#ley-lines — Public Fediverse posts

Here's a special door for #doorsday ... its bright yellow colour drew me down this lane, only to discover it was once the residence of one of my 'heroes' ... Alfred Watkins ... author of The Old Straight Track, and positer of Ley Lines 🤩

#photography #archaeology #EarthMysteries #AncientBritannia #Leylines

Here's a special door for #doorsday ... its bright yellow colour drew me down this lane, only to discover it was once the residence of one of my 'heroes' ... Alfred Watkins ... author of The Old Straight Track, and positer of Ley Lines 🤩

#photography #archaeology #EarthMysteries #AncientBritannia #Leylines

Anyone know this book? Really about time I read it ... it's been on my shelf a loooong time 🙄

#books #leylines #earthenergies

Anyone know this book? Really about time I read it ... it's been on my shelf a loooong time 🙄

#books #leylines #earthenergies

Good morning Mastodon I’m having good start to the day with Lemon and Manuka tea then meditation. Happy Earth day! Everything on this wonderful planet is interlinked, daily nurture of Gaia. #Gridlines #Leylines #EarthDay

Good morning Mastodon I’m having good start to the day with Lemon and Manuka tea then meditation. Happy Earth day! Everything on this wonderful planet is interlinked, daily nurture of Gaia. #Gridlines #Leylines #EarthDay

Ley lines are theoretical alignments of significant historical and natural sites, believed to form a network of mystical energy. #leylines https://connectparanormal.net/2024/10/19/ley-lines-myths-history-and-modern-beliefs/

Ley lines are theoretical alignments of significant historical and natural sites, believed to form a network of mystical energy. #leylines https://connectparanormal.net/2024/10/19/ley-lines-myths-history-and-modern-beliefs/

#roon #music #nowplaying 👍

https://ultimae.bandcamp.com/album/leylines-remaster-2025

#Electronic #aes #Dana #Ambient #Cinematic #DownTempo #idm #Leylines #Psybient #Ultimae #vincent #villuis #Lyon

À travers continents et siècles, certaines lignes mystérieuses semblent relier les lieux que l’humanité a choisis comme sacrés. Qu’il s’agisse de coïncidences heureuses ou de calculs d’une précision troublante, les alignements de sites sacrés posent une question délicieuse : et si nos ancêtres savaient bien plus que ce que nous leur prêtons ?

#paranormal #mystère #mystery #mythe #ésotérique #leylines

https://mesplaisirs.com/la-trame-energetique-des-anciens-batisseurs/

UK survey respondents love earth mysteries

New poll results about paranormal belief in the UK show that “earth mysteries” are really popular across the pond. US surveys don’t ask about these beliefs, so we can’t compare. That is just one of many complications that make it difficult to make sense out of poll numbers reflecting levels of paranormal beliefs over time.

Over the years, I’ve tracked belief in paranormal concepts, mostly in the US. It’s been interesting to see people claim that belief has increased, because it’s very much more complicated than that. Factors that increase or decrease not only belief, but social acceptance of those beliefs, are many and various. Media certainly has something to do with it, as well as a rejection of traditional religious practices. Several studies have found a correlation with between religion and the paranormal.

Yearly surveys are common, but not all are good. You can read about difficulties with belief surveys here:

https://sharonahill.com/ghost-belief-in-the-us-varies-widely-by-year-and-source/

I have updated my tracking table regarding ghost belief to include the one report I found for 2024. It’s fun to look at and ponder but is it really useful? I don’t know.

A new paper came out measuring belief in paranormal concepts in the UK.[1] It’s not surprising that there would be a difference in popularity of certain beliefs between the US and UK. For example, I would guess that the US population has a higher percentage of belief in UFOs and Bigfoot, but I should not assume because these polls are always tricky to interpret and not reliable. From the abstract:

The study makes four contributions to research on the paranormal by a) reiterating the continuing popularity of paranormal beliefs, even in highly secularized locations, with over 70% of people in the United Kingdom believing in something paranormal; b) demonstrating that these beliefs are differentiated across contexts where they might otherwise be assumed to be similar; c) demonstrating the applicability of social control and bounded affinity theories for explaining belief in the paranormal;
and, d) documenting how conventional religiosity relates to paranormalism in a relatively secular cultural context. These findings highlight the need for further research on diffuse forms of supernaturalism
and the potential for such studies to contribute to important questions about theory and research in sociology.

The 70% may be surprising at first, however, it is similar to the U.S. When you give an array of people a list of many choices, they likely will favor at least a few.

You can read the entire paper here. Let’s look at the top beliefs that showed up in this survey.

The highest levels of belief were reported for issues related to earth mysteries, with belief in dowsing (45.6%) and ley lines (41.5%) registering the highest affirmative responses. Beyond this, the highest levels of belief were reported for black magic (36.3%), hauntings (35.9%), mysterious creatures (32.9%), and curses (30.0%). The lowest levels of belief were reported for belief in Bigfoot (14.8%), the U.K. Wildman (14.8%), and fairies (15.4%).

Dowsing and ley lines! I have thoughts. Obviously, earth mysteries relates to my interest in spooky geology. I have first-hand experience in seeing how attached people are to their belief in dowsing. I have also seen the increased mention of ley lines in paranormal contexts. Currently, reports of spook lights or encounters with mysterious balls of light (BOL) are increasing, particularly related to cryptids. The association with “window areas” and, in turn, a connection to earth energies, is a given.

Belief in dowsing and ley lines might be less in the US because, at least for leys, the concept began in the UK and is more tied to their history and heritage. However, I don’t recall either of these being an option in US surveys. That is unsurprising as you have to limit your choices and such surveys already include a pretty long list related to cryptids, ghosts, aliens, Atlantis, psi, etc. So I do wonder what the comparison would really be regarding dowsing and leys in the US vs UK, especially considering the rising media inclusion of BOL and high strangeness areas.

I’m unclear why this these two options were included in this recent UK survey. I haven’t seen their inclusion before. In the past surveys (done by Baker and Bader) the focus was more on fears, but included paranormal beliefs such as ancient civilizations and telekinesis. “Black magic” was framed as demons or the devil. It’s similar but may not be interpreted the same way by respondents. As always, the phrasing of questions is always a problem. Notice the phrasing in this survey (with the percentage of “belief” shown):

• Dowsing can be used to detect water, minerals and other elements 46.5
• Lines of energy, sometimes called “ley lines,” connect ancient structures 41.5
• Black Magic exists 36.3
• Places can be haunted by spirits 35.9
• Mysterious creatures, previously thought extinct, still inhabit this world 32.9
• Curses can be used to inflict harm or punishment on someone 30.0
• The ancient, advanced civilization of Atlantis, once existed 26.3
• Aliens have visited the Earth in our ancient past 25.6
• Some crop circles are created by non-human forces or energies 25.4
• Alien Big Cats (ABCs) roam the British countryside 21.6
• Aliens have come to Earth in modern times 21.6
• Some people can move objects with their minds (telekinesis) 19.5
• The Loch Ness Monster exists 19.5
• Fortune tellers and psychics can foresee the future 18.9
• The Abominable Snowman exists 15.9
• Fairies have the power to influence the human world 15.4
• Bigfoot is a real creature 14.8
• The U.K. Wildman, sometimes known as “the British Bigfoot,” exists 14.8
• Believe in at least one item above 78.3
• Believe in at least one item above (excluding earth mysteries) 71.5

I could critique the phrasing on almost all of them for some reason. Just a one word change may prompt a different answer. Example: “Mysterious creatures, previously thought extinct, still inhabit this world”. What does that even mean? Ivory billed woodpeckers? Dinosaurs? It’s a terrible phrasing structure, but you have to do some lumping to be as comprehensive as possible. The ley lines question puts them in context of connecting ancient structures but also loops in “lines of energy”. This conflates multiple ideas about leys.

Similarly, those who respond to these questions may not have a full understanding of what is being described. Many people mistakenly think that dowsing has some strange, but scientific, basis. As with ley lines, the idea of “energy” from the earth may suggest that there is some natural component at work that we haven’t yet discovered. Those kinds of belief may seem less paranormal than aliens, curses, or magic. Typically, higher education is correlated with lower levels of belief, but not in all concepts. This complexity shows how difficult it is to parse out why people believe weird things.

In conclusion, while I find these surveys interesting, there is a lot going on in the background and interpretations are context-dependent, which renders the percentages suspect. I’m beginning to question if we can make any kinds of concrete assumptions from them. The latest study concludes that the researchers are hopeful that “social scientists will further explore this interesting and consequential form of culture, across a wider range of social contexts.” I agree with this – paranormal beliefs are an important part of our culture and need to be recognized as such – but I would prefer a careful approach. Reported high percentages of belief in the paranormal sure are interesting, but is not something to fret about. It has always been, and always will be present.

———-

1. Tom Clark, Joseph O. Baker & Christopher D. Bader (10 Feb 2025): Marginalized, Secularized, and Popularized? The Prevalence and Patterns of Paranormal Belief in the United Kingdom, The Sociological Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/00380253.2025.2461298

#beliefInGhosts #dowsing #earthMysteries #Ghosts #leyLines #paranormalBelief #problemWithSurveys #surveyOfParanormalBelief #UK

https://sharonahill.com/?p=9466

Ley lines are theoretical alignments of significant historical and natural sites, believed to form a network of mystical energy. #leylines https://connectparanormal.net/2024/10/19/ley-lines-myths-history-and-modern-beliefs/

Of course we're tackling ley lines and ritual landscapes at Writing the Occult: Connection to Land on 15 June - and we've got none other than Caroline Wise to shed some light. Here's what she's got planned.🧵⬇️

writingtheoccult.carrd.co

#occult #occultwriting #occultritual #leylines #writersofmastodon #landscape #rituallandscape

Of course we're tackling ley lines and ritual landscapes at Writing the Occult: Connection to Land on 15 June - and we've got none other than Caroline Wise to shed some light. Here's what she's got planned.🧵⬇️

writingtheoccult.carrd.co

#occult #occultwriting #occultritual #leylines #writersofmastodon #landscape #rituallandscape

@spookygirl ask Andy ? @megalithic #geomancy #LeyLines

@spookygirl ask Andy ? @megalithic #geomancy #LeyLines

I’m seeking an expert in geomancy, ley lines, and occult practices involving the land to speak at an online event on 15 June. Anyone you’d suggest? Can be skeptic or believer, as long as they can explain the concept! It’s a paid gig, and the audience is mainly writers.

It's for my next Writing the Occult, which is about connections to the land - so if you have other suggestions that fit that theme, I’d also love to hear them.

#occult #folklore #occultpractices #occultist #leylines #geomancy

I’m seeking an expert in geomancy, ley lines, and occult practices involving the land to speak at an online event on 15 June. Anyone you’d suggest? Can be skeptic or believer, as long as they can explain the concept! It’s a paid gig, and the audience is mainly writers.

It's for my next Writing the Occult, which is about connections to the land - so if you have other suggestions that fit that theme, I’d also love to hear them.

#occult #folklore #occultpractices #occultist #leylines #geomancy

It’s a common claim by paranormalists that there are special places on earth where “energy” whirls are responsible for strange phenomena reported at those locations. They are called paranormal or energy “vortex” areas. The crystallization of the “vortex” idea in this context began with a popular proponent of mysterious subjects who identified twelve equidistant areas around the globe with peculiar characteristics. Since then, the idea of a paranormal vortex has evolved. The term became flexible enough to be employed as the cause of localized anomalies, to “explain” areas of unusual natural or historical features, and to label places heavily laden with reports of “high strangeness”.

If you look up the word “vortex” in the metaphysical context (that is, not the actual scientific definition based on fluid dynamics), you will find it used in association with places like Sedona, Arizona, and areas where there is a concentration of reports of paranormal phenomena. These vortices (or vortexes) can be considered good or bad but the premise is that the vortex area is unusual in some way – it is a location of exceptional “energy” drawn from the earth. Some writers will go so far as to say these are areas where “known laws of physics don’t apply” or where the connection to the spirit world or other dimensions can be accessed. 

In a scientific framework, such areas of unusual energy could be measured and documented. But it is not so at these energy vortex locations. The effect is measured only in subjective human feelings or interpretation of observations, making the case for paranormal vortex areas entirely unscientific. The upwards or downwards swirling “energy” can be felt or used as a convenient ploy to explain areas of transcendence or high strangeness.

Ivan T. Sanderson’s Vile Vortices

The origin of paranormal vortex areas was not exactly scientific, but it was made to appear so. It was fortuitous and coincidental and then fitted to look precise. In 1968, Ivan T. Sanderson, a popular and influential writer about mysterious phenomena proposed the idea that there were 12 tilted oval areas located equidistantly around the globe  – ten of which were along defined latitudes north and south of the equator and an additional two at the poles. The locations corresponded to points of the earth’s surface on a grid. The vortex areas were located on the vertices of an icosahedron (a 20-faced polyhedron). Therefore, we find a tie-in with the concept of sacred geometry of the earth – a mathematical means of showing design in the earth’s features. (That’s a tangent to be examined at another time.)  

Originally labeled as areas of collected anomalies, Sanderson called these twelve spots “Vile Vortices”. The impetus for the mapping of these areas, according to Sanderson, was his research into what he believed were unexplained plane and ship disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle in the Atlantic and the “Devil’s Sea” area in the Pacific. Both areas fell along the 36 deg north latitude.

Sanderson seemed to have some help in further examination of these latitudes that resulted in identifying other sites where “funny things happen”. The oval shapes or “lozenges” trended southwest-northeast at exactly 72 degrees apart latitudinally (5 steps of 72 degrees = 360). That seemed like a pretty spooky fit! With the help of other researchers who did things like stick skewers through a model globe, Sanderson, et al. identified a band in the southern hemisphere at 36 degrees south latitude where notable locations also appeared 72 degrees apart, but on a 23.5-degree latitude shift. These other areas in the Southern Hemisphere included Easter Islands and the South Atlantic Anomaly.

Sanderson played up his evidence in a television appearance and in articles and books, continuing to update the idea for several years. The vile vortices concept was connected to dangerous, perplexing powers of the earth that manifested in precise locations.

Critical problems surfaced immediately with Sanderson’s idea. Firstly, the locations on the mathematically tidy map didn’t line up with the perceived anomalies that supposedly defined them. The locations of these vile vortices eventually meandered and became less exact. Later, some paranormalists asserted that the perimeters of the spooky areas would wax and wane, and maybe even wander, under the influence of ambiguous forces. Secondly, with only moderate effort, one can discover that there is nothing particularly unusual about these places and that the mysteries were enhanced or outright manufactured. 

Sanderson even admitted that the effect in the Bermuda Triangle, his key vortex feature, was “weak” because many planes and ships pass through daily without incident. Fishing boats in both the Bermuda and Dragon’s Triangle – the dramatic name for the Devil’s Sea area off the coast of Japan – certainly experienced occasional and unsurprising trouble due to mechanical failure, waves, and storms, just like sea-going vessels everywhere, but those mundane causes were downplayed or ignored.

Any weirdness that was rumored to be caused by vile vortex energy in the mid to late 20th century dissolved when more rational investigation and statistics were applied. Notably, the mysterious hazards supposedly apparent around the devil’s triangles of the Atlantic and Pacific were never acknowledged by the officials from either the US or Japan.

Ley lines

Related, but somewhat separate from an earth grid is the idea of lines of energy lines called “leys”. (See Leylines: From the Old Straight Track to the Ghostbuster Vortex for a background on leys.) If one accepts that leys exist and that mysterious earth energy flows through them, it seems reasonable to subsequently conclude that where ley lines intersected (a “node”), some “funny things” might happen. The energy could, supposedly, amplify and swirl into a vortex. Following the maxims of pop cultural exchange, it’s unsurprising that paranormalists would find the mysterious energy vortices interesting. Leys became associated with providing energy for paranormal manifestation of all kinds – ghosts, sacred areas, healing places, UFO highways, etc. Because leys weren’t limited to certain nexus points on a grid, they could be “discovered” everywhere. And wherever these lines crossed, that area might be deemed a vortex. 

Sounds Sciencey

Describing the cause of strange phenomena as an energy vortex sounded very “sciencey”. Terms like magnetism and electromagnetic energy were used to define the forces. The term “energy” is widely misused by paranormalists because it sounds impressive. Vortex areas are said to “hold more energy” or have an “upward flow of energy”. With the exception of areas of natural geomagnetic or gravity anomalies that could be readily explained, vortex proponents downplayed the fact that there were no documented anomalous measurements in vortex areas. The lack of evidence and measurements undermined the acceptance of vile vortices from the start. This supposedly dangerous force affecting planes, boats, and the atmosphere has only been quantified by speculative and subjective means. 

When it became obvious that physical energy (in the form of measurable flowing electrons) wasn’t noticeably different in these areas, vortex claimants pivoted to calling the effect “spiritual” or psychic “energy” – a term for something that is not scientifically defined or measurable. That makes definitively documenting vortices conveniently impossible.

According to a website called “Vortex Hunters”, a vortex will cause normal devices to not register correctly:

“Traditional test equipment devices can be ineffective in sensing the unknown energies claimed to be present at some vortexes. Often, the best evidence of a vortex is how people feel when they are in one.”

VortexHunters.com

A critical component of scientific investigation is to minimize personal bias and subjectivity. How one “feels” is the least reliable method of measurement. The admission that vortices cannot be objectively detected is a giveaway that they are more imaginary than real. 

Continuing on this theme of detectably-undetectable energy, you can discover magical vortex areas by using magical tools like pendulums or dowsing rods. Or, as some vortex hunters claim, a person will sense tingling or an electrical feeling when in a vortex area. The vortex energy, some dauntless paranormalists state, may open a portal to another dimension. The portal conveniently allows spirits, aliens, or unusual creatures to appear and disappear without a trace. 

A few self-proclaimed “vortex scientists” describe some huge energy vortexes hundreds of miles across and part of a larger Fibonacci spiral thousands of miles across connecting important features. This is similar to ley lines but in circular and “quantum” terms. Appealing to quantum physics is a common and practical way of sounding sciencey to a non-scientist audience because the jargon sounds impressive but is nonsense. Quantum energy has nothing to do with the way people feel at vortex locations. The construction of complex, speculative concepts to explain mystery areas is effective in making the public believe that something extraordinary and real is occurring at that place. A critical evaluation of vortex areas reveals that they are designated based on pattern-seeking. If a location was famous for its strangeness, it can be labeled by someone as a vortex just by declaring it to be so. Eventually, many areas worldwide were called vortices as the use of term “vortex” expanded.

It’s in the rock

Many places around the world that are noted to be “energy vortexes” are also striking geological features (Sedona, Ibiza, Mt. Shasta, Haleakala, Uluru) or man-made stone structures (Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, Glastonbury Tor, Pyramid of Giza). So, vortex promoters say there is something about the rock.

Citing the bedrock composition as a key to vortex energy sounds legitimate and scientific. It’s not difficult to find many ghost hunters or UFO seekers citing the presence of limestone or quartz (and sometimes iron or gold) in the underlying rock as the catalyst that amplifies the earth’s energy to power paranormal activity. Their vague reasoning asserts that limestone or quartz more effectively channels or concentrates the energy. This may sound technical, but it’s science fiction to geologists. Limestone and quartz-containing bedrock (commonly, sandstone or granite) are ubiquitous in the crust and have been widely evaluated for their physical properties for all sorts of uses. There is nothing inherent in these rock types linked to the generation or focusing of physical or mystical energy. (Concepts of piezoelectricity, telluric currents, or conductivity are regularly abused for this purpose.) Tellingly, most paranormalists who proclaim this bedrock connection never check their local geological map. Sometimes neither limestone nor quartz is present. (To wit: shale and basalt are also ubiquitous.)

Another geological claim is that magnetic or gravitational anomalies in the crust fuel the energy vortex. There are maps of such anomalies around the globe. Magnetic anomalies are local variations in the earth’s magnetic field on the surface caused by differences in chemistry and magnetism of materials under the surface. Gravity anomalies are differences between the locally observed and the theoretically calculated value of gravity that reflects local variations in the density of the underlying rocks. These features are dictated by geological structure. For example, anomalies will appear in areas where the bedrock deviates from average density or composition because of ore bodies, or tectonic features. It’s just not mysterious. Such anomalies do not cause a human physiological response, regardless of the claims. This is well-established; to claim otherwise is delusory.

Popular paranormal vortices

Let’s take a look at a few common locations said to be paranormal vortices. These include so-called “mystery spots”, a few other designated triangular areas, and zones of “high strangeness” where all kinds of weird observations are reported.

Oregon Vortex: The location of the House of Mystery in Gold Hill, Oregon. Opened to the public as a tourist attraction in 1930, the location is advertised as an area of unique phenomena where “everyday physical facts are reversed” because of a spherical force field. It was the nation’s first “mystery spot” roadside attraction typically consisting of crooked buildings that create optical illusions against the landscape. Though there are self-published research findings for the Oregon Vortex, none of it is solid and the work is considered to be pseudoscience.

Santa Cruz Mystery spot: A tourist attraction near Santa Cruz, California since 1939 featuring a tilted house enhanced by sloped land. The original owner was inspired by the Oregon Vortex attraction. The site has accumulated legends and exaggerated stories about the disconcerting effects. Many other similar tourist spots like this have been built around the country after the initial mystery spots gained attention from traveling families. While it is true that the site can be disorienting, the cause is not paranormal energy.

Sedona, AZ: Likely the most famous area of “energy vortexes” in the world. Several “positive” vortex areas are said to exist around Sedona that supposedly promote a sense of well-being, healing, high emotion, spiritual awareness, feeling of connection to the universe, and sometimes even visions. The energy is also said to manifest in signs such as twisted trees and light anomalies. The town is blessed with amazing climate and incredible erosional features carved into the red rock formations. The Oak Creek Canyon leading to Sedona is one of the few stream valleys in Arizona that flows all year. The location always served as a draw for artists, retirees and people seeking quiet and natural scenic beauty. The focus on spirituality began in the 1940s. By the 1960s, new age religious leaders were capitalizing on the location, seeking special cosmic energy there. The first use of the term “vortex” in reference to Sedona may have been around 1980. Sedona as a “vortex energy center” culminated in 1987 when thousands came for the harmonic convergence of the planets. Since then, the town jumped onboard the “vortex” theme. Several commercial ventures, from stores, resorts, and guided tours capitalize on exposing tourists to the vortex locations. There is no doubt that there is something “special” about this place – it’s jaw-droppingly gorgeous. It feels sacred and magical for very non-paranormal reasons. As with other vortex areas, there is no unique “energy” measurement that can be demonstrated here. Any unusual observation, however, is gleefully claimed to be the result of a vortex.

Gallery: Infamous Bell Rock in Sedona (top left). Next (middle left) is a camera light anomaly captured by the author but what some would call a “light vortex”. The Sedona Crystal Vortex (lower left) is one of the many New Age shops in Downtown Sedona that capitalized on its mystical reputation. A twisted desert juniper tree near the base of Bell Rock (right). All photos by S. Hill.

Glastonbury, UK: A town in Somerset, England that has evidence of occupation for thousands of years and has accumulated extensive colorful legends. Glastonbury is recognized as a key location for the development of “New Age” beliefs. The place is said to be sacred and magical. Some reasoned that its specialness comes from the vortex energy derived from the intersection of ley lines that occurs here.

Bermuda Triangle: The first recognized “vortex”. The mysterious phenomenon of the location is still hyped by paranormal writers who erroneously claim that disappearances of ships and planes must have a more dramatic cause other than mechanical troubles, human error, or rough seas and storms. 

Dragon’s Triangle: Said to be a “twin” area of the Bermuda Triangle off the coast of Japan where vessels disappear. In 1953, the research ship No. 5 Kaiyo Maru was sunk in the “Devil’s Sea” area after encountering an erupting undersea volcano. While this was undoubtedly an unusual incident, it was not mysterious. The remains of the ship were positively identified in the area where the submarine volcano exploded. The claims about missing boats or aircraft were real, but exaggerated by mystery mongers like author Charles Berlitz who wrote about both triangle areas and other paranormal subjects. Not everyone looked at the statistics and facts, certainly not Berliz who cherry-picked and inflated certain events to bolster the mystery.

For a time, the Great Lakes (Lake Michigan) Triangle was also considered an especially dangerous area for ships. But, as with other deep water areas, the disappearance of vessels might be immediately undetermined but usually not so mysterious.

Paranormal Triangles: Drawing triangles is easy; you simply need three points of reference. Paranormalists who conclude that certain areas have more than the usual number of weird experiences and phenomena sometimes refer to locations as areas of “high strangeness”. If a triangle can be drawn, a catchy name can be given and the weird stories multiply. “Weird” areas with a concentration of reports of UFOs, monsters, ghosts, demonic activity, anomalous atmospheric events, strange behavior of living things, disorientation, illness, compass anomalies, deaths, and disappearances are frequently referred to as “paranormal vortex” areas. These areas may be large or localized.  Famous land triangle areas include the Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts and the Bennington Triangle in Vermont. These are associated with disappearances, suicides, murders, earth lights, mystery aircraft sightings, the appearance of strange creatures, time slips, hauntings, and almost any other kind of creepy tale you can think of. 

The trend to label areas of high strangeness and popularize them in the media is growing. Calling an area a “paranormal vortex” suggest that some mysterious and unidentified “energy” is behind the myriad of strange goings on. It enhances their reputation and makes people far more curious about them. Examples include Skinwalker Ranch and the greater Uinta basin in Utah, San Luis Valley, California, Mt Shasta, California, and Dulce, New Mexico. 

Places that seem even a bit unusual or have a mysterious history – such as Ringing Rocks in Pennsylvania, the Hudson River Valley of New York, and the Superstition Mountains of Arizona – are also called vortex areas by some paranormal enthusiasts. The application of the term “vortex” to describe areas of paranormal activity is vague and inconsistent because there is no concrete phenomenon to pin down. Ghost hunters will invoke the term to describe any localized incident where they felt strange, had equipment malfunction or recorded environmental anomalies. For a few years, paranormal investigators who took flash photographs with cameras would catch illuminated swirls and call them “vortexes” of paranormal energy.

Conclusion on the paranormal vortex

The concept of vortex areas as zones of paranormal or spiritual energy forces remains popular today even though the evidence points strongly to the vortices being imaginary constructs developed and propagated by creative people. Vile vortices ended up being a debased device to explain everything paranormal but nothing verifiable in a particular location. Mathematic and geometric attempts to quantify a paranormal area failed because the earth is not based on a design – its near-surface is complex and heterogeneous, and the subjective data didn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Humans are fantastic at identifying patterns in occurrences and making spurious correlations that aren’t connected to the real cause, especially if those means result in media attention or attract tourist dollars. Paranormalists rely on vague, subjective feelings, weak data, speculation, and dramatic scary stories to convince an audience of their claims, all of which have been used to promote vortex areas. The energy or paranormal vortex is a handy way to combine odd experiences into a location and attempt to explain them. Inventive writers and businesspeople played up spiritual and sciencey themes to enhance mystery and magic in the world. 

As great as it would be to discover an energy vortex and pin down the cause of so-called paranormal activity, the evidence supporting vortices as a particular, genuine feature of earth fizzled out.

Bibliography

In addition to the inline reference links above, the following sources were used.

Dunning, Brian Skeptoid Podcast “The Bermuda Triangle and the Devil’s Sea.” 20 Nov 2012. https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4337 

Dunning, Brian Skeptoid Podcast “The Sedona Energy Vortex.” 11 Jun 2013. https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4366. 

Kusche, Larry. The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved. 1995.

Litster, John. The Oregon Vortex. 1960. 

Sanderson, Ivan T. “The 12 Devil’s Graveyards Around The World” Reprint from SAGA UFO report Special 1973.

“Sedona History” https://www.sedonaaz.gov/home/showdocument?id=34040

“Vile Vortices” from The Paranormal Encyclopedia https://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/v/vile-vortices/

Leylines: From the old straight track to Ghostbusters

Published February 2017

A few years ago, a paranormal investigator acquaintance who knew I was a geologist asked me what I thought about leylines related to paranormal phenomena. I wasn’t familiar with this association or the history of leylines then. After consulting several references and poking around the Web, I am now! Take a trip with me traveling down some spooky paths to make sense of leylines.

Ghostbusters 2016

I finally got around to watching the new Ghostbusters movie (with the all-female team). There they were: leylines at the crux of all the paranormal trouble in town! It is indeed past time to deal with these pesky leylines (or ley lines, leys)- a larger-than-life, distorted, misrepresented concept that manifested like the Stay-Puft marshmallow man in paranormal circles.

“What do those look like to you?”
“Leylines”
“What’s ‘leylines’?”
“It’s a hidden network of energy lines that run across the earth; it’s a current of supernatural energy.”
“Supposedly if you look at sacred sites and weird events all over the world and connect them with lines, where they intersect, it’s an unusually powerful spot.”
“He’s using the devices to charge the leylines. He’s creating a vortex.”

Ghostbusters (2016)

Leylines as first proposed had NOTHING to do with energy or ghostly activity. How did we get to this?

As usually occurs with people and ideas, mix real bits with some imagination, blend it all into a confusing mess, then jazz it up Hollywood style, and you have the very convoluted answer. How about a walk down the fairy path? Or maybe it’s a UFO runway…

Watkins’ Old Straight Track lead to leylines

There are several books written on leylines but the term was coined in books by amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins –  Early British Trackways (1922) and The Old Straight Track (1925). Watkins observed that places of pre-historic and historic significance were aligned across long distances in the British countryside. Ancient henges, barrows, cursuses, building sites, monuments, tors, ponds, holy wells, etc., could be mapped as points along a straight line regardless of the terrain. He wasn’t the first to notice the connection to other sites that some thought were akin to “beacon hills” (think Lord of the Rings call for aid) where you could see the next journey point from your current point, but he was the first to say that they were ubiquitous. Astronomical alignments had also previously been noted.

Watkins encouraged people to take a map and a camera and do their own exploration for “leys”. It became a hobby for some in the 1930s when there was a strong national sentiment for the romance, lore, and legend of British ancient heritage.

Watkins’s idea was purely utilitarian. The Old Straight Track is tedious reading – wordy, dry, and full of speculation (and suspected leylines). But his hypothesis was rejected by academia and his work was discredited and ignored. Connecting four points to make a line was not difficult in a country where there were thousands of prehistoric and historic monuments. The width of the lines varied to allow inclusion of other points alongside. And, there certainly were straight segments of some significance used as travel ways or for ceremonial processions (such as funeral paths or “corpse ways”), perhaps later to become Roman roads.

At some point, “leys” shifted from being a guide to where special places were located to being forces of nature that dictated where these special places would be located and why that made them special, even magical. Watkins’s ideas were adopted by more imaginative types.

Earth Energy via leylines

Straight lines already had some supernatural significance. For example, the paths where bodies were carried from the town to a burial site were called “corpse roads” and associated with routes of the spirits, which became spirit paths that you were encouraged to avoid. Spirits were said to have a preference for straight lines. Or the paths were said to be used by fairies so you surely had better steer clear of those!

Ceremonial paths, visible from the air and ground, are obvious in many cultures. In 1958, French author Aimé Michel in Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery said that UFO sightings in France had occurred along invisible lines across great distances that formed a grid. He called this idea orthoteny and suspected the lines might be associated with the terrain.

Leylines and orthotenic lines were joined in concept by John Michell. Michell wrote The View Over Atlantis which heralded the “earth mysteries” idea in 1969. Kate Shrewsday writes:

Enter John Mitchell (sic), Eton-educated member of the hippy hierarchy, author of The View Over Atlantis and so many other books which re-ignited our passion for the old places. It was Mitchell who resurrected Watkins’ lines and used them to mystify a landscape which had become mundane.

His premises were so engrossing, so seductive, that a whole counter-culture grew green and vigorous around it.

Leylines were also seen as “arteries” of the earth, “veins” of energy flow, and equivalent to chi (qi) pathways said to be utilized in acupuncture of the human body. Standing stones, for example, marked the leys like sign posts but were also acting like acupuncture needles for the earth (I wish I was kidding with that) to channel astronomical energy into the leys.  Also borrowed from Asian culture was the idea that monuments were placed in balance and harmony along the leylines as a sort of geographical feng shui. Conductive minerals like iron, gold, and silver were said to be associated with leylines. (Hmm, a testable claim.)

It was a small jump to connect genuine scientific concepts of magnetic anomalies and telluric current to sciencey-sounding “earth energy lines”. The notion of telluric currents was co-opted by dowsers, but that is a completely different discussion I’m not prepared to have in this post. Some suggested that the power in leylines drew from the telluric current and that such power could be manipulated or used for societal advantages (what Michell called “spiritual engineering”). Watkins did not think leylines could be found with dowsing rods, but this creative subversion of his ideas occurred rather smoothly. Author and dowser Guy Underwood pushed the dowsing craze associated with leylines in the 1970s in the midst of the New Age wave of magical earth ideas. Underwood also espoused the idea of lines related to water-bearing zones or “blind springs“. I’ll return to this concept shortly.

So, in the 1970s, leylines were seen as channels of mystical “energy”. We can measure energy, yet no one was successful in measuring this particular energy scientifically. Ley proponents said the energy was too subtle or that research on the lines should be funded because of the potential to humankind. Locations associated with leylines became more magical as New Age popularity increased – places like Glastonbury (St. Michael’s ley and many others; see map above) and Stonehenge. Giants were said to be buried in the barrows as they were associated with incredible leyline power. This power was said to even cause the stones to come alive and move. (Another testable claim where evidence was never provided.)

When the leylines cross

Crossed lines have always been associated with magic. Crossroads are particularly notable as supernatural areas. Where leylines supposedly crossed, a strong “power spot” was created. These nodes could produce an energy “vortex”. Vortexes (vortices) are handy devices to explain an area as particularly prone to strange phenomena. No evidence for such energy vortexes exists, either.

Leylines as plot devices or explanations in fantasy fiction media began in the 1960s with authors like Thomas Pynchon and continued with concepts of conspiracy ideas of secret knowledge about sacred geometry of the earth. And, of course, we have leylines and the vortex as key plot devices in the new Ghostbusters, which brings us to the paranormal community connection – the intersection where supernatural ideas and vague scientific concepts crash and merge.

Paranormal connections

I liked this opening for an article about leylines in Fortean Times of June 2007:

Ever since Alfred Watkins announced his discovery of a network of ancient alignments criss­crossing the British countryside, the history of leys has been less of an old straight track and more of a long and winding road, one that has taken detours into everything from ufology to dowsing.

Poor Watkins! He was only trying to put some sort of order system into mapping remarkable places and things really spiraled out of control. This happens quite often as concepts sort of related to factual or scientific ideas lose their original meaning and clarity, or the terms get conflated. The above quote is the intro to a piece by Paul Devereux, a leading authority on leylines from the 1970s to the present. I found a 2003 interview with Devereux by paranormal personality Jeff Belanger on the Ghost Village site signaling that the American paranormal community was keying in on the concept of leylines around that time. Devereux’s opinion is that leys are not what Watkins thought or what the New Agers believed but something else related to sacred paths and possibly the supernatural.

Amateur paranormal research ramped up big time in the 2000s with the popularity of DIY spirit-seeking TV shows. But even before that, there were paranormalists who connected various geological features to reports of hauntings and poltergeists. A popular concept was taken from the Tectonic Strain idea of Dr. Michael Persinger who suggested that geological circumstances in fault zones might be responsible for anomalous luminous phenomena (also known as ghost lights) or related to earthquake lights. He thought these might be misconstrued as UFOs. (Ghost lights and Tectonic strain theory are future topics to explore here.) Leylines as sources of some undefined kind of energy were picked up as potential explanations for the manifestation of psychic energy that ghost researchers assumed was real. Genuine magnetic anomalies were turned into magical areas and connected to paranormal reports. Often, the researchers never actually checked for historic leylines or geological anomalies, they just assumed they were there because it was a very sciencey conclusion to make that sounded plausible (and the public accepted it). Use of dowsing rods to find this psychic energy is also common for paranormalists.

Ley nodes were commonly attributed to areas of “high strangeness” – a higher than normal occurrence of weird things like anomalous lights, poltergeist activity, bizarre creature encounters, and UFO sightings.

That paranormal investigator who asked me about leylines years ago was certainly hearing it from the buzz in his community. Again, we see the short jump to connect spooky feelings and unusual occurrences to the idea that there is a mysterious energy in the earth affecting humans on the surface. Their house, the moon phase, and solar activity were presumed to be amplifying the effect. Here is an example from Supernatural magazine of what paranormalists can believe about leylines (unedited):

Well most of the Earths leys are positive but when two of these leys cross or intersect a vortex of negative energy is then created. It is like a powerful magnet attracting all kinds of lower vibrational spirit, energy or entity and even sometimes people. These entities can then draw off the energy, feed on it and use it to manifest. Bodmin Jail (Cornwall) is a place where two such energy lines cross and therefore they form lower energy vortexes and this, in turn, will also affect the way people behave in such places. They will be prone or influenced to lower vibrational thoughts, paranoia, anger, ego and fear etc………it can be a source of food to an entity to recharge their essence.

Leylines appear to be an (at least moderately) accepted speculative explanation for ghosts and hauntings. Because of the emphasis on other geological aspects (like minerals, fault lines, and water-bearing zones), I wondered if some paranormal investigators could be mistaking energy lines with lineaments. Geologic lineaments are any linear feature that contrasts with the surrounding ground identified via maps (stereoviews being most helpful) and are associated mostly with carbonate terrain and groundwater well productivity. It was not unreasonable to think that natural lineaments might be features obvious enough to have been noticed by prehistoric societies who might have constructed wells into these fracture zones with great success. True lineaments are usually areas of structural weakness (not “power”) that have weathered more than surrounding rocks. Drilling into a fracture trace can result in a kick-ass well yield. I was not able to find any examples of leylines that really were geologic lineaments, though it’s hard to imagine some enthusiastic person hasn’t done so a few times.

Paranormalists have misunderstood and mixed up ideas of mineral veins, fault lines, contacts between rock formations, and fracture zones. They have widely attributed a nebulous idea of “energy” and “flow” to seismic, structural, mineralogical, and hydrogeologic characteristics to reach a conclusion that leylines are real and are associated with hauntings and the other weird events people experience.

Conclusion

In no way does this foray into leyline history come close to sharing all the information, creative notions, and opinions about them. Anyone interested can get lost for years in all the literature (some first decent choices are in the references). But, most of the current popular perceptions about leylines are based on presumption and are suitable only for entertainment.

Leylines have become a very messy melange of ideas about energy, electromagnetic fields, geologic fault lines, telluric current, voltage, and frequency conjured by paranormalists. It’s a concept that sounds just sciencey enough for non-scientists to think it might have some merit. But it doesn’t.

Leylines have not been objectively shown to have any measurable energy differential. Studies have not conclusively shown that independent reports of odd phenomena are concentrated along discrete lines. Dowsing for leylines (or for anything else) has also never been reliably demonstrated. No tests, as far as I know, have shown that leylines can even be independently mapped by two different people. Even Watkins’ lines were never fully substantiated as a theory, though many proponents insist they were. It’s very easy to draw lines to connect a few things; the thickness of the line can determine if you include features or not. And, after a substantive distance, a line drawn on a map will no longer correlate to the earth’s surface due to the curvature. 

Evolution of Ley Lines1. Long, straight alignments [Watkins]   ... connecting sacred spaces2. "Energy" paths of spiritual significance   ...that ancients could detect and so deliberately built on the lines    ...adopted by paranormalists3. Energy could be used or manipulated    ...negative or positive, earth and sky powers could combine    ...New Age mysticism, magic, geomancy4. This earth energy is vital to our survival; we must rediscover the old ways that       were lost.    ...wisdom of the ancients, Gaia

In examining leylines we’ve seen them associated throughout the past few decades with an array of occult and paranormal ideas. Their ambiguous reality and flexible definition allow for seamless application from one strange phenomenon to another. The modern mystical concept of leylines that conduct earth energies, which can be harnessed for supernatural chaos, is fiction derived from subjective observations and perhaps even genuine earth processes. Going back to Alfred Watkins, even his old straight tracks may just be us pattern-seeking — connecting points because it feels satisfying — as people want to find connections and so will see them when they simply aren’t there. This has happened with leylines. Layers of lore and imagination have made leylines a useful trope to connect to spooky things.

References

A. Watkins (1925) The Old Straight Track. [Available in reprint from many publishers.]

D. Sullivan (2004) Ley Lines: The Greatest Landscape Mystery. Amazon Kindle edition.

T. Williamson and L. Bellamy (1983) Ley Lines in Question. Littlehampton Book Services Ltd.

J. Michell (1983) The New View Over Atlantis. Harper & Row.

#AlfredWatkins #dowsing #earthEnergy #energyLines #Ghosts #haunting #leyLines #lights #Paranormal #poltergeists #tectonicStrain #UFOs

https://sharonahill.com/?p=372

Leylines: From the old straight track to Ghostbusters

Published February 2017

A few years ago, a paranormal investigator acquaintance who knew I was a geologist asked me what I thought about leylines related to paranormal phenomena. I wasn’t familiar with this association or the history of leylines then. After consulting several references and poking around the Web, I am now! Take a trip with me traveling down some spooky paths to make sense of leylines.

Ghostbusters 2016

I finally got around to watching the new Ghostbusters movie (with the all-female team). There they were: leylines at the crux of all the paranormal trouble in town! It is indeed past time to deal with these pesky leylines (or ley lines, leys)- a larger-than-life, distorted, misrepresented concept that manifested like the Stay-Puft marshmallow man in paranormal circles.

“What do those look like to you?”
“Leylines”
“What’s ‘leylines’?”
“It’s a hidden network of energy lines that run across the earth; it’s a current of supernatural energy.”
“Supposedly if you look at sacred sites and weird events all over the world and connect them with lines, where they intersect, it’s an unusually powerful spot.”
“He’s using the devices to charge the leylines. He’s creating a vortex.”

~Ghostbusters (2016)

Leylines as first proposed had NOTHING to do with energy or ghostly activity. How did we get to this?

As usually occurs with people and ideas, mix real bits with some imagination, blend it all into a confusing mess, then jazz it up Hollywood style, and you have the very convoluted answer. How about a walk down the fairy path? Or maybe it’s a UFO runway…

Watkins’ Old Straight Track lead to leylines

There are several books written on leylines but the term was coined in books by amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins –  Early British Trackways (1922) and The Old Straight Track (1925). Watkins observed that places of pre-historic and historic significance were aligned across long distances in the British countryside. Ancient henges, barrows, cursuses, building sites, monuments, tors, ponds, holy wells, etc., could be mapped as points along a straight line regardless of the terrain. He wasn’t the first to notice the connection to other sites that some thought were akin to “beacon hills” (think Lord of the Rings call for aid) where you could see the next journey point from your current point, but he was the first to say that they were ubiquitous. Astronomical alignments had also previously been noted.

Watkins encouraged people to take a map and a camera and do their own exploration for “leys”. It became a hobby for some in the 1930s when there was a strong national sentiment for the romance, lore, and legend of British ancient heritage.

Watkins’s idea was purely utilitarian. The Old Straight Track is tedious reading – wordy, dry, and full of speculation (and suspected leylines). But his hypothesis was rejected by academia and his work was discredited and ignored. Connecting four points to make a line was not difficult in a country where there were thousands of prehistoric and historic monuments. The width of the lines varied to allow inclusion of other points alongside. And, there certainly were straight segments of some significance used as travel ways or for ceremonial processions (such as funeral paths or “corpse ways”), perhaps later to become Roman roads.

At some point, “leys” shifted from being a guide to where special places were located to being forces of nature that dictated where these special places would be located and why that made them special, even magical. Watkins’s ideas were adopted by more imaginative types.

Earth Energy via leylines

Straight lines already had some supernatural significance. For example, the paths where bodies were carried from the town to a burial site were called “corpse roads” and associated with routes of the spirits, which became spirit paths that you were encouraged to avoid. Spirits were said to have a preference for straight lines. Or the paths were said to be used by fairies so you surely had better steer clear of those!

Ceremonial paths, visible from the air and ground, are obvious in many cultures. In 1958, French author Aimé Michel in Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery said that UFO sightings in France had occurred along invisible lines across great distances that formed a grid. He called this idea orthoteny and suspected the lines might be associated with the terrain.

Leylines and orthotenic lines were joined in concept by John Michell. Michell wrote The View Over Atlantis which heralded the “earth mysteries” idea in 1969. Kate Shrewsday writes:

Enter John Mitchell (sic), Eton-educated member of the hippy hierarchy, author of The View Over Atlantis and so many other books which re-ignited our passion for the old places. It was Mitchell who resurrected Watkins’ lines and used them to mystify a landscape which had become mundane.

His premises were so engrossing, so seductive, that a whole counter-culture grew green and vigorous around it.

Leylines were also seen as “arteries” of the earth, “veins” of energy flow, and equivalent to chi (qi) pathways said to be utilized in acupuncture of the human body. Standing stones, for example, marked the leys like sign posts but were also acting like acupuncture needles for the earth (I wish I was kidding with that) to channel astronomical energy into the leys.  Also borrowed from Asian culture was the idea that monuments were placed in balance and harmony along the leylines as a sort of geographical feng shui. Conductive minerals like iron, gold, and silver were said to be associated with leylines. (Hmm, a testable claim.)

It was a small jump to connect genuine scientific concepts of magnetic anomalies and telluric current to sciencey-sounding “earth energy lines”. The notion of telluric currents was co-opted by dowsers, but that is a completely different discussion I’m not prepared to have in this post. Some suggested that the power in leylines drew from the telluric current and that such power could be manipulated or used for societal advantages (what Michell called “spiritual engineering”). Watkins did not think leylines could be found with dowsing rods, but this creative subversion of his ideas occurred rather smoothly. Author and dowser Guy Underwood pushed the dowsing craze associated with leylines in the 1970s in the midst of the New Age wave of magical earth ideas. Underwood also espoused the idea of lines related to water-bearing zones or “blind springs“. I’ll return to this concept shortly.

So, in the 1970s, leylines were seen as channels of mystical “energy”. We can measure energy, yet no one was successful in measuring this particular energy scientifically. Ley proponents said the energy was too subtle or that research on the lines should be funded because of the potential to humankind. Locations associated with leylines became more magical as New Age popularity increased – places like Glastonbury (St. Michael’s ley and many others; see map above) and Stonehenge. Giants were said to be buried in the barrows as they were associated with incredible leyline power. This power was said to even cause the stones to come alive and move. (Another testable claim where evidence was never provided.)

When the leylines cross

Crossed lines have always been associated with magic. Crossroads are particularly notable as supernatural areas. Where leylines supposedly crossed, a strong “power spot” was created. These nodes could produce an energy “vortex”. Vortexes (vortices) are handy devices to explain an area as particularly prone to strange phenomena. No evidence for such energy vortexes exists, either.

Leylines as plot devices or explanations in fantasy fiction media began in the 1960s with authors like Thomas Pynchon and continued with concepts of conspiracy ideas of secret knowledge about sacred geometry of the earth. And, of course, we have leylines and the vortex as key plot devices in the new Ghostbusters, which brings us to the paranormal community connection – the intersection where supernatural ideas and vague scientific concepts crash and merge.

Paranormal connections

I liked this opening for an article about leylines in Fortean Times of June 2007:

Ever since Alfred Watkins announced his discovery of a network of ancient alignments criss­crossing the British countryside, the history of leys has been less of an old straight track and more of a long and winding road, one that has taken detours into everything from ufology to dowsing.

Poor Watkins! He was only trying to put some sort of order system into mapping remarkable places and things really spiraled out of control. This happens quite often as concepts sort of related to factual or scientific ideas lose their original meaning and clarity, or the terms get conflated. The above quote is the intro to a piece by Paul Devereux, a leading authority on leylines from the 1970s to the present. I found a 2003 interview with Devereux by paranormal personality Jeff Belanger on the Ghost Village site signaling that the American paranormal community was keying in on the concept of leylines around that time. Devereux’s opinion is that leys are not what Watkins thought or what the New Agers believed but something else related to sacred paths and possibly the supernatural.

Amateur paranormal research ramped up big time in the 2000s with the popularity of DIY spirit-seeking TV shows. But even before that, there were paranormalists who connected various geological features to reports of hauntings and poltergeists. A popular concept was taken from the Tectonic Strain idea of Dr. Michael Persinger who suggested that geological circumstances in fault zones might be responsible for anomalous luminous phenomena (also known as ghost lights) or related to earthquake lights. He thought these might be misconstrued as UFOs. (Ghost lights and Tectonic strain theory are future topics to explore here.) Leylines as sources of some undefined kind of energy were picked up as potential explanations for the manifestation of psychic energy that ghost researchers assumed was real. Genuine magnetic anomalies were turned into magical areas and connected to paranormal reports. Often, the researchers never actually checked for historic leylines or geological anomalies, they just assumed they were there because it was a very sciencey conclusion to make that sounded plausible (and the public accepted it). Use of dowsing rods to find this psychic energy is also common for paranormalists.

Ley nodes were commonly attributed to areas of “high strangeness” – a higher than normal occurrence of weird things like anomalous lights, poltergeist activity, bizarre creature encounters, and UFO sightings.

That paranormal investigator who asked me about leylines years ago was certainly hearing it from the buzz in his community. Again, we see the short jump to connect spooky feelings and unusual occurrences to the idea that there is a mysterious energy in the earth affecting humans on the surface. Their house, the moon phase, and solar activity were presumed to be amplifying the effect. Here is an example from Supernatural magazine of what paranormalists can believe about leylines (unedited):

Well most of the Earths leys are positive but when two of these leys cross or intersect a vortex of negative energy is then created. It is like a powerful magnet attracting all kinds of lower vibrational spirit, energy or entity and even sometimes people. These entities can then draw off the energy, feed on it and use it to manifest. Bodmin Jail (Cornwall) is a place where two such energy lines cross and therefore they form lower energy vortexes and this, in turn, will also affect the way people behave in such places. They will be prone or influenced to lower vibrational thoughts, paranoia, anger, ego and fear etc………it can be a source of food to an entity to recharge their essence.

Leylines appear to be an (at least moderately) accepted speculative explanation for ghosts and hauntings. Because of the emphasis on other geological aspects (like minerals, fault lines, and water-bearing zones), I wondered if some paranormal investigators could be mistaking energy lines with lineaments. Geologic lineaments are any linear feature that contrasts with the surrounding ground identified via maps (stereoviews being most helpful) and are associated mostly with carbonate terrain and groundwater well productivity. It was not unreasonable to think that natural lineaments might be features obvious enough to have been noticed by prehistoric societies who might have constructed wells into these fracture zones with great success. True lineaments are usually areas of structural weakness (not “power”) that have weathered more than surrounding rocks. Drilling into a fracture trace can result in a kick-ass well yield. I was not able to find any examples of leylines that really were geologic lineaments, though it’s hard to imagine some enthusiastic person hasn’t done so a few times.

Paranormalists have misunderstood and mixed up ideas of mineral veins, fault lines, contacts between rock formations, and fracture zones. They have widely attributed a nebulous idea of “energy” and “flow” to seismic, structural, mineralogical, and hydrogeologic characteristics to reach a conclusion that leylines are real and are associated with hauntings and the other weird events people experience.

Conclusion

In no way does this foray into leyline history come close to sharing all the information, creative notions, and opinions about them. Anyone interested can get lost for years in all the literature (some first decent choices are in the references). But, most of the current popular perceptions about leylines are based on presumption and are suitable only for entertainment.

Leylines have become a very messy melange of ideas about energy, electromagnetic fields, geologic fault lines, telluric current, voltage, and frequency conjured by paranormalists. It’s a concept that sounds just sciencey enough for non-scientists to think it might have some merit. But it doesn’t.

Leylines have not been objectively shown to have any measurable energy differential. Studies have not conclusively shown that independent reports of odd phenomena are concentrated along discrete lines. Dowsing for leylines (or for anything else) has also never been reliably demonstrated. No tests, as far as I know, have shown that leylines can even be independently mapped by two different people. Even Watkins’ lines were never fully substantiated as a theory, though many proponents insist they were. It’s very easy to draw lines to connect a few things; the thickness of the line can determine if you include features or not. And, after a substantive distance, a line drawn on a map will no longer correlate to the earth’s surface due to the curvature. 

Evolution of Ley Lines1. Long, straight alignments [Watkins]   ... connecting sacred spaces2. "Energy" paths of spiritual significance   ...that ancients could detect and so deliberately built on the lines    ...adopted by paranormalists3. Energy could be used or manipulated    ...negative or positive, earth and sky powers could combine    ...New Age mysticism, magic, geomancy4. This earth energy is vital to our survival; we must rediscover the old ways that were lost.    ...wisdom of the ancients, Gaia

In examining leylines we’ve seen them associated throughout the past few decades with an array of occult and paranormal ideas. Their ambiguous reality and flexible definition allow for seamless application from one strange phenomenon to another. The modern mystical concept of leylines that conduct earth energies, which can be harnessed for supernatural chaos, is fiction derived from subjective observations and perhaps even genuine earth processes. Going back to Alfred Watkins, even his old straight tracks may just be us pattern-seeking — connecting points because it feels satisfying — as people want to find connections and so will see them when they simply aren’t there. This has happened with leylines. Layers of lore and imagination have made leylines a useful trope to connect to spooky things.

References

A. Watkins (1925) The Old Straight Track. [Available in reprint from many publishers.]

D. Sullivan (2004) Ley Lines: The Greatest Landscape Mystery. Amazon Kindle edition.

T. Williamson and L. Bellamy (1983) Ley Lines in Question. Littlehampton Book Services Ltd.

J. Michell (1983) The New View Over Atlantis. Harper & Row.

#AlfredWatkins #dowsing #earthEnergy #energyLines #Ghosts #haunting #leyLines #lights #Paranormal #poltergeists #tectonicStrain #UFOs

https://sharonahill.com/?p=372