Paranormal Studies 313: Ancient Nuclear Warfare

Professor Grimes walked into the classroom precisely ten minutes before his lecture was scheduled to begin. The room was hot and stuffy, but over the past few days he had grown used to the heat. He did notice that whoever had taught the previous class had taken the liberty of opening the windows. Sadly, the small amount of air that was coming in from outside was not nearly enough to make any noticeable difference. It was hot inside and it was hot outside, and until the school fixed the heating and air unit nothing was going to change.

This time, however, the professor was prepared. After placing his papers on his desk he walked back into the hallway and wheeled in a large, rotating fan. He pushed it across the classroom and then plugged it into the wall. The fan immediately came to life and began circulating the hot air throughout the room.

“Is that really going to help?” Dan called out.

“Yes and no,” the professor replied. “The fan is unable to actually reduce the ambient air temperature. However, by circulating the air, the fan will make it appear cooler than it actually is. The result should be a net improvement, albeit a marginal one.”

“Well, it’s better than nothing, I guess. But when are they going to have the air conditioner fixed?”

“I talked to the Dean about it yesterday. Apparently they are having to replace the entire unit, which is a significant undertaking. They are supposed to have a new unit in place sometime on Friday, but we will see how that goes. Regardless, the situation should be resolved by Monday.”

“Monday! What do you mean, Monday? I can’t wait until Monday! This unbearable heat is killing me. It’s cruel and unusual punishment.”

“It is 82 degrees outside,” the professor replied. “If it was 130 then I might have some sympathy for you. If you find the heat uncomfortable then I suggest you take your mind off the weather by doing your assigned reading. If you start completing your assignments you just might have a chance at passing this class.”

Dan grumbled, but didn’t say anything else. The professor settled down into his chair and waited. At precisely ten o’clock he stood up to begin speaking. He noticed that five students had shown up. The class was down one person from last time, but it was still within the accepted average.

“Welcome to Paranormal Studies 313,” the professor announced. “My name is Grimes, and I have been teaching this course for the past several months. We have embarked on a exploration of topics that are outside the generally accepted wisdom, and are covering subjects that rarely get covered – or, at least, are rarely covered in an intelligent manner. Today we are–”

“Hold on,” Ashley interrupted. “I’m lost. You already said all that stuff weeks ago! Are we starting over or something?”

“No, we are not. This class still has a number of weeks left before the finals.”

“Then, like, why are you welcoming us all over again?”

“Because I think the entire class has forgotten that they are actually taking this class. In our last session everyone’s midterm essay was due, but not a single person turned it in. I thought I would take a moment to remind everyone that yes, I am your professor, and yes, you are in my class.”

“Oh,” Ashley said, startled. “I guess I kinda missed it.”

The professor nodded. “Yes, I guess you did! Given that the essay was 30% of the final grade, I am not sure how any of you are going to avoid total and abject failure. But I suppose that is your concern, and not mine. I am just staggered at how easy it is for people to overlook things that they do not wish to see. Things of enormous importance, with staggering consequences, can be easily missed if it is something that people do not want to think about.”

“I just kinda forgot about it,” Ashley replied.

“So it would seem! And you somehow also overlooked the email I sent to you, and the message I posted on my blog, and the voicemail I left on your phone, and the post I added to your Facebook wall, and the warning in your syllabus that the essay was due. I have to say that I am impressed! It must have taken a great deal of effort to somehow overlook all of that evidence.

“But I’m actually not talking about forgotten essays today. What really astonishes me is how mankind has managed to overlook a global nuclear war.”

“Well, I don’t actually watch the news very much,” Dan said vaguely. “I probably miss a lot of things.”

“I’m not talking about a modern nuclear war,” the professor replied sharply. “I’m fairly certain that if the Russians nuked this nation into oblivion even you would notice. The lack of electrical power, the disappearance of cities, and the fact that the radiation fallout killed all the survivors just might tip you off. I probably wouldn’t even have to send you a text message about it. No, I’m talking about an ancient nuclear war – one that was fought long ago.”

“In the 1940s, right?” Ashley asked. “Wasn’t there some big war with Germany or something? I think maybe Hitler was involved.”

The professor sighed. “In World War II the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, not Germany. Hitler had his own nuclear program but the Allies successfully sabotaged it and he was unable to make any progress. The United States might have dropped the bomb on Germany as well but their part of the war ended before it was ready – which was probably a good thing, because the country only had two atomic bombs and it dropped both of them on Japan. If those had not been enough to end World War II there would have been big, big problems because there was no quick way to make more. But no, that’s not the war I’m talking about. I’m referring to a much older nuclear war – one that was fought more than a thousand years before Christ was born in Bethlehem. That is going to be the topic of today’s lecture.”

Max spoke up. “Look, professor. I’ve been here long enough to know how this works. You walk into class, say something completely bizarre, and then somehow dig up enough evidence to make your case. But do you have any idea how crazy you’re making us look?”

Professor Grimes looked up from his notes, startled. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Think about it for a minute. In our last class you told us that the ancient Egyptians had airplanes. Remember? Well, do you have any idea what other people say when you walk up to them and tell them that? It does not go over well. Nobody believes that they had airplanes back then. I don’t care how convincing you are when you’re in this room – out there, in the real world, people think that you’re nuts.”

“And this comes as a surprise to you?” the professor asked. “Really, Max, I expected more of you. Did you really not know how people would respond? Did you honestly believe that you could just walk up to someone, drop a bombshell like that on them, and not get laughed at? The world doesn’t work that way. In fact, the world has never worked that way. The things that we’ve been discussing in this class are a direct challenge to people’s preconceptions. If you really want to change someone’s mind you have to take them through the chain of evidence. You can’t start at the end; you have to start at the beginning. You have to hold their hand and take them step by step, guiding them from one fact to the next until they arrive at the conclusion all on their own. You cannot just dump a conclusion on them and expect them to believe it.”

“And that will work?” Max asked. “If I do it that way people will believe me?”

“Goodness, no. That approach only works on rational people – that is, people who are capable of reason. People like that are in very short supply. You’re far more likely to run into people who don’t really care about reality and who form their beliefs based on emotions and peer pressure. Your only hope of persuading them is to get to them before anyone else does. If you run into someone who has never thought about crop circles before, then the chances are good that they’ll accept whatever you tell them. People tend to believe the first thing they’re told, and then they hold onto that opinion no matter what. However, if someone else got to them first then it’s hopeless. You can’t reason with insanity.

“But as I was saying, today we are going to talk about global nuclear war. Now, before I begin I need to qualify that statement. There is a great deal of evidence that ancient cultures attacked each other with nuclear weapons. However, we don’t know the exact timing of these attacks. It is possible that the ancient world powers wiped each other out in a single, massive war. It is also possible that there was a series of isolated nuclear conflicts over a longer period of time. What we do know is that nuclear weapons were used in war, they were used all over the world, and apparently quite a few of them were deployed.”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” Max said. “Do you know what other people are going to say when I repeat that?”

“Then don’t repeat it,” the professor said. “Cast not your pearls before swine, young man. I never claimed that you would be able to take what you’ve learned in class and discuss it at dinner with your friends. I only claimed that I would lead you to the truth, and that the truth would be uncomfortable and unsettling. But I have to say you’re acting a bit strangely. Aren’t you supposed to be objecting to my outlandish claims?”

Max shrugged. “Why bother? It never does any good. I mean, it’s not like you’re going to say ‘Oh, wow, I guess I was wrong. Sorry about that. Class dismissed.’”

The professor smiled slightly. “Quite so. So you do believe that ancient cultures used nuclear weapons?”

Dan spoke up. “If we all say yes, will you let us leave class now?”

“Good heavens, no! This isn’t about your agreeing with whatever I have to tell you. The whole point of this class is for you to see the evidence and then draw your own conclusions. How can you draw conclusions if you haven’t seen the evidence?”

“Isn’t it all our textbook?” Ashley asked.

“Have you read actually read your textbook?”

“Um, not exactly.”

“Then, clearly, it is up to me to present the material. We will start, as we typically do, with a look at the historical documents. There is an ancient Hindu poem named the Mahabharata, which dates back to 500 BC. However, the events described in the poem actually took place one or two millennia before than that. For what it is worth, the poem is extremely long, and the section I am interested in is a small part of the overall poem.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Max asked.

“It is just something to keep in mind,” the professor replied. “I tend to place more weight on something that is part of a larger text, and less weight on something that is all by itself. Being part of a larger document gives it more context. Anyway, the poem describes an 18-day war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, who once inhabited the portion of India that is north of the Ganges river. One part of the war was described as follows:”

The valiant Adwattan, remaining steadfast in his Vimana [an “aerial chariot with sides of iron, clad with wings”], landed upon the water and from there unleashed the Agneya weapon, incapable of being resisted by the very gods. Taking careful aim against his foes, the preceptor’s son let loose the blazing missile of smokeless fire with tremendous force. Dense arrows of flame, like a great shower, issued forth upon creation, encompassing the enemy. Meteors flashed down from the sky. A thick gloom swiftly settled down upon the Pandava hosts. All points of the compass were lost in darkness. Fierce winds began to blow. Clouds roared upward, showing dust and grave. Birds croaked madly, and beasts shuddered from the destruction. The very elements seemed disturbed. The sun seemed to waver in the heavens. The earth shook, scorched by the terrible violent heat of this weapon. Elephants burst into flame and ran to and fro in a frenzy, seeking protection from the terror. Over a vast area, other animals residing therein also died. From all points of the compass the arrows of flame rained continuously and fiercely. The missile of Adwattan burst with the power of thunder, and the hostile warriors collapsed like trees burnt in a raging fire. Thousands of war vehicles fell down on all sides.

The professor then glanced up from his notes. “There are several striking things about this passage. First, note the presence of the ‘vimana’ – a vehicle that strongly resembles modern airplanes. Since we just spent an entire class discussing ancient aircraft I will move on. Second, note the tremendous power of the ‘blazing missile of smokeless fire’. That one missile caused tremendous damage: the earth shook, animals burst into flame, and ‘hostile warriors collapsed like trees’. Notice, also, that the passage mentions the weapon’s ‘terrible violent heat’. A single missile caused tremendous devastation over a large area and was characterized by violent heat. That sounds remarkably like a nuclear missile.”

“Or it could just be a myth,” Max commented. “How do we know any of this actually happened?”

“I’ll get to that in a minute – we’re not quite done with the written evidence yet. What I just read was only one account. After this particular war there was a second one, fought against the Vrishnis and the Andhakas. This is the account of that battle:”

Gurkha, flying in his swift and powerful Vimana, hurled against the three cities of the Vrishnis and Andhakas a single projectile charged with all the power of the universe. An incandescent column of smoke and fire, as brilliant as ten thousand suns, rose in all its splendor. It was the unknown weapon, the iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and Andhakas. The corpses were so burnt that they were no longer recognizable. Hair and nails fell out. Pottery broke without cause. Birds, disturbed, circled in the air and were turned white. Foodstuffs were poisoned. To escape, the warriors threw themselves into streams to wash themselves and their equipment. With the destruction ended, the Kuru king, Yudistthira, was informed of the power of the iron thunderbolt and the slaughter of the Vrishnis.

The professor looked up at the class. “Need I point out the remarkable similarities between the effects of this weapon and the effects of an atomic blast? It’s all there, right down to hair falling out.”

Max shook his head. “It’s actually too similar, if you ask me. How do you know this manuscript isn’t some kind of modern forgery?”

“Because European scholars began studying the manuscript in the nineteenth century, long before the effects of radiation were known. At that time the manuscript was classified as a myth because no one believed that flying machines were possible. At the dawn of the 20th century, however, opinions began to change. This is what physicist Frederick Soddy had to say about the poem in 1909:”

Can we not read in them some justification for the belief that some former forgotten race of men attained not only to the knowledge we have so recently won, but also to the power that is not yet ours? … I believe that there have been civilizations in the past that were familiar with atomic energy, and that by misusing it they were totally destroyed.

“It was easy to see why he believed this,” Professor Grimes continued. “The poem accurately depicted not only flying machines and modern warfare, but – as was later proven – the effects of radiation and the power of an atomic bomb. Whoever wrote this knew exactly what sort of devastation nuclear weapons wrought, knew exactly what an atomic detonation looked like, and knew it thousands of years before modern science. I don’t think this is a myth or a lucky guess. I believe the author was describing something that actually happened.”

“But how do we know that it happened?” Max asked.

“Well, there are a few interesting bits of evidence. First of all, ancient Sanskrit books have some odd units of measurement. There is the kalpa, which is used to denote a period of 4.32 billion years. There is also the kashta, which is equal to 0.00000003 seconds. I find it fascinating that a civilization that existed thousands of years ago, and which lived in the same part of the world that recorded a nuclear war, found it necessary to invent words for those units of time. There aren’t a whole lot of things that you can measure with those units, but the half-lives of isotopes just happens to be one of those things. It’s the sort of unit that would only be useful if you’re studying nuclear physics.

“But, of course, there is more. As you may recall, the excerpts I read earlier discussed a war that took place in northern India. As it turns out, there are actually extensive ruins in that very area. These ruins are quite old and are curiously charred. Some kind of intense heat actually melted the ruins and fused the very stones together. Further to the south one finds more vitrified ruins. The walls, buildings, and even the stone furniture have been melted and then crystallized. According to the Russian researcher Gorbovsky, a human skeleton was discovered in that area whose radiation level was 50 times greater than normal.

“In other words, in the precise region of India where ancient records said a nuclear war was once fought, we find evidence of precisely that. Nor is this the only part of the world where we find such things. Not far from where Babylon once stood are the ruins of an ancient ziggurat. This is how researcher Erich von Fange described it: ‘It appeared that fire had struck the tower and split it down to the very foundation… In different parts of the ruins, immense brown and black masses of brickwork had [been] changed to a vitrified state… subjected to some kind of fierce heat, and completely molten. The whole ruin has the appearance of a burnt mountain.’”

Max spoke up. “So, what, someone nuked a ziggurat? Why would they bother?”

“They didn’t just nuke a random ziggurat. Apparently nations in the ancient world nuked everything in sight. In 1952 archaeologists in Israel found a layer of fused green glass that was a quarter of an inch thick and covered several hundred square feet. It looked exactly like the layers of vitrified sand that were left behind by the Nevada nuclear tests of the 1950s. Another layer of glass was found in the 1940s in southern Iraq – not far from Babylon, and not far from that ziggurat. The layer was below the Babylonian, Sumerian, and Neolithic cultural levels, meaning it predated them all. And there is more. In the western Arabian desert there is an area strewn with black rocks that appear to have been subjugated to intense radiation. There is not one, or two, but 28 of these fields, and they cover an area of seven thousand square miles. Another expanse of green glass was found in the Sahara Desert and in the Gobi Desert. Plus, prehistoric forts in Europe–”

“All right, all right, we get the picture,” Max interrupted. “So there’s lots of green glass everywhere. We get it.”

“Do you?” the professor asked. “It may mean nothing to you, but it had a rather profound impact on others. When Dr. Oppenheimer, one of the men in charge of the Manhattan Project, was asked if the Alamogordo nuclear test was the first atomic bomb to ever be detonated, he said, ‘Well, yes, in modern history.’ When Albion Hart was assigned to an engineering project in Africa, he was surprised to find a great expanse of fused green glass out in the desert. He had no idea what it was – until years later, when he went to the White Sands atomic testing grounds. There he saw the same type of curiously fused sand that he had seen in Africa.”

The professor looked around the class. “I really want you to understand the scope of all this. We’ve already mentioned the evidence for nuclear conflict in ancient India, in upper Africa, in the Middle East, and in Europe. But that is not all. The same type of fused sand, and the same type of vitrification, has also been found in China, in Scotland, in Peru, in Brazil, and even in the American Southwest. Evidence has been found in Southern California, in Arizona, and in Colorado. The American Indians recorded it in their oral traditions, just as the Hindus recorded it in their writings. In other words, there is evidence that nuclear weapons were used all over the world, and were used to destroy numerous ancient civilizations.”

Max spoke up. “So you think it was a global nuclear war?”

“I don’t know. As I said earlier, it’s possible that all of these civilizations attacked each other, but it’s also possible that we’re dealing with a large number of small, local wars. Not enough work has been done to pinpoint the exact time these long-extinct civilizations disappeared. Four thousand years have come and gone since then. At this late point in history it’s simply hard to say with any certainty.”

“So where did all of these nuclear weapons come from?” Max asked. “I mean, isn’t it kind of hard to build a nuclear weapon? As in, really hard? I can maybe, just maybe, believe that an ancient culture could figure out how to build a supersonic airplane. It’s a pretty big leap, but maybe they had some clever way to do it. You’ve got to admit that nuclear weapons are way harder to build than jets. Refining uranium is one of the hardest things in the world to do.”

“Technically, you don’t refine it. The term is ‘enrichment’, and yes, it is quite challenging. At least, it’s challenging if you do it the way we do it. Modern man has developed a rather idiotic brute-force approach. There is evidence that ancient man had a much better way of doing it.”

Max spoke up. “Let me guess – you found more fragmentary manuscript evidence that provides hints while saying nothing of consequence?”

“Goodness, no,” the professor replied. “We’ve found the actual nuclear reactor that they used to produce their fissionable materials. It was discovered–”

“Wait a minute,” Max interrupted. “Hold on. You did what?”

“Well, I didn’t discover it personally. It was actually discovered by the French. You see–”

“But they found an actual nuclear reactor built by a long-lost civilization? I mean, seriously? That is, like, a thousand times cooler than finding an ancient airplane! This is big – really, really big. Why haven’t I heard about it?”

“Because it was discovered forty years ago,” the professor replied. “It was found west Africa back in 1972. That would put the discovery well before you were born. I assure you that when it was discovered it was very big news indeed. There’s actually an interesting story behind it. You see, one day a French analyst was processing some uranium and noticed that the ore’s ratio between uranium 235 and uranium 238 was wrong.”

“So?” Ashley asked. “What’s the difference?”

“The difference is quite large. Uranium 238 is by far the most common isotope, but it’s not particularly useful. Uranium 235 is what you need in order to produce a weapon. There is very, very little uranium 235 in nature. In a given sample more than 99% of it will be U-238, and less than 1% will be U-235. That is why people have to go to such lengths to enrich it. Anyway, the Frenchmen noticed there was far less U-235 than there should have been. Something, somehow, had consumed most of the U-235 out of the sample. They eventually traced the problem back to the Oklo uranium mine in Gabon. It turns out that a very long time ago, someone had turned the entire mine into a giant nuclear reactor – and not just any kind of reactor, but a breeder reactor. The reaction was moderated by water and produced plutonium. Unlike modern reactors, however, this one used rock layers and the surrounding geology to do all the work. No fancy equipment or electronics were needed. The reactor was several miles in length and was more than 100 feet wide.”

“Hey, now that you mention it I think I heard about that,” Max commented. “Didn’t scientists decide that it was just a naturally occurring reactor?”

“That is precisely what the scientific establishment said, and it is complete and utter nonsense. Nations all over the world have spent vast fortunes trying to create fissionable material. It took some of the brightest minds in the world to figure out how to create and control the first nuclear chain reaction. Yet we’re supposed to believe that this highly advanced reactor, which is actually better designed and far larger than anything we have today, is just a happy accident of nature? This may come as a shock to you, but Nature does not have happy accidents that produce plutonium or that result in carefully moderated and controlled nuclear reactions. Fissionable material is extremely difficult and expensive to create. No, this reactor was designed – created thousands of years ago by ancient man, for the express purpose of producing fissionable material. That material was later used to create atomic weapons, devastate the globe, and wipe out civilization. It has taken us four millennia to rediscover what they knew.

“Modern man is convinced that the only way to do something is the way we’re currently doing it. When we enrich uranium we use expensive equipment, computers, and high-tech gadgets. The ancients used layers of rocks and water – and operated on a vastly larger scale. When we build buildings we use wood, bricks, or steel. The ancients used giant blocks of stone weighing dozens or, in some cases, hundreds of tons – rocks so large that it is all but impossible for us to move them even today. I bet there’s not a single modern skyscraper that will last a thousand years, but the pyramids – built by supposed primitives – have already lasted four times that long. We think that we’re really something, but we’re not. The ancient races were far smarter than we are. They could do amazing things without our technology, as the Oklo reactor proves. We essentially have to use machines and money to make up for our own stupidity.”

“That seems kind of harsh,” Ashley said.

“Does it? Stop and think. Ancient civilizations, four thousand years ago, were able to produce plutonium using only rocks, water, and nuclear chemistry. They required no machines, no computers, and no equipment of any kind. They were the brilliant ones. We have to use machines to accomplish things by brute force, because apparently we’ve lost the ability to find clever ways to solve problems.”

The professor sighed. “It looks like that’s all the time we have for today. Class, be sure–”

“Hold on,” Max said. “Aren’t you forgetting something? Aren’t you supposed to warn us about the dangers of global nuclear war?”

“Why would I do that?” the professor asked, as he gathered up his notes. “Are you unaware of the dangers?”

“Well, no, but–”

“Do you actually control any nuclear weapons?”

“Well, no,–”

“Then there’s really not much you can do about it, is there? I might as well warn you about the dangers of the Sun exploding. If it happens I am sure you will notice, and the odds that you will survive it are quite slim. Even if you somehow survive the blast and avoid the radioactive fallout, I find it extremely unlikely that you could survive the collapse of civilization itself.”

“But–” Max stopped. “Look. Isn’t there a point to be made here? I mean, what you’re telling us is that ancient man was really super smart, but they destroyed themselves in a nuclear war. They passed along some of their knowledge to the cultures that survived, like airplanes and such. Now here we are again, with all this technology, and we’re once again threatening each other with nukes. Doesn’t it sound like history is going to repeat itself?”

Dan spoke up. “Oh, c’mon, let it go! The professor was done. Why are you dragging this out? Don’t you realize how hot it is in here?”

The professor smiled. “Patience, young man! Max has asked a reasonable question. The answer is no, history will not repeat itself. Not quite that way, at any rate. Yes, I believe that nuclear weapons will be used again. It is quite likely that in the next few decades Israel will get into one or more conflicts with its neighbors – perhaps Iran, perhaps Syria, or perhaps even Russia – and nuclear weapons may be used in one or more of those conflicts. It’s even possible that when the Tribulation begins and the Antichrist begins his war against the rest of the Earth, that nuclear weapons might be used in that conflict. Certain passages in Revelation are suggestive, but not definitive. But mankind is not destined to destroy itself with nuclear weapons, as it did four thousand years ago. No, the next time civilization is destroyed it will happen because the Lord God has decided that enough is enough, and rains down judgment on a wicked and unrepentant world. After His judgments wipe out more than half of mankind and make the Earth pretty much uninhabitable, He will return, end the reign of the Antichrist, and set up His own kingdom, which will never be destroyed. That is the way that will play out.

“Anyway, as I was saying, be sure to read the next chapter of your book before we meet again. Class dismissed!”