Page:Amazing Stories Volume 21 Number 06.djvu/151

Rh a tunnel cut into the cliff. The sides of the tunnel bore mysterious inscriptions and figures of birds, snakes and curious unknown animals. The local Indians kept away from the passage, but one day two Americans who were passing through the village decided to explore it. Hours later they emerged greatly excited and left the town, stating that they would return. But they never came back.

No one knows who these Americans were or what they found. The padres, for reasons known only to themselves, sealed the tunnel again by rebuilding the wall. In more recent years they have absolutely refused to permit exploration, although they state that they have no knowledge of what lies within — which is probably true. Only time will reveal the answer.

INCE the Ozark region has already been referred to as the site of an underground shaft, it is of interest to note that there exists an old legend in various parts of Missouri and Arkansas of a great hole in the ground, surrounded by great cliffs, from which strange sounds, lights and odors emerge. Known as the "devil pit," its location is not known, although men of previous generations claimed to have visited the place years ago. According to Vance Randolph (Ozark Ghost Stories), these old accounts state that "strange people live on the escarpments, throw odd things into the bottomless pit at night, particularly when the moon if full . . . (and) there are tales of dark-visaged foreigners traveling at night, who make regular pilgrimages to the place from distant parts of the country."

Fred Allsopp, in his Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, also refers to this story. Although there is a deep canyon with high walls called the "devil's half acre" near Mena, Ark., the legend is not known to the local inhabitants. It may be added that Breadtray Mountain in Stone County, Mo., is the scene of many reports of mysterious phenomena, and Otto Rayburn (Ozark Country) writes that "Breadtray has a legendary reputation seldom paralleled." Judge Tom Moore (Mysterious Tales and Legends of the Ozarks) states that persons who visit the mountain at night hear sobs, groans and screams, and that his report "does not come from second-hand information, nor is it based on hearsay."

Also, the mysterious lights on a lonely stretch of country road called the "devil's promenade" in northeastern Oklahoma, fourteen miles from Joplin, Mo., and five miles from Highway 66, are famous. Anyone, on any clear night, can see them, and repeated investigations have failed to produce an explanation. Other strange things have happened along this stretch of road, according to Randolph.

The lights resemble automobile headlights with dimmers on, vary from the size of an egg to that of a washtub, and always travel in an easterly direction. They appear in varying colors at varying heights, but never more than a few feet from the road. Old-timers claim they were there fifty years before the road was built and when the area was a woods. When approached they usually vanish or rise high into the air, and they are said to radiate heat. When pursued they often react as if guided intelligently.

INCE 1750 shipping masters in the Indian Ocean and adjacent waters have been reporting their observations of mysterious huge wheeled constructions, luminous and slowly revolving, under, rising from, or entering the sea. Hundreds of these reports have been published in the Marine Observer, issued by the British Meteorological Office, since 1850. Although nautical journals have discussed the enigma at various times, very little information about these observations has reached the general public.

In 1935, the late Charles Fitzhugh Talman, Chief Meteorologist of the U. S. Weather Bureau, in commenting on the report of the steamer Talma in 1929, wrote: "These tales that come to us year after year from the Indian Ocean of luminous wonders as weird as anything Poe ever imagined" cannot be explained by modern science. "The whole business," he added, "is so astounding that one wonders why no scientific expedition has yet investigated it."

Details on a number of these reports will be found in The Books of Charles Fort. Most significant is the localized nature of these observations. Moreover, a check of records reveals that a large proportion of these appearances, limited as they are to the Indian Ocean area, have been off the western coast of India.

Beneath the sea in this region, according to James Churchward (Children of Mu), lies "a large area of submerged land with structures showing thereon." This submerged land is of an oval shape, with the Lacadive and Maldive Islands lying within its boundaries. At several points both north and south of these islands are regions of very shallow water, crossed by channels of greater depth, and on clear days when the surface of the water is quiet and the sun is in the correct position, the "imposing remains of ancient structures are clearly to be seen."

Obviously this area was once a part of India, but no record of its submergence is mentioned in Hindu history no matter how far one goes back. The structures are of a very large size and indicate a prehistoric civilization highly advanced.

Is there any relationship between these puzzling ocean-dwelling wheels and this long-lost culture of pre-history?Where do these huge circular structures come from, and where do they go? What conceivable purpose do they have in submerging below the Indian Ocean — and only in this localized area? It is quite possible that the answers to these questions, when they are known, will be as astonishing and incredible as these reports are to us today.