Mysteries and Secrets Series

People disappear without a trace. Captain Briggs, his crew, and his family vanished from the Canadian built Mary Celeste. Ben Bathurst walked around the horses harnessed to his coach - and was never seen again. People appear without explanation Kaspar Hauser arrived in Nuremberg as inexplicably as if he’d materialised from some unknown dimension. Researchers of the paranormal have investigated cases where thought-forms seem to have acquired quasi-physical properties. Madame Blavatsky claimed to have done it. There were times when Nikola Tesla, the brilliant electrical experimenter, seems to have lived in an alternative reality where mental images of his machines became solid to him. Tesla expert, Oliver Nichelson, put forward a theory connecting Tesla’s awesomely strange apparatus at Wardenclyffe, Long Island, with the Tunguska explosion of 1908. Were similar strange forces responsible for moving the Barbados coffins around in their sealed vault? Where do poltergeists, like the one that haunted Esther Cox in Amherst, Nova Scotia, get their inexplicable energy? When scores of reliable witnesses continue to report their sightings of UFOs, ghosts, crop circles, lake monsters, enormous cat-like beasts, Yeti, and Sasquatch, how can their observations be explained? We live in an immeasurably strange universe, miraculously suspended in space and time: a universe that has room for the mysteries of the ancient British King Arthur, Merlin, and the Holy Grail; the Oak Island Money Pit in Canada; the undeciphered Glozel Alphabet, and the Priest’s Treasure at Rennes-le-Chateau in France; Mermaids and Sea Monsters; the Kingdom of Prester John; the Riddle of the Pictish Stones at Meigle in Scotland; the Vampire of Croglin Grange; Zombies and Wer-beasts; the Devil’s Footprints in Devonshire; the Green Children of Woolpit; Lost Cities and Sunken Islands; Pyramids and Stone Circles; Telepathy, Telekinesis, Teleportation, and Prophecy. The list is endless. The investigations fascinating. The World’s Greatest Unsolved Mysteries invites the reader to accompany Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe on their many intriguing investigations in Canada and worldwide and their years of research into the unexplained.

The Oak Island mystery has been the world’s greatest and strangest treasure hunt, and after years of research the authors have finally solved the sinister with an answer that is challenging, controversial, and disturbing. In 1795 three boys discovered the top of an ancient shaft on uninhabited Oak Island in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. The boys began to dig, and what they uncovered started the world’s greatest and strangest treasure hunt but nobody knows what the treasure is. Two hundred years of courage, back-breaking effort, ingenuity, and engineering skills have failed to retrieve what is concealed there. Theories of what the treasure could be include Captain Kidd’s bloodstained pirate gold, an army payroll left by the French or British military engineers, priceless ancient manuscripts, the body of an Arif or other religious refugee leader, or the lost treasure of the Templars. The Oak Island curse prophesies that the treasure will not be found until seven men are dead and the last oak has fallen. That last oak has already gone, and six treasure hunters have been killed. After years of research, the authors have finally solved the sinister riddle of Oak Island, but their answer is challenging, controversial, and disturbing. Something beyond price still lies waiting in the labyrinth.

Did Rasputin, the mad monk of Tsarist Russia, possess supernatural powers? Who was the mysterious prisoner in the Bastille who has gone down in history as "The Man in the Iron Mask"? Did he possess a priceless secret which Louis XIV desperately wanted to learn? Victorian Britain was terrorized by a weird super-athlete known to the popular press of those days as "Spring-heeled Jack." Was he just an eccentric gymnast, or could he have been an alien? Who or what was the mysterious man known as the Count of St. Germain whose abnormal powers seemed to defy both time and space – and is he still with us today? What strange powers of prophecy did Coinneach Odhar, the famous Brahan Seer, really possess? Was Bérenger Sauniëre, the enigmatic Priest of Rennes-Le-Château, one of the last guardians of a secret older than the Sphinx? Could the sinister Aleister Crowley have been merely a pathetic victim of self-deception and his own inflated ego, or did he really possess magical powers? What amazing secrets did electrical engineer Nikola Tesla control? Gurdjieff – one of the most amazing men of his time – has never been fully understood: what was the true meaning behind his strangely ambivalent messages? Was Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky a genius with strange paranormal powers, or merely a charlatan and a sensation-seeker? Francis Dashwood of Medmenham Abbey, leader of a sect of the wildest debauchees who roared their way across the eighteenth century, was an expert in the Black Arts. All of these strange, mysterious, and intriguing characters – and many others – are described, examined, and analyzed in The World’s Most Mysterious People. This is a collection of remarkable and mysterious people, from all ages and places – including our own. Some the authors have met, others were researched carefully from reliable archives. Some are Canadian, others are from the US, the UK, and all over the world. All are mysterious; all are intriguing; all are worth studying. Can anyone learn to use mysterious powers like theirs? To update what a great thinker once said: "The proper study of people is other human beings." And the more mysterious those human beings are, the more we shall learn from studying them.

Reading of murder stimulates a powerful response. We are repelled by the horror of it, but, simultaneously, our natural curiosity is strongly aroused. We want to know who did it, and why. Most unsolved murders have no apparent motives - or too many motives. The murders of Sir Harry Oakes in 1943, one of the richest men in Canada, and Christine Demeter, found dead in a blood-soaked garage in Mississauga in 1973 - remain unsolved. In fact, history is full of unsolved murders. Who killed King William Rufus, Edward II, and the Princes in the Tower? Who was Jack the Ripper? Was James Hanratty really guilty of killing Michael Gregson? These mysteries and more are contained in The World’s Most Mysterious Murders.

Objects can carry romantic myths, embody dangerous curses, or provide links to our past. Some mysterious items, like the Hope Diamond, can still be found today, while others, like the Philosophers’ Stone, have vanished into the mists of time. Gifted and sensitive psychometrists can apparently pick up an object and learn many things about its past and its previous owners. The World’s Most Mysterious Objects provides a glimpse into these enigmas, exploring everything from psychic weapons and spiritual icons to alchemical experiments and strange devices. With this intriguing book, find out what secrets the world could be hiding.

The greatest human problem is that we are all born in the condemned cell. Money and medical science can extend the human lifespan significantly — perhaps up to one thousand years via cloning and cryogenics — but in the end, when the last medical miracle has been exhausted, Death still waits patiently for us. In Death: The Final Mystery, Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe take their investigative skills to those last moments of life and beyond, exploring such puzzling topics as near-death and out-of-body experiences, reincarnation theories, hypno-regression, and automatic writing and other phenomena of the séance room. Evidence is drawn from trance mediums, the writings of mystics, and clear, hard facts reported by reliable eyewitnesses.

Seas and oceans cover most of the Earth’s surface, yet we know less about what lies beneath them than we do about stars and planets millions of miles away. The seas are filled with intriguing mysteries: How were they formed? What gave rise to stories of sirens, mermaids, and mermen? Where did the old pirates and buccaneers hide their treasure? The answers to these questions and more can be found in Unsolved Mysteries of the Sea.

Unsolved mysteries surround the remarkable men known as the Templars. Their ancient origins go back much further than their well-known adventures in the Middle East in the twelfth century. They knew that ancient secrets were waiting to be rediscovered and, perhaps, reactivated. They could generate labyrinthine codes - and decipher those that others had created in the remote past. But no real understanding of Templarism is possible without examining what became of their noble order after the treacherous attack of 1307. King Philip le Bel did not succeed in destroying all Templars - many escaped, including their fleet. Where did they go? Where are they now? What are their continuing purposes today?

The secrets of Santeria, Voodoo and Obeah are among the oldest enigmas in the world. Their roots go back to pre-historic Africa - perhaps even beyond that. From the 16th century onwards, the slave trade brought these ancient mysteries to the West, where they blended strangely with traditional Christianity: the ancient African gods became identified with legendary saints. This integration of the two faiths slowly evolved to form the many varieties of Santeria, Obeah and Voudoun that are widely practiced throughout the world today. Their characteristic dancing and drumming seem able to invoke strange states of mind in which almost anything is possible. Even stories of zombies - the walking dead - still persist. Is there a rational explanation for them? Contemporary Voudoun priests, priestesses, magicians and enchanters use rare herbs and spices as well as charms, dolls and talismans to control the natural world in ways that science cannot always explain. Accounts of their inexplicable successes are examined in depth. Most intriguing of all are the claims that are made for their love philtres and aphrodisiacs. What powers do these old religions still possess?

Our world is mysterious and conspiratorial. Networking is key - people who exercise power accept that success depends upon who you know. Some of these networks are obvious and visible, while others are hidden. Criminals and fundamentalist cults are sinister - but some secret societies help and guard us. There are wheels within wheels. Unsuspected power sources are interconnected. Concealed watchers and listeners monitor phones, emails, and the Internet. Knowledge is power - and secret knowledge is greater power. Masonry has many secrets. Signs, codes, ciphers, passwords, and symbols abound - for those who recognize their meanings. Masons are prominent throughout the world today in academic circles, armed services, police, government, commerce and industry, finance, and medicine. What are their aims and how important is their influence? Researchers believe some of Masonry’s famous members have included Edward VIII, George VI, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, General Douglas MacArthur, Gene Autry, and Virgil Grisson

Castles are among the most mysterious buildings on earth. Their grimly silent stones are signposts to a past filled with high adventure, grim tragedies, and glorious victories. Ghosts, hauntings, and other paranormal phenomena are frequently reported from castles. Do strange paranormal powers lurk among their ancient ruins? The World’s Most Mysterious Castles takes you on a journey through hidden chambers and subterranean tunnels of castles all over the world. Their walls served the sinister needs of spies, traitors, and assassins. Do the spirits of attackers and defenders who died in long-forgotten sieges still linger where they fell? Screams of unbearable pain and despair were muffled within their deepest, darkest torture dungeons. Do they echo there still?

Treasures of many kinds still lie hidden below crumbling castles and ruined monasteries; in macabre tombs; in subterranean labyrinths and sinister caverns. Many sunken treasures lie beneath the seas, oceans and lakes of the world. Vast stores of pirate gold are still hidden on many a real life treasure island such as Oak Island at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Many treasures were looted, hidden and lost after the two World Wars - Hermann Goering, for example, one of most powerful leaders of Nazi Germany, is strongly suspected of hiding huge treasures at Veldenstein and Lake Zeller. This fascinating, expertly researched book brilliantly reveals all these unsolved mysteries. The final section covers useful ideas for treasure-seekers: the study of old maps and charts; coded messages; secret symbols; and intensive research into the lives and locations of those people through out history who probably in all certainty, had treasure to hide.

This fascinating work begins with a scientific appraisal of time and its relationship with 3D space. It explains in clear, understandable language, the complex theories of such famous men as Newton, Einstein, and Stephen Hawking. Is time infinite, or does it have a beginning and an end? Do Black Holes and White Vortices distort time, or penetrate it? The authors also analyse and evaluate puzzling, well documented reports of time travel and reincarnation, and strange cases of deja vu. Can time travel account for such anachronistic discoveries as a 20th century sparkplug found encased among fossils half a million years old? Finally, the authors bring all the unsolved time-related mysteries together in a unified field theory that suggests an awesome answer to the mysteries of time-travel and reincarnation.

From Atlantis to Nostradamus, Masons to Templars, Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe have explored some of the greatest mysteries ever known in this world and beyond. Now, in The Big Book of Mysteries, the Fanthorpes attempt to answer, among other questions: What are the origins of blood-sucking creatures such as vampires? Do Yeti and Sasquatch truly exist on mountains in Canada and Nepal? Who actually built the Sphinx and the Pyramids and why were they erected? What strange, dangerous powers lay hidden in the Ark of the Covenant? Is the Bermuda Triangle really a deathtrap for ships and planes? Secret societies, lost treasures, and legendary monsters all have been carefully researched by the Fanthorpes, many investigated in person, and now presented with illustrations and photographs in one super-sized collection to satisfy everyones curiosity. If youve ever felt the burning desire to know more about lifes great mysteries, then The Big Book of Mysteries is for you no element of the unknown is safe from the Fanthorpes scrutinizing eyes.

Satanism has been known around the world by many names over the centuries and has involved the shadowy deities of ancient pagan religions. During Christian times, Satanist sorcerers frequently tried to invoke the Devil to make their black magic work. In Satanism and Demonology, the great central questions behind the legends are explored: does Satan, or Lucifer, really exist, and if he does, what dark, anomalous powers does he wield? Authors Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe begin with an examination of what Satanism is, then explore its earliest, prehistoric history. They track Satanism from the Middle East and ancient Egypt to the European witches and sorcerers of medieval times, and then on through the Renaissance to our present day. The bizarre, uninhibited, satanic rituals, liturgies, and sexual practices are all examined in detail.

Do the secrets of life lie hidden in numbers? Mysteries and Secrets of Numerology investigates the ancient and widespread belief that numbers have unexplained powers to influence our lives, everything we do, and everything around us, so that, as the brilliant scientist and philosopher Sir James Hopwood Jeans wrote, "The Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician." Numerology extends throughout the history of the world – from Pythagoras to the mysteries of ancient Babylonia and India, from Norse runes to Egyptian hieroglyphs and ancient Hebrew Gematria. Names, places, and dates all seem to have mysterious numerological significance. Some are positive and supportive; others appear to be negative and act as warnings. Where does the truth lie? In the face of so much global and historical evidence, and in the light of the power of numbers in nature, science, and technology, the secrets and mysteries of numerology are well worth investigating.