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by Graham Stuart
from
HomeOrionArtemis Website
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The HYPOGEUM which I was able to visit
in 1989 is now closed for conservation since 1992 - and is still
closed.
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Could it have something to do with the following
story...?
 Just
beneath the southern tip of Italy, in the extreme western part
of the Mediterranean sea, lies the island of Malta.
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In the past
Malta has been the possession of many nationalities, and has
been considered to be one of the most strategic areas on earth,
being a port and an intersecting point between Europe, Asia, the
Middle East, and Africa, etc.
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This 9-mile-long island was an
ancient center of civilization at the time when the Phoenicians
from Carthage invaded and began to rule it.
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When a group of ancient priests who
worshipped the "god" Moloch (another name for Baal,
Osiris, or Nimrod - considered by the ancients to
be the "sun god") visited the island in Old Testament times, the
islanders readily accepted their teachings, including that of
offering up human sacrifices to appease their "god" Moloch,
for the ancient Maltese themselves practiced human blood
sacrifice to the "gods" of the underworld which were
believed to exist beneath the island and elsewhere, so-called
deities which were often identified with "serpents".
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When
the Apostle Paul visited the island as recorded in the book of
ACTS chapter 28, he learned of their superstitious beliefs
concerning serpents after he had been bitten by one of
the beasts on the island (at the time called Melita) and
survived by the power of the risen Jesus - a god which
the Maltese knew nothing about until Paul�s fateful visit.
Since the time of the Carthagians, Malta has had many
rulers - Romans, Arabs, Normans, Argonese, Castillians, the
Hospitalers or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, later known
as the Knights of Rhodes, and still later as the
Knights of Malta, who remain
there to this day, having duel headquarters in Rome. A few miles
south of the town of Valletta, Malta, is the small village of
Casal Paula.
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In the year 1902, workmen who were digging a well
literally fell into the earth.
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What they discovered (or rather
re-discovered) was a series of ancient caves, mostly excavated
out of solid rock, which descended into the earth and into three
lower levels below. These multi-leveled catacombs became known
as the "Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni", named after the
street beneath which they were discovered.
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A hypogeum is
the Latin name for an underground structure.
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Near the floor of the last chamber,
within the 3rd and last (officially recognized) sub-level of
these ancient catacombs, there are a few so-called "burial
chambers".
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These are only a few feet square and situated right
next to the floor, and one must get on their knees just to look
into them. These "burial chambers" are just large enough for one
to crawl through.
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There have for years been rumors that one of
these "burial chambers" does not end, but continues into deeper
and unexplored caverns beyond.
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This, according to certain sources,
was the subterranean passage and chamber which was referred to
years ago in an article which appeared in the August, 1940 issue
of the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Magazine.
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The article stated the
following concerning several people who disappeared in these
catacombs without a trace:
"Many subterranean passageways,
including ancient catacombs, now are a part of the island�s
fortifications and defense system. Supplies are kept in many
tunnels; others are bomb shelters. Beneath Valletta some of
the underground areas served as homes for the poor.
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Prehistoric men built temples and chambers in these vaults.
In a pit beside one sacrificial altar lie thousands of human
skeletons. Years ago one could walk underground from one end
of Malta to the other. The Government closed the entrances
to these tunnels after school children and their teachers
became lost in the labyrinth while on a study tour and never
returned."
The story goes much "deeper"
however, than the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC article indicates.
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Other
sources say that ABOUT 30 CHILDREN vanished in these catacombs
on the study tour, and that when the "Hypogeum" was first
discovered nearly 30,000 human skeletons of men, women and
children (victims of ancient sacrifice to the "underworld gods",
performed by an old neolithic race) were discovered as well.
One article written by a Miss Lois Jessup, at the time an
employee of the British embassy and later secretary for the New
York Saucer Information Bureau (better known as NYSIB), appeared
in an old issue of Riley Crabb�s BORDERLAND SCIENCE magazine,
published by the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (B.S.R.F.)
and was later reprinted in full in Dr. Allen�s book ENIGMA FANTASTIQUE.
Miss Jessup claimed that she visited Malta and the Hypogeum
also, once before the tragic disappearance of the children, and
shortly thereafter. She described how on her first visit to the
catacombs she finally convinced the guide to allow her to
investigate one of the so-called "burial chambers" near the
floor of the last chamber in the third sub-basement, the
supposed "end" of the Hypogeum tour. He seemed to know something
she didn�t, but finally consented and told her that she could
enter at "her own risk".
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As she did so, candle in hand and
her loosed sash being used as a guide rope for her friends who
followed behind, she crawled through the small passage and
eventually emerged into a large cavern, where she found herself
on a ledge overlooking a very deep, seemingly bottomless chasm.
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Below and on the other side of the chasm was another ledge which
appeared to lead to a doorway or tunnel in the far wall. We
realize that what happened next might sound unbelievable to many
who read this, but we would ask them to make their own
determination of it�s validity. Miss Jessup swears that what
follows really happened.
Out of this lower tunnel on the far side of the chasm, she
claims, emerged in single file several very large creatures of
humanoid form but completely covered with hair from head to
foot. Noticing her, they raised their arms in her direction,
palms out, at which point a violent "wind" began to blow through
the cavern, snuffing out her candle. Then, some "thing" wet and
slippery (apparently a creature of a different sort) brushed
past her.
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This all happened just as the person
behind her was beginning to emerge from the passage and into the
cavern. They could not understand her panicked attempts to get
back to the "Hypogeum" room, but they consented after she
insisted.
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When they found themselves back in the Hypogeum
chamber, the guide saw her expression and gave her a "knowing"
look. About a week afterwards the disappearance of the children
and their teacher(s) took place, and on her second visit she saw
an entirely new guide who denied that the other guide had ever
worked there, although she knew that this new guide was hiding
something.
She learned from more cooperative sources however, that THIS was
the tunnel that the children and their teacher(s) and possibly
the old guide, had entered. She also learned that after the last
child had made it through, the walls of the small tunnel just
"happened" to collapse or cave-in.
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Although the official version
stated that the walls caved-in on the students, search parties
were never able to locate any trace of the teacher(s) or the
children, although the rope that they had used to fasten
themselves to the lower Hypogeum chamber was found to have been
CLEAN CUT as if by something sharp (not falling rock).
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It was
asserted that for weeks afterwards the wailing and screaming of
children was heard underground in different parts of the island,
but no one could locate the sources of the cries.
As for the Catacombs beneath Malta
itself, there are some ancient accounts which say that deep caverns
beneath the island continue underground BEYOND the shores, and
according to one source [i.e. the ever elusive "Commander-X"], part
of this labyrinth stretches hundreds of miles northwards and
intersects with catacombs beneath Rome (the hill Vaticanus?) or at
least did so in ancient times...
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