Codes – ciphers – concealed stuff – secret histories – I love it all, really I do. But… in moderation and in balance: and the #1 reason I don’t believe in century-spanning conspiracies (of the kind so loved by trashy novelists) is not “because they’re impossible”, but because I haven’t as yet seen a single shred of evidence that actually supports the existence of such things.
Even the infamous ‘Priory of Sion’ was ultimately no more than an archival fantasy constructed by a man who believed it would help support his delusional claim to be King of France: and that was arguably the best of a bad bunch.
All of this is in my head as I turn to a new book called “The Encrypted“. Its author Loret Love claims to have found and decrypted a code more than 5,500 years old, that is hidden in plain sight in (you probably guessed already)…
“the Declaration of Independence, King Tut’s Throne, The Kensington Stone, The Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, Newport Tower, the Voynich Manuscript, and many others. Among the famous artists and writers associated with the code were Da Vinci, Jules Vern, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Francis Bacon, J.R. Tolkien, Picasso, Nostradamus, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Nikola Tesla, and Bram Stoker. All of these people, places and objects hold shocking mysteries protected and venerated by the early Knights Templar.”
Countless other historical X-Files get pulled aboard Love’s syncretic rollercoaster ride, which ultimately reveals to the world a “horrifying legacy exposing Vampires, Werewolves and shape shifting monsters“. All that and the Holy Grail too… really, if I didn’t know better I’d say the whole exercise comes across like “National Treasure” on badly cut mescaline.
What I found most, errrm, awe-inspiring when reading about “The Encrypted” was that when I looked back at my 2009 cut-out-and-keep map of historical conspiracy clichés, it was as if Love has treated that diagram as Level 1 of a giant game of ‘Conspiracy Buzzword Bingo’, and then decided to write a book around a brand new Level 2.
As a blogger, I’m supposed to operate under the guiding principle “I check out all this stuff (and then write about it) so that you don’t have to“: but in this instance, I simply can’t bring myself to buy a copy – it’s just too much, even for me. Sorry if this disappoints you!
I feel the same. The way such novels seem ignorant of the law of empathy makes me feel I need a drink. Add to that the basic reality that the more generations/people privvy to a secret, the less chance it will remain one.
Of course there is an exception for technical secrets. People knew and passed on the trade secrets aka practical techniques in the Clavicula for.. who knows how many centuries before they were ever written down.
I guess the answer is that once it’s on paper, forget secrecy?
*law of entropy* – that’s what happens with multi- multi-tasking at 2am!
A good gulp of coffee went down the wrong pipe — thank you very much!
Seriously, though, you should read Robert Lomas’ book about when and where THE Shroud first appeared in Europe: “Second Messiah”. He also explains the biological chemistry which caused the stain on that fabric.
Robert Lomas (and his partner author also directs you to another “code” built into a very elderly chapel. Several months ago, I tried to catch your interest.
Poor Michael Baigent (Priory of Sion) he’ll never live it down.
BTW: If I do sign up on your home page, do you guarantee that my email address won’t be disclosed? Also, that I won’t be getting ads/blurbs etc.?
bdid 1dr: I haven’t, wouldn’t and won’t disclose anyone’s email address to spammers, or send ads or blurbs. Also, I use a service called Feedburner to securely handle the list of email addresses, so that I (hopefully) will never need to worry about Bangladeshi hackers stealing it from a compromised web server and selling it to spammers. Fingers crossed! 🙂
Thanx, Nick!
Diane, do you notice that I kept my compulsive proofreading in check in re entropy/empathy? Note also that I did see a mis-spelling….. 🙂
db1dr
Spelling is one thing, typing another. I expect it’s a 30+ problem. 😀
Nick, I looked at your ‘conspiracy’ table.
Pretty scary, if the number of unmentionable areas includes such things as the Holy Roman Empire, medieval cathedrals and a constellation.. though I do speak from ignorance since the only conspiracy novel I’ve ever opened was one of Dan Brown’s. Lasted less than 3 pages.
In conspiracy bingo I’m doing ok so far.
Kircher being interested in Egypt and its hieratic script means anyone researching the Voynich must mention it, so that’s 4 points (Egypt and hieroglyphics; pyramids; and Egyptian religion)
( btw – not quite p.c. these days to refer to other religions as myth.Probably because no-one looks at etymology).
And if you mention the pre-Christian era and Egypt, of course you have to deal with the interaction of that nation with Babylonian and Graeco-Roman art etc. so that’s 2 points more.
Any talk of medieval art has to involve things like the associations for colour, number and the idea of god the geometer .. and of course the art in cathedrals.. so that’s another 4. (probably 5 if the cross counts as a ‘sacred shape’ ~ there are three crosses in the manuscript, after all).
And with Rudolf being Holy Roman Emperor – there’s another point on the card.
Oh, and pyramids of course: another point.
So that’s 12, maybe 13.
I wonder if I should read up on alchemy and Cathars?
Diane: the tongue-in-cheek point of the post was to help anybody trying to construct their own mad conspiracy theory by mapping out a pageful of plausible things to consider throwing in the mix. I never genuinely thought anyone would (a) treat it as a completist challenge and then (b) go even further with vampires and werewolves etc.
Leave alchemy and Cathars alone, no good will come of taking that path. 🙂
Hi. Just read your review of my book. I would be more than happy to talk to you regarding “Encrypted”. 2d Edition is coming out soon. I assure you that I researched everything I wrote, as crazy as it seems. Truth is stranger than fiction!
My Best, Loret
ooh – if you research and write about stuff so we don’t have to I wonder, Nick, if you’ consider a post or two on medieval banking ciphers? Or don’t you do requests? 🙂
Diane: I thought I’d already covered that? I’ll have a look…
🙁
poppies to you too.