Itzá Heckúva Sight

In the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico lies the ruins of Chichén Itzá, the elaborate city of colorful pyramids, steps, graves, plazas and temples housing murals, altars, masks, carvings and other renderings.

Chichén Itzá is believed to have been a populous community as well as military fortress and a center for worship and commerce.

Settled in circa 500 AD and developed primarily between 900 and 1200 AD, it is estimated to have been abandoned by the 1500s.

Ominously, some structures within the city served as the site of countless sacrificial ceremonies. Humans were certainly believed to have been sacrificed, along with gold and jade to Chaac, the rain god during the Cult of the Cenote.

Another marvel evident in Chichén Itzá’s dazzling remnants is the Mayans’ brilliant pursuit of astronomy. Biannually, shadows can be observed on the steps of the Temple of Kukulkan during the autumn and spring equinoxes which form the shape of a serpent that slithers downward to the bottom steps as the sun sets. The city’s observatory also allowed for the forecasting of solar eclipses.

After its excavation in the 19th Century, much of what we now know of the ruins was learned and studied by scientists and scholars who are still trying to keep up with its complex history.

But what ever became of the Mayans of the city and why did they flee? These are questions that have never been unequivocally satisfied. Perhaps it’s simply too early to know. Those answers may lie in the riddles that adorn the city’s stone walls and haunt all souls who walk their ancient paths, searching in vain for an ancient clue. Maybe Itzá just a mystery.

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Christopher Robinson

Mysteries Throughout Mankind

In a previous blog I commented on unexplained phenomenon which I only approached in a perfunctory paragraph. As such, I thought I’d elaborate a little on that fascinating topic.

I’ve always been drawn to historical mysteries and incidents or subjects that lack official explanations. Some that naturally come to mind are the subject of UFOs, Bigfoot, ghost sightings and unsolved crimes like the case of D.B. Cooper, the mystery man in a business suit who hijacked a Boeing 727 flight to Seattle and apparently jumped off with $200,000 ransom money, never to be seen again.

As a kid, I was intrigued by these kinds of stories and I even created my own scrapbook of photos and news clippings devoted to Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Bermuda Triangle and other subjects that spurred my imagination. My favorite was Bigfoot- he was always enduringly fascinating as a possible intermediate form between man and his simian ancestor that was still elusively roaming the dense wild.

One of my favorite shows back then was Leonard Nimoy’s ‘In Search Of...’ which sought to explore these phenomenal items through interviews and intensive research. The shows were brief and as a result only touched upon the topics with no real conclusive answers to the weekly mysteries but I still think the subtle and equivocal style they employed was far superior to those currently produced in similar-themed shows.

The contemporary versions on networks like Nat Geo, History and Investigation Discovery tend to overreach their analysis by exhausting dead-end hypotheses and showing off state-of-the-art technologies for sheer sensationalism. Sometimes it’s better and far more interesting from an entertainment aspect to simply let the subject matter speak for itself.

What fascinates you? What is it about the way it is presented in a book or show or movie that makes it even more fascinating?

Chris