Sunday, August 28, 2011

Portals and Corners and Car crashes... oh my!

I grew up in a big house on a street with a curve that has rendered many careless drivers at the whim of gravity. I've seen motorcycles hit the wall; their riders bleeding in the road. I've witnessed people jumping the wall to avoid being crushed between rock and steel. For as long as my family has been here (almost 50 years), there's been a car crash to highlight each year.

You are probably wondering what is so unusual about cars hitting a wall on a road with a pronounced curve to it. There wouldn't be much of a story to it at all if not for the same account from each and every person that's ever hit that wall: " It's like I got to the front of the wall and I lost control. I don't know what happened."

I used to think it was one of those bullshit excuses people have because they don't want to admit they were doing something other than watching the road, but that wall has always had a very sinister past. For starters, half of it belongs to  a church and as you walked passed it you can't help but notice the white Mary (mother of god/virgin saint) Statue. What you may also notice is that some say it's Mary while others say it's Saint Matthew. How and why Matthew looks like a chick is beyond me. But I digress.

This is the very same wall I would have nightmares about, growing up in that house. The nightmare was always the same... playing itself over and over with no resolution. My father would meet up with an old friend at the corner of that wall. Maybe he was taking me to the corner store. I don't know. Dreams are funny like that. But the same thing always happened: A middle-aged woman would appear from nowhere, wearing a muumuu and seeming to have a pleasant conversation with my father. As they talked I noticed the tail curving up and out from behind this womans dress.

Same thing every time. The wall. The woman. And her tail. Her tail with the diamond on the end, like the devils.

My aunt has an old photograph of her teenage self standing by that wall. I recently posted it on facebook for feedback. A few people noticed sinister energy in the wall. Anything from faces peering back odd light formations. Personally,  I don't see much in that photograph. I guess it depends on the eyes.

A few weeks back another car (almost) hit the wall. Two young women were heading home. It had been raining earlier that day but the roads were dry. The sky was clear. My family was sitting on the porch when we heard that familiar screeching and the inevitable halt that followed. The story was the same. Once she got to that wall she felt as if the steering wheel had a mind of its own.

Is it the way the street is laid out that forces some vehicles to go out of control? Is it the curve of the wall and errant stupidity/drunkiness that is to blame? Or is it the fact that my house and the church next door are built on old land? The same old land that prompted my grandfather to dig his way to an ancient well that gave him such a bad vibe he covered it up and told my uncles to never dig in that particular spot again.

All I know is it's been years since I've dreamed about the lady and her tail and if I ever happen to stumble upon an old woman in a muumuu standing at that particular corner in the near/distant future... I'm climbing the churchyard fence and heading the other way. It's always been a quicker route anyway...

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Discovery:Channeled

Ashley and Kinga rock on.


I've been hooked to the adventures of Historian Ashley Cowie on Syfy's LEGEND QUEST, not so much because the guy knows his stuff, but mostly because when Cowie hits a dead end I start to wonder. I wonder how come someone really powerful hasn't taken Cowie's clues and taken the next step?

If Moses staff is in the wall of that old church, why hasn't someone tried to retrieve it? If that is the Excalibur, sitting on a shelf in a museum for so long, why isn't anyone studying it more thoroughly? The Spear of Destiny at Area 51? Attention Ufologists! (It was actually noted that Cowie and Producer Kinga Philipps did not film at Area 51. They never would have gotten that close to the gate anyway.)

And now it seems that Mr. Cowie may have stumbled upon the Stone of Scone itself. I waited patiently till the end of the show to hear Cowie say that the stone was retrieved and being returned to its rightful place to be studied for further proof that it is, in fact, the coronation stone. Instead, the stone will take YEARS to study. Really? And by whom? Worst of all, the media hasn't even covered the discovery.

At least not yet. The episode did just air tonight, so it may take a bit, but I guess I am just curious as to how Cowie can stumble upon new leads and stories tied to ancient mysteries we've all read about thousands of times and never heard anything new about?

How many times can you hear about Hitler and the Spear of Destiny? But hearing that the Spear may be at Area 51? Epic. The Staff of Moses as a conduit of water power, used by a tribe that was gifted in just that--- finding water. I mean, this stuff you can't make up and yet Cowie hands it to you as if it's common knowledge.

To say the show excites the inner, wanna-be Archaeologist in me is an understatement. If LEGEND QUEST does anything it inspires all the arm chair enthusiasts to find new sources of info instead of rehashing the same old propaganda. Best of all, Cowie is joined by Kinga Philipps who always keeps his head above water so he doesn't dig himself too deep into the mystery... so deep that he can't see what lies ahead.

The mysteries of the ancient world have been spun into complicated legends that lend themselves to unbelievable heights of suspension in belief, and yet Cowie reminds us that sometimes the answer is right in front of your face. And why wouldn't they be?

Many of these legends happened on this planet and were spun and woven in the very threads of our existence. To think our forefathers/mothers wouldn't leave us clues in which to navigate these stories and to be able to pick the truth from the malarky is absurd thinking.

Many of the legends Cowie encounters have to do with relics that were hidden because their power was too much to be trusted in the hands of ordinary or lesser men. But that doesn't mean someone worthy couldn't just uncover them and continue the destiny or prophecy. Eventually all mysteries are solved.

My only hope is that Ashley Cowie goes above and beyond, to search for the final resting place of Queen Boudicca, El Dorado or hey, even Atlantis. Whatever he does I will be watching because finally there's an adventure show on television that actually finds shit. And even when it doesn't it leaves the flood gates open to inquiry so someone else can continue the journey.