Knossos Palace and legend of the Minotaur.

Long ago this great Minoan city and palace of King Minos existed as a victorious and celebrated nation of Crete. Being an island off the main land of Greece it won victorious battles against Greece and legend has it that the half man half bull monster who lived in the centre of a vast set of tunnels under the city called the Labyrinth was the Minotaur.

Firstly we talk about what this legend tells us. That war won by King Minos against King Aegeus of Athens is the focus point as to why we know anything of Knossos at all. It forms the way Greek myths would grow into legends we talk of today. Name we still mention and stories loved by all who read them.

Minos demanded each year 14 youths of equal number of young men and women to be sent by ship to feed the monster that was said to be a deformed son of this King. Half bull with the legs of a man who had the brain of a human and the utter strength of a bull.

Not happy with this transaction it is said that the only son of King Aegeus Prince Theseus demanded to go with the unfortunate few to Crete and so by doing slaughter the Minotaur and finish connection with Crete for good. His father told he would wait and if the black sails turned to white on his return a great feast would be made for he would then know long before the ship docked his son was alive and victorious.

Aided by Minos own daughter the kind heart lovely Ariadne, Theseus finally manages to cut the monsters head off  and the death throw of this mighty beast brought down the mountain on the city and its Royal palace and finally finish the Minoan civilization

On Theseus return he forgot to change the sails and his  father the King fearing the worse jumped over the cliff onto the rocks below and killed himself in grief.

We now jump the many centuries up to the discovery of Knossos Palace.

For thousands of years nothing remained in Crete of this great city. Under mountains of earth and rock Sir Arthur Evans from Hertfordshire England and Oxford University archeology department set his goal to clear up a mystery. It was an effort that took years from 1900 after the discovery that it might be Knossos by Minos Kalokaines in 1878.  Evens finally gave us back a lost world and the palace in 1900s.Without his devotion and Determined  manner one can say no more of this wonderful place would ever have come to light

In 1700 BC this city was covered totally with what may record a land slide brought about by earth quake  or was it attack as in the legend? Well! Evans found the Labyrinth system and may be even signs that a monster bull lived in the tunnels. If it was a mighty bull the story would grow to make this creature more than just a monster as its a Greek way to tell a good story about Gods and hero and mighty monsters.

Many such as this legend are  based on fact. The Minotaur did exist in the tunnels below this palace. what this monster was is not clear but we say a mighty bull is more than guesswork. .Or even mis shaped lion.

In 1971 I was lucky to go and see this marvel of restoration by Sir Arthur Evans who lived from 1851 -1941. I walked from inside a wonderful bath room into the Labyrinth entrance but only a short tunnel was dug back out. One could feel the bull run as real even in a tunnel about 120 feet long. I have been told that now all that system is open for inspection at this site in Crete. A place to be proud of as the Minoan capital. it has one of the oldest histories in Europe and more than one story. If you recall this King Minos had a problem with gold, another good story.

Part of ancient wall

Sir Arthur Evans who paid for the dig himself on a hunch he had found the Minoan palace. Not fully trained he had written many articles on Minoan text. He was knighted for his life long devotion to find the city and palace.  Against all odds he kept on digging in that true English way that gives us worlds of hope.

S  Throne room

The inner most part of the Labyrinth and cave where the monster bull lived.

My hope is to return and see the expanded renovations and the Labyrinth as it was. A great story and now proof that in fact much of this tale holds fact. So less of a mystery more a shrine to mans story His story, HISTORY it is.

i hope one day you too see Greece as a nation of history makers and not the slide into poverty we see today.

Yours with love Sir Kevin.

 

Copyright Kevin Parr Bt 2018.

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Codex. Beinecke MS 408. Voynich manuscript mystery case.

We have heard of Bletchley Park code breakers that during World War I broke Hitlers

secret war codes to help win an evil war. This Voynich manuscript was found IN Northern Italy in 1912 by Polish antique book collector Wilfred Voynich.  It refuses to be code broken by world experts and is 15th century hand written and illustrated  manuscript carbon dated to 1400-1438. The whole work of 234 pages is hand written on to vellum.

It seems to be totally have  been indecipherable left to professional code breakers and history scholars scratching their heads.  It is believed by many to have belonged to Tudor Alchemist and occultist John Dee ,the legendary scientist to Queen Elizabeth 11 of England.

The luminated pictures and many illustrations bear witness to medical recipes that may heal the anatomical body. Some therefore believe the manuscript book deals only with eternal life. Therefore it is protected by secret codes.

The painting of naked women treading in a bath is Jewish tradition with the bath called Mikvah which goes back over 2000 years.  If the original script was in Hebrew as many have arrived at in search. Now one really knows what value this book holds. Roger Bacon the English writer owned the book at one time. We know for certain this beautiful book was treasured by The Holy Emperor Rudolf 11 as he had paid 600 gold Ducats for it. That sum today is around 90000 dollars.

In 2016 research into anagram coded text written in this unknown language presented what was thought to be the definable breakthrough. A lecture expert eventually came to the conclusion that one day a bloodless machine will crack the code over night.  When Umberto Eco visited Yale university all he asked for was to see the Voynich manuscript for real  He then said “The evil beauty of the Voynich manuscript is that it holds a mirror up to our souls”.

The Alberta University used anagram to come up with the language being old Hebrew. Professor Greg Konrak brought in Hebrew speaker Professor Moshe Koppel who picked out words from ancient script saying “She made recommendations to the priest, man of the house,and to me and the people.” Strange unhinged sentence to me but accepted by many as correct. No one other word since had been announced. I rest on this as it is anyone guess if correct. As Bletchley code breakers failed to crack it in 1945 I doubt all attempts as false until proved.

for 600 years this work has compelled man to see beyond it but all have failed. A code or codes intertwined wrapped in an ancient language had confused the greatest minds right up to today. What really is the message this book holds? Could it really be a hoax with no code attached ? Well! millions of believers in this codex would never agree with that.

We wait to see what will be the case in future years as no code was ever made that cant be broken unless man did not write it? Now we step into the real unknown.

Another example of coding can be found in England. It is the Shepard Monument. It was built around 1763. Called by locals in its native Staffordshire and inscribed with code that over 250 years no one has ever been able to decode it. the word is DOUOSVAVVM, if you feel a challenge coming on try it for size. It is engraved in stone across the front of this monument. 

As far as the Voynich manuscript is concerned I think the work in Alberta uni may one day come very near to decoding all the words. If so well and good as for all the fuss may be it is but a garden herb book with recipes. May be the ladies book of healing properties rather than the elixir of life.  If it had anything to do with the legendary John Dee than it could even be something worth having. Until we crack the code to be able to read it, it will remain a world mystery for ever.

Thank you all for your attention again on these cases. I did find this book is now for sale in print of Amazon. For all you crossword fans why not try to be the first in the world to read it, understand it and prove yourself with the world who failed at every attempt. Sound good ,I wish you luck as I could not make sense of if myself. Looks like 6 languages folded into one then every third word coded, but what do I know. Nothing .If world war two code breakers gave up on it what hope have I of cracking it. Out there someone must be good enough to see through this and open the eyes of the world to their name.

Yours faithfully Sir Kevin.

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Copyright Kevin Parr Bt 2018

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the occult

Gardner

The world in the summer of 1917 was upturned by World War. The little silent

village of Cottingley was just an area on the edge of the city Bradford, in the county of Yorkshire. Yet it was to be famed all over the world through the action of two young girls.
Come with me now to the garden were young Frances Griffiths aged 9 from South Africa and her cousin Elsie Wright aged 16 are taking photographs of fairies at the bottom of Elsie familys long garden. She had taken her fathers new camera out of his hobby darkroom and suddenly the lie broke loose on an unsuspecting world.

Elsies father did not believe but his wife Polly did. The five photographs taken can be seen above .They have been cleaned up with modern technology and we may see what we see more clearly than from the originals.

A mystery it was and perhaps still may be but not in the way of judgement. a child trick that took the world by storm. You see how it worked in the sadness of war the hope these photos brought to millions of a better world than ours hidden in the banks of a gentle stream and woodland setting. Perhaps they wanted it all to be true and so we now tell the story as we progress into the past.

Elsies mother took a long look at her daughters work and decided it was really magic. So much so she took the photos with her to a meeting of the Theosophical  Society. A group of dedicated explorers into the unexplained. Not a load of silly old folk but what became the nucleus of a universal brotherhood of humanity . Run by a writer named Edward Gardner who accepted the photos at first glance as real. He then borrowed the work to display with his lectures on the occult. His way with  words sold the people the right to believe in another more peaceful world than ever mankind could live in. A curtain over the horror of war.

Enter our stage Sherlock Holmes creator Doctor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Gardner had shown photographs taken of Fairies playing with two girls in a woodland setting. Doyle, an occultist spiritualist believed the photos stood as real proof at last, that another world ran parallel with ours. That was enough to start the ball rolling.

Doyle was on tour so he sent Gardner a message to bring in expert help. Gardner found photo expert Harold Snelling who was famous for spotting false and trick photography. This expert then pronounced to the world that the said photographs had not been faked and stood up as real.  Here we can stop as years roll by. 1921 Doyle is planning a book on the occult and recalls the fairy photos. He sends in Clairvoyant renown  Geoffrey Hodson. A man that Doyle had dealings with and seemed to trust.

What happened then was shocking as after he spent time with the girls in Cottingley Leeds he returned to Undershaw House in Hindshead Surrey  and the home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Hodson declared that like these girls ,he himself saw the garden full of fairy life. Doyle was delighted and planned a series of talks on the occult using proof from the photos.He was entirely taken in hook line and sinker as a believer in fairies, elf, goblin and Gnomes.

Doyle made a good income from his lectures including the passage of proof that fairies existed as his big finish.He even had a book published on the subject.

Leaving that period of time behind we now roll fast forward to the year 1982 and we are able to witness a BBC interview presented by Joe Cooper with both Elsie and Frances as two old ladies on the subject of fairy photographs. It related to an article in The Unexplained Magazine as Elsie had admitted she had falsified all five fairy photographs from artwork painted by Frances cut out from stiff cardboard and pined into the ground for photoing. It caused a sensation I recall.

Frances had a book by Arthur Shepperson who wrote in  Princess Marys Gift book which bore many fairy drawings within its pages. From this Frances, a talented artist had painted just what would look life like. The girls then cut them all out, pasted onto board and there we have it, photos via a camera in the hands of two young forgers.

A lie that would have ruined Doyle reputation .Have brought down Gardner and that dishonest clairvoyant in seconds. But then in 1983 not one of them mentioned were around to be laughed at.

What a lie can do is beyond belief but is never the less true.Some Six people affected and for nearly 70 years two world wars and up to the 1980s five black and white photographs taken by children who with guile and devilment brought us a world beyond our own. Only to admit their guilt on air 67 year later.

We look at the photos today and cannot see how so many millions of people could have been fooled. Was it a generation that needed hope, wanted magic and prepared to accept as fact utter nonsense? Or is that our clean up of those photographs show us far more than the soft, slightly out of focus, tinted originals.Photographs that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle held close to his eyes and unlike his Sherlock Homes character was totally taken in by the case of fantasy.

Perhaps we all hope for better worlds even now. I would be sorry for fairies in a world of today myself. I cannot say we are alone on earth but for most of us fairy tales really are just that.

A mystery cleared by the dismissal of a lie from the mouths of the guilty.

Thank you for your support in reading a tale that made the world sit up and listen to. Over a vast period of time 101 years, for many more than will admit all was truth and fairies did exist.  For three generations it was fact for some 45% of the population.The proof lay in those photographs.

The work by Conan Doyle was first publish in 1922 by Hodder and Stoughton London England. Entitled The Coming of the Fairies. It remains in circulation even today. In the pages of this book all five faked photos appear as Doyle used them as his big fact that fairies are at the bottom of your garden. He believed right up to his death. What power that lie did have to travel through from Leeds across the globe and exits for 101 years. Now that is the only mystery . As for Sherlock Holmes he would have spotted the fake and marked it as a case for Watson to write up. Not so his able creator. The first mentioned detective was penned far earlier by Edgar A Poe with inspector Dupin stories. The first real detective came after Doyle Sherlock Holmes first appearance in the London Strand Newspapers with Jack Whicher OF Scotland Yard 1880s who was a real human being not an invented character.

Copyright Kevin Parr Bt 2018

 

Jack Whicher

 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle