OUT OF THE BLUE AND DANS LE NOIR

I was in Paris last week.  One of the reasons we went was to try to locate the alleged 'teleportation chamber' in the cemetery of Montmartre.  I wrote about the London funerary teleportation grid made by Joseph Bonomi and the Clerkenwell inventor Samuel Warner here.  

I remain undecided on whether Warner was a complete fraud, a visionary or just deluded.  Amongst several other inventions, he claimed to have developed a missile capable of destroying ships from a distance: 'a teleportation bomb'.  In a period of war and abiding mistrustful relations with France, The Royal Navy were so keen for an advantage that they paid him to develop this extraordinary weapon but proved unable to reproduce his results independently. 

Bonomi was a believer for sure and it was allegedly with his occult knowledge that Warner had developed this  'psychic torpedo'. 

When convincing the military of the efficacy of the mind bomb proved unlikely, they turned their joint efforts and techniques to a semi-commercial venture - the London teleportation system .This was constructed across the seven major London cemeteries and sponsored by Lord Kilmorey, but secretly Warner continued with his military schemes.

In amongst the extravagant claims and self justification of his various books on the subject of National defence, there appear to be references to another teleportation chamber hidden in a Parisian graveyard.  This may have been intended for the purposes of reconnaissance or spying - hence the employment of owl symbolism-  but it seems to have been designed without Bonomi's assistance for it does not bear the typically Egyptian stylings he favoured in London.  

This cannot have been so that it would not stand out in Montmartre - it lacks any religious decoration and being the only structure in the graveyard engineered from blue ship metal is not that difficult to spot when you know what you are looking for.  The naval connection is evident in the side panels which have cast images of ships with engines on them - perhaps the fantastical machines used to launch Warner's occult weapons?

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Whist in Montmarte, we stumbled over another most peculiar monument - that of the amazing 3D Doctor Guy Pitchal.  Whilst mysterious and odd, this relies on a more obvious psychic technique to prove there is life of a sort after death.  Press play to see why..

A STITCH IN TIME

Speaking of Egypt and time travel and being rather long lived myself, I have long been fascinated by the notion of time capsules and in particular the one hidden in London's 'Cleopatra's needle' on the Victoria embankment. The needle itself is obvious but few people know about the time capsule.  It was placed there by the occultist Joseph Bonomi (see below) just before his death in an early attempt at Cryonics.  

Amongst the collection of typically odd time capsule items (including photographs of the good looking English women of the day, a box of hairpins (why?), tobacco pipes, a set of weights, a baby's bottle (why?!!), some toys, a razor, coins, a picture of Queen Victoria, a history of the strange tale of the monument, a translation of its inscriptions, a map of London and various daily newspapers), Bonomi included a vial of his blood and possibly and rather gruesomely, a piece of his flesh in a cigar box together with magical instructions written on vellum.  It didn't save him - in fact, the reputed curse of the needle may have precipitated his untimely end almost immediately afterwards but he firmly believed that beings would exist in the future who would be able to re-incarnate him from his tissue. This may seem ludicrous but many people who are not blessed with longevity are still doing this sort of thing.  You can visit the Cryonics society here. 

I like the needle - it is one of those London features that we pass many times without noticing.  I recently visited its twin in New York's Central Park.  When people talk about the special relationship between the USA and the UK, they rarely realise that if this exists, it is entirely because of the symbiosis between these two monuments.  There is a third - erected in Paris in order to foster further harmony -  but in fact it does not match - which perhaps explains the odd, slightly antagonistic relationship between our countries and France.  Of course all three were plundered from Alexandria where they had been buried in the sand for thousands of years.  The story of their transport is remarkable - the plaque on the London needle records the names of the six men whose lives the curse claimed on its journey here.  Bonomi's Clerkenwell colleague the psychic engineer Samuel Warner may also have been involved in the journey and the amazing mysterious means of movement of theses giant objects.

There is no prescribed date for the unlocking of the casket in the London needle.  How will we decide when it is time?  Perhaps we won't be here at all.  I would be interested to know it there is a similar casket in its New York counterpart.  Do let me know if you know.  And if you too are interested in time capsules, there is an entire society devoted to them at the Crypt of Civilisation.