Category: Historic

In Cleveland, Ohio in 1993, the J C Smith funeral home had recently closed and was being cleared. When the cleaning workers emptied the funeral parlor’s dark basement, a mummified body was discovered, which shed light on a lost, tragic tale from 19th century Queensland. The discovery finally gave closure to a group of indigenous Australians and provided long-awaited answers to a mystery from their past.

The mummified body was that of an Aboriginal Australian man and was found to be the once-famous “Tambo”. In the 1880s, Tambo, along with his wife and 15 other indigenous people, was recruited as a star attraction by Phineas Taylor “P T” Barnum and James Anthony Bailey as part of Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was exhibited as part of the “human oddities” in the Circus’s dime museum (named for the price of entry), which had been displaying “Freak Shows” since the first half of the 19th century. Barnum is popularly considered a pioneer of such attractions.

Colonialism and the Narrative of Western Superiority

The 19th century saw a vast colonial expansion from the European powers across the globe. One of the domestic impacts of such expansion was a growing curiosity among the Western public to view examples of the cultures and unfamiliar peoples subjugated by this expansion. Examples of indigenous people with strikingly different appearances to Westerners were seen as part of the phenomena of “humans with oddities”. They were paraded in such circuses as Barnum & Bailey’s as examples of European colonizing triumphs against societies perceived as less advanced.

Indigenous Australians, c1904 (hwmobs / Flickr)

Indigenous people’s features and body proportions were unfavorably compared with the anatomy and morphology of Europeans. This created an erroneous and self-serving narrative regarding the superiority of the Western nations over other peoples, often depicted as savages. 19th century forefather of modern anthropology Johann Friedrich Blumenbach had gone further in casting Western man as the ideal for civilizational advancement. He claimed Westerners belonged to the Caucasian race, which was considered superior in comparison to other races because of its supposed corporeal harmony and aesthetic beauty.

On the Origin of “Freak Shows”

With the dawn of Enlightenment, anthropological science sparked a great deal of curiosity regarding the unfamiliar appearances of indigenous humans from around the globe. As the market expanded and people’s fascination for travel and science grew, “Freak Shows” exhibiting such peoples appeared to take advantage of this craze for “Orientalism”. These started in the zoological gardens and parks in 18th and 19th century Europe, where indigenous non-European people were displayed as exotic attractions, at a time when people’s interests in the more familiar zoological exhibits was in decline.

Barnum and Bailey advertised their circus as the “Greatest Show on Earth” (Library of Congress, Public domain)

By the first half of the 19th century, these exhibitions expanded to become part of circuses, dedicated exotic communities, wax figure museums, anatomy museums, fairs and “Cabinets of Curiosities”. 19th century evolution theory was co-opted in a nakedly chauvinist fashion, dividing the world outside of Europe into colonies of “savages”. Indigenous tribes like the Zulu, Khoikhoi, San people or the Aboriginal Australians were seen as physically anomalous humans and commonly compared to monsters, or animals. One of the most notorious early fairs, Bartholomew Fair, was described as a “Parliament of Monsters” by William Wordsworth.

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The customs of such indigenous groups were also showcased to Western audiences as examples of technologically primitive cultures. Such representations further legitimized Western society’s colonialist expansion and their sense of cultural superiority. The dehumanizing nature of these “Freak Shows” created a fictional and self-aggrandizing hierarchy for Western audiences, implying that such expansionism and subjugation were natural and appropriate behaviors. These exhibitions remained culturally relevant until the collapse of the colonial empires in the mid-20th century.

Julia Pastrana from Mexico hairy woman. Date: circa 1850. Source: Archivist / Adobe Stock

Barnum and his “Human Circus of Oddities”

P T Barnum was a leading pioneer of these “Freak shows”. Barnum ventured into this industry in 1835, when he showcased a paralyzed slave he owned named Joice Heth. Although she was around 80 years old, Barnum advertised her as George Washington’s 161-year-old nurse. He exhibited her across the northeast of America until her death 1836, after which he made arrangements for Heth’s public dissection in pursuit of further profits.

There were popular claims at the time that Barnum had starved Heth while she was alive and forcibly removed her teeth to make her look older. These stories made their way into the penny press, but in spite of this (or possibly because of the notoriety that came with such stories) “Freak Shows” continued to gain popularity.

After 1841, Barnum reinvented his dime museum into a place of wonders, with these “Freak Shows” being the central attraction, broadly targeting a family audience. The “Freaks” were divided by Barnum into three categories – “born freaks” such as overweight ladies, dwarfs, “skeleton men” and giants; “exotic freaks” from indigenous cultures; and “self-made freaks”, for example those who performed novelty acts and heavily tattooed men. This again proved immensely popular and further cemented the reputation of Barnum as the “greatest freak showman”.

Barnum & Bailey’s circus on tour in Germany (elycefeliz / Flickr)

With the popularization of “Freak Shows”, any examples of physical difference from European racial norms were displayed for public consumption by Western audiences. In the 19th century, a Khoisan woman named Saartjie Baartman, who was bought as a slave by British doctor William Dunlop in 1810, was given the name Hottentot Venus and was displayed in the marketplace and circuses under humiliating conditions, till her death in 1815.

Amongst the attractions displayed by Barnum, Charles Sherwood Stratton, a dwarf, became a star of the show under the stage name ‘General Tom Thumb’. His act included dancing, singing, jokes, as well as imitating mythological and historical people such as Hercules, Cupid, Samson or Napoleon Bonaparte.

Other oddities who gained popularity through Barnum’s “Freak Shows” were Bartola Velasquez and Maximo Valdez Nunez, known as “The Last of the Ancient Aztecs” or the “Aztec Children”, conjoined twins Chang and Eng who were known as the “Siamese Twins” and performed somersaults and acrobatics, and Annie Jones who was showcased as the “Bearded Girl” or “Bearded Lady”.

Tambo’s Recruitment

The story of Tambo, whose mummy was rediscovered in 1993, and his miseries in this circus began over a century earlier in the year 1883. Robert A Cunningham, a recruiter working for Barnum and Bailey’s circus, had travelled to Hinchinbrook and Palm islands, located in the far north of Queensland, to find new attractions for the next exhibition, to be titled “Ethnological Congress of Strange Tribes”.

Cunningham’s Aboriginal Circus, including Tambo (believed sitting, second from right) (Unknown Author, Public domain)

Cunningham was looking to add various indigenous people to the collection, which already featured southern Egypt’s Nubians, southern India’s Toda, Africa’s Zulus, and the USA’s Sioux. The Australian Aboriginal tribes were a new addition.

It is not certain how these people were persuaded or forced by Cunningham to join the exhibition, but according to the records, six men and two women from the Aboriginal tribe, as well as a boy belonging to the Wulguru clan, joined the troupe of Barnum and Bailey’s circus and left for Chicago from Palm Island and Hinchinbrook by ship in the year 1883. It is today believed that the people of the Aboriginal tribe were either tricked by Cunningham or given incentives like the promise of adventure, or expensive clothing.

University College London’s honorary research fellow and anthropologist Roslyn Poignant, in her book Professional Savages: Captive Lives and Western Spectacle, writes that chief among the reasons for indigenous people joining the troupe were “Displacement and dispossession in the colonies, chance and curiosity”. According to records from the time, only two members of the group knew the English language. While their records indicate that they went willingly along with Cunningham, it is unclear that any of the people recruited in such fashion truly understood to what they were agreeing.

Lies and Showmanship

These men and women were presented as “Australian Cannibal Boomerang Throwers” by Barnum, ignoring that boomerangs were not used by any of the indigenous people as their “chief weapon of warfare”, as Barnum had advertised.  Philip Rang, an Australian cinematographer speaking to BuzzFeed News, noted that the indigenous Australians became “the drawcard” for world exhibitions and these “Freak Shows”. “The Aboriginal groups were considered as boomerang-throwing cannibals, even though Aboriginal people weren’t cannibals,” he said.

Jumbo was stuffed after his death as an attraction (Barnum Museum of Natural History, Public domain)

Cassady is the owner of a small museum on Aboriginal history and culture in Mungalla Station in Queensland, which has an exhibition space where the stories of these men and women were put on display. As per Cassady, the Aboriginal people were measured by anthropologists and posed for photographs in Western clothing, as they toured from the US to Europe to Russia. These indigenous groups, as part of Barnum’s troupe, were also allowed by Barnum to visit fairs and dime museums in the USA. These were known for providing “edutainment”, referring to moral education and entertainment for the working class.

Typical dime museum advert, 1902 (stwalley / Flickr)

Walter Palm Island, a descendant of Tambo speaking to BuzzFeed News, noted of Tambo and the troupe “It was very degrading the things he (Tambo) had to do. I look at those old people in those photos and look at the expressions and I see the suffering. I can see the sadness in their face because of being away from country and being overseas in a foreign land and feeling out of place,”

Virtual Prisoners

There is evidence that some freedom and money were granted to these Aboriginal people after the performance season had ended. However, the tribal people were heavily reliant on Cunningham for shelter, medical care and food. The medical care provided was often insufficient and led to most of the troupe dying of pneumonia, as they failed to acclimatize to the cold conditions of the northern hemisphere. The first person to succumb to pneumonia in the troupe was Tambo.

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The sources suggest that Tambo died just a year after he left his home. However, the injustice and atrocities these men and women were subjected to did not stop with their deaths. Cunningham and Barnum intended the dead body of Tambo to be placed permanently on display for the general public. And hence, before his relatives could complete any traditional rituals, his body was embalmed and displayed in a dime museum.

Cultural Theft and a Legacy of Shame

As Poignant notes, “He was subjected to a final, terrible indignity. His embalmed body was placed on show in Drew’s Dime Museum, and it remained on display there and elsewhere in Cleveland until well into the 20th century.”

After laying forgotten in the basement of a funeral home until 1993, his dead body was finally rediscovered and repatriated to Palm Island where his relatives were finally able to perform their customary funerary rituals, 110 years after Tambo breathed his last breath.

These “Freak Shows” gradually passed out of public favor in the first half of the 20th century with the rise in popularity of cinema, and an increase in international tourism after the Second World War. With the passage of more than half a century the truth of such exhibitions has faded from current public awareness, and there is a risk that the gross exploitation of such attractions might be whitewashed with the kind of entertainment offered by modern Hollywood blockbusters. This does disservice to the brutal mistreatment, suffering and abuse of indigenous peoples around the globe at the hands of exploitative entrepreneurs such as P T Barnum, “The Greatest Showman”.

Top Image: Human ‘strongman’ in a circus cage. Source: Pavel Losevsky / Adobe Stock

By Prisha

Nonsuch Palace was a royal palace built during the Tudor period by Henry VIII in Surrey, just south of London. It was built in 1538 and stood until the late 17th century. Today what little remains of it can be found in Nonsuch Park between the towns of Epsom and Ewell.

But in the design and the location it can be seen that this great building was a break from the norm. Unlike earlier castles this was not built for war, being located far from a reliable water supply and set out to emphasize luxury and fine living. This was a palace, not a fortress.

And a very expensive palace, at that. All in all, Nonsuch cost around £24,000 in the 16th century which is the equivalent to £10 million today. In its design and layout it is considered a key part of the introduction of the Renaissance ideas to England.

But almost nothing remains, whereas other contemporary buildings have lasted almost unchanged to this day. What happened to Nonsuch, Henry VIII’s great palace?

A Monumental Undertaking

Nonsuch palace was one of the most grand and expensive building projects of Henry VIII’s reign. It was built on the site of Cuddington which is near Ewell. The site was prepared by destroying the church and village, although the villagers were compensated.

Work began on the 22nd of April 1538, which was the first day of Henry’s thirtieth regnal year. It was also six months after the birth of Edward his first son, so it would seem Henry was in a cheerful mood.

In the written record, Nonsuch appears in the building accounts by June of that year, and by all accounts it was a magnificent place, with documents regularly boasting that there was no palace that was its equal anywhere in the world. Construction continued throughout the 1530s and well into the 1540s.

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Due to the size of the project, vast amounts of land were purchased, and several major roads were re-routed and bypassed to the palace. The area later became Nonsuch Great Park, Henry’s prized hunting ground.

What Happened to the Palace?

However it seems that the palace was too grand a design to be realized for Henry. Despite the amount of money that it cost; the palace was still incomplete when the king died in 1547. It was sold in 1556 by his daughter Mary I.

Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel was the man who bought it and who later completed it, but it was no longer a royal palace and records are less clear. It was certainly finished by the time that Elizabeth I and the Dutch Republic signed the Treaty of Nonsuch in 1585, and was clearly an impressive building.

By the 1590s, the palace was back under royal ownership as Anne of Denmark, who would later become consort of King James I, inherited it. However, the park area was not released from royal control until 1605, two years after the death of Elizabeth I.

It seems Anne did not care for the estate, rarely visiting it. James I first appointed Viscount Lumley as the keeper of the palace and the park area surrounding it. In 1606, he was succeeded by the Earl of Worcester who renamed the lodge there Worcester House. James I and the later Charles I were known to have visited to enjoy the racing and hunting the estate afforded.

The Nonsuch estate was confiscated in the 17th century, however, when Parliament won the English Civil War. It was let out to Parliamentarian supporters. First was Algernon Sidney, a commissioner at the trial of Charles I, and then Colonel Robert Lilburne, a respected general within the army.

It was finally sold to Major-General John Lambert who was regarded as one of the most talented generals in the parliamentary army before being passed to Thomas Pride who was a key player in the trial and beheading of Charles I in 1649. He held it until his eventual death in 1658.

The Palace of Nonsuch was given back to royal hands after 1660 when the monarchy was reinstated. It was given to Queen Henrietta Maria. There is a written account from 1666 from John Evelyn who visited and talked about the various decorations, emblems, and reliefs that decorate the palace but, ominously, these notes also commented on how the palace had started to deteriorate.

The palace remained in royal hands until 1670 when Charles II gave it to his mistress Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine. Sadly, this was the death knell for the palace: Barbara had nonsuch summarily demolished and sold off to pay for her gambling debts.

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Some of the materials and elements were incorporated into other buildings. The wood paneling is located and still can be seen today at the Great Hall in Losely Park. Sadly, there is no trace of the original building left today.

The British Museum holds some pieces that can be seen, and you can still see the land on which the old church used to be before it was demolished. It seems that Nonsuch was too large and too expensive to maintain for anyone apart from royalty, and so for the price of a few debts it was lost forever.

Archaeological Evidence

Today, there are only three contemporary images of the palace that can still be seen. They do not, however, reveal much about the layout or the details of how the structure was organized or built.

Following the digging of trenches on the estate during WWII, there were reports of pottery being found in the area where the palace stood. The layout is also still visible from the air which can provide additional evidence of what it may have looked like.

In 1959=60 the grounds were extensively excavated, and much was learned about the palace. The dig revealed that the palace had inner and outer courtyards with fortified gatehouses. The outer courtyards were relatively plain whilst the inner courtyards revealed decorative stucco panels that were molded in high relief.

It was fortified in a medieval style to the north but had ornate and lavish decorations in the south representing a more Renaissance style. The excavations were one of the first post-medieval sites to be investigated and helped to develop post-medieval archaeology.

One of the most impressive aspects of the palace was the gardens. There is a contemporary account of them that exists in John Speed’s Map of Surrey from 1610. It shows how the gardens were designed and the spectacular ornaments that decorated them, including large fountains and pyramid obelisks.

This type of lavish spending was a mainstay of Henry VIII’s reign. The real tragedy lies, however, that it no longer stands in its full glory to be seen in completion today.

Top Image: Queen Elizabeth I comes to visit Nonsuch Palace. Source: British Museum / Public Domain.

By Kurt Readman

Irish mythology can be deeply frustrating. On the one hand, we know comparatively little about the people and their beliefs: we have no Romans to document who they were, and what other evidence we have is scarce. On the other hand, what does survive hints of a mythos both rich and unusual.

They were originally said to have come from the sea or underneath the earth. Later rumors claimed that they were sea raiders and giants. The Fomori are the great rivals of Ireland’s first settlers and of the Tuatha De Danann, the other mythical race in Irish mythology.

Despite this, the two races are recorded as having offspring with each other. The Tuath De Danann would eventually manage to defeat the Fomorians in the Battle of Mag Tuired.

This mythical saga following the Fomori bears many similarities to other Indo-European myths of war. Examples include the Norse mythological war of the Aesir and Vanir and the Olympians and Titans in Greek Mythology.

Some researchers claim that the Fomorians were supernatural people who represented the destructive power of nature and the wild. They were the personification of all of the dangers such as chaos, death, blight, drought, and darkness.

Origins

In order to trace the history of the Fomori name, one must go back through the Old and Middle Irish lexicon. They are typically referred to as the Fomoire or the Fomoiri when referred to as a plural.

Sometimes, the term for a singular would be a Fomoir. Additionally, and most commonly in Middle Irish, they are referred to as Fomoraig in the plural and a Fomorach in the singular. In the Lebor Bretnach (Irish Nennius) written in the 11th century, the Fomori are Latinized and referred to as Muiridi.

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There has been much debate around the etymology of the name. The first part of the name is mostly agreed upon by scholars. In Old Irish “fo”, can be translated to the under, below, lower, and beneath.

Unfortunately, the next part of the word becomes more difficult to translate. One suggestion is that “mur” in the Old Irish can be translated to sea. Thus, the term for the Formori is undersea people. The origin of this etymology is what is agreed by some of the medieval writers.

A further development came later which claimed that “mor” meant great/big and thus their name would be the great under(world) ones or the Underworld Giants. A modern theory, followed by scholars, is that the name comes from a hypothetical old Irish term for a phantom or a demon.

This comes from the Morrigan, an old Irish mythological figure, and the antiquated English word mare (as in nightmare). This would fit, translating the name again as something like the underworld demons or phantoms.

The very first stories of the Fomori do indeed regard them as malevolent spirits that lived underwater and in the nether regions of the earth. One of the earliest mentions of the Fomori, dating from the 7th century from an elegy for Mess-Telmann, they are said to live under the world of men. Later on, they were described as sea raiders which was likely influenced by the real-life Viking raids on Ireland that dominated in the 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries.

Usually, the Fomori are described as monstrous looking. In some stories, the Fomori have the body of a man with the head of a goat. This is how they were described in the Lebor na hUidre (the Book of the Dun Cow).

Other times they are described as only having one eye, one arm, and one leg. However, those Fomorians are usually the ones with the Tuath De. These are Elatha and his son Bres. Interestingly, these people were described as darkly beautiful.

The Fomorians are usually depicted as the enemies of the Tuath De as they are completely contrasting characters. As well as this, the Fomori are the rivals of Ireland’s first settlers. However, many sources say that there was an overlap between the Fomorians and Tuath De. Interestingly they are both presided over by the figure of Tetra.

The conflict that raged between the Fomorians and the Tuath De bears an incredible resemblance to other mythological conflicts. As mentioned previously, the similarity in the stories can be seen in the Vanir and the Aesir, the Olympians and the Titans but also in the Ancient Hinduism Vedic mythology between the Devas and Asuras. It has been posited that the Tuath De learning agricultural skills and knowledge is similar to the other cultures where the defeated races are representative of the fertility of the soil.

Myths

One of the most prevalent myths surrounding the Fomorians comes from the myth of Partholon in which he and his people are the first to invade Ireland after a flood. However, the Fomorians were already there.

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They had arrived two hundred years earlier and lived off fish and fowl. This was until Partholon arrived with the plow and oxen. Partholon managed to defeat the Fomorians, but his people soon were killed by a plague.

The next people to arrive were Nemed and his people. Supposedly they arrived 30 years after the death of Patholon’s people. Nemed also encountered the Fomorians when they arrived.

However, in this myth, the Fomorians were seafarers from the Middle East who descended from Noah. Nemed proved to be successful in fighting the Fomorians but when Nemed died, the Fomorian Kings of Conand and Morc enslaved his people, demanding heavy tributes of grain, cattle, and children.

A huge battle followed an uprising from the remaining people of Nemed which cost both sides dearly. The war was only stopped by a flood that drowned many people.

One of the final battles that the Fomori would face was against the Tuatha De. The Tuatha De were supposed to be the gods of the Goidellic Irish people. The Tuatha De defeated the Fomorians and claimed possession of Ireland after the battle of Mag Tuired.

However, the Fomorians were not completely defeated. One of the earliest Tuath De kings was claimed to be the half-Fomorian Bres, and it was this that finally brought peace between the two supernatural peoples.

By Kurt Readman

Some of the most intriguing archaeological discoveries are the so-called “out of place artifacts”. These strange finds, as unexpected as they are inexplicable, are highly valued for what they might be able to tell us about our history.

Such is the case with the Antikythera Mechanism, which reveals a level of Ancient Greek navigational and computational sophistication few suspected. Similarly the Maine Penny, once dismissed as a fake is now seen as tentative proof of Vikings in North America centuries before Columbus.

They are highly controversial for the same reason. Artifacts such as the Baghdad Battery or the London Hammer are often dismissed as modern misunderstandings, if not outright fakes.

And then there are the artifacts on which we can only theorize. Such is the Tamil Bell.

A Cooking Pot, No Less

The Tamil Bell was discovered in the 1830s by Cornish missionary William Colenso, who had travelled to New Zealand. The bell was discovered near Whangarei, where it was being used by Maori women to boil potatoes.

The bell was made of bronze and had been broken at some point, which is probably why it was discarded and pressed into service as a coking pot. But what was most intriguing about the bell was the inscription which ran around the outside.

The inscription read “Mukaiyyatīṉ vakkucu uṭaiya kappal uṭaiya maṇi” which would have been as baffling to the Maori as to you or me. For the inscription was in Old Tamil, a language that had no place in 19th century New Zealand.

Nor was this an antiquated throwback, similar to Latin inscriptions on churches and government buildings. Some of the characters used in the inscription were not used in current Tamil script, and it appeared that the bell may have been centuries old at the time of its discovery.

Of course the bell being even older only exacerbated the conundrum of its discovery. Happily, there was a clue to go on.

The inscription translates to “Mohoyiden Buks ship’s bell” and this seems to have solved part of the problem, at least. A maritime expedition was something of which the Tamils were entirely capable.

It is also possible that the Tamils had made it as far as New Zealand, which would suggest contact between the two peoples far earlier than had previously thought. It is this which makes out-of-place artifacts so valued, as they can often correct our understanding of history in this way.

Of course, it could as easily have been dropped off of discarded by a Portuguese trader who had visited both the Tamils and the Maori. Or it could have come from a shipwreck, although this requires a mounting stack of coincidences and stretches credulity.

The Tamil Bell today sits in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Its origin remains a mystery, and we have only these theories to go on.

Top Image: The Tamil Bell and its inscription. Source: John Turnbull Thomson / Public Domain.

By Joseph Green

In the year 1967 an Italian immigrant (L.R.) was living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He lived in a little room on 92nd Street, rented from a Ukrainian family. The room, about 3 m (10 feet) by 3 m (10 feet) was beneath the roof, with a window looking towards the north-east.

A Light in the Sky

November 4th, 1967 was a cold Saturday, but the weather was otherwise quite good. It was about 11.30 pm when L.R. came back home after spending the evening with some Italian friends living in 95th Street.

Once back in his sparsely furnished room, he started to prepare a cup of coffee before going to bed. He placed the machine on the gas ring and, waiting for the coffee to come through, was smoking a cigarette, looking out of his window.

He could see the sky and part of the Saskatchewan River, at that moment iced-up, running alongside the Riverside Municipal Golf Course about 1,500 m (0.9 miles) away.

After a few minutes of contemplation of the landscape, suddenly, L.R. spotted a brilliant light in the dark sky. It was moving, coming from the east and headed fast towards the north, perpendicular to his point of observation.

At first, he thought it was a plane, because the airport was not far away. But its path and its behavior did not seem like that of a plane, and it was this that had attracted his attention.

As he watched, the brilliant dot started to descend, coming lower to the ground. Then it stopped, hanging in midair, and L.R could see now that it was rounded and globular in shape. It started to emit an intense pulsating reddish light, about double the size of a car’s headlight.

A Visitor to the Golf Course

Suddenly the light went off, and the object was no longer visible. But in the position where the object should have been, a bright blue ring appeared, approaching the ground and becoming bigger and bigger until it, too, disappeared.

These rings appeared three times, before the object itself reappeared with its reddish pulsating light. It remained there for about 10 minutes. By now it was about 11.45 pm, and another small light detached itself from the main object, moving rapidly and approaching the ground in an oblique path.

At this point L.R. switched off the light in his room and turned off the gas ring. Then, full of fear and curiosity, he took his place again at the window.

The little object was still high in the sky when he returned, appearing to be some 500 m (1,640 feet) up. It started to slow down, until it almost stopped, but continued to head towards the ground.

L.R. could see it clearly by now. It was round, truncated at both poles, and was silver in color. It rotated slowly on itself and emitted a buzzing sound like an electric transformer, emanating a soft violet light.

Then suddenly the little object moved again, flying over the Saskatchewan river and landing on the grass of the Riverside Municipal Golf Course almost a mile away. There, the light of the object went out.

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It remained extinguished for about 5 minutes. Then, the little object lit up again and took off, returning towards the main object which had remained unmoving throughout.

When the little object reached the main object, it disappeared, swallowed by the main object. The red light became more brilliant and pulsating as the larger object accelerated, moving slowly at first and then faster as it disappeared towards the north.

Physical Evidence

The day after, Sunday November 5th, L.R. woke up early and looked in the newspaper for some news about the phenomenon. He didn’t find any news, so he decided to investigate the place he had seen the little object land: the Municipal Golf Course.

After about half an hour of searching he found, on the grass, the traces of the landing he had seen: a ring of squashed grass, some 5 m (16 feet) wide. At a distance of about two meters (6.5 feet) from the ring’s edge he also found holes in the ground, of about 10cm (4 inches) in diameter.

Satisfied he had not imagined that entire thing, L.R. was leaving the spot when a twinkling on the ground attracted his attention, and he saw a piece of metal peeping out among the blades of grass. When he stopped to examine it, he found It was a square plate of a material like copper.

The size of the plate was 17.3 cm (6.8 inches) wide by 12.5 cm (4.9 inches) high. The plate was very fragile, only about 1 mm (0.04 inches) thick, little more than foil. And it was covered with strange characters and writing.

He took the plate home with him.

In the days that followed he looked again for a story in the newspapers, but still didn’t find anything. Unsure as to the best course of action, at last he decided not to declare the phenomena to the police. He was an immigrant in a foreign country and didn’t wish to have problems with his passport. Besides, would anyone have believed his story?

So, he kept the plate in his little garret room. And, six years later when he was able to come back to Italy, he brought the plate with him.

Further Investigation

I think it was approximately 1976 or 1977 when I read this story, in the Italian magazine “Il Giornale dei Misteri.” The black and white photo of the plate published beside the article was what first attracted my attention, and my curiosity.

I had to see it, I wanted to see the plate in color. At that time I was living in Rome and after some telephone calls to the magazine I obtained the telephone numbers of L.R. who was living in Southern Italy, near Naples.

Thus, I got in telephone contact with him. He confirmed the story and told me he was not interested in analyzing the plate, in spite of my insistence. It was just like a lucky mascot for him, stored in his strongbox, and all this interest about his story was starting to disturb him.

Moreover, he didn’t have much interest in UFOs and related matters. So, after this conversation, I proposed to send a friend of mine, living closer to his town, with the task of taking a photo of this strange plate, nothing more. He agreed, and I sent my friend to see him.

Since this I have had no further contact with him, but I have been working in my free time to try to understand this puzzling plate. As far as I know, no other researchers have ever studied or done research on this strange object.

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And during these years no magazine or newspaper has ever written a single additional word about this story, except me. I have published information on this event a couple of times, hoping to spark some curiosity in some scholar, but always without success.

A Search for Explanations

I can offer a few straightforward explanations for what L.R. observed and found:

It seems clear that L.R. saw some kind of UFO, which dispatched a smaller lander to touch down on the golf course. I think that the piece of metal could have been left there intentionally by the smaller object, or its occupants.

Alternatively, the piece of metal could have been there before the alleged landing. Or possibly the UFO occupants wanted someone to witness the phenomenon, and investigate the spot.

In fact, without the sighting, the piece of metal would likely not have stirred up any curiosity, and surely ended in the rubbish sack of the Riverside Municipal Golf Course gardeners.

And yes, I thought the plate and the story could be a fake. But I still think L.R. was sincere, and he was hardly in a position to create a story like this, engraved copper evidence and all.

I have tried to contact some semiologists via the internet, with no great success. Only one took the time to reply in detail, telling me that the symbols embossed on the plaque appeared to be a mix of ancient symbols in different languages, including the Celtic alphabet Ogham.

Furthermore, to investigate further one should distinguish consonants from vowels, list the various symbols and calculate the number of times the same symbol appears, and start to work out patterns in the text. Not really suitable work for a curious old girl like me.

Of course, the semiologist wasn’t interested in studying the plate directly.

A Postscript: the Loss of the Plate

About 15 years ago I again contacted L.R. by phone to know if he had any news, or had maybe changed his mind about analyzing the plate. He told me sadly he didn’t have the plate anymore, and proceeded to relate a crazy story.

He was sitting in the car getting ready to go to work when he heard a “pop” at the car window. He realized that there had been a gunshot and scrambled out of the car, hiding and calling the police.

The Carabinieri arrive and, having verified the shot, they take his car away for checks and analysis. He was a bit apprehensive about this because for some time he had been carrying the metal plate in his work bag, as a good luck charm alongside his office papers. And the bag was propped on the passenger seat.

After about a week, the Carabinieri returned the car to him. But the bag was not there. And he, after much reflection, preferred not to ask for it.

It is not my intention to convince anyone what UFOs are, if alien life forms exist or are visiting Earth. I know well this is a controversial matter for most. I am just offering this story in an attempt to provide unbiased information for research purposes, or for those just interested in the subject.

But while the original of the plate may be lost, the pictures remain. Maybe, just maybe the answers to this riddle lie in what is written on the copper. Can you crack the code of the Edmonton UFO?

Top Image: The copper plate. While the original is lost, a translation may be possible. Source: Daniela Giordano.

by Daniela Giordano

The story of the Donner Party is one of struggle, family ties, survival, and tragedy. While the story is partly that of an amazing journey, it is remembered for a gruesome detail, one that disgusts at the same time that it fascinates. It is said that through one of the most extreme tales of survival in American history, the Donner Party had to resort to extreme measures to survive, though many did not survive. It is said that they ate their dead.

Donner Party Map

Before the month of their departure was even out, the Donner Party lost its first pioneer. An older woman died of natural causes and was buried along the way. Another four would die before the grisliest part of the Donner Party tale. The going was not easy for this wagon train. Even without later events, one could say that this group did not have luck on their side.

Traveling through the wilderness with livestock, people and goods was not exactly a walk in the park in the mid-nineteenth century. However, it was done with great success and the westward push went down in history. The Donner Party had it even harder due to a mistake. George Donner took the party through the Great Salt Lake Basin, thanks to advice from “The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California” by Lansford Hastings. Hastings Cutoff was the name of the shortcut. Hastings himself had never taken a wagon through the area and probably should not have suggested that such groups go that route. Doing so was ill-advised. They went off the main route in southwestern Wyoming. They then went through Utah and part of Nevada on the cutoff. It took them through the desert and added at least one month to their trip thanks to wagons sinking in the sand, water shortages, etc.

By the time the Donner Party had made it through the cutoff, they had lost numerous cattle to Native American theft and killing. They had used up many of their supplies. The men were also tired from hacking their way through the rough terrain of the cutoff. Everyone was on edge. There was fighting, alleged theft, accusations, and one elderly man was even left by the side of the trail to die. This was the situation before the worst of their troubles began.

Because of their perils, the Donner Party was in the Sierra Nevada Mountains when they should have already been in California. They knew that snow would come, but believed they had roughly three weeks until the pass was impossible to navigate. They were wrong. Because they had split up along the journey for numerous reasons, 60 pioneers set up at Truckee Lake (Donner Lake) in three cabins that were already located there, while the Donners set up at Alder Creek in tents. They would be unable to leave for several months. The snow kept coming until it was more than 20 feet deep.

Over the months from November to about April, when the entire party and then just those who had yet to be rescued remained, one of the saddest stories to come out of the westward expansion unfolded. First, they ate what little livestock remained. They traveled between the two camps when possible and there was some sharing, but there was very little to share. There was some hunting when possible, but it is almost certain that they had to resort to eating rodents and family pets before long. It is natural to shudder at the thought, but considering that these people were boiling leather and softening bones to eat, it is understandable. They were cold, starving, and trapped.

During their ordeal, a group of men and women went out on snowshoes they fabricated from their supplies. They were going to try to get help and bring it back to the camps. Unfortunately, the “Forlorn Hope,” as they came to be known, wound up worse off for their trouble. The detachment of 15 pioneers became lost. Only seven lived and the story has it that they lived by eating their dead. There were no murders.

Stories from rescuers and allegedly some Donner Party members later stated that there was pretty rampant cannibalism near the end of their stay in the prison of snow. Nearly half of the Donner Party died from malnutrition, infection and other ailments. Of those people, about 21 of them are thought to have been eaten, though none of the eaten were murdered.

Evidence for Donner Party cannibalism includes the abovementioned witness and a journal entry by Patrick Breen dated February 26, 1847. In this entry, Patrick mentions that Mrs. Murphy was talking about eating the dead, but that he did not think she had done it. He also mentioned that the Donners were talking about eating their dead and that he assumed they had done so by the time of his writing. This, and the testimony of rescuers that they had seen severed body parts when they reached the Donner Party, are the best evidence for cannibalism we have.

There is some evidence to the contrary of cannibalism. A group of anthropologists studied the bones found in the cooking fire of the campsite at the creek and found no human bones. Many take this to mean that there was no cannibalism. However, it is important to remember that the Alder Creek Camp was only one portion of the Donner Party. There were the temporary camps of the “Forlorn Hope” party and the three cabins on the lake. There is also the fact that the human bones may not have been cooked in the hearth the way the animal bones were cooked.

From a perspective of documentation, the Donner Party was forced to cannibalize some of their deceased family and friends. There is no concrete evidence to support this, but there is the fact that they were starving. Patrick Breen had no reason to make up stories about people thinking about eating other people in his situation. He did not state it happened outright, but they were there for several more weeks after that entry. The party had to eat something or die. It seems highly likely that some of them went for the only food source that was left, as so often happens in survival situations where there is no food.

Sources

Trails to Utah and the Pacific: Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869, retrieved 4/14/12, loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/trails/thinking5.html
No Evidence For Donner Party Cannibalism, Anthropologists Say, Science20, retrieved 4/14/12.

Archaeologists recently made a highly significant discovery in Egypt. In a find some are describing as the most significant since the Tomb of Tutankhamen, a lost “Golden City” of Egypt has been found, with the potential to change our understanding of Egyptian history forever.

The city has been hidden underneath the sands of Luxor’s western bank in the south of Egypt. This city dates to the rule of King Amenhotep III, from around 1391 to 1353 BC, according to the lead archaeologist, Zahi Hawass.

Amenhotep was the 9th king of the 18th dynasty, ruling over a peaceful, prosperous and wealthy land. His reign, free from war, saw the construction of many huge public buildings and temples.

A Chance Discovery

The Lost Golden City was not the prime discovery that the archaeologists had intended to make. Hawass and his other team members had initially visited the area in September 2020, in the hopes of finding a mortuary temple. But, instead of the expected religious buildings, a whole city began to emerge.

The city was well organized, with an administrative area consisting of several large buildings with 10 foot (3 meter) brick walls, separate from that of the residential district. Further discoveries revealed a workshop area, where amulets, mud bricks, and other goods were made. The archaeologists also found other mercantile buildings, including a bakery.

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But the focus of the workshops was the construction and adornment of the huge temples, potentially including those in the large burial area was also discovered around the city outskirts. Much of this latter area, including the skeletal occupants of the graves, is still to be excavated.

But it is with the areas used by the living inhabitants of this city that there is the most potential. This discovery has the potential to give us a glimpse into how ancient Egyptians lived their lives, during a peaceful and wealthy time for Egypt.

The excavation began in September 2020, but the work is not yet over. Only the southern part of the newly-discovered city has been excavated or explored to date, with even the full extent of the city being unclear.

Treasures Beneath the Sands

Archaeologists had initially theorized that the site might have held a mortuary structure, where the subjects of Tutankhamun would have placed funerary items and food that they offered to him after he died in 1325 BC. But instead they discovered the zigzagging mudbrick walls and artifacts of a living city.

The structures around the city contained everyday items, including items used by artists, alongside more industrial finds. Evidence from the homes found around the city suggested that they housed workers. Everything pointed to this being the Pharaoh’s capital city.

Evidence of glass and metal production was found, as well as a cemetery filled with rock tombs. Apart from human skeletons, unusually skeletons of cows or bulls have also been found within the city walls. Researchers are investigating why these livestock animals were found in this way.

But the crowning achievement of this archaeological expedition must be the discovery of 22 mummies, all royal, and with no fewer than 18 kings. These mummies included those of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye, his wife, and are on display in the New National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

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Some of the buildings bore the name of Amenhotep III’s son, Akhenaten. A controversial Pharaoh, Akhenaten abandoned the old Egyptian pantheon in favor of worshipping a single sun god. Akhenaten also abandoned many of the existing religious sites in Egypt, including apparently this newly-discovered city.

Abandoned and Forgotten

The researchers note that ancient Egypt’s loss is modern archaeology’s gain, as the decision to abandon the site has led to its preservation over the millennia. While Akhenaten’s new religion did not survive long beyond his death, his son Tutankhamun seemed to prefer not to return to The Rise Of Aten, instead building a new capital at Memphis.

Tutankhamun, and his Vizier Ay who succeeded him, seem to have continued to make some use of the site, but it was never the focus of Royal patronage as it was before Akhenaten’s sudden religious reforms. Analysis of the four settlement layers at the site suggests it was inhabited as late as the 7th century AD, before being abandoned to the sands altogether.

Not since the discovery of the nearby Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 has such a significant discovery been made. Hawass named this city “The Golden City” because it was built during the golden age of Egypt, and in the hopes of the archaeological treasures which might be found there.

Amenhotep III may well have been the wealthiest Pharaoh of all time, and this city was built during this peaceful period in Egypt’s history. Many answers, including how these people lived, and why the grandson of Amenhotep chose not to return, may await discovery.

Top Image: Amenhotep III and his sun temple at Luxor. Source: Inigolaitxu / Adobe Stock; Ángel M. Felicísimo / CC BY 2.0.

By Bipin Dimri