 | | | | | | | | | | |  |  | | | | Paranormal: New England's rock mysteries explored">2. Paranormal News | | | | | | | 
2. Paranormal News | News submitted by: MIB
WILLIAMSTOWN -- A nearly four decade-old group that formed to investigate "America's Stonehenge" and grew to probe other mysterious stone structures around New England is convening a May 2-4 weekend conference at the Williams Inn.
The New England Antiquities Research Association researches various rock structures -- from stone walls to standing stones and perched boulders to underground chambers -- and believes they must be documented in order to be studied and protected. The group has state chapters all over New England, and in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Canada.
Some guest speakers at this conference will discuss interesting rock formations found within an hour's drive of North County.
"We're from all different backgrounds," said Roslyn Strong, 82, NEARA's coordinator in Maine and its newsletter editor and founding member. "What ties us together is that we are curious. We want to know why has this strange thing happened. Who could have done that?"
The non-profit started in 1964 when its founders began looking into the secrets behind America's Stonehenge, then called Mystery Hill, located in Salem, N.H. The site features man-made stone chambers estimated to be more than 4,000 years old. The group broke off from the site's owner after a disagreement over its use.
"It was personality. It was philosophy," said Strong. "And we are still upset at the fact that it's a tourist attraction that helps to get the whole idea dismissed."
Ever since, NEARA has been giving the smallest sites a high level of serious study from the boulders of Burnt Hill in Dalton to smaller, but no less mysterious, stone piles. Strong said the organization knows of sites that have never been farmed yet contain a couple hundred stone piles in a two-acre area. These are the sorts of places that pique the group's interest.
"I'm convinced that stone piles were built individually by Native Americans, one at a time, as a spiritual kind of thing that I don't think we have any conception of why it was an important thing to process," Strong said. "I feel very often building a mound or even a stone wall, it was a process."
The existence of stone piles, cave drawings, and the like has convinced NEARA that there is an ancient history in New England as rich as that of the American southwest, but it is too often ignored by the mainstream. In recent years, NEARA has examined the issue of early transatlantic crossing to this continent.
For some investigators, the study is its own reward. For others, the promise of finding a Phoenician coin in a stone chamber -- which apparently was reported to have happened in Vermont a few years back -- is a carrot that keeps them going.
"They feel like they're going to find the smoking gun," said Strong. "And we may. We keep looking."
NEARA has found that their theories can sometimes separate them from mainstream archaeologists, who, according to Strong, look at the organization with "an amused smile."
"Academics can't afford to do a serious study," said Strong. "And if they can't afford a serious study, how can they have an opinion? So the easiest thing is to not review it and don't get into it."
Despite the divide, NEARA does manage to attract some in the mainstream.
Bennett Stanford, one of the head anthropologists at the Smithsonian Institute, spoke at a NEARA conference in regard to his theories on Atlantic crossings as far back as 20,000 years ago.
Robert Schoch, a Boston University professor who will speak about the worldwide coincidence of pyramids at this year's gathering, is also a proponent of long-range voyaging originating from Asia.
The Williamstown event will feature much of interest to local residents.
This year, Eva Gilbavic, an educational psychologist from Leverett, will give a talk on the "Enigmatic Stonework in Northwestern Massachusetts," focusing on the Pioneer Valley.
James Parrish, an archaeologist who has been the curator at the Berkshire Museum and now works for the National Park Service, will speak about elevated Mahican ceremonial mounds in the Housatonic River Valley.
Archaeologist Edward J. Lenik will discuss the carvings of Dighton Rock in Berkley, which have at various times been attributed to Phoenicians, Vikings, Portuguese, and Native Americans.
The group also will sponsor a field trip Sunday morning of interesting sites around North County.
After the meeting, NEARA will be getting back to work, studying the sites that traditional organizations are inclined to ignore.
"You talk to somebody in the local historical society and they'll say 'Gee, isn't that interesting! Who do you think made that?'" said Strong. "And I'll say, 'We don't really know, we're studying it.' And they'll say 'Oh, but who do you think made it?' And I'll say, 'Well, the more I look, the more questions I have. I really don't have answers.' So then the next question is, 'Why would somebody do all that work with those big, heavy stones?' When you say, 'I really don't know, it doesn't make sense, does it?' they lose interest because they want a neat answer."
NEARA will hold its conference at the Williams Inn in Williamstown. Local residents and non-members are welcome to attend. Registration for the weekend is on Friday, May 2, 5 p.m.
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