the world with major active outposts all across the United States, Australia, Antarctica and South America.  These bases are connected to each other via a series of channels which connect one base to another.  There are even assertions that one of these tunnels leads to an active base beneath the Vatican which has been exerting control over western civilization for centuries.

A wealth of information regarding this subject has recently surfaced that seemingly reaches across vast extremes.  And as strange as all of this may sound, could any of what they say be true?  We turn to mythology in the search for answers.  It must be stated before we move on, that mythology, like many of the claims that come from the UFO community is treated more like science fiction rather than fact.  Traditional mythologists contend that the gods we f ind in myth represent the forces of nature or the creation of someone's vivid imagination.  With that said, does mythology support these seemingly outlandish claims? 

Stories of underground realms occupied by "the gods" pervade mythology.  Depending on the culture, it has been called Hades, Tartarus, Xibalba, Duat, Patala and Hell.  These "homes of the gods", are not always found deep within the earth, but are sometimes described as being within a mountain or deep beneath the waters of the earth.  Access to their domain, regardless of locality, is often described as located through the mouth of a cave.  The entrance may appear open at one time and then disappear from view completely and instantaneously.  The inhabitants of these underground realms did not desire to be visited by unwanted nor unexpecte d company, yet access was granted to select individuals.

According to ancient texts, entrance into the underworld was anything but easy.  The Mayan Popul Vuh, for example, describes the route taken by the hero brothers Hunhun-Ahpu and Vukub-Hunapu.  It tells of a steep descent into the home of the Lords of Xibalba and the many challenges they had to face.  Similarly, texts such as the Egyptian Book Of The Dead, describe the path by which the deceased god-King must travel to enter Duat.  Like the Popul Vuh, the path is fraught with challenges the individual must pass in order to enter the realm of the dead, the underworld.  The Vishnu Purana states that the deepest level of the underworld, Patala, can be found 70,000 yojanas beneath the surface of the earth.  Gilgamesh, in the epic bearing his name, is described as traveling twel ve leagues in the dense darkness until he arrived in the light filled chamber of the underworld.

The underground domains of the gods are described as filled with houses or vast halls where thousands of individuals could assemble.  Fountains, plants, tall grasses, trees and animals of all kinds filled this land.  The divine ascetic, Narada, who is featured in the Vishnu Purana claims to have visited Patala.  "Patala was much more charming than heaven. He exclaimed "What can be compared with Patala where Nagas (serpents) are adorned with beautiful and brilliant and pleasure-diffusing gems? This region is embellished with the daughters of Daityas and Danavas.". 

Similar descriptions of the underground/underwater homes of the gods are scattered through mythology.  The home of the Sumerian fertility god Enki, which is located in the watery deep, is described as having his house built of gold, silver and lapis lazuli.  Even writers, such as Greek philosopher Plato, echo this notion.  He believed that the earth was littered with a number of hollows that were full of water, air, trees, fruits and flowers. 

Surprisingly, Plato confirms yet another claim made by modern UFOlogy.  Plato goes on to state that these hollows were connected to one another by subterranean channels.  But Plato isn't the only one who refers to tunnels that lie beneath the surface of the ear th.  Inca legends tell of vast networks of tunnels that crisscross the length and breadth of the planet, complete with underground cities.  When Pizarro and the Spanish conquistadors entered Peru, they kidnapped the Inca emperor Atahualpha and held him for ransom.  They demanded enough gold to fill a room in return for Atahualpha's release.  Pizarro's men heard rumors that the Inca gold was being held in a vast network of subterranean tunnels.  The tunnels were thousands of years old and ran for miles beneath the Inca capitol.  In more recent years adventurers who have hazarded into the caverns beneath Cusco entered but were never seen again.  One man actually did make it out of the tunnels alive and he brought with him two bars of gold.  According to officials he had gone mad.  The entrances to the tunnels were then walled up for safety's sake - at least that is the official story.  The Apache Indians report that their ancestors took refuge in ancient tunnels during a cataclysmic disaster on the earth.  They wandered these immense passageways for years carrying the seeds for life in the new world.  

But what about the other claim made by UFOlgists regarding these bases being used for genetic engineering?  According to their assertions it is in the lowest level, the 7th level, of the Dulce base that the extraterrestrials are engaging in this kind of experimentation. 

Again, mythology supports this premise.  Native American tribes across the country are the most vocal when it comes to this topic.  The Jicarilla Apache (whose headquarters is in Dulce), the Navaho and Hopi Indians have long-standing traditions of man's creation and emergence from beneath the surface of the earth.  The Algonquians recount "Thus did the lowermost world-cave become overfilled with living things, full of unfinished creatures, crawling like reptiles over one another in dark blackness."  In this matter they do not stand alone.  Berosus, a Babylonian priest, tells of the hideous creatures that inhabit this underground realm.  He described men who had one body but two heads, some with the legs and horns of a goat and even some with the hind quarters of a horse and the body of a man.  "In short, there were creatures in which were combined the limbs of every species of animal."

These genetic experiments are, according to reports from UFO advocates, being conducted by a grou p of reptilian beings in the lowest levels of the base.  Thomas Castello, a former senior security officer at the base, testified that the base at Dulce is a seven level underground facility with the lower levels described as a series of natural caverns.  It was believed by Castello that these caverns were used by different extraterrestrial races in our remote past.  In Hindu cosmology, the Naga (serpents) once lived on earth, but the great god Brahma sent them to live under the sea and in the seventh level of their underground realm called Patala.  In the Sumerian Inana's Descent To The Nether World, Inana is required to pass through seven gates to finally reach the bowels of the underworld.  Aztec legend says that Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, went to Mictlan, the Aztec Underworld, and created mankind using his own blood and the bones of the previous race.  Throughout mythology the act of creating humanity is always associated with a specific group of gods, the fertility gods.  Fertility gods around the world are traditionally depicted as reptilian or amphibious in nature and appear in art as a blend between a man and a fish or a man and a snake.

A number of individuals also argue the Reptilian's true agenda is to control us, with the objective to dominate the planet.  They cite the development of a New World Order.  Proponents of this theory believe that the Reptilians, or the byproduct of their genetic manipulation experiments, intend to take control of the earth's surface.  This takeover is being orchestrated by an extremely powerful and influential group which includes many of the world's wealthiest people.  Some claim members of this elite group are actually genetically related to each other.  Their goal is to have every man, woman and child on the earth obedient to their covert agenda. The Reptilians are also accused of wanting to reduce the population on the earth and are employing weapons such as chemt rails, GMO's, vaccinations and man-made viruses to reduce our numbers.  It is contended that it is easier to control 500,000 or a million individuals than it is the 7 billion who currently live on the earth. 

A look into mythology relative to this claim does have a few pillars of support.  The idea of culling the human population on Earth is not a modern concept.  In the Sumerian Epic of Atrahasis we find a story where the gods do just that!  Twelve hundred years after the creation of mankind the number of people who inhabited the Earth grew.  Their "noise" disturbed the Sky god Enlil's sleep.  Enlil decided to send a plague in order reduce the population.  This worked for a while but when another 1200 years passed the populati on had grown again and Enlil was once more bothered by the noise.  This time, in order to decrease their numbers, he gets the Thunder-rain god Adad to hold back the rains and the world suffered from a great drought where vast numbers died.  The population continues to grow, and by the time another 1200 years pass the noise became too much for Enlil to bear.  Wanting to alleviate his problem he tells the gods to hold back all of nature's gifts.  This went on for six years and as the texts describe, the people of Earth were reduced to cannibalism in order to survive.  The Fertility god, Enki, tried to save the people from starvation.  This angered Enlil even more.  Finally Enlil, in an act of vengeance, decided to destroy mankind once and for all.  He planned to do this by flooding the world.  Enki, once again steped in and saved humanity from total annihilation.  He warned Atrahasis of the impending flood and told him t o build a boat to save himself and his family.

Torrents of theories have come forward as we seek the truth regarding our place in the universe.  Mythology does lend itself to support a number of these claims.  It is difficult to determine if the creators of these theories based their conjecture using myth as their foundation, first hand experiences, or, something else.  What does seem evident is that much of the information UFO researchers are bringing to light does parallel the myths and legends that have passed to us from antiquity.  Bringing this idea full circle; if the stories being unearthed in the UFO community were not based on mythological sources, yet mythology su pports these claims, then the stories of our distant past may have a basis in fact.  It implies that the gods were living breathing beings who walked the earth in our remote past, created man and played an essential role in the development of life and culture on the planet.

By  Dr. Rita Louise

About The Author

Bestselling author and Medical Intuitive, Dr. Rita Louise is the host of Just Energy Radio and the Founder of the Institute Of Applied Energetics. She is the author of the books Man-Made: The Chronicles Of Our Extraterrestrial Gods, Avoiding The Cosmic 2X4, Dark Angels: An Insider's Guide To Ghosts, Spirits & Attached Entitiesand The Power Within as well as hundreds of articles that have been published worldwide. She has appeared on radio and television and has spoken at conferences covering topics such as health and healing, ghosts, intuition, ancient mysteries and the paranormal.  For more information about Dr. Rita please visit http://www.soulhealer.com or listen to her live at http://www.justenergyradio.com.

One of the existing theories for the building of pyramids and other megalithic monuments is that sonic levitation was used, which means instruments that could levitate heavy objects and make them easier to move. More recent stories include techniques that are used in some areas in Tibet where, with the help of drums and trumpets, they can levitate large stones on the slopes of mountains and move them wherever is needed for building walls. Dr Jarl has provided a detailed description and drawings of this process – allegedly he even filmed the event.

A similar process was suggested to have been used for building the coral castle in the US, another controversial and relatively recent event. The coral castle is a stone structure that was built by the Latvian American Edward Leedskalnin, who said that he had discovered the techniques that Egyptians used to build the pyramids, techniques related to levitation/antigravity technologies. He never revealed his secrets. It took him 28 years to build the castle from about 1923 to 1951and refused to allow anyone to view him while he worked. He did the castle completely on his own carving more than 1,000 tons of rock. Although nobody heard any sounds from him building, if he used sonic levitation it doesn’t mean that the sonic levitation methods used sound waves audible to humans.

Abul Hasan Ali Al-Masudi, an Arab historian, has written about Egypt and he mentioned the way that Egyptians used to move stones, referring to a magic papyrus that was placed under the stone and then the stone was struck with a metal rod causing the stone to levitate and move along an area paved with stones and a fenced path with metal poles on both sides of the path. This sounds like metal poles used to vibrate creating frequencies in such a way that they would create a moving path for the stones.

A few years ago sonic drilling was demonstrated by NASA as a means to be used for mining material from rocks and other hard materials in space missions. However, today researchers have managed to use sound waves to levitate and move tiny particles precisely and liquid droplets. Multiple vibrating plates are used to create different frequencies and move an acoustic field with the particles trapped in it. Comparing to what was previously mentioned from the Tibetan monks and Edward Leedskalnin, this scientific demonstration looks primitive, but it is a step that shows that sonic levitation can be used and will improve as more scientific research will be done. And if it can be done for droplets it will for sure be done for larger objects in the future.

By John Black

Archaeologists in Croatia have found a remarkable 1,800-year-old ring with an ‘eye’ that was used to protect the wearer from spells or a bad curse, often referred to as the ‘evil eye’.  The belief that a look of envy or dislike from another person could cause injury, bad luck or even death for the person at whom it is directed has existed for at least 5,000 years and has often led to individuals taking protective measures, such as wearing particular items of jewellery. 

The ring was one of about 200 items recovered two metres under soil in the eastern town of Vinkovci, an area known to be occupied long before the Roman period.  While the unearthed ceramic items date from the first to the sixth century AD, the unusual ring has been dated to the third century. On the ring there is an outline of a rabbit or a mouse nibbling a flower, a symbol of happiness, while above the edge of the ring there is an eye, symbolising protection from misfortune.

Written record of the evil eye goes back to around 3,000 BC to the Sumerians who left behind a clay tablet inscribed with a prayer to ward off the curse. Remarkably, a similar prayer is still used today in many cultures around the world, particularly in the Mediterranean.

It is believed, however, that the believe in an ‘evil eye’ goes back to the upper Palaeolithic period as 10,000-year-old drawings have been found on cave walls in Spain which appear to depict symbols to ward off the evil eye.

The tradition and concept varies widely among different cultures, but belief in the evil eye exists far and wide. It is particularly strong in the Middle East, Central America, East and West Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, and Europe, especially the Mediterranean region.  It has also spread to areas, including northern Europe, particularly in the Celtic regions, and the Americas, where it was brought by European colonists and Middle Eastern immigrants.

The concept appears several times in the Old Testament and is also found in Islamic doctrine, based upon the statement of Muhammad, "The influence of an evil eye is a fact..." [Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Number 5427].

Attempts to ward off the curse of the evil eye has resulted in a number of talismans in many cultures, usually disks or balls consisting of concentric blue and white circles, a blue or green eye appearing on a hand, and various other forms of jewellery depicting an eye.  But in addition to talismans or ‘lucky charms’, many cultures have engaged in protective measures in an attempt to ward off the evil eye. For example, Asian children sometimes have their faces blackened, especially near the eyes, for protection. Among some Asian and African peoples the evil eye is particularly dreaded while eating and drinking, because soul loss is thought to be more prevalent when the mouth is open; in these cultures, the ingestion of substances is either a solitary activity or takes place only with the immediate family and behind locked doors. Other means of protection, common to many traditions, include the consumption certain foods, the wearing of sacred texts, the use of certain hand gestures, and the display of ritual drawings or objects. The Romans even wore a large phallus object around their neck for protection, presumably to draw the eye’s attention to it rather than the wearer!

Medical science and objectivity tells us that the eye cannot kill, though for centuries deaths were often attributed to the evil eye. In medieval Europe witches were often identified – and burned at the stake – on the evidence that they had directed an angry glare at someone that resulted in their death. So frightened was the British court system of the evil eye and its bewitching powers that it required that accused witches be brought into the courtroom walking backwards.

By April Holloway

A new book published by the British Library charts the evolution of iconic sea serpents, mermaids and other mythical creatures found on world maps from the 10^th century through to medieval and Renaissance times.  Despite their wild appearance, most of the creatures were based on true encounters with sea animals, shedding light on how mythology and folklore can evolve from real events.

Chet Van Duzer's "Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps" (British Library, 2013) depict a range of ‘sea monsters’ which cartographers used to illustrate mysterious, unexplored regions of the globe and the possible dangers of seafaring. Many have assumed that these mythical creatures were the results of illustrators having a bit of fun or exerting their imagination in their work. However, many of the ocean’s creatures, including whales, walruses and squid were rarely seen and were considered monsters in medieval and Renaissance times.

"The creatures look purely fantastic. They all look like they were just made up," Van Duzer, a map historian at the Library of Congress, said in a talk about his book. "But, in fact, a lot of them come from what were considered, at the time, scientific sources." For example, it was quite usual for the encyclopedias of the time to contain reference to strange looking terrestrial-aquatic-hybrid animals and mapmakers just took some poetic license in depicting them.

One example of a real sea creature being transformed into a legendary beast is that of the Kraken is a giant sea creature in Scandinavian mythology which was said to be 1 mile long. It was depicted as great beast that would attack ships and was so huge that its body could be mistaken for an island. It is first mentioned in the Örvar-Oddr, a 13th century Icelandic saga.

The Kraken was also mentioned in the first edition of Systema Naturae [1735], a taxonomic classification of living organisms by the Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist Carolus Linnaeus. He classified the Kraken as a cephalopod, designating the scientific name Microcosmus marinus.

The myth of the Kraken is believed by historians and scientists to relate to the giant squid, which can reach 18 meters in length and has been rarely seen by humans as it lives the very depths of the ocean.

By tracing the depictions of sea monsters throughout the centuries, Van Duzer has presented an evolution from a world full of dangers lurking in distant oceans where gigantic octopuses and whales drag ships and sailors into the sea, to 17^th century maps showing ships exerting dominion over the beasts of the ocean.  Eventually, the beasts disappeared from maps altogether.

The important message to take from Van Duzer’s fascination depiction of sea monsters is that mythological stories and legends of the past are unlikely to be purely fanciful stories stemming from overly imaginative minds. Rather, it seems clear that most, if not all, the stories from our ancient ancestors evolved from real events that were portrayed according to the understanding and knowledge of the time.

By April Holloway

A 4,000-year-old ancient Egyptian statue locked away in a secure display case at the Manchester Museum in England has shocked curators by rotating on its own.

The 10-inch tall statue of a man named Neb-Senu, which was originally an offering to the god Osiris, was recovered from a mummy’s tomb more than 80 years ago and has been on display ever since.  But just in the last three weeks, the statue has started turning around without any human intervention.

"I noticed one day that it had turned around. I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key." curator Campbell Price said.  “But the next time I looked, it was facing in another direction — and a day later had yet another orientation."

Ancient Egyptians believed that if a mummified body was damaged or destroyed then the statues buried along with them could act as an alternative vehicle for their spirit. There are also myths and legends associated with Egyptian curses that take effect when a tomb has been disrupted. 

Price claims that he and other Egyptologists are not usually superstitious about those types of things and his first concern was that someone was getting access to the statue and moving it, so he set up a camera to record the statue day and night. When viewing the video of the statue at high speed, the rotation of the statue can clearly be seen without any human intervention.

Physicist Brian Cox believes that the statue is moving as a result of differential friction – a subtle vibration between the statue and the glass shelf it is placed on. This explains why the statue only appears to be moving when visitors are in the museum.  Price, however, is still sceptical since the statue has been on the same surface for 80 years and has never moved before.

For now, the case of the rotating Egyptian statue remains a mystery….

By April Holloway

Deep in north central New Mexico is the sleepy little town of Dulce.  Dulce is located on the Archuleta Mesa on the Colorado - New Mexico Border.  It is home to about 3000 residents and is the capitol of the Jicarilla Apache Nation.  For as small and as insignificant as this remote location may sound, it became the center of controversy in the early 1980's.  Physicist and inventor, Paul Bennewitz claimed he had discovered an underground base occupied by extraterrestrials near Dulce.  His story quickly spread through the UFO community.  Allegations th at surround the base include human abductions ("alien abductions") by these extraterrestrial beings.  He also asserted that the extraterrestrials were engaging in the development of advanced technology including genetic manipulation.  Their plan, according to Conspiracy Theorists, is to control the government and gain ultimate control of the Earth by means of a New World Order.  Stories have emerged regarding an untoward alliance between humans and the inhabitants of the Dulce base which include ties to shadow governments via secret societies such as the Illuminati, the Masons, the Bilderberg Group and the Skull and Bones. 

Dulce is not the only place on earth where it is believed underground bases exist, but it is the one which has received the greatest notoriety in recent times.  Subterranean bases, according to Conspira cy Theorists, can be found around the world with major active outposts all across the United States, Australia, Antarctica and South America.  These bases are connected to each other via a series of channels which connect one base to another.  There are even assertions that one of these tunnels leads to an active base beneath the Vatican which has been exerting control over western civilization for centuries.

A wealth of information regarding this subject has recently surfaced that seemingly reaches across vast extremes.  And as strange as all of this may sound, could any of what they say be true?  We turn to mythology in the search for answers.  It must be stated before we move on, that mythology, like many of the claims that come from the UFO community is treated more like science fiction rather than fact.  Traditional mythologists contend that the gods we f ind in myth represent the forces of nature or the creation of someone's vivid imagination.  With that said, does mythology support these seemingly outlandish claims? 

Stories of underground realms occupied by "the gods" pervade mythology.  Depending on the culture, it has been called Hades, Tartarus, Xibalba, Duat, Patala and Hell.  These "homes of the gods", are not always found deep within the earth, but are sometimes described as being within a mountain or deep beneath the waters of the earth.  Access to their domain, regardless of locality, is often described as located through the mouth of a cave.  The entrance may appear open at one time and then disappear from view completely and instantaneously.  The inhabitants of these underground realms did not desire to be visited by unwanted nor unexpecte d company, yet access was granted to select individuals.

According to ancient texts, entrance into the underworld was anything but easy.  The Mayan Popul Vuh, for example, describes the route taken by the hero brothers Hunhun-Ahpu and Vukub-Hunapu.  It tells of a steep descent into the home of the Lords of Xibalba and the many challenges they had to face.  Similarly, texts such as the Egyptian Book Of The Dead, describe the path by which the deceased god-King must travel to enter Duat.  Like the Popul Vuh, the path is fraught with challenges the individual must pass in order to enter the realm of the dead, the underworld.  The Vishnu Purana states that the deepest level of the underworld, Patala, can be found 70,000 yojanas beneath the surface of the earth.  Gilgamesh, in the epic bearing his name, is described as traveling twel ve leagues in the dense darkness until he arrived in the light filled chamber of the underworld.

The underground domains of the gods are described as filled with houses or vast halls where thousands of individuals could assemble.  Fountains, plants, tall grasses, trees and animals of all kinds filled this land.  The divine ascetic, Narada, who is featured in the Vishnu Purana claims to have visited Patala.  "Patala was much more charming than heaven. He exclaimed "What can be compared with Patala where Nagas (serpents) are adorned with beautiful and brilliant and pleasure-diffusing gems? This region is embellished with the daughters of Daityas and Danavas.". 

Similar descriptions of the underground/underwater homes of the gods are scattered through mythology.  The home of the Sumerian fertility god Enki, which is located in the watery deep, is described as having his house built of gold, silver and lapis lazuli.  Even writers, such as Greek philosopher Plato, echo this notion.  He believed that the earth was littered with a number of hollows that were full of water, air, trees, fruits and flowers. 

Surprisingly, Plato confirms yet another claim made by modern UFOlogy.  Plato goes on to state that these hollows were connected to one another by subterranean channels.  But Plato isn't the only one who refers to tunnels that lie beneath the surface of the ear th.  Inca legends tell of vast networks of tunnels that crisscross the length and breadth of the planet, complete with underground cities.  When Pizarro and the Spanish conquistadors entered Peru, they kidnapped the Inca emperor Atahualpha and held him for ransom.  They demanded enough gold to fill a room in return for Atahualpha's release.  Pizarro's men heard rumors that the Inca gold was being held in a vast network of subterranean tunnels.  The tunnels were thousands of years old and ran for miles beneath the Inca capitol.  In more recent years adventurers who have hazarded into the caverns beneath Cusco entered but were never seen again.  One man actually did make it out of the tunnels alive and he brought with him two bars of gold.  According to officials he had gone mad.  The entrances to the tunnels were then walled up for safety's sake - at least that is the official story.  The Apache Indians report that their ancestors took refuge in ancient tunnels during a cataclysmic disaster on the earth.  They wandered these immense passageways for years carrying the seeds for life in the new world.  

But what about the other claim made by UFOlgists regarding these bases being used for genetic engineering?  According to their assertions it is in the lowest level, the 7th level, of the Dulce base that the extraterrestrials are engaging in this kind of experimentation. 

Again, mythology supports this premise.  Native American tribes across the country are the most vocal when it comes to this topic.  The Jicarilla Apache (whose headquarters is in Dulce), the Navaho and Hopi Indians have long-standing traditions of man's creation and emergence from beneath the surface of the earth.  The Algonquians recount "Thus did the lowermost world-cave become overfilled with living things, full of unfinished creatures, crawling like reptiles over one another in dark blackness."  In this matter they do not stand alone.  Berosus, a Babylonian priest, tells of the hideous creatures that inhabit this underground realm.  He described men who had one body but two heads, some with the legs and horns of a goat and even some with the hind quarters of a horse and the body of a man.  "In short, there were creatures in which were combined the limbs of every species of animal."

These genetic experiments are, according to reports from UFO advocates, being conducted by a grou p of reptilian beings in the lowest levels of the base.  Thomas Castello, a former senior security officer at the base, testified that the base at Dulce is a seven level underground facility with the lower levels described as a series of natural caverns.  It was believed by Castello that these caverns were used by different extraterrestrial races in our remote past.  In Hindu cosmology, the Naga (serpents) once lived on earth, but the great god Brahma sent them to live under the sea and in the seventh level of their underground realm called Patala.  In the Sumerian Inana's Descent To The Nether World, Inana is required to pass through seven gates to finally reach the bowels of the underworld.  Aztec legend says that Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, went to Mictlan, the Aztec Underworld, and created mankind using his own blood and the bones of the previous race.  Throughout mythology the act of creating humanity is always associated with a specific group of gods, the fertility gods.  Fertility gods around the world are traditionally depicted as reptilian or amphibious in nature and appear in art as a blend between a man and a fish or a man and a snake.

A number of individuals also argue the Reptilian's true agenda is to control us, with the objective to dominate the planet.  They cite the development of a New World Order.  Proponents of this theory believe that the Reptilians, or the byproduct of their genetic manipulation experiments, intend to take control of the earth's surface.  This takeover is being orchestrated by an extremely powerful and influential group which includes many of the world's wealthiest people.  Some claim members of this elite group are actually genetically related to each other.  Their goal is to have every man, woman and child on the earth obedient to their covert agenda. The Reptilians are also accused of wanting to reduce the population on the earth and are employing weapons such as chemt rails, GMO's, vaccinations and man-made viruses to reduce our numbers.  It is contended that it is easier to control 500,000 or a million individuals than it is the 7 billion who currently live on the earth. 

A look into mythology relative to this claim does have a few pillars of support.  The idea of culling the human population on Earth is not a modern concept.  In the Sumerian Epic of Atrahasis we find a story where the gods do just that!  Twelve hundred years after the creation of mankind the number of people who inhabited the Earth grew.  Their "noise" disturbed the Sky god Enlil's sleep.  Enlil decided to send a plague in order reduce the population.  This worked for a while but when another 1200 years passed the populati on had grown again and Enlil was once more bothered by the noise.  This time, in order to decrease their numbers, he gets the Thunder-rain god Adad to hold back the rains and the world suffered from a great drought where vast numbers died.  The population continues to grow, and by the time another 1200 years pass the noise became too much for Enlil to bear.  Wanting to alleviate his problem he tells the gods to hold back all of nature's gifts.  This went on for six years and as the texts describe, the people of Earth were reduced to cannibalism in order to survive.  The Fertility god, Enki, tried to save the people from starvation.  This angered Enlil even more.  Finally Enlil, in an act of vengeance, decided to destroy mankind once and for all.  He planned to do this by flooding the world.  Enki, once again steped in and saved humanity from total annihilation.  He warned Atrahasis of the impending flood and told him t o build a boat to save himself and his family.

Torrents of theories have come forward as we seek the truth regarding our place in the universe.  Mythology does lend itself to support a number of these claims.  It is difficult to determine if the creators of these theories based their conjecture using myth as their foundation, first hand experiences, or, something else.  What does seem evident is that much of the information UFO researchers are bringing to light does parallel the myths and legends that have passed to us from antiquity.  Bringing this idea full circle; if the stories being unearthed in the UFO community were not based on mythological sources, yet mythology su pports these claims, then the stories of our distant past may have a basis in fact.  It implies that the gods were living breathing beings who walked the earth in our remote past, created man and played an essential role in the development of life and culture on the planet.

By  Dr. Rita Louise

About The Author

Bestselling author and Medical Intuitive, Dr. Rita Louise is the host of Just Energy Radio and the Founder of the Institute Of Applied Energetics. She is the author of the books Man-Made: The Chronicles Of Our Extraterrestrial Gods, Avoiding The Cosmic 2X4, Dark Angels: An Insider's Guide To Ghosts, Spirits & Attached Entitiesand The Power Within as well as hundreds of articles that have been published worldwide. She has appeared on radio and television and has spoken at conferences covering topics such as health and healing, ghosts, intuition, ancient mysteries and the paranormal.  For more information about Dr. Rita please visit http://www.soulhealer.com or listen to her live at http://www.justenergyradio.com.

One of the existing theories for the building of pyramids and other megalithic monuments is that sonic levitation was used, which means instruments that could levitate heavy objects and make them easier to move. More recent stories include techniques that are used in some areas in Tibet where, with the help of drums and trumpets, they can levitate large stones on the slopes of mountains and move them wherever is needed for building walls. Dr Jarl has provided a detailed description and drawings of this process – allegedly he even filmed the event.

A similar process was suggested to have been used for building the coral castle in the US, another controversial and relatively recent event. The coral castle is a stone structure that was built by the Latvian American Edward Leedskalnin, who said that he had discovered the techniques that Egyptians used to build the pyramids, techniques related to levitation/antigravity technologies. He never revealed his secrets. It took him 28 years to build the castle from about 1923 to 1951and refused to allow anyone to view him while he worked. He did the castle completely on his own carving more than 1,000 tons of rock. Although nobody heard any sounds from him building, if he used sonic levitation it doesn’t mean that the sonic levitation methods used sound waves audible to humans.

Abul Hasan Ali Al-Masudi, an Arab historian, has written about Egypt and he mentioned the way that Egyptians used to move stones, referring to a magic papyrus that was placed under the stone and then the stone was struck with a metal rod causing the stone to levitate and move along an area paved with stones and a fenced path with metal poles on both sides of the path. This sounds like metal poles used to vibrate creating frequencies in such a way that they would create a moving path for the stones.

A few years ago sonic drilling was demonstrated by NASA as a means to be used for mining material from rocks and other hard materials in space missions. However, today researchers have managed to use sound waves to levitate and move tiny particles precisely and liquid droplets. Multiple vibrating plates are used to create different frequencies and move an acoustic field with the particles trapped in it. Comparing to what was previously mentioned from the Tibetan monks and Edward Leedskalnin, this scientific demonstration looks primitive, but it is a step that shows that sonic levitation can be used and will improve as more scientific research will be done. And if it can be done for droplets it will for sure be done for larger objects in the future.

By John Black

Archaeologists in Croatia have found a remarkable 1,800-year-old ring with an ‘eye’ that was used to protect the wearer from spells or a bad curse, often referred to as the ‘evil eye’.  The belief that a look of envy or dislike from another person could cause injury, bad luck or even death for the person at whom it is directed has existed for at least 5,000 years and has often led to individuals taking protective measures, such as wearing particular items of jewellery. 

The ring was one of about 200 items recovered two metres under soil in the eastern town of Vinkovci, an area known to be occupied long before the Roman period.  While the unearthed ceramic items date from the first to the sixth century AD, the unusual ring has been dated to the third century. On the ring there is an outline of a rabbit or a mouse nibbling a flower, a symbol of happiness, while above the edge of the ring there is an eye, symbolising protection from misfortune.

Written record of the evil eye goes back to around 3,000 BC to the Sumerians who left behind a clay tablet inscribed with a prayer to ward off the curse. Remarkably, a similar prayer is still used today in many cultures around the world, particularly in the Mediterranean.

It is believed, however, that the believe in an ‘evil eye’ goes back to the upper Palaeolithic period as 10,000-year-old drawings have been found on cave walls in Spain which appear to depict symbols to ward off the evil eye.

The tradition and concept varies widely among different cultures, but belief in the evil eye exists far and wide. It is particularly strong in the Middle East, Central America, East and West Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, and Europe, especially the Mediterranean region.  It has also spread to areas, including northern Europe, particularly in the Celtic regions, and the Americas, where it was brought by European colonists and Middle Eastern immigrants.

The concept appears several times in the Old Testament and is also found in Islamic doctrine, based upon the statement of Muhammad, "The influence of an evil eye is a fact..." [Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Number 5427].

Attempts to ward off the curse of the evil eye has resulted in a number of talismans in many cultures, usually disks or balls consisting of concentric blue and white circles, a blue or green eye appearing on a hand, and various other forms of jewellery depicting an eye.  But in addition to talismans or ‘lucky charms’, many cultures have engaged in protective measures in an attempt to ward off the evil eye. For example, Asian children sometimes have their faces blackened, especially near the eyes, for protection. Among some Asian and African peoples the evil eye is particularly dreaded while eating and drinking, because soul loss is thought to be more prevalent when the mouth is open; in these cultures, the ingestion of substances is either a solitary activity or takes place only with the immediate family and behind locked doors. Other means of protection, common to many traditions, include the consumption certain foods, the wearing of sacred texts, the use of certain hand gestures, and the display of ritual drawings or objects. The Romans even wore a large phallus object around their neck for protection, presumably to draw the eye’s attention to it rather than the wearer!

Medical science and objectivity tells us that the eye cannot kill, though for centuries deaths were often attributed to the evil eye. In medieval Europe witches were often identified – and burned at the stake – on the evidence that they had directed an angry glare at someone that resulted in their death. So frightened was the British court system of the evil eye and its bewitching powers that it required that accused witches be brought into the courtroom walking backwards.

By April Holloway

A new book published by the British Library charts the evolution of iconic sea serpents, mermaids and other mythical creatures found on world maps from the 10^th century through to medieval and Renaissance times.  Despite their wild appearance, most of the creatures were based on true encounters with sea animals, shedding light on how mythology and folklore can evolve from real events.

Chet Van Duzer's "Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps" (British Library, 2013) depict a range of ‘sea monsters’ which cartographers used to illustrate mysterious, unexplored regions of the globe and the possible dangers of seafaring. Many have assumed that these mythical creatures were the results of illustrators having a bit of fun or exerting their imagination in their work. However, many of the ocean’s creatures, including whales, walruses and squid were rarely seen and were considered monsters in medieval and Renaissance times.

"The creatures look purely fantastic. They all look like they were just made up," Van Duzer, a map historian at the Library of Congress, said in a talk about his book. "But, in fact, a lot of them come from what were considered, at the time, scientific sources." For example, it was quite usual for the encyclopedias of the time to contain reference to strange looking terrestrial-aquatic-hybrid animals and mapmakers just took some poetic license in depicting them.

One example of a real sea creature being transformed into a legendary beast is that of the Kraken is a giant sea creature in Scandinavian mythology which was said to be 1 mile long. It was depicted as great beast that would attack ships and was so huge that its body could be mistaken for an island. It is first mentioned in the Örvar-Oddr, a 13th century Icelandic saga.

The Kraken was also mentioned in the first edition of Systema Naturae [1735], a taxonomic classification of living organisms by the Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist Carolus Linnaeus. He classified the Kraken as a cephalopod, designating the scientific name Microcosmus marinus.

The myth of the Kraken is believed by historians and scientists to relate to the giant squid, which can reach 18 meters in length and has been rarely seen by humans as it lives the very depths of the ocean.

By tracing the depictions of sea monsters throughout the centuries, Van Duzer has presented an evolution from a world full of dangers lurking in distant oceans where gigantic octopuses and whales drag ships and sailors into the sea, to 17^th century maps showing ships exerting dominion over the beasts of the ocean.  Eventually, the beasts disappeared from maps altogether.

The important message to take from Van Duzer’s fascination depiction of sea monsters is that mythological stories and legends of the past are unlikely to be purely fanciful stories stemming from overly imaginative minds. Rather, it seems clear that most, if not all, the stories from our ancient ancestors evolved from real events that were portrayed according to the understanding and knowledge of the time.

By April Holloway

Archaeologists have launched a furious dig for treasure beneath a 19^th century fort in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in India after a well-known Hindu holy man predicted a substantial cache of gold and silver lay buried beneath the monument.

The decision to start the dig began after Hindu swami Shobhan Sarkar relayed a dream he had to an Indian government minister, in which the spirit of a former king appeared to him and told him of a nearly $50 billion cache.

The swami said the spirit of King Rao Ram Baksh Singh, who was hanged in 1858 after rising up against British colonial forces, told him to take care of the 1,000-ton treasure hidden under the late king's fort in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

While researchers have not yet searched the area, preliminary investigations reveal that there may be some truth to the story. A survey of the area using high-tech equipment found signs of heavy metal about 20 metres underground and, according to the impoverished residents of the nearby village of Daundia Khera, stories of the treasure have been passed down through the generations, however, no one knew exactly where the treasure was buried until the late king supposedly visited the swami in his sleep.

The archaeological dig has already attracted thousands of interested locals to the site as well as plenty of people who are lining up to stake a claim to the treasure. Uttar Pradesh state authorities, as well as local officials, say they have a right to the wealth while the king’s descendants are claiming the treasures must go to them. Others have argued that the treasure trove, if it is found, should be used for the development of the state since Uttar Pradesh has a staggering population of 200 million and is one of the poorest and least developed states in India.

While plans to excavate the area followed immediately after the government minister was told of the vision by the Holy man, archaeologists have been quick to defend the reason for their dig.

"Archaeology doesn't work according to the dreams of a holy man, or anybody else. Archaeology is a science. We are carrying out this excavation on the basis of our findings at the site,” said Syed Jamal Hasan, an agency official from the Archaeological Survey of India.

By April Holloway

It is reassuring to see that there are still some brave scientists around willing to investigate the less conventional findings rather than simply placing them in the ‘too hard to solve’ basket – the Natural History Museum in London has made an announcement about a specialised department which has been likened to the well-known X-Files programme.

The unit’s Identification and Advisory Service will be responsible for investigating a wide-range of unexplained phenomena, and so far they have been contending with so-called ‘space slime’, and a host of bizarre items discovered by the British public including bones resembling a dragon skull, round objects believed to be meteorite fragments, and a skull with long tusks believed to have belonged to the ice-age sabre tooth tiger.

The research team takes a scientific approach to all the submissions and so-far they have been able to solve many of the mysteries – the ‘dragon skull’ is the pelvis of a sea bird, the ‘sabre-tooth tiger’ is the skull of a Chinese Water Deer, and the meteorite fragment was in fact a solidified ball of aluminium foil.

However, one of the unexplained phenomena still has the team baffled – the mysterious slime discovered in a nature reserve in Somerset. The slime appeared at the same time as a meteor crashed to earth in Chelyabinsk, Russia, which has led many to believe that the strange substance has come from space. 

An amateur photographer claimed he had captured a mysterious object whizzing through the sky above the park on camera. The object appeared to be a meteor, although this was not confirmed by astronomers.

The London museum's Angela Marmont Centre (AMC) for UK Biodiversity, which houses the Identification and Advisory Service, was tasked with investigating the mysterious slime, with the aim of establishing whether it had fallen from space, or if its origins were rather more terrestrial.  Laboratory tests have so far failed to find just what it could be - and where it had come from.

Scientists from the unit extracted DNA from the jelly and tried to match it against that of birds and frogs, without success. This rules out the theory that the slime is unfertilized frog spawn.

“The slime is still a genuine mystery,” said Chesca Rogers from the AMC.  “There are stories in folklore that link it with meteor sightings. Some people think it might be unfertilised frog spawn, others think it is a fungus, or a slime mould or that it is plant related. None of the tests we have done so far have told us anything conclusive.”

Every year the museum receives around 10,000 inquiries from the public, who are encouraged to bring their finds to the Museum for examination.

By April Holloway