0 - 1900A.D. History of the World.

Yes. It's a long one but well worth the effort.

Reproduced with kind permission from Nathan Decker..who has spent a great deal of time on this. I have double checked it.

Email Nathan at nmdecke@hotmail.com

30 A.D.

Assassination of the radical Jesus, allegedly on Illuminati orders; more Illuminoid trappings; an eclipse; an earthquake; visitors from the sky roll away the stone from the sepulcher and liberate the crucified Jesus.

1st Century

Flavius Josephus, the noted Jewish historian of the first century A.D., described giants as having "bodies so large and countenances so entirely different from other men that they were surprising to the sight and terrible to the hearing." And he adds that in his day, the bones of the giants were still on display.

A cavern adjacent to the ruins of the "temple of Apollo" in Pamukkale (formerly Hierapolis), built when the ancient Grecian empire held sway in the area. Several strange disappearances have surrounded the cavern as for back as ancient Grecian times. The Greek philosopher Strabe (circa 63 BC - 24 AD) recorded that many animals who entered the cavern never emerged, and also many people who went past the mouth of the cave never returned. Only sorcerers in ancient times, who had apparently made an alliance with the "gods of the underworld", would be able to enter and would emerge glowing with a reddish aura.

The Key of Solomon, a book of incantations for invoking demons, attributed to the authorship of Solomon, was in existence. Influenced the Golden Dawn movement and was one of the sources of modern ritual magic. Some people believed these were written by King Solomon himself, whereas others believed they were written by demons and given to the king. Solomon has been widely acclaimed as a great wizard in his time and he was a master in the art of commanding demons. Some experts pretend that the many versions all derive from an original written by the Rabbi Abognazar.

The great first-century pagan philosopher and physician Apollonius of Tyana was said to have transported himself instantaneously to Ephesus to treat sufferers from a plague.

46

According to Masonic tradition, Ormus started an order in Alexandria having the "rose-cross" as symbol.

60

A "ship" was seen speeding across the Scottish night sky.

64

A disastrous fire sweeps through Rome. The Emperor Nero blames the Christians. Persecution of both Christians and Jews erupts. Tradition has it that Peter was crucified during these Neronic persecutions and buried, eventually, under the site of the present altar of St. Peter's church.

70

May 21--From Flavius Josephe Jewish War Book CXI: "On the 21st of May a demonic phantom of incredible size... for before sunset there appeared in the air over the whole country chariots and armed troops coursing through the clouds and surrounding the cities."

79

When a comet appeared, astrologers wondered if it would mean the death of Emperor Vespasian. Vespasion, alluding to the term "long-haired star" used for comets, joked that the comet must have been meant for the Parthian King, who wore his hair long, not for himself, Vespasian, who was bald. Despite his clever pun, Vespasian died within the year.

80

From medieval reporter Conrad Wolfhart: "When the Roman emperor Agricola was in Scotland, wonderous flames were seen in the skies over Caledon Wood, all one winter night. Everywhere the air burned, and on many nights, when the weather was serene, a ship was seen in the air moving fast."

98

From medieval reporter Conrad Wolfhart: "At sunset, a burning shield passed over the sky at Rome. It came sparkling from the west and passed over to the east."

100

Hero of Alexandria devises a primitive steam-engine.

120-130

Basilides, a "heresiarch" (Gnostic) of Alexandria is supposed to have written twenty-four commentaries on the Gospels, wherein he claimed that Jesus did not die on the cross and that a substitute, Simon of Cyrene, took his place. The Koran held the same argument in the seventh century.

125 to 150

Simon Magus, Menander, Valentinus and others develop Gnostic religious doctrines of esoteric knowledge (illumination). Simon Magus was a contemporary of Jesus and has been called his most dangerous rival. Clement I called him "God's left hand" and the counterpart of Saint Paul. He found "wisdom" in a brothel in Tyre and preached a Gnostic philosophy summed up in his work The Root of All. He has later been called the founder of all Gnostic teachings.

150

Roman Mithraism competes with Christianity.

Yellow Turban Society subdues northern China, Triad cult formed in opposition.

186

Mount Taupo in New Zealand erupts, Romans record 3 days of global darkness.

3rd Century

"'The way was long, and as if enveloped in darkness,' explains Chu Yan, a Chinese poet of the third century B.C. Chinese tradition narrates the extraordinary adventure of Hou Yih, an engineer of the Emperor Yao, who decided, 4,300 years ago, to go to the moon with a 'celestial bird.' In the course of the flight, the bird indicated to the traveler the exact movements of the rising, the apogee, and the setting of the sun. Hou Yih thereafter explained that he 'sailed up the current of luminous air.' Could this current have been the exhaust of a rocket? "'He no longer perceived the rotary movement of the sun,' the narrator points out. Effectively, contemporary astronauts have noted that, in space, it was not possible to discern the diurnal passage of the sun. And what did the Chinese engineer observe on the moon? He saw 'an horizon which appeared frozen.' To protect himself from the glacial air, he built the 'Palace of the Great Cold.' His wife, Chang Ngo, left to join him on the satellite, which she described as 'a luminous sphere, brilliant as glass, of an enormous size, and very cold.'"

200

First book of the cabala, Sepher Yetzirah, compiled.

216 to 276

Life of Mani, the Illuminator, who founded Manicheism, based on ideas from Judaism, Christianity, Zoroasterism, Gnosticism, etc.

252-712

The Holy Grail of the Last Supper kept in Aragón, Spain, according to Catholic tradition.

312

Constantine and his army all beheld in the heavens a luminous cross. He claimed to have been shown a cross on the Sun as a sign from Christ that he would triumph over Maxentius.

> 320 >about

Constantine visits the Shrine at Delphi and leaves with a prize collection of bronze statuary. He is one of a long line of Roman plunderers of this sacred site. In spite of this, the Oracle continues to reside at Delphi.

325

Council of Nicaea in which Christianity begins to rigidify. The Book of Enoch, having been suppressed by the Church, was declared apocryphal by St. Jerome. Eusebius, Bishop of Caeseria, sets out the list of New Testament books still in use today. He also lists books which he considers "doubtful," such as the "Acts of Paul," "Revelation of Peter," "Gospels of Peter, Thomas, Matthias," and many other ancient books. Constantine orders Eusebius to have fifty Bibles made of vellum. The amount of vellum required would have taken the skins of about 4500 animals. Some of these Bibles still exist today in Leipzig, St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, and London, in the British Museum.

367

The first major witch-hunt in the modern sense occurred by order of the Roman emperor Valerian.

386

The beginnings of a society called hung, or "The Brotherhood of Heaven and earth", containing many Masonic traditions.

393

Strange lights were seen in the sky in the days of the Emperor Theodosius. On a sudden, a bright globe appeared at midnight and shone brilliantly near the daystar, (Venus). This globe shone little less brilliantly than the planet, and little by little, a great number of other glowing orbs drew near the first globe. The spectacle was like a swarm of bees flying around the beekeeper, and the light of these orbs was as if they were dashing violently against each other. They blended together into one awful flame, and bodied forth to the eye as a horrible two-edged sword. The strange globe, which was first seen now appeared like the pommel to a handle, and all the little orbs, fused with the first, shone as brilliantly as the first globe.

398

A thing like a burning globe, presenting a sword, shown brilliantly in the sky over Istanbul. It seemed almost to touch the earth from the zenith, "Such a thing was never recorded to have been seen before by man."

about> 5th Century

A Pictish stone depicts what might be the Loch Ness Monster

about> 400

Copies of the Mandylion, "the true picture of the face of Christ", alleged to have been given to King Abgar of Mesopotamia by Christ himself, spread all over the Christian world.

457

A report from Brittany in northern France, "a blazing thing like a globe was seen in the sky. Its size was immense, and on its beams hung a ball of fire like a dragon out of whose mouth proceeded two beams, one of which stretched beyond France, and the other reached toward Ireland, and ended in fire, like rays."

458

There is a text preserved in a Buddhist Monastery in China which tells of some monks who voyaged 7000 miles east to a new continent. The text describes them making landfall on a coast with mountains and rivers, (California?) then traveling inland to the east where they discover a large canyon with stratified colors and a great river at the bottom (the Grand Canyon?) They then travel south over a great desert with strange trees that have many thorns, (cactus?) and find a civilization far to the south. Some stone carvings with oriental features have been discovered among the civilizations of South and Central America, and the similarities between Chinese dragon sculptures and Central American dragon sculptures are striking.

552

Council Of Constantinople declares reincarnation to be heresy.

565

Genesis of the Loch Ness Monster. According to a written account, Saint Columba, a Christian missionary to Scotland, saved a swimmer from the monster by shouting, "Think not to go further, touch not thou that man. Quick! Go back!" In obedience to the Saint the creature fled. Ever since then there have been vague accounts of "something" in the Loch.

584

The Bishop of Tours in France, is perplexed by curious "domes and golden globes that raced across the sky".

> 610 > about

Muhammad began to receive the Koran, from the angel Djibril, (Jibril, Gabriel), while meditating at night in a cave outside Mecca. The revelation continued for 23 years.

650

One night in the hot season, in India, a man named Hariswami and his new wife were laying on the roof of the summer house. The veil on the woman's face slipped off in the night while a demi-god was seated in his car over head. His gaze suddenly fell upon her. The demi-god lowered the car and placed her asleep within. She was never seen again. (As told by Hariswami, translated from Hindu by J. Platts)

664

At a monastery at Barking near the Thames, England, "a great light appeared in the sky at night and shone over nuns who were singing in the burial-ground. They reported that it lifted up, moved to the other side of the monastery, and then ascended into the night sky. Priests said the light surpassed the brightness of day."

670

Estimated date of carving of stone statues found on Easter Island.

The Frankish Bishop Arculf of Périgueux claims to have seen the "Shroud of Jesus" in Palestine.

671

Flaming object was seen flying to north from many countries in Japan, one year before the war of the Jinshin.

673 to 735

Life of the Venerable Bede, the greatest scholar of Saxon England whose Ecclesiastical History of England (731) contained many occult and unexplained occurrences.

700

Sufi mysticism begins.

730

Al Azif (Necronomicon) a book supposed to have been written by the black wizard Abdul Al-Hazred who lived at Sanaa in Yemen. The book which has been translated by John Dee is also known as Al Azif or the whispers of demons. Today most agree that The Necromicon is a compilation of spells, recipes and other texts taken from older grimoires as The Key of Salomon or the Kitab al Uhud from Araby which were among the famous magic library of Assurbinapal.

733

Charles Martel defeated the Moslems with the aid of the Holy Lance, the spear that pierced Christ's side.

747

China: Huge flame-breathing dragons were reported being seen in skies, accompanied by men in airships.

763

Meath County: While King Domnall Mac Murchada attended the fair at Teltown, ships were seen in the air.

772

The "Holy Vehm", a secret society founded by Charlmagne who wrote the Code and Statues of the Holy Secret Tribunal of Free Courts and Free Judges of Westphalia for this order.

776

From an chronicle by W. R. Drake: At Charlemagne's castle at Sigiburg, as the Saxons were laying siege to the castle, "Those watching outside in that place, of whom many still live to this very day, saw they beheld the likeness of two large shields, reddish in color in motion above the church, and when the pagans who were outside saw this sign, they were at once thrown into confusion and terrified with fear and began to flee from the castle."

810

St. Gregory of Tours, a historian, wrote of Charlemagne: "Alcuin, the secretary and biographer of Charlemagne, and author of the Vita Karoli, states in the thirty second chapter of his work that in 810 when he was on his way from Aachen, he saw a large sphere descend like lightning from the sky. It traveled from east to west and was so bright it made the monarch's horse rear up so that Charlemagne fell and injured himself severely."

813

According to legend, the grave of Jacob was found at the site where the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela later was built.

820

The Great Pyramid of Giza was broken into for the first time. It was done by an Arab team on the orders of Caliph Ma'moun.

827

A synod meeting at Mantua decides to subject Venetians to a new Patriarch of Aquila on the Frankish controlled mainland. Venice however, in a bid for independence in church affairs, decided to obtain the body of a potent saint. Two merchants--Buono of Malamocco and Rustico of Torcello--sail to Alexandria, set out for the church containing the body of the apostle St. Mark, and promptly steal it, substituting into the shroud the body of St. Claudian from a nearby tomb. In order to avoid discovery by Muslim customs officials, they smuggle the holy relic back to Venice in a barrel of salt pork and cabbages.

840

As he was coming out of the Cathedral at Lyons, France, Archbishop Abobard saw a mob stoning three men and a woman alleged to have been seen alighting from a aerial ship.

858

An "evil spirit" threw stones and made the walls shake in a small farmhouse, this was the first recorded poltergeist case.

875

Landulf II of Capua excommunicated from Sicily when his alliance with Islam was unveiled. According to the medieval Chronicler Echempertus he had, in the mountains of Monte Castello in the south-west of Sicily, discovered the Temple of Erix at which priestesses had once guarded the Oracle of Venus. (Qal'at al-Bellut, the Fortress of the Oaks). There he is said to have performed evil rituals and according to Adolf Hitler's personal notes from c. 1910 he was the source of Klingsor in Eschenbach's Parsifal.

900

Beginning of the Bogomils of Bulgaria, a Manicheian sect, and the roots of Cathari.

919

An object like a flaming torch was seen in the sky in Hungary, together with spheres, which flew over giving out a brighter light than the stars.

920 to 1003

Life of Pope Sylvester II who allegedly visited the Nine Unknown in India.

926 (936?)

Edwin, a mythical son of Athelstan, presided according to tradition over a Masonic meeting at York where certain charges where agreed upon for the government of the Brotherhood.

927

A report from France: "In the town of Verdun, like the whole eastern part of France, saw fiery armies appearing in the sky. Flodoard's chronicle reports that they flew over eastern Reims on a Sunday morning in March. Similar phenomena happened several times under King Pepin the Short, under Charlemagne, under Louis I, the Debonair. These sovereign's capitularia mention penalties against creatures that travel on aerial ships."

930

The first legislation against witchcraft (and banning of Sunday trade) by King Athelstan.

944

August 15--The "Mandylion", a picture of Christ "not made by human hands", (acheiropoieton), arrived at the church of Our Lady at Blachernae in Constantinople from Edessa.

950

Al Azif translated into Greek as Necronomicon.

11th Century

Some writers claim that a group know as the "Illuminated Ones" was founded by Joachim of Floris in the eleventh century and taught a primitive, supposedly Christian doctrine of "poverty and equality".

1000

Approximate founding of Yezidi cult by Sufi Sheik Adi in Iraq.

"Abode of Learning" active in Cairo.

Spread of Cathari Manicheism throughout Europe.

1027

August--In Egypt, a number of "stars" were seen to fly over Cairo and the Nile Delta.

1034

A rare typeset book from 1493 contains what may be the earliest pictorial representation of a UFO. The book Liber Chronicarum, describes a strange fiery sphere, seen in Europe, soaring through the sky in a straight course from south to east and then veering toward the setting sun. The illustration accompanying the account shows a cigar-shaped form haloed by flames, sailing through a blue sky over a green, rolling countryside. This may be the first work that actually contains actual illustrations of UFO's.

1034 to 1124

Life of Hasan-e Sabbah, founder of the Assassins of Persia. Member of the Ismaili sect, Hasan seized fortress of Alamut in Daylam in 1090; split with Fatimid dynasty in 1094; Assassins flourished for next several centuries.

1050

Approximate date of founding of the "Order of Hospitallers" in Jerusalem.

1054

The super nova called the Crab nebula appeared on the sky and was pictured in rock paintings in some parts of the world.

1067

From Geoffrey Gaimar's Lestoire des Englis: "In this year people saw a fire that flamed and burned fiercely in the sky. It came near the earth and for a little time brilliantly lit it up. Afterwards, it revolved, ascended on high, and then descended into the sea. In several places it burned woods and plains, and in the County of Northumberland this fire showed itself in two seasons of the year."

> 1080 > about

The "Order of St John" founded in Jerusalem?

> 1090 > about

Hasan-e Sabbah created out of the Ishmaelians, (a Shiite sub-sect), the "Order of the Assassins".

1095

The "Queen of the Universe" appears in Arras, France.

1098

The alleged "Holy Lance of the Passion" found by the Crusaders in Antiochia in the Church of Saint Peter.

1099

Godfroi founded the "Order of Sion".

1100's

Prince Madog of Wales brings the last of the Druids to America and erects rings of blue gray stones in the hills near what would one day be Mobile, Alabama.

1100

Approximate date Sufi Gilani founds Arabic school of Illuminati, the "Kadiri Order of Sebil-el-ward", in Baghdad.

Bogomil leader Basil burned in Constantinople.

Albigensian Cathari sect flourishes near Albi, France.

Avengers and Beati Paoli active in Italy.

Robin Hood active in England.

Vimanas (silent flying machines) written of in Indian texts.

"Dervish Orders" appeared (Islamic-mystic brotherhoods with hierarchical structure, initiations and exercises designed to bring man in direct contact and oneness with God).

1113

"Hospitallers of Jerusalem" founded, St Bernard of Clairvaux founds monastery, to protect a "great secret".

A group of churchmen from Laon in France were going from town to town in Wessex, England, bearing with them relics of the Virgin Mary, which they used to perform miracles of healing. At the coastal town of Christchuch, they were astonished to see a dragon come out of the sea, "breathing fire out of its nostrils."

The "Order of St John" achieved their legitimate status by a decree by Pope Paschalis II.

1118

Hugh de Payens, a vassal of the count of Champagne, France and eight other Crusader knights form the "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon", later to be known as the "Knights Templar". They were approved as a holy order by the Vatican, and proceeded to fight in the Crusades, gain converts, and ultimately re-take the city of Jerusalem and the ruins of the Temple of Solomon. While there, they carried out what would now be called archaeological investigations, digging in and around the Temple. While no one knows for sure, they may have found a great treasure. Later authors will speculate that this treasure is the Shroud of Turin, or an occult manuscript. They were a strict order of warrior/monks, and the Rule of their Order was based on obedience, poverty and chastity. They were a major force in the Crusades, and although individual members were permitted to own nothing, the order itself grew rich. They gained lands, castles, money, power, and prestige. They were also the forerunners of the banking business. They provided such services as safe deposit, agents for collection of debts and taxes, trusts for heirs, mortgage brokers, and issued paper money which could be exchanged for hard currency with any other Templar outpost. They also had the best communications network in the world. All their outposts were connected by courier, and they used codes and ciphers for private messages between each other. This was doubly effective since most people were completely illiterate, and couldn't have even read a plain message. It was networks such as this, and similar networks in other sacred orders, which started to bring Europe out of the dark ages. During their existence, the Templars also made many enemies. They were rich, powerful and secretive. They were accused of performing occult rites in their round temples.

1130

The first documented presence of the Templars in Spain--in the northeastern part fighting against the Moors.

1134

The Holy Grail present at the Saint Juan de la Pena Monastery, Spain, according to catholic tradition.

1138

Monks at the Brunia Monastery in the Trier region of ancient Prussia (now Germany), founded by Charlemagne's father Pepin the Short, reportedly captured a dark-skinned dwarf in the basement of the monastery, after they discovered several wine casks that had been emptied onto the cellar floor. They confined the little man, who refused to speak or eat, until he escaped back down through the cellar and into a sloping tunnel that was accessed via a displaced stone.

1139

Pope Innocent II granted the Knights Templar the unique privilege to build their own churches.

The east front of Chartres cathedral is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and inside is a relic: the robe she is said to have been wearing at the moment of her Assumption into heaven.

1140

Rapid growth of Cathari sect begins.

1145-1202

Life of Joachim of Fiore, a Calabrian hermit, claimed to have found a trinitarian system of ages in the Bible (the theory came to have a big influence in history).

1146

Knights Templars adopted the splayed red cross as symbol. (The same as those of the Assassins or Hashishim.)

1147

Everard de Barree, Grand Master of the Templars, saw the Passion relics in Constantinople while in company with Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

1149

The ancient Sterling Lodge claimed to represent the Masons who built Cambies Kenneth Abbey.

> 1150-1200 >about

Sepher-ha-Bahir, a Koranistic work, appeared in Southern France from unknown origin. It contained the first reference to the Tree and the Sephirot.

> 1150 >about

The tale of the green children dates from the middle of the twelfth century, in the realm of either King Stephen or his successor King Henry II. In Suffolk, England, according to medieval chroniclers, two green children, weeping inconsolably, were found wandering in a field. Seized by reapers, they were taken to the nearest village, Woolpit, and held in captivity at the home of Sir Richard cle Calne where local people came to gape. According to William of Newburgh, the children were clad in "garments of strange color and unknown materials." They could speak no English and refused all food offered them. A few days later, on the brink of starvation, they were brought "beans cut off or torn from stalks," wrote Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall, who allegedly had the story from the Calne himself. The children "broke open the beanstalks, not the pod or shell of the beans, evidently supposing that the beans were contained in the hollows of the stalks. But not finding beans within the stalks they again began to weep, which, when the bystanders noticed, they opened the shells and showed them the beans themselves. Whereupon, with great joyfulness, they ate beans for a long time, entirely, and would touch no other food." Soon the children were baptized, and not long afterwards the boy weakened and died. The girl learned to eat other foods and was restored both to health and to normal skin color. She learned to speak English and took employment in service to a knight and his family. She "was rather loose and wanton in her conduct," Ralph of Coggeshall wrote. Asked about her native country, "she asserted that the inhabitants, and all that they had in that country, were of a green color; and that they saw no sun, but enjoyed a degree of light like what is after sunset. Being asked how she came into this country with the aforesaid boy, she replied, that as they were following their flocks they came to a certain cavern, until they came to its mouth. When they came out of it, they were struck senseless by the excessive light of the sun, and the unusual temperature of the air; and they thus lay for a long time. Being terrified by the noise of those who came on them, they wished to fly, but they could not find the entrance of the cavern before they were caught." In William of Newburgh's account, the children said their country was called St. Martin's Land. Its people were Christians. There was no sun there, but across a broad river a bright, shining land could be seen. Eventually the woman married and reportedly lived for years at Lenna in Suffolk. Newburgh remarked, "Although the thing is asserted by many, yet I have long been in doubt about the matter, deeming it ridiculous to credit a thing supported by no rational foundation, or at least one of a mysterious character; yet, in the end, I was so overwhelmed by the weight of so many competent witnesses that I have been compelled to believe and wonder over a matter I was unable to comprehend and unravel by the powers of my intellect." A modern writer, British folklorist Katharine Briggs, says, "This is one of those curiously convincing and realistic fairy anecdotes which are occasionally to be found in the medieval chronicles." Another recent chronicler, Paul Harris, speculates that the children were not aliens from another realm but simply lost, undernourished children who had wandered into flint mines in the vicinity of Thetford Forest, near the village of Fordham St. Martin. "Perhaps from the twilight of the thick woodlands the children could see a less forested and therefore sunnier land across the river Lark," he writes. They may have spoken in an English dialect "unintelligible to the insular 12th Century farmworkers of Woolpit."

1153

An old legend tells how the knight Owen visited a cave on Station island in County Donegal. Ireland, in the year 1153, leading to an underground plain and a "cloister" where he met monks who warned him of the temptations ahead. The knight travels to a black, icy realm and also sulfurous pits of molten metal in which the wicked suffer, finally arriving at the earthly paradise below the earth.

1170

A certain Welsh prince, Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd, sailed away from his homeland, which was filled with war and strife and battles between his brothers. Yearning to be away from the feuds and quarrels, he took his ships and headed west, seeking a better place. He returned to Wales brimming with tales of the new land he found--warm and golden and fair. His tales convinced more than a few of his fellow countrymen, and many left with him to return to this wondrous new land, far across the sea. This wondrous new land is believed to be what is now Mobile Bay, Alabama. Time has left several blank pages between the legend of Madoc and the "history" of America, with its reports of white Indians who speak Welsh, and these blank pages have been the subject of much controversy in certain circles over the five centuries since Columbus discovered the New World.

1176

Peter Waldo founds the "Poor Men of Lyons".

1180

A term equivalent to our "flying saucer" was actually used by the Japanese approximately 700 years before it came into use in the West. Ancient documents describe an unusual shining object seen in the night as a flying "earthenware vessel." The object, which had been heading northeast from a mountain in Kii province, changed its direction and vanished below the horizon, leaving a luminous trail.

1184

"Poor Men of Lyons" excommunicated, suppressed.

1185

The Church of the Templars in London conscecrated.

1188

"Prieure de Sion" separated from the Templars.

1190

The "Order of St John" founded a monastery in Eskilstuna, Sweden. On orders of King Henry II, who had heard that the legendary King Arthur was buried there, workers began digging between two ancient, pyramid-shaped pillars located at Glastonbury, in Somerset. At a depth of seven feet they found a leaden cross which was engraved with this inscription: HIC JACET SEPULTUS INCLYTUS REX ARTURUS IN INSULA AVALLONIA ("Here lies buried the renowned King Arthur in the Isle of Avallon"). Excited over this find, the excavators doubled their efforts. At sixteen feet their shovels struck a large oaken tree trunk which had been hollowed out to serve as a coffin. Breaking the trunk coffin open, they found the skeleton of a man who once measured close to nine feet tall. Beside him lay the remains of a woman of average height, whom the excavators took to be Arthur's queen, Guinevere. About a century later the bones of the two were reinterred in the great church before the altar in the presence of King Edward I. "From that time," says the Encyclopedia Britannica, "the Isle of Avalon has been identified with Glastonbury and romances connecting Arthur and Glastonbury are still being written."

1191

The "Teutonic Knights", (the "Order of the Hospital of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the German House of Jerusalem"), founded as a field hospital at the siege of Acre.

1200 to 1300

"House of Wisdom" in Cairo, roots of the Afghan Roshaniya.

Origin of the Mafia in Sicily.

>1200 (about)

Joseph d'Arimathie, a poem written by Robert de Boron, describing Joseph as the first keeper of the Holy Grail.

1200's

A 13th century historian, Saxo-Gammaticus, wrote down the folklore and myths of Scandinavia. He recorded the ancient Viking belief in "Hadding Land", a subterranean world where giants, superhumans, tribes of black dwarfs, and "snake people" lived. These strange beings, and even stranger animals, were said to occasionally surface in the outer world and create chaos.

1200

A report from England: William of Newburgh describes a silvery, flat, shiny disc-like object, which appeared near the abbey and frightened everyone near it.

1203

The "Shroud of Jesus" was exhibited in the Blachernae church, Constantinople.

1207

Gervase of Tilbury, England writes in Otio Imperialia about an aerial ship which caught its anchor on a pile of stones. An occupant came down from the ship and managed to free it, however he was asphyxiated by the atmosphere.

1208

"Albigensian Crusade" begins suppression of Cathari heresy.

1208

April 13--"La Iglesia de la Vera Cruz" (Knights Templars church in Segovia, Spain) was consecrated.

1211

During a Sunday mass in Gravesend, Kent, England it is said that the congregation saw an anchor descend and catch on a tombstone in the churchyard. The churchgoers rushed outside to see a strange "ship" in the sky, with people on board. One occupant of the vessel leaped over the side, but did not fall: "as if swimming in water" he made his way through the air toward the anchor. The people on the ground tried to capture him. The man then "hurried up to the ship." His companions cut the anchor rope, and the ship then "sailed out of sight." The local blacksmith made ornaments from the abandoned anchor to decorate the church lectern.

1216

The Dominicans created by a Spanish fanatic.

1233

The Dominicans started the "Holy Inquisition" to suppress Cathari and other heresies. The Inquisition founds the blessed "Society of Leopold". The Society begins to suspect the presence of vampires in the Church.

1235 to 1315

Life of "Dr. Illuminatus", Ramon Llull (Raymond Lully) in Spain.

1235

What might be called the first official investigation of a UFO sighting occurred in Japan in 1235. During the night while General Yoritsume and his army were encamped, mysterious lights were observed in the heavens. The lights were seen in the southwest for many hours, winging, circling and moving in loops. The general ordered a "full-scale scientific investigation" of these strange events. The report finally submitted to him has the "soothing" ring of many contemporary explanations offered for UFO phenomena. In essence it read: "the whole thing is completely natural, General. It is... only the wind making the stars sway."

1239

July--A report from Matthew of Paris from England: "At dusk, but not when the stars came out, while the air was clear, serene and shining, a great star appeared. It was like a torch, rising from the south, and flying on both sides of it, there was emitted in the height of the sky a very great light. It turned quickly towards the north in the aery region, not quickly, nor, indeed, with speed, but exactly as it wished to ascend to a place high in the air."

1242

The "Shroud of Jesus" sold to the Templars by King Bela IV of Hungary because of lack of money.

1244

Massacre of Cathari at Montsegur, France.

1250s

Approximate beginning of "Holy Vehm" in Westphalia.

1252

The Knights Templars threatened by Henry III of England.

1254

January 1--A report from Matthew of Paris: "At midnight in the clear and serene sky with the stars shining and the moon eight days old, there suddenly appeared in the sky a kind of large ship, elegantly shaped, and well-equipped of marvelous color. Certain monks of St. Albans saw it for a long time, as if it were painted, and a ship made of planks, but finally it began to disappear."

1256

The Assassin library at Alamut destroyed. All books of their doctrine and ritual where burned by Hulagu Khan's Mongols.

1270s

Cathari hierarchy fades.

1270

A spaceship was seen in Bristol, England, which landed and an occupant came down from a ladder and was suffocated in the Earth's atmosphere.

1271

Marco Polo reported from his trip to China that on special occasions the royal chariot was pulled by dragons.

September 12--A priest was spared his life in Japan when a shiny, bright object appeared in the sky, causing the executioners to panic, fearing they had falsely accused the cleric of wrongdoing.

1272

The alleged bones of Mary Magalene found in the southern French town of Saint-Maximin after excavations in a 4th-century crypt. A cathedral was later erected on the place.

1275

Zohar, second book of the cabala, compiled by Moses de Leon in Spain.

1280

Roger Bacon, deviser of early eyeglasses, independently invents gunpowder.

1284

Pope Innocent III pronounces the second coming will be this year ­ 666 years after the founding of Islam.

1290

Report from Byland, North Yorkshire, from William of Newburgh's Chronicle. The text is known as "The Ampleforth Manuscript", it is a very old manuscript found in Ampleforth Abbey which gives a startling account of a flying saucer over Byland Abbey in Yorkshire. It reads in part: "While the abbot and monks were in the refectorium, a flat round, shining, silvery object (discus) flew over the abbey and caused the utmost terror."

1291

July 12--Acre, the last Christian fortress in Syria lost to the Moslems. Theobald Gaudin, Grand Master of the K.T., managed to escape from Acre to Cyprus with the treasure and relics the Knights Templars. Hospitallers retreat to Cyprus.

The Teutonic Knights moved the center of the order from the Holy Land to Venice.

c.1294

Marco Polo hears of a giant bird capable of lifting an elephant. It is supposed that this is the Madagascar Elephant Bird. About this time they become extinct.

1300

"White Lotus Society" founded in China at Rozan, south of the Yang Tze.

Inquisition begins suppression of witches and other pagan groups.

1307

October 13--Philippe IV of France ordered arrest of all Knights Templars for witchcraft and heresies; more than 600 of the 3,000 Templars in France were imprisoned according to Inquisition records. Jacques de Molay imprisoned in the Temple in Paris. From the destruction of the Templars we get some of our modern customs. Friday the 13th is unlucky; it is the day that the Templars were arrested.

1308

June 24--Knights Templars held an annual chapter in Poitiers for three days, displaying "The Mysterious Head", according to Etienne de Troyes.

1309

Hospitallers acquire the Isle of Rhodes.

September--The Teutonic Knights moved their headquarters to Marienberg, Prussia.

October 6--Edward II ordered arrest of all Templars in Scotland.

1313

Knights Templar dissolved by papal decree.

1314

March 18--Jacques de Molay and Geoffroi de Charnay roasted to death over a slow fire on the Ile de la Cité in the Seine.

Robert Bruce established, according to old Masonic tradition, the "Royal Order of Scotland" and appointed the St. Clairs as hereditary Grand Masters. Many prominent Templars became members.

1318

The Portugese Templars became the "Order of Christ" and received the approval of Pope John XXII.

1320

England, Durham: After the abbot of Durham Abbey died and was buried, a strange light was seen to descend from the sky and move about over his grave.

1327

The Damburrow Abbey is destroyed by a sinkhole in 1327, and of its magnificent constructions only scattered ruins remain.

1329

First appearance of the Tarot in Germany.

1332

November 4--A report from Robert of Reading: "In the first hours of the night, there was seen in the skies over Uxbridge England, a pillar of fire the size of a small boat, pallid, and livid in color. It rose from the south, crossed the sky with a slow and grave motion, and went north. Out of the front of the pillar, a fervent red flame burst forth with great beams of light. Its speed increased and it flew through the air."

1344

Edward III vowed to establish an order like Arthur's at Windsor. (The round table still exists and was decorated in 1486 with the figure of Arthur and the names of 24 knights.)

1350

April 23--The "Order of the Garter" formally founded on St. George Day, by Edward III of England. The members consisted of twenty-four knights, the monarch and the Prince of Wales. The symbolism of the garter itself still remains obscure. A record of the Order, compiled in Henry VIII's reign, relates that Richard I, during his crusade, gave garters to certain knights as tokens of honor, and it was supposed that Edward III followed this example.

1351

Pope Innocent VI ordered a grimoire called The Book of Solomon, probably The Key of Solomon, to be burned.

1352

January--The "Order of the Star", or the "Order of Our Lady of the Noble Lineage" founded.

1360

Approximate date of the earliest known Satanic cults with black masses celebrated in France. 1361

A flying object described as being "shaped like a drum, about twenty feet in diameter" emerged from the inland sea off western Japan.

1375

The first known record of the concept "Freemasons" in the city archives of London.

1379 to 1482

Alleged life of Christian Rosenkreuz, fictitious founder of Rosicrucianism.

1380

The "Zeno Map" was drawn, it covered a vast area of the north as far as Greenland with amazing accuracy.

1387

December--A "fire in the sky, like a burning and revolving wheel..." was seen in Leicester and Northamptonshire, England. The objects "emitted fire from above, and others in the shape of long, fiery beams".

1394

A report from England: "A certain thing appeared in the likeness of fire in many parts of England every night. This fiery apparition, oftentimes when anybody went alone, it would go with him, and would stand still when he stood still. To some it appeared in the likeness of a turning wheel burning; to other some a round object, the likeness of a barrel, flashing out flames of fire at the head; to others, the likeness of a long burning lance."

1398

Many feel that the Holy Grail may have been taken to Nova Scotia in this year.

1399

The Holy Grail brought to Martin the Humane, King of Aragón, to his palace in Zaragoza, Spain, according to catholic tradition.

1400s

Cathari sect dies out.

1458

The magician Abramelin, also called "Abraham the Jew", authors The Book of Sacred Magic, said to have been delivered to his son Lamech. His book offers readers cabalistic magic squares that will purportedly perform such feats as raising tempests, causing spirits to appear, changing men into animals and vice versa, procuring visions, raising the dead, rousing love or hate, demolishing buildings, walking under water, and even making stage performances appear.

1469

Guru Nanak Dev first master of Sikhs

1471

Latin translation of Corpus Hermeticum, which had just been rediscovered in Macedonia. The Corpus Hermeticum is a collection of texts from the second and third centuries of our era that survived from a more extensive literature. Reflecting the generalized spiritual orientation of late Hellenistic gnosis rather than a tradition in any organized sense, these sometimes contradictory texts share only their claim to a common source of revelation, Hermes Trismegistus.

1492

The term "Illuminati" was used by one writer, Menendez Pelayo, as early as 1492 and is attributable to a group known as the "Alumbrados" of Spain. The Alumbrados were said to receive secret knowledge from an unknown higher source, resulting in superior human intelligence.

October 11--10:00 PM, from "The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus": Christopher Columbus and Pedro Gutierrez while on the deck of the Santa Maria, observed, "a light glimmering at a great distance." It vanished and reappeared several times during the night, moving up and down, "in sudden and passing gleams." It was sighted 4 hours before land was sighted, and taken by Columbus as a sign they would soon come to land.

1493 to 1541

Life of Paracelsus, possible real founder of Roscrucianism; discoverer of zinc around 1530; model of the Faust legend.

1500

Approximate date of Roshaiya, "the Illuminated Ones", in the mountains of Afganistan.

Beginning of "Alumbrados" in Spain and "Charcoal-Burners" in Scotland.

1503 to 1566

Life of Nostradamus, visionary prophet.

1507

Fra Dolcino's version of Joachim's Illuminism suppressed by the Bishop of Vercueil.

1509

An ancient tomb that some ditch diggers uncovered in Rouen, France, contained the skeleton of a man over seventeen feet tall, in his armor. Affixed to the tomb was this engraved identification: "In this tomb lies the noble and puissant lord, the Chevalier Ricon de Vallemont, and his bones."

1528

At the Siege of Utrecht in Holland: "A cruel and strange sight was seen in the sky, which terrified the townspeople and made the enemy think he would get the city. It was the form of a Burgundian cross right over the city, high in the sky, yellow in color, and fearful to behold."

1530

Hospitallers given Isle of Malta by Charles V, become "Knights of Malta".

1553

The first mention of South America's mysterious hominid creature called mono grande (big monkey) or didi, appears to be in a book written by Pedro de Cieza de Leon in 1553. De Leon recounts native superstitions about these creatures, and goes on to tell of a Spaniard who found a carcass of one in the forests.

1554

March 10--A report from France: "There appeared between 6 and 8 PM, about the moon, a burning fire, emitting a great noise, what seemed to be the point of a lance, turning form side to side, from east to west, casting out flames on all sides."

1555

Though sea serpents are ubiquitous in myths and legends, the first attempt to describe them as figures in natural history appears in a 1555 work by Olaus Magnus, the exiled Catholic archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden. The archbishop wrote that sailors off the coast of Norway had often seen a "Serpent ... of vast magnitude, namely 200 feet long, and moreover 20 feet thick." A dangerous beast, it lived in caves along the shore and devoured both land and ocean creatures, including an occasional seaman. "This Snake disquiets the shippers," Olaus Magnus wrote, "and he puts up his head on high like a pillar."

1558

Story of the Blessed Margaret of Metola. Margaret was a blind dwarf, hunchbacked and lame, but that didn't stop her from living a life of heroic service to the poor. She died in 1330, but in 1558 her remains had to be transferred because her coffin was rotting away. At the exhumation, witnesses were amazed to find that like the coffin, the clothes had rotted, but Margaret's crippled body hadn't.

1561

April--One of the most astounding of documented sightings of aerial phenomena took place in 1561 over Nuremberg, Germany. What was described could only be called a war in the heavens, with a wide variety of craft ranging from spheres to spear-like cylinders to crosses. The sky was apparently filled with the machines, clashing in battle. Comets and such were well identified and charted in this period, so it is highly unlikely that what the people witnessed was merely a celestial phenomenon like a 'meteor shower', as some debunkers suggest. Rather, what is described are physical objects of unique detail and shapes, in 'battle' for over an hour. The battle was such that a winner was perceived as well. Spheroid UFOs were seen emerging from cylindrical 'motherships'. At the conclusion of the battle, it seems a magnificent, black, spear-like super-ship of some kind came upon the scene... It began at dawn, as dozens, if not hundreds, of crosses, globes and tubes fought each other above the city. It ended an hour later, when "the globes in the small and large rods flew into the sun," and several of the other objects crashed to earth and vanished in a thick cloud of smoke. According to the Nuremberg Gazette, the "dreadful apparition" filled the morning sky with "cylindrical shapes from which emerged black, red, orange and blue-white spheres that darted about." Between the spheres, there were "crosses with the color of blood." This "frightful spectacle" was witnessed by "numerous men and women." Afterwards, a "black, spear-like object" appeared. The author of the Gazette warned that "the God-fearing will by no means discard these signs, but will take it to heart as a warning of their merciful Annunciation with St. Emidius Father in heaven, will mend their lives and faithfully beg God, that he avert His wrath, including the well-deserved punishment, on us, so that we may, temporarily here and perpetually there, live as His children."

1566

August 7--UFOs Do Battle In The Heavens Over Basel, Switzerland A student in Basel, Switzerland reported that just after dawn on August 7, 1566, "many large, black globes were seen in the air, moving before the sun at great speed and turning against each other as if fighting. Some of them became red and fiery and afterwards faded and went out."

1568

First Inquisition edict against the Alumbrados.

1572

May 13--A famous naturalist, Ulysses Aldrovandus, recorded the details of a peasant killing a small dragon along a farm road in northern Italy on this day. He obtained the dragon carcass, thoroughly documented the encounter, and had it mounted and placed in a museum.

1575 to 1624

Life of Jakob Bohme, visionary mystic, illuminated one.

1587

English colony established at Roanoke Island, Virginia; no trace of the "lost colony" was found when supply ships returned three years later.

1589

Stubbe Peeter was tried in Germany in 1589 for 25 years of hideous crimes, including murder of adults and children (including his own son), cannibalism, incest, and attacks on animals. Peeter claimed to have made a pact with Satan, who provided him with a girdle which turned him into a wolf.

1590

North Berwick witches coven attempts To sink King James' ship.

1592

The "Phiri Rhis Map" is drawn which shows the coastline of Africa and South America accurate to within a .5 degree of longitude. The map clearly shows features of the earth that nobody should have known in the late 1500's. On the map he wrote that he had borrowed and copied from 20 earlier ancient maps. Some of the maps dating back to Alexander the Great and older. Without an accurate timepiece there was no way to figure longitude on a sailing ship. It wasn't until 1790 that the first accurate marine timepiece was invented.

1593

England, London: A "flying dragon" surrounded by flames was seen over the city.

1597

Anonymous alchemist seeks to start Rosicrucian-like society in Europe. 1603

King James of England declares witchcraft a capital crime.

1605

Rosicrucian constitution published.

1609

First recorded sighting of "Champ", or the Lake Champlain Monster, by Pierre de Champlain.

1610

The Wood manuscript written, traces the history of the Order from two pillars that were found after Noah's Flood.

1611

As late as this date, the Chinese emperor was still appointing the post of a "Royal Dragon Feeder."

1616

A pamphlet begins circulating describing an ancient secret society begins to circulate. Worthy people are invited to join. No address or instructions are given on how to contact the Rosicrucian order, but it is promised that published inquiries will be answered. The "Fraternity of the Rosy Cross" allegedly dates back to the time of the Egyptian ruler Akhnaten, who worshipped the sun.

1621

Lakota Indian tribe puts star map on buffalo hide.

1622

Posters appear in Paris saying that the Rosicrucians are "amongst you...visibly and invisibly."

1623

Alumbrados of Spain condemned by an edict of the Grand Inquisition.

Guerinets appear in France.

1639

In this year one James Everett, sober, discreet man, and two others, saw a great light in the night at Muddy River in New England. When it stood still, it flamed up, and was about three yards square; when it ran, it was contracted into the figure of a swine: it ran as swift as an arrow towards Charlton, and so up and down about two or three hours. They were come down in their lighter about a mile, and, when it was over, they found themselves carried quite back against the tide to the place they came from. Divers other credible persons saw the same light, after, about the same place.

1640

Beginning of subliminal persuasion when Rembrandt imbeds the word "sex" in a painting.

1643

March 11-- England, from the diarist John Evelyn: I must not forget what amazed us exceedingly the night before, namely, a shining cloud in the air in a shape resembling a sword, the point reaching to the north. It was as bright as the moon, the rest of the sky being very serene. It began about 11 at night and vanished not till about one, being seen by all the south of England.

1646

Earliest known Masonic Lodge to allow non-professional or "free" masons, in Warrington, England.

1649-50

The "English Diggers", a group of agrarian communists who flourished in England in 1649-50 and were led by Gerrard Winstanley (q.v.) and William Everard. The Diggers were harassed by legal actions and mob violence, and by the end of March 1650 their colony was dispersed.

1649

Reliable sightings of "flying dragons" (pterosaur-like creature) in Europe are recorded as recently as this year. The woods around Penllin Castle, Glamorgan, had the reputation of being frequented by winged serpents, and these were the terror of old and young alike. The winged serpents were described as very beautiful. They were coiled when in repose, and "looked as if they were covered with jewels of all sorts. Some of them had crests sparkling with all the colours of the rainbow". When disturbed they glided swiftly, "sparkling all over," to their hiding places. When angry, they "flew over people's heads, with outspread wings, bright, and sometimes with eyes too, like the feathers in a peacock's tail". Locals had killed some of them, for they were as bad as foxes for poultry, and the extinction of the winged serpents was due to the fact that they were "terrors in the farmyards and coverts."

1654

Illuminated Guerinets come to public notice in France.

1658

The Florentine Heresy rocks the "Society of London".

1660

The following is the text of a sworn statement by a seventeenth-century Swedish clergyman, P. Rahm: "In the year 1660, when I and my wife had gone to my farm, which is three quarters of a mile from Ragunda parsonage, and we were sitting there and talking awhile, late in the evening, there came a little man in at the door, who begged of my wife to go and aid his wife, who was just in the pains of labor. The fellow was of small size, of a dark complexion, and dressed in old gray clothes. My wife and I sat awhile, and wondered at the man; for we were aware that he was a Troll, and we had heard tell that such like, called by the peasantry Vettar (spirits), always used to keep in the farmhouses, when people left them in harvest-time. But when he had urged his request four or five times, and we thought on what evil the country folk say that they have at times suffered from the Vettar, when they have chanced to swear at them, or with uncivil words bid them to go to hell, I took the resolution to read some prayers over my wife, and to bless her, and bid her in God's name go with him. She took in haste some old linen with her, and went along with him, and I remained sitting there. When she returned, she told me that when she went with the man out at the gate, it seemed to her as if she was carried for a time along in the wind, and so she came to a room, on one side of which was a little dark chamber, in which his wife lay in bed in great agony. My wife went up to her, and, after a little while, aided her till she brought forth the child after the same manner as other human beings. The man then offered her food, and when she refused it, he thanked her, and accompanied her out, and then she was carried along, in the same way in the wind, and after a while came again to the gate, just at 10 o'clock. Meanwhile, a quantity of old pieces and clippings of silver were laid on a shelf, in the sittingroom, and my wife found them next day, when she was putting the room in order. It is supposed that they were laid there by the Vettar."

1663

August 15-- As the people of the village Robozero (in the Bolozero district, Russia) were in church they heard a loud noise in the sky and many people left the church to see what was up. One of them was the farmer Levka Pedorov who told the stort to the monastery monk, who documentetd it in script. In midday a "great ball of fire" descended from the south in a clear blue sky over Robozero and moved across the church to the near lake. The "ball" was 45 meters in diameter and two beams of "fire" were shooting out from the front and then, after it went from the south to the west (500meters from Pedorov), it "dissapeared". Only to re-apear an hour later over the same lake. And there it stayed for an hour and a half. A company of fishermen in a boat on the lake a mile away from Pedorov were sorely burnt by the light of the "ball", which lit up the lake to it's bottom 9 meters deep, while the fish fled to the banks. Pedorov described the water as if "covered with rust under the glow..."

1669

Russian Old Believers begin setting themselves alight to protect themselves from the Antichrist. By 1690, 20,000 are dead.

The Hope Diamond is believed to have come from the Kollur mine near Golconda in India. It first came to attention in the 1660's when a French explorer Tavernier noticed the then 112 carats of golf ball shaped blue stone, gleaming on the forehead of a temple idol. At that point in time it was roughly three times the size that it is today. Tavernier took the diamond back to France where in 1669 he sold it to Louis XIV for the modern day equivalent of £71 million.

1670

A Dutchman named Jan Struys, captured and enslaved by bandits in Armenia, met a hermit--or so he would claim later--on Ararat. Struys, believed by his captors to possess magical healing powers, treated the old man, who in gratitude handed him a "piece of hard wood of a dark color" and a sparkling stone, both of which "he told me he had taken from under the Ark."

1674

In An Account of Two Voyages to New England, published in 1674, John Josselyn recalled a 1639 conversation with residents of the Massachusetts colony: "They told me of a sea-serpent or snake, that lay coiled upon a rock at Cape Ann."

1678

The earliest known crop circle, known as the "Mowing Devil," is shown on a woodcut from Hertfordshire, England. The inscription reads, "Being a True Relation of a Farmer, who Bargaining with a Poor Mower, about the Cutting down Three Half Acres of Oats: upon the Mower's asking too much, the Farmer swore That the Devil should Mow it rather than He. And so it fell out, that very Night, the Crop of Oat shew'd as if it had been all of a flame: but next Morning appear'd so neatly mow'd by the Devil or some Infernal Spirit, that no Mortal Man was able to do the like. Also, How the said Oats ly now in the Field, and the Owner has not Power to fetch them away."

1680

Madame Le Voisin, innovator of modern Satanism, executed in Paris.

1682

Tamanend, sachem and chief of the Lenni-Lenape tribe, welcomes William Penn to America, traditionally considered the beginning of the "Tammany Society".

1688

The witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts. 20 people are executed for witchcraft. Nineteen are hanged, not burned, and one is crushed under heavy stones.

Dr. O. Dapper wrote that the Congo was inhabited by "squirrels with tails much larger than those in Europe, bears, wild cats, and very venomous vipers...".

1689

William III of Orange becomes king of England, allegedly through the plotting of the Illuminati.

1691

One of the great early studies of Fairies was Robert Kirk's The Secret Common-Wealth. Kirk, a Presbyterian clergyman who served in Scotland's Highlands and who had a keen interest in the supernatural lore of the region, was convinced of the reality of fairies. After all, he asked, how could such a widespread belief, even if "not the tenth part true, yet could not spring of nothing?" He conducted his inquiries on the assumption that once he had enough information, he could accurately describe the nature of fairy life down to its smallest details. According to Kirk, fairies were of a "middle nature between man and angel" with bodies "somewhat of the nature of a condensed cloud." They dressed and spoke "like the people and country under which they live." Sometimes passing fairies could be heard but not seen. They traveled often, frequently through the air, could steal anything they liked (from food to human babies), and had no particular religion. Mortals with "second sight" (clairvoyance) were most likely to see them, since they were usually invisible to the human eye. In fact, the word "fairy" comes from a much earlier word, faierie, which meant a state of enchantment rather than an individual supernatural entity.

1692

A skeleton found in a tomb near Angers, France, measured seventeen feet four inches.

Teleportations of human beings are not hard to find in folkloric and religious contexts. One early example of the former, recorded by the Rev. Robert Kirk in his classic work on seventeenth-century Scottish fairy traditions, The Secret Comnion-Wealth (1692), remarks on one unfortunate man's plight: His neighbours often perceaved this man to disappear at a certane Place, and about one Hour after to become visible, and discover himself near a Bowshot from the first Place. It was in that Place where he became invisible, said he, that the Subterraneans [fairies] did encounter and combate with him.

1693

Calcutta is plagued by a man-eating tiger. Edmond Hoyle discovers it is a shapechanger and kills it.

"Kap Dwa" was allegedly a 12-foot tall two-headed giant, who lived in the 17th century, and was captured by Spanish sailors in 1693. It was said he had a pike driven through his heart after managing to kill four of his captors. Since then his stuffed body has been displayed at various sideshows in England from 1900 onwards, and in America since 1980.

1697

November 4--Sighting of two UFOs over Hamburg, Germany. The objects were described as "two glowing wheels".

1700's

In the US, there is an 18th century Indian legend about luminous humanoid beings who paralyzed people with a small tube. In variations of these tales, Indian women were even said to have married a couple of these "star people".

Montanus, an eighteenth century writer on German folklore, told of wizards flying in the clouds, who were shot down.

1700

Quietism of Fenelon and others.

1701

Earliest record of "operative" or professional Masonic Lodge in Alnwick, England.

1717

The London Lodges of Freemasonry unilaterally decide to cast off their vows of secrecy and go public. They are followed, sometimes unwillingly, by other Lodges all over the British Isles and western Europe. They are still a secret society, in that their rites and rituals are secret, but they have publicly acknowledged that they exist.

1721

British King George I cracks down on the flourishing "Hell Fire Clubs", popular Satanist cults.

1723

Anderson's Constitutions of the Freemasons published. Ebrietatis Enconium and other early anti-Masonic works published.

1724

Publication of the anti-Masonic Grand Mysteries of the Freemasons Discovered.

1726

Jonathan Swift in his book Gulliver's Travels, accurately "predicted" the previously unknown existence of the two moons of Mars (Phobos and Deimos). These were not discovered by telescope until 1877. There is no way Swift could have known the moons were real yet he described Phobos' orbital period as 10 hours (very close to the real figure of 7.6) and Deimos' as 21.5 (close to the real 30.2). Both seem to be very lucky guesses. How was Swift able to predict the existence of the moons and their attributes so well? Some have seriously suggested he had psychic powers.

1727

Last official burning of a witch in Scotland.

1729

Strange subterranean thundering noise phenomena has been reported since at least 1729 and even before by natives, centered near Mt. Tom and especially Cave Hill, six miles the NW near Leesville, Connecticut, where there is a cavern where witches once congregated that has not been fully penetrated to any great depth because of its "bad air".

1731

Benjamin Franklin initiated into Freemasonry.

1734

Franklin elected Grand Master of Pennsylvania.

Hans Egede, a Protestant missionary known as the Apostle of Greenland, recorded this 1734 manifestation, witnessed while he was on his second voyage to Greenland: "This Monster was of so huge a Size, that coming out of the Water, its Head reached as high as the Mast-Head; its Body was bulky as the Ship, and three or four times as long. It had a long pointed Snout, and spouted like a Whale-Fish; great broad Paws, and the Body seemed covered with shell-work, its skin very rugged and uneven. The under Part of its Body was shaped like an enormous huge Serpent, and when it dived again under Water, it plunged backwards into the Sea, and so raised its Tail aloft, which seemed a whole Ship's Length distant from the bulkiest part of its Body."

1735

According to legend, Ms. Leeds of Burlington, New Jersey, gives birth to a baby boy but he transforms into a monster with the head of a horse, feet of a pig and the body of a snake.

1736

Death of the last leader of the Afghan Illuminated Ones.

1737

Ramsay asserts the Templar origin of Masonry.

1738

Pope Clement XII issued a Papal Bull which stated that any Catholic who became a Mason would be excommunicated, a very serious punishment.

1742

December 16--From an account by a Fellow of the Royal Society, England: "I was crossing St. James park when a light rose from behind the trees and houses, from the south and west, which at first I thought was a rocket of large size. But when it rose 20 degrees, it moved parallel to the horizon, but waved like this (the speaker drew an undulating line) and went on in the direction of north-by-east. It seemed very near. Its motion was very slow. I had it for about half a mile in view. A light flame was turned backwards by the resistance the air made to it. From one of burning charcoal. That end was a frame like bars of iron, and quite opaque in my sight. At one point on the longitudinal frame, or cylinder, it issued a train in the shape of a tail of light more bright at one point on the rod or cylinder; so that it was transparent for more than half of its length. The head of this strange object seemed about a half a degree in diameter and the tail near three degrees in length."

1748

A man calling himself the Count of St. Germain turned up in Paris, looking about thirty, he claimed he was two thousand years old. He told the court that he had developed an elixir to keep him thirty forever. He graced many dinner tables, but would never eat; he said he never touched food but lived on his magic elixir. He did add that he had partaken of one wedding dinner-the one that Christ attended at Cana. He opened a scientific laboratory outside St. Antoine to various society visitors, but no one could figure out what he was doing. Even when the king of France gave him laboratory space at Versailles, they were no wiser. Nor Charles of Hesse-Cassel later. He told eighteenth-century Parisians that he had known Henry IV (1550-1610). If that was true, then perhaps he was also the man who scared Catherine de Medicis to death in 1589, for she was Henry's mother-in-law. An astrologer had told Catherine (1519-1589) "to beware of St. Germain," so the queen carefully avoided the Faubourg St. Germain, a district of Paris. Then she fell ill and sent for a priest to hear her confession. He appeared and announced that his name was St. Germain, and she dropped dead. He got involved in diplomatic intrigues and went on several confidential missions for the French king, journeying mysteriously to Vienna, Constantinople, Moscow, and other exotic capitals. In Paris, he made lots of friends, mostly ladies. They kept him so busy (he told Casanova, also an agent of Louis XV) that he didn't have time to invent the steamboat, but he would get to that in the next century. Meanwhile, he distributed to them a wash that took away wrinkles and warned Marie Antoinette of the impending revolution (she didn't believe him).

1750

"Hell Fire Clubs" continue to flourish in Dublin and London.

1753

In Rio de Janeiro, a modern-day researcher named Fawcett found a report of the long forgotten discovery by the Spanish in 1753 of the ruins of a monumental stone city; there was no record of it ever having been visited again. Given a 10-inch tall figure carved of black basalt, Fawcett had it evaluated by a psychometrist, one who claims he can divine an object's origin by holding it. Undoubtedly, he was told, it came from the lost continent of Atlantis, taken along when its inhabitants had fled destruction to find refuge and build a great city in the Brazilian wilderness. Since the name was unknown, Fawcett called it "Z" for convenience. A civilization older than Egypt's waited to be uncovered.

Fictional alchemist Joseph Curwen writes letter stating "I laste Nighte strucke on ye Wordes that bringe up Yooge-Sothothe," perhaps the real power behind the Illuminati.

1756

Baron von Hund founds Templar Strict Observance, inspired, some say, by Frederick II of Prussia. For the first time there is talk of the Unknown Superiors. Some insinuate that the Unknown Superiors are Frederick and Voltaire.

1757

First year of Swedenborg's "New Era."

1760

A spell of unpopularity caught up with Saint Germain, and he moved to London for two years, perhaps serving as a spy for the English government.

1761

While working in a new tin mine at Tregoney-on-Fal, in Cornwall, reports the Annual Register for 1761, a miner discovered a stone coffin on which some unrecognizable characters were inscribed. Inside the ancient eleven-foot-three-inch casket he saw the gigantic skeleton of a man, which, when exposed to the air, crumbled to dust-except for one tooth, which measured two and one-half inches in length.

1762

August 9--First UFO photograph and a most unusual sighting was reported by Monsieur de Rostan, an amateur astronomer and member of the Medicophysical Society of Basel, Switzerland. On August 9, 1762, at Lausanne, Switzerland, he observed through a telescope a spindle-shaped object crossing and eclipsing the sun. Monsieur de Rostan was able to observe this object almost daily for close to a month. He also managed to trace its outline with a camera obscure and sent the picture to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris. Unfortunately, his image -- probably the first one ever obtained of a UFO -- no longer exists. A friend of Monsieur de Rostan, living at Sole near Basel, also observed the spindle-shaped object against the sun, but it seemed to present more of an edge and was not quite as broad. Oddly enough, the UFO was not visible to a third astronomer, a Monsieur Messier who studied the sun, during the same time, from Paris -- an indication that the object was not a sunspot, since it was visible only from certain angles.

1763

In the mountains of Germany, a peasant couple left their three-year-old daughter lying asleep by a stream as they cut grass a short distance away. When they went to check on her, they were horrified to find her missing. A frantic search proved fruitless until a man passing by on the other side of the hill heard a child crying. As he went to investigate, he was startled at the sight of a huge eagle flying up before him. At the spot from which it had ascended, he found the little girl, her arm torn and bruised. When the child was reunited with her parents, they and her rescuer estimated that the bird had carried her well over 1,400 feet.

1764-67

One of the most perplexing cryptozoological mysteries of all time, the Beast of Gévaudan was a cow-sized, wolf-like monster which terrorized the district of Gévaudan (Lozère), France, from 1764 until 1767. This tiny province, in the Margeride Mountains of south-central France, first became aware of the Beast in June, 1764. That month, a young woman was attacked by a large, wolf-like monster in the Forêt de Merçoire near Langogne. She was one of the few people who survived an encounter with la Bête, a creature which was, peculiarly, referred to in the feminine. In October of that year, two hunters came across the Beast and shot at it from close range. The Beast was hit a total of four times, but it seemed relatively untouched. A Capt. Duhamel, who commanded nearly 60 soldiers, began his own hunt for La Bête, and on several occasions wounded it--but it was still not killed. King Louis XV himself sent an experienced wolf-hunter named Denneval to Gévaudan to kill the Beast. Before Denneval himself managed to track down the Beast, a man named de la Chaumette saw the Beast near his home, near St.-Chely. He and his two brothers went out to a pasture in hopes of killing the Beast. They shot it twice, but it still didn't die. In June, 1765, Denneval gave up his hunt. The previous month, King Louis sent out his chief gun-carrier, Antoine de Beauterne. On September 21, he launched a hunt in the Béal Ravine, near Pommier. He shot what he believed was the Beast. It was an extremely large wolf, 6 feet long. De Beauterne's kill was preserved up until this century in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. But the killings still continued. In the summer of 1767, hundreds of peasants made pilgrimages to Notre-Dame de Beaulieu Cathedral near Mount Chauvet to pray for deliverance from the creature, which was widely believed to be either punishment sent by God, or possibly a loup-garou (werewolf). One of the peasants who went to the cathedral was a hermit named Jean Chastel. He had his rifle and three bullets blessed. On June 19, 1767, an area noble organized a huge hunt, with more than 300 participants. Chastel, at the Sogne d'Aubert, waited for the Beast to appear, praying all the while. When it appeared, he shot it. Finally, it died. What was the Beast? The French peasants of the area believed it to be some sort of demon, but an English account from about the same time said the Beast was most likely a member of "a new species", which they said was a hybrid of tiger and hyena. Learned men believed it to have been a wolverine, a bear, or even a baboon.

Illumines of France founded.

1769

Edward Bancroft's An Essay on the Natural History of Guiana makes mention of what might be the a species of South American mystery hominids when he recounts tribal superstitions that creatures "near five feet in height, maintaining an erect position, and having a human form, thinly covered with short, black hair" dwelt in the forest.

1770

In Staffordshire, England, a laborer moved a large flat stone he encountered in a field while digging a trench, beneath which he discovered a descending stone staircase which he followed deep into the earth, finding that the staircase switch-backed now and then until he emerged into a large underground chamber several hundred feel below that was filled with strange objects and large machines and illuminated by a strange ever-luminous sphere which revealed a man on a throne like chair, dressed in a hooded robe. The man in the chair saw the intruder and stood up with a baton like object in his hand as he went over to the luminous sphere and smashed it, plunging the cavern into darkness, as the laborer stumbled back up to the surface in surprise and terror. The story spread that one of the secret chambers where the Rosicrucians hoarded their scientific secrets had been discovered, i.e. the "Rosicrucius Sepulchre".

1773

Alleged meeting of Meyer Rothschild and others to plan a world revolution.

July 21--Pope Clement XIV "forever annulled and extinguished the Jesuit Order." France, Spain and Portugal had independently come to realize that the Jesuits were meddling in the affairs of the state and were therefore enemies of the government. The Pope's action was a response to pressure applied by the monarchies.

1774

Casanova becomes secret agent for the Inquisitors of Venice.

1776

Adam Weishaupt, a professor of canon law at the University of Ingolstadt in Bavaria, started the "Order of the Illuminati" on May 1, 1776, originally calling it the "Order of Perfectibilists". Weishaupt (born a Jew and "converted" to Roman Catholicism) was a former Jesuit priest (the Jewish military arm of the Catholic Church) who broke with that Order to form his own organization. His plan was to use the Grand Orient Lodges of Europe as a filtering mechanism through which to screen out talent and build a hierarchy of inner circles. Like the Mafia of today, only the inner circle could be trusted with the true purpose of the Order.

Franklin becomes ambassador to France, is affiliated with French Masonic lodges.

Opening of Freemasons' Hall, permanent headquarters of English Masonry.

Cagliostro initiated into Masonry.

The first written record of the mysterious creature called mokele mbembe (literally, "stopper of rivers") appears in a book written in 1776 by French priest Abbé Lievain Bonaventure Proyart describing the natural history of the Congo Basin of Africa. He described a creature "which was not seen but which must have been monstrous: the marks of the claws were noted on the ground, and these formed a print about three feet in circumference."

1777

Weishaupt joins Munich Freemason Lodge of the "Order of Good Council".

1778

Washington has his mystical vision of the future of the United States while at Valley Forge.

Franklin assists in initiation of Voltaire into Masonic Lodge of Paris.

Masonic Convention in Lyons organizes "Knights of Beneficence".

1789

The crew of the American gunship Protector had an extraordinary encounter in Penobscot Bay. One of the witnesses was an 18-year-old ensign, Edward Preble, who would go on to become a commoclore and a notable figure in U.S. naval history. In his biography of Preble, James Fenimore Cooper recounts this event: The day was clear and calm, when a large serpent was discovered outside the ship. The animal was lying on the water quite motionless. After inspecting it with the glasses for some time, Capt. [John Foster] Williams ordered Preble to man and arm a large boat, and endeavor to destroy the creature; or at least to go as near to it as he could.... The boat thus employed pulled twelve oars, and carried a swivel in its bows, besides having its crew armed as boarders. Preble shoved off, and pulled directly towards the monster. As the boat neared it, the serpent raised its head about ten feet above the surface of the water, looking about it. It then began to move slowly away from the boat. Preble pushed on, his men pulling with all their force, and the animal being at no great distance, the swivel was discharged loaded with bullets. The discharge produced no other effect than to quicken the speed of the monster, which soon ran the boat out of sight.

1780

Illuminati begins rapid growth.

Weishaupt dispatched the Marquis de Costanzo to propagate Illuminism in the north.

First use of the title "Odd Fellows".

"Order of the Brotherhood of Asia", Rosicrucian off-shoot, founded.

May--Report from Capt. George Little of the frigate Boston: In May, 1780, 1 was lying in Round Pond, in Broad Bay [off the Maine coast], in a public armed ship. At sunrise, I discovered a huge Serpent, or monster, coming down the Bay, on the surface of the water. The cutter was manned and armed. I went myself in the boat, and proceeded after the Serpent. When within a hundred feet, the mariners were ordered to fire on him, but before they could make ready, the Serpent dove. He was not less than from 45 to 50 feet in length; the largest diameter of his body, I should judge, 15 inches; his head nearly the size of that of a man, which he carried four or five feet above the water. He wore every appearance of a common black snake.

1781

Weishaupt seeks abortion for his sister-in-law while awaiting dispensation to marry her.

United Masonic Lodges of Hamburg headed by Fraximus, a secret Rosicrucian.

1782

President Hanson commissions the "Eye in the Pyramid" Great Seal.

A Masonic congress was assembled at Wilhelmsbad in 1782, under the presidency of the Duke of Brunswick, who was anxious to end the discord reigning among German Freemasons. It was attended by Masons from Europe, America, and Asia. At the Congress of Wilhelmsbad, an alliance between Illuminism and Freemasonry was finally sealed. This pact joined together all the leading secret societies of the day and united "not less than 3 million members all over the world." The actual effect of this merger on the subsequent history of the world has never been appreciated by historians. Most of which have belonged to one or the other of the secret societies and have sworn not to expose its secrets.

Casanova retires as secret agent.

1783

Ex-Illuminati Utschneider sends letter denouncing the Order to monarch of Bavaria.

"Rite of Swedenborg" founded by Marquis de Throne.

"Eclectic Rite" founded by Baron Knigge in Frankfort.

Windsor Castle, England: Members of the Royal Academy reported and illustrated the UFO they witnessed.

August 18--A UFO sighting occurred at 9:45pm in the evening when four witnesses on the terrace of Windsor Castle observed a luminous object in the skies of the Home Counties of England. The sighting was recorded the following year in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, who relates what witnesses observed: "An oblong cloud moving more or less parallel to the horizon. Under this cloud could be seen a luminous object which soon became spherical, brilliantly lit, which came to a halt; this strange sphere seemed at first to be pale blue in color but then its luminosity increased and soon it set off again towards the East. Then the object changed direction and moved parallel to the horizon before disappearing to the South-East; the light it gave out was prodigious; it lit us everything on the ground."

1784

Bavarian Monarch Carl Theodore outlaws secret societies.

Elector of Bavaria suppressed the Illuminati Order by edict, June 22, 1784, many Illuminati being imprisoned and some, including Weishaupt, being forced to flee the country.

A Swiss man standing nine feet high exhibited himself to astonished patrons at Vienna, says the Gentleman's Magazine for that year.

Cagliostro moves to Lyons from Bordeaux to found the Mother Lodge of Egyptian Masonry.

Royal Commission in Paris, including Franklin and Guillotine as members, investigates Mesmerism and returns a negative report.

Saint Germain purportedly dies in Schleswig, where he was in the magic business with Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Cassel. Or did he?

1785

Four more leading members of the Illuminati left the Society and testified before a Court of Inquiry called by the Elector of Bavaria. Their startling evidence removed all doubt regarding the Satanic nature of Illuminism. As a result, Weishaupt flees to Gotha; new edicts in March and August outlaw Illuminati and Freemasonry in Bavaria.

Public attention was first drawn to the existence of the Illuminati and their diabolical plan for world conquest as the result of a bizarre accident in 1785. History records that a courier for the Illuminati, named Lanze, was racing on horseback from Frankfurt to Paris carrying documents relating to Illuminati activities in general, and specific instructions for the planned French Revolution in particular. He was killed by lightning and his papers fell into government hands.

French "Diamond Necklace" affair, orchestrated by Cagliostro. Dumas describes it as Masonic plot to discredit the monarchy.

Rosicrucian Order suppressed in Austria. Anonymous pamphlet appears in Germany revealing secrets of ancient Egyptian ceremonies.

The Columbian Lodge of the Order of the Illuminati was established in New York City in 1785. Members included Governor DeWitt Clinton, and later Clinton Roosevelt, Charles Dana and Horace Greeley.

1786

Wisdom Lodge founded in Virginia.

Secret congress in Frankfort where Louis XVI and Gustavus III of Sweden condemned to die by Illuminati.

Italian Illuminatus Buonarroti's library of Masonic and subversive books confiscated by state authorities.

1787

The "German Union" (extension of outlawed Bavarian Illuminati) founded by Bahrdt.

Swedenborgian Church founded in London.

Both the Gentleman's Magazine, in November, and the Annual Register for the same year reported that while English workers were removing a ridge of limestone and rubbish in the lime quarries near Fullwell-hills, close to Durham, they unearthed a human skeleton nine feet six inches long with some teeth still in the skull.

1790

Bavarian edict against "Reading Societies".

The Annual Register for 1790 informed its readers that in July of that year some workers in a peat bog at Donnadea, near the seat of Sir Fitzgerald Aylmer, uncovered at a depth of seventeen feet the sepulchre of an Irish chieftain. Inside the coffin they found an eight-foot-two-inch skeleton with a seven-foot spear at his side. The sepulchre, according to local tradition, was built after the introduction of Christianity into Ireland.

Summer-- French Police Inspector Liabeuf witnessed and investigated a large red globe as it flew over farmland. The globe landed and a man came out and spoke in a language none understood. The globe then exploded and the man disappeared. The event was witnessed by many and is well documented.

June 12--A strange entity witnessed by a crowd of people in Alencon, France. It was said that at around that time a large metal sphere descended from the sky and crash landed into a nearby hillside. After a crowd had gathered, a "hatch" slid open and a being emerged dressed in an odd tight fitting costume. It mumbled something in a strange language, before bolting off towards some nearby woods. Seconds later the sphere exploded, fragments of which were said to have "sizzled" on the grass and melted. A wide search of the area yielded no further sign of the mysterious visitor.

1791

Napoleon joins the "Jacobin Club".

Burr begins converting "Tammany Society" into a political machine.

The anonymous Life of Joseph Balsamo (Joseph Basalmo was Cagliostro's name before he joined the Masons), first recorded link of the Illuminati and the French Revolution, appears in several European countries.

Mozart's The Magic Flute, containing Masonic elements, performed.

1792

The French Blue Diamond mysteriously vanishes.

Louis XVI imprisoned in the Templars Temple tower.

First Swedenborgian church in America.

Catherine II outlaws Masonry in Russia.

1793

Johann Rockerfeller of Germany comes to the USA, probably the deadliest immigrant America will ever know. Not because he was a German but because he was a German racist with some very dangerous international banking cult connections.

1794

Robespierre's enemies accuse him of attempting to have himself declared divine by Catherine Theot, an old woman who preached a mystery religion; Robespierre guillotined.

Dr Sigismund Bacstrom was initiated into a "Societas Roseae Crucis" by Comte Louis de Chazal, on the island of Mauritius.

1795

Daniel McGiniss discovers a clearing on Oak Island, where he figured must be some buried treasure. He returned the next day with John Smith and Anthony Vaughan. They only manage to dig down 30'.

The first real "break" as far as inside information on the Illuminati is concerned, came when Professor John Robison, working undercover in the Illuminati organization, came out and wrote a startling book entitled Proofs of A Conspiracy. Nearly all of what is currently known about the early Illuminati comes from Robison's book giving us a clear-cut picture of the organization.

1796

John Adams, who had been instrumental in organizing Masonic Lodges in New England, decided to oppose Thomas Jefferson in his bid for the presidency. He made a major issue of the fact that Jefferson, who had been minister to France, 1785-1789, and was frankly sympathetic to the Illuminist-fomented Reign of Terror, was using Masonic lodges for subversive purposes.

Germany, Dresden and Berlin: A bright light irregular in form and the size of the moon was seen in the sky above. A large detonation was heard and a dark bituminous substance fell to earth.

1798

July 19--David Pappen, President of Harvard University issued a strong warning to the graduating class and lectured them on the influence Illuminsm was having on the American scene. President Timothy Dwight of Yale University issued a similar warning.

1799

September 9--A "beautiful ball blazing with white light,..." was seen at 8:30 P.M. in England. It made no sound, and red sparks flew from it.

November 12, a "large red pillar of fire" was seen in the sky going south in Hereford, England. It was preceded by "flashes of extremely vivid electrical sort". Other object were seen between 5 and 6 A.M. leaving luminous trails behind them.

1800's

In the 1800's, two trappers reportedly discovered a cave in the Guadellupe Mountains of New Mexico, which they followed to a considerable depth. Hiding behind a large outcropping of rock they observed in fascination and horror a procession of beings in dark hooded robes enter a large cavern and began to chant, at which a "crystal like" entity descended from the stalactites above, hovered and in a multi-colored display communicated with the beings in some type of xylophone-like manner, until it once again ascended and was lost among the stalactites above, at which the procession descended downward through the passage from which they had emerged.

1800

Death of Thomas Waley, one of the last "Hell Fire Club" leaders.

Napoleon comes to power, allegedly through Illuminati manipulation.

1801

Francis Barret who greatly inspired Eliphas Levi wrote The Magus which contains also a great number of magic formula.

1803

Fish ejected from volcano Cotopaxi in the North Andes.

1804

McGinnis, Smith and Vaughan return to Oak Island, with Simeon Lynds. At 100' they reach the probable site of the chests. They leave it alone for the night, by the time they return everything is flooded.

1805

Lynds and Smith dig a second pit and tunnel in from the side, attempting to drain the water out. They are lucky to survive.

1805 to 1881

Life of Auguste Blanqui, French socialist, founder of numerous secret societies modeled after Buonarroti.

1809

The great Mammoth Cave in Edmondson County, Kentucky, was discovered only in 1809. Bodies of an unknown race reputed to antedate the Indians (giant descendents?) were found in its recesses with reed torches beside them, but all crumbled to powder when touched.

1811

One of the earliest recorded sightings of Sasquatch by a white man occurred near what is now Jasper, Alberta by a fur trader named David Thompson.

1812

July--An Italian journal reported that in the valley of Mazara in Sicily the skeleton of a man ten feet and three inches in length was dug up. It was noted that several other human skeletons of gigantic size had previously been found in the same area.

1815

Secret societies which eventually become the "Decembrist Movement" formed in Russian Masonic lodges.

1816

Charles Nodier, an alleged Grand Master of the "Priory of Sion", published anonymously one of his most curious and influential works, A History of Secret Societies in the Army under Napoleon. It develops a comprehensive philosophy of secret societies. And it credits such societies with a number of historical accomplishments, including the downfall of Napoleon.

1817

Suppression of the "Lodge of Jupiter the Thunderer" begins.

The Leixlip churchyard yielded to diggers the skeleton of a man not less than ten feet high. According to local tradition, the giant Phelim O'Tool was buried in that same churchyard some thirteen hundred years earlier.

Irish immigrants force entry into "Tammany Society", changing its direction.

August 12, 13, and 14--Reports from Solomon Allen III: 1 have seen a strange marine animal, that I believe to be a serpent, in the harbor in ... Gloucester. I should judge him to be between eighty and ninety feet in length, and about the size of a half barrel.... I was about 150 yards from him.... His head formed something like the head of a rattlesnake, but nearly as large as the head of a horse. When he moved on the surface of the water, his motion was slow, at times playing about in circles, and sometimes moving nearly straight forward. When he disappeared, he sunk [sic] apparently down.

1819

American "Independent Order of Odd Fellows" founded.

Founding of "National Freemasonry", the most important of several Polish secret societies devoted to ousting the Russians from Poland.

June 6--Report from Hawkins Wheeler: I had a fair and distinct view of the creature, and from his appearance am satisfied that it was of the serpent kind. The creature was entirely black; the head, which perfectly resembled a snake's, was elevated from four to seven feet above the surface of the water, and his back appeared to be composed of bunches or humps, apparently about as large as, or a little larger than, a half barrel; I think I saw as many as ten or twelve.... I considered them to be caused by the undulatory motion of the animal-the tail was not visible, but from the head to the last hump that could be seen, was, I should judge, 50 feet.

August 14--Report from Samuel Cabot: My attention was suddenly arrested by an object emerging from the water at the distance of about one hundred or one hundred and fifty yards, which gave to my mind at the first glance the idea of a horse's head.... I perceived at a short distance eight or ten regular bunches or protuberances, and at a short interval three or four more.... The Head ... was serpent shaped; it was elevated about two feet from the water.... He could not be less than eighty feet long.

1820

A formation of flying objects crossed the French town of Embrun. Francois Arago wrote of this date in the Annales de chimie et de physique: "Numerous observers have seen, during an eclipse of the moon, strange objects moving in straight lines. They were equally spaced and remained in line when they made turns. Their movements made a military precision."

1822

Russian government suppresses Masonry.

Charles Babbage demonstrates a prototype of his "Difference Engine" to the Royal Astronomical Society. He continues his work by designing an even more ambitious project "the Analytical Engine" that reportedly was to use punch cards inspired by Joseph Jacquard's invention. During his lifetime he never produces a functional version of either machine. Despite this shortcoming he is often heralded as the "Father of the Computer" and his work lives on as the foundation for the binary numbering system that is the basis of modern computers.

1824

Document from court of Vienna to French government denounces secret associations like the Absolutes, the Independents, the Alta Vendita Carbonara.

1825

"Decembrist Movement" suppressed in Russia after brief uprising.

1826

Sailors in the English Channel reported seeing a gray, torpedo-shaped object flying overhead.

June 16-- The American ship Silas Richards was sailing off St. George's Bank south of Nova Scotia at 6:30 P.M. on June 16, 1826, when its captain, Henry Holdredge, and a passenger, Englishman William Warburton, saw a most peculiar sight: an enormous, many-humped snakelike creature slowly approaching the vessel. Warburton raced to inform the other passengers, who were below deck, but only a handful responded. Warburton recalled, "The remainder refused to come up, saying there had been too many hoaxes of that kind already."

1828

Tammany Society backs Andrew Jackson for President.

Anti-Masonic Party founded, first third-party in America.

May 26--Kaspar Hauser mysteriously appears on the streets of Nuremberg.

1829

Alleged Illuminati meeting in New York decides to unite Atheists and Nihilists into Communist movement.

June--Olaf Jansen of Sweden with his father Jens Jansen left Stockholm to take an extended fishing and pleasure voyage. They sailed to Spitzbergen, Norway getting their first view of icebergs. Leaving Wijade Bay on June 23, they sailed to Hinlopen Strait and along the rocky coast of Franz Josef Land. After sailing for 24 hours, they came to a beautiful inlet where the air was unseasonably warm. In front of them they saw an open sea. Both father and son, having a love of the sea and a spirit of adventure, decided in that moment to explore this unknown sea. They turned the bow of their boat in a northerly direction and continued on. After three days, they encountered a fierce storm with high winds and spiraling whirlpools. A mist settled around their boat as they struggled to keep it afloat. Suddenly they were in calm waters; the storm had passed. As the mist cleared, the first light they noticed was a sun that was shining on them from an apparent southern latitude rather than from the North as they would expect. Tasting some drops of water that splashed on their hand, they discovered it was fresh water. Their story goes on to relate many unusual climate and compass irregularities. The compass needle continued to point north, although Olaf and Jens knew they had sailed over the curve or edge of the Earth After being ridiculed and laughed at in his homeland for relating his experiences, a demoralized Olaf moved to America in 1889. In the last years of his life he met and confided in a neighbor, who was a writer. The book about his experiences was written by Willis George Emerson of Los Angeles. It was published by Forbes and Company in Chicago in 1908. (The Smoky God: A Voyage to the Inner World) Olaf Jansen had died just a few weeks earlier.

1830

Anti-Masonic conventions in Massachusetts and Vermont find evidence linking Masonry with Illuminism.

Book of Mormon published.

1832

Writing in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, B. H. Hodgson, British Resident of the court of Nepal, made what may be the first reference in English to a strange biped in the Himalayas. He related that as they were collecting specimens in a northern Nepal province, his native hunters encountered an erect, tailless creature with long, dark hair all over its body. Taking it to be a demon, they fled in terror. Hodgson took it to be an orangutan.

1833

Soldiers digging at Lompock Rancho, California, discovered a male skeleton 12 feet tall. The skeleton was surrounded by caved shells, stone axes, other artifacts. The skeleton had double rows of upper and lower teeth. Unfortunately, this body was secretly buried because the local Indians became upset about the remains.

December 17--Kaspar Hauser dies of wounds received in a mysterious stabbing.

1835

The socialist "League of the Just" founded in Paris, later becoming the Marxist "Communist League".

1836

In the French coastal town of Cherbourg what was a described as a "gleaming aerial vessel" was seen in the sky overhead.

1837

October--Polly Adams is attacked at the Blackheath Fair by Spring Heeled Jack.

1838

A little girl, five years old, called Marie Delex, was playing with one of her companions on a mossy slope of a mountain in the French Alps, when all at once an eagle swooped down upon her and carried her away in spite of the cries and presence of her young friend. Some peasants, hearing the screams, hastened to the spot but sought in vain for the child, for they found nothing but one of her shoes on the edge of a precipice. The child was not carried to the eagle's nest, where only two eaglets were seen surrounded by heaps of goat and sheep bones. It was not until two months later that a shepherd discovered the corpse of Marie Delex, frightfully mutilated, and lying upon a rock half a league from where she had been borne off.

January 9--The Lord Mayor of London reveals the existence of a "citizen of Peckham" who has been frightening women.

February 18--Lucy and Margaret Scales are attacked by Spring Heeled Jack in Limehouse.

1840

The 222 ton ship Rosalie was found deserted but in ship shape near the Bahamas, a victim of the Bermuda Triangle mystery.

1842

According to an account he gave to a local historian, a Stowmarket, England, man was passing through a meadow on his way home when he saw fairies in the moonlight, "There might be a dozen of them, the biggest about three feet high, and small ones like dolls. Their dresses sparkled as if with spangles.... They were moving round hand in hand in a ring, no noise came from them. They seemed light and shadowy, not like solid bodies. I passed on, saying, the Lord have mercy on me, but them must be the fairies, and being alone then on the patch over the field could seem them as plain as I do you. I looked after them when I got over the style, and they were there, just the same moving round and round. I ran home and called three women to come back with me and see them. But when we got to the place they were all gone. I could not make out any particular things about theirfaces. I might be 40 rods from them and I did not like to stop and stare at them. I was quite sober at the time."

1844

Bahai religion begins when the Bab proclaims his mission in Persia.

June 18-- According to the Malta Times " .we find the brigantine Victoria some 900 miles east of Adalia, when her crew saw three luminous bodies emerge from the sea into the air. They were visible for ten minutes, flying a half mile from the ship." There were other witnesses who saw this same UFO phenomena from Adalia, Syria and Malta. The luminous bodies each displayed an apparent diameter larger than the size of the full moon.

1846

July 28--At 3:30 A.M., near Stralsund (then part of Pomerania and now Germany). During a short walk from the city on the Baltic shore, witnesses saw in a pale blue light the image of Stralsund looming over the Isle of Rugen on the opposite shore for a period of 15 minutes. The image was clear enough that details of the facade of the Gothic church of St. Mary could be "distinguished with ease."

September 27--During the exhibition of a panoramic model of Edinburgh, in the Zoological Gardens at Liverpool, about 3 P.M., an erect image of Edinburgh, depicted on the clouds over Liverpool, was seen by two residents in the Great Park at Birkenhead, for a period of forty minutes." Edinburgh is about 325 kilometers north of Liverpool.

1848

Marx and Engles publish the Communist Manifesto (allegedly commissioned by the Illuminati) and travel in France and Germany encouraging discontent with the Establishment.

Spiritualism born in Wayne County, New York, when the teenaged Fox sisters communicate with poltergeists.

Fortean tidbits: moon turns "blood-red" during total eclipse; a great comet fails to return at the time predicted; visions and "phantom soldiers" seen in the skies of France and Scotland.

August 6--The most famous sea-serpent report of all time. The witnesses were the captain and crew of the frigate Daedalus, on their way back to England from the Cape of Good Hope. Soon after its arrival at Plymouth on October 4, several newspapers reported rumors of a spectacular 20-minute sea-serpent sighting, and the Admiralty asked Peter M'Quhae, the captain, to supply a report either denying or detailing the incident. On the eleventh M'Quhae wrote Adm. Sir W. H. Gage a letter which the Times of London reprinted two days later. It reads in part: The object ... was discovered to be an enormous serpent, with head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above the surface of the sea, and as nearly as we could approximate by comparing it with the length of what our main-topsail yard would show in the water, there was at the very least 60 feet of the animal [above water], no portion of which was, to our perception, used in propelling it through the water, either by vertical or horizontal undulation. It passed rapidl