Tales
of the Underground
During the summer of 1998, cave explorers using scientific
equipment were able to confirm that a linked cave system some
15 miles in length exists underground in North Wales. Several
years ago a researcher by the name of Frank D. Adams wrote on
the results of his personal scientific experiments which may
prove that giant cavities exist in granite at depths of more
than 11 miles, conclusions which have also been supported by
Louis V. King, a mathematician who calculated that, at normal
temperatures, a cavity would exist at a depth of between 17.2
and 20.9 miles. The authors' findings are also supported by
the discovery of "16 Rouse Belts" which give planes
of fracture penetrating the globe.
Something of an extreme claim to some, perhaps, was that of
Dr. Ron Anjard in an article in the Summer, 1978 issue of Pursuit
Magazine, in which he claimed personal knowledge of 44 underground
cities beneath the surface of North America, six of which are
supposedly located on the West Coast. His information allegedly
comes from anonymous American Indian sources. When we relate
this to the large number of migration legends (to and from cavern
realms) which exist among the native Amerindians, then we may
conclude that certain tribes possibly still retain intimate
knowledge of underground civilizations related to them via distant
ancestral links. Some of the elders of these different tribes,
others have suggested, may in fact maintain present contact
with several of these cavern civilizations. There are a few
indications that some such 'tribes' literally moved underground
as a result of the encroaching Anglosaxon civilization upon
the America's. Similar allegations are made in relation to South
and Central America as well.
Interviews with survivors of a mine explosion in Dec. 26, 1945,
known as the "Belva Mine Disaster", appeared in the
December 1981 - January 1982 issues of newspapers in Pineville,
Kentucky and elsewhere. The interviews revealed that some of
the trapped men saw a "door" in one of the walls open,
and a man dressed like a "lumberjack" emerged from
a well-lighted room. After assuring the men that they would
be rescued, the strange visitor returned to the room and closed
the door. These "lumberjack-like" entities have been
described by miners in other parts of the country and in other
nations as well. There seems to be some confusion as to whether
they are physical or paraphysical entities.
A somewhat similar incident allegedly took place several years
ago near Shipton, Pennsylvania. Of the three victims of this
particular mine disaster, only two were rescued. However both
described a similar para-physical encounter with strange 'men'
who entered the caverns and gave light to the two trapped miners
and told them that they would be rescued. They were uncertain
whether the entities were humans or supernatural beings however,
as much of their collective "hallucination" contained
both physical as well as supernatural elements. The bluish "light"
which illuminated the room, they said, was real, but other holographic-like
visuals that appeared on the walls, when touched by their hands,
either disappeared or revealed solid rock behind.
R. L. Blain-Sanders, in an article titled 'Tunnels and Caverns
Beneath New York City,' which appeared in the Fall, 1981 issue
of Shavertron, described the author's knowledge of a large triangular
system of tunnels utilized by a 'Masonic lodge', deep below
the surface of New York City. Could this have any connection
to the other 'rumors' to the effect that cavernous regions exist
below Manhattan? For instance, in 1962 Con Edison, while drilling
a test hole in the north of East River Park, New York City,
broke through to open space about 200 feet below. Also, there
are the allegations of Morris Doreal that the Church of St.
John the Divine in New York was built over ancient tunnels leading
to a dome-shaped city abandoned by antediluvian 'Atlanteans'
and later, apparently, re-established by post- deluvians. Then
we have the accounts of thousands of people who have literally
and mysteriously disappeared off the face of the earth in and
around New York City.
Raymond Bond, in an article titled 'Subterranean Saucers --
Global Network of UFO Bases', which appeared in Saga's UFO Annual
1980 (Brooklyn, N.Y.), described caves within Mt. Sombrero in
the Tampica area of Mexico, from which sounds resembling those
made by 'hydroelectric generating equipment' can be heard. Also,
inhabitants of the interior of Mt. Kilimanjaro were also described.
Kilimanjaro is one of the highest peaks in Africa.
Bob Borino, in his article, 'UFO Bases Found in Antarctica'
(Globe, Jan. 18, 1983) quotes from certain scientists who believe
that a subterranean UFO Base is located beneath the strange
'Polynya Sea' in the Antarctica's Weddell Sea region.
Malcolm W. Browne, in his article 'Underground Tunnels Threaten
Town in Hungary's Wine Country' (NY Times Nov. 8, 1967, p.2)
tells of over 60 miles of ancient tunnel systems of unknown
origin and purpose which have been discovered beneath the town
of Eger, Hungary, some of which have collapsed. The civilization
which built the tunnels must have been fairly advanced in engineering
and science in order to create such a subterranean system.
Karl Brugger, in his book The Chronicle of Akakor (Boohi Tree
Books., Delacorte Press., N.Y., 230 pp), gives the history--
as given to the author by one of their chiefs--of the Ugha Mongulala
tribesman, whose ancestors were allegedly part of a vast empire
which covered South America in ancient times. Some of these
ancient people, the chief claimed, left the planet in aerial
vessels to explore other parts of the solar system and beyond,
leaving behind vast subterranean cities beneath the Andes mountains
and western Brazil. In 1971, due to the constant encroachment
of white settlers or invaders into their territory, 30,000 survivors
of the Ugha Mongulala allegedly escaped to this ancient system
of underground cities, consisting of 13 separate subterranean
complexes all connected by tunnels, one of which is said to
extend to Lima, and others of which are located throughout the
Andes Mountain range of Peru.
Michael Burke, in his article 'Green Thing Sparks Rumours'
(The Valley News Dispatch, New Kensington, Tarentum and Vandergrift,
PA., Mar. 5, 1981 issue) described a small creature, allegedly
'half humanoid - half dinosaur' which was seen emerging from
a sewer tunnel in New Kensington. A group of children chased
the infant or young dinosauroid creature, one of them momentarily
grabbing it at which point it let out a squealing or screeching
sound, and then slipped from his hands and escaped back into
the sewer tunnel. This incident took place some miles west of
Dixonville, PA., where in 1944 several miners were killed or
turned up missing as a result of encounters with 'alien' creatures
in one particular mineshaft there. Any connection?
Saga Magazine's UFO Annual [980, p4], under the heading 'Cave
Martians', described a bizarre encounter with subterranean creatures
which seemed to have consisted of some type of automaton-like
forms, perhaps on a reconnaissance mission from an underground
civilization. The story involved a tunnel near Xucurus, Argentina(?),
some 90 miles from Buenos Aires. The tunnel was discovered by
agriculturalist Gerardo Cordeire, and found to contain nine
connecting passages and strange inscriptions on the walls. From
it's entrance "men nine feet tall, green, with antennas
on their heads, and square legs" were seen to emerge, and
which, according to hundreds of witnesses from the town and
nearby locals, resembled enormous "portable radios."
Dr. Earlyne Chaney, in an article titled 'Odyssey Into Egypt,
in her occult-oriented magazine Voice of Astara (May, 1982)
tells of a discovery she and researcher Bill Cox was shown in
Egypt. These were two tunnels, neither of which had been fully
explored. One was in the temple of Edfu between Luxor and Cairo
in the ruins of El Tuna Gabel; and the other near Zozer's Step
Pyramid at Cairo near Memphis-Saqqarah, within the tomb of the
Bull, called "Serapium". The Egyptian government sealed
both tunnels because of fears of certain archaeologists who
alleged that they "lead too deeply down into the depths
of the earth," and because they found the earth to be "honeycombed
with passages leading off into other depths," and the possibility
of explorers becoming lost.
If such labyrinths do exist, then it may explain one story
which alleged that men dressed like "ancient Egyptians"
have been seen deep in unexplored tunnels near Cairo, as well
as possible confirmation of the story which appeared in Nevada
Aerial Research's Leading Edge publication to the effect that
the U.S.(?) Government secretly maintains a huge base within
a cavern of tremendous size (several miles in diameter) beneath
the desert sands of Egypt. Could this tie in with the vaque
references to a subterranean society(s) referred to by certain
people 'in the know' which is/are known as the 'Phoenix Empire'
and/or the 'Gizeh People'?
Articles in the Washington Star-News, July 25, 1973 and Aug.
15, 1973, tell of the discovery of an unexplored network of
ancient, artificial tunnels during construction of a parking
lot in Crofton, Maryland. Subsequent construction covered the
tunnel entrances before the system could be completely investigated.
Leon Davidson, in an early issue of Flying Saucers Magazine,
spoke of a large network of "underground tunnels in the
California desert, at Camp Irwin, near Barstow." This may
tie-in with an item related by a Los Angeles municipal water
director, as related in an early issue of Richard Toronto's
Shavertron letter-zine, stating that this water director knew
of 5 large underground rivers which ran beneath the Mojave desert,
and that die-traces showed that at least one of these emptied
into the Pacific ocean through openings in the continental slopes
(One source stated that such a river exited in the Gulf of California).
Other sources speak of a "Kokoweef" river-system
which is alleged to lie below Kokoweef peak just east of Fort
Irwin, which looked- -according to it's alleged discoverer,
a Mr. Earl Dorr, and a few "Indians" who also claimed
to have been in it--like a "Grand Canyon" underground.
It allegedly consists of a river chasm generally 500 ft. wide
and over a thousand feet high-deep, sided by steep tiered-shelved
underground cliffs, huge stalactites and cataracts. Also, the
alluvial sands on the 'beaches' along the river, which allegedly
hold a large percentage of gold dust, are said to be several
feet deep. The entrance to this cavern was allegedly dynamited
shut by Mr. Dorr to protect anyone else from getting to "his"
gold. There is in fact evidence that Dorr did dynamite shut
the lower level of 'Kin Sabe' cave in Kokoweef Peak, and there
are present-day attempts to break through into this underground
system. The water of the river allegedly rose and fell with
the tides, suggesting that a very large body of water might
exist upstream, that is if Dorr's account as well as the accounts
of the Indians were not fabricated).
The municipal water director, according to the Shavertron article,
spoke with a man who claimed that he was hired several years
ago by the government to look for water sources for Ft. Irwin.
He alleged to have explored an old mine in the area and found
that deep down, the shaft intersected with an ancient earth
fault or chasm- like cave which continued horizontally for a
considerable distance. This government employee followed the
chasm and allegedly emerged onto the bank of a huge underground
river-cave over a quarter of a mile wide! The tremendous water
flow-- possibly originating from the waters that apparently
disappear beneath the Great Basin, the Nevada and Mojave deserts?--could
have 'fed' the water needs of all of Southern California.
Paul Doerr (not to be confused with Mr. Dorr referred to above),
in issue number 6 of his Newsletter Unknown, related the tradition
concerning a race of human giants which, according to stories
in the Carolinas islands and especially Papua, allegedly went
underground in ancient times. Once inhabitants of a lost island-continent
called "Chamat," they will, according to legend, one
day emerge. This legend is wide-spread throughout Malaysia,
which incidentally contains the largest "officially recognized"
cavern chamber, the "Sarowak Chamber" on the island
of Borneo in the Malaysian islands. It is said to be 230 ft.
wide by 980 ft. long and nowhere less than 270 ft. high, large
enough to easily hold within itself the two previous contenders
for the world's largest official chamber - Carlsbad's "Big
Room" in New Mexico and the "Salle de la Verna"
in the Pierre Saint- Martin caverns in France. Yankee stadium
could fit in one end of the Sarowak chamber with room to spare!
The same issue of Unknown also reports on the discovery of massive
caverns in Toulumne Co., California, by three Oakland miners.
The caverns were so extensive that a man would have to "take
grub for a week, and plan to explore for a month."
The Book of Dyzan, which has been translated from ancient manuscripts,
tells of intellectually sophisticated humans from an ancient
earth-born society who abandoned the surface of the earth, "depriving
the impure human race of their knowledge," and leaving
in flying craft to rejoin their land "of iron and metal."
Far Out Magazine's April, 1982 issue carried an article titled,
'Bottomless Pit Found on the Ocean's Floor. The article tells
of a huge man-made opening in the ocean floor between Panama
and the Galapagos Islands, which scientists say receives a constant
flow of ocean water which is being sucked through the hole and
into the crust beneath the ocean floor.
During the 1940s Amazing Stories Magazine [science fiction/science
fact] published many accounts of journeys and discoveries by
explorers who claimed to have ventured deep into the inner earth.
Many readers were prompted to write in with details of their
own experiences, and here are two letters -- the first taken
from the October, 1947 issue:
"Sirs:
"Norman Finley, a neighbor of a good friend of mine,
told me about an experience he had which was rather unusual.
He and a couple of other fellows were hunting down in the Big
Bend country. I don't know whether you are familiar with the
Big Bend or not, but there is no more wild or desolate area
in the country. Rugged, mountainous, cut by canyons, there are
innumerable parts of it which have never known the foot of man.
"It was in one of the most desirable areas that Finley
and his companions found themselves. They had driven about ninety
miles southwest of Marathon, Texas, a little town of about 700
people, at the foot of the Del Norte Mountains, 4000 feet high,
and had then gone on afoot. The dirt road just petered out and
they couldn't get their car further. They were hunting deer
but had no luck. Just as they were about to call it a day, Finley
spotted a mountain lion. He snapped a shot at it and knocked
it over. But the lion just rolled over on his feet and started
to leave those parts.
"Finley and the other fellows took after him, since it
was obvious that he was wounded and not making very good time.
They managed to keep him in sight for about a mile and were
sure they had him when he ran into a box canyon. The lion, however,
started up a faint trail up one side of the canyon to a small
cave they could see about a hundred feet from the floor of the
canyon. They followed him up this trail, but when they got to
the cave--there was no lion!
"The cave was one of those dished-out affairs that are
so common in the southwest. Eroded out of the face of a cliff
and cup-shaped. The only access to it was by that trail. But
this cave was a bit queer. It had a sand floor and was just
about big enough to park twenty cars in it. On the cliff edge
was a low stone wall. This in itself was not too unusual, because
such caves have sheltered Indians for thousands of years.
"The thing that did make it unusual was that in the rear
of it was a perfectly round hole. It was obvious that the lion
had ducked into this.
"They approached it rather cautiously and tossed some
stones in it to see if they could stir him up. But there was
no response. They could hear the stones rolling and bouncing
down an incline and the sound just got fainter and fainter until
it died away altogether.
"They then approached the hole and peered down into it.
It was perfectly round--also it was about four or five feet
in diameter. They couldn't see very far down it, but it appeared
to descend rather sharply and at a steady gradient. The fellows
gathered some dry grass from the canyon floor and made some
torches. The incline of the bore was too steep for them to climb
down so they tossed the torches down it. They just slid down
further and further and disappeared into the gloom. They never
did see or hear of the lion again.
"At first they thought they had stumbled onto some old
Spanish mine workings. But there was no sign anywhere of a dump
that always goes with a mine. By all rights there should have
been some sign of the earth and rock that had come out of that
hole--but there wasn't.
"When they inspected the hole itself more closely, they
were amazed at it's symmetry and at the consistency of the section
of the bore as far as they could see down it. The fact that
the bore was perfectly round puzzled them, too. If it was a
mine shaft, it most certainly wouldn't have been round, but
instead would have been flat on the bottom. The fact that the
shaft extended straight and unwavering as a rigid pipe was cause
for further amazement. Since the fellows had no rope with them,
which would have been needed to descend the shaft, as well as
lights, they scratched their heads awhile and then left.
"Finley wanted to go back with equipment and see how
far down the shaft went and what was at the bottom of it. But
ranchers are busy people and he never went back. In the meantime
he got pretty well broken up when a horse threw him and he now
lives in Fort Worth while he has someone else to run the ranch.
We talked rather idly about having a look at his cave someday.
He says he knows exactly where it is and could find that box
canyon with his eyes shut. So far we haven't done anything about
it. But we may either this summer or next when we get time to
go down to Big Bend.
"Finley told me this story about a year before even you
heard of Shaver so you can be sure he wasn't influenced by the
'Shaver Mystery.' In fact, I don't believe he has ever heard
of the 'Shaver Mystery,' even to this day.
"E. Stanton Brown.,
Fort Worth, Texas."
Another letter, dated January 1948, appeared in Amazing Stories
magazine also confirming that strange 'para-speleon' phenomena
exists in the western part of Texas. However the artifacts described
in the following letter seem to involve areas north of Big Bend,
not far from the Guadellupe Mts. and the New Mexico border.
Perhaps this account is a partial confirmation of a subterranean
connection between areas below the Big Bend of Texas and the
Guadellupe range of southern New Mexico - northwestern Texas.
Quoting from the letter:
"Sirs:
"Since I have been an interested reader of Amazing Stories
since my high school days (1929) when A-S was a bigger magazine,
I feel like one of the family when I read the letters in the
discussion pages. The temptation has arisen many times to write
a letter to you concerning some hotly discussed matter, but
something has always prevented me from getting at it. However,
the October Issue pushed me too far, and here goes.
"The mysterious cave Mr. E. Stanton Brown spoke of in
his letter is not exactly news to me. In 1938 a party of six
of my friends and myself spent seven months in that area of
Texas, and upper Mexico. We were testing an electronic instrument
that we had developed, and needed lots of space and some mineral
deposits for the various tests. So, we got rather well acquainted
with the Big Bend country, and the Figure 2 Ranch north of there.
We arrived there in January and camped in the Sierra Blancas,
storing a lot of our equipment at the town of Van Horn.
"By March we had gotten deep into the rugged country
and as I recall, it was about the middle of March we stumbled
onto this cave (or a twin) that Mr. Brown speaks of in his letter.
Everyone was so dumbfounded by it that we spent the better part
of the rest of the month in making a thorough investigation.
We penetrated the shaft to a distance of 870 feet and at about
650 feet found some very finely executed writing on the right
wall at eye level, in what resembles a cuneiform. At 800 feet
one of the party fell over a cloth lying in the dust, and upon
closer examination, it was found to be part of a blue shirt,
of fairly recent manufacture; indicating that someone else had
been this far in recent times. This and an empty pint whisky
bottle dated 1897 was all we located to indicate recent occupation.
Of course in a country where desperadoes such as Black Jack,
Billy the Kid, etc., hid out where they could and the more solitary
the better, such a find was not too surprising.
"At about 780 feet the floor dips more sharply downward
and at near 900 feet progress is very hazardous due to moisture
and increased slant downward. We carried rocks from the opening,
and rolled them from the point where we could no longer walk,
but they simply faded out with a rumble after a few seconds.
We tried rolling flaming yucca stumps to see if, perhaps, we
might determine more about the bore further on, but this proved
to be futile, since the stumps burned poorly at best, probably
due to bad air. It was very stuffy and hot after the first 300
feet from the opening. We held a powwow to try and figure out
how we could go further down, but the only thing would have
been lots of lariat ropes, or a long steel cable, and neither
was available nearer than some 50 miles.
"If Mr. Finley had taken the time to go hunting up in
the Figure 2 Ranch territory he might have run across another,
and to me more interesting, cave than the Big Bend one. About
62 miles (north - Branton) from the town of Van Horn you go
through the salt-flat country, where the Salt Wars of the old
west occurred. Westward, some 8 or 9 miles from the road is
the Apache Canyon country, and as rugged as anywhere on the
face of the globe. In an offshoot of Apache Canyon to the south,
is an almost impassable gash called Hell Canyon. The walls of
this canyon rise precipitously for at least 1000 feet and top
out on Apache Peak on one side and an old Indian ceremonial
ground on the other side. More desolate country would be hard
to imagine. Coyotes and mountain lions are plentiful, and panthers
no novelty. I have seen as many as 34 deer in a herd down below
on the grassy ledge sloping down toward the canyon floor. Of
course, further up toward the box end of the canyon it was much
too rugged for deer, but a few mountain sheep are seen, (it
was) in the wildest part of the canyon that the other cave was
found, in fact we almost fell into it. The high grass about
the opening hid the dished out entrance.
"We were at an elevation of approximately 7000 feet and
going was tough, especially with a pack, and we had stopped
to rest when one of the party remarked that it 'sounded hollow'
when any of us talked. Of course, we all yapped away at the
same time trying to figure if this was so, and sure enough it
was. Further investigation located the hole some six feet to
the left of where we had stopped. It was roughly oval in shape,
some 30 by 18 feet; and bridged in the center the short way
by a natural rock arch heavy enough to support an elephant.
In the center of the arch were 3 deep grooves caused we hazarded,
by rope passing over the arch. We spent several hours in investigating
the surrounding terrain to see if there might be any other entrances
to the cave, but found none. It sloped sharply from the opening
down about 200 feet, and then the bore disappeared, curving
upward. We succeeded in getting down to the first level, by
tying all our ropes together, and subsequently investigated
a lot of it.
"Threading through the soil were long stringers of quartz,
but oddly enough at the same time there were chunks of rock
as big as a piano that were solid masses of seashells. Quite
a lot of pottery both broken and whole, was found. The most
interesting thing was, however, that the farther we went the
colder it got. Also there was a sound of either rushing wind
or water, which got louder the lower we went. We came upon two
human skeletons not over 500 feet from the entrance, but they
must have been very old, as the bones crumbled at the touch.
Everything was covered with a deep dust after passing the bend
and no indication of any living thing having passed there was
ever noted. It was very dark and depressing, and the chill was
very penetrating. When you consider that the outside temperature
was near 100 degrees, you can imagine how we were dressed. We
had three flashlights, one a five cell, and after a while it
was all that was left that would give a decent light. Down at
what we estimated as 1200 feet from the opening we came smack
up against a smooth stone wall. That was it. The end. None of
us would admit it was natural, it was too smooth and perfect,
and look as we would we could not find a single flaw or crack
in it. It was of a marble-like texture and some eight or nine
feet high in the center and around eleven wide. By placing our
ears to the rock surface the roaring on the other side became
much louder, and the rock was quite cold to the touch. There
was natural marble near there, in Marble Canyon, where marble
was once taken out in large quantities, and so the rock was
native rock, I'm sure. Since the remaining light was all we
had except matches, we voted to get back to the opening as soon
as possible, and after a hard struggle upgrade we got back to
daylight and held a conference. We decided to bed down and talk
it over further the next day, as it was getting late.
"However, the next day we were inclined to look foolishly
at each other and claim it was all our imagination thinking
there was anything strange on the other side of the barrier,
and it was just another one of those many caves in the country.
Carlsbad is just 65 miles north of there, and the whole country
is no doubt honeycombed underneath.
"We finished our experiments and left, late in July but
I have never been able to forget the caves, and the odd sounds
on the other side of that barrier. Or for that matter, the barrier
itself, for it was too perfect to be natural, I believe. Or,
maybe I've just read too many 'Amazing Stories,' and am inclined
to wild ideas. As the Mexicans say, 'Quien sabe?'
"Some day I'm going to write you a ding-how Scientifiction
on something-or-other, and then place it and my rejection notice
among my souvenirs. Maybe then I can go on reading Amazing Stories
in peace, without wanting to dash off a dinger.
K. A. Gookin
Carmel,
California."
