Secret HistoryS


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Disappearing witnesses: Over 100 murders, suicides and mysterious deaths - the strange fate of those who saw Kennedy shot

Penn Jones, Jr.
The Rebel Magazine
Thu, 19 Jan 1984 06:34 UTC
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Everyone remembers Oswald being eliminated , but he was just the first of over 100 people who were taken out to maintain the cover-up of the high-level conspiracy behind JFK's assassination
Shortly after dark on Sunday night November 24, 1963, after Ruby had killed Lee Harvey Oswald, a meeting took place in Jack Ruby's apartment in Oak Cliff, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Five persons were present. George Senator and Attorney Tom Howard were present and having a drink in the apartment when two newsmen arrived. The newsmen were Bill Hunter of the Long Beach California Press Telegram, and Jim Koethe of the Dallas Times Herald. Attorney C.A. Droby of Dallas arranged the meeting for the two newsmen. Jim Martin, a close friend of George Senator's, was also present at the apartment meeting.

This writer asked Martin if he thought it was unusual for Senator to forget the meeting while testifying in Washington on April 22, 1964, since Bill Hunter, who was a newsman present at the meeting, was shot to death that very night. Martin grinned and said: "Oh, you're looking for a conspiracy."

I nodded yes and he grinned and said, "You will never find it."

I asked soberly, "Never find it, or not there?"

He added soberly, "Not there."

Bill Hunter, a native of Dallas and an award winning newsman in Long Beach, was on duty and reading a book in the police station called "Public Safety Building." Two policemen going off duty came into the press room, and one policeman shot Hunter through the heart at a range officially ruled to be "no more than three feet." The policeman said he dropped his gun, and it fired as he picked it up, but the angle of the bullet caused him to change his story. He finally said he was playing a game of quick draw with his fellow officer. The other officer testified he had his back turned when the shooting took place.
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The mysterious sunken ruins of Nan Madol

Lorraine Boissoneault
The Weather Channel
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:06 UTC
Nan Madol
© Wikimedia/CT SnowNan Madol is the only known ancient city ever built on top of a coral reef. Construction is thought to have started 1,500 years ago and the Saudeleur people built 92 islands in the water next to Pohnpei, which is today part of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Off the shores of a tiny island in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean are the ruins of an ancient civilization. The remains of Nan Madol are the only standing monument of a civilization built entirely over open water, on a coral reef.

The eerie abandoned stone structures are said to have inspired science-fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft to create a similar sunken city that was home to the monster Cthulhu, says Atlas Obscura.

In reality, Nan Madol was once home to the Saudeleur, who ruled the island of Pohnpei for more than a millennium, reported Smithsonian Magazine. The 92 artificial islands of Nan Madol are thought to have been constructed over the course of several centuries, and then eventually abandoned after 1,000 years of habitation.

Rufino Mauricio, Pohnpei's only archaeologist, has dedicated his life to studying and preserving the ruins, which are built of 750,000 tons of black basaltic rock.
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Archaeologists find more than 600 ancient seals and amulets in Turkey


RedOrbit
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 12:38 UTC
Ancient Seals
© Forschungsstelle Asia Minor Selection of seals found during the excavations in 2013.
Classical scholars from the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" made an unusually large find of seals in an ancient sanctuary in Turkey. They discovered more than 600 stamp seals and cylinder seals at the sacred site of the storm and weather god Jupiter Dolichenus, 100 of which in the current year alone. "Such large amounts of seal consecrations are unheard-of in any comparable sanctuary", said excavation director Prof. Dr. Engelbert Winter and archaeologist Dr. Michael Blömer at the end of the excavation season. In this respect, the finding of numerous pieces from the 7th to the 4th centuries B.C. close to the ancient city of Doliche is unparalleled.

"The amazingly large number proves how important seals and amulets were for the worshipping of the god to whom they were consecrated as votive offerings", according to Classical scholar Prof. Winter. Many pieces show scenes of adoration. "Thus, they provide a surprisingly vivid and detailed insight into the faith of the time." The stamp seals and cylinder seals as well as scarabs, made of glass, stone and quartz ceramics, were mostly crafted in a high-quality manner. Following the restoration work, the finds were handed over to the relevant museum in Gaziantep in Turkey.

Different themes can be found on the seals and amulets: the spectrum ranges from geometric ornaments and astral symbols to elaborate depictions of animals and people. This includes, for example, praying men in front of divine symbols. Another popular theme was a royal hero fighting animals and hybrid creatures. "Even those images that do not depict a deity express strong personal piety: with their seals, people consecrated an object to their god which was closely associated with their own identity", said Blömer. People wore the amulets found with the seals in everyday life. "Strung on chains, they were supposed to fend off bad luck", explained the archaeologist.
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Sherlock

Holy bones and Saxon coffin discovered in wall niche during Lincoln Castle dig


Culture24.org.uk
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 08:42 UTC
The bones of a holy figure, still wearing shoes and initially wrapped in a finely-woven textile, have been found buried within a wall beneath Lincoln Castle in a discovery pointing to the remains of a church dating to "at least" 1,000 years ago, according to experts.
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© © Lincolnshire County CouncilThe remains inside the sarcophagus found beneath Lincoln Castle
Archaeologists believe the remains of several skeletons found during the dig at the castle, which was built by William the Conqueror more than 900 years ago, date to a stone church created between the departure of the Romans and the arrival of the conquering Normans.

At least one of the remnants, found in a tiny space three metres below ground level, is a stone coffin, with the sacred bones found in a niche embedded in the foundations of an early stone wall on the opposite side of the site.

"Our knowledge of the site between the end of Roman period and when the castle was built is very scant," admits Beryl Lott, the historic environment manager for Lincolnshire County Council, calling the excavation "very exciting".

Additional images
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Sherlock

'Gate to Hell' guardians recovered in Turkey - unique marble statues warned of a deadly cave

Rossella Lorenzi
Source
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 07:53 UTC
Archaeologists digging in Turkey have found the guardians of the "Gate to Hell" -- two unique marble statues which once warned of a deadly cave in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, near Pamukkale.

Known as Pluto's Gate -- Ploutonion in Greek, Plutonium in Latin -- the cave was celebrated as the portal to the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology and tradition. It was discovered in March by a team led by Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento.
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© Francesco D'AndriaOne statue depicts a snake rolled onto itself, a clear symbol of the underworld. The other shows Kerberos, or Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of Hell in Greek mythology. The 4-foot-tall marble statue resembles the Kangal, the Anatolian shepherd dog.
"The statues represent two mythological creatures," D'Andria told Discovery News. "One depicts a snake, a clear symbol of the underworld, the other shows Kerberos, or Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of hell in the Greek mythology."

Rolled onto itself, the snake looks threateningly toward anybody trying to approach it, while the 4-foot-tall Kerberos resembles the Kangal, the Anatolian shepherd dog.

"It's a pretty scary statue," D'Andria said.

Additional images
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4th Century Roman amphitheater discovered in Croatia


Croatia Week
Thu, 14 Nov 2013 14:09 UTC
Archaeologists in the Croatian city of Split have found the remains of an ancient amphitheater right in the city centre, believed to be from the beginning of the fourth century...

Amphitheater
© Croatia WeekIllustration.
"According to the latest research findings, which are still in progress, it was discovered that this is not a theater but an amphitheater with an arena in the range of 50 meters. Because of this discovery, we will not stop life in the city, but we will preserve the site and fill it in temporarily until we prepare its presentation.

It's not simple. It is very complex, but also possible, but for that we will need additional funds. In speaking with city officials it has been agreed to access EU funds. We will create a valuable project that will at the very heart of Split and show the monument in all of its exceptional quality, " said the head of the Conservation DepartmentRadoslav Bužančić at a press conference held to announce the discovery.
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Sherlock

Scientists uncover ancient philosophical writings hidden beneath a medieval text


Medievalists.net
Tue, 12 Nov 2013 22:24 UTC
ancient manuscript
A group of scientists and historians have made an incredible discovery relating to some writings made on parchments that were produced in medieval times. Using cutting-edge technology, the researchers found that the parchment had once contained ancient philosophical writings that had later been washed off and over-written. Using multispectral imaging, scientists have been able to recover the original text, shedding new light on the history of philosophical education in the late antiquity.

The uppermost layer of text dates to the thirteenth century and comprises the Prophetic Books of the Greek Old Testament. However, through an amazing stroke of luck, it was discovered that beneath this text there had originally been some writing by the well-known ancient Greek writer, Euripides, and an unknown ancient commentary on Aristotle, which dated back to the fifth century.

Euripides (480 - 406 BC) was one of the great tragedians of classical Athens and is known to have written at least ninety-two plays, although only 18 or 19 have survived in a complete form and his work became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education. Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama down to modern times, especially in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. His contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism. However, while Socrates was eventually put on trial and executed as a corrupting influence, Euripides chose a voluntary exile in old age, apparently dying in Macedonia.
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Genetics in the Caribbean show marks of Atlantic slave trade

Francie Diep
PopSci
Fri, 15 Nov 2013 12:57 UTC
Beach on Margarita Island, Venezuela
© Enano275/Wikimedia Commons Beach on Margarita Island, Venezuela.
A new study examines how indigenous South Americans, Africans and Europeans all left a little bit of themselves in the Caribbean basin.

The Caribbean's complex history has given the area more than diverse languages and delicious food. The indigenous South Americans, Europeans and Africans that came to live in the area, willingly or unwillingly, left their mark in other ways, too.

We previously learned that one gene for skin color in South Asian people can show how populations moved around the Indian subcontinent. Now, a different team of researchers is reporting on how the movement of populations through the Caribbean basin left behind genetic signatures among the people who live there today.

Just as with India, many of these movements are already known from historical records and archaeological discoveries. Nevertheless, it's cool to see that even people who did not necessarily get to write their own histories still left legacies for geneticists to find.
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MIB

Flashback Best of the Web: JFK's final warning to the American people: If the U.S. ever experiences a coup d'état, it will come from the CIA

Arthur Krock
New York Times
Wed, 02 Oct 1963 04:14 UTC
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All smiles for the cameras, but behind the scenes... JFK with CIA Director Allen Dulles. Right, CIA Deputy Director Charles Cabell. Both were fired by Kennedy. Cabell's brother was Mayor of Dallas, Texas at the time of the assassination.

Comment: This New York Times op-ed was originally titled 'The Intra-Administration War in Vietnam', and was written by a well-known journalist whom Kennedy relied on to 'speak through' in his efforts to counter the massive propaganda efforts of the corporate media to portray him as a 'communist', 'anti-business', 'anti-American', a 'traitor', ad nauseum.


Washington, Oct. 2 - The Central Intelligence Agency is getting a very bad press in dispatches from Vietnam to American newspapers and in articles originating in Washington. Like the Supreme Court when under fire, the C.I.A. cannot defend itself in public retorts to criticisms of its activities as they occur. But, unlike the the Supreme Court, the C.I.A. has no open record of its activities on which the public can base a judgment of the validity of the criticisms. Also, the agency is precluded from using the indirect defensive tactic which is constantly employed by all other Government units under critical file.

This tactic is to give information to the press, under a seal of confidence, that challenges or refutes the critics. But the C.I.A. cannot father such inspired articles, because to do so would require some disclosure of its activities. And not only does the effectiveness of the agency depend on the secrecy of its operations. Every President since the C.I.A. was created has protected this secrecy from claimants - Congress or the public through the press, for examples - of the right to share any part of it.
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Ambulance

Data visualisation helped solve 19th century cholera spread

Richard Corbridge
The Business Value Exchange
Thu, 03 Oct 2013 00:01 UTC
John Snow and data visualisation
© UnknownJohn Snow
At the Clinical Research Network we are moving towards our own "AppCentre" that will facilitate new and exciting insights from our data. It seems a timely moment to reflect on the beginnings of data visualisation and business intelligence and to remember the famous, first "case study".

In the mid-19th century, the Soho district of London had a serious problem with filth due to the large influx of people and a lack of proper sanitary services: the London sewer system had not reached Soho. The London government decided to dump the waste into the River Thames and this action contaminated the water supply, leading to a cholera outbreak.

On 31 August 1854, a major outbreak of cholera struck Soho. Over the next three days 127 people on or near Broad Street died. In the next week, three quarters of the residents had fled the area. By 10 September, 500 people had died and the mortality rate was 12.8% in some parts of the district.
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