The Mysterious Dark Watchers

The Santa Lucia Mountains or the Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range located in the coastal area of central California. Named in 1602 by a Spanish cartographer as the Sierra de Santa Lucia, the mountain range stretches for 105 miles or 169 kilometers from Monterey County in the north all the way south to San Luis Obispo County. Among its southern peaks stands the famous Hearst Castle. The Santa Lucia Range is the coast north of Ragged Point, forming a 100-kilometer wall of wave-dashed cliffs known as the Big Sur, to which the Pacific Coast Highway clings. 

It is a land of immense beauty and tranquility, where California Condors fly high above its mountains, and sea otters and elephant seals populate the turbulent waters at their base. 

But lurking within these mountains is the strange and mystifying phantoms that stand motionless in long black cloaks. Surveying the crags and peaks of the mountains of Santa Lucia, these unfathomable creatures have been spotted by travelers to be looking out to the sea, often wearing broad brimmed hats, and sometimes carrying either a staff or a walking stick. But what is consistent in the description of those who have seen them is that they are always still, silent and featureless. Those who try to get a good look at these fantastical beings fail because, by the time that they attempt a second glance, they have already vanished. 

What Are Dark Watchers?

These mystical entities are believed to reside in the misty hillside of Big Sur in the Santa Lucia Mountains. The early Spanish explorers and Mexican ranchers that came after referred to these creatures as “Los Vigilantes Oscuros.” In modern times, they came to be known as “The Dark Watchers.”

The Dark Watchers are a group of migratory entities that have appeared in California Folklore for supposedly the past several hundred years and are purportedly stalking travelers along the Santa Lucia Mountains. They are apparently giant human-like phantoms that are only seen at twilight, and they are usually spotted standing silhouetted against the night sky along the ridges and peaks of the mountains. These beings are believed to possess incredible hearing as well as impeccable eyesight. They are also immune to high-tech detection and prefer to only reveal themselves to travelers or trekkers who are equipped with simple items like hats and sticks. 

Origins, References & Accounts

Tales about the Dark Watchers appear in many books, and many personal accounts of encounters with them can also be found online. A description of the Dark Watchers can be read in many books about California’s famous supernatural stories, but these descriptions always referred to the writings of Pulitzer Prize-winner John Steinbeck and poet Robinson Jeffers as literary sources that mention this phenomenon. 

In 1938, John Steinbeck was living near Monterey at the northern end of the Santa Lucia Mountains when he published his book of short stories titled “The Long Valley.” One of the stories included in the book is the short story “Flight,” which most famously mentions the Dark Watchers specifically. The Dark Watchers had notoriety in the area at the time because of poet Robinson Jeffers – who also lived in Big Sur – published the poem “Such Counsels You Gave to Me” in 1937. In his poem, Jeffers described the Dark Watchers as “forms that look human… but certainly are not human.”

Steinbeck and Jeffers writing around the same time in the same region and drawing inspiration from the same local traditions implied that some form of Dark Watchers lore predated both of their literary creations. But what was it?

Original accounts of the Dark Watchers date all the way back to the Chumash - a native American tribe which has lived along the central coast of California and among the Channel Islands for around 13,000 years. These Chumash natives have included stories of The Dark Watchers in their oral legends and traditions since the Pre-Columbian era.

Validity of Origin Story

One of the most detailed and authoritative accounts of Chumash beliefs is arguably the 1974 1200-page doctoral dissertation by Thomas Blackburn, which was later on published as “December’s Child: A Book of Chumash Oral Narratives.” Blackburn’s principal source in writing his dissertation about Chumash beliefs was the massive archive collected by American linguist and ethnologist John Peabody Harrington between 1912 and 1928, including 111 oral narratives of the Chumash native tribe. Harrington’s body of unpublished research was housed at the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives, and Blackburn went through it all, compiling virtually all there is to know about the Chumash beliefs. 

With an expert having researched extensively on the subject matter, we are now left with a very important question: Did the Chumash really tell stories about the Dark Watchers? If we are going to base our answer to this question on Blackburn’s work about the Chumash beliefs, then we can conclude that there were no creatures anything like the Dark Watchers mentioned in the oral narratives of this native American tribe. 

The closest thing that can be connected to these watchers was a creature called nunašīš. The Chumash believed that the Earth, as we know it, is the Middle World, which is an island surrounded by the ocean. The sun and other celestial bodies are a part of the Upper World, and down below are a Lower World. Among the dwellers of this Lower World are the Nunašīš, which are monstrous and misshapen animals who come up to the Middle World at night and spread bad luck, illness and other negative things. These creatures can also be shaped like humans, but they are neither dark nor cloaked. They are also not known for standing still against the night sky along mountain peaks.

The Chumash also believed in shape-shifting animals and humans, which is a belief widely held by many Native American cultures. However, so far, claiming that the Dark Watchers can actually be linked with any Chumash tradition cannot be done without casting doubts on its validity. Hence, it is also just as likely, if not more so, that the supposed connection of the Dark Watchers with Chumash oral stories could be just an invention of the 20th-century ghost story authors. After all, what better way to lend credibility to an urban legend than to tie it to an ancient culture?

Possible Explanations Behind the Dark Watchers

So, if the mysterious dark watchers are not at all a supernatural or mystical phenomenon, why are there people claiming to have seen one while hiking in the Santa Lucia Mountains in the fading twilight? 

We do not need to be an expert to know that our minds and eyes can sometimes play tricks on us, especially when we are in spooky environments where we are on edge, and our senses are on high alert. According to psychologists, illusions, hallucinations or misrepresentation of natural stimulus can be brought on by either exhaustion or isolation - conditions that are prevalent when you are traveling alone on the mountain trails of the Santa Lucia Range. 

Infrasound, which can be generated by the wind, can also cause feelings of uneasiness and anxiety in some people, which is why it is often connected to paranormal sightings. Studies show that infrasound between 7 and 19 Hertz can cause feelings of fear and panic in human beings. Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire conducted an experiment where they played music with and without tones of 17 Hertz frequency in the background. Results of the study showed that when the participants heard or felt the music with the 17 Hertz tones, they felt nervous, anxious and fearful. They also felt some pressure on their chests and chills crawling down their spine - feelings which are described by most people when they experience a paranormal event. 

An optical illusion known as the Brocken specter could also be a plausible explanation for the legend of the Dark Watchers. “Mountain Specter” can occur in certain atmospheric conditions when the sun is shining at a particular angle. A person’s shadow can be cast onto a cloud bank around them, which could create the illusion of a large shadowy humanoid figure. 

No one knows for sure who or what these Dark Watchers are. Where they come from or where they go when they disappear remains an unsolvable mystery to this day. As we have explained, it is likely that these creatures are nothing more than fictional legend, but even if they are real, these Dark Watchers were wise enough to have left no footprint behind that would have served as tangible proof of their existence. 

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Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Watchers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Lucia_Range
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4522
http://www.weirdca.com/location.php?location=179
http://www.independent.com/news/2014/nov/13/search-dark-watchers/
http://www.messagetoeagle.com/mysterious-dark-watchers-one-of-americas-greatest-ancient-riddles/
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/03/exploring-american-monsters-california/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound#Suggested_relationship_to_ghost_sightings
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2013/06/ghost-of-the-machine-sounds-in-the-paranormal/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken_spectre
https://www.britannica.com/science/Brocken-specter
http://earthsky.org/earth/what-is-the-brocken-spectre
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/droplets/globrock.htm

The Ourang Medan, The Mystery of the Deadliest Ghost Ship in History

In June 1947, the Dutch freighter S.S. Ourang Medan was traveling along the straits of Malacca, when the ship suddenly sent out a chilling distress signal.

"All Officers, including the Captain, are dead. Lying in chartroom and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead."

This first message was followed by a series of indecipherable Morse code sequences until finally, a last ominous transmission:

"I die." 

ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER VIDEO

Ourang Medan's grim SOS was picked up by British and Dutch listening posts around Sumatra and Malaysia, who worked together to determined where the signal was coming from and alerted nearby ships.

American merchant ship Silver Star was first to reach Ourang Medan. They waived and shouted at the vessel to check for signs of life above deck. But there was no answer. Only eerie silence.

The US ship decided to send out a rescue team to board the ship to look for survivors. But what they found was a blood-curdling nightmare.

The entire Dutch crew was a ghastly pile of corpses – eyes wide open in horror, mouths are frozen in an eternal scream, arms stretched out as if saying stop as if saying no more.

Inside, they found the captain with the same twisted expression on his face as that of his men, dead on the bridge of the ship. Now nothing more than a dead captain, leading a dead ship.

His once strapping officers are now cold corpses straggled on the wheelhouse and chartroom floor. Even the ship’s dog wasn't spared a horrific death.

But the most harrowing is finding the radio operator, fingertips still on the telegraph where he sent his dying message.

After seeing the chilling devastation on board, the Silver Star decided to tow the Ourang Medan to port. But it wouldn't make it to shore, as thick clouds of smoke started rising from the lower decks and interrupted the rescue.

The crew barely had time to sever the line and move to safety, before the Ourang Medan exploded. The blast was apparently so big that the ship “lifted herself from the water and swiftly sank,” taking with it all the answers to its mysterious end to the bottom of the sea.

Or so the story of the Ourang Medan goes.

Some details may differ slightly in each version of the story. Like it happened in February 1948 instead of June 1947. Or that the waters that day were choppy instead of calm. And that the crew wasn't just dead, but they were decomposing at a faster rate. 

While in some versions, the details are, well, too detailed. Like one of the two American ships that heard the distress signal was named The City of Baltimore. That the smoke from the lower deck before the explosion came exactly from the Number 4 hold. Or that the poor canine aboard was a small terrier.

But whichever version of the story you've heard (or told), the basic plot points remain the same - Ourang Medan's entire crew met a gruesome and inexplicable death, and then very conveniently blew up and sank to the bottom of the ocean, leaving us all with an unsolved nautical macabre mystery.

So what happened to the Ourang Medan?

Theory #1: It was a cover up.

The most commonly pointed out loophole in the tale of the Ourang Medan is the vessel's lack of paper trail.

The Lloyd's Shipping registers don't have any mention of the ship. It's not in The Dictionary of Disasters at Sea that covers the years 1824-1962. It wasn't in the Registrar of Shipping and Seamen either.

There's no trace of it in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Nothing in the Dutch Shipping records in Amsterdam. The Maritime Authority of Singapore also doesn't have the ill-fated ship in any of their records. 

In other words, the Ourang Medan was a ghost ship, even before it gained notoriety as one. Because there's no tangible proof that it even existed.

But as espousers of this legend would explain, it's because the Ourang Medan is part of a transnational government cover-up involving the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, China, the United States, and possibly many others.

They believe that the ship was deliberately expunged from all maritime records because it was being used to smuggle a secret cargo of lethal nerve gas to Japan.

Saying the Ourang Medan's voyage is linked to Army Unit 731 founded by Japanese bacteriologist Shirō Ishii, whose main objective was to bring back a weapon of the chemical, gas, or biological variety, that could win the war in their favor.

But as the Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibited the use of all chemical and biological weapons in war, the only way a large shipment of poisonous gas could make it across the other side of the world without raising any suspicion from authorities is by loading it as inconspicuous cargo, in an old, beat up Dutch freighter.  

This theory also provides a convenient and somewhat plausible explanation for the grisly death of the Ourang Medan's crew. With that much hazardous chemicals on board, a gas leak would've certainly led to the immediate death of everyone in the ship.

However, it wouldn't explain why the rescue crew from Silver Star wasn't affected by the poisonous gas when they boarded the ship.

Or why, like the Ourang Medan, there’s no mention of the Silver Star in Lloyd's register.

Theory #2: It was carbon monoxide poisoning.

American author and inventor of the term Bermuda Triangle, Vincent Gaddis, speculates that it was carbon monoxide poisoning is the answer to the mysterious deaths of the Ourang Medan crew.

According to his theory, burning fuel from a malfunctioning boiler system produced carbon monoxide fumes that poisoned the crew.

When breathed in carbon monoxide enters the bloodstream and prevents red blood cells from carrying oxygen around the body. At high levels, carbon monoxide can cause dizziness, vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness, and even death. 

The trouble with this theory is that Ourang Medan is not an enclosed space. Fumes could've simply escaped into the atmosphere, and lives of the crew working the upper decks of the ship would've been spared.

Theory #3: It was pirates.

What's a story about a ghost ship without pirates, right?

There are theories claiming that pirates invaded the Ourang Medan and killed everyone on board, which although doesn't explain some accounts saying that there were no visible wounds on the victims' bodies, it does fit with the Strait of Malacca's long history with piracy as far back as the 14th century.

Because of its geography - narrow and dotted with many islets - it makes it ideal for a surprise attack towards ships using it as the trade route to China and Europe.

Theory #4: Ghosts

One of the most repeated, but arguably, also the most inconsequential detail in the story of the Ourang Medan is the extreme chill the rescue team felt as soon as they entered the hull of the ship, despite it being 110°F outside.

Inexplicable drop in temperature plus the frightened expressions on the crew's faces set in a vast, unforgiving sea, equals ghosts did it.

There aren't many supporters of this theory, but what's a ghost ship story without a ghosts-did-it theory?

Theory #5: Aliens

You might think that the alien theory is the most far-fetched, the most uncreative, the most cop out theory explaining the phenomena of the Ourang Medan, but it's a very popular theory, with entire books dedicated to it.

The story of the Ourang Medan has all the elements of a good mystery - inexplicable deaths, unknown assailants, world powers, war, pirates, ghosts, and multiple highly-plausible conspiracy theories. 

Which is probably why it still fascinates us to this day, even if it's already been dismissed by historians, researchers, and the casual internet fact-checker alike as a hoax.

But if it's good enough for the CIA to release a document in 1959 saying, that the Ourang Medan holds the key to many of the sea's mysteries, including that of sightings of huge fiery spheres that come from the sky and descend into the sea, then, it's certainly a hoax worth retelling.

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Sources:
1. Death Ship: The Ourang Medan Mystery, http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2011/11/death-ship-the-ourang-medan-mystery/
2. The Myth of the Ourang Medan Ghost Ship, 1940, http://skittishlibrary.co.uk/the-myth-of-the-ourang-medan-ghost-ship-1940/
3. S.S. Ourang Medan, http://www.crime-mystery.info/great-mysteries/ss_ourang_medan/the_hoax
4.S.S. Ourang Medan, https://www.historicmysteries.com/ourang-medan/
5. CARGO OF DEATH, https://web.archive.org/web/20070205223141/http://www.neswa.org.au/Library/Articles/A%20cargo%20of%20death.htm
6. LETTER TO<Sanitized> FROM C.H. MARCK, https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80R01731R000300010043-5.pdf
7. Did the Ourang Medan “ghost ship” exist?, https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/20263/did-the-ourang-medan-ghost-ship-exist
8. The SS Ourang Medan: Death Ship (Updated), https://shortoncontent.wordpress.com/2015/01/15/the-ss-ourang-medan-death-ship-updated/
9. Mysterious Death at Sea: the Disturbing Discovery at the S.S. Ourang Medan, http://weekinweird.com/2011/07/17/mysterious-death-sea-disturbing-discovery-s-s-ourang-medan/
10. The Mammoth Book of Unexplained Phenomena: From bizarre biology to inexplicable astronomy, https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=YHCeBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT263&dq=Vincent%20Gaddis%20ourang%20medan&pg=PT263#v=onepage&q=Vincent%20Gaddis%20ourang%20medan&f=false
11. Vincent Gaddis, http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/Vincent_Gaddis
12. Crime on the high seas: The World's Most Dangerous Waters, http://www.cnbc.com/2014/09/15/worlds-most-pirated-waters.html
13. The World's Most Dangerous Waters, http://time.com/piracy-southeast-asia-malacca-strait/

The Mysterious Sealed Temple Door No One Can Open

The Padmanabhaswamy Temple is one of India's most popular and most sacred temples. Located in Thiruvanathapuram in Kerala, India, it is one of the most visited temples in the country. However, inside its heavily-guarded gates is a locked room with supposedly hidden treasures and for sure a deadly legend. And in order to understand the mystery behind the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, one must learn about its history.  

History:

The Padmanabhaswamy Temple is one of 108 temples of Vaishnavism, or the worship of Vishnu. The Temple has been mentioned as early as the 6th Century in ancient Tamil literature, with renovations occurring in the 16th Century.

Sri Padmanabha, the central Vishnu icon, reclines on the serpent Anantha or Adi Sesha. This pose is highly unlike the portraits of Vishnu in other temples, where the deity is depicted standing. The Adi Sesha in The Padmanabhaswamy Temple has five hoods facing inwards, which symbolizes contemplation.

The Temple's name is taken from the word "Padmanabha," which means, "One emerging from the lotus." This is illustrated well on the Sri Padmanabha icon, which has the deity Brahma emerging from Vishnu's navel on a lotus.

The entire icon is carved out on a massive stone measuring 20 feet high and 2.5 feet thick. Onlookers cannot see the icon from only one of the open doors of the Temple. In fact, one has to look through three doors from the outside in order to see the icon in its fully glory.

The shrine is currently run by a trust headed by the royal family of Travancore. The trust itself was established as early as 1729. The temple and its assets ebelonged to Lord Padmanabhaswamy and the Travancore Royal Family.

However, recent events took the trust away from the family. This decision from the Indian Supreme Court not only uncovered the treasure inside the Temple, but revealed one of its most sacred mysteries.  

Hidden Treasure:

In 2011, Sunder Rajan has filed a case to the Supreme Court appealing that the Travancore Royal Family has mismanaged the assets in The Padmanabhaswamy Temple. As a result of the proceedings, the Supreme Court appointed a seven-member committee to explore the Temple and document its many belongings.

What they discovered were six enormous secret vaults that appear to house many of the Temple's treasures. The doors were made of iron, and lack locks, hatches, or any form of openings. This is what made the chambers very mysterious, even to the eyes of the public.

Upon opening, the Temple appears to have at least 22 billion dollars' worth of golden idols, elephants, necklaces, and coins. They also discovered an assortment of jewels, ceremonial cosutmes, and solid gold coconut shells studded with jewels.

The most impressive of the gems were large diamonds, some of which were even a hundred and ten carats. Some archaeologists and gemologists estimated that a small gold idol of Vishnu from the Temple could very well easily cost 30 million dollars.

Visitors today would see metal detectors, security cameras, and more than 200 guards protecting the Temple and its treasures. However, it seems they are tasked to guard something else - something that even the government may not want to be unveiled.  

Chamber B: The sixth door:

The Padmanabhaswamy Temple has six enormous secret vaults that contained its many treasures. These were named Chambers A through F. The seven-member committee was able to open five of these vaults, with exceptional difficulty.

They have been able to open and reopen chambers C through F through the years. It was said the committee was able to visit these chambers for at least eight times. Chamber A took a bit of time to open. The impressive architecture of the Temple was evident in the door’s construction. It took more than a day to open Chamber A with existing human technology.

Regardless of these efforts, all but one of the six vaults were accessed - the mysterious Chamber B.

In fact, Chamber B is not part of the documented Temple Treasury. No one knows what lies beyond its gates. It is said that the chamber is holy in nature, as it houses an idol of Sri Padmanabha and many valuables of mystic origins. It is said that the chamber may very well have walls of solid gold. It may even contain the largest undiscovered treasure in world history.

Unfortunately, the only thing people have seen is its gates, guarded by two enormous embossed cobras. In fact, aside from these, the steel door of Chamber B does not have and bolts, latches, or other means of entry.

Much to the fascination of the committee members, Chamber B has in fact three doors. The first one has metal grills on it. It is the one visible to the naked eye, and is accessible like the other chambers. However, they discovered a second wooden door behind it. Upon unlocking this door came yet another door, a menacing door made of iron that was slammed shut. There appears to be no way of getting through it.

It is said that any human attempts are made with technology to open the door will unleash an unspeakable calamity in the city. Some even say opening the door against its will can release unspeakable horrors throughout India, and perhaps the rest of the world.

Urban Legends:

The urban legend surrounding the Padmanabhaswamy Temple begins with the seven-member committee. It is said that some of the members have fallen ill while trying to open Chamber B. Another member has apparently lost his mother while investigating the Temple's hidden treasure.

Sunder Rajan, the one who filed the case to re-assess the Temple's treasures in the first place, also died a few years later.

There is very little evidence to suggest a relationship between these events to Chamber B. However, this is eerily similar to other events concerning ancient artifacts. The infamous Hope Diamond was said to cause great calamity to the person who currently owns the stunning piece of jewelry. Unfortunately, it seems an even bigger mystery surrounds Chamber B.

Legends say that Marthanda Varma of the Travancore Royal Family arranged for the creation of the six chambers. Of the six vaults, Chamber B was affixed with a special spell by hundreds of Sidda Purushas and tantriks, or religious officials, from different regions.

The legends add that only a high level Sadhus or priest familiar with chanting what is known as the Garuda Mantra can open the Chamber. If this is to believed, them some Yogic power is protecting whatever is inside of Chamber B.

Some say Chamber B is directly linked to the ocean floor. Anyone who attempts to open the door by force will be met by a torrent of ocean water. Its force is said to be capable of flooding the entire city of Kerala.

Others also say that Chamber B may have some hidden trick. It is quite possible that there is a hidden tunnel beneath the chamber. This will allow its architects to lock the chamber from the inside. At the same time, this method will not allow anyone to access the chamber from the outside. If this is true, then people who knew of the secret tunnel may have been plundering the chamber without anyone noticing.

Regardless, the High Court of India has issued a warning against opening the doors of the chamber. This is possibly due to the repercussions of trying to go against the will of the Naga Bandham guarding Chamber B.

However, just what is the Naga Bandham, and how is this related to the supposed treasure in the temple?

Naga Bandham:

The Naga Bandham is said to the power that is protecting Chamber B. Tourists or foreigners who have heard of this phrase will be looking at a more intricate aspect of Hinduism.

The Naga Bandham is also called a snake-binding spell. A successful spell will have various serpentine deities guard the treasure of a particular place. This is also the reason why there are various snake idols worshipped in temples around the country. In fact, the deity Vishnu is also often depicted riding a snake. There are also special parts of the temple dedicated for these snake deities.

However, the prevalence of snake deities and figures is not exclusive to Indian culture. Ancient cultures such as the Greeks and the Egyptians also feature serpentine and reptilian creatures. In Greek culture, a "dragon" is some form of superior snake. Even Egyptians have deities such as the protector goddess Wadjet who has the head of a snake, and the chaos god Apep who appears as a snake.

The Naga Bandham is Chamber B is said to be unlocked by special sound waves. Some say the lock inside the door can be accessed through sound. Given the right frequency, the sound waves will be amplified and "connect" through the links inside the door. Continuous exposure to the sound will have the links interact and eventually open Chamber B.

If another person tries to open the door with a different spell, or the same spell with the wrong intonation, the sound waves are directed somewhere else. Perhaps this can cause a trap to be opened or, in the case of Chamber B, the aforementioned calamity.

No one knows what lies inside The Padmanabhaswamy Temple and its secret Chamber B. No one has chanted the Garuda Mantra correctly up to this day, and the order of the Supreme Court against opening Chamber B still stands.

Are the legends surrounding Chamber B true? Will there be an unspeakable calamity once its doors are opened by force? Or will there be someone who can chant the spell correctly and give access to its rumored treasure?

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Sources:

http://www.sreepadmanabhaswamytemple.org/history.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmanabhaswamy_Temple
https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimdobson/2015/11/13/a-one-trillion-dollar-hidden-treasure-chamber-is-discovered-at-indias-sree-padmanabhaswam-temple/&refURL=&referrer=
http://www.theeventchronicle.com/study/mysterious-sealed-door-ancient-padmanabhaswamy-temple/
http://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/the-mysterious-last-door-at-padmanabhaswamy-temple
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-real-mystery-behind-Padmanabhaswamy-Temples-seventh-vault