Charles Berlitz's "Mysteries of Forgotten Worlds": An Uncanny Echo of Graham Hancock Decades Earlier5/17/2018 It’s been a very long time since I opened one of Charles Berlitz’s books. His musty old paperbacks were neither the most famous nor the most extreme of the imitators of Chariots of the Gods to hit bookstores in the 1970s, and his fantasies about the Bermuda Triangle and Atlantis have long overshadowed some of his less important books. But yesterday I had to open his Mysteries from Forgotten Worlds in order to check references that David Childress had made to it, and I was rather surprised to see that Berlitz’s book is a fairly straightforward precursor to Graham Hancock’s Fingerprints of the Gods and Magicians of the Gods. Both books propose that an advanced civilization existed prior to the last Ice Age, that it produced inexplicable architectural wonders, that it was associated with Atlantis, that it was remembered in myths including those of white civilizing gods, and that it was destroyed by a massive natural disaster. Let’s start by stipulating that there were a lot of very similar books in the 1970s, and also let’s stipulate that many of the similarities are due to both men drawing on the same set of source texts—Charles Hapgood’s Maps of the Ancient Sea-Kings, Ignatius Donnelly’s Atlantis and Ragnarok, the latter being the first to make that same set of claims. We ought also to mention that Hancock has cited Berlitz from time to time, and therefore must be familiar with his work. They also share a love of repeating uncritically long-debunked claims. Berlitz, for example, describes the so-called “Elephant Mound” of Wisconsin, claimed in the mid-1800s to represent a mammoth, and recognized by the late 1800s to actually be a bear. Eighty years later Berlitz wrote “In the United States, the shape of an elephant or mammoth can be clearly discerned in the Elephant Mound of Wisconsin, when considered from above…” while Hancock referred to the same Victorian preoccupation with Native American “elephants” in his Fingerprints of the Gods. It is the way that specific material that repeats in both books fascinates me, just in terms of seeing the same themes repeated at a four decade remove. Compare Berlitz’s formulation in Mysteries to Hancock’s in Fingerprints of the Gods, written almost 25 years later: “A somewhat iconoclastic question increasingly confronts the investigator of ancient history: is it possible that there were other civilizations in the long history of Man that we know nothing of, or of which we hear only vague echoes, often confused with cultures that are more or less familiar to us?” “Not for the first time I felt myself confronted by the dizzying possibility that an entire episode in the story of mankind might have been forgotten. […] What is prehistory, after all, if not a time forgotten--a time for which we have no records? What is prehistory if not an epoch of impenetrable obscurity through which our ancestors passed but about which we have no conscious remembrance?” The only real difference is one characteristic of its era. The earlier writer spoke in the third person, pretending to be an objective observer. The more recent writer spoke in the first person, a subjective advocate. The sentiment, if not the ego, is the same. Berlitz was also an advocate of the idea Hancock currently pushes that ancient monuments were intentionally crafted by the lost civilization as a warning about natural disasters. “It is almost as if someone who was here before had left messages for us in the shape of certain key monuments and buildings which would help other races advanced enough to read them, for guidance and sometimes for a warning.” Berlitz, like Hancock, took his inspiration from the Victorians who imagined that the Great Pyramid contained various secret codes, but it is interesting to see how they both built that into a remarkably similar set of claims. Berlitz, though, was less effective a writer than Hancock. Where Hancock hides his debt to Donnelly beneath a mountain of spurious citations to modern sources, Berlitz literally copied whole pages out of Donnelly’s Atlantis and presented them all but verbatim. But there is one place where Berlitz was more creative than Hancock. Hancock has happily endorsed one specific type of cataclysm to destroy his lost civilization—first a “pole shift” in Fingerprints, following Charles Hapgood, who copied ultimately from Brasseur de Bourbourg, and then a comet, following Donnelly, who echoed writers going back to Edmund Halley. But Berlitz won’t agree to just one disaster. He argues for a disaster but throws every possible explanation at the wall, including all of the above, something to do with magnets and volcanoes, and a few more besides. And, unable to commit even to that, he throws in nuclear weapons to boot. Hancock explains away all the material with reference to a comet, which Both men, however, have a fascinating similarity when it comes to hating mainstream academics. We all know of Hancock’s complaint that academia won’t accept his recycled Victorian views. But here is Berlitz doing the same exact thing with a laundry list of topics that overlap Hancock’s own interests to a remarkable degree: In the purely scientific approach of today, legends, unexplained evidences of ancient knowledge, historical anachronisms, inexplicable artifacts and existing ruins, coincidences in unrelated languages, past geological catastrophes, the world-wide spread and periodic destruction of animal life, the backward extension of the age of man, and finally ESP and race memory, the existence of Atlantis or other sunken lands, is not going to be accorded general acceptance by the scientific disciplines. The problem is not only related to rewriting textbooks but also concerns the insularity of outlook shared by many who like to consider the history of man and the world in well-ordered predictable patterns—which it never is. Oddly enough, both men end on the same note. Hancock concludes that we must study history in order to understand how to prepare for disaster and avoid the mistakes that ended the pre-Ice Age civilization, and Berlitz gives the same spiel: “But, besides the fascination of history, its undiscovered mysteries, its splendid vistas and its still largely unexplored epochs that seem to extend ever farther back in time, the study of vanished civilizations and the reasons for their disappearance has a negative value as well as a positive one, teaching us what not to do—so that we may ourselves survive.” Hancock, however, is closer to Berlitz in Fingerprints than in Magicians. In the latter, he adds a spiritual dimension, casting the catastrophe in terms of the emergence of a new and perfect global consciousness.
Berlitiz’s Mysteries from Forgotten Worlds is shorter than any of Hancock’s books, and it is instructive to see the way that tastes in the fringe market have changed over time. Berlitz throws spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, pretends to be an objective observer, and generally stands at a distance from his subject. Hancock advocates for one specific fringe view, adopts the pose of the Great Man adventurer, and generally identifies himself and his personality with his subject matter—except, of course, when called out on it, at which point he is just “reporting” others’ views. Berlitz omits direct reference to most sources, and Hancock scrupulously apes the appearance of history books with hundreds of worthless footnotes to secondary sources. Most importantly, Berlitz and the writers of his generation tend to talk in generalities and offer vague conjectures based on few facts, but Hancock and the modern writers emulate science much more closely, with charts, graphs, and equations and a laundry-list of half-understood scientific material in the hopes of cloaking their speculation in the garb of science.
47 Comments
Hal
5/17/2018 09:15:45 am
Little ego trying to get Hancock to notice him for validation. Please mention me because that will make me important.
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Jwk
5/17/2018 10:00:13 am
Hal is correct but getting Hancock’s attention will sell Jason’s new book. It’ll claim that every person before him was racist.
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5/17/2018 10:42:09 am
What exactly do you think I need Hancock's attention for? He's no longer the bestselling author he once was and wouldn't do anything for my sales. And he wrote about me in his last book, anyway.
Hal
5/17/2018 04:13:52 pm
Jason: Hey everyone, HANCOCK once mentioned me! Look at me!
An Anonymous Nerd
5/17/2018 06:09:24 pm
Hal: Actually by definition it'd be Hancock who called attention to Jason. Jason I believe was horrified to see himself mentioned but I, for one, would view it as a positive. It means that Jason is making waves where waves need to be made.
An Over-Educated Grunt
5/17/2018 11:36:46 am
"Hancock explains away... which" is a dead end sentence.
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ALTRIGHT
5/17/2018 11:37:56 am
Cannot understand why Atlantis could not have existed?
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An Over-Educated Grunt
5/17/2018 12:23:56 pm
If it was beyond the Pillars of Hercules, there are no land masses or seamounts that match its description in Plato in reasonable distance for the use of the technology described in Plato, therefore it cannot have existed as described in that location.
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Americanegro
5/17/2018 03:00:09 pm
It's a story about a story about someone telling someone a story about someone telling someone a story about a story.
Hal
5/17/2018 04:17:50 pm
Americanegro, AKA Goober. His inane gibberish translates to “Judy, Judy, Judy.”
Pops
5/17/2018 04:51:13 pm
Atlantis doesn’t exist for all the reasons An Over-Educated Grunt has said. Also, did you even read the article? I doubt you care about evidence and scholarship though. Let’s be honest, you want it to be true so that you can claim it was a White utopia or some other bullshit like that. I’m just wondering from where you came from. You always comment early or in almost every post here. You must be Hal, Henry, William, or all of them. This is why Jason has had to make more detailed posts about the Alt-Right and the historical fringe movement. The crossover of both and other fringe groups is obvious. If I know the Alt-Right and their anti- intellectualism and immaturity, you’re probably just throw insults of a racial, sexist, homophobic, or political in nature instead of offering supposed “proof” of your fringe beliefs. It’s a good thing Jason let’s anyone comment, even complete morons.
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An Anonymous Nerd
5/17/2018 06:20:34 pm
Answering your question.
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Altright
5/18/2018 12:01:57 pm
I find the mainstream rather “fringe” and your argumentation why Atlantis could not have existed rather weak.
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Altright
5/18/2018 12:07:43 pm
To this will add that recent survey found out that 61% of humans believe in alien life. In this light who is “fringe”?
An Anonymous Nerd
5/18/2018 09:42:44 pm
Regarding Atlantis: Which aspects do you find unconvincing? I've pointed out a few obvious truths, including that the evidence put forth for such a thing is better-explained by something else. Further the Atlantis of Hancock's and others' fantasies is a massive claim that, by definition, would require massive proof, which isn't there even under the best of conditions.
ALTRIGHT
5/20/2018 08:55:06 am
Yes, right. Ropes and pulleys is a great explanation to the construction of pyramids. Personally it makes me laugh. Or how exactly almost every major culture in the world has legends of a culture bringers? Who were they?
Machala
5/17/2018 12:07:42 pm
History repeats itself ....and fringe writers ( like the faux historians, they are ) repeat each other.
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Jwk
5/17/2018 04:23:43 pm
Here is an early review of Jason’s new book. All Indian ancestors came from Asia and built all the mounds. Everyone who did not Agee with this fact was racist and everyone who disagrees with it now is racist.
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Pops
5/17/2018 05:11:03 pm
JWK, It’s undeniable that your belief that the ancestors of Native Americans were not of Asian origin is based off pseudo- historical works by Europeans from the 1500s and beyond that was racially charged at least to a extent. It’s also undeniable that in the last few years, many followers of fringe history are also Alt-Right, Far-Right, etc. adherents as well. Heck, there’s a fringe history believing commenter here that calls him/herself “altright”! You’re being dishonest if you are ignoring the elephant in the room which is the presence of Alt-Rightists in the fringe history realm.
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V
5/17/2018 07:42:17 pm
More or less true, given that the DNA and all other science indicates that Native Americans' ancestors migrated here from Asia, and that local Native Americans built the mounds--and the only things that indicate otherwise are pseudoscience, save for the routinely known Viking-era settlement in Newfoundland and a second possible settlement that is still being explored and cataloged. Denying a people their history is a racist act, so when you try to claim that no, really, THOSE people didn't do this, either you present real, solid evidence, or you're being racist.
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Joe Scales
5/18/2018 10:52:48 am
Racism isn't simply an idea that if you believe it to be wrong, you're free of it. No, for me it's how you live. How truly diverse your life is. Quite frankly, for most it's just empty words.
Dunior
5/17/2018 08:12:13 pm
Graham Hancock's wife is African. So I think there are some alternative historians who are not racist at least consciously. But I get what you are saying about that aspect of the alt right.
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Huh? What?
5/17/2018 10:27:40 pm
Piet Sjonderbooger is African too, but let's all get together and call "the alt right" racist! It feels good!
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Meme map wanted!
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David Bradbury
5/18/2018 08:22:05 am
"I know everything what is known at the moment."
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David Bradbury .... I know it really since I simply read all the literature available at the moment. If you can tell me another author about Plato's Atlantis of which I do not know yet in the years 360 BC -- 1800 AD, I will be the happiest person! Surely there are some, as I already said above, but they are not known to the public, for sure.
David Bradbury
5/18/2018 03:40:50 pm
Before we take this any further, I need to ask if you ever watched "Blackadder the Third" ...
David Bradbury
5/19/2018 06:07:50 am
Fair enough. However, I reserve the right, at some point in the future, to implement my cunning plan.
Doc Rock
5/18/2018 10:56:20 am
An interesting commentary on fringe perspectives toward academics.
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Altright
5/18/2018 12:06:20 pm
To this I will add that recent survey found out that 61% of humans believe in alien life. In this light who is “fringe”?
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Doc Rock
5/18/2018 12:36:49 pm
Well, I BELIEVE that there is probably some sort of life out there somewhere. But I don't KNOW, can't really support that belief, and would feel foolish advocating for it.
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Doc Rock
5/18/2018 12:41:18 pm
I should add that I am referring to people being educated in terms of being informed on a given topic. One doesn't need a Ph.D. from Harvard to do some background reading and determine how weak fringe claims are when subjected to any solid scrutiny.
Altright
5/18/2018 01:08:47 pm
Has it not crossed your mind that some people have actually studied the topic of aliens and find evidence compelling enough so it is more than just a belief?
Doc Rock
5/18/2018 01:18:51 pm
Well, when they come up with compelling evidence that aliens built the pyramids, or transported the tomb of Alexander the Great to a cave in Podunk Illinois, or built all the stuff in Peru that most folks attribute to the Inca or pre-Inca you be sure and pass it along to folks here.
Altright
5/18/2018 01:28:20 pm
If you want to debunk some “circumstantial evidence” please explain how hundreds if not thousands of people describe being abducted by aliens. The subject has also been scienifically studied at Harvard by John E. Mack.
Altright
5/18/2018 01:38:24 pm
Or debunk former president of Russia Medvedev in all seriousness saying that there are aliens living among us and that he would not tell the number because it could cause panic.
An Over-Educated Grunt
5/18/2018 01:54:29 pm
Assertion isn't proof. It's not even evidence.
Doc Rock
5/18/2018 01:52:17 pm
Well, I don't trust American presidents most of the time when it comes to mundane matters, so sure as hell don't find claims by a Russian president about aliens to be compelling evidence.
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Altright
5/18/2018 02:01:11 pm
Please debunk how different people describe their abduction experiences in the same way to remarkable detail. I also do not trust presidents when they have an agenda. In this case Medvedev had nothing to gain but ridicule.
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Doc Rock
5/18/2018 02:23:42 pm
Here is some recent published research on the topic of belief in alien abduction that was done in reaction to Mack's research on the topic. Also conducted by Harvard faculty. A lot of additional work on the topic has been published by Clancy. Lot's of relevant references in the bibliography.
Doc Rock
5/18/2018 02:28:55 pm
Also important to note that an investigation of Mack's work resulted in him being censured because of significant errors in his research, although it was ultimately made clear that he had the academic freedom to pursue his research in the area.
Alright
5/18/2018 02:42:11 pm
Dude, have you even read any of John Mack’s books?
Doc Rock
5/18/2018 03:12:24 pm
No, but have taken a look at some summaries of it. However, I did read some popular books and articles about alien abduction and have seen many of the same abduction themed movies and television shows that alleged abductees had seen prior to participating in his research. Kind of hints at an explanation for so many similarities in claimed abduction experiences.
Alt Write
5/18/2018 05:59:40 pm
I suggest you study up on "old hag syndrome." Are we to believe the millions of people who experience the old hag are seeing a real actual old hag sitting on their chest and talking to them? I guess it must be true because so many people describe it in the exact same manner.
An Anonymous Nerd
5/18/2018 09:47:20 pm
That's actually been done before. Basically it's shared human conceptions of what such beings (call them demons or aliens or monsters or out-worlders or what have you) should look like, magnified by popular culture. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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