Frank Levine
Record Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
This strange rock found near Roswell by a local businessman - inscribed with what appears to be "crop circles" or some intergalactic message - has stimulated a huge amount interest, as experts probe its origins and any message it may bear. (Courtesy Photo)
A strange rock with unusual magnetic properties - deeply scored, with what appears to be moon phases, a solar eclipse and the depiction of a supernova -- has been unearthed on the outskirts of Roswell. Its discovery has startled researchers, scientists and all who have examined it.
If proven to be of extraterrestrial origin, it will mark the second time in less than a century that the Roswell area has received communications from outer space.
Roswell Mayor Sam D. LaGrone, who actually saw and touched the rock over the weekend, said, "It is a very strange looking rock.... I touched it, I felt it, and I just don't see how it could have been produced."
The rock, he said, adds another element to "the strangeness of Roswell," 61 years after the purported 1947 UFO crash and alleged cover-up by military authorities.
The deep wine-red colored rock, measuring less than two inches across, and weighing about 40 grams, was unearthed in September 2004 by Roswell businessman Robert Ridge, 50, who said he found it while deer hunting in Cedar Hill, 17 miles "as the crow flies" from the 1947 purported UFO crash site.
"I saw some fresh tracks and followed them," he said. "That's when I noticed the partially exposed rock on the side of a sand pit. But I didn't pick it up at first because I thought there were deer up ahead, and didn't want to break off the pursuit."
When he realized the tracks were just goat tracks, he headed back the way he came, picked up the rock, and put it in his pocket, he said.
After showing the rock to family and friends, he decided to keep it in a safe deposit box until last year, when curiosity to discover the truth about it got the better of him.
"In July 2007, I was introduced to UFO investigators Chuck Zukowski and Debbie Ziegelmeyer, and they were astounded at what they saw," he said.
Zulkowski said the investigators where so impressed, they presented the rock to a number of experts, including prominent New Mexico anthropologists, "all of whom claimed they had never seen anything like it."
"They said there is no way this rock could have been scored or drilled in the way it was, without sophisticated modern equipment, like lasers and high speed water-fed grinders and drills," Zukowski said.
The artifact's image appears to be literally "pulled" from the surface of the red iron ore rock.
Apart from its strange appearance, Zukowski said, the rock has "peculiar" magnetic properties.
"It retains its magnetic polarity by which it will spin a compass needle and register its magnetic field on meters," he said. The oval rock will also spin, depending on the position of a magnet over the image surface, he added.
Zukowski and Ziegelmeyer said that archeologists requested that the rock be submitted for further laboratory analysis, in what they describe as phase two of their investigation.
One anthropologist reportedly described the rock as being similar to a "lodestone."
Lodestones have been mentioned in literature for centuries as having magical and mystical properties. There are ancient accounts of people reporting that when holding lodestones, their hands and body shook, and that the stones cured a wide range of illnesses, including snake bites and headaches.
Native Americans reportedly used lodestones as protection against snakes.
Meanwhile, investigators claim the artifact mirrors crop circles that appeared in Liddleton, England, in 1996, indicating a possibility the stone bears a message from space.
Priscilla Wolf, of Tijeras, a native American woman known to have "powers," visited the site were the rock was found last weekend, and said she felt a vibration in her hands when she held the rock, and that "light came down from the skies" when the rock was deposited at the site.
Although the rock was found partially exposed on the surface, Zukowski said, the sandy area in which it was found is known to erode and shift, possibly uncovering the rock.
"It appeared to have been buried at one time," said Ridge, who believes the rock represents more than just an interesting object.
"After I had it a few months, I began to think about it and began to think that it may be a beacon of some kind, or a message," he said.
"And I believe the message is that if we don't learn to get along with each other, we will be destroyed," he said.
UPDATE: "An eastern new Mexico University's professor doesn't believe a mysterious rock discussed recently on a nationally syndicated radio program that features programming "related to UFOs and conspiracy theories is extraterrestial." ENMU professor of geology James Constantopoulos examined what is known as the Roswell Rock Circle earlier this month at the request of rock owner Robert L. Ridge of Roswell. Flat and about the size of an egg, the rock was discovered by Ridge in 2004 near Roswell during a deer hunting trip. It is an iron-rich sandstone, according to Constantopoulos. The face of the rock features raised crescent and circular patterns that are similar to those that were found in 1994 at a crop circle in England. Some UFOlogists (persons who study and catalog UFOs) think that the stone has magnetic properties and is an extraterrestrial artifact. Constantopoulos' findings were reported in the Internet publication Earthfiles. "The rock itself is not unusual," Constantopoulos told the PNT on Tuesday. "It is a rock that can be commonly found in that area. The design on the rock is what makes it unique." There are no tool markings on the design and it does not appear that a laser was used, Constantopoulos said. "This could be the work of a skilled craftsman," Constantopoulos said. "With the right tools and amount of time someone could have made the markings on the rock. But after all that work why would you leave it in the hills?" The rock was examined by a Portales geologist in 2005, but all data from those tests were lost in a computer hard drive crash at the university.
The age of the rock could not be determined because ENMU does not house the facilities for that procedure. Further tests to determine the rock's makeup and origins were not allowed by Ridge, Constantopoulos said. "I would have to take a sample from the rock and examine it," Constantopoulos said. "Ridge was against damaging the stone in any way."Video can be viewed on Coast to Coast AM Web site showing the rock reacting to a magnet and compass.
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