Claim CH505.8:
Ed Behling, a clinical psychologist working for the U.S. government in
Turkey, was led to Noah's ark on Ararat in 1973 by a very old Turkish
shepherd. He saw it on a cliff about 100 feet above him in foggy
conditions. The front was broken off; it was basically square in
cross-section. He saw 150-200 feet of it, beyond which it tapered off
into the snow.
Source:
Shockey, Don, 1986. Agri-Dagh, Mount Ararat: The Painful Mountain,
Fresno, CA: Pioneer Publishing, pp. 35-36.
Response:
- Behling's story is probably a hoax. He has refused to talk about his
claims since the mid-1980s, after ark researchers questioned him about
many inconsistencies in his story. For example, he mentioned making a
campfire at 13,000 feet but refused to tell how he accomplished it.
Friends describe Behling as a sincere Christian but prone to
embellishment for effect (Crouse 1993).
- If true, Behling's story raises the question of why Behling never
followed up on one of the most remarkable discoveries of all time. It
also makes it seem implausible that the ark has stayed hidden. Behling
says of his guide, "he looked like he had been dead for about five
years and just didn't know enough to fall over," so the trip to the ark
could not have been too difficult.
Links:
Lippard, Jim, 1993. Sun goes down in flames -- The Jammal Ark hoax.
Skeptic 2(3), http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/ark-hoax/jammal.html
or
http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/sunhoax.htm
References:
created 2004-1-6
