OK…so, call me obsessed!
Not too many folks know that since adolescence I have delved rather deeply into the history and exploits of the organization know throughout History as the Knights Templar. I have traced their activities and pursuits as far back into antiquity as is possible. As a result (and Carolyn will definitely vouch for this) I have over the past few years become totally enthralled with the evening television show, “The Curse of Oak Island.” As the course of the discoveries concerning the possibilities of this location have unraveled, “something” gradually began stirring in my brain, and has recently surfaced into my consciousness.
SOME BACKGROUND…
Back many years ago, while I resided on the East Coast, I became a trusted friend of a young New York resident I will name “Sam.” After awhile, Sam‘s trust in me developed into a friendship which would culminate in a true blood brotherhood. Sam, you see, was a full-blooded member of the Seneca Nation…as such, he (as I discovered) shared the indignities spent upon the heritage of his People. Upon the sharing of each other’s Spirits (I carry still the scar upon my left arm), he confided in me several glimpses in the Past of his People’s Nation.
Among the tales he told was the settlement of his ancestors along certain areas of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Here, they experienced the remnants of “structures” left behind by several unknown predecessors. His People were NOT the builders of these structures (mounds, stone piles, etc), but respected the existence of them as being of a sacred nature.
MORE “INTRIQUE”…
In June, 1969, Robert Silverberg, writing in Volume 20, Issue 4 of the American Heritage Magazine stated “…as the colonists gradually spread westward and southward they came upon mysterious and tantalizing earthen mounds. It was obvious that they were manmade relics of an earlier time.”
He further stated that “From the beginning, antiquarians worked hard to explain the mounds. Scholars ransacked history for evidence of ancient mound-building cultures and found it in Herodotus, in Homer, in the annals of Rome, in the Viking sagas; even in the Old Testament…” moreover, “Learned men suggested that our land had been visited in antiquity by Hebrews, Greeks, Persians, Romans, Vikings, Hindus, Phoenicians—anyone, in short, who had ever built a mound in the Old World…”
SO…how does all this information fit in with what exists in our home Region?
WELL…
A few years ago, I had the honor of serving as Vice Chairman of the Pennsylvania Route 6 Scenic Byways Committee. As such, it was my responsibility to “put together” a synopsis of the possibilities one might experience in our beloved area.
As the possibilities of the Oak Island venue seethed more and more into my consciousness, one of the regional experiences I had listed in my synopsis of Crawford County Intrinsic Qualities came to mind.
I had written, “Along the low lands of the Shenango River as it passes through North Shenango Township, numerous remains of the Mound Builders have been, and can still be, observed. Besides a number of mounds from thirty to fifty feet in circumference but of slight elevation, two circular forts have been found…each enclosing approximately one-half acre of ground. One is located near the bank of the river on Tract 31, and another on Tract 34. The embankment is not high, but each is/was surrounded by a moat, which indicates their construction for the purpose of defense. Heaps of stones, piled-up in square form like rude altars, have also been found along the banks of the Shenango.”
Heaps of stones? Piled-up in square form like rude altars? Found throughout our area?
WOW!!! Then it REALLY began to hit me. I dug a little deeper into my records, and found the reference upon which is based my description.
The following description appears in the PYMATUNING TRAILS VISION PLAN written in the plan developed by the Envision Linesville, July, 2006. I quote, “As is recounted in the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Pymatuning State Park Resource Management Plan, in the distant past, the great swamp that became Pymatuning Reservoir was occupied by the Monongahela’s or “Mound Builders”. These farmers buried their important dead in large mounds and had an impressive trade network involving goods from all over North America. No one knows what happened to these mysterious people.”
But, here lies the TRUE mystery: no one, REALLY NO ONE, truly knows for certain who built these mounds, or the square/rectangle piles of stones often described as “altars.”
SO MANY UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES…
Could it be possible that these structures were NOT the products of some ancient Native American People? Could they be escribed to yet a somewhat different source?
As the brothers, Rick and Marty Lagina, have discovered in their pursuits on Oak Island, Nova Scotia, the possibilities are, indeed, limitless. They have unearthed indications that “visitors” to the island have ranged from the Knights Templar, Vikings, pirates, and, perhaps, even dating as far back as visitors from ancient Rome! Treasures imagined range from casks of gold coins, original Shakespearean manuscripts, the Holy Grail, to the Ark of the Covenant!
The implication hinted in Silverberg’s extensive 1969 article implicates a similar series of possible “visitors” to the area of North Shenango and the present Pymatuning Reservoir area, and well as the Shenango River area.
As most residents and visitors to our area recollect, there are MORE than an abundance of tales, stories, myths, and suppositions which envelop the Region. Stories ranging from the disappearance of a young lady sailing through the area’s waters to reach her wedding day, only to be lost in the mists of Time, to the ranging of pirates across the swamps to bury their treasures. Intriguing stories…to be sure!
HERE’S THE “RUB”…
If one could hike across the lands of our Region, the remnants of several of the mounds can still be discovered…as can piles of stones arranged in the mentioned square/rectangle designs.
Upon reflection, recently one of my articles mentions the discovery of one of these antique stone piles discovered by myself (and Hobbes) while trekking along the traverse of a local roadway.
I can only imagine, theorize, and dream of the possible mysteries which lie hidden forever beneath the waters of our Pyma Lake.
Many, MANY “Thanks” to Rick and Marty Lagina for rekindling all these dreams in my Spirit. After all…isn’t that what Life is all about…keeping the Dreams alive?
As the poet, Langston Hughes, once wrote…
“Hold fast to Dreams!
For, when Dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.”