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THE "HENGE" AT LUDWIKOWICE, POLAND – TEST RIG FOR THE NAZI-BELL?
by GEROLD SCHELM
Ludwikowice - "The Henge"
In 2001, a new book titled "The Hunt for Zero Gravity" written by noted British author Nick Cook was released. Soon it turned into a bestseller because it proved to be a very successful and entertaining mixture of an investigational report about specific Black Projects, weird technological and scientific background information, and - of course - it all linked up with rumors and hearsay reaching back to Nazi Germany and their widely 'known' Wunderwaffen.
A good part of the book deals with rumors about German-made "Foo Fighters," which allegedly were seen over German territory by Allied aircrews during the last months of WWII. Within this context, Cook comes up with a Polish investigator named Igor Witkowski, who wrote several books about the secret places and technologies of the German Wehrmacht. Witkowski then told Cook about a place in the region formerly known as the "Sudetenland" or Lower Silesia, an area on the outskirts of the Mountains of the Polish-Czech border that belonged to the Reich until the end of the war. According to Witkowski, some German special troops, a 'Spezial Kommando' consisting of competent scientists and led by SS officers, were working on an apparatus that might have been the prototype for an anti-gravity device during the last months of the war. According to Cook, this perfectly matches with the rumor of sightings of those "Foo Fighters," which allegedly were able to maneuver outside the known limitations of standard physics, that is hovering at high altitude and next remarkably accelerating and rapidly changing flight direction like no known airborne machine was able to do it at that time and - even today.
I want to point out that Mr. Witkowski could not produce any evidence so far, regardless of the several times I have asked for them via email. So all that we have are his claims about those WW II records about the SS officer Jacob Sporrenberg, as he wrote in the book "The Truth About the Wunderwaffe," published by himself. This device was tested for the last time in an abandoned mine next to the small Polish village Ludwigsdorf, nowadays called Ludwikowice. Witkowski claimed that his source of information was a written report or protocol of a Polish court. A SS officer named Jacob Sporrenberg was found guilty of several crimes that he had committed while in charge of the SS special troops. During that trial, Sporrenberg allegedly provided detailed information about the group of scientists and their fate (all 62 of them were supposedly executed by the SS, as the Red Army was closing in on the area around Ludwikowice) and the device (which probably was shipped to Norway as a last resort).
In his book, Cook described how he and Witkowski visited the site in Poland and even provided pictures showing the location. In August 2005, I was stationed with an Air Force unit north of Berlin and an hour's drive from the German-Polish border and decided to make that 600 km trip to see what I could find out. Due to the detailed description in Cook's book, I was able to find the place myself. My report is below.
Quest for "The Henge"
I left early at 4 AM, and the German Autobahn was almost empty. Around Berlin, the traffic increased slightly, telling me that the German capital was about to awake. After Berlin, the sun appeared over the horizon, and I had a breakfast break somewhere around Cottbus, which is already close to the Polish border.
On the Polish side, the Autobahn turned into a 70 km road construction site, which stressed my nerves and my back due to numerous pits and cracks. At 10 AM, as I was approaching Walbrzych, I noticed the area's beautiful landscape in front of me. I pulled over to the road's shoulder and got out of my car. While the countryside, which I had crossed for the last hours, was relatively flat and sparkled with large corn fields between grassland, the outskirts of the tree-covered tops of the "Riesengebirge" were right in front of me. Before World War II, this area used to be a part of the German Reich, and four German-speaking farmers were living all over the place. Later, during the war, many of the coal mines located within the mountain region were used as production facilities for the Wehrmacht, hidden within the woods and not to be found by reconnaissance aircraft. Besides ammunition plants, some parts of the Wunderwaffen, for the well-known V2 rocket weapon, were built here. I expected to find traces of those military activities soon while entering the hillside, and I was right.
"Bunker Hill"
After Walbrzych with its crowded streets, I continued on narrow asphalt lanes winding up and down between the hills, and it was hard not to lose orientation because my "navigation system" was a standard road map, and many of the small villages that I passed on my way to Ludwikowice were not even mentioned on it. The ride continued, and about 11:30 AM, I passed the sign indicating the beginning of "Ludwikowice" village limits. I was finally there. But Ludwikowice is just a narrow but very long village, located on both sides of a minor road coming from nowhere and going nowhere, as it seems.
I slowed down and followed the main street through Ludwikowice, gazing to the left and the right and trying to find a hint where to go next. Not until another two kilometers, when I saw the next road sign, indicating the end of the village. I turned my car and drove back where I came from. Next, I tried some small rising roads that occasionally emerged from the main street and led into the tree-covered hills around Ludwikowice. One of those caught my interest as the road was not made of asphalt like all the others that I had passed; this one was made of concrete, and it was like those I had seen in old WW II and modern military installations many times before. The road was about 2.5 meters wide and made of single concrete elements, nearly two by 2.5 meters, and still in good condition after 60 years. I entered the road and slowly climbed the winding hills. After about a half kilometer, I noticed the first evidence of military installations: the typical round top of an ammunition bunker, with the doors on the opposite side of the road and a small concrete way going around that hill from both sides.
About 50 meters away, there were a second and a third ammunition bunker of the same type, and on the downhill side of the road, I caught a glimpse of a concrete building that turned out to be a hardened office or storage building.
I spent some time sweeping the area to get an impression of the building complex; then, I decided to continue searching for the main reason for coming here - the "test rig," as Witkowski called it. I will refer to it as "The Henge."
I returned to the main street and realized that I would not find the place I was looking for without further guidance. I had packed my car with a tent and some food supply, just in case if it would be required to stay for another day. However, I was anxious to find "The Henge" after all those hours of driving.
Equipped with my road map and Cook's book, I entered what seemed to be a small grocery and showed my best smile. I approached an elderly lady behind the cash register. She could not speak or understand either German or English and me not speak or understand any Polish. I was struggling to let the lady know that I would like to see the place shown on the photo page in Cook's book. She didn't recognize "The Henge"; however, I was lucky that another woman - probably her daughter - entered the scene. The conversation started in a fundamental way of using the English language. However, she immediately recognized the picture showing "The Henge," which I gladly assessed as proof that I was in the right place. She referred to a place called "Fabrica," and it didn't make that much sense to me then. However, I made her draw for me the way from the grocery to that place onto my scrapbook.
Back in my car, I followed the drawing, which guided me to the side of the hills in opposition to the ammunition bunkers. Following a narrow road for about one kilometer, the trees suddenly gave way, and I found myself at the bottom of a vast, north-south oriented valley and next to what appeared to be a timber lot.
Next to an abandoned railroad track, piles of trees and an old abandoned railroad station dominated the scene, and three men were busy loading trees on an old truck. Again, I got out of my car, carrying Cook's book with me, and approached the men who had stopped loading and were staring at me. Within a dozen steps, I was among them and asked if somebody could speak English or German.
They understood. However, all of them shook their heads as I expected already. Then I showed them the picture of the "Muchotapka," "The Henge," as it is titled on some Polish websites, and asked if they knew where to find this place. Two men again shook their heads and gestured that they didn't know about that place, but the third guy standing on that truck recognized the structure. He pointed towards the northern end of the valley, where the railroad tracks faded among high grass and bushes, but also made me understand that he thought this structure was not anymore, maybe demolished some years ago.
Well, should it be possible that the main reason why I had come to that place was not anymore? Cook had published his book back in 2001, which was only four years ago. I thanked them for their help and decided to walk along the railroad track to the North, as the valley didn't seem to be that large, maybe 500-600 meters wide, and as I estimated, about 3-4 kilometers long. While walking down that grass-covered, rusty railroad track, I read some of the pages which described the place as Nick Cook had found it about4 years ago. To the left, which was the western edge of the valley, a part of Ludwikowice could be seen, some of the houses were standing close to a steep rim, which was about 12-15 meters above the flat soil of the valley where the railroad tracks divided the valley's bottom into two almost equal-sized parts. To the left, the rim and the whole wall were concrete-enforced and bore markings of what appeared to be remnants of metal hooks and pins. In the middle of the wall, even an entrance was to be seen, a sort of small tunnel leading into the rock below the houses of Ludwikowice. It was pitch black in there, and I could only see some 10 meters inside using my Maglite, which I carried with me. Cook wrote that the railroad tracks and the whole viaduct it had once been covered by a wooden ceiling, resting on pillars and matching with the rim that I still could see to the left of me. So the place that I was walking on matched up with Cook's description of the location close to "The Henge."
But all I could see were bushes, grass, and some small trees in the distance. I went on walking for another 10 minutes, then I passed some smaller trees to the left, and there in the middle of the valley was the "Fabrica."
The "Factory" - "Fabrica"
This was the place that the lady in the grocery store was talking about, no doubt about it. It must have been a huge building, the roof had collapsed long ago, and fire or an explosion had destroyed parts of the outer walls. Still, some black burned pieces of the wooden construction were visible between grass-covered piles of bricks and debris. The front side was as high as 20 meters, constructed with large old-fashioned windows, and the whole building was made of bricks, with no concrete walls that would indicate a military origin of the building. There was no way of finding out what purpose this factory once had served, and the Polish people that I had met either didn't know much about this place, or we were unable to communicate due to the given language problem.
At least I had found another location mentioned in Cook's book, and from what Cook had written, "The Henge" should be in close vicinity of the "Fabrica" ruins. I looked around: the southern part of the valley with the timbers behind me, parts of Ludwicowice to my left and behind the "Fabrica," trees and bushes to the right, the ruins of the "Fabrica" in front of me, the valley is ending up in a small forest to the North and more trees and bushes to the far right on the other side of the valley's bottom. There was no sign of the structure depicted in Cook's book. Did I come too late? Was the timber fellow right and "The Henge" had been demolished some years ago, probably right after Witkowski and Cook had visited the place?
I decided to walk over to the eastern edge of the valley to find a higher place providing a better overview of the "Fabrica," I wanted to take some shots. I was too close to the ruins to catch it all in one photo.
I started climbing up the eastern rim, making my way through bushes and grass, and suddenly and unexpectedly, there was an unpaved path, fading to the left and the right into the green and just wide enough to allow small cars or tractors to transit. I had not noticed the fact before, that I had passed the ruins of a two-story house a while ago, which was on the opposite side of the concrete-enforced rim, and thinking of it now, it was pretty logical that there must be a road on the eastern side of the valley too. I decided to follow that path to the North, towards the part of the valley I hadn't visited yet. Through the trees to the left, I occasionally could catch a view of the factory ruins, and then the path widened into a 'parking lot,' a large concrete enforced area with "The Henge" located at its end. I finally had made my way to it.
Spontaneously, I began to walk right to "The Henge" but then decided to bring my car with my equipment to this place first. I walked back the way all through the bushes, following that old roadway to the end where it crossed the road that I had followed to the 'timber lot' coming from the main street of Ludwikowice before. I had not noticed the other way to "The Henge" before because the intersection was covered with high grass and bushes, and I had passed it without seeing it. Within 15 minutes, I was in my car, and now that I knew the way to go, I pulled into the narrow path towards the place where "The Henge" was waiting for me.
I had to drive very slowly with my Honda 4WD, avoiding bushes and branches which constantly got into my way. After I almost hit a big piece of debris, covered by grass and moss and therefore barely visible, I decided to continue with double care, and stopped my car every 100 meters and to walk a section of the path to clear the way from concrete debris and branches from the trees. Close to the "parking lot" was located, the path intersected with an old concrete road, which I followed then. I passed some remnants of what might have been a checkpoint, a light pole base, and the rest of a wall standing in the grass to the left. Between the trees to the left, I could see an agriculture tower construction and some tanks, which I had passed before on my way to the 'Fabrica" when I walked the valley bottom. Still driving very slow, I luckily noticed some uncovered shafts close to the 'parking lot,' which would have been big enough to give me a real hard time if I had rolled into them with one hand of my wheels.
Finally, I parked my car right in front of "The Henge" and decided that now it was time for lunch. It was about 1 PM, and the sky began to fill up with puffy clouds. The weather forecast had predicted a sunny day for this region, changing into showers of rain at sunset. While enjoying my sandwich and beverage, I looked around, absorbing the atmosphere of this strange, abandoned place. The "parking lot" was a large, hardened area next to "The Henge," with the minor road appearing somewhere between bushes and trees in the south, passing "The Henge" at the eastern side and vanishing between trees to the North. The place was dominated by giant trees all around, and to the west, occasionally, the ruins of the roof of the "Fabrica" building were shimmering through the trees as a gentle breeze moved them.
"The Henge"
"The Henge" was fully covered by trees from the west, which was the reason why I had not seen it before when I was standing in front of the "Fabrica," looking around.
I was standing on a natural plateau about 10 to 12 meters above the valley's bottom. The purpose for the "parking lot" was unknown to me; no signs of how it had been used before could be found. Maybe it had been an area prepared to allow heavy equipment and trucks to be brought into place, and I was thinking about how I had deployed with a mobile SAMsystem 20 years ago in Northwest Germany several times during NATO exercises as part of my personal history. For example, large-size and heavy radar equipment mounted on wheeled trucks need dry, load-bearing soil for deployment. The soft and wet grounds of a forest would barely carry the heavy trucks, and if it had been parked somewhere, they probably would have sunk up to the axles in mud after a day of operation.
Was this place once used by heavy Wehrmacht trucks, carrying equipment used for the secret anti-gravity tests as mentioned by Cook and Witkowski?
Were those trucks carrying heavy scientific equipment, and were they connected by cable bundles to the device that - according to Witkowski – once was mounted inside the concrete structure at the end of the "parking lot," allowing a bunch of scientists to operate the "Nazi-Bell" from a relatively safe distance of some 50 meters? Besides the trucks carrying hefty and special test equipment, I imagined that there might have been tents or simple wooden barracks on the "parking lot," where those scientists had their labs and library, tents for food supply, and accommodation. All were quickly sent on the road by trucks or even rail within hours due to previous emergency moves from other places.
Well, I almost could see the scene in front of me and hear the barking commands of some SS men and the scientists standing around in groups, discussing the latest results and next steps to be taken. But then I realized that I had come there to find out the exact nature of the site that Igor Witkowski was so sure about and Nick Cook found so impressive.
I put back the bag with my food supply into my car and started to take notes and photos about this place. I walked along the edges of the "parking lot," measuring it with a folding rule that belonged, besides other items, to my equipment. The "parking lot" was about 30 by 90 meters, with the longer axis aligned to the north-south direction and "The Henge" located at its northern edge. Close to "The Henge," I found the remnants of three shafts, all about 30 by 30 centimeters and filled with debris and sand. I also found the duct next to "The Henge" on the northern edge of the "parking lot" that Witkowski showed to Cook late at night. Some other ducts, all filled with sand, gravel, and debris, could be located along the eastern and northern edge of the "parking lot" as well along the road passing "The Henge." Then I made a series of photos of the "The Henge," the surrounding area, and the ruins of the "Fabrica," which were barely visible through the trees to the west.
The following two hours, I spent collecting data about the size of the concrete structure that Witkowski stated might have been used as a test rig for what he called "The Nazi-Bell." According to Witkowski, the "Nazi-Bell" had been a secret device under development, which found a place at the Wenceslas Mines in late 1944, when the Allies were already approaching from the west, and the Red Army was only a few hundred kilometers away from the former German-Polish border.
And according to Witkowski, the concrete structure that he christened "The Henge" was the only evidence left of this secret Nazi project; this was why I spent quite a while measuring it and taking photos from various angles.
I measured the diameter of "The Henge," the average diameter of each of the eleven columns, the spacing between columns, and estimated the structure's height. There were 11 columns, each measuring 100 by 160 centimeters, with the smaller side towards the center of the structure. The columns were slightly decreasing in diameter towards the top of the structure. Spacing between columns was about 7.40 meters, measured from one column to the other. Therefore, the whole structure represented a circle with a circumference of 92.4 meters, which equals a diameter of about 29.5 meters. I made a rough drawing of the whole place, inserting the measurements that I had done so far. Then I investigated the soil within the circumference of the structure. Witkowski had claimed that the area inside "The Henge" once had been excavated and laid out with small tiles; according to Witkowski, they had been the same that were used in the test chamber that contained the Nazi-Bell during the secret test series. Well, I had brought a small foldable spade with me and started digging at three or four places within the circumference of "The Henge." I didn't find anything, only bare earth, full of worms and bugs and weed roots.
However, when I looked between the columns, I noticed the remnants of what might have been a concrete rim on the south-eastern edge, reaching around "The Henge" at a slightly larger diameter and about three meters outside the circle of columns. A portion of the rim of about four meters was left. The rest of the rim was either not accessible due to bushes or had been demolished a long time ago. The concrete rim had been painted with the same turquoise paint that had been used for the whole structure.
I measured the columns, the steelworks of the columns where they were accessible due to wear, measured the concrete rim and the soil within "The Henge." I also activated my Geiger counter, which I had brought to this place because it could not be ruled out in total, that the "Nazi-Bell" experiments - if they had been conducted here - might have left some radioactive footprints. Still, the level of radioactivity was well within the range of natural radiation. So, besides the strange look of the whole structure, nothing suspicious could be found and no hint what purpose this structure and the "parking lot" had served during the war years.
Witkowski had pointed out to Cook some metal bolts, which were visible on the top of the structure, right above every column. Witkowski concluded that those bolts once had absorbed the physical force of a heavy apparatus that must have been placed in the middle of the structure.
I made some close-in shots with my old Canon T70, on which I had mounted a 60-200 mm telelens. I also noted the residual of what must have been a bluish, almost turquoise coat of paint covering the whole concrete structure. To the North, some enormous trees were growing next to "The Henge," providing some protection against wear by weather and sun, and the turquoise paint was still quite visible there. The columns next to the "parking lot" were unprotected, and the concrete has turned into crumbs at some places, revealing the ironworks inside.
While I was busy making my way through the high grass and weeds, I noticed that occasionally some people used the fine weather for a walk along the "parking lot" and "The Henge." So, this place seemed to be well known by quite a few people around Ludwikowice. Then, while taking some more photos of the "test rig," another group of people came by. It was a Polish family, mom, dad, and a son aged about 16 or 17, equipped with a digicam, taking shots of the place and talking to his parents in Polish. I wondered how many people knew of this place and if somebody could tell more about the Wenceslas Mine and "The Henge." So I decided to try it and turned to the man, asking him if he could understand English. The man spoke English very well, so did his son, and soon we were in a pleasant conversation about that strange place. I asked him if he had ever heard about one Igor Witkowski, which he confirmed. At least in Poland, Witkowski seems to be popular.
I showed Nick Cook's book to him and explained that it had been because of Witkowski's claims why I had come to this place. We then discussed the possible purpose of "The Henge," and I told the Polish guy, who by the way was a salesman living only a few villages away from Ludwikowice, that Witkowski believed that this concrete structure once had been used as a test rig for a secret Nazi-experiment. He laughed and then explained that he had seen a similar structure elsewhere and that it was the base structure of a cooling tower, as it was used next to a power plant. Now, that was what I called "Bingo"! Maybe I was lucky because I was born on a Sunday, and people in my hometown always said that someone born on a Sunday usually is a fortunate person. However, I had come from 600 km away to this abandoned place to meet somebody who could tell me of another site with a similar concrete structure to be seen. I got excited. This probably turned out to be an exciting trip, not only because I had followed the description of a place in a foreign country given in a book and that I had managed to find this very place, but now it seemed that I was given the opportunity to solve this mystery at the same time!
I was almost done at "The Henge," all measurements recorded and lots of photos taken with my digicam and my old Canon, and I decided to make a sweep to see more of the surrounding area. I followed the road, passing "The Henge" to the North, and after 500 meters, I found another bunker complex hidden among the trees and bushes. There were about five large buildings along a minor road heading away to the east, and the timber fellows that I had met earlier this day had chopped some of the trees in this area, leaving many tractor marks on the soft forest ground. Their purpose was not clear. However, they appeared to have been used as storage buildings.
The road came to an intersection about one kilometer north of "The Henge," and a modern asphalt road led to the left back to Ludwikowice. I walked along and came back to the "Fabrica" ruins, but this time I was on the plateau above the valley's bottom, and I went to find a place with an excellent overview to take some shots.
Then I realized that I had found the exact place that the photographer who did the photos for Nick Cook's book must have chosen. The location is right next to the ruins of the "Fabrica," just south of it and above the concrete wall with that tunnel that I had passed when I walked along the valley earlier.
I opened Cook's book, and looking at the photos about the area of the Wenceslas Mines, I compared them with the details that I could see from this perspective. And here are the photos for comparison.
I had not recognized the ruins of that two-story house that I had passed before as the "large redbrick house, an original 19th-century feature of the Wenceslas Mines" that is depicted in Cook's book. From this new perspective, it was the same place, and sometime in between the photos, the Brick House must have collapsed or been demolished partially. Same for the tower construction with the tanks, barely visible through the bushes in a northerly direction. I had passed it on the way to the "Fabrica," too, and had seen it through the trees and bushes when I drove my car to the "parking lot."
"Henge's" Twin
I checked the time and decided to pack my stuff and continue to the place where according to the Polish salesman, a similar construction was still in use - Siechnice. The town is located about 25 kilometers southeast of Wroclaw. I arrived there about 4:30 PM, approached the town from the south. Already from a distance of several kilometers, the chimneys of the Siechnice power plant could be seen slightly to the right of the road. I stopped at the outskirts of a company's parking lot, got out of my car, and took the first shots of this facility. Besides an older cooling tower, there was a newer type in operation. But it was the older one that I was interested in because even from a distance, I could recognize that it was not built of concrete like the new one, it had a different structure, obviously made of metal sheets connected to form a big tube. The steel cables keeping the structure in place were visible. As predicted, the weather had changed, and the sun was hiding behind an increasing cloud layer, so when I arrived at Siechnice, there was no chance of getting photos in bright sunshine anymore. Some thunderstorm clouds were building up in the southwest, where I had come from, and I had to face a trip back home in rainy weather.
Ten minutes later, I pulled into a narrow road, which led to the power plant. There was no access to the spot when I reached the location as a big wall kept trespassers out of the power plant's area. I parked my car on the opposite side of the wall, close to the main gate of the power plant, and read the signs telling me that entering without permission was forbidden as well as taking photos. I was still on the outside of this restricted area and took my camera with me when I left the car. Although I could not access the cooling tower, the sight from the road was well enough to take some photos of the whole cooling tower construction, enough to make it comparable in detail with the structure that I had visited in Ludwikowice.
The similarities between the concrete structure known as "The Henge" and the base structure of this cooling tower in Siechnice are apparent. Although the number of columns does not match (12 at Siecnice and 11 at Ludwikowice), I am sure that even their dimensions are almost the same. The construction features are the same, leading to the assumption that the cooling tower and "The Henge" once were built using the same plans, maybe even the same construction company. I had no luck finding out when the cooling tower in Siechnice was erected, but it is in very good condition, and I think it was built after WW II, maybe in the 1960s or 1970s.
However, comparing the details of both "The Henge" with the Siechnice cooling tower, the purpose of the bolts mentioned by Witkowski becomes clear: The upper metal construction of the cooling tower is resting on exactly those 12 bolts, being visible just on top of every column like they can be seen at "The Henge." Sorry, Mr. Witkowski, but your theory goes down the drain at this point. The concrete structure you referred to as a possible "test rig" for carrying the "Nazi-Bell" inside is no more than the remnant of a cooling tower. And, considering this fact, it appears very plausible that the power plant at the northern end of the valley, next to the "Fabrica," would have had a cooling tower, and an excellent place to erect that cooling tower would have been the bank right next to the "Fabrica." Of course, the "Fabrica," whatever it may have produced, would have needed vast amounts of electricity, and this is a very remote location. Building a power plant next to the factory would have been feasible, producing the required electricity from the coal coming from the in-place Wenceslas Mines. As Cook wrote himself, there was a power plant at the end of the valley, and Witkowski showed it to him. As a summary concluding my trip report, I will show the subjects of interest side by side for better comparison.
This concludes my trip report to Ludwikowice and Siechnice in Poland. I now would like to add some critical comments of how Mr. Witkowski, Mr. Cook, and recently also Mr. Ventura of american-antigravity.com handled the story of "The Henge."
The "Mulder-effect"
On the wall in front of me, right beside my PC screen, there is a small poster hanging, showing a UFO hovering above trees and the famous words below, "I want to believe." You may already know which poster I mean. It is a reprint of that famous UFO poster once hanging on the wall next to Fox Mulder's desk, and for me, it is a constant warning always in front of my eyes. A warning? Yes, because it says straight that there are many people around who are very, very gullible and more than ready to accept anything that matches their point of view regarding certain things and theories, be they political, social, religious, or other subjects. This includes people interested in occult stuff and UFO- research, of course. I put this poster on the wall right in front of me, so it always reminds me not to lose objectivity when investigating stories. Otherwise, I would only look for 'facts' supporting my theories and become blind and deaf for any other sources. People who lose their objectivity run into the Mulder effect. This appeared to have happened to Mr. Witkowski, maybe also to Mr. Cook to a certain degree, and for sure it happened to Mr. Ventura, as I will explain next.
Mr. Igor Witkowski: Claims that he knows about the Nazi-German device, which he called the "Nazi-Bell." According to him, classified documents exist that refer to the Wenceslas Mine as the last known location where the "Nazi-Bell" had been tested. He admitted to me that he does not even have copies of those documents and that those records had to be returned to the archive of the Polish Intelligence Service.
According to Mr. Witkowski, the description of those secret tests included the location of the concrete structure near Ludwikowice in Poland, the one that I visited myself in August 2005 and which is the subject of my trip report. Mr. Witkowski is convinced that the concrete structure was used as a test rig to mount the Nazi-Bell onto because some other details belonging to a cooling tower could not be found at Ludwikowice. In an email he sent to me, dated 22 November 2005, he wrote that there wasn't "any trace of pipelines, either in the duct or in the nearby power plant. So I presented another hypothesis, that it wasn't a cooling tower, but frankly saying, I have no evidence as to the purpose, I mean it wasn't mentioned in the sources, only that experiments were carried out in a pool..."
Mr. Nick Cook: Together with Mr. Witkowski, he visited the site in Poland and included Witkowski's theory about the alleged purpose of the concrete structure into his book "The Hunt for Zero Point." This gave a real boost to Witkowski's popularity, making his story the subject of many other publications so far. Mr. Cook adopted Witkowski's claims, but maintained them in a neutral way.
Mr. Ventura referred to the story published in Cook's book, thereby adopting it a second time. But this time, the theory of "The Henge" was no longer handled as a theory - which still would have been the correct way - this time, the alleged purpose of the concrete structure was taken as a fact:
Just note the text below the first picture in this article by Tim Ventura: "The Nazi-Bell: No evidence remains other than this abandoned test-rig...or does it ?" Beg you pardon, but what makes the concrete structure at Ludwikowice a 'test-rig" for the Nazi-Bell, and why then is it referred to as 'evidence"? Because Witkowski claimed so? Because Cook repeated those claims in his book?
The pdf article is full of similar statements, as you will see while reading it. It is about time to make a clear statement and divide speculation from facts. So what do we have about the "test rig"? Mr. Witkowski "may have" had access to classified sources that unveiled detailed information about the "Nazi-Bell" and the tests conducted at Ludwikowice. He failed to show any evidence for those records so far, but that might be OK because of the nature of those sources. Concerning the concrete structure at Ludwikowice, it looks like Mr. Witkowski fully ran into the Mulder effect, mixing up his assumptions with his wishes to find something that could support his theory or the story. It seems to me that he was so fixated on the idea that "The Henge" was the place for the last "Nazi-Bell" experiment that he ruled out any other explanation for that concrete structure.
When Nick Cook visited the site at Ludwikowice together with Witkowski, he became strongly influenced by Witkowski's arguments, which were only based upon his assumptions, as we now know. But speaking about Nick Cook, he might have stepped into the Mulder effect as well because he was looking for anything that could support his theory of secret Nazi experiments dealing with Zero Point Energy and anti-gravity devices, and he willingly adopted Witkowski's claims as to the most logical explanation for the concrete structure at Ludwikowice.
And finally, there is Tim Ventura, who failed to differentiate speculations from facts, presenting several photos of the "test-rig" in his article about the "Nazi-Bell," and promoting the up-to-then theory or claim about the purpose of "The Henge" as a fact, stating: "This is evidence." Mr. Ventura, it is not as you may have realized after reading my trip report.
As a summary, I would like to give good advice to everybody researching or investigating stories like the Philadelphia Experiment, the Montauk Project, Anti-gravity, or Nazie experiments: Be always sure that you extensively check out the sources that are available before presenting a doubtful mix of facts and wishful thinking to the public. It requires time, objectivity, and sometimes even money to do so. If you are not willing to follow this advice, you likely will end up with half-truth and half-fiction, which for sure is not what you want to make public.
There is a creeping process of turning speculations, rumors, and claims into facts by quoting them repeatedly.
Stay away from the Mulder effect.
Gerold Schelm
November 2005.