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They Were In the Grand Canyon.

 
 
grant
12:25 / 20.12.01
In 1909, Smithsonian explorer/prospector GE Kincaid was seeking "mineral" in the Grand Canyon, when he found this cave.
It was full of relics of an apparent "Egyptian" or "Oriental" origin.
Kincaid's boss, SA Jordan, was reportedly very excited about the stunning find, 2,000 feet up the canyon wall.

The Smithsonian denies it ever existed, denies there was ever an SA Jordan or GE Kincaid in their employ, and says the Phoenix Gazette story was a hoax.

It may have been, but then again, some folks may have found the cave.
(This last site is *full* of information. Scroll down and use the pull-down menus.)
 
 
Bear
12:47 / 20.12.01
Now thats interesting, I love this kind of thing, just reading through the other site now - lots of info.. do you believe it grant?
 
 
grant
13:00 / 20.12.01
Not sure if I do, but it's a hell of a story.

I'm hesitant because I've heard a couple newspaper hoaxes from around that time period, and the original article is dated April 5. Of course, if it was a hoax, why not on April 1?

I've seen petroglyphs and canyon-wall cave cities in the area before (Mesa Verde, Colorado is one example), so it doesn't seem so exotic to me.

And, from what I've heard about the Smithsonian, I wouldn't put a cover-up past them. Try asking them why Tesla (who invented AC current) doesn't show up in their history of electricity exhibit, while Edison (who invented items that use electricity, and happened to donate a heap of money to the museum) is all over it. We've had threads on this in the past....
 
 
Gypsy Christ
09:36 / 21.12.01
Hm, thats very intresting but f it is true why would they whant to knock that off i mean wouldn't it be a really good find?
 
 
grant
12:09 / 21.12.01
Maybe they found something down there that challenged national security?
Maybe they were members of the inner circle of the Knights of Columbus and didn't want to lose face?
Maybe the caves extended into reservation land or were clearly Indian property in some way?
Maybe SA Jordan turned out to be a spy for the Kaiser?
 
 
grant
12:22 / 21.12.01
Of note: apparently there are records of SA Jordan existing and working for the Smithsonian.

And there are pretty unsensational reports showing that Kincaid was in the Yuma area at the right time, doing exploration work.


Then again, the skeptics make a few good points.
 
 
grant
12:54 / 21.12.01
Here's Dave Hatcher Childress' (predictable) take on the thing.

Excerpt:
quote:Poring over the map, we were amazed to see that much of the area on the north side of the canyon has Egyptian names. The area around Ninety-four Mile Creek and Trinity Creek had areas (rock formations, apparently) with names like Tower of Set, Tower of Ra, Horus Temple, Osiris Temple, and Isis Temple. In the Haunted Canyon area were such names as the Cheops Pyramid, the Buddha Cloister, Buddha Temple, Manu Temple and Shiva Temple. Was there any relationship between these places and the alleged Egyptian discoveries in the Grand Canyon?

We called a state archaeologist at the Grand Canyon, and were told that the early explorers had just liked Egyptian and Hindu names, but that it was true that this area was off limits to hikers or other visitors, "because of dangerous caves."

Indeed, this entire area with the Egyptian and Hindu place names in the Grand Canyon is a forbidden zone - no one is allowed into this large area. We could only conclude that this was the area where the vaults were located. Yet today, this area is curiously off-limits to all hikers and even, in large part, park personnel.
 
 
Perfect Tommy
22:44 / 22.12.01
quote:Originally posted by grant:
...the original article is dated April 5. Of course, if it was a hoax, why not on April 1?
The dumb questions I should research myself but I'm heading out and late already is: Was the Gazette a daily paper at the time? Did the original department appear in some column that was weekly instead of daily? (Potential reasons an April Fool's hoax wouldn't be printed on the first.)

For reasons I can't explain, the names "GE Kincaid" and "SA Jordan" set off little hoax bells, but I don't see any acronyms jumping out of there or anything; maybe it's just that double-initials are unusual to my eye and make me think my intuition is onto something.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
17:32 / 23.12.01
Same here, but then I think I've heard this tale before.
 
 
grant
18:57 / 27.12.01
Well, apparently there are pre-existent records of an "S.A. Jordon" (with the "o", not the "a"). And the Phoenix paper ran a very short piece a month previous on GE Kincaid arriving in Yuma either right before or right after going down the river through the canyon. No mention of oddities made, just a routine, "Hey, this guy's exploring the canyon!" short piece.
I think the initials thing might be a function of the time more than any anagram games.

Apparently, the story surfaces every so often but no one is able to determine much about it.
 
 
cusm
16:36 / 28.12.01
"Dangerous caves," eh? I wonder, danger like "armed guards will shoot you if you tresspass" danger or danger like "depleted uranium waste storage" danger? I mean, if it was "you may be eaten by bears" danger or "the paths are slippery with loose sediment" danger, they could deal with that and open the park.
 
 
grant
14:02 / 31.12.01
You know, I wouldn't find a secret uranium storage facility too hard to believe.
 
  
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