Re: The Grail in America -- History Channel and Scott Wolter

On 21 Sep, 17:14, Tom McDonald <kilt...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
OK, I'll start. This is not intended to be any sort of complete
discussion, but rather a discussion-starter.

Sunday night, the History Channel premiered the two-hour program, "The
Grail in America", apparently based on Wolter's work on the KRS, and
especially the hooked X rune. Nothing much in the show, taken piece by
piece, is particularly new to the scarred veterans of the KRS wars.

Most here know that I am skeptical that the KRS is an authentic 14th
century artifact. I will add another confession. When I read 'Chariots
of the Gods' in college, I noticed how von Daniken would raise a
possible interpretation of a piece of evidence on one page, as a
'could it be that. . . ', and then several pages later would take that
piece of evidence as proven, and built the next step of his argument
on that 'proven' piece.

I have been wary of that sort of process since then, and actually find
it intellectually repulsive.

'The Grail in America' does not rise (or sink) to that von Daniken
level of duplicitous house of cards process. But it does throw up all
sorts of evidence, of greater or lesser worth (and in some cases of no
worth at all), and wonder whether, if this big pile of assumptions and
interpretations of evidence are right, this means there is some
'there' there. Few alternative interpretations are given, and the
clear thrust of the program is to the sensational.

The show begins with Ohman grubbing a tree with his sons. You know
what happened next.

The show doesn't look at any other possible forger than Ohman. The
show ends with an Ohman descendant, teary eyed, saying the work done
by Wolter and others exonerates Ohman. Interestingly, the show
mentions the Larson rune pages prominently, but only to tie in the
Templars with the Freemasons, not to suggest a possible chain of
knowledge of some of the odd runes on the KRS going back to some other
possible forger.

I will not leave you in suspense. The Grail? With much hemming and
hawing and 'perhaps's' and 'could it be's' -- it may be the United
States of America itself. The Grail as ideal of human freedom,
especially religious freedom. And boy howdy, would a little religious
freedom been useful the Templars in 14th century France!

As I see it, and as the program appears to see it, the strongest
evidence for the authenticity of the KRS is its age. I think Wolter's
work, as much as I am wary of it, is pretty solid on its face. The
secondary evidence, of the two dates on the stone, one apparently in a
medieval cypher, is interesting but less compelling to me.

I find some of Wolter's other ideas less compelling. The worst bit for
me was his apparently uncritical acceptance of the Burrows Cave
artifacts as likely actual Egyptian stuff. He points out that the
region of southern Illinois where the cave is found is called "Little
Egypt", and suggests that that moniker might have come from a memory
of Egyptians having been there and buried stuff. While the show shows
someone else suggesting that the artifacts may have a more recent
date, the images of the artifacts and the stature (in the program) of
Wolter seem to me to overwhelm the protestations of possible forgery.

On a more level-headed note, Wolter does not take the 'Westford
Knight' as a depiction of a knight, but rather a sword with a pattern
of natural rock fractures and scratches that some see as a knight.

There is some discussion of stone holes. While the show does appear to
suggest that the idea of them as mooring holes is unworkable, it does
note a pattern of stone holes on the Ohman farm that, if connected in
a certain way, produces three lines that converge on the KRS find-
site. They show a map of the holes, and I don't recall whether all of
the holes are connected, or whether some holes were not chosen for
lines. And, of course, I don't know whether, if the stone holes exist
as advertised, whether they are the only stone holes on the farm, or
were selected to prove a point. Someone out there surely knows!

There was one bit that I don't recall exactly, but which comes from
the east coast of the US of A. It might be in the Masonic layout of
Washington DC, or it might be one of the New England bits of evidence
-- perhaps the Newport Tower. In any case, an alignment of the
whatever appears, if extended about 1500 miles west, to point to
Kensington, Minnesota.

Oh, and the KRS voyage was one of acquisition not discovery, and was
designed to claim property. The KRS was a property claim to nearly all
of eastern North America except the southeast. To include all the
lands drained by the Mississippi and Red Rivers, and all of Canada
from the Hudson Bay drainage to the Atlantic.

Maybe. Almost all of the show, as I wrote, is based on 'if (some
questionable claim), then (some dramatic further claim)'.

The program will be aired on the History Channel in the US three times
next Sunday, September 27: at midnight, 7 pm and 11 pm Central
Daylight Time (UT -5). I suspect the show is or will be available on
DVD from the History Channel, though I have not checked on that.

I have recorded it, and may review it if the discussion requires it.

Oh, ***. Let the games begin.

Wonder if this is or is not the only
hooked x in the Rosslyn Chapel.


http://www.coasttocoastam.com/photo/ancient-world/40375

JT
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