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Review of America Unearthed S03E08 "The Plot to Steal America"

12/27/2014

150 Comments

 
After spending the day having Scott Wolter lecture me about why I am a basement-dwelling troll whose arrogance and close-minded bullying have only served to "harden [his] resolve" to oppose me, I'm not feeling particularly excited about spending another hour on one of Wolter's conspiracies. And yet here we are.

Background

This episode of America Unearthed is an adaptation and expansion of chapter 4 of Scott Wolter’s 2013 book Akhenaten to the Founding Fathers, and as such it requires us to accept a great deal of Wolter’s conspiratorial thinking in order to understand the new layers of conspiracy he lays atop the old. Regular readers will remember that Wolter’s original conspiracy and claim to fame revolves around his examination of the Kensington Rune Stone, a nineteenth century carving found in Minnesota that claims to be a medieval text documenting the voyage of “8 Götalanders and 22 Northmen” who traveled west from Vinland in 1362. As most of you know, Wolter believes that the stone is genuinely medieval but rejects the plain reading of the stone’s text. Instead, based on a secret code that only he can see—involving dots punched in the stone—he has “revealed” to his own satisfaction that the stone actually is a land claim marking the Mississippi watershed as the property of the Knights Templar, who had been forcibly disbanded in 1312, following the suppression of the order in 1307.

Ultimately, the only warrant for his claim is a piece of testimony from Jean de Châlons, a Templar brother hauled before Pope Clement V and the papal court at Poitiers in June 1308. Under torture, Jean told the papal investigators that some of the Templars under Brother Gerard de Villiers had “set out to sea with eighteen galleys” the night before authorities raided the Templars in 1307. The trouble is that the word used for “galleys”--gallea—is a borrowing from the Byzantine Greek meaning a small boat with oars, not the ocean-going galleons that the term would refer to only after 1520. The Templars certainly did not row to America. Jean’s testimony is otherwise suspect since he told under torture other obvious untruths, such as his claim to have run a Templar prison where he put to death any Templar who failed to deny Christ. This text, unknown to Wolter, is not a secret. It’s in the Vatican Secret Archives in the Registra Avenionensia (48, f450r) and published (in Latin) in easily accessed books. (By the way: Don’t believe the fictitious version of the text that originated, as best I can tell, on the long-ago Mystae website sometime in the 1990s; it interpolates quite a bit of false text.)

No other text speaks of any Templar flight by sea, or any trans-Atlantic voyages at all. Similarly, there is no record of the Templars writing in runes or pretending be Norsemen.

Scott Wolter presented his Templar-land claim theory to a national TV audience in the History Channel documentary Holy Grail in America, the predecessor to America Unearthed. According to Wolter, shortly after the program aired, a man named Daryl Johnson called to tell him about a boulder located in Pine County, Minnesota, inscribed crudely with the words “Du Luth 1679.” Although most experts who have seen the stone consider the inscription a hoax, even taking it at face value would change nothing about history since Daniel Greysolon, the Sieur du Lhut, is known to have explored the area between 1678 and 1682. (In the book Wolter gives Greysolon’s title as though it were part of his given name.)

However, the Duluth stone uses an English spelling of his name, Du Luth, not found in the explorer’s extant papers, where Greysolon signed his name as “Dulhut.” That said, contemporaries of Greysolon did sometimes spell his title as “Du Luth,” alongside “du Lud,” “du Lude,” “du Lhut,” and “Dulhut.” Don’t even ask about the variations in the spelling of Greysolon. Anyway, the spelling “du Luth” became standard due to its adoption by French Canada and its successor, the Province of Quebec, in whose archives he is so styled. Greysolon’s anglicized name, Duluth, became the moniker for the Minnesota town of that name when in the 1850s George E. Nettleton read of the “Du Luth” version of the name in an English translation of a French Jesuit work about early explorers and found the name fitting. Later, J. Proctor Knott would deliver a famous speech about Duluth satirically claiming the name had a “peculiar and indescribable charm…the name for which my soul had panted for years.”

For Scott Wolter, though, the Duluth Stone is something more. Because it features small indentations that he reads as punch marks akin to those of the Kensington Rune Stone, he sees the two as connected—with the Duluth Stone marking some sort of relationship to the Templars and, of course, to the cult of Mary Magdalene. For Wolter, punch marks are symbols of the sun and an acknowledgement of God, necessarily small and crude because “carving a circle would be time consuming,” so a quick punch stands for the circle of the sun disk in occult writings.

Nowhere in Akhenaten to the Founding Fathers, though, did Wolter suggest that Greysolon was trying to take over a Templar land claim.

All of that said, this investigation into the Duluth Stone also represents something of an evolution of America Unearthed in terms of Total Brand Awareness, intentional or not. Scott Wolter’s famous backpack is provided by Duluth Trading Company, which has also been an advertiser on America Unearthed. By investigating the Duluth Stone, the show effectively integrates the brand’s name as part of the mystery, promoting it much more effectively than earlier episodes promoted personal submarines.

The Episode

Segment 1
We open amidst rocky hills where Scott Wolter is climbing on rocks amidst floating on-screen captions asking if the French were in America on a secret mission to steal America. The opening credits roll, and we’re off to an undisclosed location near Duluth, Minnesota, that Wolter reported on in his book but doesn’t want to reveal here. Wolter gives a potted history of French North America, and as he travels on a motorcycle he tells us that the French didn’t come to America to trap fur but rather to steal other people’s land claims.

Wolter pretends to go hunting for the “recently discovered” Duluth Stone, which he wrote about in 2013 based on observations of the stone he made back in 2009. As I reported above, the stone is crudely carved. Tom Backerud, a local historian and author of the Minnesota Encyclopedia article on Greysolon, joins Wolter—without apparently having any trouble finding the site; he just walks up. Wolter and Backerund give a potted history of Greysolon’s adventures, which took him to the site of modern Duluth in 1679. Wolter chooses to refer to Greysolon (as I am calling him for clarity) as Daniel Duluth, conflating his Christian name and his title.

Wolter tells Backerund that the Duluth Stone is a land claim, and that a rock like this would therefore claim all of the land connected by rivers from the site. Wolter claims that the rock marks a land claim to the rivers flowing north and south of the continental divide running through Duluth. I have no idea why he believes that land claim stones grant ownership to all of the watersheds meeting at a continental divide (which, it ought to be realized, explorers would not have been able to map). The only references I can find to such a claim are in books written by Scott Wolter, specifically The Hooked X.

Wolter tells Backerund that the Kensington Rune Stone is also a land claim made by the Templars. Wolter claims that fifty years after Greysolon, another explorer he misnames as Pierre La Vérendrye, more properly Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye  (Wolter does not understand French titles), found yet a third stone that Wolter interprets as a land claim, and he plans to find this stone.
Segment 2
After an on-screen and verbal recap, Wolter tests the Duluth Stone for age and goes in search of the stone, which is known only from a secondhand 1748 account by the Swedish scientist Pehr Kalm in his Travels to North America:
At last they met with a large stone like a pillar, and in it a smaller stone was fixed, which was covered on both sides with unknown characters. This stone, which was about a foot of French measure in length, and between four and five inches broad, they broke loose, and carried to Canada with them, from whence it was sent to France, to the Secretary of State, Count de Maurepas. What became of it afterwards they know not, but think it is preserved in his collection. Several of the Jesuits who have seen and handled this stone in Canada unanimously affirm, that the letters on it are the same with those which, in the books containing accounts of Tataria, are called Tatarian characters; and on comparing both together they found them perfectly alike. Notwithstanding the questions which the French on the S. Sea expedition asked the people there, concerning the time when and by whom these pillars were erected, what their traditions and sentiments concerning them were, who wrote the characters, what was meant by them, what kind of letters they were, in what language they were written, and other circumstances, they could never get the least explication…
Wolter’s idea is that the so-called Vérendrye Runestone was purposely removed from the future United States to eliminate a Templar land claim. Wolter discusses the history of Vérendrye, and in discussing Vérendrye’s views on lost white races, Wolter reverses his earlier episode on the Mandan’s claims about Welsh Indians and concedes that they were almost certainly not white Europeans. However, he still falsely claims that Thomas Jefferson ordered Lewis and Clark to look for evidence of white colonization, particularly Welsh. No such order survive. Wolter thinks that Vérendrye, in stealing the stone, covered up Welsh colonizations.

Wolter thinks that Vérendrye sent the stone to the French Secretary of State because the Count de Maurepas was masterminding a secret mission. This is quite funny because explorers collected artifacts all the time to decorate the museums and palaces of Europe. The Habsburgs had one of the greatest collections of such artifacts, most of which are still house at the Hofburg.

The image of the so-called “Tartarian language” he implies comes from the stone is no such thing. It’s the runiform Old Hungarian alphabet, and has nothing to do with the stone, which was never seen. “Tartarian” is not a language; it was a catch-all term for anything from the northern parts of Asia, derived from old medieval terminology. 
Segment 3
Wolter recaps his assertions, but he has failed to provide any evidence whatsoever that the stone is a land claim, or, frankly, that it existed. Wolter flies to France to visit the Church of Saint-Sulpice, associated with the Count de Maurepas. En route, he explains why he thinks the “Tartarian” characters (never recorded) are really Norse runes, though he doesn’t specify which of the many runic alphabets he means. There is more than one. The claim that the stone’s characters are Norse runes originates with Hjalmar Holand, a Kensington Rune Stone researcher who was casting about for any sort of supporting evidence to bolster his claims for that stone’s authenticity. To accept the claim is to accept that the inscription exists, that by Tartarian the Old Hungarian runiform alphabet was meant, and that no one paid much mind to which was which.

In France Wolter learns that the church was built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and that it houses many artifacts, such as a giant sea-shell from the South Pacific. However, he learns that the French Revolution devastated the church’s collections. 
Segment 4
After a verbal recap, Wolter is off to Alberta, to the Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, which he believes is the site where Vérendrye found the stone. (It is a reasonable possibility.) He nonsensically claims that the Tartarian inscription is really runes and therefore marks a Welsh (!) land claim. I don’t understand this since the Welsh didn’t use runes; their enemies, the Anglo-Saxons did.

At the park, Wolter sees rock art, and the geometrical forms of this rock art is a reasonable facsimile of the supposed Tartarian writing. However, Wolter reverses the conclusion and tells a member of the Blackfoot tribe that some of their rock art is likely European writing. Therefore, he tells the baffled woman that Vérendrye was trying to “steal America” from the Welsh and/or Templars. The Blackfoot park interpreter tells Wolter that Native peoples don’t believe in ownership of land.  The implication she makes, of course, is that Native Americans were already living where his colonial fantasy of Europeans stealing America from other Europeans was supposedly happening.

Not that this is particularly relevant, but I noticed that the commercials this episode are largely infomercials for diet pills, credit problems, etc., and these advertisers pay the very least of all. Is there trouble at America Unearthed? It is unusual to have so many low-paying advertisements in a first-run show.

Segment 5
After a verbal recap, Wolter is now in South Dakota, spinning wild fantasy based on facts he failed to establish—namely, that there were pre-Columbian land claim stones, or, frankly, that post-Columbian land claim systems were in use in the High Middle Ages. This seems unlikely to me since Europeans weren’t in the habit of colonizing what they considered unoccupied territory before the exploration of North America. Wolter visits the spot where Vérendrye placed a lead plaque to claim land for France, and he takes a look at the plaque. Wolter repeats his claim that placing a stone on a continental divide lays claim to all of the land connected to every river flowing from it, though I am at a loss to understand where that idea comes from other than Wolter’s own earlier work asserting that the Kensington Rune Stone functions as a land claim because it is on such a divide.


Segment 6
After another set of recaps, Wolter concedes that he did not find the Vérendrye stone, though he falsely claims that the stone is documented in “historical records” rather than the truth: that it has only been hearsay in one botanist’s book. Back at his lab, Wolter tells Backerund that he examined the Duluth Stone using relative dating techniques. Because the Duluth Stone appears more weathered than century-old tombstones, it is therefore 350 years old. Wolter does not explain why Vérendrye claimed land for Louix XV but Greysolon marked land in his own name. As I said above, most experts think the stone is a fake, but finding Greysolon’s name in a place where he was known to have been is not really changing history.

Wolter shows Backerund an ant farm, and he tells the baffled historian that French explorers were like ants reporting to their queen, replacing older land claim stones with French ones. As always, even taking all of Wolter’s “facts” at face value, they fail to support his conclusions since there is no evidence whatsoever that any rock was a pre-Columbian land claim stone, of French knowledge of such claims, or of shipments of them back to France.
150 Comments
Dan
12/27/2014 02:18:56 pm

The absolutely sheer unadulterated gall of telling a Native American woman to her face that the French were "stealing America" from the Welsh or the Norse/Templars is absolutely mind boggling.

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T
12/27/2014 02:45:23 pm

Property? That's a white guy thing..

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RLewis
12/27/2014 03:26:59 pm

That was hilarious. "We don't have a word for ownership". SW: "Don't worry, I'm never going to try to prove that your people ever owned any of this land".

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Varika
12/28/2014 01:22:27 pm

...yeah, sorry, I will NEVER AGAIN even remotely entertain the notion that Wolter is not overtly racist. Since he has demonstrated ON CAMERA some extremely overt and particularly disrespectful racism.

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silverfish
12/29/2014 04:46:06 am

That was appalling.

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EP
12/30/2014 08:25:51 am

My favorite windmill designer and erstwhile poster on this blog, has come to Wolter's defense on this issue:

"...I don't think it was improper for you to talk about the French wiping out evidences of earlier land grab attempts with the Native American woman in the show (as I see some have suggested elsewhere). I believe she is well aware that Native Americans were also involved in land grabs against one another, wherein vast territories were occasionally overrun.

"And so it's not a stretch at all to openly and frankly discuss this weakness that is inherent in all mankind...including the possibility that the French purposely removed earlier evidences of Scandinavian travel and/or limited habitation. It may have been ironic for you to be talking to the Native American woman about land grabbing, but not an overreach, in my opinion, especially if one is merely looking for history truth.

"(I hope you don't mind me pointing out that scalping and mutilation were common during the time-frame and in the general region of the Kensington Runestone.)"

http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx165/sheklhs/280410_150628040.jpg

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Dan
12/30/2014 05:12:02 pm

I sort of feel bad for the guy. After facing so much ridicule over here, he finally laid out his ideas for Wolter and got rejected. He's tries so hard but must be one of the dumbest people to ever grace the fringe world.
At a point when he was still posting here relatively civilly, I felt bad for him and went over to his site to check out the basis for his various wild theories. The site was so poorly written and conceived (literally using a sharpie to connect the dots on a map) and the theories so patently ridiculous it was infuriating that I had wasted my time and even an ounce of energy visiting his site.

All that being said, his justification or excuse for Wolter's monumentally racist "stealing America" moment is yet another head-shakingly stupid rationalization by a very dumb person. Both sad, funny and aggravating all at once.

EP
12/30/2014 05:25:31 pm

Did you pick up on Scott Wolter coining a wonderful neologism: "multi-international organization"? :)

T
12/31/2014 05:03:39 am

The blind leading the blind, then one refuses to follow. That is sad..

T
12/31/2014 05:06:12 am

Where's his inane website you tried to decipher?

EP
12/31/2014 05:49:02 am

For the turbines:
http://www.hallmarkemporium.com/

For KRS:
http://www.hallmarkemporium.com/kensingtonrunestone/

Dan
12/31/2014 06:56:18 am

And here is the sharpie map:
http://www.hallmarkemporium.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/NewGotaland001.JPG

EP
12/31/2014 08:13:56 am

Now I'm craving goat curry. Dammit, Dan! :)

BOHALL
10/26/2015 10:54:49 am

The French became important to America in the 1500s as Huguenots engaged in trade with Spanish settlements in the Caribbean ~

Oh, Protestants? What!

Yeah, the Treaties were with France, not the Catholic church in France, and despite the Religious Wars Spain was open to trade ~ as long as folks paid their taxes.

But it was the Portuguese who were undertaking the development of the Portuguese Ultramar at the time which was worldwide in scope. They had the ships, the knowledge, and guns to trade for valuable products. They ALSO made forays into America ~ not just Brazil.

During the 1500/1600/early 1700 period the big land grabbers in North America were the Iroquois ~ they seemed to have carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Ohio Valley about which we are only now becoming well informed. They'd acquired firearms sometime in the 1600s and actually had European rifle manufacturing capacity on site along with European gunsmiths. There was a significant european population among the Oneida doing all sorts of things of use to the Iroquois as a whole.

Many of the OLD things people encounter are leftover from the Portuguese and Spanish. They also had among their ranks Swedes! And, the Ports even had Norwegians. They'd been buying dried fish from the Grandbanks sold by the Norwegians at Stavanger ~ since maybe the early 1500s. Even a Portuguese fatoria or two in that town. Seamen are ubiquitous in early fishing fleets ~ from everywhere.

Frequently Americans are unaware of these connections but in Virginia every main county library has what's called The Virginia Room. Copies of old documents ~ e.g. Passajeros ~ lists of travelers and dates ~ are available. All very interesting. Even Jamestown had its share of leftover Spanish records ~ they added them right to their own.

BTW, King James, who sponsored the Virginia Company, and after whom Jamestown VA was named, is the grandfather of the Duke of Alba, and you can find out all you want about that guy ~ the national distances AT THE TOP weren't all that great ~ the European Royal families were simply one big party living out of each other's pockets.

Deals were made; allegiances were always shifting; commoners survived; nobles attempted to thrive; and the death rate on the atlantic was enormous.

Jack link
1/9/2015 04:29:54 pm

Quote: "After spending the day having Scott Wolter lecture me about why I am a basement-dwelling troll whose arrogance and close-minded bullying have only served to "harden [his] resolve" to oppose me, I'm not feeling particularly excited about spending another hour on one of Wolter's conspiracies. And yet here we are."

So then why are you? You have dedicated more than half your site to Scott Wolter? Hosting, Band Width and Space cost money? Seems to me that you are making a great deal of money discrediting people. If a document is in the Vaticans Secret Archives then how would anyone know about it? If its Secret? All anyone can do is go off of best guess from gathered information. I could spend years blasting and finding fault with everything you have presented in Documentation printed hundreds of years ago. Scott has two primary goals. First and foremost he has to make his show Entertaining, Second what makes his show so popular is that he looks to ALL and other information for evidence. You don't seem to care about any proof, new evidence, or even consider new ideas because you are making a living intentionally disputing what others find.... ANY Truth, Lies, Deceit wouldn't matter as you will always take an opposed position to it to SELL your business from being a Parasite. I don't care what the truth is,,, I can decide for myself. Your like a car mechanic that intentionally sabotages a customers car so you can jack the price up and make money....

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Only Me
1/12/2015 05:03:46 pm

"I could spend years blasting and finding fault with everything you have presented in Documentation printed hundreds of years ago."

No, you can't.

"First and foremost he has to make his show Entertaining."

He has failed.

"Second what makes his show so popular is that he looks to ALL and other information for evidence."

Not even close to being true.

Now, provide evidence Jason has "dedicated more than half [his] site to Scott Wolter" AND that he is making a living from it.

Americanegro
8/22/2016 05:01:15 pm

"If a document is in the Vaticans Secret Archives then how would anyone know about it? If its Secret?"

By filling out the appropriate form. It really is that simple. As are you.

C
5/20/2015 10:31:20 am

Hubby (Native) laughed so hard over this episode, he snorted an entire coffee out his nose. He also wonders (and so do I) how SW can breath with his head lodged so far up his a$$. We are both concerned about his severe case of recto-cranial inversion. The cherry on top was the Blackfoot woman trying desperately not to laugh.

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CHV
12/27/2014 02:25:01 pm

While I have no quibbles about the notion of 18th century North American land claim jumping, once again Scott presents a lot of conjecture in this episode, but zero hard proof. As usual, even more concerning is Wolter's apparent belief that that's okay.

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EP
12/27/2014 02:33:30 pm

I'm pretty sure that's what he means by "the spirit of adventure" :)

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CHV
12/27/2014 02:56:47 pm

In corporate America there's a common saying that goes "Perception is reality." Unfortunately, in many offices, this is true despite the very real risk that the perception in question may be: a) wrong, or; b) absolutely baseless.

Who does this remind you of?

EP
12/27/2014 03:00:57 pm

Hmmm... Christopher Loring Knowles? :)

T
12/27/2014 02:52:47 pm

Some of his most misleading "proof" we're the examples of the similarity of the alleged "runes" and the Tartartic (or whatever) writing. Plainly made up, both of them, in order to look uncannily similar but made from whole cloth. It's not like he got those demonstratives from anywhere, but were manufactured for the purpose of being similar for the show.

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SaraKate
12/27/2014 02:27:07 pm

A simple Wikipedia search also found that the "lost" Verendrye stone is believe to have been destroyed at Rouen during WWII.

I, too, wondered why Welsh would be writing in Eastern European runes. I presume that it was because Templars/Mason/the Vatican told them to do so.

After Having had a glass of wine, I also decided that the ants actually stole the stone

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EP
12/27/2014 02:31:22 pm

The Ants stole America from the Giants!!!

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T
12/27/2014 02:58:52 pm

Nobody seems to want to talk about who stole "America" from the ants. That's the original sin. Let's talk "big picture" and not quibble about details.

EP
12/27/2014 03:08:24 pm

Their idyllic worldis gone forever.

http://images.susu.org/unionfilms/films/backgrounds/hd/antz.jpg

T
12/27/2014 02:31:59 pm

The formula of this show to spin a tale on a foundation of BS is so transparent, it's mindboggling that SW has any real "defenders." To sum up, SW finds a questionable carved rock that, taken at face value, doesn't change conventional historical wisdom. Then he meets with some guy and pulls out hearsay memoirs from God knows when that that guy even disputes--the Frenchman in question could not have gone and found what SW says he did based on the "memoirs." So SW not too subtly modifies his theory--"it must have been his sons!" Segment after segment, these "theories" are communicated in increasingly exaggerated form: "what if," "I believe," "some people believe," "many people believe," and so on. By the end, SWs pet theory is all but established and any lack of evidence (there is none) can simply be chalcked up to the "secrecy" of the mission, "which is to be expected." Patently bogus stuff.

And that ant farm!? SW should punch himself in the face for that gem.

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CHV
12/27/2014 02:41:35 pm

What was even funnier about Scott's use of the ant farm as a metaphor to back his argument was someone's decision (a producer, most likely) to put a blanket over the tank, and shoot Wolter dramatically pulling it away as if revealing some greater truth.

The emperor truly has no clothes.

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T
12/27/2014 02:47:41 pm

I would approve it it had been a copy of Aliens dvd.

"Game over man."

TonyD
12/27/2014 02:56:25 pm

Ants, wow. LOL.

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WHERE ARE THE SACRED BEE????????
12/27/2014 06:54:58 pm

Ants are just ants.
We were promised
our Sacred Bees!!!

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JM
12/27/2014 02:56:32 pm

How sad you spend all of your time grousing over everything Scott Wolter does instead of sharing any wisdom you may have... speaks volumes about the lack of wisdom and information you actually do have.

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T
12/27/2014 03:00:30 pm

Thanks for that insight. Very helpful.

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EP
12/27/2014 03:01:35 pm

All of our time! ALL of it!!!

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T
12/27/2014 03:02:17 pm

I don't think wisdom means what you think it means..

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SaraKate
12/27/2014 03:05:13 pm

Hey. I did share my wisdom, carefully gleaned from Wikipedia.

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Pauly_j
12/28/2014 04:47:15 am

Wikipedia is the worst possible source of any kind of information-period!

EP
12/28/2014 04:51:43 am

That's too harsh. Wikipedia has its uses, as long as one knows how to approach it.

SaraKate
12/28/2014 06:37:42 am

Noooooo, I"m pretty sure that the worst source of information happens to be our friend SW. Wikipedia is frequently more accurate than he.

Also, in case you missed it, here's the sign that says "SARCASM" to go with my previous comment.

EP
12/28/2014 06:56:11 am

Given some of Pauly_j's comments below, you shouldn't be suprised :)

T
12/27/2014 03:27:24 pm

To be clear, my "wisdom" is that this show is blatantly full of cr@p.

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EP
12/27/2014 03:49:40 pm

Truly you are wise!

TonyD
12/27/2014 03:51:24 pm

Scott?

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T
12/27/2014 03:56:15 pm

May have been. Like us in the "basement," we know he doesnt sleep at night. He can't.

EP
12/27/2014 04:03:54 pm

http://www.martialactivist.org/filez/images/big-tigger.jpg

RLewis
12/27/2014 03:01:36 pm

The Blackfoot woman explains that there are many stones with writing in the Writing-on-Stone Park. SW assures her that while this unseen rock came from the same area - it had different, special, white-man land-claim writing. BTW - After they stole this land claim rock, why did they not replace it was their own land claim rock (wasn't that the idea)?
Also not sure what the mystery would be about the Duluth rock. So what historians have been telling us IS correct? It seems to have about as much relevance on American history as a "Washington Slept Here" plague.

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T
12/27/2014 03:08:12 pm

Totally agree. In any event, if one can date a carving on the face of a rock as being around 350 years old (I wonder where he got that number?) to gashes on the Side of one allegedly 100 year old tombstone, I would be very surprised. A lot of potential problems with that come to mind.

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SaraKate
12/27/2014 03:16:49 pm

I was wondering, did I miss something about where the tombstone pic was from? I mean, if it wasn't next door to the Duluth stone and also made from the same stone, I don't see how the weathering in one relates to the other.

I'm ever fascinated by SW's assumption that his audience is stupid and wouldn't ask these questions.

T
12/27/2014 03:22:47 pm

I think what you missed, we all missed. As I recall, he just said he "took these pictures" of a tombstone. Not much else.

Rlewis
12/27/2014 03:28:40 pm

He stated that it came from the same area.

Rick
12/29/2014 01:57:17 am

I wonder if he authenticated that tombstone? My great grandfathers uncle died in 1890. When I was a teen and doing a little genealogy, I asked my dad why it looked brighter than the rest, like it's been cleaned or taken care of. He told me that for whatever reason there wasn't a tombstone there at all for about 40 years but that he didn't know I would need to ask my grandfather, who said he couldn't remember why it wasn't placed for such a long time.

My point is. If your doing comparative analysis then you must verify your control? specimen. And it needs to be documented like JC would do, like he does everything, and presented on the show. Don't say there isn't enough time and it was cut in production. I can point to about 30 minutes of wasted time with all these verbal and non verbal recaps and reinactments each episode

EP
12/27/2014 03:04:38 pm

I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.

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LTFMGP
12/27/2014 03:14:12 pm

holy shit, this cracked me up

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T
12/27/2014 03:18:33 pm

It would be funny except for the lack of ant land claim carved in rock proving their original claim. As you know from the show, there is no legitimate claim or the like without some rock, existent or not, that we can at least speak to. Alas, I fear for the ants rightful place in history.

EP
12/27/2014 03:53:29 pm

I bet the rock is hidden at the South Pole.

There is a reason they call it ANT-arctica. Think about it, man!

T
12/27/2014 04:02:30 pm

Great point re ANTarctica, EP. I see no proof that that is not correct; ergo, it must be true. To back that point further, as i recall, the "Marco Polo" maps disclosed such a land mass. That knowledge must have come from somewhere. Thus since we now know it's incorrect to think the ants did not claim ANTarctica, the ants must have been the originators of that land mass from those questionable maps. As such, I believe we've just proved the proposition! And history has been wrong all along!!,

Great work.

EP
12/27/2014 04:06:38 pm

I hereby award myself an Honorary Doctorate in ANTropology!

T
12/27/2014 04:13:47 pm

Now we have to prove the Chinese have nothing to do with China town in American cities. Then we'll all deserve a punch in the face!

tm
12/27/2014 05:17:59 pm

Don't forget about Antlantis.

EP
12/28/2014 03:33:58 am

More like ANT-lantis, am I right?

tm
12/28/2014 04:21:52 am

Yes, the ANT-agonist of ancient Greece. :)

EP
12/28/2014 04:32:11 am

A superpower of the ANT-ediluvian world!

Only Me
12/28/2014 04:38:41 am

The ANT-ecedent of all lost civilizations.

Jason D.
12/28/2014 01:52:24 pm

"I hereby award myself an Honorary Doctorate in ANTropology!"

I'll start brewing that for you.

EP
12/28/2014 02:07:33 pm

Two creams, two sugars, please.

Only Me
12/27/2014 03:37:58 pm

So, every rock with carvings, scratches, markings of any kind are land claims. Got it.

You cannot claim land without the proper rockumentation. Got it.

Only the French were clever enough to destroy previous claims, in an age before copies or backups were available. "Hawh, hawh, hawh! Ve are so...le clevair!" Got it.

Scott is still an self-promoting moron, pumping out ever wilder examples of wanton fantasy. Got it.

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T
12/27/2014 03:41:08 pm

And any corroborating evidence, which would probably make more sense than leaving a rock sitting somewhere where no one has supposedly ever been (minus natives), simply does not exist. Got it.

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EP
12/27/2014 03:55:16 pm

Sacrebleu!!!

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Clint Knapp
12/27/2014 05:05:42 pm

I guess now is a good time to point out that I've personally carved my name and the date into several flint and limestone cliff faces overlooking the Mississippi River over the years. Some of these even have punch-mark holes nearby; hundreds of them! Obviously, I now own the entire Mississippi River and all surrounding watershed land.

Please vacate immediately, as I intend to sell it back to the French.

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Only Me
12/27/2014 11:47:17 pm

Seems legit.

EP
12/28/2014 03:35:15 am

I shall never abandon the lands of my ANTcestors!

SouthCoast
12/30/2014 03:45:22 pm

The only scratchy rock on my property is the small boulder I hung my F-150 up on several years ago. Which means, I guess, that I am now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motors, Templar Division.

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American Negro
8/22/2016 05:08:41 pm

Who writes a land claim in only one language?

Who considers a story about "remember that time 10 of our friends got slaughtered?" a land claim?

Who puts a land claim hundreds of miles INSIDE the land being claimed?

Who doesn't want to punch Scott Wolter in his stupid face?

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T
12/27/2014 03:43:26 pm

Did anyone notice when SW was looking at the apparent Native American rock carvings in Alberta the cross in the circle and the hooked X?

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tm
12/29/2014 03:36:40 am

Shhhhh! Don't say anything! We don't want "you know who" to take them to court for violating his trademark.

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EP
12/29/2014 05:26:49 pm

Too bad it lapsed already.

Clete
12/27/2014 06:09:02 pm

I am not fooled. After watching Scott Wolter pretending to wander in the woods and miracle or miracles find the "Duluth Stone" (Carved by a French-Canadian not in French, but in English). I know who carved the stone...It was a Big Foot hired by the Duluth trading company. 1679 is the price of the stone.

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Only Me
12/27/2014 06:23:47 pm

"Carving a land claim in an ordinary flannel shirt."

>>Errant tap of the chisel shatters the rock.<<

"Carving a land claim in Duluth Trading Co.'s Free Swingin' Flannel."

>>Perfect carving made in the rock.<<

"Duluth Trading Co. Free Swingin' Flannel. Swingin' made easy, flannel made burly."

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Screaming Eagle
12/28/2014 12:38:02 pm

I just started going through the comments a day late and Only Me beat me to it, well done sir! (or Ma'am, sorry, gender is not clear)

Only Me
12/28/2014 07:40:40 pm

Thanks, Eagle! Glad you liked it. I just couldn't resist!

EP
12/29/2014 01:41:19 am

Yeah, it was pretty good.

Don't let it go to your head, though ;)

JJ
12/27/2014 06:16:08 pm

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Celeron_de_Bienville's_Expedition?rec=494

as far as land claims, Celeron de Beinville took with him many plates, buried them to claim land in Ohio.

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Scott Hamilton
12/28/2014 10:38:17 am

Not exactly. The expedition was designed to strengthen France's pre-existing claim on the Ohio Valley, by leaving theoretically permanent features behind, not to claim the land itself. That's the point. There has to be a legal document somewhere to originate the claim, or else there's isn't much of a point in leaving markers behind.

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Rick
12/28/2014 12:39:50 pm

This is a thought I share. Leaving a rock in the woods as a land claim is a sure fire way to claim something in a way that hardly anybody will be able to find. I feel as though there would have to be a corresponding document that lists the claims and said markers. Without it why even bother? I want to research this more but don't have the time.

correction
12/27/2014 07:09:48 pm

a-t-l-ANT-i-s

ATL-ANT-IS

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Tom Sensken
12/27/2014 08:50:58 pm

Why did he make this awkward ant analogy? Being a minion to a King/Queen/Dictator/President is not a french thing ...

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Of Luth
12/27/2014 11:53:42 pm

du = of 1619 or 1679?

as to duluth, its post-revolution

was someone there

before the famous expedition?

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Only Me
12/28/2014 12:05:08 am

No. The inscription was arranged like this:

1679
DU
LUTH

That's why it's most likely not genuine. He should have at least included his first name.

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Of Luth
1/7/2015 07:30:59 am

i am a purist. after thinking thru the AVM stone as to its presumed
acid bath the students gave it, and its other than pristine theft from
a historic site, so as to have a degree of age, the ability to modify an
1619 date by covering up the proverbial tracks of the same with a
weak solution of something rather like stomach acid has me curious!

EP
1/7/2015 09:40:18 am

Thinking? "."? LOL

Only Me
1/12/2015 05:09:46 pm

There never was, nor has been, a "Luth".

Scott Wolter's own blog has a picture of the stone's inscription, proving the year is 1679. Wolter and Backerud identify it as such during the episode. Wolter is shown examining the inscription and never declares that it has been modified at a later date.

Some people simply can't accept reality.

nelson
12/28/2014 02:21:30 am

The idea of a land claim covering all the land of a river system may have came from the description of the land 'owned' by the Hudson Bay Company.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_Company

I know it's Wiki but I've read this elsewhere also.

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Marius
12/28/2014 03:00:01 am

I think that this was an Adam West Batman plot.

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Jason Colavito link
12/28/2014 03:36:55 am

There was an episode of "Get Smart" about a similar story, in which the U.S. government panics when it realizes that Columbus's heir owns the deed to America.

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Salt
12/28/2014 06:03:36 am

Don't give Wolter any ideas. He'll start using Mel Brooks as a historical source--after all,he's the Thousand Year Old Man and was there.

Harry
12/28/2014 03:59:29 am

The idea that some incidental traveler can claim land that is already inhabited by someone else by carving a stone inscription reminds me of a scene in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (yeah, I see the irony, too) in which Arthur explains to a peasant that he is king because the Lady of the Lake reached out her hand and gave him Excalibur, and the peasant shoots back that "you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!"

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Lost Templar Freemason Giant Pirate
12/28/2014 04:52:41 am

I wonder if he will post a thread on his blog for this episode. Even he must realize the stupidity of the Ant conclusion. If he does, I hope he gets raked over the coals for it.

I am starting to notice a pattern to the format of his dialogues with experts. Before letting the guest speak, he starts off by defining the subject matter in a 1 or 2 assertions which back up his premise of course. Then, he rolls right into a Scott Wolter Question. The expert has to address the question within the premise he presented. Who begins a real dialogue this way without questionable motives? Even when they say no (priest, blackfoot, davy crocket relative, astor relative, et al.) he insists the possibility because he defined the domain.

The film crew even hovers around the word "possible" in every experts response.

I was also happy to see every expert look at him like he is a nutjob. It is becoming more and more common this season.

I also noticed in this episode, the guests seemed to formally not allow themselves to unknowingly back up his theory. You can hear it in the narration when he declares they don't believe in what he asserting. While the experts don't really get to state it on film, at least it is present. I hope this comes from the guest as the producers would have loved to blur it.

He is also overusing the "This definitely needs to be analyzed scientifically, and we will get to that...", only to never really get to it. His analysis of the rock was so weak. One hand picked correlation to back up his hypothesis. Even Scott knows he would need more than that outside of television. He does, right?

The last gasp was when he presented the his Ant theory, and they just cut to credits instead of taping the historian's response.

He must have been crying with laughter.

Reply
Pauly_j
12/28/2014 04:53:50 am

I can't believe you let scott and this show rent this much space in your head Jason, I'm not a lover of pseudo-archeology either but WOW WTF dude? Get a life! Your pitiful, and if you disagree with his assessments then put forth your own and look intelligent for once!

Reply
EP
12/28/2014 04:58:45 am

Jason includes his own assessments of the balance of evidence in his discussions, inlcuiding this very blog post. You may want to try reading it again, concentrating this time.

Speaking of "looking intelligent for once"...

Reply
Pauly_j
12/28/2014 05:24:34 am

I've read it twice now, and all he does is refute Scott's info, where's his theories?Possibly your you threw your mouth into gear before engaging your brain? Either way anyone that spends their entire days and nights refuting a TV show of this type is even worse of a loser and Scott ever will be. And I don't buy into anything so don't put me on that bandwagon either

Only Me
12/28/2014 05:29:05 am

Get 'im, EP! Show 'im your hardened....uh....resolve!

EP
12/28/2014 05:44:40 am

Only Me, are you being sarcastic? Or did you mean "Pauly_j"? :)

Pauly_j, I recommend you "buy into" an good English course, since your writing skills are rather inadequate. Who knows, you might even learn the difference between "theory" and "assessment"...

Only Me
12/28/2014 05:49:59 am

Just kidding, EP. I can't stop laughing every time I think about what Scott said.

EP
12/28/2014 05:53:17 am

Don't you start, Mr. "Does Size Matter, Rev.?" :P

Only Me
12/28/2014 06:10:11 am

Yeah....

I did kind of set myself up for that, didn't I? :)

EP
12/28/2014 06:23:12 am

Remember: The really big ones are cheaper in Brazil! :P

Jason Colavito link
12/28/2014 07:03:06 am

Pauly, if Wolter's information is all wrong, as you concede, what do you need a "theory" for? If the stones aren't what he says they are, there is no "mystery" to solve. But if you're interested in reading about my own evaluations, try buying one of my books, like "Jason and the Argonauts through the Ages," where I put forward my ideas on the origins of a famous Greek myth.

j*a*d
12/29/2014 04:15:46 am

the flip side of the coin is that Scott Wolter is good about
his educated guesses and is willing to go out on a metaphoric
academic limb about his theories, and has a level of freedom
many in academia lack, even if with tenure. our educational
system mass produces ideas almost as often as we tend to
mass produce and distribute consumer goods. lets look at all or
nearly all possibilities before dovetailing down to our pet theories.

.
12/29/2014 04:30:10 am

If there any possibility that Scott Wolter thinks that the KRS was
carved by a member of the party of “8 Götalanders & 22 Northmen”
who were returning from Alberta, Canada... and that the rune stone
that maybe ended up on Rouen, France during WWII is an earlier
marker left by that expedition? Lets assume nine times out of ten
someone would simply turn over an old stone with writing on it in
the colonial period, but leave it where it is, and then go back to the
art and sport of hunting squirrels with a flintlock. Lets assume less
stones are taken to Europe but there are perhaps 10 to 200 rune
stones that are yet to be uncovered. i think he is looking for the
"sister stone" to the KRS and he put a high degree of importance on
the casual meeting the Swedish botanist talked about in his diary.

SaraKate
12/28/2014 06:41:12 am

I'm pretty sure that once each show is over, Jason doesn't give SW another thought. I, for one, have found this blog to be invaluable in offering fairly well-researched facts that ARE Jason's assessments. I'd venture to guess, given the vitriol spewed forth by SW towards Jason, that SW rents a lot more space in his head to Jason than Jason does to SW.

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Screaming Eagle
12/28/2014 12:49:15 pm

Agreed!

KM
12/28/2014 05:10:07 am

we have been watching this man in sheer disbelief at his reasoning, how has he made these conclusions, we have to watch it now as its like watching a freak show, you want to look away, but you know something worse is about to come.the trouble is some people might think he is an educated man, and believe this trollope is fact, when in fact its the ramblings of a man on the verge of insanity, similar to the British man David Icke who suddenly declared he was sent by God.

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Dan
12/28/2014 05:16:57 am

In that vein, search America Unearthed on twitter and gasp in horror as a large number of people buy into his nonsense. Although, I have to say after last night, quite a few people also tweeted the opposite. His ignorant insult of the Native American woman did not sit well with quite a few people.

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Only Me
12/28/2014 05:37:05 am

I'm detecting a trend. First, "In Search of Aliens" uses material from Jan Van Helsing, then "Search for the Lost Giants" embraces the Mound Builder theory. Now, Scott blatantly insults a Native American to her face, in favor of his Eurocentric fantasies.

Methinks someone hath misunderstood arrogance for courage.

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Pauly_j
12/28/2014 05:58:45 am

EP, considering I'm doing all this through my iPhone, and I have a life and I'm out living it now, I don't need good English skills while using an iPhone! But you go ahead and go on keep changing the subject of Jason never putting forth his own theories. Anyone can sit around and just refute refute refute. It shows nothing at all as far as dispelling anything when you can't put forth any information. The funny thing is I just popped on here after finding this site, I don't buy into anything on the history channel, I'm smiling here realizing though that I do not know everything. And without a Time Machine-neither do you Butthole! And so since I only popped on here to read a bunch of people make fun of another guy who's making millions of dollars more than any of you jackasses, what does that say about you guys? LOL... Enjoy knowing the fact that I won't be back to read any stupid crap that you have to say, you should revel in the idea that I just shit all over your face dumbass, and I'm laughing hardest and I'm laughing last.

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EP
12/28/2014 06:04:56 am

Look at Paul_j, everybody! He is too cool to use proper English! His life is just that rich and exciting!

Of course, given that he just called me a "Butthole", I suspect he's simply too busy to play with his very first iPhone his parents got him for Christmas...

As for Jason "never putting forth his own theories", I suggest you check out some other sections of this website. For example, "Books" or "Articles".

Also, while Scott Wolter is certainly doing well for himself, he is far from rolling in the dough to the extent you're imagining. But then again, I suspect you haven't yet learned to tell apart numbers with more than three digits, so it's okay.

Reply
Only Me
12/28/2014 09:16:09 am

Since Pauly won't be back, I can't resist dissecting this scintillating example of a troll.

"I'm doing all this through my iPhone, and I have a life and I'm out living it now"

Which means you're looking at life *through* your iPhone and have no idea what's happening around you as you take time to brag about how you have a life. LOL

"I only popped on here to read a bunch of people make fun of another guy who's making millions of dollars more than any of you jackasses, what does that say about you guys?"

Apparently, not as much as what your admission says about you. You realize you don't know everything, but that didn't stop you from displaying your ignorance, did it?

"you should revel in the idea that I just shit all over your dumbass, and I'm laughing hardest and I'm laughing last"

Is that a Hot Carl joke? Now I know you're not just immature; you're a disturbed individual. Have fun living vicariously through a phone that has one adjective you don't have...smart.

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EP
12/28/2014 09:26:15 am

"Is that a Hot Carl joke?"

Hey now.

Jeanne
12/28/2014 12:54:53 pm

Pauli....bingo...you got it right...it is about money....making up stupid crap for gullible people to believe ...and be privy to conspiriracy, to be " in the know".....what's to say about " another theory"....if you tell me a story about unicorns living on Mars and the secret horse rituals with Mars fairies, I say " horse pucky". Period. Because the premise is nuts

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Harry
12/28/2014 01:42:28 pm

Pauly,

Personally, I have a lot more respect for someone who works hard to correct misinformation for a modest salary or no money at all than I do for someone who makes millions of dollars peddling that misinformation, either because he doesn't know what he is talking about or just doesn't care.

Reply
EP
12/28/2014 02:09:09 pm

That's just what a BUTTHOLE would say! :P

Americanegro
8/22/2016 06:05:48 pm

Pauly_J,

Fat, drunk and stupid is a better way of going through life than calling strangers "Butthole" you enormous douche. Forgive any typos as I am dictating this to my personal assistant who I will be boning after we get a few drinks in us. I will offer a "theory" in Jason's stead, and that theory is "Everything Wolter says is wrong."

Wolter has the wound-tight quality of the closeted homosexual. Come to think about it, so do you. You sound quite a bit like him.

Reply
Kal the laughing partly norse
12/28/2014 06:41:34 am

OMG! This episode is so intellectually dumbstruck I cannot begin to fathom the depths of it! Scott W. needs to stop lying. That's all. And he needs to quit stalking through the lands of my ancestors. I am not JC and he thinks my comments are him. I am Kal. I've never posted on his goggle page, so he can stop harassing JC, who I have never met, about my posts. Thank you.

A review does not need to explose the whole story, complaining bloggers. It merely needs to summarize or inform, and it does. This is not a peer review or scholarly journal. How many times does this have to be pointed out? This is a blog.

Called out on his horrid visit to Santa Clara and Alameda Counties, and the walls story, (those walls he claims are Chinese) he has gone to yet another place where I have direct ancestry!

That Native American lady probably wondered where he got the good stuff he was smoking.

First of all, every stone of that type is from the colonial period and there is no denying Norse settlers later came there to Duluth.

Duluth has been part of shipping history, like the Great Lakes kind, for over a century in modern times. It also has a lot of fakes and tourist trap stuff. The guides will even tell you exactly what it was!

Might I suggest SW got the Grandma's pub and have a beer instead of doing these crazy shows. If he gets cross eyed enough from drinking, then he can see rune stones everywhere.

The alleged rune stones are fakes, so that makes the whole story about them fake.

Reply
Kal
12/28/2014 08:45:29 am

"A review does not need to explose the whole story, complaining bloggers. It merely needs to summarize or inform, and it does. This is not a peer review or scholarly journal. How many times does this have to be pointed out? This is a blog."

I skipped from SW to JC without a transition. This is meant toward the trolls obsessing over semantics, not SW. SW, your reputation is still intact, and we have not changed it, such as it remains. You make your own bed.

As for trolls resorting to swearing, it shows a genuine lack of maturity. It's a blog.

Reply
snarky
12/29/2014 04:48:07 pm

A very wise man once said, "Profanity is the linguistic crutch of the inarticulate mofo."

EP
12/29/2014 05:28:04 pm

Will Smith ain't gotta curse to sell records, but I do.
So fuck him and fuck you too :P

Laughing My Butt Off
12/28/2014 12:44:48 pm

Speaking of idiots. Look at what I ran across on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/historytrippers?fref=nf&pnref=story

Reply
Rick
12/28/2014 12:54:11 pm

I don't have any if the preview commercials saved to the DVR but I could have sworn that in the previews he shows the runes to the "monk?"(I wasn't paying enough attention to his intro in the European cathedral) and SW says "do you recognize these?" And the old man says "of course". Then when the episode airs he asks that question and the old guy laughs and says something like "I've never seen anything like that". Then SW proceeds to lay his theories out while that old guy has a look on his face that says "I now realize I've been screwed over".

Reply
silverfish
12/29/2014 04:43:45 am

I remember seeing that too. In my memory it was an old lady he was asking but maybe it was the monk. In any case he or she definitely said, "of course".

Reply
Rick
12/29/2014 01:27:38 pm

I hate that I didn't save whatever I was watching that had all those adverts. Most of those shows like AU i delete as soon as it's over.

Ragnar
1/3/2015 12:46:52 pm

I think that was some fancy editing to make it look like SW actually found something. But once the episode airs, you realize its just smoke and mirrors.

Reply
Shane Sullivan
12/28/2014 02:14:02 pm

"For Wolter, punch marks are symbols of the sun and an acknowledgement of God, necessarily small and crude because “carving a circle would be time consuming,” so a quick punch stands for the circle of the sun disk in occult writings."

Pfft, yeah, who ever heard of a devout religious adherent dedicating time to producing religious iconography? Where's the motivation? Where's the precedent? It's not like there's ornate Hindu, Buddhist, Christian or Muslim art or architecture throughout the world, or anything.

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Manfred
12/28/2014 02:26:45 pm

I don't understand why the stonework and carvings shown on shows like this in Europe are ornate, very detailed and exacting in placement and forethought. And yet the ones in America look like I took a wood chisel and claw hammer from my basement and carved the most hastly un thought out marks I could make.

Reply
EP
12/28/2014 02:27:40 pm

I heard St. Peter's Basilica got thrown together in an afternoon:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Vatican_Altar_2.jpg

Fuck you, Wolter!

Reply
Harry
12/29/2014 12:15:37 am

Wolter's religious zealots are strong in the faith, will become mortally offended if you disagree with them, will travel to the far corners of the Earth to make their point, but will not put in the effort to make sure that their work is correct, just like....

Reply
Kal
12/28/2014 03:46:43 pm

That last one said it all.

"Uuf dah, yah, right straight up der ol man wazoo."

Reply
Will
12/29/2014 12:18:43 am

Sounds like a silly episode.

Reply
Titus pullo
12/29/2014 06:48:05 am

I honestly don't get this obsession with so called land claims. European nation prior to the mid 19th century just took what they wanted regardless of land claims. Even World War One was an example of this when the Brits and French bribed Italy and Romania into the war for land which in no way was theirs. Even if the Templars were here putting up rocks that said they owned the land, they sure we're not here to occupy it. And there is no proof they went anywhere east of Europe anyway. About the only thing the Templars actually did that survived wasthe start of the modern banking system and check book money.

Reply
InquisitorX
12/30/2014 01:20:24 pm

Wolter is a never ending bullshit artist. Good for you confronting the git, Jason.

Reply
Cort Lindahl
1/2/2015 07:08:14 am

I guess the one part that is confusing things somewhat is the fact that the sandstone pillar was not shown in the show. The pillar is documented as having a Hebrew Inscription so this is somewhat out of place for 'Native American' rock art. Then it is more confusing since the rock art that was shown appears to be Native American. See the movie 'Lapis Excillis' on youtube and you will see pictures of the pillar and inscriptions in Hebrew. Next you are totally wrong that explorers in this era could not fix their position on earth. This has been proven many times. My studies show that most of these things were a type of path of initiation etc.

Reply
Tok
1/4/2015 01:51:59 pm

I am so glad Google directed me to your blog. I just began watching this series this week. I didn't attend college, and my high school education was lame, to say the least. I have an interest in history and try to watch documentaries and shows that intrigue me.

The first episode I watched had me on the edge of my seat. The music! Scott's excitement! The things he was uncovering! (I can't even recall what episode it was. That says a lot). But, at the end of the episode, nothing was unearthed. How could that be? The name of the show is America Unearthed!

So, I watched another one. The same music, same excitement and the same ending. I watched one more, the topic of this blog, and I finally figured it all out. It's all a bunch of BS and not worth my time. I know, I'm slow.

Most of you, however, are hilarious. I enjoyed reading your posts so much more than watching the show. I may continue watching just so I can come here afterward for the badinage.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions about this show. Carry on!

Reply
EP
1/4/2015 01:57:46 pm

Your English seems pretty educated to me. It's certainly more literate than Scott Wolter's.

Reply
The Observer
1/12/2015 08:28:31 am

There may be plenty in the episode to criticize, but I wouldn't spend too much time mocking Wolter for the use of a French title as a last name (i.e., La Vérendrye, Duluth/DuLhut/et al.) Shockingly, the Encyclopedia Britannica does the same thing: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/326618/Pierre-Gaultier-de-Varennes-et-de-La-Verendrye ... and .... http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/173355/Daniel-Greysolon-Sieur-DuLhut ... One must store up one's outrage for greater offences, methinks.

Reply
Bohall
10/26/2015 10:32:19 am

Hmm ~ my first thought on seeing the Duluth stone segment ~ why an English spelling?

Several things ~ a fellow named Perro (a Portuguese name) was the first fur trader out of the woods to register with the Hudson's Bay Company when the Brits took over Quebec, et al. He'd been working up the Beaver River as far as the shallows at Beauval (pronounced Bohall) (which is why I even noticed that).

How long had Ports been hitting Hudson's Bay? Darned good question, but there were this crowd in Galicia/Braga who easily passed for Scotsmen and Irishmen, and even your average Brit, and they'd been hitting North America since ~ 1498? They were NOT in the practice of giving away profitable secrets, and they did get involved in the fur/skin trade in NA.

Anyway, the discussion turned to the Kensington Stone ~ obviously a Spanish style survey benchmark ~ likely placed there sometime between about 1550 and 1620 ~ the work done by a Swedish survey team (speaking Gothic, the language in which inscriptions on the stone were made in a slightly older Runic alphabet ~ typical of the time)

The Kensington stone is on the same meridian as Lake Bohall (possibly named BY Henri de Bohall ~ an old French noble name granted to a fellow from Bohal who participated in the Combat of the Thirty. He and his descendants went on to be body guards to the royal court (with one of them body guard of Ann of Brittany, married to two French Kings) so they were pretty hoity toity. And well situated in French economics at the top rung to get involved in early investment in American investments ~ furs/hides, wine, tobacco, etc.

Their cousins in the noble ranks in Spain, Portugal and Sweden are the ones I keep my eyes on.

So, there's the Kensington Stone, likely a Spanish survey bench mark, and it lines up with Lake Bohall, Seymour, and Arcola Texas on the Gulf coast. I think Desisles map of 1719 shows a string of what most take to be mountains on the left side of the field ~ they run from Kensington to Arcola and probably indicate a WHOLE huge line of survey markers just West of the Mississippi River. One of them ought to be right there in the middle of Daniel Boone's Spanish 1000 arpents land grant. His house was probably built on top of it.

The reason for the survey was the Treaty of 1604. Philip II/III of Spain carved up North America. A survey was made so the new owners could find their sectors. The French acquisition of the Hudson Bay drainage area is to the East of a line drawn from Kensington to Beauval SK. There's another line drawn between Virginia and Arcadia. That's the current NY/PA, MA/CT/RI state lines ~ runs straight West to Lake Michigan from the tip of Cape Cod where there's a buried brick wall!

Another bench mark. Several of the Western boundary stones for Virginia have been found over the years. The NC/VA KY/TN line is certainly an early survey line.

This does not exclude the possibilities of Portuguese marker stones placed hither and yon for trade caravans to validate the accuracy of their journeys. About 1530 the Ports were brought into Greater Spain, so any such business affairs would have had to have been done very secretly.

No need for French Knights in the 1300s ~ BTW, Portugal still had the old knighthoods up and operating until ~ well, this year! The whole world isn't France.

Reply
G B Hall link
5/1/2016 10:06:05 pm

Interesting. Some family parlor stories have Bohall Lake named for a surveyor who accompanied the expedition to find the headwaters of the Mississippi.

Reply
ynotvt
12/19/2015 11:59:07 am

On the one hand Scott Wolter provides a refreshing openness to explore stories, myths, and theories, and so on for glimpses of truth, regardless how difficult they may be to accept on the surface. The show’s underlying tenet – that what we consider to be proven history may not be supported by facts – is admirable and often correct. Likewise, it would be difficult to corroborate all of the scientific or historical skepticism in 44 minutes of broadcast and leave room for the story of the subject around which the episode is based.
However, the episode, The Plot to Steal America, regarding pre-Columbian European land claims in the Americas distorts exploration goals and casts a singular view of land possession among European nations. America Unearthed unfortunately explores America through 21st-century eyes that wear blinders to major shifts in power across Europe that saw erosion of centralized Papal authority playing out in larger, Carolingian empires, regional kingdoms, and emerging democracies from the 11th to the early 20th centuries. While Americans value colonial roots within the framework of its national, sometimes mythical and exaggerated heritage, much North American land “claimed” within European power struggles was simply not sought to establish tobacco plantations or for settlements of disenchanted or disenfranchised English separatists.
In particular French, Dutch, and Swedish settlements in North America had procurement of valuable natural resources as the main goal for exploration, ones that would increase power in Europe. Successful trade with First Peoples (a/k/a Native Americans) meant that European resources were minimally needed to establish forts or trading posts. The fact that France would claim such a large tract of land in North America as its own for trade without large settlements either meant that it understood and cooperated well with First Peoples or greatly exaggerated its influence in order to awe European rivals. Thus, a more realistic, pragmatic scenario is one that views the amount of settlements and soldiers living in North America on behalf of a European nation to be a function of the amount of success at trade and, to some degree, a need to maintain a presence to discourage traders from other nations to encroach trading areas. Why place purported stones in obscure, unremarkable locations in an era without GPS to find them again or located where others would not see and heed them?
Moving to the unstated claims of the episode of a need to mark boundaries, there are four assumptions that do not match potential conclusions dangled before us. First, the need for marker stones to lay claim is weak. As with modern deeds, boundary markers would be more valuable to the French to find a valuable area in the future than to foreign parties who could easily ignore them since there were typically no settlements or fortifications in areas where alleged markers have been found. Second, boundary markers should have been recorded elsewhere in European records as proof of discovery. A stone left in the woods is a weaker claim than a river, lake, stone wall, cairn, or a mountain. Third, the distorted historical view assumes that often nomadic First Peoples honored European law and would only trade with parties from one nation. Tribes were free to trade with whomever they pleased, sometimes to the displeasure of other tribes, and free of assumptions that they had blundered into exclusive deals with Europeans. Finally, Europeans needed to survive while living in North America. This meant getting along with “heathen” First Peoples and other Europeans without the blessing of European superiors. Parties from various countries interacted to trade supplies or to get help when needed. New Netherlands’ black markets spread far and wide to procure items from English and French neighbors rather than to wait many months for orders for provisions to reach Europe and to return fulfilled without being raided by privateers or sunk in storms. Spanish coins were traded freely across the American colonies later on. Europeans in early North America even lived near or among First Peoples, despite later claims of native savagery that filled movie theaters and sold books. There are many such instances of pragmatic mutual support that defy romantic notions of the importance of boundaries.
While Scott Wolter admirably highlights and tests challenges to historical assumptions to which we tenaciously cling, I would prefer seeing a Forensic Geologist reach scientific conclusions, even if television requires him to state the myth is proven, plausible or busted rather than to wave his credentials for viewers without making up his mind.

Reply
SA
2/14/2018 02:46:23 pm

It'd just be better if some people would just stop trying to find a reason that they actually had a right to these lands to begin with. If it isn't, i was here first, its that you weren't from here. Pphewie!

Reply
David Richards
4/21/2019 07:48:46 pm

I appreciate your time and interest on this strange television series. It appears to be only pseudo-history and needs to be exposed if that’s all it is.

Reply

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    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
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        • Erich von Däniken
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    • Collection: Ancient History >
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    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
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      • Medieval Texts >
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        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
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        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
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        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
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      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
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          • W. Scott-Elliot >
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        • Fragments on Giants
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        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
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        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
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        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
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        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • Arabic Names of Egyptian Kings
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • America Known to the Ancients
        • American Antiquities
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        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Remarkable Discoveries Within the Sphinx (Hoax)
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • The Shaver Mystery >
          • Lovecraft and the Deros
          • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • CIA Search for the Ark of the Covenant
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • The Fall of the Sky
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Poltergeist UFOs
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
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