Dim Mak: The REAL Touch of Death

Martial arts are embedded in the culture and folklore of human civilizations that exist today and those that prospered for many centuries and a few thousand years ago. In the past, man codified how to fight and physically subdue others in the name of self-defense and for its valuable use in the military as well as in law enforcement. However, beyond their practical uses, martial arts have also proven vital in mankind’s pursuit of mental development and spiritual enlightenment.

Given the long history of human combat practices and various fighting systems, it’s not all that surprising that there’s so much about these age-old fighting arts we have yet to fully understand. This is also the reason why they have been the subject of our interest and fascination. Some aspects of ancient martial arts are sometimes painted as mysterious and mystical because they teach certain skills that don’t always seem physically possible at first glance. These lethal techniques demand focus, determination and years of training in order to master them, and the secrets behind them are passed down to a very select few from one generation to the next.

The touch of death is among these ancient martial arts techniques that dance between fantasy and reality, and it will be the main topic of our discussion in this video.

WHAT IS THE “DIM MAK”?

The touch of death goes by many names. In China, it is known as the Dim Mak, while in Japan, a fighting style involving pressure point fighting is referred to as Kyushojutsu. Also called death-point striking, this deadly martial arts technique - when done right - could potentially kill an opponent by striking a specific area of the body with a seemingly gentle but devastatingly critical force.

The Chinese term “Dim Mak” literally translates in English to “press artery,” which suggests that this technique requires applying pressure to an artery in order to work. And according to martial artists who claim they know how to use this lethal move, this technique has a delayed effect when used. At first, the strike may seem harmless, but an individual could suddenly die from it without notice several weeks or a few months later.

ORIGIN OF THE DIM MAK

The use of the touch of death had been largely mentioned in Wuxia literature, which is a Chinese fiction genre that chronicles the life and adventures of warriors and master martial artists in ancient China. In these stories, the Dim Mak is painted as a highly-specialized fighting style which involves targeting the pressure points of enemies and disrupting the flow of their “qi” or life energy. In these literary works, those who were attacked with this method ended up paralyzed or dead, be it in an immediate or delayed fashion.

The history of Dim Mak can be traced back to traditional Chinese medicine, particularly acupuncture, though there are also suggestions that it was developed by the same person who created the Chinese martial art Taichi. It is also believed that the deadly art of Dim Mak largely influenced the philosophies and development of other Chinese martial arts and even those combat disciplines that originated in Korea and Japan.

Though the death-point striking move is noted by some people to have played a crucial role in the spread of martial arts across the globe, the knowledge of how to use this fighting style remains largely unknown. Only a few chosen martial artists are supposedly trusted by even fewer masters to learn this technique, which is why it has managed to remain a heavily guarded secret. However, in recent years, more and more self-proclaimed martial arts masters have stepped into the limelight, proclaiming their knowledge about the Dim Mak and their ability to use it.

DIM MAK IN MODERN MARTIAL ARTS

Among the numerous martial artists who revealed their intimate knowledge of the death touch technique is karate instructor George Dillman. Back in the 90s, he created a fighting style inspired by kyushojutsu. Not only did he claim that he knew how to use the touch of death in combat, he also revealed that he was able to develop qi-based techniques that did not require coming into contact with his opponents. A study of his fighting techniques by experts and skeptics, however, concluded that his proclamations were fraudulent.

Another martial artist who claimed to be a master on Dim Mak is Erle Montaigue. He even released books and videos about the technique around the 1980s. Heralding himself as the first Westerner master in the art of Taijiquan, he also disclosed that he learned from several Chinese martial arts masters on how to use the death-point striking technique as well as other fighting maneuvers that disrupt the qi inside the human body. Like Dillman, though, the majority of the public were not so inclined to believe him.

IS THE TOUCH OF DEATH REAL?

With individuals revealing themselves to be practitioners of this mysterious and controversial technique, one can’t help but wonder if the “touch of death” is indeed the real deal.

Those who believe in the existence and effectiveness of the Dim Mak use the death of Bruce Lee as an example of how lethal this martial arts technique truly is. The accomplished martial artist and film superstar was revealed to have perished from cerebral edema and his demise was officially classified as a “death by misadventure” due to a deadly reaction to combined medication. However, speculations suggest that his sudden death was a delayed effect of a Dim Mak strike from a fellow martial arts master who was ordered to eliminate him. There’s no proof of such rumors but even years after Lee’s untimely death, many still found it very suspicious that he died so suddenly and at a relatively young age. It was also widely known that he had his fair share of enemies within the martial arts community during his short life.

For now, though, we don’t have enough scientific and historical evidence to say with absolute certainty that the “touch of death” is indeed an effective and deadly technique. What can be confirmed is the fact that subjecting certain areas of the human body to immense pressure or trauma can result in an unexpected scale of damage or injury to the person attacked - sometimes even death.

A good example of this is a condition known as commotio cordis. It may seem like something plucked out of a movie but there are incredibly rare instances wherein a person can actually die after receiving a blow to the chest. If the strike lands at a critical moment while the heart is beating, the blow could disrupt its rhythm and result in cardiac arrest. Even with medical intervention, this lethal condition has a fatality rate of around 65 percent and more than 80 percent without it.

Another real-life medical example similar to how the Dim Mak strike works is by blocking the blood flow to the brain via the carotid artery. Applying pressure to this common artery will not only result in unconsciousness but it may also lead to brain damage. Doing so is also not that difficult considering that the carotid artery hides in plain sight - the neck.

Today, the touch of death remains a curious mystery and the truth behind it may one day be brought to light. Until then, the Dim Mak has found a comfortable place of relevance in the martial arts film genre and contemporary pop culture. You’ve already seen versions of this pressure point fighting style in memorable films and shows like the Vulcan nerve pinch in the “Star Trek” universe, Venusian aikido in “Doctor Who,” and Po’s Wuxi Finger Hold technique in “Kung Fu Panda.” And we can only expect this enigmatic combat method will continue to be featured in similar materials in the future.

SOURCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_of_Death

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commotio_cordis

http://www.dimmak.net/

http://blackbeltmag.com/daily/traditional-martial-arts-training/dim-mak/dim-mak-martial-arts-touch-of-death/

https://io9.gizmodo.com/5915423/could-the-touch-of-death-work-in-real-life

5 Clues that a Global Flood Actually Happened

In the book Genesis, it was said that there was once a flood so great that it overwhelmed the entire world. This flood was known as the Global Flood, and all people died from the flood besides a few people chosen by God. Those chosen few were supposed “not wicked” in their hearts and didn’t deserve to die like the rest of the world did. Although many people believe that the story is just a myth, there have been hints that support the legitimacy of the story. Without further ado, here are five clues that a Great Global Flood actually happened.
 

1. International Flood Stories

The first clue that a Global Flood happened is the fact that many, many cultures around the world have had flood stories that occurred in similar time periods. Such ubiquitous presence of flood legends across the world can’t just be a mere coincidence. Efficient communication tools existed back then, so how did they all come up with the story of a great flood?

From Mesopotamia to Nigeria to China, these flood stories and legends are in almost every culture imaginable. Although nowadays, these are thought to be mere myths, we have to understand that people back then could not share information as fast and easily as we can today. Most of the time stories were how people passed down information about events that occurred.

So maybe there are myths and legends about a great flood from all around the world because people all around the world did, in fact, witness a great flood.
 

2. Evidence in China

Like in many other civilizations, ancient texts say that the Chinese civilization began due to a great flood. Recently, archaeologists have found evidence of a great flooding of the yellow river that provides clues about the Xia dynasty, which is the almost mythical first dynasty of China.

Legends say there was a flood that had waves as tall as a 30 story building and crushed anything in its path, even toppling mountains and seemed like it would never stop.

Lands in China was submerged in water, and it was because of the efforts of Da Yu or Yu the Great, who gathered the people to dig tunnels channeling the water back to its source, thus becoming the ruler of the Xia Dynasty. Of course, this 4,000-year-old story was believed to be only a myth to some, but recently researchers say, it may not have been a myth at all.

After observing the Yellow River’s Jishi Gorge area, geologists stated that there was an ancient landslide that created a dam about 660 feet tall. The dam blocked the river and as a result, created a lake that rose high above present river levels. Months later, when the water broke the dam, it created a massive flood that destroyed everything in its path.

Sediments were found by researchers that gave evidence to a flood that rose as high as 50 meters above river levels. Precise dating later revealed that the approximate date for the flood would have been 1920 BC. So It’s possible that the Global Flood occurred at that time, and China was heavily affected by it.
 

3. Rising Water Levels 12,000 Years Ago

The third clue comes from a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA has recently documented evidence that water levels rose dramatically around 12,000 years ago, which would supposedly rewrite the entire geological history. After looking at satellite images, evidence has been found of water recession during the past 12,000 years.

During the same time, there was also a major pole shift that explains the displacement of the icebergs during the end of the last Ice Age. This shows that there could have been a great flood that happened thousands of years ago that was caused by a pole shift due to changes in the magnetic resonance of the Earth. The water from the melting glaciers began to rush toward the world's oceans, causing floods all around the world.
 

4. Submerged Civilizations

There are many massive underwater structures and sunken discovered all around the world.  For example,  a city was found off the coast of West India in the Gulf of Cambay. The city was found to be 10,000 years old and was completely submerged under 130 ft of water. Fishermen in the area had previously claimed that there were stories passed on from generation to generation of an underwater city in the area, but no one believed them or cared to investigate.

It was only until the pollution survey test was made by India’s National Institute of Ocean Technology that scientists found huge structures at the bottom of the ocean in that area.The structures that were retrieved were carbon dated to be around 10,000 years old. Like I mentioned underwater cities like this one are found all around the world researchers even discovered wheel tracks such as the ones in Maltese archipelago where the tracks look like they deliberately plunge off cliffs or up and down very steep ridges, and some even drive off the island and into the sea, continuing underwater. It is not yet known who made the tracks, or why.

5. The Black Sea

This is something that started out as a theory by two Columbia University researchers. According to them, there really was a “Mother of Floods” that occurred in the Black Sea region. They said that the Black Sea was once a freshwater lake surrounded by land until it was flooded.

The force of the water was monumental and swept everything in its path. To investigate the validity of the theory, Robert Ballard, who is well known for discovering the Titanic, decided to look for remnants of the flood. 400 ft below the surface of the Black Sea, Ballard and his team found an ancient shoreline, which proved that something did happen in the Black Sea.

After carbon dating shells that were on the shoreline, Ballard said that whatever happened in the area occurred around 5,000 BC which is believed by experts to be the time when Noah’s flood suppose to have occurred.

What do you think? Did a Great Global Flood really exist that destroyed almost all of the world? Or were there separate floods in certain civilizations that coincidentally occurred during the same period?

Meet The 256 YEAR OLD Man With 24 Wives & 200 Descendants

If you research this topic, there are many reports from around the world about who is the oldest person to have ever lived.  There's the 131-year-old dad-of-three from Brazil, there are reports of a farmer and community elder who was said to be 160 years old in Ethiopia but none of them comes close to Li Ching-Yuen who purportedly lived to be 256.

According to his obituary titled “Tortoise-Pigeon-Dog,” published in 1933 and featured in the New York Times and Time Magazine. Li Ching-Yuen said he was born in 1736, but records discovered by Professor Wu Chung- chien , of Minkuo University, showed Li was actually born in 1677 in Qing Jiang Xian in Sichuan province China. and there were even congratulatory letters from the Imperial Chinese Government wishing him well on his 150th and 200th birthdays.

According to an article published by the Pittsburgh Press on October 2, 1929:

In the opinion of Professor Wu Chung-Chieh, dean of the department of education at Minkuo University here. The man in question is Li Ching-Yung. Dynastic records verify to the professor’s satisfaction that Li is now in his two hundred and fifty-second year, or more than one-fourth as old as Methuselah, the old man of the Bible who lived 969 years.

Li Ching-Yun, according to professor…. has records to show he was born in 1677, during the reign of the emperor Kang Hai, the second emperor of the Manchu dynasty. When Li attained the age of 100 years, in 1777, his “old age” was considered remarkable, and the provincial authorities petitioned the imperial government for an appropriate recognition. The government at Peking consented, and it is declared the order for this action is contained in the dynastic records.

But Li kept on living, the reports go, and astonished his neighborhood by reaching his two hundredth year. The imperial government was surprised to get a petition urging further recognition and, according to Professor Wu, verified the old man’s great age in the records.

Professor Wu understands that Li speaks readily concerning events in his life, and has no trouble recalling incidents which occurred more than 150 years ago.

A 1933 Times article further noted that:

Li Ching-yun, a resident of Kaihsien, in the Province of Szechwan, who contended that he was one of the world’s oldest men, and said he was born in 1736 — which would make him 197 years old — died today.A Chinese dispatch from Chung-king telling of Mr. Li’s death said he attributed his longevity to peace of mind and that it was his belief every one could live at least a century by attaining inward calm.

Li was a doctor specializing in herbs, he was a qigong master, and tactical consultant. There’s not much information about the earlier years of his life but supposedly Li was a child prodigy and avid traveler who had already trecked to Manchuria, Thailand, and Tibet in his search for herbs by the time he was 10 years old. Li worked with herbs, searched for them and sold them for the next 100 years of his life. 

In regards to his personal life, Li was said to have married 24 times and outlived 23 of his wives. Another report says that at the time of his death Li had 180 - 200 living descendants, spanning eleven generations.

The secret to a long life

 Li once told Wu Pei Fu a Chinese warlord that his secret of longevity is:

“Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.”

That’s kinda different from how I do things as I tend to sleep like a tortoise and eat like a dog. Li’s life was fairly simple. He did not drink hard liquor or smoke and ate his meals at set times. He was a vegetarian and frequently drank goji berry tea. He went to bed early and got up early and he meditated daily, something he supposedly learned from Taoist priests.

Li was also a very kind and generous individual, it was said that In his spare time he liked to play cards and would often lose on purpose, but just enough to pay for his opponent’s meals for that day. Because of this, he was very well liked.

The World's Most Powerful Dragons

Hey Everyone!

Dragons are generally perceived as being benevolent in the East but as evil destructive creatures in the West. Whether you agree with this or no, I think we can all agree that most if not all dragons are very powerful, which Mathew Mcconaghey learned the hard way. Ooooooh, not smart, never bring an ax to a dragon fight. Anyway here are some other powerful dragons based on mythologies from around the world that you should never try to fight with anything less than the black arrow.

1. Bakunawa

the Bakunawa was a giant dragon/serpent. He has two sets of wings, and a mouth ‘the size of a lake, yeah a lake, try chopping at that Matthew McConaughey. The Bakunawa is also believed to be the god of the underworld and is often considered to be the cause of eclipses.

According to Filipino mythology, the Bakunawa lived in the sea at a time when the world had seven moons and it was so fascinated by the moon’s glow, that it would rise out of the sea and consume the moons. But each time it swallowed a moon, the moon would melt in its stomach, thus it consumed another.

To prevent the world from becoming dark the people would run out of their homes, taking their pots and pans, to make the most noise they could in order to scare the Bakunawa so it would stop eating the moons and give them the moonlight back. Interestingly, the name Bakunawa can be translated as ‘moon eater’ or ‘man-eater,’ because come on, if it can eat the moon it can certainly eat people. The term Bakunawa is also used to descript a greedy person or corrupt government official.

So this dragon was pretty powerful, I mean it could swallow the moon, but also kind of a coward. Pots and pans? come on!

2. The Need-Hawg

The need-hawg which means Malice Striker or Striker in the Dark is a powerful dragon found in Norse Mythology. So there’s this ash tree called Yggdrasill Yi Dra Sil also known as the world tree. This tree is so big, it holds the 9 realms of Norse mythology together and of course one of these realms is Asgard where Thor lives. But this crazy dragon is so powerful it’s trying to topple Yggdrasill and destroy all the realms because the root of the world tree is the only thing trapping him. Oh also there’s apparently an eagle that lives at the top of the world tree and this dragon and eagle are basically saying bad thing to each other, you know just trolling each other, and if you're wondering how they are able to communicate, well there’s this squirrel that basically deliver messages for both of them. So this is like an instant messaging insult match where instead of phones, we have a squirrel. And this squirrel is prob not helping things, he’s prob going up to the dragon,  hey need-hawg the eagle said you ain't nothing.. and uh...he said your mama looks like a T-Rex.

Anyway, If need-hawg does chew his way through the root of the World Tree, it then heralds the arrival of Ragnarök Rog Na Rock and the subsequent destruction of the world. the Norse Judgement day. you know In the next Terminator movie, john conner should send a terminator back in time to team up with Thor to destroy this bad mouthing squirrel and prevent nose Judgment Day, they may have to go and kill that dragon too, Terminator 6 Terminator vs Norse Dragon, and squirrel...

3. Typhon

Typhon was considered the mightiest and deadliest monster in Greek mythology. He was the last son of mother earth Gaia and Tartarus, created as a last attempt to repel the Olympian gods from defeating the Titans.

Known as the "father of all monsters", Typhon was a fire-breathing dragon who had one hundred heads that never slept.

Typhon was the largest and most grotesque of all creatures that have ever lived. He was so tall that he towered over the highest mountains, and his head often brushed the stars. He was of human form down to his thighs, but he had huge snake coils instead of legs.

A hundred dragons’ heads sprung from his shoulders and his body was covered with feathers. His also had wings: and fire flashing from his eyes.

After the defeat of the Giants against the Olympian gods, Gaea wanted to punish Zeus for imprisoning her Titan children in Tartarus; thus, Typhon was born.

When Typhon challenged the heavens, the gods were so frightened by that they fled to Egypt and disguised themselves among the wild.

Zeus had to defend Mount Olympus so he threw bolts of lightning at Typhon. Typhon fought back with force and cut off several of Zeus' muscles from his hands and feet, leaving him helpless.

Hermes managed to get the muscles back to Zeus, who eventually trapped Typhon underneath Mount Etna. It is said to this day that the flames and steam that rise from the volcano are from this monster.

4. The Cockatrice

OK, this thing is crazy, the cockatrice is a mythical two-legged dragon with a rooster’s head. the cockatrice was supposed to be born from an egg laid by a chicken and incubated by a toad or snake. But just because this thing is a chicken, doesn’t mean it is Chicken if you know what I mean, this thing is ferocious and it is powerful. It has the ability to kill people by either, breathing on them, touching them or just looking at them.

It was said that the weasel is the only animal that is immune to the glance of a cockatrice. Apparently, the only way to kill it would be to let it hear a rooster crow of getting it to look itself in a mirror.

5. Dragon Kings

In China, as well as in South Asia, the Dragon or Long is commonly the symbol of nobility, solemnness, holiness, and good fortune. 

Chinese dragons are strongly associated with water in popular belief. They are believed to be the rulers of moving bodies of water, such as waterfalls, rivers, or seas. In traditional Chinese beliefs, there are four major Dragon Kings, representing each of the four seas: the East Sea (corresponding to the East China Sea), the South Sea (corresponding to the South China Sea), the West Sea (sometimes seen as the Indian Ocean and beyond), and the North Sea (sometimes seen as Lake Baikal).

Because of this association, they are seen as "in charge" of water-related weather phenomenon. In premodern times, many Chinese villages (especially those close to rivers and seas) had temples dedicated to their local "dragon king". In times of drought or flooding, it was customary for local officials to lead the community in offering sacrifices and conducting other religious rites to appease the dragon, either to ask for rain or to ask for the rain to stop. These dragon-kings are also known to have a fierce temper and when that happens, crazy weather and floods could occur wiping out entire villages.

You know I wonder what would happen if all these dragons just got together and had dragons only fight club, I wonder who’s gonna win. Maybe the Cockatrice because all it has to do is look at other dragons, but then any of the other dragons could just bring a rooster. The Bakunawa could just try and swallow the other dragons, but then the dragon kings could just floor his stomach full of water. I really don’t know. I’m just gonna go ahead and bet on the squirrel.

Who do you think would win?

CREEPIEST Ghost Ships of All Time

I love going to the beach, nice soft sand, the sound of the waves crashing, all very nice. But I am scared to go into the water. Because here’s the thing, when you are in the ocean, you are literally on the bottom of the food chain. I mean forget about sharks, anything could just come up and kill you. A little fish could just swim up to you and just take a bite, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. What I'm trying to say is that the ocean could be a scary place, not just for people swimming in it, but also ships. The ocean is unpredictable, a lot of crazy things can happen You’ve got pirates, crazy weather, the Bermuda Triangle and often things don't go so well for these ships. So here are some of the creepiest ghost ships to have ever sailed the high seas, some may just be legends, some may be haunted, and some could still be out there.  

1. The Mary Celeste

On December 4, 1872, The Mary Celeste, an American merchant ship was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Azores Islands. But here’s where it gets spooky, the ship’s cargo and valuables were completely untouched, and it’s still stocked with six months’ worth of food and water, but not a single passenger or crew member could be found. The sails were in poor condition, but the ship was still in seaworthy condition having only set sail for about a month.  The ship's single lifeboat was also missing. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again. Theories in regards to the disappearing crew include explosion caused by alcohol fumes from the cargo, seaquakes, waterspouts,  the Kraken and of course the Bermuda Triangle.

2. The Carroll A. Deering

On  January 31, 1921, a massive five-masted schooner was found grounded on Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.

The ship was deserted with all its eleven crewmembers missing. Its sails were up, and there’s evidence that a meal was about to be prepared. The crews’ personal stuff was gone, along with the ships navigational equipment, logbooks, and the two life rafts.

The ship was scheduled to pick up coal at Norfolk in Virginia and then go all the way to Rio de Janeiro of Brazil to unload the coal, and then return home to Maine. It is after setting homebound sail from Barbados when things started going horribly wrong.

On January 29th, 1921 the ship was spotted by a lightship at Cape Lookout North Carolina. A lightship is an anchored ship which guides other ships passing by with its lights and radio communication. The Captain of the lightship heard a crewman from Carroll A. Deering hailing at him saying they had lost their anchors. The Carroll A Deering, however, did not stop and sailed out of sight. That was the last time anyone ever saw the ship sailing in its normal condition.

To this day, Mutiny: A plotted rebellion by the crew members and led by the first mate seems like the most acceptable theory. It was evident from the Captain’s comments at Rio that he was not in good terms with the first mate and possibly with most other crewmen. But there was no definitive evidence of this.

What’s also crazy is that at the time the crew’s mysteriously disappearance, marine investigators discovered that nine other ships also disappeared without a trace in that same area at about the same time.

The information went all the way to the White House and prompted President Herbert Hoover to order a special investigation. In spite of efforts by top government investigators, not only by the United States but by nations where many of the lost ships originated, the fate of the Deering’s crew and the nine missing ships, was never learned. Yea I would def blame the Bermuda Triangle on that one. Or maybe mermaids...

3. The Ourang Medan OOOO Rang Ma Dang

In 1947, two American ships navigating the Strait of Malacca, off the coast of Malaysia, as well as British and Dutch listening posts, claimed to have picked up a series of SOS distress signals. The unknown ship’s message was: “All officers including captain are dead, lying in chartroom and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead.”  This communication was followed by a burst of indecipherable Morse code, then finally came the message that simply stated: “I die.”

The men manning these posts managed to triangulate the source of these broadcasts and figured out that they were likely emanating from a Dutch freighter known as the SS Ourang Medan, which was navigating the straits of Malacca.

An American merchant ship called the Silver Star was closest to the presumed location of the Ourang Medan and rushed to help. As the silver star caught sight of the Ourang Medan, the crew noticed that there was no sign of life on the deck. And attempts to hail the crew was not successful. That’s when the Captain of the Silver Star decided to assemble a boarding party

As they boarded the Ourang Medan they noticed that the decks of the vessel were filled with the corpses of the crew; whats more creepy was the fact that their eyes were wide open and their arms were grasping at some unseen assailants, their faces twisted in agony and horror. Even the ship’s dog was dead.

Later one of the boarding crew members testified that “Their frozen faces were upturned to the sun… staring, as if in fear… the mouths were gaping open and the eyes staring.”

After boarding the ship, the American crew members claimed to have felt an extreme chill in the air even though the temperature outside was 110°F.  Although it’s obvious the crew of the suffered a horrific death, there was no evidence of injury or foul play and the ship itself was not damaged.

The Captain of the Silver Star decided that they would tow the Ourang Medan back to port, but as soon as the tow line was attached. Smoke started pouring out from the lower decks then the Ourang Medan just exploded and sank into the ocean.

There have been of course a number of theories proposed about what might have caused the death of the crew. The most popular of these is that the ship was illegally transporting some kind of illegal nerve agent, which was not properly secured. Others, claim the ship was a victim of some kind of paranormal attack.

And I’m here to tell you what really happened, a look of fear and agony? Everybody dead? That ship was carrying The Ark of The Covenant... That’s why when ghosts attack, you gotta just close your eyes. I mean if I was gonna be killed by a ghost, and I know for sure that I'm gonna die, do I really want to be so scared that I poo my pants before I die? If I'm going to die, I'd want to die with clean pants, that’s all I'm saying. So remember, when ghosts attack and you’re pretty sure your gonna die, just close your eyes, and either you die with clean pants or it’s the ark of the covenant and your gonna be spared... Win-win.

4. The Octavius

The Octavius was allegedly discovered West of Greenland by a whaling ship on October 11th, 1775. Crewmembers of the Whaling ship boarded the Octavius and discovered that the entire crew froze to death. The Captain was found in his cabin, frozen at his desk while writing in his log. The boarding party freaked out so much they quickly left the ship, but in their haste, they only grabbed the first and last pages of the log as the rest was frozen to the desk. The partly complete entry in the log was dated 1762, meaning the ship had been in the state they discovered it for 13 years.

The Octavius had left England for in 1761 and was doomed when the Captain decided to take the much shorter but unconquered route of the North West Passage. It is believed the ship became trapped in ice when traveling past Northern Alaska.

The discovery of the ship meant that the Octavius was the first ship to Navigate the North West Passage. The ship was presumed to have later broken free of the ice and drifted for 13 years until the discovery in Greenland,  The Octavius was never seen again after this strange encounter. So yea, if you ever run into a super old ship with a bunch of frozen bodies, you may pee your pants, but at least you can identify the ship! That’s a learning moment if you ask me.

5. Flying Dutchman

This is arguably the most famous ghost ship of all. The ship is said to haunt the waters near the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Contrary to popular belief, the term "Flying Dutchman" actually refers to the captain, not his ship. There are several variations of the story, but the most famous one is that the ship's captain, Hendrick Vanderdecken, who lived in the 17th century and served with the Dutch East India Company, encountered a storm off the Cape of Good Hope.

Legend states that "the very stubborn Dutch sea captain was struggling to round the Cape of Good Hope and when other vessels asked if he would take refuge in the bay he laughed and shook his fist at the wind and swore He would Round the Cape if it took him ’til Doomsday."

His crew and passengers eventually tried to stage a mutiny, but the captain shot the leader of the rebellion and threw his body overboard. Then the clouds parted, and a form appeared on this ship that said,

"You’re a very stubborn man," to which the Captain replied, "I never asked for a peaceful voyage, I never asked for anything, so clear off before I shoot you too!"

He then fired at the form, but the bullet pierced his hand instead. Then the form said.

"You are condemned to sail the oceans for eternity, with a ghostly crew of dead men. Bringing death to all who sight your spectral ship, and to never make port or know a moment's peace. Furthermore, gall shall be your drink, and red-hot iron your meat”

Thus to this day the captain and his ghostly crew are said to sail the waters for all eternity, hoping one day to be forgiven.

There have been many sightings of the Flying Dutchman. For example, in 1939, dozens of people at Glencairn Beach in Cape Town reported seeing the Flying Dutchman charging toward shore under full sail, only to disappear just before the disaster.

Lighthouse keepers at the Cape Point Lighthouse are said to have frequently sighted the Flying Dutchman during storms.

You know why I don’t like ships, I mean I’m fine going on a boat ride near shore, but I have no interest in sailing into the middle of the ocean. Because like I said, when you're in the ocean, you are the bottom of the food chain, and I always had this fear that I'm gonna fall off the ship in the middle of the night and just get left behind and end up like that open waters couple. That’s literally my worst nightmare, cause I'm a good swimmer so I probably wouldn't drown, so that means I'm gonna get eaten by something. At that point, I hope I get eaten by a shark, at least that would be quick, couple, bites, done! But with my luck, it’ll probably be a bunch of tunas taking revenge for all the tuna salad sandwiches I've eaten.

Discovery of Ancient Sunken Mega Cities

By Leonardo Vintini, Epoch Times

They realized that the men had rebelled and decided to exterminate them. Thousands of pumas left the cave and devoured the man who begged the devil for help. But the devil remained unmoved by their pleas. Seeing this, Inti, the god of the sun cried. Her tears were so abundant that in forty days the valley was flooded.”—Inca legend of Lake Titicaca

Consider one anthropological hypothesis that concedes the possibility of a prehistoric humanity enjoying a high degree of technological development. Some evidence suggests that ancient people appear to have crafted a technology significantly more advanced than what we might imagine. Much of the support for this idea comes from the discovery of dozens of ancient cities submerged beneath the oceans across the entire planet.

Surprising cases like that of the Yonaguni structures off the coasts of Japan, or the submerged “Mega City” accidentally discovered off the northeast coast of Cuba, continue to offer researchers clues to what was once considered merely geographical mythology—tales such as those of Atlantis, Mu, or the land of Thule. Every few years a long-sunken discovery lends support for this prehistoric empire hypothesis.

 

Urban Architecture From an Impossible Time

A typical example of the archeological ruins described above was found in waters 120 feet deep in the Gulf of Cambay, located off the western coast of India. It is estimated that the vast city, discovered by chance during an investigation on pollution, could date back some 9,000 years.

Using a sonar tracker, investigators managed to identify defined geometric structures at a depth of about 120 feet. From the site, they recovered construction material, pottery, sections of walls, basins, sculptures, bones, and human teeth. The carbon tests indicate that these pieces were 9,500 years old.

Before this finding, anthropologists thought that the area had not seen civilization before 2,500 B.C. This ancient city, therefore, was even older than the Harappan civilization, once believed to be the oldest of the subcontinent.

Another surprising case came in 1967, when the Aluminaut—an exploration submarine capable of submerging deeper than any craft of its day—casually discovered a “road” off the coastal zone of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.  Found at a depth of nearly 3,000 feet, this road traced a straight line for more than 15 miles.  

Even more surprising, this road had been paved with sophisticated cement composed of aluminum, silicon, calcium, iron, and magnesium. Despite its age, the road was found to be free of debris due to an underwater current that kept it clear.

This forgotten road still proved a worthy thoroughfare as the special wheels of the Aluminaut allowed the sub to actually travel along the enigmatic highway. Later, scientists exploring the area found a series of monolithic constructions at one end of the road. What technology could construct a long paved road that would remain in good condition for 10,000 years?

A more recent discovery of this type took place in 2004 ,when the same tsunami that battered the coasts of Southeast Asia also moved tons of sand from the cost of Tamil Nadu, India. The storm cleared years of dust that led to the discovery of the mythical city of Mahabalipuram.

According to local legend, the city of Mahabalipuram suffered a great flood, submerging it in a single day 1,000 years ago, when the gods became jealous of its beauty. The local inhabitants recounted that six temples were covered by water, but that part of the seventh remained on the coast. The team of 25 divers from the Archaeological Survey of India explored the extensive area covered with man-made structures, ranging at depths of between 15 and 25 feet below the water.

The scale of the submerged ruins covered several square miles, at distances of up to a mile from the coast. Conservative estimates of the age of these constructions range from 1,500 to 1,200 years old, though some investigators say they originate from up to 6,000 years ago.

 

The Yonaguni Structures

Classified by some scientists as the archeological find of the century, the structures accidentally discovered off the Japanese coast of Yonaguni offer ancient architecture in the form of pillars, hexagons, stairs, avenues, arcades, and even a stepped pyramid.

While the most conservative hypothesis postulates that the Yonaguni structures are the product of the marked seismic activity in the area, the precise angles of the rocks and their arrangement in relation to one another suggest that this site might hold remnants of a submerged city.

Evidence in favor of this stance includes the chemical composition of the chalky rocks (which do not naturally exist in the region), two openings about 6.5 feet deep adjacent to the structures—which no archeologist dares to classify as a natural formation—and an oval-shaped rock that does not appear to belong to the set, but exhibits a clear northward facing point. The entire submerged city of Yonaguni is estimated by some to be at least 10,000 years old.

Marine archeology has only become an academic possibility in the last 50 years with the introduction of scuba gear. According to marine archeologist Dr. Nick Flemming, at least 500 submerged sites containing the remains of some form of man-made structure or artifacts have been found around the globe. Some calculations figure that nearly a fifth of these sites are more than 3,000 years old.

Certainly, some of these sites were washed away by floods, but others may have found their place at the bottom of the sea through tectonic shifts. As many of these places were originally built on solid, dry land, Earth may have been geographically quite different than what we know today. Likewise, these people would have come from an era more remote than what we understand as the dawn of civilization.

So, is our current civilization the greatest mankind has ever known, or merely one tiny peak among many in a cycle that stretches far into the distant past? The answer might be found at the bottom of our oceans.

Indigenous Tribes Recorded Visits from Ancient Astronauts

By Leonardo Vintini, Epoch Times

Every year the Amazonian Kayapo tribe celebrates the arrival of the mysterious Bep-Kororoti, or “he who comes from the cosmos,” said to have visited long ago. (EVARISTO SA/AFP/Getty Images )

“The warrior from the cosmos seemed to take pleasure in seeing the fragility of these people. Intent on giving them a demonstration of his power, he raised his ‘thunder weapon’ and, pointing successively to a tree and then a rock, destroyed them both. All understood that Bep-Kororoti wished to demonstrate to them that he had not come to make war.”—Ancient Amazonian Legend

We’ve watched the world evolve from the simple to the complex, from stone tools to the technology of today. Yet dozens of stories from native cultures seem to complicate this narrative that we’ve come to believe as truth. Tales of enormous megaliths and ancient outer space visitors have come from every corner of the planet.

 

Bep-Kororoti: the Astronaut Who Visited the Amazon

Yet as these cults surged on the small islands of the Pacific, they were far from being the only examples of primitive tribes exhibiting deep adoration for foreign visitors. In fact, the cargo-cult phenomenon may well have originated with the Amazonian Kayapo tribe. As one tribal member dons a wicker outfit shaped like a modern space suit, the Kayapo annually celebrate the arrival of the mysterious Bep-Kororoti, or “he who comes from the cosmos.”

According to tribal leaders, the strange man came forth from the Pukato-Ti mountain range, at first arousing fear but rapidly developing a messianic status among the natives. According to ancient tribal legend, the people of the village gradually became swept up in an attraction toward the foreigner, due both to his beauty—the white resplendence of his skin—and his benevolence toward all. They recount that this mysterious visitor was more intelligent than any among them, and in time he taught them valuable skills.

The legend describes one day when Bep-Kororoti exploded in an attack of madness, screaming and forbidding members of the tribe to approach him. It was then that the tribe witnessed, at the foot of a mountain, how the stranger was said to escape toward the heavens in a tremendous explosion that shook everything around. The story recounts Bep-Kororoti disappearing into clouds of flame, smoke, and thunder. With the explosion, the earth moved to such a degree that even plants were uprooted. The jungle was destroyed, the animals disappeared, and the tribe experienced a great hunger.

Ethnologist Joao Americo Peret, who had interviewed the elders of the aboriginal community in 1952, affirmed that the story of Bep-Kororoti stretched far into the distant past. If the cargo cult came forth around an actual being, modern investigators wondered what kind of person would visit the jungle of Mato Grosso in such a remote period, with a space suit and a variety of magic capable, as the Kayapo say, of knocking down an animal with a mere touch.

Certainly, Bep-Kororoti did not fit the type of humanitarian-minded North American soldier that the Tanna of Vanuatu continued to adore. Perhaps even more bizarre, when the history of the Kayapos was first spread, the space-suit design that had become part of the memorial ceremony for Bep-Kororoti did not yet exist in any space agency in the world.

Furthermore, the detail of the astronaut’s departure “among clouds of smoke, light, and thunder” brings to mind the behavior of a modern jet engine. The mechanism of propulsion, according to legend, was commanded by what the aborigines took to be branches, and the ship, camouflaged in a tree. The legend recalls that the man from the cosmos went back to sit down in that special tree and moved the branches until it touched the ground. And another time, he produced an explosion and the tree disappeared into the air.

The Dogon: Tribe With Extraterrestrial Knowledge

Perhaps the most intriguing manifestation of this cargo-cult phenomenon is exhibited by the Dogon tribe, found in the West African nation of Mali. Although they do not afford the same fanfare to their foreign visitor as the examples above, the knowledge they received is nothing short of miraculous.

In 1947, after having lived with the Dogon for more than 17 years, French anthropologist Marcel Griaule was offered an amazing story. Tribal elders revealed to Griaule one of their most closely guarded secrets, unknown even to the majority of the community.

The leaders related how the Nommo, a half-fish half-human species, had founded a civilization on Earth. Despite their primitive culture, the Dogon elders received a profound understanding of the solar system from the mysterious Nommo. The elders recounted the existence of Jupiter’s four moons, the rings of Saturn, and the knowledge that the Milky Way had a spiral form. They were said to know even the sterility of the lunar environment and possessed an understanding that planets moved around the sun.

The most striking knowledge the Dogon retained from the Nommo ages ago was in regard to the orbits, sizes, and densities of the stars in the Sirius system. The Dogon accurately confirmed Sirius A, B, and C, and possessed knowledge of these stars that science has only recently been able to recognize.

Sirius C remained undiscovered until 1995, when astronomers noticed the influence it exerted on the movement of the whole system. Yet for hundreds of years, the primitive Dogon had not only known of its existence but also understood it in great detail.

How should we understand the story of the Dogon, as well as the myriad other cultures around the world that tell of contact with ancient astronauts?

Many may insist, as some scientists have, that the primitive Dogon must have had more recent contact with an astronomer who passed on these detailed explanations and simply added this knowledge into their age-old fairy tale. But does such an explanation serve in the interest of discovering the truth, or is it simply protecting our own culture’s fairy tale—that we live in the most technically advanced society the world has ever known?

Ancient Galactic Show in the Sky: Planets Fire Lightning Bolts

By Leonardo Vintini, Epoch Times

Were these recurring petroglyph patterns a familiar sight to ancient skies?

Given expression throughout history among countless civilizations around the world, the human image, rendered in a few simple lines, offers an unmistakable representation of a unique spectacle occurring in the ancient skies.

A Signal of the Gods

Suddenly, someone pointed toward the sky. The afternoon sky had become red, later white, and then an intense yellow. The great power of the firmament was both beautiful and terrifying, the most frightening that the group had ever seen. It was a beautiful and painful demonstration of human insignificance before the gods.

The grand sparkles stayed in the sky for a time, enough for the natives to engrave the scene on their granite canvases. The axis of energy charged across space, in its path letting loose gigantic streams of gas, some flying upward and other flying downward.

“…only a few thousand years ago the terrestrial sky was ablaze with electrical activity. The ramifications of this possibility will directly affect our understanding of cultural roots. What was the impact of the recorded events on the first civilizations? What was the relationship to the origins of world mythology, to the birth of the early religions, or to monumental construction in ancient times?” asks David Talbot and Wallace Thornhill in their book “Thunderbolts of the Gods.”

The true origin of the “squatter” or “stickman”—as the petroglyph is also known—is probably one of the enigmas most beloved by scientists who specialize in plasma physics. This graphic representation can be found and appreciated in the archaeological legacies of dozens of ancient cultures around the world—cultures with no apparent connection or contact—prompting many intrepid scientists to consider the “squatter” more as an event of magnificent proportions common to different cultures, rather than a vague and repetitive representation of human anatomy.

A New Theory for an Old Universe

Even so, the squatter does not represent the point of origin for this fantastic theory.  It is but a lucky piece of evidence found among the great current of vanguard thought known as “The Electric Universe.”

Proponents of the Electric Universe (such as is titled the work of Donald Scott, one of the pioneers of the idea) maintain that plasma, an energetic state of matter, is the substance and force that both fills and governs the totality of nearly all elements existing in the universe. Confronting such an idea may make possible radically new explications of familiar theories such as the Big Bang, dark matter, and Einstein’s general relativity, among others.

But when proponents of the Electric Universe theory hold that plasma—recognized as the fourth state of matter and a substance filling 99.9 percent of the known universe—is responsible for planetary attraction instead of gravity, the idea is often dismissed or even ridiculed by conservative scientists.

What’s certain is that the behavior of electricity between the warm gases and giant magnetic fields of the stars is an area that currently lacks the necessary study to either validate or refute this curious theory. To study such fields could indicate a new understanding of these phenomena, such as the energy of gamma rays, the acceleration of the expansion of the cosmos, and the tremendous discharges of energy which were said to have occurred once long ago, in the skies of remote times.

A Question of Electricity

The behavior of electricity in warm gases at cosmic magnitudes is still a discipline in its infancy. Yet this understanding applied to different electromagnetic fields may provide an idea of how a spatial discharge could take on a quasi-human form in ancient times.

The gigantic “electric” ray of plasma would resemble a human torso represented in the figure of the “squatter,” and the discs of energy traversing the axis of the body would be spread far, like waves going in opposite directions, giving the look of arms and legs. The profile view of a third element, a central “thread” that circles the body, would appear like two points condensing toward both sides of the figure, completing the most common representation of the picture.

In this way, the repulsion among the discs together with the axis of electricity would have given place to one of the most spectacular visions that ancient humanity could have had the joy of appreciating: a great being with open arms and arched legs.

According to graphic vestiges, the figure of the squatter could be appreciated from all points of the globe. Its form appears recorded in cultures of Arizona, Armenia, New Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, Italy, the Alps, the Middle East, and China among others.

Popular Negation, the Stigma of New Theories

But the squatter may not be the only unique celestial spectacle presented to the ancient world. Different patterns repeated in petroglyphs across the entire planet could be taken to note nebulas or abysmal explosions.

For years, scientists have only recognized the sun, the moon, and other direct representations found in the cultural ancestry as vivid observations of the celestial vault, chalking up images of gods, humans, and animals to imaginary aggregates of the artists. But many modern archeologists, like Anthony Peratt, have started to validate these “intrusions” in ancient mythology as substantial facts of existence.

In the same way that the idea of a flat Earth was replaced by the round globe reality we know today, as geocentrism was displaced for heliocentrism and as the theory of relativity ousted years of Newtonian ideology, the Electric Universe threatens to produce a total upheaval of all modern theories of the cosmos.

Frequently discredited, the pioneers of this new science may not be far from running into the same luck as Galileo, Newton, and Einstein, who were only granted their due after years of neglect and derision.

For more information:
http://members.cox.net/dascott3/index.htm
http://www.the-electric-universe.info/welcome.html
http://www.catastrophism.com/texts/electricity-in-space/
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/5-6-1/29185.html
http://www.thunderbolts.info/

The Legendary Sunken Continent of the Kumari Kandam

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We’ve all heard many stories about the Atlantis, the mythical city that the ancient Greeks wrote about in their literature. They were said to be an enlightened and advanced civilization for their time. It was also believed that the whole city met a tragic end, with the ocean consuming it whole and erasing remnants of its people’s culture and legacy from existence.

No one knows for sure whether or not the Atlanteans truly existed as a thriving civilization at some point in our ancient past and if the land they inhabited really had been swallowed by the ocean. And until now, people are still fighting over this issue heatedly, with neither side having any intention of standing down. But did you know that that the tale of the lost city of Atlantis is not the only story involving a sunken land and advanced ancient civilization?

A similar tale has been told in India although it is definitely the less popular one compared to the myth of Atlantis. This lesser-known legend of another lost continent is known as the Kumari Kandam, which is what we will be talking about in this video.

The Legendary Sunken Continent of the Kumari Kandam

The Kumari Kandam is a supposed to be a lost continent located south of modern-day India that occupied a large portion of the Indian Ocean. Also referred to as Kumarikkantam and Kumari Nadu, this massive landmass below the Indian subcontinent is believed to be the home of an ancient Tamil civilization before a catastrophe resulted to its submersion in the deep sea. 

The Tamil people are a Dravidian ethnic group whose ancestry can be traced back to Tamil Nadu of India and Sri Lanka. Tens of millions of individuals today identify as Tamilans, making them not only one of the oldest but also largest existing ethno-linguistic cultural groups today. Some of these Tamilans say that the missing Tamil continent of Kumari Kandam is what used to connect the continent of Africa and the landmass of south India. And for the last two centuries, they have declared that this legendary continent is also the hypothesized “lost land” of Lemuria which was developed in the 1890s by Western scholars.

The Hypothesized Submerged Continent of Lumeria

Several scholars in the United States and Europe during the latter part of the 19th century were puzzled by the geological similarities between India, Madagascar, and Africa. English geologist Philip Sclater pondered over the possible reason why there is a significant presence of lemur fossils in Madagascar and India but not in the Middle East or mainland Africa. Sclater went on to publish an article in 1864, titled “The Mammals of Madagascar,” in which he proposed a hypothesis suggesting that Madagascar and India used to be a part of a larger landmass he called “Lemuria.”

Sclater’s Lemuria hypothesis was initially welcomed by members of the scientific community as an acceptable explanation to the way lemurs could have migrated in Madagascar and India in the distant past. However, the theory was eventually discarded after the continental drift theory became the widely-accepted theory in modern times. Nevertheless, the concept of a lost continent below southern India continued to remain popular until the 20th century, especially among the Tamil nationalists who believed Lemuria was the same lost continent they referred to as the Kumari Kandam.

Popularization of Lemuria in Tamil Nadu

According to the Tamil revivalists of the 20th century. Kumari Kandam was the land where the Pandiyan kings once reigned and where the first two Tamil literary academies known as “sangams” were established. And in the 1920s, these Tamil revivalists tried to reduce the domination of the Indo-Aryans and Sanskrit by claiming that prior to the disappearance of Lemuria, it was actually the long-lost Kumari Kandam - the original homeland of the Tamilans and the birthplace of their civilization, language and culture.

The Tamil nationalists did not simply regard the lost land of Kumari Kandam as the home of an ancient Tamil society, but as the cradle of human civilization. They described it as a utopic society where the continent’s enlightened citizens were dedicated to higher learning, trade and commerce, and exploration of the rest of the world. They had established an egalitarian and democratic government that allowed the economy to flourish and its people to thrive.

However, when the continent of Kumari Kandam was lost and the ocean swallowed it whole, the Tamil people had no choice but to migrate to different parts of the world where they established new civilizations.

Submerged Lands in Ancient Indian Literature

Various Tamil and Sanskrit literary works from ancient and medieval times contain legends about a land located south of India that was consumed by the ocean, a catastrophic event believed to have been caused by a tsunami or by a devastating flood. For example, a commentary in the Iraiyanar Akapporul - which is a written work on Tamil poetics from the medieval times - mentions the Pandiyan kings of the early Tamil dynasty and their effort to form three sangams that lasted for thousands of years. The commentary also reveals that two of these sangams were “seized” by the ocean, which ultimately led to the destruction and loss of many ancient writings.

It is important to note, however, that none of these ancient texts or medieval commentaries referred to this lost land that was seized by the sea as “Kumari Kandam.” And none of these literary works have also stated that Kumari Kandam was big enough to qualify as a continent. It turns out that the term “Kumari Kandam” first appeared in the 15-century Tamil version of the Hindu scripture Skanda Purana, and according to cultural historian Sumathi Ramaswamy, the Tamil nationalists used the word “Kumari” - which means “virgin” or maiden” - to symbolize their belief in the purity of the Tamilans’ language and culture prior to their association with the Indo-Aryans.

Criticisms of the Concept of Lemuria

Because the concept of Lemuria is largely recognized by mainstream scholars as a debunked hypothesis today, many experts have frowned upon the alleged attempts of Tamil writers to use the pseudo-scientific theory to validate unverifiable, alternative history. Some historians regard the Kumari Kandam as nothing more than mere fiction founded on mythology and not legitimate scientific research.

Moreover, according to geologists, even if the continental drift theory is set aside and the Lemurian continent did exist at some point in the past, its submersion or dismemberment would have taken place tens to hundreds of millions of years ago during the Mesozoic era. Hence, geological theories like the Lemurian hypothesis should not have anything to do with events in human history that supposedly occurred only a few thousand years ago.

In the end, it cannot be said with absolute certainty that the Kumari Kandam - the land lost to the ocean as described in ancient and medieval Tamil texts - is the same as the hypothesized size and location of the Lumerian continent. At best, we can say that there may be some truth behind such legends. By just how much, there is no way to tell just yet.

For now, this means that while we may be permitted to consider the possibility that the Tamil civilization had once lost a part of its former lands to an ocean-related catastrophe, we cannot claim that this lost land was as big as a continent. If this ancient Tamil landmass did exist in the past, its size can only be compared to that of a small city or a district in today’s standards, making its possible submersion in the sea a few thousand years ago a lot easier to believe.

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Sources:

http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/lost-continent-kumari-kandam-001941?nopaging=1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraiyanar_Akapporul
http://www.crystalinks.com/KumariKandam.html
http://www.ancientpages.com/2016/08/05/kumari-kandam-mythical-lost-virgin-continent-and-history-of-tamil-people-shrouded-in-mystery/
http://www.themysteriousindia.net/kumari-kandam-lost-continent/

Deadly Life of a Female Ninja

When we hear the word “ninja,” most of us picture those sword-wielding assassins wearing an all-black garb who are adept at martial arts and the art of stealth. We’ve read about these black-masked warriors in novels and comic books, and we’ve seen some fictionalized versions of them in a lot of movies for the past few decades. And in many of these materials, we’ve learned that a ninja is often a cloaked and masked man who can stealthily infiltrate an enemy’s territory to end the life of a specific target. 

In reality, however, the way of the ninja is not a life solely intended for men, and not all ninjas live in the shadows. Yes, some of these ninja assassins were female, and they often hid in plain sight. These female ninjas were referred to as the “kunoichi,” and while they equaled their male counterparts in terms of combat and stealth skills, they handled their assignments differently from men in several impressive ways.

Defining Ninja, Shinobi, Kunoichi

While the term “ninja” is what became popular among Westerners, written records in feudal Japan refer to these covert agents and mercenary assassins as the “shinobi.” Members of the shinobi clans in Japan were practitioners of ninjutsu, which taught them the strategy and tactics of espionage, infiltration, sabotage, assassination and even guerrilla warfare. They were like the antithesis of the honorable samurai as the ninja’s covert methods of warfare were regarded as irregular and dishonorable. Nevertheless, as spies and assassins, many of the shinobi lost their lives while in the line of duty and usually took on missions from which they were not expected to return alive.  

Medieval Japan was a time during which men dominated society while women were primarily relegated to the sidelines, taking “harmless” roles such as that of a wife, a mistress, or a maid. And so many incorrectly assume that ninja clans were strictly composed of males when the truth was women of that time also worked as covert agents and assassins alongside men although their approach in doing so is not the same as the male shinobi accomplished their missions.

The existence of female ninja warriors is mentioned in the Bansenshukai - a 17th-century book containing knowledge and secrets about ninja training. The Bansenshukai revealed the primary function of a kunoichi, and that is to infiltrate a target’s household by forming intimate relations with members of that clan and gaining their trust. Walking freely inside enemy territory and hiding in plain sight, they usually bided their time in collecting information about their target, but they were also capable of facilitating assassinations if ordered to do so.

Disguises And Tactics Of A Female Ninja

The shinobi knew the importance of using personal strengths to their deadliest advantage. In a world where women were prized for their beauty and were deemed ignorant and harmless, the kunoichi was less likely to arouse suspicion and found it much easier to get close to their targets compared to their male counterparts. The female ninjas used feminine wiles to accomplish their objective and even became concubines and mistresses to mask themselves for long periods of time.

The targets of the shinobi were typically powerful and influential members of the samurai class, which meant that they were heavily guarded and were naturally distrustful of men outside their clan. However, rarely were they as suspicious of the women around them as they were of men. This allowed the kunoichi to disguise themselves as maids, courtesans or as priestesses and go undercover, infiltrating dangerous enemy zones on a broader and more intimate level than male shinobis would have ever been able to achieve.

The kunoichi did not sneak in during moonless nights to steal information or eliminate their targets. A kunoichi was patient and took time to accomplish missions even if the mission took years. Female ninjas rarely attempted to kill their targets right away. First, they worked hard to integrate themselves well into the enemy’s household and to earn the trust of the household's many residents slowly. They gathered intelligence and passed on crucial information to a samurai’s enemies. When the time came to eliminate the target they were monitoring, they did not wait for a male shinobi to finish the job. Their combat skills were just as excellent, and sometimes, their method of execution was even more creative and brutal.

This is why some argue that the kunoichi posed a more serious threat than other members of the shinobi. It was hard to tell if a maid, a priestess or a courtesan was who she said she was since they could pretend to be one for a very long time if they must. And when they were ordered to strike, they did so cunningly when their targets are at their most vulnerable – often in bed and with their pants down. Hence, it is not so surprising that they suffered worse fates than the captured male ninjas when they were caught for committing such intimate betrayals.

Weapons Used By Female Assassins

Beauty and sexuality were the female ninjas’ primary weapons when gaining access to their targets, but they also wielded actual deadly weapons of their own. Considering they had to go to their enemy’s territory unnoticed, they could not bring around with them long swords that would catch people’s attention. Instead, they carried weapons such as dagger-like hairpins, throwing stars, tessen or folding fans with hidden blades, and poison as these items can be inconspicuous while wearing a standard kimono.

Perhaps the iconic weapon of choice used by the kunoichi was the neko-te. The neko-te mimicked Wolverine claws and was made of leather finger sheaths topped with very pointed metal tips. The tiger-like claws of the weapon extended between one and three inches in length and were sharp enough to tear away human flesh. Some of the kunoichis would even douse their neko-te with poison in order to quicken death or worsen pain.

Mochizuki Chiyome: Japan's Most Famous Kunoichi

There is little record available about kunoichis, and Mochizuki Chiyome is probably the only one whose name was solidified in Japan’s ninja history.  Mochizuki Chiyome was a noblewoman from the 16th century and the wife of a samurai warlord. She is credited for setting up an underground network of female spies, which she accomplished by recruiting around 300 female orphans, war victims, and prostitutes.

To the eyes of the locals of Nazu village in the Shinshu region, the noblewoman was merely running an orphanage, but in reality, she trained and managed a very sophisticated group of female espionage operatives and assassins who have infiltrated almost every aspect of the region’s community. These groups of female ninjas put their bodies and lives on the line all in service to the Takeda clan led by the uncle of Chiyome’s late husband, Takeda Shingen.

For reasons unknown, after the death of Shingen in 1573, Chiyome and her league of spies disappeared from Japan’s historical records, and no one knows what happened to the secret group after serving the Takeda clan.

Although we don’t know all the names of the Japanese women who were once among the kunoichi, they were no less important than their male counterparts within the ranks of the shinobi. These deadly female ninjas were highly respected by the men they worked for and those who worked alongside them, and for a time, they were truly a force to be reckoned with in Medieval Japan.

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Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunoichi
http://www.ninjaencyclopedia.com/reality/kunoichi.html
https://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2013/06/kunoichi-female-ninja-spies-medieval-japan-susan-spann
http://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/deadly-female-ninja-assassins-used-deception-and-disguise-strike-their-target-021503?nopaging=1
https://www.mysterytribune.com/kunoichi-closer-look-female-ninja-spies-old-japan/