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Review of Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar S01E03 and S01E04

9/20/2015

60 Comments

 
As we saw last week, Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar is a really crappy show, one that doesn’t make much sense unless you come into it believing in crazy conspiracy theories about how Knights Templar somehow carried on secretly after the destruction of their order, preserving heaps of treasure for 400 years, until they lost it when their fleet of pirate ships sank in Madagascar. These world-historical actors somehow were powerful enough to defy the Catholic Church and the secular kings, to hide in plain sight, to master the seas, but not to dredge their priceless booty from where it sank in apparently shallow waters, not when it first sank and not anytime thereafter, despite being the global masterminds behind all world history. You’d think one of them would have bought some scuba gear in the last half century or so.
Given the nonsensical premise of the show, I wasn’t terribly interested in seeing more, and I ended up thinking instead about the conspiracy mindset behind the claims. In so doing I stumbled across an interesting bit of testimony about one of the pillars of Scott Wolter’s worldview, that the Templars had regular commerce with America and that “academics” refuse to recognize that the Templars, in the guise of Norsemen, had penetrated as far as Minnesota. Originally, these claims were associated with the Vikings, and were the subject of brief but intense debate about whether the Vikings made it to America before Columbus.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a Unitarian minister, wrote about the negative reactions of the academics, recalling the last time that academic historians tried to enforce dogmatic orthodoxy over the claim that Columbus was the first to reach America. 
I can well remember, as a boy, the excitement produced among Harvard College professors when the ponderous volume called “Antiquitates Americanae,” containing the Norse legends of “Vinland,” with the translations of Professor Rafn, made its appearance on the library table. For the first time the claim was openly made that there had been European visitors to this continent before Columbus. The historians shrank from the innovation: it spoiled their comfort. Indeed, Mr. George Bancroft to this day will hardly allude to the subject, and sets aside the legends, using a most inappropriate phrase, as “mythological.” And it so happened, as will appear by-and-by, that when the claim was first made it was encumbered with some very poor arguments. Nevertheless, the main story was not permanently hurt by these weak points. Its truth has never been successfully impeached; at any rate, we cannot deal with American history unless we give some place to the Norse legends.
Wentworth wrote those words in Harper’s in 1882, reprinted in a textbook on American history in 1885, and referring to events from 1837, when Carl Christian Rafn made a compelling, if incomplete, argument for a Viking landing on American shores. Edward Everett Hale’s contemporary diaries from the 1830s confirm the reaction Higgins describes, including the general excitement at the idea. Indeed, Bancroft was the only major historian to continue to oppose the idea in 1886, and he had been only one of two prominent critics of the theory as far back as the 1840s. The other was Washington Irving—the biographer of Columbus—who eventually allowed that the Vikings might well have predated Columbus but that the claim had yet to be proved. What a conspiracy to suppress the truth!

Higginson went on to debunk much of the evidence for “Vikings” south of Canada—much of the same evidence now applied to the Templars: the Newport Tower, Dighton Rock, the mounds, various inscriptions and rock art, etc. It’s funny the way it all comes back around again, and arguments from the 1830s are rehashed, with new people substituted for the old. Oh, and Dighton Rock will show up in these episodes!

S01E03: The Case of Captain Kidd
Do you remember when Scott Wolter’s America Unearthed did a whole episode last December devoted to the lost treasure of Captain Kidd and its alleged Freemasonic connections? Oh, good; you do. Then you’ll recognize a good chunk of this episode, though in a funhouse mirror way. I won’t bother to recap the life and times of Kidd, which I covered in reviewing that episode and its conspiracy theories. I will note, though, that the claim that Kidd’s treasure is located in Madagascar directly contradicts Wolter’s theory from that episode that the treasure ended up in the hands of the Astor family. Apparently Kidd was so loaded with Templar treasure he could bury it everywhere.

The narrator opens the show by asserting that artifacts Barry Clifford has pulled from shipwrecks in Madagascar are “connected to the Templars,” but he neglects to note that only Clifford and Wolter have so connected them. In other words, the connection is fictional. The show then covers Clifford’s discovery of a chunk of lead ballast that he famously mistook for silver and here is seen declaring it to be “100% silver.” The narrator, who has the benefit of knowing that UNESCO reported that tests proved beyond doubt that the object is lead, slips qualifiers into the narration to hew a bit closer to the truth, or at least to avoid outright lying.

Clifford has Wolter in New York City investigate Capt. Kidd, operating under the mistaken idea that he has found Kidd’s horde of pirate booty. Wolter and Clifford believe that the “mysterious metal ingot,” stamped with the letters S and T, the number 95, and the letters IXB, is both silver and Masonic. Wolter calls the “T” a “triple tau,” a Masonic symbol, even though they don’t look very similar—it’s possible, but the lengths of the legs and the serifs are a bit off. Wolter also calls the lump of lead “silver” over and over again, which must be embarrassing for him. Clifford and his friends also discuss their efforts to try to hide the “silver” from potential thieves and to preserve the “Templar” evidence. “I don’t want to start some kind of a panic,” Clifford says, sharing with the world his complete devolution into conspiracy theorist.

Dr. Mark Koltko-Rivera alleges that the symbol is a triple tau, but he is not a “historian” in the professional sense as the show alleges; rather, he is by training a psychologist, a Mormon convert, and a Freemason who devotes considerable energy to mythologizing Masonry. (Oh, did they leave that out? Gee, I wonder why.) But so what? Even if all the symbols on the lead block were Masonic, they date from the 1700s, when Masonry was already in existence, so this is proof of nothing. Koltko-Rivera claims that the triple tau is actually a Greco-Latin monogram for the Temple of Jerusalem (a T and an H, for Templum Hierosolym), but his connection between this and the Templars has no evidence for it, much less Koltko-Rivera’s claim that this was actually a Templar symbol. No evidence of its use in the Middle Ages exists. The narrator relates various conspiracy connections between the Templars and the Masons, all of which were debunked in the nineteenth century, when the Masons invented those connections themselves to give themselves a mythic history to make their organization seem older than it was.

At Trinity Church in Manhattan, Koltko-Rivera shows Wolter some old documents, which Wolter identifies as “primary source documents” and enthuses that “you don’t see that” very often. This would be because Wolter does not know how to do history. The men discuss Kidd’s various financial engagements in New York City and his entrée into Manhattan’s elite, which has nothing to do with our story, but Wolter says that he learns from it that there is a difference between “legend” and “reality,” something that he immediately chooses to forget in fantasizing about Knights Templar based on nothing but modern speculation masquerading as fact. Try asking him for “primary source documents” about Templar conspiracies. Go on, try it. See how far it gets you. I can tell you from experience: Not far.

Slowly the identification of the “silver” ingot changes in the narration, no longer even “believed” to be silver, but simply “metal.” The narration is preparing the audience for disappointment but shifting the emphasis to Masonic conspiracies. The episode concludes with two different threads, which I’ll summarize in two batches rather than interweave them as the episode does.

Clifford travels to a Madagascar graveyard to look for hidden Masonic symbolism in the pirate graves. Clifford looks at an eight-pointed star (or a sun), which Clifford mistakenly asserts is a cross pattée, The eight-pointed star is a well-known symbol used in many different ways in a variety of faiths; it is not exclusive to or even closely associated with Masonry. Clifford finds more chevrons on pottery and also claims them to be Masonic squares; he once again mistakes another Maltese cross for a Templar cross pattée and declares a decorative piece of pottery to be “Templar.” The Maltese cross, ironically, was associated with the Hospitallers, the group the Freemasons originally claimed to be descended from before switching their mythic history to the Templars. Clifford imagines that he has found untold riches, but is thwarted when the Madagascar government “inexplicably” shuts down his dive before he can prove a Templar connection.

Wolter, in New York, looks at eighteenth century graves and fails to recognize that skulls and crossbones were frequent death’s head symbols on colonial graves going back to the seventeenth century; one can even make an interesting timeline showing how they gradually change over time from skulls to cherubs. Wolter correctly notes that many colonial graves have Masonic symbols, but he incorrectly concludes that death’s heads are Masonic and therefore secret proof of Masons in New York before the official establishment of American Masonry in 1733. It’s stupid beyond belief, but Wolter goes off on a tear that Capt. Kidd and his colleagues were Scottish and therefore likely to privy to the Templar-Freemason secrets of Scotland, from the time when the Templars fled to Scotland and reorganized as Masons, a claim partly contradicted by the last Templar in the British Isles, Walter de Clifton, preceptor of Northern Britain, who told papal inquisitors in 1309 that the Scottish Templars fled after the suppression of the order in 1307 (Acta Contra Templarios, in Consilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae, vol. 2, pp. 380-381). Sure, they might have hid for 400 years until reemerging as Freemasons, but you would think they might have told their friends.

S01E04: Forgotten Fortress
This episode casts the Madagascar government as villains for trying to enforce minimal standards on Clifford’s investigation. After some overhyped drama, a government observer gives them the go-ahead. This is more or less the last thing Clifford does on the show, as all attention shifts to Wolter. Wolter, now described as a “historian” again despite being an “explorer” in the last hour, is still looking for Freemasons in New York and their connection to Scotland. To do so, he’s heading to Boston, another city where Kidd operated for a time after returning from the Indian Ocean, where he had been working for the English government as a privateer. Wolter looks at documents in which Kidd tries to absolve himself of charges of piracy.

Wolter spins from this a conspiracy theory that Lord Bellemont, the English governor of Massachusetts and New York, was conspiring to knock off Kidd to seize Portuguese Templar treasure lost in the Indian Ocean! Not a word of this has any support in fact, which makes it a pretty amazing confection of falsehood.

This brings Wolter to Dighton Rock—the same rock once used to “prove” Norse involvement in the New World. Now the Native American petroglyphs are claimed to be Kidd’s treasure map and a Portuguese inscription from 1511 by Miguel Corte-Real, who had disappeared in 1502. This claim was first made in 1912 by Edmund B. Delabarre, who fantasized that the petroglyphs read (in Latin), “I, Miguel Cortereal, 1511. In this place, by the will of God, I became a chief of the Indians.” Like all historical figures associated with conspiracy theories, Corte-Real somehow lost his ability to write coherently or in normal letters the minute he left Europe. Wolter did get one thing right: Corte-Real actually was a member of the Order of Christ.
Picture
Petroglyphs chalked on Dighton Rock for clarity.
Picture
Petroglyphs selectively chalked in 1959 to support the Corte-Real hypothesis.
Wolter dismisses the Rock as a pirate treasure map, but he claims to see Delabarre’s version of the inscription on the rock. The narrator, though, throws cold water on Wolter and calls Wolter’s analysis “in no way definitive.” It seems that the producers used the narration to walk back the crazy claims and put a critical distance between the show and its cast, with narration covering but not endorsing its cast’s rampant speculation.

Wolter next examines a piece of Kidd’s treasure, cloth of gold from India, and he concludes that this means that Kidd visited Madagascar on the way back from India. Since we know Kidd operated in the Indian Ocean, I’m not sure how this is a dramatic new revelation, but it sends Wolter to Madagascar to meet up with Barry Clifford, who is using technology to scan the ships he believes to be pirate wrecks. He wants to identify one ship as a “Portuguese Templar ship,” whatever that is supposed to mean. The medieval Templars had no distinctive vessels, so I assume the show intends this to refer to sixteenth century Portuguese ships, which, again, would not necessarily have anything to do with Templars since the Portuguese spent centuries operating in the area and had a colony at Mozambique, just opposite Madagascar.

On Madagascar Wolter searches for the remains of a Portuguese outpost in the south built by Manuel de Lacerda in 1525, but Wolter identifies him as a “Portuguese Templar.” De Lacerda is so obscure, I had trouble finding anything ever written about him except in Portuguese. Wolter “finds” the impeccably maintained ruins of the fort, which has quite obviously been known and maintained by the Madagascar government. Presenting it as Wolter’s unique discovery based on geological insight is supremely ridiculous. 

60 Comments
R Lewis
9/20/2015 09:08:04 am

The last part of the episode was unbelievable. Were we really supposed to believe that SW had stumbled upon an ancient ruin - using his special limestone-sensing powers? I can't wait for next week when he "discovers" the Newport Tower and the KRS.

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javy lopez 2
9/22/2015 03:17:21 pm

There are No Words sufficient to describe the idiocy of that segment..."If I Find Limestone, I Shall Find The Lost Fort...Look, Here It Is!!" He could have at least thanked the locals for cutting the grass and clearing the undergrowth for him, to make his discovery easier....

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LOL
10/8/2015 01:42:13 am

Well I feel like Ive had a lobotomy.. I love history and the Knights Templar does make me curious of their past, but this kind of TV is the lowest form of entertainment, now after 6 episodes I'm ready for Big Brother, Survivor and Bachelor in Paradise.

Only Me
9/20/2015 09:47:11 am

When you wrote "when the Templars invented those connections themselves to give themselves a mythic history to make their organization seem older than it was", did you mean to write Masons instead?

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Jason Colavito link
9/20/2015 12:06:34 pm

I did. I fixed it. Thanks.

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Daniel T Perez
9/20/2015 11:10:34 am

I'd sure like to see Scott Wolter's curriculum vitae, because in his previous show he was a "forensic geologist" and in this fantasy he's an historian! In his world everything seems to link back to the Freemasons and therefore the Knights Templar. S.M.H.

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Only Me
9/20/2015 11:34:00 am

http://i.imgur.com/WahLrGX.jpg

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Scarecrow
9/20/2015 11:36:26 am

>>>a really crappy show<<<

Ah, never as bad as NCIS that consists of people talking to each other and looking at their computer screens.

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Dave
9/21/2015 02:37:02 pm

Ya think, Scarecrow?

By the way, I agree with you, NCIS is pretty crappy, but I do like watching Abby.

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Mike
9/20/2015 11:59:25 am

As a stone sculptor working in the monument industry, I have researched early American gravestones. The transition from skull and bones and winged sculls to winged cherubs is indeed a fascinating study. A google image search of "colonial American headstones" yields some great results.

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Jason Colavito link
9/20/2015 12:06:15 pm

When I was in school we used them as a case study in archaeology to teach seriation and how to date things by changes in style.

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spookyparadigm
9/23/2015 11:24:45 am

In case anyone is curious the core seriation test case is here, though there are more detailed later papers using such methods.

http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/plymouth/deathshead.html

Shane Sullivan
9/20/2015 03:02:53 pm

"You’d think one of them would have bought some scuba gear in the last half century or so."

Well that just makes no sense, Jason. How could they afford scuba gear when they had lost all their treasure? =P

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Salt
9/20/2015 03:18:05 pm

So, which one of these characters, including Wolter and Clifford, is Johnny Depp gonna play?

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Dave
9/21/2015 02:38:07 pm

He'll play both, because he's that talented.

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busterggi (Bob Jase)
9/20/2015 03:23:00 pm

HAH! Wolter missed the most important part - the Templars are directly descended from the Nephilim.

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Clete
9/20/2015 03:28:17 pm

I wonder only one thing about Scott Wolter anymore. He has described himself as a "Forensic Geologist", then a "Historian", then an "Explorer". When is he going to describe himself as what he really is...a moron.

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Jean Stone
9/22/2015 12:06:27 am

No, no, morons are the ones who just get their reasoning wrong. What Wolter is, clearly, is a lunatic. If I may quote Eco (whose work seems less like fiction and more a scholarly treatise the more time passes...) because it seems perfectly appropriate here:

"The lunatic on the other hand doesn’t concern himself at all with logic; he works by short circuits. For him everything proves everything else. The lunatic is all idée fixe and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars."

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Geoff D.
9/20/2015 05:20:45 pm

What's interesting is that Wolter could soon be a Templar himself! I learned from a friend who is a Minnesota freemason that Scott joined a lodge in Minnesota. Lots of MN Masons are discussing it and hoping he will join their local Templar group.

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Jason Colavito link
9/20/2015 05:28:26 pm

Wouldn't that require him to shut up about the conspiracies, since those would presumably be lodge secrets?

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Geoff D.
9/20/2015 05:37:04 pm

Good question. Not sure what secrets if any they supposedly have. It could call into question his objectivity too, now that he is an "insider.".

The troll Krampus
9/21/2015 10:34:40 am

Since we're speculating, Scott's efforts at creating more myths of the Templars may be part of his initiation and can be used to blackmail him if he defects. One way to tell if Scott is a Mason is to check how he shakes hands with other men. Because Masons have special hand shakes you know.

Babs
9/21/2015 12:27:15 am

As part of his "Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus" theory, SW produced a woman claiming to 'be' a direct descendant of the sacred family line.

OBVIOUSLY her claim 'proves' his theory about the bloodline because, after all, members of that family would 'know' who their ancestors were!

Revealing his own special heritage 'has to be' next.

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David Bradbury
9/20/2015 05:21:22 pm

Wolter is presumably being paid for his TV work (and related personal appearances) and he goes on trips to all sorts of cool places. Doesn't sound very moronic to me.

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tm
9/21/2015 01:22:47 am

I disagree. The fact that Wolter isn't dumb enough to turn down money and travel opportunities doesn't mean he isn't dumb in many other ways.

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Will
9/21/2015 08:16:54 am

David, I agree with you that it is not a bad gig for Wolter as far as the perks, and he probably likes doing it. The tradeoff is that he sees the world through a messed up lens and he doesn't seem to understand why everyone else doesn't. The things he is passionate about aren't like a Chevy vs. Ford preference thing, I mean his conspiracies are demonstrably false. JMO.

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David Bradbury
9/21/2015 03:53:27 pm

"he sees the world through a messed up lens and he doesn't seem to understand why everyone else doesn't"

If it was "everyone else" he'd have a problem- but so long as it's only "everyone who has any reasonable understanding of the topic" he's fine.

Joe Scales
9/21/2015 10:59:38 am

You would think a professional geologist would recognize UNESCO's findings accepted by the Madagascar government concerning the hunk of lead they're parading around as "treasure".

As for making a buck, Wolter had better hope his fringe career doesn't falter as he is no longer a credible expert witness for his petrographic services. Attorneys will have a field day with him on cross-examination given his mendacity has no bounds and is well documented.

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spookyparadigm
9/21/2015 10:38:03 pm

First thing I thought of. He literally had one job ...

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Annie Tasher
9/21/2015 12:55:39 pm

Here is what I never understand. I never understand people who attack others they disagree with. It seems to be ugly people who scream the loudest. Probably because they spent most of their childhood being picked on. It is a pattern. If you do not agree put up your theories and discuss them. But to take whole blog entries to attack people is really small and sad. You really can not do anything real so you tear down others who try. It is one of the oldest attacks in the world and you could not lift yourself up to create something new so you tear down others. Maybe they are wrong. So what. New can come from wrong ideas but nothing comes from slinking down into a gutter to say...look at them. I see from your picture that the first part of my statement is accurate. I am sure it rings true. So perhaps you can go forward and be better and take down the posts slamming others you disagree with. Small minds rarely evolve though.

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Brontosaurus
9/21/2015 01:11:13 pm

I completely agree with what you're saying. Scott Wolter can really be a jerk, and I'm glad you have the courage to post what we've all thought at one point.
Oh wait, who are we talking about again? ;)

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Steve StC
9/27/2015 08:51:51 pm

I agree Annie. Jason looks a lot like a turtle, doesn't he ?? !!

Only Me
9/28/2015 04:47:27 am

That jab would hurt more, Steve, if everyone wasn't distracted by your monstrous forehead. Too bad its only purpose is to prevent your ears from slapping together.

Only Me
9/21/2015 01:16:04 pm

Hey, Annie. Will you be posting this same comment to Scott Wolter's blog?

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javy lopez2
9/21/2015 02:04:57 pm

Annie: It's not an attack to point out that what someone is saying is factually inaccurate, or that their presentation has serious flaws. Stating that a symbol, which "looks like a triple-Tau (? spelling hopefully correct!)", automatically therefore IS a triple-Tau, and that because the triple-Tau is a symbol of freemasonry, and some freemasons claim that their organization is descended from the Templars (a claim with no basis in fact), that therefore the lump of "metal" (originally claimed to be silver, even though it appears to be lead) incised with this symbol MUST be connected to the Templar Lost Treasure (which almost definitely never even existed, and is capitalized by me, just because I feel like it) is a ridiculous claim to make. If Scot Wolter wants to hold these views, privately, that's his business; but if he insists on stating them on television, then he should either be able to defend them (which he quite obviously can't, as he has no evidence) or expect to be debunked. I don't see anything "small" or "sad" about that; it's just business.

Here's an alternate explanation, which is just as valid as Scot's theory: The lump of lead was incised with the Master's Mark of the artisan who cast it; this individual was a Freemason, so used the triple-Tau as well as the elongated-"S" mark as proof of performance; the ingot, cast in the late-17th century, was carried on the (unidentified) ship being investigated, as both ballast and as a source of material for the casting of musket and pistol balls (a fairly common practice of the time, I believe), and was in the hold when the ship burned and sank. So, 1) it's not any older than the wreck itself, and 2) it's got nothing to do with the Templars, or the Freemasons in general; just with the man who cast it.

I like my theory better; but if you want to debunk it, I'm willing to listen to your counter theory.

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Tony
9/21/2015 02:13:00 pm

It's called "criticism," Annie Tasher, and it's been around for quite a while. As for going on the attack, unlike Jason's review, in which he provides many specific reasons why he considers "Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar" to be shoddy work (to say the least), your own comment is nothing but an ad hominem attack.

O irony, where is they sting?

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Tony
9/21/2015 06:14:59 pm

Oops, I meant to write "thy," not "they." (Whoever THEY are. Hmmm.)

Joe Scales
9/21/2015 04:45:51 pm

"Here is what I never understand."

It's quite obvious Arnie, that there' quite a bit you don't understand. So coming here and calling people "ugly" or fantasizing that they must have been picked on as children is your preferred method of debate? Wolter and his ilk are poisoning the well of knowledge; using widely available media to bypass the academic community for pure profit, knowing that their ideas are wholly fraudulent.

It would be nice to debate Wolter on equal footing, but he will not allow that as he cannot defend his ideas without maintaining control of the mute button. So we're left picking his shows apart for exactly what they are. Excrement. Fit for idiots. So take a big bite Arnie. It's all for you.

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The troll Krampus
9/21/2015 05:08:13 pm

Can't stop laughing at the last line you typed,Joe Scales. LMAO

John
9/22/2015 09:28:03 pm

@ Joe Scales

That is perhaps the most erudite and subtle way I have ever seen anyone telling an idiot to "Eat Shit." That's genius Joe.

Clint Knapp
9/21/2015 05:00:49 pm

Let's be honest, here. You assume Jason "tears down others who try" because he was picked on as a child? Show me one person who wasn't, and I'll show you a person with a delusional sense of self-history.

The sort of person who say: claims anyone out to criticize him has "jock envy" because he played a little bit of college football, or claims an Honorary Masters on his professional resume from a university which has no record of such awarding because it wasn't real at all - just an anecdote about having a cup of coffee with his former professors, or the type of person who takes one look at a man's picture on his own blog and declares the rightness of their assumption he was picked on.

Further, please reference the fact this is an episode review of a TV show, not a breakdown of every little stupid thing Scott Wolter or Barry Clifford have ever said or done in the public forum. For that, you'd have to go rooting around the rest of the blog past all of the stuff critiquing Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, Erik von Daniken, Giorgio Tsoukalos, the Vieira brothers, UFOlogy, gigantology, bigfoot, Ancient Aliens (and its permutations throughout popular fringe culture), and frankly so many other topics and individuals I can't even list them here or I'd get nothing else done today.

Let us not neglect mountains of primary source materials either linked to or translated by his own hand and frequent putting forth of other theories and explanations for most of the stuff he critiques (without having to stoop to world-spanning-almight-Templar-Jesus-descendent conspiracies across space and time to do it).

But hey, I'm just a guy who's been reading this blog for three years and can tell the difference between a personal attack and intellectual criticism. What do I know? Probably just another of those "picked on", "jock envy" nerds with nothing better to offer, right?

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Shane Sullivan
9/21/2015 10:13:55 pm

Annie, your comment would be offensive to my sensibilities if I weren't 100% certain you were struggling to deal with the revelation that the object of your worship/fetishization is a paranoid, wilfully ignorant manchild. It's no fun to have an idol's shortcomings revealed, but it's hardly fair to blame Jason for that.

I know you're probably in a dark place right now, but let's try to be adults, here, okay?

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Pam
9/21/2015 11:00:46 pm

Annie,
It's obvious you lack familiarity with this blog. It's also evident that you don't see the irony of doing the very thing to others that you are bemoaning in your post.

You could benefit from the articles posted on this site.

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John
9/22/2015 09:31:04 pm

Don't be making fun of other people just because you're insecure about your own intelligence level.

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Day Late and Dollar Short
9/21/2015 02:13:06 pm

"It seems to be ugly people who scream the loudest. Probably because they spent most of their childhood being picked on. It is a pattern."

That is a fucked up sentiment. You're a horrible human being.

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Tony
9/21/2015 02:37:58 pm

I look forward to a future episode wherein Wolter deciphers dozens, if not hundreds, of possible anagrammatic clues about Templars and Masons hidden in the name of Madagascar's current president, Hery Martial Rakotoarimanana Rajaonarimampianina.

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Javy Lopez 2
9/22/2015 10:29:50 am

I decided to watch episode 4 last night, because I couldn't believe that it could be as bad as Jason's review reported it, but it....was. Scot's whole scenario, where, he "finds" a "lost fortress" by using his geological sleuthitude (? if that's not a real word, it should be!) to creep through a jungle, until he amazingly finds himself in a (well-maintained!) ruin which he "knows" was built by "Portuguese Templars" is probably the single stupidest thing I have ever seen him do or claim. I still can't understand the whole underlying premise; it seems he is making the case that the Templars spent hundreds of years with no other purpose than to hide mounds of secret treasure in obscure places, and then left it there for Scot to one day discover. Even if any of his ruminations about secret societies was true, wouldn't there have to be a "why?" to all these hundreds of years of effort? Like, an ordination ceremony, where the aged Master tells his new recruits, "Congratulations, my son; you have survived the deadly perils, and now I entrust you with this sacred task; thou must diggest a deepest hole and buriest yonder treasure." Even in conspiracy fantasy, is there no underlying assumption that the subjects were rational actors?

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Jason Colavito link
9/22/2015 10:55:38 am

If you believe Scott Wolter, they did it all to hide the truth about Jesus' children, and to carry on a cult of "monotheistic dualism" by means of promoting "sacred geometry."

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Javy Lopez 2
9/22/2015 11:26:07 am

Ya; I get that part; but that seems to be a contradiction; if the "treasure" is a bloodline, then no need to dig holes to bury it in, several hundred years after the fact. And if it's a real treasure, as this version of his story seems to be promoting, then didn't anyone ever say, "Hey, burying this stuff is stupid. Let's spend some of it on strippers and beer"?

And, although I'm sure you know this ((it's just so blatantly obvious, you wouldn't need to say it), Jerusalem as a city was constantly occupied for thousands of years; and was one of the main centers of Christianity under Byzantine rule, which lasted for hundreds of years before the Muslims conquered it; are the conspiracy theorists really so daft as to believe that those clever, religion-minded Byzantines, including their Patriarch of Jerusalem, "neglected" to ever look at the site of Solomon's Temple, leaving it to a pack of Frankish Knights to have the initiative to explore and find something that's theoretically been there for centuries? It's not as if Jerusalem was some version of The Lost City of Opar,,,That theory is just......Nuts.

Dave
9/22/2015 01:50:58 pm

I think the producers and "theorists" like Scott Wolter of these programs are operating with the underlying assumption that they have no rational viewers.

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Javy Lopez 2
9/22/2015 02:24:01 pm

Too funny...and Too True! And, I have to admit, Scott's antics are truly Comedy Gold! ("I found the Lost Fort of the Templars...one more test....does the rock react to hydrochloric acid?...Why, Yes It Does! Proof Positive that the Templars Built IT!!!! I am truly Changing History!") I'm paraphrasing a little, of course,,,but goodness, such Drama!!!

Joe Scales
9/22/2015 07:17:19 pm

That Clifford would choose to do a show with the likes of Wolter, only confirms the loss of the former's credibility. I know I've written this before, but I used to believe Wolter was a clever, but fraudulent huckster, poseur and pretender. Now I'm certain that clever doesn't play into the equation at all. He's simply an idiot, manipulated by his producers, maybe even his wife perhaps. There's just nothing in there.

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Javy Lopez 2
9/23/2015 08:04:06 am

Clever enough to make a buck at this; but I agree, when it comes to his understanding of science, history, and/or archaeology, there's definitely no "there" there. And it's such a shame, because with just a little bit of introspection and self-awareness, this could be a really fun show. It would still be silly and fantastical, but entertaining. That would require Scott to accurately distinguish between facts and whimsy, and not take himself so seriously - the two things I fear he is incapable of doing.

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Joe Scales
9/23/2015 10:59:50 am

Oh, this new show is fun, but in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 kind of way. Perhaps I could send my added commentary to Comedy Central to see if they'll pick it up.

B L
9/24/2015 02:28:55 pm

The ONE thing I've learned from this show?.....

There are several hilarious ways to pronounce the word "Madagascar".

Reply
Lou Ellen
9/26/2015 11:39:35 pm

I found this blog awhile back looking for information about Scott Wolter and his theories. I'm fascinated by the utter gall he shows when he intros America Unearthed and says "everything you've learned about American history is wrong." Everything!!! Wow, ever since that day I have watched with complete disbelief each episode delving into conspiracies, etc. And now this Pirate Treasure show is just the icing on the cake. I am unfortunately completely drawn in now to the absurdity of it all and can't wait to see what is coming next. Why in the world is Wolter so hooked on the Templars and all that DaVinci code type stuff? I wonder what his childhood was like.
And Episode 4 he "discovers" an old fort?? A well-maintained ruin that somebody found centuries ago??
What is Wolter going to explore next?? I thought that Clifford was a reputable ocean explorer/diver. What is he doing on this show??

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An Over-Educated Grunt, PE
9/30/2015 02:35:52 pm

"If I can find limestone" in Madagascar is the most ridiculous, disingenuous statement a geologist can make. Madagascar is one giant karstic formation - it's a gigantic limestone sponge. The parts that aren't limestone are swiss-cheese holes bored by water. It's notorious for its limestone ridges sharp enough to cut flesh on, and the limestone is part of what makes the island such a challenging place to live. To find limestone, you literally have to fall on your face somewhere on the island. His "geologic insights" boil down to "there is a Madagascar."

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Marnie1ab
2/3/2016 02:32:06 am

I have been reading these comments for half an hour and laughing my butt off. Better than the show. Only seriously scary thing is the amount of people who will b convinced because its on tv.

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Professor
2/25/2016 08:55:38 pm

So many experts!

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Ricardo Venâncio
3/1/2016 08:34:33 am

"Manuel de Lacerda, departs for the orient in 1506. it took part of the conquest of Goa with "the great" Afonso de Albuquerque. After disagreements with Albuquerque it becomes in charge of enforce the law against pirates in the Arabic Sea. in 1511 becomes supreme comander of the fleet in India, while Albuquerque conquers Malaca (in today Malasia).1520 named captain of calicut fortress, then in 1523 captain of Goa fortress. in 1527 named again supreme comander of the fleet in India but his ships wrecks (i think in mozambique) and his destiny uncertain. This is a small translation of this New University of Lisbon Document (http://www.fcsh.unl.pt/cham/eve/content.php?printconceito=1056)

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      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • 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
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • 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
        • 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
        • 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
        • 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
      • 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
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
      • James Dean, The Human Ashtray
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
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