Sidestep SPECIAL: Burrows Cave, Illinois - VS - Brewers Cave, Utah

Most of you in NZ reading this will have no idea what and where the above two caves are. But some will. It’s the location in Illinois (USA) and Utah (USA) of a cave of reported ancients with gold statues and huge coffins buried in and underground cave system that was found in 1982 (Illinois) and a more plausible one from 1955 (Utah). Although this tale is linked to giant skeletons reported in Utah, no giants are reported to have been inside Burrows Cave. I found out about this cave after researching and contacting a man from Utah who knows of many massive caves with giant skeletons in them.

This post is definitely written from a sceptical point of view, and that might surprise some of you as we are ones also hunting giant skeletons. Forget the perceived or real judgement against this man, his find and theories for a minute (because we have the same judgement upon us and what we are doing) and consider this. I'd love it to be true, but when you read what he found and you imagine how it got there, and he brings out none of it but some crude carvings on clay/rock 'tablets'... well, then the probable truth hits you between the eyes.

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BURROWS CAVE

Russell Burrows has given at least two mutually irreconcilable accounts of the April 1982 discovery of the secret cave which bears his name; both versions resonate with the screenplay of the 1981 George Lucas film ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, with Burrows in the lead role of Indiana Jones (including the hero’s fear of snakes). Both versions open with Burrows as a pothunter looking for miscellaneous artefacts in the wilds of north-east Richland County, Illinois, near the Embarras River. I've reversed the versions for a reason...

Version #2 The version recounted by Frank Joseph (2003) is derived from a presentation given by Burrows at a conference in Vienna in 2001. In this story, Burrows ventured into a cave on a hillside, a 15-foot natural corridor whose walls were inscribed with ‘Indian signs’ (images of animals, humans, and ‘inscrutable glyphs’) which Burrows assumed were made by Kickapoo or Shawnee Indians in the nineteenth century. Then forty-seven-year-old Burrows, armed with a rock-hammer and flashlight, ‘innocently’ attempted to remove some of the carvings from the cave wall. The wall gave way, providing access to a ‘perfectly hewn’ flight of stone steps aligned with dozens of oil lamps and the residue of ‘innumerable torches’. Joseph, apparently defending Burrows’ claims, presciently notes their resemblance to fantasy: They looked like something out of a movie he might have seen once about ancient Rome. He proceeded cautiously. The atmosphere was heavy with mystery, and he recalled that snakes, especially deadly copperheads, were known to favor such subterranean environments. Only a secret death trap would complete the Hollywood imagery, and the reader is satisfied in this regard by reading the other version of Burrows’ discovery narrative. One doubts whether Joseph believes this himself, considering he includes both irreconcilable versions in his writings, but conspicuously avoids mention of any discrepancy.

Version #1 The earlier version describes pothunter Burrows using a metal detector to look for old coins and Civil War era artefacts on a hillside near a ‘forsaken cemetery’. Its dial oscillated violently, as though the explorer were treading over Fort Knox. He suddenly fell into a perfectly vertical pit just wide enough to accommodate his shoulders. Shaken but recovering his senses, he realized that he had landed on his feet on a soft, dirt floor some eight feet beneath the surface of the ground. Burrows said a pivoting disc-shaped stone trapdoor would permanently imprison those falling into the snake-pit, but the door did not close properly. The narrative then proceeds (both versions agree) with the intrepid explorer, torch in hand, exploring hundreds of feet of corridors of the mysterious cave. He reports entering a series of sealed portals leading to burial crypts, bedecked with life-sized solid-gold statues and a series of gigantic black stone statues in Egyptian and Carthaginian dress, solid gold sarcophagi and coffins containing mummies, stone sarcophagi, pagan idols, arsenals of bronze weapons, suits of armour, a large bowl of diamonds, thousands of gold coins, gigantic urns brimming with parchment scrolls, thousands of inscribed stone tablets (written in Egyptian, Etruscan, Sumerian, Greek, etc.) and portraits depicting ‘an impossible mix of apparent Romans, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Christians, American Indians, and even Black Africans’ (Joseph, 2003: 74). Skeletons and weapons in associated contexts suggested human sacrifice. Burrows allegedly removed a gold blade wedged in the ribcage of a ‘female’ skeleton beside the skeletons of two children with head injuries consistent with marble axe-heads placed nearby. Burrows tailored his story for specific audiences; that is, when addressing paranormal enthusiasts, he describes confrontations and conversations (in English) with the ghost of the dead woman (Burrows, 1991). It resembles a clichéd movie script. As Wirth notes with a hint of sarcasm: Burrows could have removed the parchment, copper spears, skeletons, jewels or gold coins that he claims remain to this day in the cave; instead, he chose to bring out rocks — rocks carved with figures and strange writing, nothing that can be proven or dated. See pic below. Seriously, it isn't even a bad fake, its downright pathetic.

But these two accounts above conflict with each other...

Burrows, in the years that followed, allegedly made every effort to conceal the location of his treasure hoard, using his military training to camouflage the entrance of the cave. Although Joseph says several have seen the cave, no one else has gone on record claiming to have personally seen the cave’s interior - ever! And no photographs of the splendours of the cave’s interior exist. The existence of any true caves (not rock shelters) in flat north-eastern Richland County is unsubstantiated. According to the Illinois State Geological Survey, the nearest karst topography (the geological formation necessary for cavern formation) is in south-east Saline County, about 100 miles from the alleged location of Burrows Cave. Sources suggest Burrows hid the cave either out of fear of prosecution under Illinois law, respect for the anonymous landowner, or respect for the dead occupants of the cave. Burrows claims to have dynamited the entrance to the necropolis in late 1989, with most of its riches still interred, as a way to prevent others from finding it. By 1998 however, Burrows claimed to have been banned from the site by the unidentified landowner. Which was it? The closest decent cave to Richland County is 80 miles away in Indiana or 80 miles south; 6 counties away from where it was reported. One of the most obvious errors Burrows makes is producing a map of the cave layout, ne with crawl spaces and narrow squeeze sections yet holds huge giant coffins? The guy is a genuine nutcase and the artifacts so badly faked few people would believe many of them to be genuine... and it may be that he did find one or two genuine artifacts once. Oh, the claim about protecting the artifacts from looting (a reason he doesn't want to disclose the location), he sold thousands of these 'artifacts' to collectors. Go figure.

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Artifacts shown that have been ‘bought' by people directly from Burrows include a plate with cuneiform style writing along with a crudely incised figure of Jesus on a cross among other childish (amateurish) figures - considering they had the technology to build a solid gold coffin.....!. Since then they now show fake gold pieces (not gold obviously he couldn't afford to make those) on a Facebook site but I will not link to this rubbish. Burrows cave is a fraud at worst, a really bad deception at least. When anyone refers to Burrows Cave (Illinois) - that is where all credibility disappears.

BREWERS CAVE

The first cave mentioned above is very different to Brewers Cave, the giants of Utah near Kanab and other locations. This is an area in Utah that is riddled with caves - unlike Illinois. I discussed some things related to giants found in Utah with one who claims to have seen them and he often refers to Brewers Cave (Utah). Robert Shrewsbury claims to have seen tall skeletons many years ago. He's now in his seventies. I've even contacted Wayne May of Ancient American Magazine who began to excavate one before giving up. All of Roberts accounts seem plausible. Brewers Cave had giant skeletons in stone crypts and unusual metal artifacts, not 'gold plates and bowls of diamonds', but unusual artifacts including a fantastically made fishing net and intricately weave in a type of parchment. Brewer produced a stone box wrapped in bark with metal plates inside shown below.

One “gold” plate from the cave had been tested to reveal its age and metallurgy, and was found to be a very recent creation made of brass similar in chemical composition to the metal found in bullet casings (!). That suggests it could have been made from exactly that! However, in the testing of pieces of bark used to wrap a stone box with metal plates inside, the bark was found to be of the fourth century B.C. Therein lies the conflict. It seems then that this stone box and bark covering are very real indeed, but maybe some fake plates were made and stashed inside? One must remember that the Mormon church exists because of a story of one man receiving gold plates from an angel. This comparison has made similar appearances in the stories of giants in caves and fantastic finds (by those brought up as Mormons in Utah), which while giant skeletons may have been found (we do know they exist for we have a femur of one), some dubious and exaggerated claims have been made since to try and rival what Joseph Smith is said to have found but could not produce physical evidence of. Nothing produced in the way of plates, so far, is proof of anything for any man in this century with a little knowledge could hammer brass into plates and use simple marks to produce something akin to an unusual language. They key to this is in the ancient use of cuneiform. Cuneiform writing is ordered, sensible, in line, seemingly natural.

ALL stories of caves, giants and golden or copper plates seem come from those connected to the Mormon church, and the lands around about. Their faith believes their founder received golden plates from an angel... in a stone box. But he didn't translate them by looking at them directly apparently, but rather Joseph Smith translated by looking into a transparent stone in a hat (according to the story). Although some witnesses said they saw the plates, they have been given back to the angel so there is nothing but faith to connect this story to reality. Faith is good though. Western New York, where Joseph Smith grew up, was also noted for its participation in a "craze for treasure hunting". Beginning as a youth in the early 1820s, Smith was periodically hired as 'scryer' (One who divines, sees or predicts the future by means of a scrying tool; especially a crystal ball). The bible forbids divining but crystal balls appear in some of these cave giant stories too. Anyway - using what were termed "seer stones" in attempts to locate lost items and buried treasure, Smith's contemporaries described his method for seeking treasure as putting the stone in a white hat, putting his face over the hat to block the light, and then "seeing" the information in the reflections of the stone (nothing is said as to where Smith got this stone). Yet this same method was something he was using as a youngster in the craze for finding hidden treasure in New York State - not something the angel told him to do. So it seems suspicious then, that Mormons in Utah seem to find scripts on metal plates... in stone boxes as if it is the holy grail. Ok, maybe it's true, but the process leading up to the book of Mormon seems very human based. Most finds seem to emulate what Smith said he found in New York State. Anyone else think that odd when now in Utah, at least to most connected to the church, it seems to be the centre of the lost tribes of Israel and all other cultures libraries with plates in stone boxes reported as having Hebrew, Greek and Roman scripts on the same sets of plates. It seems that ancient cultures in Assyria and Persia did have examples of gold/silver plates in stone boxes, for one was found in 1933, this is wholly true and does add some credibility back to the story... but on another continent.

What IS true is that the whole of the USA once had giants. Native American legends confirm that. Also true is that many were reported to have been wrapped in a similar manner to the stone box that Brewer found. There is so much that makes sense and confirms the possibility....... and so much that doesn't.

Yet all the plates I have seen are awkward, jumbled and amateurish, some even with crude illustrations not unlike what one would expect except from bathroom graffiti. They are nothing at all like the quality and precision of the cuneiform on the Darios plates, not even close. Sorry if this offends some, but think carefully - these plates of Brewers Cave are supposed to have come from a race capable of building gold coffins and intricate gold breastplates and weapons and a series of tunnels going for miles underground. Yet the plates look like crude examples of metalwork from 13 year boys in shop class. Then... and this is just my opinion by the way - it's ok for something seen in the 1950's not to have photographs, but finds from 2004? Yes, new ones, but all that is shown to the world are tablets, no mummies or other gold or precious stones in pots. Cameras were cheap even in 1977 when he took Dr. Robert Heinerman in to the cave, and another on the other side of the valley. They have clay tablets and yet no photos of what really counted... tall skeletons with measuring tapes to prove the size... when cameras were still a few hundred dollars to buy? I've seen one, just one plate, that looks authentic. And no skeletons I've seen photos of yet has ever had a measuring tape beside it... not one. The only bone in existence in the world, with a ruler beside it is the one we have already shown that we found in our cave in 2019 while digging out the fill before we abandoned that cave due to the danger of advancing. The crude evidence from Brewers Cave produced so far simply does not support the stories that began the legend. That is until I saw the picture of the metal ball and the round disk, they are very real. So this story of Brewers cave appears true in essence, but seems ruined by adding to it in the same way Robert said Russell Burrows manipulated his 'find'.

Here I present a very good video about the history of Brewers Cave that (at the end), appears to shows Terry Carter and an associate digging into the location he managed to find in 2017 of the first entrance Brewer found before it caved in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHuYu9gKrt4 . They haven't yet found the smaller one nearby that Brewer said he dug after the collapse of the first. They gave up due to the difficulty of digging it out and the lack of funds. If found and permission were granted, this site could be excavated and proved true or debunked. The fact this video shows what they think is a dressed stone (step)..... and they didn't continue this dig, seemed suspicious. I'd be up there every week for 6 years if that's what it took. They gave up after seeing what they described as a dressed stone with a video probe. It's a bit like us seeing the cave open up beyond the dangerous portion where we abandoned that cave and still go, 'yeah, nah!' Sorry to be cynical, but....

John Heinerman has seen them so he says. Also worth a listen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haFtreQt3Ss . He was with Brewer at the time. He says there were hundreds of little stone boxes, (enough to fill 4-5 pickup truck loads. That is interesting considering the cave isn't that big.)

So that's where I leave it for now. But tall skeletons... oh yeah, most definitely they exist. We are searching for our own and as no one else has a real bone, it seems that only we have some evidence that no one in Utah has even come close to showing... https://tangatawhenua16.wixsite.com/the-first-ones-blog/single-post/2020/03/07/149-is-99-good-enough

We'll bring you more on this unique area soon if we get more info and photos sent to us about the local area of Sanpete Valley that are worth sharing.