Lost Places

„The Sphere is a legend,“ a mythical artifact located in the Zone (…) a golden sphere that grants human wishes.“ „Any wishes?“ „According to the canonic version of the legend, any wish. There are, however, variant versions.“ (…)
from: „Piknik na obochine“ (Roadside Picnic), Arkadij & Boris Strugacky

Two days after hurricane Kyrill I visited the Schoeppingen Hill to check damage, the storm might has left in and around the former Nike Missile Base. Halfway between Schoeppingen and the Base, I usually pass the related Radar Park, which is connected through a narrow road in a straight line north-south with the launch facility.

An unusual silence and tomblike atmosphere surrounds the Radar Control Area with its decayed buildings, strikingly vacant – but well protected through observation cams, barbed wire fences and an iron gate.

Nobody in town – not even Mr. Dillmann – could explain me the paradoxical function – or better to say dis-function of this part of the facility. Sometimes I had the feeling, they still try to keep a „secret“, nobody wants to talk about.

Passing the Radar this Sunday evening, things appeared very different. Uproaring chainsaw sounds were coming out of the facility – and from a distance I could make out the shapes of lumberjacks, cutting branches and trees, the storm seemingly has cracked. Watching this through the bars of the entrance, I suddenly could realise that the gate was ajar. Being so close to the end of my stay in Schoeppingen, I instantly grabbed the unique opportunity, opened the gate and entered the station. Being prepared to get kicked at any moment, I moved patiently but fast through the facility – trying to document as much as possible with my camera in the remaining time.

Because of the wood workers‘ noisy job, luckily the alarm was set off – and nobody noticed me. Such roaming through the facility with its peculiar tools, forfeited buildings and moss overgrown stone stairways I soon felt like joining a „live re-make“ of the legendary Myst computer game.

Accompanied by a John-Cage-like chainsaw concert, I was watching the sunset from top of the facility rampart … wondering, where all the signals of the former radar have disappeared, how far can they travel in space – and, if they might have been received or reflected somewhere lightyears from earth.

Could it be possible that the previously described „2005 Snow Disaster was consciously evoked and directed by ratiocinated signals through extraterrestrial intelligence – emulation the radar device’s only task to rotate and to scan the horizon for incoming enemy aircraft? TRACKING. TARGET. DESTROY. Or can we expect from such „intelligence“ something more sophisticated, for instance if we envision a radar based communication culture which has followed the waves‘ radiant to the sender? Maybe the rotating snow clouds were just an inverted 3D-projection of their possibilities and emotions expressed on a small spot in front of the Radar Base, forming a kiss symbolising „O“, which pulsating LOVEWAVES shattered the sky over Muensterland.

(more…)

„Lost Places“ are abandoned areas or buildings – I prefer to call them ‚zones‘- which have forfeited their original importance or significance and are left to decay. But I wonder how to define such sites, if they are more or less empty or out of order, or if they are still working in a kind of symbolic mode. Such a virtual „Lost Place“ seems to be a quite mysterious launch facility in No-dong, North Korea. Before you continue, please check first the linked comment and the related satellite image(s). http://f-john.de/lostplaces/?p=58#comments

Undoubtedly Korea is a bit far away from the acquainted Schoeppingen Missile tours to be seen in this blog, but from a satellite perspective, it might be worthwhile to focus a little more on the form or shape of such structures internationally – as Klaus and I tried to bring into debate through the „cosmic key“ posting below.

Officially, the Missile Assembly Building which you can see on the mentioned satellite image concerning No-dong is supposed to contain Taepodong-2 or Taepodong-1 missiles, so-called „weapons of mass destruction“. But if you look carefully at the image(s), you will discover strange things: the paved roadway ends after a U-turn to the North of the facility, with an unpaved continuation running to the South of the facility. If you follow the related links, you will discover well researched scientific information and materials about this odd construction, such as: (…) „no railway connections, nor even paved roads connecting the launch complex with the outside world“ or „the complete absence of residential structures – as well as the complete absence of larger structures that might provide ‚industrial‘ or other operational support“.

If not planned as a futuristic tomb for the glorious dictator Kim Il-sung – what might be the purpose of such a construction? It occurs to me the whole structure is just designed to be perceived from outer space.

The first posting of the new year opens a very new perspective to the project. In the following Klaus Schroll – a landscape architect – analyses a satellite image of the former anti-aircraft peak on the hill. (Please check also the referring entry from Oct. 11th.) When I saw the image for the first time, I was similarly surprised by the unusualness and beauty of the form, which reminded me instantly of the ancient Big Serpent Mound in Ohio. Both paths – „the serpent“ and „the key“ Klaus discovered – might be intriguing to follow. I wonder if the shape of the Nike Base indicates a hidden link between the mystery of military perception and behaviour – and phenomena occuring around the former Nike Site (Nike – Greek godess of victory). Why does the military design archetypal structures in secret areas, which are normally protected from public views, while trying at the same time to defend that territory with high-tech nuclear weapons?

Mail of Klaus Schroll, from Jan/03/2007 (extract):
(…) that stuck out to me as peculiar as soon as I saw the Aerial photograph of the Schoeppinger Berg. You know, a landscape architect has a particular way of looking things like this…

To make a contribution to your project, I have extracted the shape of the permanent track and studied it. The results bring to mind old cave paintings or symbols designed to communicate with extraterrestrials. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020831.html

I have named the symbol on top of the hill „Cosmic Key“. Furthermore, the Cosmic Key lies exactly East to West. The „East-West-Line“ is well known as an ancient mystic land shape. http://www.world-mysteries.com/awr_7.htm

One last thing, there are tracks in the acres surrounding the head of the Cosmic Key that don’t seem to be there for agricultural purposes. With the high resolution image at Google-Earth, it is possible to study it very closely. It could be that there is an underground connection with Cosmic Key here…

Maybe you should look for similar structures at the „terra base“ near San Francisco.

Thanks so much for the hints, Klaus. Here you go!

This is the „terra base“ on Hill 88 near the Golden Gate. The image shows the former radar park, which was part of the defense system of the Nike Missile Site (SF-88).