No Man’s Land

Webster-Ashburton Treaty (Wikipedia) was signed in 1842 and its purpose was to end all border disputes between US and Canada. This time the plan didn’t yield perfect result. When two groups of experts (one from US and one from Canada) met at the only New Hampshire international border there was an 18-inch discrepancy in their calculations… not bad considering the amount of work and territory they had to cover. Still, it is 18 inches of territory that neither country could claim, but neither would give up.

After attempting to agree many times, they finally set two markers which have remained in place for more than 150 years. Theoretically speaking, you could stand between markers 483 and 484 and be in no country in the world, certainly not in the US or Canada. Border officials would never say it was “no man’s land”, you always have to be in one country or another, but they could not agree in which country you really were.

The two monuments have recently been reset in a single concrete base and assigned a single number: 484.

Voynich Manuscript

Voynich Manuscript (Wikipedia) is an illustrated book written in code which has remained an undeciphered mystery ever since it was discovered in 1912 by Polish-American book dealer Wilfrid M. Woynich. The book is thought to have been written in unknown language sometime in the 15th or 16th century. It is currently stored in Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Wikipedia).

Water Music from Gardner Lake

IF YOU DROPPED anchor some still night at a certain spot in Salem’s lovely Gardner Lake, they say you can hear a haunting melody, played on an old piano, arising from beneath the quiet waters. And if you chose next day to investigate the source of the mysterious refrain by diving with mask and tank into the depth of those dark waters, you might just find yourself standing on the roof of a house with a piano in its parlor.

Gungywamp

This place in Groton, Connecticut means “Church of the People (Wikipedia)” in ancient Gaelic. It is a walled complex which sits on top of a thirty-foot cliff, a few miles away from the Long Island Sound. It consists of a double circle of massive standing stones. Archeological excavations have disclosed a stone floor between the circles. The site may have been used as a ritual altar. Traces of burning were found as well as pieces of charcoal from the first millennium.

People who go there regularly claim that particularly interesting stone is so called “Rock of Tears”. They noticed that visitors who walk near this rock suddenly become depressed and inexplicably sad. Many start crying without knowing the reason; others’ nose or gums start bleeding. An electromagnetic reading showed strong activity. What it represents today to people of our age is certainly different from what it meant to the ancient people who inhabited the area. I may have been a site of ritual sacrifices, or some sort of astronomical calendar, but it surely was a place where humans connected with their God(s).

Douglass Monument

Lucas Douglass died on the cold night of December 5, 1895, a seventy-year -old man without friends, family, or money. He died in utter poverty, penniless, alone… until someone discovered his will. He left thousands of dollars behind and asked that they be spent to build a monument to – HIMSELF. It was to be thirty-four feet high, made of Italian marble. It was to include a headstone, carved urns, and a 140-foot stone wall around the entire plot. The monument includes Douglass’ portrait and an epitaph: “I have heard Thy call.”

Mr. Douglass was certainly overlooked in life, but the paradox is that his monument is visited by hundreds of tourists, or curiosity hunters – we don’t know. We also don’t know much more about Lucas Douglass, but we can guess that he was tired of anonymity and craved attention. He got it in his own death and by his own design.