This is a rather small point, but I think it gets at the heart of Alan Butler’s naïve vision of ancient history. On America Unearthed this weekend he had Scott Wolter pour a pint of beer into a box whose sides are each one-tenth of an alleged Megalithic Yard. He did not explain why a unit of measurement in this system would be based on a tenth since the Megalithic Yard was allegedly a base-6 system, with an irregular division into 40 Megalithic Inches to the yard.
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I am frankly at something of a loss to determine how best to introduce tonight’s episode of America Unearthed. It immediately recalls the Dan Brown novel The Lost Symbol (2009), which also featured Freemasons, hidden symbolism in Washington, DC, and the suggestion of suppressed religious truths. Normally, I have a list of historical background material that places the episode’s claims in context, but this is somewhat hard to do in this case since the claims on offer tonight emerge largely from the historical fantasia concocted by Alan Butler and his longtime writing partner, Christopher Knight, and not all that long ago. The fullest account is Butler’s own, in City of the Goddess: Freemasons, the Sacred Feminine, and the Secret beneath the Seat of Power in Washington, DC (Watkins, 1999). Oh, and both of tonight’s protagonists—Alan Butler and Scott Wolter—have, directly or indirectly, threatened me with legal action.*
In his many and vitriolic comments in response to my interview with him yesterday, Harry Hubbard (alias Horatio Rybnikar—and “alias” is his own term) made an interesting assertion about the literary evidence for pre-Columbian voyages by ancient Mediterranean peoples to America. I think it’s worth devoting a few paragraphs to this assertion, which I will discuss from the text of an online article Hubbard directed me and other readers to review for his “evidence.”
Harry Hubbard appeared on America Unearthed on December 28 (S02E05) to discuss the Illinois Caves, alleged final resting place of Alexander the Great, Cleopatra VII, and various and sundry lesser Macedonian dynastic royalty. Among these was Cleopatra’s son by Mark Antony, Alexander Helios, from whom Hubbard’s company, Alexander Helios, Inc., takes its name.
Hubbard agreed to answer some questions by email, and I agreed to run his responses in their entirety, which turned out to be much longer than anticipated, as he provided a lengthy excerpt from one of his publications. I gathered the questions from my own curiosity and many of the excellent questions readers proposed earlier this week. Thanks to everyone for several excellent questions, and thanks to Hubbard for taking the time to answer them. Today I’d like to direct your attention to the Ancient Aliens Debunked blog where Frank Johnson has a long and detailed article dismantling David Childress’s many and varied claims for the global cultures he thinks influenced the Olmec (hint: everyone except for any Native Americans), centering on his assertion that the Olmec stone heads represent African people. Johnson memorably declares Childress’s cut-and-paste methodology “Spaghetti Diffusionism,” because it throws everything at the wall to see what sticks. It’s a great read and well worth the time to check out in full.
Before we begin today, Harry Hubbard of Alexander Helios contacted me to dispute reports that he used to be an ancient astronaut theorist. Hubbard says that such reports, published by Richard D. Flavin, are incorrect and that Flavin is attempting to libel him. Hubbard said worse, but I have removed references to UFOs from my discussion of him in my review of America Unearthed S02E05 in keeping with his assertion that this material is wrong. Here is the non-libelous portion of Hubbard’s message that I am able to print:
This morning I read Esquire’s fascinating piece on Eben Alexander III, the neurosurgeon who claimed to have visited heaven while in what his attending physician described as a medically-induced coma that Alexander would late claimed was caused by the bacterial infection the coma was used to treat. The magazine found a disturbing pattern of Alexander fudging facts and altering details, extending to several malpractice suits, which he settled out of court.
I have three topics today. Two are short, and one is my review of The Curse of Oak Island.
First, if you subscribe to my email newsletter, you’ve already seen this link to an interview I did with Matt Staggs over at RandomHouse’s suvudu.com about Cthulhu in World Mythology. Be sure to check it out! After many, many delays, Atomic Overmind has scheduled the release of the eBook for the beginning of February and the print book at the end of February. Welcome to my review of America Unearthed S02E06 “The Lost Tribe of Menehune,” or, what Scott Wolter did on his totally not staged for the camera summer vacation. Before we get started, a little background on the Menehune is probably a good idea. I admit this was a myth with which I wasn’t previously familiar.
It’s a bit self-serving of me to plug the discussion that occurred yesterday and this morning on the AnandTech forum since it makes reference to my blog, but all the same, it’s a funny read in which a bunch of commenters gang up on America Unearthed for being self-important, speculative, and wrong and try to determine whether it’s worth hate-watching. I got a chuckle from one poster describing America Unearthed as “the bastard offspring of Ancient Aliens and Dan ‘My Face is My Ass’ Brown.”
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AuthorI am an author and researcher focusing on pop culture, science, and history. Bylines: New Republic, Esquire, Slate, etc. There's more about me in the About Jason tab. Newsletters
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