Robert Forrest, “That Damned Pyramid”

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There is a theory about UFOs which says that, whatever they are, they have a curious habit of being moulded according to the contemporary psychology of their observers.  In the nineteenth century they were ‘dirigibles’ (with or without propellors).  Here in the twentieth century they are atomic powered saucers. 

As a collector of curious ideas about the Great Pyramid, I have come to formulate a similar theory regarding that monument: viz that theories about its origin and significance are somehow a function of contemporary psychology. 

In the nineteenth century pyramidology had an intensely Biblical flavour.  The pyramid was the Bible in stone.  Here in the twentieth century the Great Pyramid has been adopted by the ‘Megalithic Mystery’ schools as well as by Space Age theorists. 

What prompted me to write this little piece was Stuart Greenwood’s article in The News 15 (1), where the idea was tentatively put forward that Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid have an approximate great circle relationship (omitted – see ref.).  One of my reactions to this piece was that if the Megalithic Builders had intended to indicate such a reciprocal relationship, they would have made a rather better job of it. 

But it was the illustration which Mr Greenwood’s observations gave to my idea of psychological pyramidology which struck me most of all, because it bears a strong resemblance, in principle at least, to John and Morton Edgar’s ‘Bethlehem Indicator’ (2). 

The passages of the Great Pyramid are inclined at 26° 18′ to the horizontal.  According to the Edgars, a rhumb line (a line of constant bearing) from the Great Pyramid on a bearing of E 26° 18′ N (see fig. 2) passes directly through Bethlehem. 

In the Bible-in-stone era, this result was welcomed by devout Christian and Pyramidological minds as another miracle incorporated prophetically into the Great Pyramid by the divinely inspired Ancient Architects. 

But Pyramid fashions change. 

Mr Greenwood, using the great circle instead of a rhumb line, and a face slope angle (51° 51′) instead of the passage angle, finds an admittedly hazy suggestion for the Megalithic Mystery school. 

Elsewhere (3) Mr MW Saunders is performing his own brand of numerical acrobatics to link the same face slope angle with an ExtraTerrestrial theory …

It’s an odd old world, of course, but the picture of a band of ExtraTerrestrials {15} rigging up the Pyramid with one eye on Mars, another eye on Bethlehem and a third eye (no problem for ETs) on Stonehenge is, well, a bit strained. 

In any case, in 1923 appeared Conar MacDari’s book, Irish Wisdom, with evidence that the Great Pyramid was really built by a band of Irish priests.  A fascinating book that one …

A few weeks after the appearance of The News 15, I had a letter from Anthony Bell pointing out that a great circle through the Great Pyramid and oriented towards W 51° 51′ N (see fig. 3) passed through London and (nearly) Dublin.  It was in checking out this claim that I did an experiment which had an amusing and not altogether un-symbolic outcome. 

I decided to follow that W 51° 51′ N great circle, and reasoned that a point on it, strongly indicated by the Pyramid, was where the circle crossed the 51° 51′ latitude parallel (4).  Assuming a spherical earth, I calculated the longitude co-ordinate of the point in question – it was 1° 10′ W of Greenwich. 

To discover what choice secret of Megalithic/ET wisdom I had uncovered, I transferred the co-ordinates (latitude 51° 51′ and longitude 1° 10′) on a 1:50,000 OS map.  It turned out to be the Oxfordshire village of Merton with its most prominent architectural structure – a sewage works! 

Whether the Cosmic Joker manufactured this coincidence as a comment upon pyramid speculation in general, or my own hypothesis in particular, I have no idea. 

Robert Forrest.  July 1976. 

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