Mysteries of the Unexplained: Marker 239 Phenomenon

[zoobyshoe]

This freaky story is in a book I have called Mysteries of the Unexplained. I found the following version on the web (nearly identical).

It ties in with the dowsing threads, but unless it is a complete fabrication, I wonder what was causing all the car crashes:

"Weird Phenomenon At Marker 239

"In 1929, a new highway was opened to traffic between Bremen and Bremerhaven, Germany. By 1930, more than 100 vehicles had crashed mysteriously, all at marker 239. The road at that point is perfectly straight. The survivors told the police that when they reached the marker, they felt a "thrill" in their stomachs as if they had topped a hill at great speed. Then their cars were seized by some great force, which pulled them off the road. On Sept. 7, 1930, nine cars were wrecked at the marker. The police were baffled.
*** "A local water dowser, Carl Wehrs, thought that the force might be a powerful magnetic current generated by an underground stream. To test his theory, he took a steel divining rod and slowly walked toward marker 239. When he was about opposite the marker and about 12 feet from it, the rod suddenly flew out of his hands to the other side of the road and Wehrs was spun halfway around in his tracks.
*** "Satisfied that his theory was right, Wehrs buried a copper box full of small copper pieces at the base of the stone marker. While the box was buried there, no accidents occurred. The box was dug up and the first three cars that passed the marker were wrecked. The box was quickly reburied and since then, the accidents at marker 239 have stopped."
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Address:http://riptx.riptx.net/marker29.htm
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[username]

bollocks in the biggest way possible

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Can anyone produce official records to confirm the most basic claims of frequent accidents?

My guess: Not a grain of truth in it.

 

[JohnDubYa]

But...but... it is on a Web page!

 

[jimmy p]

*** "A local water dowser, Carl Wehrs, thought that the force might be a powerful magnetic current generated by an underground stream.

How would that work?? Unless a river of iron flowed underneath?

 

[JohnDubYa]

You're not willing to accept the word of a water dowser?

 

[zoobyshoe]

How would that work?? Unless a river of iron flowed underneath?

I think we can discount the whole dowser aspect of this story. I posted it in the hope someone may have heard of a similar string of accidents on a straight piece of road somewhere, and if anyone had determined what caused it. The first thing that came to mind when I read this story was that straight pieces of road are good paths for strong wind gusts.

 

[megashawn]

Not only that, but on strait roads ppl get lazy. Its just like When do you think the most accidents happen? Dry sunny day or rainy dark night?

Sunny days believe it or not. People are more careless, and therefore more accidents happen. Don't believe me, ask a paramedic.

Anyhow, I'd chock this up to coincidence, bad driving, and good drugs.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Not only that, but on strait roads ppl get lazy. Its just like When do you think the most accidents happen? Dry sunny day or rainy dark night?

Sunny days believe it or not. People are more careless, and therefore more accidents happen. Don't believe me, ask a paramedic.

On this particular point I would agree, except for Southern California and similar rainless places. Here, it is the opposite. Rain causes a huge increase in the number of accidents. The reason most often given for this, is that in other places the roads are more or less regularly washed free of oil by rain. Here the oil builds up for months and months, and then when it rains the roads suddenly become frictionless. That is the reason given year after year on the news when the first rain of winter brings it's usual mass of fender benders to report.

Anyhow, I'd chock this up to coincidence, bad driving, and good drugs.

I don't know about the drugs, Megashawn. This was 1929-1930.
Booze could be it, though.

I still think there is a freak wind behind this because of the report of "a thrill in their stomachs as if they'd topped a hill at great speed." That sounds like the cars were being lifted from the road to me. They could continue like that for a couple seconds before losing enough momentum for the wind to push them to the side of the road. They might experience this as a "pull" but that's a subjective assessment, really.

 

[selfAdjoint]

Zoob, another possibility is that something in that landscape produces a strobe effect that flashes in the drivers' eyes at some psychoactive frequency. That could provide queasiness too, and produce a brief "hypnosis".

 

[JohnDubYa]

Have we even established that the events took place? That would seem to be a logical place to start.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Have we even established that the events took place? That would seem to be a logical place to start.

That's where I land as well. Some records of this should exist and in this day and age, someone should at least have photocopies of information posted somewhere. Maybe some book attempts to document the information. There may in fact be some supporting information.

Zooby, I would think that your book has a source listed for this. What is it?

 

[Math Is Hard]

What's really weird is that for 20 years I have had a book called Mysteries of the Unexplained on my bookshelf. Two months ago it vanished. Now Zooby turns up with it.
True story!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

What's really weird is that for 20 years I have had a book called Mysteries of the Unexplained on my bookshelf. Two months ago it vanished. Now Zooby turns up with it.
True story!

Do you want to know what's really funny? My Mysteries of the Unexplained disappeared as well. :surprise: No kidding! I know who took mine though.

[AP Release] Man at Paris Cafe hit by book that "fell from sky".

 

[zoobyshoe]

Zooby, I would think that your book has a source listed for this. What is it?

The source is listed as The Breathless Moment by Philip van doren Stern.

There doesn't seem to be any detailed info about this book on google:

Google Search: philip van doren stern breathless moment
Address:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...van+doren+stern+breathless+moment&btnG=Search

It seems to be a photography book subtitled The world's most sensational news photos and the date of publication looks to be 1935.

 

[zoobyshoe]

What's really weird is that for 20 years I have had a book called Mysteries of the Unexplained on my bookshelf. Two months ago it vanished. Now Zooby turns up with it.
True story!

Do you want to know what's really funny? My Mysteries of the Unexplained disappeared as well.

My next stupid quetion was going to involve the fact that I now seem to have no fewer than seven copies of this book.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Maybe I should start of poll asking how many people here had this book.

Should this episode be included in the next Mysteries of the Unexplained release? Let's try another. Who here has read the Bhagavad-Gita?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Zoob, another possibility is that something in that landscape produces a strobe effect that flashes in the drivers' eyes at some psychoactive frequency. That could provide queasiness too, and produce a brief "hypnosis".

Somthing like the strobe effect of driving down a tree-lined road on a sunny day could cause someone to run off the road.

I think what you're suggesting is an effect they weren't aware of, though, right? More subtle than the tree strobe effect.

I have done no reading whatever about the effects of strobe light on healthy people. I know that a lot of epileptics are highly photosensitive.

According to the story, though, people felt "a `thrill' in their stomachs as if they'd topped a hill at great speed". That doesn't square with "queasiness" which is a sickening feeling. I'm not sure it squares with any sort of road hypnosis, either, but I haven't read much about that.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Maybe I should start of poll asking how many people here had this book.

I think if you and Math are authentically missing your copies, then it would be interesting to ask Arctic Fox to see if he can dowse for them in his mind, so to speak, tell you to look under the sofa or whatever.

 

[jimmy p]

What is a water dowser?? I think that I would have to agree with megashawn on this one. Do they specify anything about the road at all? It could be on a slight slant, which could cause the car to veer while the bored driver doesn't notice. I get tunnel vision when I have been driving on motorways, so that could be a sort of effect...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I think if you and Math are authentically missing your copies, then it would be interesting to ask Arctic Fox to see if he can dowse for them in his mind, so to speak, tell you to look under the sofa or whatever.

Like so many books, I loaned it out and it never made it back.

 

[Evo]

Did we all belong to the same book club? I have Mysteries of the Unexplained.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Mysteries of the Unexplained was published by Reader's Digest. My copy is from 1982, and that appears to be the first edition. I don't know if, or how many times, it has been reissued. It has a lot of good, weird tales in it.

Every time I go to the swap meet it seems that there is at least one person with a copy of this for sale. My guess is that Reader's Digest probably advertized it through the mail in some sort of "If you don't send this card back refusing this book by noon, yesterday, your copy is already in the mail. You'll be billed later," campaign.

 

[Evo]

Mysteries of the Unexplained was published by Reader's Digest. My copy is from 1982, and that appears to be the first edition. I don't know if, or how many times, it has been reissued. It has a lot of good, weird tales in it.

Every time I go to the swap meet it seems that there is at least one person with a copy of this for sale. My guess is that Reader's Digest probably advertized it through the mail in some sort of "If you don't send this card back refusing this book by noon, yesterday, your copy is already in the mail. You'll be billed later," campaign.

Mine is the ninth printing, February 1990. I think your guess is pretty accurate.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think your guess is pretty accurate.

Is that how you happened to receive your copy? Did you ever bother to pay for it?

 

[Math Is Hard]

I think I got mine about the same time I received my Sports Illustrated football phone.

 

[Evo]

Is that how you happened to receive your copy? Did you ever bother to pay for it?

I do remember Reader's Digest sending notifications of books. Once they had your name and address, they didn't let go. I am sure I paid for it.

I think I got mine about the same time I received my Sports Illustrated football phone.

 

[Evo]

So, does anyone have the Time/Life series of books "Library of Curious and Unusual Facts"? Hmmmm? I DO! Mwahahaha.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I have two from that series: Inventive Genius and Mysteries of the Human Body. I have paged through some of the others at the swap meet and they didn't look so interesting.

 

[Evo]

I have "Lost Treasure" and "Forces of Nature" in my upstairs hallway bookshelf. They've got some neat stuff. Comparable to the "mysteries" book.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Unfortunately I don't have those, but I am great lover of books on the mysterious and the metaphysical. My most favorite of all is a book by Gary Kowalski called "The Souls of Animals". This was a very interesting book written by a minister, but it's not at all schmaltzy or pseudo-scientific. He did a very good job on his research.
This is another one of those books that seems to dissappear and reappear in my library.