2) Nazi interest in the occult. This is fairly well known (and a frequent source of speculation), with characters like Himmler, Ravenscroft and others fascinated with the legends of an ancient race of Supermen hiding away in the Himalayas or other remote areas. Expeditions were sent to the poles in search of entranceways to find these members of the Thule race, seeking legendary sources of power and hidden bases such as Shamballa.
3) HAARP. The High-altitude Active Aural Research Program has been called 'The Moby Dick' of conspiracy theories. (And I'm not the first author to use it as a plot point). HAARP has been blamed for triggering a number of catastrophes, including the earthquakes in Haiti, Peru, Japan and the Philippines; tsunamis, hurricanes, the downing of aircraft, chronic fatigue syndrome and even mind control. I'm not making any judgment on the program, which I'm sure from their published documents and their website, has added a tremendous amount of valuable research to the scientific community, but… it's hard to look at its history without seeing the potential at least, for something more just research going on up there: its deep and often secret connections with the Department of Defense, the Army, the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Agency–and most notably, its early patents (now public) related to the facility's potential, which include potential for weather alteration, creating beams of power, disrupting communication systems and even causing 'nuclear-sized explosions without radiation'. A number of books and articles have been written on the program, and a simple Web search will yield more background—and at least, interesting reading.
4) The Statue of Liberty. Its colorful history is as I've depicted here, including the base's similarity to the Pharos Lighthouse, and its original intention to serve as a lighthouse itself (although never quite achieving that purpose due to technological shortcomings). The original torch is on display as you walk in—but I wouldn't advise snooping around down there.
5) The theories about the great antiquity of the Sphinx, the Great Pyramid as a weapon, and the labyrinth under the Giza plateau are also abundant, with Herodotus being a source for the legends about the Pyramid being built by a 'Shepherd King', and standing over an underground complex of great mystery and power. Many authors (such as Joseph P. Farrell and Zecharia Sitchin) have extensively decoded myths and researched the possibility that the Pyramid could have been used as a devastating weapon or source of power.
6) The great statues of Bamian, Afghanistan ('The Imperishable Witnesses') were indeed destroyed by the Taliban, and hopefully will be rebuilt. And yes there are legends that the monks didn't actually build them—that they only modified what they had found already in place, statues that were incredibly ancient.
7) The ruined cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harrapan in Pakistan frequently make the list of baffling ancient locations. Residual radiation levels, a lack of historical detail about the cities (even their existence was unknown until excavation), and the prominence of bodies found in various positions of sudden death, make these sites interesting choices to compare to the Mahabarata's chapters on the ancient wars between the gods, with descriptions of battles wiping out populations in the manner of neutron bombs—or some heretofore unknown weaponry.
8) Mount Shasta has a colorful past, between Native American legends, accounts of gold-rush era prospectors, and more recently, hikers and tourists who have claimed to see not only strange glowing lights, but cave entrances that appear and then disappear, on occasion revealing monk-like inhabitants…
9) Remote-viewing (and Stargate)—see my notes after The Pharos Objective, but the intriguing bits I expanded on here involve the ability of some psychics to probe things on the Moon—and breaking out of their efforts, apparently scared that they were 'being observed' by something up there.
10) The Moon. Plenty of Fortean phenomena here—and just plain facts that don't add up. Diana's descriptions of NASA's early surprises upon reaching the moon are valid, as we were continually confounded by the moon's mysteries. (The lack of dust, the inexplicable shape and depth of craters, the difference in expected gravity, the sound made on landing). And for decades before the first launch, amateur astronomers had been recording strange lights and structures that appeared, then changed, and recording radio signals emanating from up there. There have also been some revelations by astronauts in recent years of UFO sightings, and even a lost 'audio tape' that surfaced claiming to be of Armstrong's voice relaying the sighting of other ships on the lunar surface, watching us carefully but not engaging or responding.
11) Mars, the 'Face' and Cydonia. Nearly 40 years after Viking first photographed the site it's still a matter of speculation. If it was just the appearance of a face in a desert, however muddled it looks now after further 'enhancements', it would have been discounted and we would have moved on; but numerous books and studies have come out, analyzing not only the enormous head-shaped structure, but a plethora of other incongruous shapes and features in the Cydonia region, including a cluster of pyramid-shaped objects and a cliff wall many miles along and incredibly straight. Altogether—along with the tantalizing hint that Mars may have been quite Earth-like in its ancient past)—Cydonia still cries out more than a little for further investigation.
12) Phobos and Deimos. Mars's moons. A lot of odd stuff about this pair, including the appearance of parallel surface lines, unusual orbital characteristics and generally porous interiors. All of which led Soviet and American scientists to suggest that these satellites might be 'artificial'. In the journal Astronautics, Fred Singer, then science advisor to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, said: if the satellite is indeed spiraling inward as deduced from astronomical observation, then there is little alternative to the hypothesis that it is hollow and therefore Martian made." Oh, and one of the Russian probes (Phobos 2) was lost right after a shadowy missile-like figure was seen between it and the Martian surface. Make of that what you will.
13) Finally, the Brookings Report. In collaboration with NASA, the Brookings Institute released to the House of Representatives on April 18, 1961 the Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs. Page 215 is as I've had my characters quote in this book, basically suggesting that the logical course of action should alien artifacts be discovered in our solar system, would be to carefully consider keeping such knowledge from the general public in order to protect our cultural legacy, and indeed even keep our society from deconstructing, as has been the case in many other instances when less advanced societies have come in contact with ones far in advance of their own.
And I've just scratched the surface. There's so much more, if I can find the drive to get my team back in gear, back to probing the mysteries that will always be out there. I hope this isn't the end, but a new beginning.
Thanks for coming along—and hopefully staying—for the ride.
David Sakmyster
7/15/12
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Author's Notes
The Cydonia Objective (Morpheus Initiative 03) Page 29