NYC Portals

2011-05-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

I finally found a portal that works.

Portals research from the pages of the NY Times

2010-05-11T12:23:00.001-07:00

Stone Chambers Silent on Their Makers
By MICHAEL POLLAK
Published: July 16, 1995

KENT, N.Y.— ON a hillside a mile from the nearest paved road, surrounded by a latticework of stone walls, about 10 feet high and 15 feet wide, far wider and higher than needed to contain any cow that ever lived, the stone chambers looked like ancient temples.

"The shaman goes into the chamber and gets charged up," Martin Brech theorized, standing atop the huge wall. "The rest of the tribe stands here and watches the sun come up."

Mr. Brech, 68, a resident of nearby Mahopac who has taught philosophy and religion at Mercy College and is an enthusiast of unconventional archeology, walked up to a mortarless vault cut into the hillside. It was lined with slanting, or corbeled, boulders and topped not with logs or the rotted remains of a plank floor but with stone slabs more than four feet wide and eight feet long, each weighing many tons. "The ancients had respect for these large stones," Mr. Brech said, adding that they were considered full of energy. "But why would a farmer bother with them?"

Mr. Brech, a former librarian with a master's degree from Columbia University, camped out in this chamber about five years ago, on Dec. 20, the night of the winter solstice. He watched the morning sun's first rays hitting the back of the chamber, something enthusiasts say is not a coincidence. "It was a profound, mystical experience," he said. He had felt what he called a oneness of the energy field, "a feeling of bliss."

There are similar vaults along Route 301 or on other roads in Putnam and upper Westchester Counties, next to highway markers and doctors' offices, but here in the woods, in stands of witch hazel and allspice and moosewood and the occasional giant white oaks the colonists spared for their sweet acorns, the chambers did seem to convey a primitive power, energy fields notwithstanding.

What's going on here can be explained in two ways. This is the first way, preferred by mainstream historians and archeologists:

From the Colonial days until the westward and urban movements of the 19th century, many farmers in the Northeast grew crops and raised dairy cows on some rather poor farmland. In much of New England and the Hudson Highlands, the land was rocky and the transportation limited. Farmers decamped en masse when the country opened up, and whole hillsides in Putnam County and northern Westchester were abandoned, leaving only the farmers' stone walls and root cellars.

This is the second explanation, preferred by many intelligent, sincere, truthful believers:

Druids.

Also Irish monks, copper-seeking Bronze Age miners, Libyan sailors, Iberian adventurers and Celtic moon worshipers. All before Columbus, some before Christ. (Indeed, friends of Christ, if one believes the faction that says Joseph of Arimathea crossed the Atlantic.) They wrote on the stone chambers in strange alphabets like Numidian and Irish Ogham (glacial scratches to the unconvinced).

But why are there no artifacts: pottery, bones, tools, clothing fragments, burial regalia or other hard evidence that ancient civilizations would have left? Acid soil would have destroyed those things, the believers say. These were not root cellars, they maintain; they were calendars, mostly lunar, designed to catch the first rays of the winter solstice and honor the rebirth of the new year.

From sunken Atlantis to lost Mu to the remains of Noah's Ark to Viking inscriptions in the Midwest and Roman crosses in Arizona, exotic discoveries based more on wish fulfilment than on evidence have a long history.

Stephen Williams, in his book "Fantastic Archeology" (University of Pennsylvania Press), wrote that the mid-19th century was a golden age of sorts for discoveries of exotic lost European civilizations in America, a coincidence he attributed to the growing country's search for an instant past.

Putnam County has the largest collection of isolated stone chambers in the Northeast: more than 160 have been identified, mostly in Kent and Putnam Valley, according to the New England Antiquities Research Association, whose branches from Pennsylvania to Quebec do research on ancient structures, which they believe may be signs of pre-Columbian settlement. Mr. Brech is the Hudson Valley coordinator.

Mainstream scholars remain unconvinced, including Sallie Sypher, Putnam County's official historian. "Nobody has suggested aliens from outer space yet, but I'm waiting," she said.

Ms. Sypher said that New York State's Colonial settlers had the equipment and the know-how to build stone chambers, which were effective refrigerators and whose temperatures could be regulated with wooden doors. The Putnam Valley Historical Society has the papers of a 19th-century Putnam Valley farmer, Lucas Barger, who wrote an account of how such chambers were built.

But she treats the unconventional researchers with respect, not disdain. "If there's anything in at least our part of New York State that defines our landscape, it's the rocks," she said. "It helps to give us our sense of place."

Celtic temple believers and root cellar adherents are on the same side, she said: both are fighting developers to preserve the stone structures as striking achievements, no matter who built them or when.

Last month, Ms. Sypher was host to an evening of lectures on the cellars, sponsored by the Putnam Valley Historical Society. She prefaced the evening by warning the audience and participants: "We have people with very pronounced points of view about stone chambers." She announced ground rules that everyone agreed to:

Call them stone chambers (which would be more neutral than temples or root celllars).

Farmers definitely built some of them (but not necessarily all).

Farmers definitely used them (even if someone else built them).

Farmers had the tools and materials and could have built them all.

Most important, she said, "They are absolutely worth preserving."

Mr. Brech, who spoke at the meeting, agreed. Touring the chambers in the Kent woods, he said that his society always tells its members to alter nothing at the sites. He recalled finding a county road crew preparing to demolish one cellar next to Route 301 for no particular reason; getting them to stop, he said, was simply a matter of letting them know that someone cared about the chamber.

Before heading back to the road, he walked beyond the chambers, past wellheads installed by the developer who owns the land. He rested at a giant set of glacial boulders known as Hawk Rock, whose resemblance to a bird of prey is unmistakable. Petroglyphs of a turtle and birds are incised there. A flat table rock many yards in diameter lies before the hawk like an altar stone, and it was hard to avoid wondering how many Indian fires and ceremonies had been held on the site.

"A good megalith is hard to find," Mr. Brech said.

Photos: Martin Brech at a giant set of glacial boulders known as Hawk Rock outside Carmel, N.Y.; A petroglyph resembling a turtle is incised on Hawk Rock. Other carvings resembling birds can be found on the rock. (Librado Romero/The New York Times) Map of New York showing location of Kent.

accidental portal

2010-04-29T12:17:00.001-07:00

Bryan and I went to cranberry lake preserve at lunch to check it out and pick up some ticks.

I had printed out a map before we left. Examining it, I noticed a "root cellar" but thought nothing of it. It certainly didn't seem as interesting as the "old stonecutting shed" or "impassable cliffs".

BUT... the map in the park (near the nature center) marked it as a "stone chamber"!

We practically ran there. Crossing bent bridge, we entered a walled section that contained the chamber.
The air almost electric and there were no animal sounds. On our left a chamber mound loomed before us and coming round it turned out to be much larger than the previous chamber I had explored.

Bryan turned on his EMF detector, and after getting some quick base readings, we headed inside.

more to follow...

2010-04-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

portals of putnam county

2010-03-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

I've lived in Putnam county for over a year without even hearing of the stone chambers.
But after reading Phil Imbrogno's book, Celtic Mysteries for a week, I've seen two!
The first, I saw last Friday, while my wife and I were driving south on route 202.
I was in the passenger seat, I turned to say something to her and saw the stone chamber whiz by behind her.

Going back a few days later, I decided to investigate....

Celtic Mysteries suggests among other things, that the stone chambers are built on top of magnetic anomalies, centers of natural power, which have the property of inter-dimensional transport...

Steeling myself, I ventured in...

The chamber is 8 feet deep, by 6 feet, maybe 4-5 feet high, so I had to crouch to enter.

The leaves on the ground began to swirl around my feet...

But when I turned around I was still on route 202. The stupid thing was broken!

EL NUEVO PORTAL ON SMITH ST. BROOKLYN

2008-08-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

This portal is on Smith Street in Brooklyn. I noticed it the other day while shoe shopping (great deals over at SOULA by the way). I tried to talk to the owner but he was unavailable, instead I asked the manager on duty to the whereabouts of the entrance to the portal and where it lead, unfortunately Mexico had lost in the final of the Tacos De Oro cup, and he was in a bad mood! He ordered me to leave, and I complied. On the way out , however I made eye contact with the delivery guy and he met me just around the corner. His spanish was broken, and I could barely understand him. He wrote down on a piece of paper, this message: 5/5/2012.
This could be the day the portal opens perhaps? at least it'll be a good time, stargate or not.

Picture from inside the food portal!

2007-05-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, folks a brave field researcher was able to snap off a photo INSIDE THE FOOD PORTAL I mentioned last post! She must have been using a Sony camera with special film, because Fuji's and Kodak's always come out blurry or over-exposed in portals.

I believe this is a historic moment! If somone else out there has taken an intra-portal photo before this one, please step forward and take your place among the great pioneers of the field!

Food Portal

2007-05-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Today I met a disheveled old man who went only by the name "McMurray". He rambled about lots of things, used old timey slang and sang the theme of land of the lost.

None of it mattered except the for the bits and pieces I could make out about a burger joint in a portal he had encountered once during a bender.

For a taste of my whiskey and my last cigarette, I was able to convice him to scribble a map of the food portal. I havent investigated it yet, but it sounds like it could be a true food portal...a great find indeed! If anyone manages to check this out before I do, please let us know your findings.

interstate portals?

2007-04-20T07:13:00.000-07:00

The other day, I was having a conversation with the young lady who sits on the other side of my cubicle wall and heard something incredible.
Kat H. (www.kathulka.com) was lamenting about how affordable it is to live in Philly, but how cool it is here in nyc. She said, "I wish there was a portal from Philly to New York".

I wish that too...but that's not possible. Am I wrong?

Also, my other co-worker, Nick B. informed me that portals in new jersey are actually called 'warp zones'. I dont know that because I never go to new jersey before. Ever.

Portal Identifiers

2007-04-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

It's in the Name:
There are some telltale signs for recognizing a portal. These signs will sometimes become clear after the fact, but are a good lesson in locating portals in the future. Back in the late 90's I came across the popular Paper Access Portal (note: previously mention on this blog as the foodworks portal). Although one might guffaw at how easily identifiable this portal appears, (referring to the prominently displayed word Access) you would be amazed at how many passersby are unaware of this portal everyday.

Now onto Phil's 17th street coffee portal, we look up, we see the sign outside A.I Friedman. Let's look at this name. A.I. (artificial intelligence?) Friedman (or shall we say 'Freed Man') Yet another fantastic lesson in portal identification.

Set the Drive:
Now, what is a portal without the other side. My cohort in portal identification, Miss Hew, worked a few streets up and was the catalyst to the identification of the Sam Flax Portal. This portal was located based on a need, which is usually the drive pushing a portal user past the imminent danger of getting stuck in a portal. The carrot at the end of this rainbow was an Uncle Moe's burrito. I was able to meet my fellow portian on her side of the Paper Access Portal and my side of the Sam Flax Portal for a tasty treat many times unscathed.

So, keep your eyes open, let the portal uncover itself in a time of need, and keep yourself driven.

t-pig

irregular portals

2007-04-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

First let me say that we are lucky to welcome the portology pioneer, PJ Lockerby who has joined our important research project. Welcome aboard, PJ!

Second let me say that I had the good fortune to discover and IRREGULAR PORTAL on Monday morning. I was running late to meet a colleague for breakfast. I saw what looked like a portal between 7th and Broadway and took it, hope to gain a few minutes. To my surprise I encountered my associate IN THE PORTAL!!!!

We decided to eat breakfast there, and it was delicious. As a word of warning, we limited our breakfast to 15 minutes,
because of the unstable nature of irregular portals. If it had collapsed while I was eating my eggs and bacon, I would not be here to blog this.

17th to 20th street Portals

2007-04-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

The weather was poor, I mean real terrible. I wanted Udon BADLY, and since I don't roll with an umbrella, I still didn't want to get soaked. I needed to get to foodworks and back to work, without getting drenched. I NEEDED A PORTAL.
was it intuition? Luck? did I have a dream the night before that I would discover a passageway to the past and future? Maybe, I really don't remember. It was like a blur, I barely remember making my way through the aisles of Paper and Envelopes, past the birthday cards and wedding invitations, it was as if I was transported through time and space, from 18th st. to 19th st., there I was , kneeling, out of breath, and in front of foodworks. DRY. that was back in '05. Since then, after a few expeditions in the winter of '06, we discovered two more Portals. The Sam Flax portal, and the 17th street Coffee Portal.
I am happy to share them with you.

Welcome to the exciting world of portals!

2007-04-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to the NYC portals blog.
This webspace is dedicated to the discovery and study of portals.

The first portal was discovered back in '05 by researcher P. J. Lockerby on 18th St. in manhattan. Since then, portals have been discovered all over the globe, in every continent except Australia. After his appearance on the Dave Letterman show of December 18th 2006, the field of portal research exploded in popularity. Science has still failed to fully explain portals, but as public interest in portals increases, it is only a matter of time before we can harness their power.

For this first post, I would like to share a portal that I discovered, the 33rd st. portal, or by it's christian name, "Max Portal". If you are one of those people who say they don't believe in portals, I dare you to step into the portal and see for yourself.

Seeing is believing.