{"id":7063,"date":"2015-02-16T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T17:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7063"},"modified":"2020-06-12T21:18:38","modified_gmt":"2020-06-13T03:18:38","slug":"magic-earth-lines-2-the-37th-parallel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7063","title":{"rendered":"Magic Earth Lines 2: The 37th Parallel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"snake

Houses built of upright or stacked stone slabs in defensible locations characterized the Apishapa River canyon sites from about 1000\u20131400 CE .<\/p><\/div>\n

The ranch was owned by a man named Howard Munsell (now deceased). Unlike a lot of Southern Plains ranchers who are, shall we say, standoffish toward strange visitors, he had previously run a trail-ride business, and so he was able to handle several dozen campers on his land, providing water and basic sanitary facilities.<\/p>\n

(After his passing, the 13,000-acre [5260 ha.] ranch was sold: see photos at this real estate agency’s website<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

One May weekend in the 1980s, M. and I took our turn at carefully piloting our ’69 VW Westfalia camper across a ford in the Apishapa River. What was the attraction? An archaeological site <\/a>\u2014 and the 37th degree of north latitude.<\/p>\n

\"apishapa

Apishapa Culture rock art, probably from 1000\u20131400 CE.<\/p><\/div>\n

Most of our fellow campers were UFO hunters. A couple were “crusties” who looked like they had crawled out of a Dumpster just long enough for the weekend. For our part, we were excited about a chance to get into a place that is normally closed to outsiders, look for rock art, and just poke around. If the Space Brothers landed, that would be only a bonus.<\/p>\n

\"dove\"<\/a>The organizers had an elaborate esoteric diagram that guided them to the spot, which was on the 37th parallel.<\/p>\n

In fact, the idea that Latitude 37\u00b0 North is a “paranormal freeway” persists:<\/a><\/p>\n

Chuck [Zukowski] has investigated several cattle mutilations in Southern Colorado over the past few years, and while preparing a talk for a recent UFO conference, he was trying to look for patterns in the places that the mutilations took place. With this on his mind, Colorado had its largest natural earthquake in a century. It was a 5.3 on the Richter scale and centered in the southwest part of the state. Within 15 hours Virginia received one of the largest earthquakes it had ever had as well. It registered as a 5.8. Neither quake caused much damage, but Chuck noticed that they were both near the 37 degree latitude line. He then noticed that his cattle mutilation cases were also near the 37 degree latitude line.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh dear. Cattle mutilations. Been there, done that, got the Fate<\/em> magazine T-shirt. But I can credit the “mutilation” flap for introducing me both to ceremonial magic and newspaper reporting as a job, which is another story.<\/p>\n

So what does this all mean? I have no idea. Chuck has speculated that perhaps there are secret military bases in these areas. It is hard to say, and Debbie says she is still in the middle of increased UFO reports.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, me neither. But I will always be glad that I could walk the bluff along the Apishapa (Ute for “stinking water,” by the way, referring to its late-summer stagnant pools) while the true believers watched for UFOs.<\/p>\n

UPDATED TO ADD:<\/strong> I did read Ben Mezrich’s The 37th Parallel: The Secret Truth behind America’s UFO Highway. <\/em>It’s junk. It’s full of basic geographical mistakes, for one thing (“El Paso” is not a city in Colorado, but Mezrich keeps saying that it is). Apparently he wrote it from taped phone calls or something and never visited the places that he writes about \u2014 he just takes everything that Zukowski tells him and treats it as gospel.<\/p>\n

Magic Earth Lines 1: “Discovering” Ley Lines<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ranch was owned by a man named Howard Munsell (now deceased). Unlike a lot of Southern Plains ranchers who are, shall we say, standoffish toward strange visitors, he had previously run a trail-ride business, and so he was able to handle several dozen campers on his land, providing water and basic sanitary facilities. (After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,23,208,179],"class_list":["post-7063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-archaeology","tag-colorado","tag-indian-tribes","tag-new-age"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1PV","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13518,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13518","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":0},"title":"The Pagans, the Unicorns, and the Serial Killer","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I have complained before about the relative lack of good American Pagan biography and autobiography. John Sulak's biography of Oberon Zell (b. 1942) and his partner Morning Glory (1948\u20132014), The Wizard and the Witch was one of the exceptions.((Yes, Morning Glory either invented or co-invented the term \"polyamory,\" and she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"animals\"","block_context":{"text":"animals","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=animals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/witzard-and-witch-vol-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/witzard-and-witch-vol-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/witzard-and-witch-vol-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1757,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1757","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":1},"title":"P.E.I. Bonewits 1949-2010","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"All around the Pagan blogosphere, tributes are being written today for Isaac Bonewits, who died today. Here is a chronology of his life and tribute by Ian Corrigan. I can add only that he was one of the most prolific and visible figures of the Pagan revival from the 1970s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"Isaac Bonewits (2nd from left) at the Greenfield Ranch tree planting, Jan. 1978","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/isaac1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3575,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3575","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":2},"title":"Teachers’ Resources for the Winter Solstice","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"By Ronald Hutton in the Times (London) Educational Supplement, with special attention to mumping. The third characteristic of midwinter is charity, based on the humane impulse to assist those who not could afford to make merry (and coupled with the more practical reality that the poor might slit their wealthier\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Yule\"","block_context":{"text":"Yule","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=yule"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1214,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1214","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":3},"title":"Did a ‘Pagan’ Bury the Staffordshire Hoard?","author":"Chas S. 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