Files From the Edge (19 page)

“Coming back from bike riding late one evening, I was stopped dead in my tracks when it seemed out of nowhere, a tall, brown-haired creature appeared standing up right in the road. Terrified, I stopped and waited about twenty minutes until the road was dark and I couldn’t see the creature anymore. Then, in total darkness, I built up my momentum downhill and raced along the ditch without stopping, determined that I was fast enough to breeze by anything that might still be there. I made it home that night and didn’t tell anyone since they would probably tell me it was just a bear. I knew it wasn’t a bear because it walked like a person and was much larger.

“After letting the dog out one night, she would not come back but kept barking at the edge of the woods behind the garage. I walked to where she was and yelled at her to come. As I walked closer and closer I was suddenly stopped dead in my tracks by the loudest screeching yell I had ever heard. It was deafening and my body grew rigid with fear. It echoed through the night air and was unlike anything I’d ever heard. I fled back to the house and eventually the dog came back. About a month later, I heard the same screech one night at my girlfriend’s house on Red Oaks Mill Road. We were inside her home listening to music when we heard it. We froze. Her father told us that it was a wild cat. Years later, my dog chased a bobcat up a tree and I heard it scream and believe me—it didn’t sound anything like the screeching creature I heard.”

Realm of the Earth Spirits

Many researchers have discovered that a high percentage of paranormal events takes place around sacred ground, including cemeteries, Native American burial grounds, and ancient sites in which megalithic structures can be found such as in Egypt, Central America, South America, England, and Ireland. However, you really don’t need to go to South America or travel across the world—many ancient sacred sites are located right here in the United States. For example, a large number of mysterious stone chambers and megaliths can be found in New York and other New England states. Some researchers, including myself, believe they were constructed by an ancient people who explored the east coast of North America centuries before Columbus. I first presented my research on this topic in my book
Celtic Mysteries: Windows to Another Dimension in America’s Northeast
. If you would like more information, I suggest you read it or contact the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) (refer to the appendix for contact information).

The stone chambers were not constructed randomly; they are located on magnetic anomalies and it seems that they aligned with the same energy ley lines (hypothetical tracks on which monuments and megaliths are built with supposedly mystical energy) that run through many similar structures in Ireland and Scotland. A great deal of paranormal phenomena has been reported in and around these stone chambers and standing stones. In this chapter, I present some of the most recent cases and an experience that I and a small group had when we spent the entire night at one of the locations. It is my opinion that the chambers and standing stones found in the United States and Europe were built as markers to identify an area where a portal, doorway, window, wormhole (or whatever terminology you want to use) exists. My research on these stone structures and the paranormal activity that surrounds them began in 1982 while investigating the UFO sightings of the Hudson River Valley.

The Stone Chambers

If you take a drive through the back roads of Putnam County, you’re bound to see one of these stone chambers hiding behind a bush or masked by wild flowers. Called colonial root cellars for many years, no one knows for sure who built them or what purpose they serve. There are at least seventy chambers in southern New York, and in 1984 I made a connection between them and the ancient Druids. As a result, some archeologists now consider the possibility that the chambers were built by Celtic explorers who came to the northeastern part of the North American continent more than two thousand years ago. Evidence comes in the form of an ancient type of script called Ogham (Ogam), which has been found at three chamber sites. The writing on the chamber walls give dedication to the Celtic festival of Beltane and to the goddess of the moon. At two chamber sites, I found carvings in a conical-shaped limestone rock that showed without a doubt the constellation of the Pleiades. What connection does this constellation have with ancient Druids? I should briefly explain: the Pleiades are not their own constellation; they are a part of the Taurus constellation. Also called the “Seven Sisters,” the Pleiades has an eerie shape in the sky that resembles a ghostly, glittering little dipper of stars. The Druids believed that when the Pleiades was directly overhead at midnight, otherworldly spirits were at their strongest and the distance between their reality and ours was at a minimum. This celestial placement of the Seven Sisters takes place during a short period of the year: October 25 through November 5. Even in our modern calendar, this ancient Druid holy day is still celebrated—we call it “Halloween.” The Druids may have actually witnessed an increase in paranormal activity at this time: many of their legends tell of strange lights and encounters with mysterious beings. The descriptions that have been passed down sound a great deal like our UFOs and aliens of today.

In Putnam County, the standing stones and the chambers are very similar to those in Ireland where a great deal of UFO and other forms of paranormal phenomena has also been reported. Stonehenge is also one of these mystical sites and has had its share of UFO reports. My study of the stone chambers in North America finally led me to Europe where there are so many sites that had paranormal events attached to them that I could choose only a few to visit since my time and money were limited. The site that I found the most interesting was Newgrange: it had an aura of mystery, and being there felt like I was standing in front of a tunnel that connected to another world.

The Magic Stones of Newgrange

In the early nineties, I explored many ancient megalithic sites in Ireland but of all the wonders I saw, Newgrange has my vote as the most impressive. Archeologists have dated the site as being more than five thousand years old, making it older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge. Researchers all agree that Newgrange was used not only as a tomb, but also for ceremonial and religious rituals. There is some speculation it was dedicated to Dagda (the sun god of pre-Christian Ireland) because an opening at the entrance aligns with the sun on the winter solstice. Over many centuries, the tomb has been raided by grave robbers, but in 860 ad the remaining contents were removed by Viking raiders.

The actual mound (the tumulus
)
is egg-shaped, and some of the local UFO enthusiasts there believe the tomb was fashioned after a flying saucer. Originally, there were thirty- five standing stones but only twelve remain today. Visitors who touch the stones have claimed everything from miraculous healings to fantastic visions. When I put my hands on each stone, all I felt was a slight tingling in my fingers. The most striking thing I found about the Newgrange site is its precise astronomical alignment with the winter solstice. On this day (the shortest of the year), a shaft of sunlight enters through a large opening above the entrance. The beam of sunlight illuminates a basin at the end of a tunnel and lights up a series of spirals carved into the rock.

During my short stay, I was able to talk to several people who have witnessed, videotaped, and seen globes of silver lights bouncing around the stones during the day and night. The descriptions of the lights seem to have a striking resemblance to the spook lights of North America. I was not surprised: Newgrange lies on the same magnetic lines of force that pass though the Hudson Valley.

Having the New York stone chambers (also paranormal hotspots), in my backyard has allowed me to study them in great detail—it’s like having my own version of Newgrange just thirty minutes away. As of the writing of this book, reports of people who visited these locations encountering beings and forces from different realities are still coming to me. The following story is from a local resident of Kent Cliffs, New York, who was attacked by an invisible assailant while inside one of the stone chambers. The witness prefers not to give his name, but graciously gave me permission to use his story with the hope that it will help solve the mystery.

Struck By an Unseen Force

“I was walking down Highway 301 in the late part of the summer of this year (1992), when I passed by the stone chamber on the road. I knew these things have been there for a long time and heard many stories about them. Some think they were built by Vikings or Druids, while others think they were built by the Indians or colonial farmers. To tell you the truth, I never thought much about them and at the time really didn’t care. Well, if you’re walking by them at night, they look real spooky. I know many people who won’t even walk in front of them when it is dark. Anyway, it was about eleven at night and it was very dark, the sky was clear but there was no moon. I walked by the chamber on the opposite side of the road and noticed a faint red glow coming from the inside. This glow was so faint that I could barely see it with my eyes. I also heard a faint sound that was like a hum, sort of like an electrical generator was being used inside to produce electricity to make the light. So I crossed the street and entered what was then (before the road was widened) a short section of woods and entered the chamber. As soon as I walked in, the noise stopped and I could not see the red—it was all dark inside. I looked around and felt very uneasy like someone or something was watching me. You know the feeling . . . like when you’re in a dark cellar with someone and you can’t see them, but you know someone is there and you are not alone.

“I wasn’t in there for more than thirty seconds when this force hits me. It was as if someone pushed me; I fell to the ground expecting to see someone standing there, but I saw no one at all! I was on the ground wondering what to do next, still feeling as if there was someone in there with me. I slowly got up to my feet and was struck again, this time in the face—it felt like a hand. There was some unseen force striking me every time I tried to get up, so I decide to stay down and not move. I looked toward the opening and saw the figure of a man standing there. He was wearing a white robe and had long black hair and a beard. His hair was very curly and hung over his shoulders. The thing that really scared me—almost to death—was when I looked into his eyes. His eyes seemed very dark, but they also glowed. The center of his pupils looked red. He just stood there looking at me; when my eyes met his, I could feel a tingling up and down my spine. He then raised his hand and pointed his finger to me and the message was clear; I was not welcome and should leave and never return. Although it was dark I could see him plainly. I don’t understand this, but it seemed that he was surrounded by a soft white glow. The figure then dissolved into a cloud of mist that was then drawn into a nearby rock just as if there was a vacuum there. The entire incident lasted about three or four minutes. I then got up and ran out the entrance and never went back. Sometimes at night I would wake up in a cold sweat with my heart pounding because I could still see the image of this guy’s eyes starring at me. I always feel that he is waiting for me somewhere in the dark ready to take me to another place as some kind of prisoner.”

Beings of this type have been reported in several of the other chambers close to that area. Sometimes the entity in the white robe is accompanied by several Viking-looking figures; sometimes they are seen with small dwarves in hooded robes. Are they ghosts, ultra-terrestrials, or aliens? Sometimes, the reports include the “grays,” which are often reported in UFO abduction cases as well as alien reptilian creatures I believe may be Djinn.

Reports of encounters are too numerous to dismiss and those who make them are usually more than eager to erase the encounter from their memories permanently. Recently, I heard of a new case near a standing megalithic stone located on the New York State University—Purchase campus. The witness claims that one night while putting his hand on the stone, several hooded entities appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him. The beings circled him for several minutes and then vanished into a vapor. The witness told me he could not see their faces, and their hands were covered in the robes. They were no more than 4 feet tall and he thought they were more animal than human by the way they moved. As they circled him, he could hear a faint, unanimous chant. He did not understand the words, but he compared the sounds to a growl.

The Beings From Another Dimension

The account below is from a person who has become a close friend of mine over the years. She changed her name to Golden Hawk after having a spiritual awakening at a sacred place called Hawk Rock. “Goldie” (as we call her) is a spiritual teacher and hosts a radio show,
Another Reality
. She would often visit the chambers by herself and on occasion would bring others. Her favorite chamber is one we call the “Mother Earth” chamber or the “Womb” since it is oval in shape and goes slightly underground. Goldie and several others had an incredible experience with hooded beings illuminated under some type of ball of light one night in that chamber. Goldie’s account appears in her own words.

“It was August 12, 2007, at about midnight when we arrived at the chamber that I call the ‘womb.’ With me was my friend Alana, her brother, and a friend. I had been to this chamber a number of times over the years at night with different people so I knew how to get there in the dark and felt comfortable walking into the woods in the dark. I was trying to get as much time inside the chamber since every time I went I felt more open up to this incredible energy. Our purpose for the trip that night was to observe a meteor shower we heard was taking place. What was different about this trip is that we got lost trying to find the chamber in the dark. We had lights, but got lost and this caused quite a great deal of tension. The strange thing is that we finally found it after walking by it several times. Alana finally found it in a place we had already definitely looked. It had rained recently: the stream in front of the chamber was not trickling—it was flowing fast and deep. We spent a very long time looking for the chamber . . . it was as if the energy was shifting back and forth causing us to lose direction. We were searching for the chamber for a long time and passed it no more than 20 feet and did not see the ‘womb,’ it was like the chamber was invisible for a time.