An interesting conversation is going on at Dr. Brad Lepper's blog. Last year he posted about the Decalogue stone, why it is fake and what is wrong with Scott Wolter's claims. Yesterday Wolter posted on the blog. Both Lepper and Gill responded.

http://apps.ohiohistory.org/ohioarchaeology/newark-holy-stone-is-featured-on-america-unearthed

This stone is claimed by some Mormons such as Meldrum to be evidence for Hebrews in ancient America. Glenn Beck even used it in one of his programs and many LDS members seem to think it supports the Book of Mormon.

Take a look at the latest comments in the blog. The points might be useful for responses to Mormons.

It does support the Book of Mormon as fraud theory.

Brad Lepper linked Jason Colavito's blog, and in the words of a legendary taxi dispatcher here, "Wolter's got priors."

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-america-unearthed-s0304-montezumas-gold

>The reproduction map Wolter received is the one from that episode, but a mysterious tipster has added the words “Montezuma’s curse” to the map, over what is now Utah.

>At Kanab, Utah, Wolter meets local journalist Lois D. Brown, identified as the author of "Cursed Gold," but better known as a journalist on natural foods and an author of books on Mormon interest. Oh, and Cursed Gold is a self-published novel, not a history—not that America Unearthed tells you that. Wolter reviews the history of the Aztec gold, and Wolter asserts that the treasure given to the Conquistadors “just disappeared.” Brown tells Wolter that she has gotten approval from the U.S. government—those arch-conspirators who suppress Wolter’s work!—to let the team film at a place where the early twentieth century prospector Freddy Crystal concluded a century ago that Montezuma’s gold lay hid in caverns at Johnson Canyon.

>Brown tells Wolter about the supposedly cursed gold, guarded by ghosts that rise up from Utah’s waters to stop divers from reaching the gold.

Those hillbillies in Southern Utah are definitely living on another planet.

Of course the genuinely faithful know in their heart-of-hearts that the Spanish Gold was actually hidden in the "Lost Rhoades Mine" that Brigham Young was told about by the Ute Chief Wakara, and Young used some of the gold to help the Saints in promoting church interests, but he went to his grave keeping the location secret, as did his faithful underling, Thomas Rhoades.

It looks like Jeff Gill or Brad Lepper will be making a letter from Dr. Frank Moore Cross available online. I'll update with a link when it comes up.

Some useful links on fake American history:

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/civilizations_lost_and_found_fabricating_history_-_part_one_an_alternate_re

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/civilizations_lost_and_found_fabricating_history_-_part_two_false_messages

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/civilizations_lost_and_found_fabricating_history_-_part_three_real_messages

Edit to add - fake Mormon American history.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2014 05:31AM by spanner.

Thanks Spanner.

Rod Meldrum commented on the blog and both Brad Lepper and Jeff Gill replied. It is interesting to watch.

My favorite so far is this one from Meldrum: "The truth is that you don’t “know” that either the Decalogue stone or the Bat Creek stone are forgeries. You are welcome to express your considered opinion that you believe that the evidence points to these being hoaxes, but it is quite presumptive of you to declare it as fact when the facts don’t support your conclusions."

I blew coffee all over my monitor when I read that because Meldrum "knows" the Book of Mormon is true.

This rewording is for Rod: "The truth is that you don’t “know” that either the Book of Mormon or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are true. You are welcome to express your considered opinion that you believe that the evidence points to these being true, but it is quite presumptive of you to declare it as fact when the facts don’t support your conclusions."



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2014 10:50AM by Tapirrider.

In the meantime Meldrum will be flying drones around looking for Bigfoot, Fairies and Unicorns. Well, maybe just Bigfoot for now but once Bigfoot is found Fairies and Unicorns are next, and in that order!

Haha, Rod Meldrum may indeed be looking for Bigfoot/Cain. But you might be thinking of Dr Jeffrey Meldrum, the Mormon anthropologist and apologist. I have no idea if they are related or not.

Thanks for updating me. It's still all part of the same circle of hilariousness!

Rod Meldrum:

http://www.bookofmormonevidence.org/page.php?page=rod

Jeffrey Meldrum:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/04/jeffrey-meldrum-bigfoot-blimp_n_2074069.html

Two peas in a pod.

"My favorite so far is this one from Meldrum: "The truth is that you don’t “know” that either the Decalogue stone or the Bat Creek stone are forgeries."

The Bat Creek stone was declared a hoax by multiple scholars decades ago:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Creek_inscription

I went round and round with Mopologists on ARM about the Bat Creek stone years ago. I live about 40 miles northeast of the area. It's a stone's throw (pardon the pun) from the site of the 1760s British Fort Loudon, and another stone's throw from the birthplace of the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah.

The biggest problem with pitching the BCS as "Book of Mormon evidence," aside from the research which proves its fraudulence, is that its location is deep in the Appalachian foothills of East Tennessee, nowhere near Meldrum's proposed Great Lakes region for "Book of Mormon" events. And there's no supporting "Book of Mormon evidence" anywhere near the location, either. To believe that the BCS is "BOM evidence," we'd have to believe that the BOM people traveled hundreds of miles from the Great Lakes, dropped a single etched stone in southern Appalachia, and then disappeared without another trace.

Since there's no supporting or corroborating evidence for such "finds," then the most likely conclusion is that they are anomalies or frauds, and that their existence is due to something other than the Book of Mormon story.

Funny thing was, one of the Mopologists on ARM argued that the "Book of Mormon people" could have traveled on the Tennessee River (from wherever they supposedly were) to reach the area and leave the BCS. I suggested to that TBM that he might want to look at a map of the Tennessee River before making such assertions.

Tapirrider, you give too much credit to Meldrum. Calling his opinion "considered" implies that it involved actual thought or thinking. How about "warm-felt opinion", instead?

Simon Southerton just chimed in on the blog.

Rod Meldrum admits he doesn't "know", he "believes". And he made a very nasty ad hominem attack on Simon.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2014 09:15AM by Tapirrider.

A letter from Dr. Frank Moore Cross about the Newark Decalogue Stone is now available. Here is the link.

http://apps.ohiohistory.org/ohioarchaeology/conclusive-proof-that-the-newark-decalogue-stone-is-a-forgery-and-not-a-very-good-one-at-that/

I like the "Dream Mine" fantasy much better.


http://www.salamandersociety.com/museum/dream_mine/