Truth or Consequences

Space exploration has made a robust return into the national consciousness in recent weeks. It all started with the death of Neil Armstrong, the famed astronaut who was officially the first person to walk on the moon, just a little over a month ago. Armstrong's death kicked off an inevitable wave of nostalgia for America's past glories, especially among aging Baby Boomers who grew up in the midst of the Space Race, and understandably so.

America's current space program is as symbolic of America's overall decline as any institution around, maybe even more so. What had once stood as a testament to American greatness has essentially been reduced to a parody as we struggle to place another manned space craft on the moon nearly 40 years after Apollo 17 last accomplished this feat. Despite obscene amounts of money being lavished on NASA during the preceding four decades we have little to show for it other than the sweeping militarization and privatization of space.

The later initiative was supposed to open up space to the general public. In theory luxuries cruises would plow through the heavens and deposit bored tourist on a new wave of Holiday Inn Expresses situated on government funded space stations, or something along those lines. So far the privatized space industry is a long way from delivering this vision and shows few signs of progress despite grandiose schemes. MSNBC reports:

"New Mexico Tourism Secretary Monique Jacobson says it will be New Mexico's Sydney Opera House. Virgin Galactic Chairman Richard Branson has hinted it will host the first of his new brand of lifestyle hotels. And the eclectic hot springs town of Truth or Consequences has been anxiously awaiting all the economic development the nearly quarter-billion-dollar project is supposed to bring to this largely rural part of southern New Mexico.

"But as phase one of Spaceport America, the world's first commercial port built specifically for sending tourists and payloads into space, is nearing completion, the only new hotel project that has been finalized is a Holiday Inn Express here in Truth or Consequences, about 25 (40 kilometers) miles away. And three key companies with millions of dollars in payroll have passed on developing operations in the state."

Veteran twilight language readers will be immediately struck by the location of America's first commercial space port: 25 miles away from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

The whole of New Mexico, but especially locations along the 33rd parallel north (for reasons that shall be explained in a moment), has become the stuff of legends in conspiracy culture. Part of this is due to the alleged UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico, a little over 200 miles from Truth or Consequences, in June or July of 1947. Roswell is hardly the only thing New Mexico has contributed to UFO lore, however. It is in New Mexico that state patrol officer Gabe Valdez conducted one of the first serious investigations into the whole cattle mutilation phenomenon.

"By the late 1970s New Mexico was in the grip of its own mutilation wave; ranchers and local sheriffs had begun taking pot shots at aircrafts flying over their property and a major incident was only a gunshot away...

"Back in the 1970s, Valdez's investigation had focused on the ranch of Manuel Gomez, whose cattle had suffered particularly badly; alongside dead and mutilated animals he'd found caterpillar tracks, bits of paper, measuring tools, syringes, needles and a gas mask. One site was covered with radar-reflecting chaff, some of it stuffed into the dead cow's mouth. Some of the animals had broken bones and what appeared to be rope marks on their limbs, suggesting that they had been hoisted up then dropped back on to the ground. Whoever was doing this to the cattle, they were organized, and human.

"As in Montana, the mutilations coincided with a rash of UFO sightings, and Valdez and his fellow officers had several close shaves with strange flying machines. On one occasion Valdez's team cornered an orange light in a field; as they approached, the light went out. Then, although they could see nothing, they heard a muffled sound like a lawnmower engine pass over their heads. Another time Valdez and two colleagues ducked beneath an object that he described as disc-shaped, rotor-less, and dazzlingly bright..."
(Mirage Men, Mark Pilkington, pgs. 150-151)

New Mexico was also the primary location of the notorious Bennewitz affair. I've already written much more on the saga on Paul Bennewitz here and here so I shall not delve to deeply into it here. In brief: Bennewitz was a one-time PhD candidate in physics and successful business man who became convinced in the existence of a conspiracy within the United States government to collaborate with extraterrestrial life to nefarious ends. He went so far as to claim that Dulce was the site of an underground base housing these aliens. In recent years it has been revealed that Bennewitz was in fact the victim of an elaborate US Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) disinformation campaign that nearly drove him mad (some would argue that it succeed). The Air Force allegedly engaged in these actions out of fear that Bennewitz's research into unidentified objects originating from Kirtland Air Force Base could blow the lid on top secret military air crafts being tested there.

Bennewitz

Needless to say, New Mexico holds a rather significant place in modern UFO lore. It has also been a hotbed of black ops, as the Bennewitz affair demonstrates. New Mexico also figures prominently in a different strand of conspiracy lore, one that revolves around the theories of James Shelby Downard and the highly controversial revisionist historian Michael A. Hoffman. Downard and Hoffman are most famous for their claim that the Kennedy assassination was an alchemical ritual based upon Frazer's concept of the killing of the divine king, a notion explored in their legendary "King Kill 33" essay. In this theory the Kennedy assassination was the second of three alchemical rituals designed to transform humanity.

"Fabled alchemy had at least three goals to accomplish before the total decay of matter, the total breakdown we are witnessing all around us today, was fulfilled. These are:

The Creation and Destruction of Primordial Matter

The Killing of the Divine King

The Bringing of Prima Materia to Prima Terra

"...The Creation and Destruction of Primordial Matter was accomplished at the White Head ('Ancient of Days'), at White Sands, New Mexico, at the Trinity Site. The Trinity Site itself is located at the beginning of an ancient western road known in old Mexico as the Jornada del muerto (the Journey of Death)..."
(Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare, Michael A. Hoffman, pg. 80)

Shortly thereafter Hoffman goes on to link Truth or Consequences, New Mexico with the Creation and Destruction of Primordial Matter as well as the Killing of the Dive King (the Kennedy assassination).

"Other occult rituals for the Creation and Destruction of Primordial Matter were played out in the general area of the 33rd degree of north parallel in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, near the Trinity Site.

"There are 33 segments in the human spinal column which according to occult lore is the vehicle of the fiery ascent of the Kundalini serpent force which resides in the human body. 33 is the highest degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry. Near the Trinity Site a derelict shack was symbolically dubbed 'McDonald House.' The Creation and Destruction of Primordial Matter occurred exactly on the Trinity Site, the 'Place of Fire,' with the explosion of the first atomic bomb, culminating untold thousands of years of alchemical speculation and practice.

"The Killing of the King rite was accomplished at another Trinity site located approximately ten miles south of the 33rd degree of north parallel latitude between the Trinity River and the Triple Underpass at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Dealey Plaza was the site of the first masonic temple in Dallas. In this spot, which had been known as 'Bloody Elm Street,' the world leader who had become known as the 'King of Camelot,' President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was shot to death."
(ibid, pg. 83)

Of the Masonic ritual Hoffman claims to have occurred in Truth or Consequence, he earlier wrote:

"There are occult links between the masonic ceremonies held at the town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico and the masonic ritual which attended the explosion of the first atomic bomb and the assassination of President Kennedy.

"...The gauntlet the cryptocracy threw down at our feet in the specially orchestrated chain of ritual criminal events and locations intimately connected Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, was an 'open air' ceremony in full public view for those who had eyes and the intuition to see it. Much of the Process was carried out in public. This was the 'truth.' The supreme high-stakes gamblers of the masonic cryptocracy risked 'the consequences.' "

(ibid, pgs. 55-56)

I had previously been highly skeptical of Hoffman's claims surrounding Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. I have found no concrete information that such a ceremony as Hoffman describes ever took place in Truth or Consequences. Hoffman seems to imply that the Truth or Consequences Masonic ceremony occurred either before or roughly at the same time as the explosion of the first atomic bomb yet Truth or Consequences did not receive its present moniker till at least 1950 when it was named after a popular game show hosted by Ralph Edwards. Edwards hosted an episode of his show in Truth or Consequences and would continue to return every year for the town's annual fiesta up until the time of his death but I've found no indication that Edwards was a Mason or that there is anything Masonic about T & C's annual festival.

According to the website of T & C's Masonic lodge there has been a Masonic presence there since the early 20th century. A lodge was finally opened on November 14, 1939. A hail storm badly damaged the lodge in 1947, forcing the Masons to move their meetings elsewhere. After briefly using an Odd Fellows lodge a new Masonic lodge was dedicated on May 12, 1949. The website of T & C's Masonic lodge notes that an open air ceremony was held to dedicate a lodge but it refers to this one as the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, which is located in Albuquerque, though it seems to imply there was a link between the dedication of the Grand Lodge and the T & C lodge. Regardless, there's nothing definitive there about T & C being the site of a large open air Masonic ceremony.

And yet, here is Truth or Consequences reappearing in the news in relation to America's first commercial space sport. The Space Race is also important to Downard and Hoffman's theories surrounding the three goals of fabled alchemy. The third goal, the bringing of Prima Materia to Prima Terra, was supposedly conducted during NASA's ventures to the moon.

"The third objective of alchemy, the bringing of Prima Materia to Prima Terra was accomplished in the 1969 Apollo moon flights and the returning to earth of the moon rocks. Some of these rocks have been 'stolen' for use in occult rituals of no mean significance...

"Freemasonic astronaut and Apollo Mission Chief Lt. Col. Edwin A. 'Buzz' Aldrin carried with him to the moon the two-headed eagle of the medieval Satanic society, the Knights Templar (lately on display at the masonic grand lodge in Washington D.C.)

"Aldrin also wore two heavy gold rings to he moon which he refused to explain to reporters and admits having served himself a form of 'communion' there, though he is not an ordained priest or minister of any known religion save Freemasonry. Aldrin's boss, the national director of NASA at the time of the Moon Flights, was C. Fred Kleinknecht, Secretary General of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry."
(ibid, pg. 90)

Buzz Aldrin (right) displaying the Scottish Rite flag he took to the moon

Aldrin's co-pilot for the legendary Apollo 11 moon landing was of course the recently deceased Neil Armstrong. Hoffman's concept of the Apollo 11 landing as a Masonic ritual was given a boost from an unlikely source: Richard C. Hoagland. Hoagland was a scientific advisor to CBS News during the Apollo program and a consultant to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center for nearly a decade, among other things. During the 1980s he began advocating the notion that an alien civilization had been discovered on the Moon and Mars and that NASA and the United States government were working in tandem to deceive the American public about this discovery.

Hoagland

I am not a big fan of Hoagland but I find it interesting that he confirms much of Downard and Hoffman's concepts of NASA as a Masonic/occult institution. Such an examination of NASA would go well beyond the scope of this article but I would like to briefly consider the connection the number 33 has to the Apollo 11 moon landing. For those of your wishing to read more on NASA's occult roots, I urge you to check out Curve of Bell's excellent post on such things. But anyway, on to Apollo 11 and Aldrin's mysterious 'communion' ceremony.

"The first thing he [Hoagland --Recluse] had to do was pin point the time of the mysterious communion ceremony. Using transcripts from the Apollo 11 mission logs, he and Johnston painstakingly reconstructed the post-landing lockdown procedures that Aldrin and Armstrong had gone through on that historic day. In doing so, they determined that the ceremony took place precisely thirty-three minutes after touchdown on the lunar surface.
(Dark Mission, Richard C. Hoagland & Mike Bara, pg. 212)

Keep in mind the number 33 plays heavily into Downard and Hoffman's notions surrounding the three goals of fabled alchemy. The first atomic bomb explosion at the Trinity site occurred exactly along the 33rd parallel north while the Kennedy assassination occurred within miles of it (it actually occurred at the 32nd parallel north despite what many conspiracy websites would have you believe). Truth or Consequences as well as Roswell, New Mexico, are both located along the 33rd parallel north as well. 33 is also the highest degree in Scottish Rite Freemasonry, as noted above.

Hoagland proposes a rather novel theory as to why the number 33 would be so important to both Freemasons and NASA.

"There is yet another mathematical form, called a 'pentatope,' which fits into this same numeric system. The Schlafli Symbol for this object is 3,3,3; or 333, obviously. The pentatope is the simplest regular figure in four dimensions, representing the four-dimensional analog of the solid tetrahedron. As such, it would hold the 'key' to accessing spatial dimensions higher than our traditional three, and is essentially a 3D tetrahedron as it would be seen in four dimensions. The 2D form of this 4D shape is a pentagon --with the vertices's connected by lines, which just happens to bear a striking resemblance to the D & M pyramid: Torun's 'Rosetta Stone' at Cydonia."
(ibid, pgs. 250-251)

Cydonia is a region of Mars where Hoagland believes there are ruins, including pyramids, of an alien civilization. Certainly this must be high in the rankings for most outrageous theory concerning the significance of the number 33. Regardless, Hoagland manages to compellingly document the presence of many high ranking Scottish Rite Masons in the upper levels of NASA's hierarchy as well as odd occurrences of the number 33 throughout the early space program.

And now, we return to Spaceport America. Like the Kennedy assassination, it is not actually located along the 33rd parallel north, but at the 32nd. Still, it remains closely associated with Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, as well as the White Sands Missile Range (home of the Trinity Site) and the Jornada del Muerto basin, all of which have been culturally linked to Downard and Hoffman's fabled alchemy theories along with America's space program. What are we to make of all of this? As tempting as it is to chalk up Spaceport America's location to mere coincidence it is a bit baffling as to why such a remote and desolate location would be chosen for America's first commercial spaceport. Did the developers think the super rich have a hidden desire to vacation near a former atomic test site?

Or are Downard and Hoffman more perceptive than their critics often give them credit for being? Possibly, but we have to also consider the long history of black ops in New Mexico, as I noted above in relation to much of the modern UFO lore that the state has spawned. When one considers the lengths the Air Force was willing to go to deceive Paul Bennewitz a host of unpleasant prospects emerge. By now the theories of Downard and Hoffman have gained a certain degree of mainstream exposure --Marilyn Manson recorded a song called "King Kill 33" based upon the above mentioned essay, after all. Did this factor into the decision to locate the spaceport near Truth or Consequences, White Sands, and the Jornada del Muerto?

If so, then what is being planned at this facility?