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Malta Cave and missing Children.


Columbo

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I actually saw the giants and the expanded story elsewhere, no mention in teh Nat Geo article or even a mention from a second hand source that it was IN the Nat Geo. The wiki page sources the exact page number of the Nat Geo article.

Hmmm, weird man, I dunno. Guess it may be a little impossible to determine what actually happened.

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I hate to be a stickler, but if you're going to make the claim, you need to provide the link yourself to back it up.

That is ok, you are not a stalker, or whatever you said, I will search for the link and put it here, :)

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It's a legit National Geo story, as far as I can tell, it's the real deal. Google "Lois Jessup national geographic", tons of sites pop up. It also appears that she, if it's the same Lois Jessup, at one time was a colleague of Fmr. President Truman. Further it appears that the issue is referenced as National Geographic - August, 1940, Vol. 78, No. 2.

Thank you for the back up!

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I think the first thing we need to do when solving a mystery, or at least coming up with good explanation, is sticking to the facts. The facts here from national goegraphic is that the chidren were lost in the cave, never came back out and were heard screaming from underneath the ground for a time afterwards. As far as giants and monsters, I do not think that Nationla geographic said anything about that.

But we are still left with the questions, who cut the rope, where did the class of children with the teacher go, and what about the screams heard aroud the island?

Maybe it is something as simple as the doorway caved in, the teacher thought they had to find another way out and cut the rope so they would not be stuck there, then they all got lost. As far as the screams, they were kids lost in darkness, maybe their teacher or even some of them fell somewhere.

It is actually bothering me as a father to start contemplating this, makes me very sad at the tragedy.

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I think the first thing we need to do when solving a mystery, or at least coming up with good explanation, is sticking to the facts. The facts here from national goegraphic is that the chidren were lost in the cave, never came back out and were heard screaming from underneath the ground for a time afterwards. As far as giants and monsters, I do not think that Nationla geographic said anything about that.

But we are still left with the questions, who cut the rope, where did the class of children with the teacher go, and what about the screams heard aroud the island?

Maybe it is something as simple as the doorway caved in, the teacher thought they had to find another way out and cut the rope so they would not be stuck there, then they all got lost. As far as the screams, they were kids lost in darkness, maybe their teacher or even some of them fell somewhere.

It is actually bothering me as a father to start contemplating this, makes me very sad at the tragedy.

Hold on...see, stories are getting crossed here...below is, from wiki at least (which sources the issue and even the page number! of the Nat Geo article):

...The Government closed the entrances to these tunnels after school children and their teachers became lost in the labyrinth while on a study tour and never returned....

That's it. Nothing about screaming for days after they were lost, or even cut rope, let alone 25 ft tall beings. The rest was added later, or part of the story or the legend, or whatever, but I can find NO source other than mystery-style websites or urban legend sites that go into any greater depth.

The only thing we know is an unknown number of "students" (no ages) and their "teachers", again no number got lost and never were found. That's it. No mention of ropes or screams in Nat Geo.

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Well, I went to the local university's library and dug up the article and.....drum-roll...............no giants are in the article.

The article is about Malta in general and there is only about 1/3 of a page which discusses the caves in a section called "Tragedy in Malta's Tunneled Maze". Here it is for your enjoyment -

Tragedy in Malta's Tunneled Maze

While we cycled homeward, our friends told us that the island was honeycombed with a network of underground passages, many of them catacombs.

Years ago one could walk underground from one end of Malta to the other, but all entrances were closed by the government because of a tragedy.

On a sight-seeing trip, comparable to a nature-study tour in our schools, a number of elementary school children and their teachers decended into the tunneled maze and did not return.

For weeks mothers declared that they had heard wailing and screaming from underground. But numberous excavations and searching parties brought no trace of the lost souls. After weeks they were finally given up for dead.

Sections of this underground network have been used to protect military and naval supplies. Indeed, many of the fortifications themselves are merely caps atop a maze of tunnels.

Thus is Malta fortified. Her thrifty, religious, and intelligent people love peace. Yet, with war in Europe, they now are in the center of Mediterranean strife.

Among the first activities of Italy after Mussolini's declaration of war on June 10 was the bombing of the island.

The establishment in 1937 of a new air base, in addition to the tremendously strategic naval position she occupies, makes Malta guardian of the central Mediterranean--a possesion to be prized, perhaps again to be fought for.

- National Geographic Magazine, Aug 1940 "Wanders Awheel In Malta"

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Malta temples and tombs

This link has some information with some pictures too. Any other cavers out there?, lets mount an expedition :D lol

Yeah, let's take on the Morlochs. Flash grenades should do the trick.

Any link you's think with the fat women of Malta myth?

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Didnt the Nazis use the tunnels at that time?

IS that true? Do you have any other info on that?

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Here is the same story worded differently. Just thought id post it.

There is an account that in the 1940s a British embassy worker, Miss Lois Jessup, went on a tour of the Hypogeum and convinced a guide to let her explore a 3ft. square "burial chamber" next to the floor of the lowest room in the last [3rd] sub-level. She claims that after squeezing through this chamber she came into a large room; where she was standing there was a large cliff with a steep drop and the floor of the cavern could not be seen. Across the cavern there was a small ledge with an opening in the wall. According the Ms. Jessup, a number of 'humanoid beings' that were covered in white hair and hunched over came out of this opening. They raised their palms in her direction and a large gust of wind filled the cavern, extinguishing the light of her candle. She then claimed that she felt something brush past her. When she went back to the Hypogeum on another occasion, she was told no such tour guide had ever worked on the site. Sometime after Miss Jessup's first visit, a group of school children and their teacher visited the Hypogeum on an outing and entered the same burial chamber, which then collapsed while they were inside. Search parties could not conduct a thorough search for the children or their teacher due to the cave-in. The parents of the children claimed that, for weeks, they could hear the voices of their children coming from under the ground in several parts of the island.

Wikipedia Link --> Mysterious accounts in the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni

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VALETTA, MALTA

Functions: Unknown

Levels: Unknown

Tunnels to: Unknown

Notes: Tradition holds that before the British govt. sealed up several tunnels, one could walk from one end of Malta to the other underground. One of the labyrinths, discovered by excavators, is the Hypogeum of Sal Saflini [or Saflienti!?], in which excavators discovered the bones of over 33,000 people who had been sacrificed by an ancient pagan neolithic cult. National Geographic, Aug. 1940 issue, told of several school children who had disappeared without a trace in the Hypogeum.

British embassy worker Miss Lois Jessup convinced a guide to allow her to explore a 3-ft. square "burial chamber" next to the floor of the lowest room in the last [3rd] sub-level of the catacombs. He reluctantly agreed and she crawled through the passage until emerging on a cavern ledge overlooking a deep chasm. In total shock she saw a procession of TALL humanoids with white hair covering their bodies walking along another ledge about 50 feet down on the opposite wall of the chasm.

Sensing her they collectively lifted their palms in her direction at which a strong "wind" began to blow through the cavern and something big, "slippery and wet" moved past her before she left in terror to the lower room, where the guide gave her a "knowing" look. Later she returned after the 30 school children and their teacher had disappeared in the same passage that she had explored, only to find a new guide who denied any knowledge of the former guides' employment there.

She heard reports however that after the last child had passed through the "burial chamber" and out onto the ledge, a "cave-in" collapsed the burial chamber and the rope connecting them to the lower chamber was later found to be "cut clean". Grieving Mothers of several of the children swore that for a week or more following the disappearance they could hear their children crying and screaming "as if from underground". Other sources state that an underground connection exists or did exist between Malta and reaches hundreds of miles and intersects the catacombs below the hill Vaticanus in Rome.

source: THE REALITY OF THE CAVERN WORLD, by Riley Crabb; Commander X; NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, Aug. 1940

So 30 school kids disappeared and no one went looking for them? Is there a link to this story?

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So 30 school kids disappeared and no one went looking for them? Is there a link to this story?

Yes, loads, but I cant find one to the original source. I know what you mean about the 30 kids, it does seem a little bit unbeleivable that more of an effort wasnt made.

Edited by jakersHD
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Yes, loads, but I cant find one to the original source. I know what you mean about the 30 kids, it does seem a little bit unbeleivable that more of an effort wasnt made.

That is the one thing that bothers me about the storey. But it is in a national geographic, that makes me trust it. I wonder if maybe the local people were afraid to go down there to look for the children.

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Yes, loads, but I cant find one to the original source. I know what you mean about the 30 kids, it does seem a little bit unbeleivable that more of an effort wasnt made.

The orignial source is typed out word for word in this thread, on this page.......

That is the one thing that bothers me about the storey. But it is in a national geographic, that makes me trust it. I wonder if maybe the local people were afraid to go down there to look for the children.

"But numberous excavations and searching parties brought no trace of the lost souls. After weeks they were finally given up for dead."

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That is the one thing that bothers me about the storey. But it is in a national geographic, that makes me trust it. I wonder if maybe the local people were afraid to go down there to look for the children.

It's NOT in NAT GEO!

Nat Geo mentions a ledgend! That's what I keep trying to say! The cave DO exist, the stories surrounding them are just stories!

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  • 3 months later...

That is an awesome story, it reminds me of the books by Jeff Long "the descent" and "deeper" really good books.

I've been wanting to go to Malta for a while now, now I have one more reason.

That is exactly what I was thinking too. I love those books. He is a wonderful writer.

I have National Geographics dating back that far at my home in the States. When I return I will have to look for this story. Very interesting.

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VALETTA, MALTA

Functions: Unknown

Levels: Unknown

Tunnels to: Unknown

Notes: Tradition holds that before the British govt. sealed up several tunnels, one could walk from one end of Malta to the other underground. One of the labyrinths, discovered by excavators, is the Hypogeum of Sal Saflini [or Saflienti!?], in which excavators discovered the bones of over 33,000 people who had been sacrificed by an ancient pagan neolithic cult. National Geographic, Aug. 1940 issue, told of several school children who had disappeared without a trace in the Hypogeum.

British embassy worker Miss Lois Jessup convinced a guide to allow her to explore a 3-ft. square "burial chamber" next to the floor of the lowest room in the last [3rd] sub-level of the catacombs. He reluctantly agreed and she crawled through the passage until emerging on a cavern ledge overlooking a deep chasm. In total shock she saw a procession of TALL humanoids with white hair covering their bodies walking along another ledge about 50 feet down on the opposite wall of the chasm.

Sensing her they collectively lifted their palms in her direction at which a strong "wind" began to blow through the cavern and something big, "slippery and wet" moved past her before she left in terror to the lower room, where the guide gave her a "knowing" look. Later she returned after the 30 school children and their teacher had disappeared in the same passage that she had explored, only to find a new guide who denied any knowledge of the former guides' employment there.

She heard reports however that after the last child had passed through the "burial chamber" and out onto the ledge, a "cave-in" collapsed the burial chamber and the rope connecting them to the lower chamber was later found to be "cut clean". Grieving Mothers of several of the children swore that for a week or more following the disappearance they could hear their children crying and screaming "as if from underground". Other sources state that an underground connection exists or did exist between Malta and reaches hundreds of miles and intersects the catacombs below the hill Vaticanus in Rome.

source: THE REALITY OF THE CAVERN WORLD, by Riley Crabb; Commander X; NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, Aug. 1940

I find this very interesting! Have you ever listened to the Art Bell radio show? Many years ago he was doing a show on the parhanormal and someone called in with a story and a recording. It seems that he had an uncle or other relative that worked for an oil drilling company in, if I remember corectly, Siberia. They had drilled down about 30,000 ft, deeper than they had ever drilled in the past. After the drill was removed they heard a sound coming from the freshly drilled hole, the sound of screams and agony. Someone at the drill site recorded what they heard that day and if you hear it it will chill your soul to the bone. It sounded like they punched a hole right into Hell itself. I have heard the tape and it is very creepy. Could there be a connection between this story and the caverns? Is there possibly a whole other world under our feet that we have never seen before? Even though we feel we are the masters of our world I don't think we know as much as we think we do about the world of which we are a part of. Interesting to ponder.

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I find this very interesting! Have you ever listened to the Art Bell radio show? Many years ago he was doing a show on the parhanormal and someone called in with a story and a recording. It seems that he had an uncle or other relative that worked for an oil drilling company in, if I remember corectly, Siberia. They had drilled down about 30,000 ft, ...

That story was a hoax, albeit a clever one.

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  • 4 weeks later...

That story was a hoax, albeit a clever one.

How do you know that this was a hoax? The guy who played the tape said that his grandfather was there and that is where he got the tape. If you have information on this being a hoax I would be very interested in finding out the evidence. Thanks Rocketgirl

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After a completely fruitless search in the National Geographic archives I can find no record of this account.

Riley Crabbe DID publish a book "THE REALITY OF THE CAVERN WORLD" also published and distributed in full in Dr. Allen's book "ENIGMA FANTASTIQUE" The story first appeared in Riley Crabb's "BORDERLAND SCIENCE" magazine, published by the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (B.S.R.F.)

Note: thanks goes to Angelfire.com for this info, which I have verified elsewhere

Lois Jessup went on to become Secretary of the "New York Saucer Information Bureau" (better known as NYSIB)

These 2 contributors do not strike me as being particularly credible reporters, and it occurs to me that if this account actually does appear in Nat Geo then I suggest it was as a Book Review rather than as Nat Geo accepting the premise for the article.

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I found this in NatGeo's archives. Sounds pretty much like the OP says.

http://www.realityun...world_below.php

With respect this is not from Nat Geo archives. It appears to be a slightly changed version of the OP's source. I really would like to see the original Nat Geo source, to know whether it was simply a book review (which is my current belief) or has some provenance with respect to acceptance by Nat Geo as a premise.

There are dozens of sites that cite this same story and all say Nat Geo, but none actually have a link to follow that takes you back to Nat Geo.

It does make me wonder if this is a self-perpetuating myth , or whether there is real substance to it.

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I ran the title and author through two of the largest libraries I know, the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library. I got no results in either. You would think if it got the interest of NatGeo they would have this book in their catalogs. It couldn't have been a very popular read. They do have NatGeo but I can't find anyway to access the magazine's August 1940 issue online.

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