Mark Twain the Mysteries of Onteora and the Knights
Templar. The Onteora Club.
By Bradbury Cort Lindahl 1/19/19
Authors
note: I have been making connections between artist’s salons or guilds and some
of these “mysteries” for a very long time now. Recently I decided to look into
the story of the Cremona Document and found these very same connections. I was
shocked (but not really) to find an artist’s colony named “The Onteora Club”
adjacent to Hunter Mountain where some people claim tha Ralph de Sudely Knighst
Templar had brought the Ark of the Covenant from Petra, Jordan all the way to
Hunter Mountain, New York where it was given to the Hebrew Priesthood there all
in the 12th century. Lol.
I
was surprised to find so many connections between the Onteora Club and people I
had already written of previously in connection with Oak Island, The Newport
Tower, and Kensington Rune. The below information is just the tip of the
iceberg that shows how all of these places were exaggerated as being Norse or
Templar or as in the case of the Kensington Stone outright faked. It looks like
Francis Bannerman VI was aware of the entire scheme and added it to it in his
own way. This scheme does reference some of the people involved and their
family connections to people who were part of the original Knights Templar.
Beyond that there is absolutely no evidence any Knights Templar besides the
modern ones had ever come to New York. Stay tuned for much more coming soon. It
is also beginning to appear as if Newton Winchell was involved in all of this
in some capacity. If you read this you should read the other two articles that show another perspective with regard to the Kensington Rune. Newton Winchell's family originated in Kensington, Connecticut. -Cort
It seems that many of the great mysteries of North
America may involve a cadre of artists, writers, and architects that all
contributed to the mythical quality of many stories such as the fabled Newport
Tower, The Beale Treasure, Oak Island, The Bruton Vault and more. As this
concept is applied in the New World a tradition set forth by people involved in
these artistic pursuits over time stemming all the way back to ancient Egypt
and Mesopotamia may be discerned.
Though these later figures may have interpreted these
mysteries with a distinctly modern twist we may see that they were indeed
contributing to the folklore and legendary mythology of the new land. Many times,
their work did harken back to an earlier time and may have also included many
hidden overtones meant to inspire the seeker into searching for their hidden
meanings. In some cases, it even appears that legendary stories are even linked
together via he same themes and family names involved.
One of the themes that has been maintained as part of
this long range study is the influence of artist’s guilds and salons on what
may be termed the Arcadian Mysteries. The phenomena of the Cremona Document is
no different and may have had its origins at a much later date than the
document itself suggests.
Our examination of some famous artists from the Hudson
River School of painting along with famous author Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
may go a long way towards explaining the recent phenomena of “The Scrolls of
Onteora” in tandem with the strange manuscript known of by mystery lovers as
“The Cremona Document.” Our examination here will show proof that an artist’s
colony and literary salon held at the Onteora Club near Hunter Mountain, New
York is likely the source of all of these historical shenanigans. Twain was of
course a very intelligent man who had even written a book at this early date
questioning the true authorship of the plays of Shakespeare. Of course Mark
Twain was part of the famous Onteora Club which is adjacent to Hunter Mountain,
New York.
There are a few individual artists in particular that
were part of the Onteora Club that had actually visited important places in the
story told by the Cremona Document in its version of events including Petra
Jordan, Baalbek Lebanon, Athens, and Rome. In addition, three prominent members
of the Bannerman family play direct roles in this entire story. Here we will
see how both French, Scottish, English, and American families with a rich
tradition that had crafted a history that suited their legacies. These people
were among a well read and educated class that all collected and created great
art.
Among the members of the Onteora Club are several
individuals that had the background and historical knowledge who may have
cooked up a historical story related to the region where their club was located
that also linked to many of the famous places they had visited. What we may be
seeing here is a gross exaggeration of these historical events or follies that
was wholly misinterpreted by these later people who desperately wanted to prove
historical oddities that included ancient Hebrews and Knights Templar in
upstate New York long before Columbus had come to the West Indies. These ideas do
sound as if they were crafted by a person that also wrote novels and adventure
stories. It may also become obvious that along the way these storied people and
families had tongue firmly planted in cheek as they developed these strange
tales. Some of these individuals stock in trade was crafting fictional stories
that were believable to the public at large.
The entire scheme of misinterpretation extends to this
story in the same manner that may suggest the Newport Tower and Kensington Rune
are of authentic Norse origins. What we may see here is the fact that these
very same people from the Onteora Club had also influenced the public’s view of
the concepts of both the Norse and Templars having come to North America at an
early date prior to Columbus having “discovered” America by manufacturing a
legendary history with regard to both places and more.
It may be that their influence near Hunter Mountain and
Onteora Mountain was meant to tip off the informed seeker that they were indeed
behind the entire phenomena as discussed here.
Some of these artists and free thinkers may have even had a distant relation
to people that did impact the Crusades and were members of the original Knights
Templar. Beyond that there is nothing but a good story to entice the reader
into believing any of this is in fact true at all. Part of what they were doing
was to confound organizations such as the Catholic Church and those of the
Mormon faith with lore that resembles their beliefs enough to draw their
attention. In the end there elements of the story that suggest it was a complex
prank that no one was expected to actually believe.
Mr. Don Ruh and the late Ms. Zena Halpern have both
recently published books espousing the theory that an ancient Hebrew Priesthood
existed atop Hunter Mountain, New York which is adjacent to Onteora Mountain
nearby. The Onteora Club is located at Onteora Mountain which was formerly
known of as Parker Mountain. A central character to Halpern and Ruh’s story is
a man from the 12th century named Ralph de Sudeley. Both authors
espouse the theory that de Sudeley was a member of the legendary Knights Templar
who had travelled to Petra, Jordan to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant which
was hidden there only to then travel all the way to what is today Hunter
Mountain, New York to deliver this valuable Hebrew artifact to the priesthood
there. There is no documented evidence that de Sudeley was a Knights Templar or
that he had ever travelled to the Holy Land.
As part of their story they insist that the Knights
Templar were part of a goddess worshiping cult dedicated to the Divine
Feminine. All of this of course occurring long before there was any recorded
voyage to North America by anyone but the Norse who settled at L’ Anse Aux
Meadows, Newfoundland for a few years then left never to return. Those who
attended the late nineteenth century gatherings of the Onteora Club did not yet
know about the Viking site in Newfoundland as it had not been discovered yet.
In previous works I have discussed the involvement of
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the promotion of the Newport Tower being of Norse
origins. There is also later evidence that some of his close family was
involved in the historical prank of the Kensington Rune. We may see here that
even members of the Onteora Club were involved in both of those historical
oddities just as the story told at Hunter Mountain is also a later fabrication.
Longfellow also has the distinction of having produced poetry that even
includes the locations and events mentioned in tandem with many of these
treasure stories.
Is it possible that Mark Twain had anything to do with
the development of this story? At this point it is obvious that nineteenth century
arms and military surplus dealer Francis Bannerman VI was part of this entire
scheme as well. Part of Halpern and Ruh’s story revolves around strange
artifacts and clues that were recovered at Bannerman’s Scottish Castle on the
Hudson River known as Bannerman’s Castle on Pollipel Island there. Research
indicates that Mark Twain even spent time at the Onteora Club with the
Campbell-Bannerman family who were directly related to Francis Bannerman IV. So
there are some strange circumstantial historical facts that indicate the entire
story may have been developed in the tradition of the literary and artist’s
salons of Europe over a wide span of history.
All of this became obvious after searching for the word
“Onteora” which in turn led to the connections between the Bannerman family,
Twain, and a group of very exclusive artists and writers many of whom had deep
roots in early American history among the first families of Hartford,
Connecticut and Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Onteora Club was also inclusive of
single women who had developed their own businesses and successful art careers.
Here we will see yet another extension of the influence of early colonists from
Hartford that extends all the way to Chico, California via its founder John
Bidwell who was a member of this extended family group, many of whom seemed to
have played a hand in the development of a uniquely American folklore and
mythology. In this case the story included the influence or suggestion of the
Knights Templar, The Temple Treasure of Jerusalem, and possibly Freemasons.
The era during which Mark Twain spent a summer at the
Onteora Club was kind of a golden age of what may be termed the Arcadian
Mysteries. He and his family spent the summer of 1890 at the Onteora Club
compound near Hunter Mountain. It was during this decade that the modern
version of the Rennes le Chateau story would be developed. The Kensington Rune
would be discovered in 1899 and people had been speculating about the Norse
Origins of the Newport Tower. Treasure hunting syndicates were still probing
the depths of Oak Island to find treasure. Even at this later nineteenth
century date people were still potholing the wilds of New England and New York
in search of Captain Kidd’s lost treasure. One story even has his treasure sunk
in a ship not far from Bannerman’s Island on the Hudson River.
It was during this era and well before extending back
hundreds of years that treasure hunting was a very popular pastime to many
people. Legendary tales involving the famous pirate Captain Kidd suggested he
had left a treasure in one of several regions of the east coast at that time.
Though this activity kept many people busy with their divining rods and shovels
nothing of note was ever found. It seems that many of these legendary stories
never really yielded any treasure and it is likely that the saga of Onteora is
no different.
There are some aspects of the story being told about
Hunter Mountain and Onteora that have overtones similar to the Mormon faith of
today. Joseph Smith and his father were part of the treasure hunting craze of
this era and are noted as such in many narratives that came from eye witnesses.
Some of the elements of the story told by later authors Halpern and Ruh suggest
that parchments and rock carvings that include Theban script are part of the
clues that are left to guide one to a treasure that includes the Ark of the Covenant
and other important biblical relics that had been brought to New York by
Knights Templar Ralph de Sudeley.
During this mid to late nineteenth century time frame the
Mormons had been continually harassed including the assassination of their
Prophet Joseph Smith. They had retreated
all the way to Utah to escape persecution. While Twain was at the Onteora Club
Utah was still not even a state of the union. What is interesting in this
examination is the association between J. Smith and what may be termed “Theban
script.” So called Theban Script is included as part of the Cremona Document as
well as the astrolabe like device that was said to have been found at
Bannerman’s Island as part of the story.
When Joseph Smith was supposed to have found the Golden
Tablets of the Book of Mormon he himself wrote down the characters that were
used in their composition. He then took his notation to a linguist who
identified the script as what is known of as Egyptian Hieratic script which is
similar to the later Theban Script. “Theban Script” was not developed until the
sixteenth century so that postdates the era of the Knights Templar that
supposedly has de Sudeley coming to upstate New York in the thirteenth century.
There is no historical documentation
that suggests Ralph de Sudeley was even a Knights Templar or had ever travelled
to the Levant as the tale told in the Cremona Document suggests.
What we may see later in this saga is how Ralph’s brother
William de Tracy may have impacted this story even including Tracy family
descendants being associated with this region of New York as well as
associations with members of the Onteora Club. William de Tracy was said to
have been one of the assassins of Walter Becket Archbishop of Canterbury. De
Tracy and his cohorts were said to have made off with a treasure composed of
votive items, silver plate, and documents from the Vatican at that time. In
fact, de Tracy has many truths to his life story that more closely match the
apparently bogus narrative of his brother Ralph de Sudeley.
Interestingly Joseph Smith actually owned real Egyptian
papyri from the Roman period that also included very similar script to what is
seen on some of the documents included in what is termed the Cremona Document.
This is quite a coincidence considering the entire story of the C Document as
it is known of takes place in a region of New York where Smith used to live and
also includes some of his distant relatives from the founding of Hartford,
Connecticut. Is it possible that relic collector Francis Bannerman or some of
his wealthy art collecting cohorts had real ancient documents as Joseph Smith
did? Bannerman was a known art and relic collector.
The entire inspiration for the part of the C document
story that includes a Hebrew Priesthood was likely inspired by a group known of
as “The New Israelites” from Vermont. This group was started by a man named
Justus Winchell and included Joseph Smith Sr. the father of Mormon Prophet
Joseph Smith. These people believed that they were descendant of original
Hebrews and considered themselves to have a legacy that included a search for
the Ark of the Covenant and other treasures. Much of their time was spent in
the search for treasure in the tradition we know Joseph Smith partook in. Interestingly
Justus Winchell was from the very same family as geologist Newton Winchell and
his brother Horace Winchell.
Newton Winchell is known as the first geologist to have
examined the Kensington Rune Stone when it was discovered. He and his brother
were also published antiquarians who had studied a great deal of ancient
history. Newton had actually written a book about his own family’s genealogy
and was well aware of who Justus Winchell was. Newton Winchell also has an
interesting link to Onteora Club attendee Elizabeth (Bacon) Custer the wife of
the famous General Custer who lost his life at the Battle of Little Big Horn.
Winchell had actually spent a great deal of time with General Custer in an
earlier expedition to explore the Black Hills of the Dakotas prior to Little
Big Horn. Elizabeth Custer was a stated friend of Mark Twain’s and this is
noted in Twain’s recollections of his time at the Onteora Club. Mrs. Custer was
present at the Onteora Club during the summer Twain spent there.
Bacon family members tend to pop up in many of the
stories in America involving lost treasures or hidden caches of documents. The
Bannerman family also has some marriages between them and members of the
original family of Sir Francis Bacon so that is notable as well. The entire
story of the Bruton Vault in Williamsburg even includes three members of the
original Bacon family that worked for President Jefferson.
In reality, the New Israelites did resemble a modern
treasure hunting syndicate that kept their studies and searching for treasure a
secret. The New Israelites also held many millennial beliefs that included the
end of the world or the apocalypse. Some modern treasure hunting groups or
syndicates do in fact operate in a similar fashion to organized crime or
intelligence services to keep their secrets or to confound what they consider
their competition. This dynamic of treasure hunting has led to many
misunderstandings and manipulation of the facts in the minds of the public who
are interested in such things. Many times these groups would leave behind false
clues and narratives to confound others who were searching for the same
treasure they were. This dynamic is often ignored by those looking into lost
treasure or relic myths and legends. Again here we have a group of people that
may have inspired the concept of a Hebrew Priesthood as part of the Cremona
Document story of which their leader is directly related to one of the more
prominent figures cited in not only in the Kensington Rune saga but also with
regard to its authenticity. This is too much of a coincidence for there not to
be more to it.
It may be telling that the Cremona Document tells of an
exiled Hebrew Priesthood atop Hunter Mountain that closely resemble the actual
description of the beliefs of the New Israelites. They believed that they in
fact were a Hebrew Priesthood as described. So this is an interesting
coincidence that even involves what may be considered regional history at the
Onteora Club. It is possible that the existence of the New Israelites had
inspired the entire part of the story involving a Hebrew Priesthood. It is very
odd that Kensington Rune geologist Winchell has direct family ties to this
group and then shows up again in association with the stone in Minnesota. Given
what we are learning here it is even possible that the powerful members of the
Onteora Club may have also had something to do with the bogus rune.
One incident even has the New Israelites persecuted by
their fellow townspeople who were afraid that the organization would harm
others in the process of their beliefs. Undoubtedly this group does have some
similarities to later Mormon ideas such as ancient Hebrews having come to New
York just as is stated in the story of the Cremona Document. The New Israelites
were sometimes referred to as “Rodmen.”
This refers to the staffs of Aaron and Moses in biblical
stories that suggests these staffs had magical occult powers such as displayed
in the story of Aaron’s rod becoming a serpent in the story of Moses and the
Pharaoh. The Rodmen or New Israelite interpretation of the staff of Aaron was
its use as a divining rod in the finding of treasure. The Rod of Aaron is also
one of the items that are supposed to have been inside the Ark of the Covenant.
That is interesting given the later treasure hunt at Hunter Mountain that
includes the imagery of a Hebrew Priesthood and the Ark of the Covenant.
In the end, it is notable that the story of the Scrolls
of Onteora or the Cremona Document includes what appears to be Mormon imagery.
Is it possible that the creative minds of the Onteora Club had indeed fashioned
this entire tale so as to create a legend in the very area where their club was
located? Had some of them such as Francis Bannerman been involved in this
intentional crafting of a desired history or was it a prank? While those
questions are difficult to answer it is clear that others in the past had been
basically caught faking real history for their own reasons. There is no
evidence that Francis Bannerman was a member of the Onteora Club but members of
his family were known to attend gatherings there. One prominent member was
married to George MacDonald a relative of Bannerman’s.
Discussed earlier is how Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was
likely involved in all of this and may have even been involved in the creation
of the Onteora hoax as he had been involved in presenting the Newport Tower as
having been Norse. In other ways it could be that others had later added to
what Longfellow and Carl Christian Rafn had begun. It is clear that some of his
family was even involved in the effort to build a scale copy of the Washington
Monument at the discovery site of the Kensington Rune in Minnesota. This has
all been documented in previous writings. Longfellow’s “Song of Hiawatha,” and
“The Musician’s Tale” (Saga of King Olaf) also include Norse imagery very
similar to that seen on the Kensington Stone itself. Jules Verne’s “Journey to
the Center of the Earth” may have also influenced the story of the Kensington
stone.
The lives of Longfellow and Francis Bannerman VI do have
some overlap and it is clear that Longfellow had a personal association with
Bannerman’s direct kin Alexander and Lady Bannerman whom he entertained in
Newport, Rhode Island. Alexander Bannerman was at times Governor of Prince
Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Bermuda. Alexander Bannerman was a Baronet of
Nova Scotia as awarded to his family by William Alexander the original Baron of
Nova Scotia. Mrs. Bannerman even notes that Longfellow was composing “The Song
of Hiawatha” during their visit. This poem relates directly to Minnesota and
what may be the Kensington Rune stone. It is possible that elements of the
Onteora Club were extending the saga of the Norse in America that Longfellow
had played a hand in and were now extending it to the Knights Templar also
having come at a later date than the Vikings. It is as if a one two punch of
false history was being perpetrated by these writers and artists.
If true this was not a new phenomenon as similar schemes
have been noted earlier in history including the story of the Shepherds
Monument at Shugborough Hall in England and even the famous Money Pit on Oak
Island in Nova Scotia. Indeed the legend crafters of the Onteora Club had
included allusions to these two earlier mysteries in what they had created.
Brilliant. In fact, the granddaddy of all the treasure hunting myths included
the Ark of the Covenant and the rest of the legendary Temple Treasure that had
been sacked from the Temple Mount in 70 A.D. by Titus in the name of Emperor
Vespasian. Later in this saga the Arch of Titus theme will be seen at the
Onteora Club.
Later the Temple Treasure was displayed at the Temple of
Peace of Rome that had been built by Vespasian. The architectural form of the
Temple of Peace has also been repeated many times throughout history including
stories that suggest lost relics or treasure are hidden in association. Even
Jefferson’s Monticello was inspired by the octagonal Daphne Palace of
Constantine and the Temple of Peace of Rome of Vespasian. The President had
suggested allusions to the Temple Treasure in his architecture. The imagery of
the Temple of Peace of Rome is also present at the International Peace Garden
on the U.S. and Canadian Border in Manitoba and North Dakota.
In fact, Jefferson may be showing us real history if we
study the influences of this architecture as well as his personal art
collection. He would have fit right in at the Onteora Club as he was known to
have attended literary and artists salon’s with his friends Louis Alexandre
Rochefoucauld and the Marquis de Lafayette during his time in France. It may be
that the early genesis of some of the ideas related to the Cremona Document
came from these French salons. The Onteora Club in many ways was a salon very similar
to those Jefferson had been part of. Jefferson had possibly been involved in
two sagas known of as the Bruton Vault mystery and the Beale Treasure that have
many things in common to what we see in upstate New York at the Onteora Club.
All of these historical conundrums include direct references to literary works,
paintings, and architecture that clue one in to the true nature of what is
being told.
A close examination of what is going on with regard to
the Onteora Club does indicate that members had chosen to build upon concepts
that had been put forth earlier in the nineteenth century by people like Poe
and Longfellow with a few more added twists that included the involvement of
the legendary Knights Templar while at the same time alluding to concepts that
seem to be related to the development of the Mormon faith. A study of the real
history suggested by the Cremona Document does compel one to become conversant
in the history of some of the families involved and as we may see this could be
the entire point of this contrived document.
In the process, the Onteora Club was also more influenced
by women than other similar artist’s colonies of the day. This may have
contributed to the aspect of this history that refers to how the Templars
supposedly worshipped a goddess as part of their beliefs. In reality, there is
no documented proof the Templars had worshipped a female deity. Their views of
Mary Magdalene and Mother Mary may have contributed to this misunderstanding by
others or had been exaggerated by the female faction of the Onteora Club as a
way to promote the ideas of sexual equality that were developing during the
late nineteenth century.
While there are those who will point to what is being
exposed here as supporting their undocumented theories about the Templars and
Vikings in America it is clear that huge gulf of time and activity had occurred
between the modern era and the time the Knights Templar had existed. The image
of the Templars has subsequently been used to degrade the status of the
Catholic Church and now the Mormon faith in America. It is as if a kind of
weaponized folklore has been instilled in which the real facts will now be
taken to support their outrageous theories. This faction will have us believe
that a group of late nineteenth century artists, writers, businessmen and
women, and architects were telling us hidden messages that were true yet not
substantiated by any documented source. In short they are basing their beliefs
on intentionally crafted fairytales.
Part II: Who were the members of the Onteora Club?
There are three members of the Bannerman family who are
important in this story. It does appear as if Francis Bannerman VI the builder
of Bannerman’s Castle on the Hudson was in a position with the correct
associations with powerful people to have promoted his national and cultural
identity as it applies to the United States. Francis even had access to a large
cache of relics associated with American and European history and did associate
with people like John Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan who in turn both had a great
interest in art history and the American ideal as they interpreted it.
In short Bannerman was proud of the contributions of
members of his extended family as well as other Scots Irish immigrants to the
United States. He was likely aware of the hidden contributions of the Stewart
family to the formation of America and his family’s background included people
who had closely assisted the Stewart family over time such as the Alexander
family of the Baron of Nova Scotia whom his Macdonald family had close ties to
as well. Bannerman’s Castle even includes a foundation stone from a home that
was involved in the Glen Coe Massacre that was in turn a result of his MacDonald
family’s association with the Jacobite cause and King James II attempt to
retake Scotland after he was exiled in France.
Francis Bannerman, Alexander Bannerman Governor of
Newfoundland and Bermuda, and Henry Campbell Bannerman who was Prime Minister
of the United Kingdom from 1905-1908 all were associated with people in this
story as well as the Onteora Club. Henry had adapted his wife Janet’s Bannerman
name as he was a Campbell. Henry and Janet actually spent time with Mark Twain
and other members of the Onteora Club at Onteora Mountain. As discussed
Alexander Bannerman and his wife were personally associated with Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow and had even been spending time with him as he wrote his famous poem
“The Song of Hiawatha.” Alexander and Francis Bannerman were associated with
each other and lived during the same era as all the other major players in this
story from the mid nineteenth century extending up until the time of World War
I.
The Bannerman family appears throughout this entire saga
at different places. Amazingly many members of the Bannerman family were early
colonists in what is known of as the Red River Colony in Canada and Minnesota.
The boundaries of the Red River Colony match those of the Hudson’s Bay Company
with part of the land being defined as what is today Minnesota. The Kensington
Rune Stone actually is located along this border between Red River/Hudson’s Bay
Company holdings and what was French Louisiana.
Here we are being presented with a family including a
documented history that may suggest their involvement in the placement of the
Kensington Rune as part of the same saga being created at the Onteora Club. It
is more than a coincidence that this stone is located along this particular
political boundary. Two other “lost stone” legends are also located along this
very same border. The International Peace Garden is also located within the
historical boundaries of the Red River Colony.
The Bannerman family also includes people who were
Baronets of Nova Scotia including Alexander Bannerman. It seems that their
influence had extended to actual places where many of these mysteries occur. It
may be more than a coincidence that Bannerman’s Castle on the Hudson is located
exactly due west 270 degrees true north from the Newport Tower in Rhode Island.
If Bannerman had intentionally arranged his castle in
this manner he would be taking part in the same tradition that the Newport
Tower and octagonal Powder Magazine of Colonial Williamburg had been designed
in. Again, coincidentally the octagonal Powder Magazine is oriented so a facet
of its structure “points to” the Newport Tower. The spatial relationship of
Bannerman’s Castle and the Newport Tower is even documented on one of the maps
that are part of the Cremona Document. So this relation is much more than a
coincidence and has to have had something to do with Mr. Bannerman and his role
in the Cremona Document story.
Incidentally Kensington Rune Stone advocate Scott Wolter
suggests a spatial relationship between the Newport Tower and how it “points
to” the Kensington Stone at a particular time of day on the solstices. If the
Newport Tower is viewed as an octagon via its eight archways then a similar
measurement is there every day of the year at any time of the day. The Newport
Tower “points to” the Kensington Rune all day every day. All of this does add
up to indicate that the same people who produced the Cremona Document in the
nineteenth century had also been the ones to place the Kensington Stone
specifically where it is. The Bannerman family is involved in all the places
that are involved in the entire story.
As a bizarre coincidence, this same azimuth of the globe
extending from the Newport Tower to the Kensington Rune crosses nearly directly
over the Onteora Club at Onteora Mountian, New York. I’m sure this may be the
real reason the club is located where it is as this entire scheme appears to
have been arranged by people who were members of the club. This of course would
make it logical to assume that the Kensington Rune was placed where it was to
specifically achieve this association by people associated with the Onteora club
and the earlier schemes that also presented the Newport Tower as being Norse in
origin.
Other prominent members of the Onteora Club included many
artist’s from the Hudson River School. This included J.W. Alexander, Thomas
Cole, Frederic Edwin Church, and Asher Brown Durand among many others. These
artists were even said to have used what would become the club’s property as a
base of operation in their painting expeditions of the area. It is possible
that this too had been arranged as many of these men were contemporaries and
friends with Longfellow.
The Onteora Club had the distinct difference in its
origins in including many famous women artists, writers, and interior designers
among their membership. The club had in effect been started by designer Candace
Thruber Wheeler who has many family connections to first families of the United
States as do many of the people associated with the Onteora club including
Elizabeth (Bacon) Custer the wife of the famous General. Mrs. Custer also has
links to Michigan history and the influence of Bacon and Sinclair family
members in the development of that great state.
It was Ms. Wheeler along with her brother and sister in
law that had gone in search of the perfect location for their artist’s retreat
settling on the site we know as Onteora Park today. The mountain on which the
club is located was once known of as Parker Mountain and was later changed to
Onteora Mountain in response to the presence of such a storied organization.
Here we should note that is was Candace Wheeler who had also named the place
Onteora. Onteora is a Delaware Indian name that translates to “Hills of the
Sky.” This name was not applied to Onteora Mountain, Onteora Park, or the
Onteora Club until after 1883 when Ms. Wheeler found and purchased the property
with the intent of establishing an artist’s colony that would include both
single and married women as part of their organization. This nod to the ladies
was not common in other similar organizations of that era so this is notable.
At this point if someone believes the story in the
Cremona Document they are going to have to prove Mrs. Wheeler already knew
about the entire scheme and how she knew about it. Very difficult to do.
The above story of how the mountain and club got the name
Onteora disputes the treasure story presented as it did not exist until
centuries after the existence of the Knights Templar. The only source that
exists for the use of this name in ancient times appears to be the Cremona
Document itself. In this way the Cremona Document plays its role as a self-fulfilling
prophecy as the only source that exists that is then used to confirm the events
contained in the document. Very clever of its creators to have executed such a
plan. The Cremona Document is in fact so full of historical holes that it is a
wonder anyone believes it at all.
Their plan did seem to involve influencing people who did
not have access to the same historical resources they had. Many members of the
Onteora Club were highly educated and wealthy people who had travelled
extensively throughout Europe and the Holy Land. Many of them had read extended
histories of the places they had visited and may have longed for their homes in
America to have such a storied and civilized origins that could be attributed
to people they were even in some cases related to. As we will see many of these people’s families
did descend from the elite and royal families of Europe and their intent was to
weave a mythology that may convince people of their status in the new land of
America where these tenets of the gentry order were not valued as much as they
had been in the old world.
Thomas Cole in particular had even visited
and produced paintings from his visit to Petra, Jordan where according to the
story told by the Cremona Document Ralph de Sudeley had recovered the Ark of
the Covenant to then travel all the way to Hunter Mountain in upstate New York
to deliver it to the cloistered Hebrew Priesthood that existed there. This in
many ways matches the values of the New Israelites and later themes present in
the doctrine of Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith. Cole had also produced great art
that depicted the ruins of Baalbek, Lebanon, Athens, and Rome.
The activities of Cole and other artists seem
to echo some of the sensibilities of the Dillitante Society that the Anson’s of
Shugborough Hall and Sir Francis Dashwood were members of earlier in the mid
eighteenth century in England. Thomas Cole had even painted a rendering of the
Arch of Titus in Rome which depicts the sacked Temple Treasure of Jerusalem
being paraded through the streets of Rome. Thomas seems to have been telling us
there was no way the Knights Templar were in possession of this artifact if the
Romans and later Visigoths had possessed it. It is interesting that Cole
painted the Arch of Titus and the Ark of the Covenant which is part of the
Temple Treasure is involved in the mythology of Hunter Mountain. Why ae they
looking at Hunter Mountain when Onteora Mountain is only a few miles away?
The Dillitante Society was a group of wealthy and
influential aristocrats that actually visited the ancient ruins of Europe and
the Levant. As part of their antiquary mania these men had produced accurate
architectural drawings of many of the ruins they visited for the first time. As
a result they then reproduced what they had learned in the form of
architectural follies on their estates that mimicked what they had actually
seen on their Grand Tours. Shugborough Hall of the Anson’s and Dashwood’s West
Wycombe estates are prime examples of this value as they both include copies of
the Tower of the Winds of Athens and other follies that are representative of
classic forms.
It may be that the source of the “Roman
Sword” found near Oak Island had come from a Grand Tour such as those
undertaken by members of the Dillitante Society. It is also interesting that
though a later antique the sword is suggestive of a cult of navigation.
Dashwood’s mausoleum even resembles the hexagonal
forecourt seen in the ruins of Baalbek for instance. This became a huge fad in
this era of landscape design among the gentry of England and Europe extending
back to the Elizabethan age and beyond. Places in America like Williamsburg,
Virginia were arranged in this tradition which often included an octagonal
tower in a representative nod to the importance of the Tower of the Winds of
Athens, Greece. This is the role being played by the Newport Tower and Stafford
Hill Memorial in the story of the Cremona Document. Other oddities like the
much-examined street plan of Washington D.C. are the result of an appreciation
of these tenets of art and architecture that may be used to infer hidden
elements suggestive of the myths and legends that inspired them.
If one takes a broad view of all of this it may be discerned that some of these people had created legends and myths meant to promote a certain version of history that they couldn’t prove. Along the way fantastic elements were added to the common history in a kind of mystery school quest that in many ways resembles the movie “National Treasure.” When people “out of the loop” so to speak later got ahold of these mysteries a virtual tidal wave of misunderstanding began to pile on itself time after time leading to what in the end is told as a comic book story.
Different factions may have produced paths of learning
that catered to groups like the Freemason’s, Odd Fellows, or Knights of
Pythias. Those initiatory paths may have meant more to members of those groups.
Other similar mysteries were seemingly to develop and enhance one’s
appreciation of a family legacy that extended back through history. Elements of
the Cryptic Rite of Freemasonry do seem to be a central element to many of
these stories including Oak Island, The Bruton Vault, and Beale Treasure lost
treasure stories.
Along the way many fakers and scam artists would present
wealthy people with false information in order to gain their patronage or bilk
them out of their money. Other’s that became aware of these historical treasure
hunts would even craft other fake stories to leave a false bread crumb trail to
fool others that may have become aware of such things. It is possible that the
Cremona Document was created by members of the Onteora club then much later
obtained by people who chose to use it as part of a treasure hunt or to con
people out of large amounts of money by convincing them it was real.
One more time: These treasure hunters have recently
exposed information in which they admit to faking historical artifacts and
elements of the story to fool both the Vatican and alternative historian Dr.
Barry Fell. Why should we trust them any further? Why would incredibly rich
people leave a bogus trail of evidence that leads to biblical treasures or
golden wealth?
It is clear that among those modern proponents as to the
authenticity of the information in the Cremona Document that there are authors
and researchers who have been fooled by this while other evidence even shows
how a few of the people promoting these ideas had admitted to producing fake artifacts
in order to fool others that were looking for the same treasure or relic they
were. Here again we are drawn back to the existence of treasure hunting
syndicates and even intelligence services that would also use this kind of
information to fool their enemy. In the past historical figures such as Dr.
John Dee, St. Germaine, Caliogstro, and Casanova had all used similar
techniques to gain the trust of wealthy and royal interests in a manipulative
manner.
Here in this writing we are being forced to contemplate
whether Knights Templar came to Hunter Mountain to meet a Hebrew Priesthood in
the 12th century versus the story of the artists and writers of the Onteora
Club having produced this legend and document for their own reasons. Which one
makes more sense and is easier to prove? There are several documented
incidences of this actually noted in the past involving for example the lost
lead claim markers of Sir Francis Drake in California that were first taken to
be real then later proven to be bogus. A certain secret society was proven to
have been behind that entire hoax.
Here we may be forced to consider that Francis Bannerman
as well as members of the Hudson River School of Painting and Onteora Club had
crafted a history using just enough facts to convince people that there may be
some truth and treasure in the mix. Along the way the seeker is basically
forced to learn a given part of real history in order to support the existence
of a Hebrew Priesthood in New York prior to Columbus. The story of the Onteora
Club, Mark Twain, and the Cremona Document is as good of an example of all of
this that can be cited. Remember at this point much of what the public has been
told about the Cremona Document is coming from people who have admitted to
faking artifacts in order to fool the Catholic Church. What Bannerman may have
actually wanted the seeker to find is the rich and storied history of his own
family as associated with members of the Onteora Club. What had been produced
more resembles the modern Forest Fenn treasure in which a wealthy patron has
hidden valuables and supplies the public with clues as to its location. The
Onteora Club or Bannerman may have simply been propagating a similar story.
The story as crafted includes elements of place that had
already been used in a similar manner including the Money Pit at Oak Island and
the Newport Tower. Now these places were being related to the Knights Templar
by a group of talented writers and artists who truly did have the resources to
craft such a story contrary to the claims of one recent popular author who
claims that no one else on earth is even capable of understanding all of this
but him. In order to understand the play one must actually become conversant in
real history and this may be the point of the entire exercise.
This particular author by the way, believes the entire
story as told hook(ed X) line and Sinkler. There is no other conclusion to come
to but that this same group of people had also faked the Kensington Rune stone.
Indeed the first men to have even mapped the Rune’s site of discovery have many
family ties to the people who are members of the Onteora Club. They also have
links to other strange treasure stories one of which even includes a full-scale
reproduction of the Newport Tower known of as the Stafford Hill Memorial. One
of them is also memorialized at the Grand Lodge of Montana in a mural depicting
the first Masonic meeting to occur in what would become that great state.
Hidden away in these stories is the truth about what they
were doing. They are not lying to you at all. If one studies the people and
historical events involved it is clear that even they didn’t believe any
Knights Templar, Hebrews, or Vikings had come to New England in antiquity. What
is clear is that for nationalistic and cultural reasons they preferred to
create schemes of history that inferred that all of this was indeed true. It is
possible that they were frustrated because they saw strong indications in the
Norse Sagas that people had come to North America but they had no clue where.
As a result, fake stories and sites were produced to stimulate the minds of the
public at large and convince them these things were true. See the story of the
Norumbega Tower and Longfellow’s friend Eben Horsford for more on that.
Even Mark Twain had written “A Connecticut Yankee in King
Arthur’s Court” which included a man time travelling back to the medieval era
to witness and take part in the fables surrounding the legendary King. Note
also that the area where the Onteora Club is situated is also the setting for
Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” which includes some of the same overtones
Twain included in his King Arthur story.
Here in the personage of Twain was a man eminently
capable of envisioning a false path of history that could then be foisted on
the public as the truth. It is possible that any number of mine fields of false
treasure legends and quests have been left like ticking time bombs in order to
assure that people would appreciate a given point of view. Other authors and
artists including Edgar Allan, Poe, Cooper, Morse, Longfellow, and Emerson may
have all been involved in shaping a uniquely America ideal via their writing
and art work. All of these authors held the correct lineage to have been
members of the Society of the Cincinnati. There is direct evidence involving
these men’s names at all of these places of mystery and intrigue. We may also
consider that some of these authors had been inspired by these quest legends
and were telling us about it in their writing.
Many members of this group of artists and the Onteora
Club did hold pedigrees that linked them to a group known of as the Society of
the Cincinnati. This organization was comprised of former Revolutionary War
officers and their male lineal descendants. The Society of the Cincinnati is as
close to a Knighthood that the United States has. If one considers that Francis
Bannerman and other members of the Onteora Club had crafted the entire story
told in the Cremona Document to suggest a certain ideal involving American
history and their heritage then Knights Templar and Hebrews atop Hunter
Mountain may have in their minds filled this bill. If viewed from any point of
view except the mindset of the average nineteenth century American then the
entire story begins to read like a Jules Verne or Mark Twain novel.
Part III connections to the original Knights Templar and
other fabled treasure stories.
To be fair here we will examine any possible real
connections that exist between this group of people at the Onteora Club and the
real original Knights Templar. It is only natural that out of such an elite
group that many connections to royalty or other powerful people would exist. It
is only natural that those who possess such legacies would be proud of them and
also wish to connect them in turn to the history of the United States.
One documented member of the Onteora Club was named H. de
Blois Gibson. The H. stands for Hervey. There is a genealogical record of one
Anna Elizabeth de Blois marring first Hervey Gibson then upon his death
marrying a MacDonald i.e. also a member of the Bannerman family.
Ms. de Blois came from the famous French Huguenot family
that first took refuge in Oxford, England after the St. Bartholomew’s Day
Massacre in Paris in 1572. Eventually elements of this family came to Newport
Rhode Island, Boston Massachusetts, Charleston South Carolina, and Halifax Nova
Scotia. This distribution of family along major sea ports in the colonies is a
tenet of many successful and powerful first families. Mrs. de Blois-Gibson’s
subsequent marriage to another member of the MacDonald family supplies us with
yet another link between the Bannerman family who were from the MacDonald
family and the Onteora Club.
Note that the de Blois family is present in three storied
places that all may be related together and that they are related to the
Bannerman family as well. In fact the legacy of the de Blois family reaches all
the way back to the very origins of the Knights Templar and even has other
later family members actually controlling the region of Greece known of as
Arcadia that was in part occupied by the Knights Templar! Other members of the family
did live in Virginia home of the Powder Magazine in Williamsburg and Newport
Rhode Island home to the Newport Tower.
It should be taken for granted that Mrs. de Blois-Gibson
was aware of this family legacy and may have even been involved in perpetrating
the entire Cremona Document hoax along with her kin the Bannerman’s. It should
also be noted that by the time of the American Revolution that most of the de
Blois family were staunch British loyalists who either retreated to Halifax,
Nova Scotia or England during that era. It is at this point that members of the
family had become aware of or had even taken part in the propagation of the
mythology surrounding Oak Island for their own reasons. After the war some of
them returned to America.
It is a well known point of history that Hugh de Blois
Count de Champagne was involved in the creation of the Knights Templar along
with Bernard of Clairvaux. He was said to have become a Knights Templar at a
time when there were only twelve members of the order making him the thirteenth
member of the order. Hugh held a legacy that related him to many powerful
people in history including King Stephen of England and others. So here we do
have a real and tangible link to the original Knights Templar but are left with
no physical evidence that any of the story in the Cremona Document is true at
all. It is likely that Mrs. de Blois-Gibson was aware of all of the history of
her family related to the Knights Templar. The same could likely be said of all
of her American Colonial forebears.
In the course of this extended examination of art and
architecture one structure in Halifax, Nova Scotia stands out in its
representative meaning. The Halifax Round Church was created by Prince Edward
in 1800 there just past the time the story of the three young men discovering
the Money Pit in 1795 was occurring. Amazingly memorials to two people who were
likely descendant of original members of the Knights Templar are present in
this Church. The design of the Church is in effect a Palladian copy of the
Temple Church built by the Knights Templar located in the City of London in
England.
So not only are there two descendants of Knights Templar
rememberedl there but they are also blood related to each other. It is even
possible that these two men knew each other as they lived during the same time
frame. Des Barres is also a famous cartographer who had produced a very
accurate pilots guide for all East Coast ports entitled “Atlantic Neptune.” Des
Barres had helped to create the street plans of Lunenburg and Sydney, Nova
Scotia as well. Still a third Knights Templar descendant Charles Montigu is
entombed in the St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Halifax. Montigu was cousin to
Lord Halifax the namesake of the city. Lord Halifax also has a strange link to
Ethiopia where according to lore the Ark of the Covenant is located. This
connection comes via his friend James Bruce who had actually traveled to and
spent an extended time in Ethiopia.
Is it possible that these three men are somehow related
to the mysterious Money Pit on Oak Island or had their family’s legacy
contributed to later stories that attempt to link the Templars to Oak Island?
It is interesting that most of the theories attempting to involve the Templars
in the Oak Island story involve the supposed and hard to believe theories of
Henry Sinclair having come to Nova Scotia. There is no record of any member of
the Sinclair family ever having been a Knights Templar yet we have two French
descendants of real Knights Templar memorialized in a copy of the Temple Church
of London in Halifax, Nova Scotia and no one bats an eye at this information in
favor of patently false information. It appears the de Blois family had played
a role at many of the significant sites mentioned not only in the saga of the
Cremona Document but places that had also gained a legendary status of their
own prior to the discovery of said document. Amazing. Abracadabra.
Lately the French family of Rochefoucauld has become
associated with a possible solution or reason for the legend of the Oak Island
Money Pit. In 1746 Jean Baptiste de La Rochefoucauld duc d’Anville came to Nova
Scotia as part of the famous d’Anville Expedition. Curse of Oak Island
television show researcher Doug Crowell has recently uncovered documentation of
the d’Anville Expedition being involved in creating an underground construct on
an unnamed island in the same region where Oak Island is located. In fact the
name “Rochefoucauld” is penned on what may be a fake map that is included as
part of the Cremona Document papers.
Again, this is information that would have been available
from the same source where Mr. Crowell had found it and may have also been
found by members of the Onteora Club of the de Blois family of Nova Scotia. We
have noted prior the associations of the Rochefoucauld family with Thomas
Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin as part of a literary salon very similar to the
Onteora Club. Alternately the de Blois family of Halifax simply knew what had
actually happened during the d’Anville expedition but they didn’t live there
until about twenty years later.
It is clear that the de Blois, Rochefoucauld’s, de La
Tour family, and Stewart family of the exiled Jacobite monarchy are all blood
related to each other. It should then come as no surprise that the de Blois
family is also directly blood related to the des Barres, Alexander, de La Tour,
MacDonald, Bannerman, and Stewart families. Each one of these families does
have a real relation to the fabled Knights Templar. In fact the de Blois-Gibson
family of the Onteora Club is also related to at least three other members of
the club including Lillie Hamilton France.
Given this there is absolutely no recorded or documented
evidence that any member of the Knights Templar ever came to North America much
less interfaced with a cloistered sect of Hebrew Priesthood atop Hunter
Mountain in New York beyond what is being said in the Cremona Document and more
importantly the people who obtained said document. What is a document point of
history is the exisitence of the New Israelite’s in the same region who were
led by the forebear of the geologist Newton Winchell who was one of the first
to espouse the authenticity of the Kensington Rune. Crazy.
Most of the story as told has been told to other authors
and public by men who openly admit to having created false trails of evidence
including artifacts in order to fool others who were looking for the same
treasure they were. The gentle reader is forced to accept this information at
face value and believe it or not with very little hard evidence to back it up
except bogus artifacts like the Kensington Rune and Newport Tower to support
these bizarre notions. We are now supposed to believe people that have taken
part in the cut throat nature of what may be termed a treasure hunting
syndicate.
The waters have been mightily clouded by the activities
of a treasure hunting syndicate that seems to operate as a kind of mafia
organization. Part of the play of the people who first found the Cremona
Document even includes them suggesting that the ominous “Spartan Agency” is
involved in the entire mystery. This is a construct of them alone as of course
this is not mentioned in the document itself. It appears that the best thing to
do when considering the C Document is to toss out all of the assumptions that
have come via these men and the two well-known authors that seem to have become
ensnared in their scam. Only the older original parts of the document should be
considered and none of the subsequent speculation.
The only way to get to the bottom of whatever the truth
of the Cremona Document is would be now to examine it as if it was an
intentionally crafted story developed by members of the Onteora Club in tandem
with the de Blois and Bannermans as kind of an elite joke they could use to
suggest that their ancestors had come to America long before the days of Christopher
Columbus. If per chance elements of the original document are true then this
will be obvious via a detailed examination of the history suggested in the
document and not from the “Spartan Agency.” At this point it is lunacy to
actually believe that there was once a Hebrew Priesthood atop Hunter Mountain,
New York beyond the obvious assumption that the New Israelites of Justus
Winchell are what is being referred to in reality. Note also that Justus
Winchell had at one point been accused of counterfeiting.
Could they possibly have believed this was true yet
didn’t have any evidence to support it as in the case of Longfellow promoting
the Newport Tower as Norse prior to the discovery of L’ Anse Aux Meadows Viking
site in Newfoundland? Perhaps they had some hints that there was some truth
beyond the bogus voyages of Henry Sinclair to support this notion and simply
set about creating a story that would support this idea with no real proof. What
is true and clearly seen in early American history is that many of the family
names mentioned in this story played important roles in the establishment of
the United States of America. Beyond that we are being asked to believe
information that is not reliable or is able to be verified independently. At
this point given the way the mystery at Onteora has unfolded it would even be
difficult to believe any artifacts that were found in conjunctions with a group
of treasure hunters that have openly admitted to creating false artifacts and
narratives to fool other seekers.
Another alternative is that their story had been made to
actually hide items that they had been in possession of that meant more to
their family associations than to anyone else. Many of the overtones of Oak
Island and the Bruton Vault in Williamsburg suggest that any hidden items have
more to do with American history than anything prior. The papers of Sir Francis
Bacon are mentioned as having been hidden in the same manner of the legends of
the Temple Treasure whose story goes back literally thousands of years. Had
they simply used the template of the many Temple Treasure and “Man in the
Mountain” myths of Charlemagne and Constantine to project their own values onto
the history of the relatively young United States?
Had Templars used templates to create temples and templum
to measure the temporal fabric to hide treasures? Who knows?
Who better than relic and antique dealer Francis
Bannerman VI to have been involved in such a plot? Bannerman did in fact own
many items associated with American history that would be priceless today. He
owned two of George Washington’s pistols which are now on display at the museum
at West Point Military Academy not far from Bannerman’s Castle on the Hudson.
He also owned an original cannon used at the battle of Yorktown as well as
several other cannons used in the Revolutionary War.
Pictures of Bannerman’s store from the nineteenth century
do show medieval armor on display and for sale. It may be that in addition to
his collecting mania that Bannerman was also involved with a powerful and
wealthy group of art collectors that would include J.P. Morgan, John
Rockefeller, and William Randolph Hearst. These men as well as members of
groups like the Onteora Club possessed an in depth and detailed knowledge of
the items they collected as well as the history surrounding them. Their inside
knowledge would have been supplemented by the many art historians they employed
to help them find and verify the items they would purchase. Yet some people
claim that no one is capable having created a detailed hoax document like the
Cremona Document.
It is likely that art collectors of this caliber were
often presented with both fake pieces of art and documents so they were used to
this type of scam. Even today the Rockefeller Foundation has an interest in
Bannerman’s Castle and earlier in the twentieth century had contributed greatly
to the restoration of Williamsburg and Mt. Vernon, Virginia. The Rockefellers
built the Cloisters Art Museum and the Hearst’s in addition to Heart Castle also
rebuilt two medieval Cistercian structures they had shipped piece by piece from
Spain one in Florida the other in California. These people actually moved
entire medieval structures across oceans but would not have been capable of
understanding the history behind the Cremona Document to the point they could
have created it themselves? Please.
Onteora Club members:
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