Major Acid's E-Rag
What Else Is There?
Volume 1, Number 1
Mysteries Magazine
"Special Collector's Premier Issue!"
That�s what it says, complete with exclamation mark, on the top right corner Volume #1, Issue #1 of Mysteries. It may be that you are a collector of magazines, although I don�t mean you if your collection extends solely to that pile of National Geographics from the 1950s or the requisite dog-eared mound of Archie comics that clutter up your summer digs.
Collectors are serious enthusiasts who think that having a pile of forgotten magazines around is somehow interesting or even useful or maybe even profitable, in their wildest fantasies. I am not sure Mysteries will fulfill any of those fantasies. Still it is the first issue of a new magazine and that coincides happily with this column � the first installment of (I hope) an extended look at what else is available on magazine stands.
The descriptive tag line for Mysteries reads, �Exploring mysteries from modern times to yesteryear.� The mag�s cover story for its first issue is about Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. For those of you not up on your Knights Templar lore, Rosslyn is one of the places Templars are reputed to have taken refuge in after being persecuted in France. The Rosslyn tale also revolves around Prince Henry the Navigator who is said to have gone to North America a century before Columbus and generally wandered around looking for a hiding place for Templar treasure.
As you can tell, this is not mainstream history. There�s no doubt that Templars fled France, those that weren�t rendered crispy at the stake, that is. There�s no doubt that Templar symbols can be found all over Rosslyn, too. Prince Henry Sinclair is an historical reality, as well. However, the leap from historical person to secret explorer and hider of Templar riches is problematic at best.
Mysteries devotes 10 full pages to the Rosslyn cover story. The story is a rehash of long-held speculation with nothing new beyond a few nice pictures. Intriguingly, though, the mag offers one new piece of Rosslyn info � a blurb about an attempt to convert some of the architectural features of Rosslyn into musical notation, and from there to use in a product designed to promote healing through music.
This sidelight is found in the �Noteworthy� section of the mag, sort of a roundup of brief news notes. Mysteries has several of these sections, including �Lost Treasure� (news about lost Cambodian and British gold), �The Scientific Frontier� (fun with ozone and a secret Nazi organization) and a host of others.
What most caught my eye, however, was the cryptozoological connection. Mysteries #1, #1 includes a roundup of �The Top 18 Cryptozoology Stories of 2002.� New whales, old turtles, large (and scary) cats where no large cats are supposed to be, rare parrots and even sightings of the presumably mythical Thunderbird out of Alaska all get mentions. Bigfoot gets its due, too, although nothing is said of the Bigfoot tracks sighted this past winter in northern Ontario.
Crytozoology is the study � or rather the search for � hidden, or lost, or reputed, or otherwise generally shy animals. This ranges from Nessie to the secretive black panthers stalking Britain�s remaining forests to Southeast Asia�s Khting Vor, a new species of � well, something. Or not. There are Khting Vor folklore stories, horns, and reputed sightings, but no carcasses and no photos and no agreement in the scientific world that any Vor exist, Khting or otherwise.
For those whose love of mystery extends to the afterlife rather than shy antelope, there is a long article about the �Winchester Mystery House� in California. While many things odd come from California, this is the story of a huge house built with the money made by selling guns � specifically Winchester rifles � and how that house came to be (so it is said) by �the spirits of those killed by Winchester Repeating rifles.�
It�s a very strange story of a very strange woman, but it is nice to see a good ghost story from North America rather than the usual old British manor.
Mysteries is not for everyone, as you can tell. It is a fringe magazine presenting articles about fringe topics. It is reasonably though not excellently written, but there are the usual novice mistakes. The Rosslyn Chapel story, for instance, starts in mid-sentence in mid-paragraph. Somebody in layout was asleep on the job. However, the mag does hint at being a useful source of updates on all sorts of amusing mysteries. I even learned something, mostly, I suspect, because I am not a diehard baseball fan.
It seems that the failure of the Boston Red Sox to win the World Series since 1918 is the fault of Babe Ruth. Legend has it that Ruth threw a piano into a pond near Boston and since that time, not a single World Series win. Personally, I suspect the long drought has more to do with playing bad baseball at all the wrong times, but hey � I could be wrong. Either way, I wouldn�t even have known the tale if I hadn�t stumbled across the premiere issue of Mysteries.
[Mysteries is from Phantom Press Publications and sells for $7.95 CAD or $5.95 USD]
