Feb 4, 2021 01:44 AM
(This post was last modified: Feb 4, 2021 01:44 AM by C C.)
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-...stery-hill
EXCERPTS: I became aware of the place [Mystery Hill] at the age of nine, watching In Search of... the classic 1970s TV show [...] The episode featured commentary by Hans Holzer, parapsychologist and expert on phantoms and poltergeists. Apparently, Holzer also studied archaeology and ancient languages. Who knew? He confidently declared that markings on a stone at Mystery Hill — which looked an awful lot like scrapes from a farmer's plow, but never mind — were evidence of ancient Phoenicians in New Hampshire, centuries before the first European colonists.
[...] in 1977 I finally convinced my parents to visit Mystery Hill, located in Salem (but not that Salem). The stone chambers were spooky; here and there various rocks jutted from the ground at odd and unnatural angles. I was especially riveted by the so-called sacrificial table, a multi-ton slab with strange channels carved around the stone sides...
Breathless travel writers and the destination's website itself describe the area as a maze [...] the kind of place one might venture into and never return. Although the site does sit on 30 acres of woodland, most of the stone structures occupy a comparatively small area. And while there are indeed winding paths and subterranean chambers dotting the landscape, it's no maze. You would have to be supremely inattentive or obtuse to get lost there.
[...] All we know for sure about the early history of the site is that it served as a homestead and a rock quarry in the 19th century, and that Native Americans were once active there, possibly for centuries. Nevertheless, amateur researchers, New Age devotees and the current owners continue to support the belief that America's Stonehenge's features are as old as 4,000 years, were built by prehistoric European visitors, and may even have some connection to the people who built Stonehenge on England's Salisbury Plain. In fact, the only link between America's Stonehenge and the real thing is the name itself, and that bit of rebranding didn't occur until the 1980s...
[...] "There are no European artifacts such as metals or pottery at the site," Curtis Runnels says. "There are no European artifacts anywhere in North America dating to 2,000-4,000 years ago." In short, whatever happened on the ridge at Mystery Hill is not known for certain, but, Runnels adds, "Based on the available evidence — rather than unsupported conjecture — the various stone arrangements on the site were constructed by owners of the property in the 19th and 20th centuries and have no connection to prehistoric Europe."
[...] Does that mean Mystery Hill isn't worth a visit? Well, I wouldn't go that far. It's still a diverting walk in the woods — if you have kids, you could do worse than getting them out in nature in a place that is full of curiosities. [...] if I had any advice for the current curators, it's this: Stick with the original name. Your hill is no Stonehenge, but it still holds plenty of mystery... (MORE - details)
YTravelBlog at America's Stonehenge - WARNING: legit tour of site, but caters to its folklore
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/3xbQRxEDIu0
EXCERPTS: I became aware of the place [Mystery Hill] at the age of nine, watching In Search of... the classic 1970s TV show [...] The episode featured commentary by Hans Holzer, parapsychologist and expert on phantoms and poltergeists. Apparently, Holzer also studied archaeology and ancient languages. Who knew? He confidently declared that markings on a stone at Mystery Hill — which looked an awful lot like scrapes from a farmer's plow, but never mind — were evidence of ancient Phoenicians in New Hampshire, centuries before the first European colonists.
[...] in 1977 I finally convinced my parents to visit Mystery Hill, located in Salem (but not that Salem). The stone chambers were spooky; here and there various rocks jutted from the ground at odd and unnatural angles. I was especially riveted by the so-called sacrificial table, a multi-ton slab with strange channels carved around the stone sides...
Breathless travel writers and the destination's website itself describe the area as a maze [...] the kind of place one might venture into and never return. Although the site does sit on 30 acres of woodland, most of the stone structures occupy a comparatively small area. And while there are indeed winding paths and subterranean chambers dotting the landscape, it's no maze. You would have to be supremely inattentive or obtuse to get lost there.
[...] All we know for sure about the early history of the site is that it served as a homestead and a rock quarry in the 19th century, and that Native Americans were once active there, possibly for centuries. Nevertheless, amateur researchers, New Age devotees and the current owners continue to support the belief that America's Stonehenge's features are as old as 4,000 years, were built by prehistoric European visitors, and may even have some connection to the people who built Stonehenge on England's Salisbury Plain. In fact, the only link between America's Stonehenge and the real thing is the name itself, and that bit of rebranding didn't occur until the 1980s...
[...] "There are no European artifacts such as metals or pottery at the site," Curtis Runnels says. "There are no European artifacts anywhere in North America dating to 2,000-4,000 years ago." In short, whatever happened on the ridge at Mystery Hill is not known for certain, but, Runnels adds, "Based on the available evidence — rather than unsupported conjecture — the various stone arrangements on the site were constructed by owners of the property in the 19th and 20th centuries and have no connection to prehistoric Europe."
[...] Does that mean Mystery Hill isn't worth a visit? Well, I wouldn't go that far. It's still a diverting walk in the woods — if you have kids, you could do worse than getting them out in nature in a place that is full of curiosities. [...] if I had any advice for the current curators, it's this: Stick with the original name. Your hill is no Stonehenge, but it still holds plenty of mystery... (MORE - details)
YTravelBlog at America's Stonehenge - WARNING: legit tour of site, but caters to its folklore