Have you been to the Mystery Park ?
The Mystery Park
I'm kind of obsessed with this amusement park.
I went there three times when I was a kid. I always went with my father, and thinking back on it, I'm not sure it was really responsible of him to take his children to a supposedly scientific place that was actually promoting conspiracy theories. BUT, I LOVED IT, I loved this place. It had a "La soirée de l'étrange" vibe. It looked like something out of a movie like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Contact or ZATHURA.
And what drives me crazy is that NOBODY seems to know about this place. It has become a recurring question when I meet someone: "Have you been to the mystery park ?" and I never met someone who even heard about it. If you went there, or if you just knew about it, please tell me, write me at mail@robiiiiiiiiiiiin.net and tell me.
official_mysterypark_wallpaper_2005.jpg
This was an official wallpaper you could download on their 2005 website
The Place
It is (was) located in Interlaken, in Switzerland. It still exists today, but it has been renamed and transformed into a kind of gigantic kindergarten and the attractions have been closed.
The building still bears witness to the cultist / conspiracy / bizarre / alien vibe it had. The building is shaped like a round space station with height branches going from its center with a circle going through the branches. At the center stands a tower overlooked by a big globe, a kind of control tower. At the ends of each branches stands a themed building that all looks different. The most noticeable are the egyptian pyramid and the mayan temple.
The Pavilions / Attractions
The main attractions were located in the pavilions at the end of each branches. Each attraction had a specific theme, always related to theories about ancient civilisations. It was often about the ancient astronauts theory.
The attractions were more like what 4DX is today than rollercoasters. It has a setup where you were sometimes sitting, sometimes standing, there were some physical props and a lot of special effects using lights, lasers, holograms amd smoke. Then it was a kind of documentary, narated by a voice-over, that was explaining the mystery and the theories surrounding it. And at some point, there were always aliens involved.
official_mystery_park_plan.jpg
Disclaimer
The following texts describing the pavilions are taken directy from the official Mystery Park brochures and website. The website is no longer online but it's on the wayback machine (between 2003 and 2005).
You'll find the official PDF brochure for each pavilions
Pavilion 1 - Vimana
Vimanas: Space Shuttles of Ancient India
Ancient Indian writings tell of flying "vimanas". Sanskrit texts documented not only general stories of ancient flying, but also the descriptions of flying machines itself. At least 20 passages in the Rigveda refer to flying machines - three floors high, triangular and three-wheeled with enough room to carry several passengers.
"A machine that moves by its own power like a bird, whether on land, in water or in the air, is called a vimana. You, the gods, know the secret of building flying machines."
The fact is that many of the ancient traditions contain technical and scientific knowledge that has only been discovered in our time with the help of modern methods and instruments. What were the sources of knowledge in ancient India? Where did the documented astronomical knowledge, the calculations of planetary sizes and orbits, and the mysterious fact that even information about star trails from the universe has been handed down come from?
Who taught the Indians mathematics and physics - including facts on the age of the universe and the speed of light?
Pavilion 2 - Orient
Orient: Pyramids built without blueprints
Even with today's engineering tools, it would be next to impossible to build pyramids like those of Giza near Cairo. Especially the Cheops pyramid, simply known as the Great Pyramid, is a mystery
Realizing today that astronomical coordinates were incorporated into the structure of the Great Pyramid - and maybe into all of the pyramids of Giza - is an eye-opener: almost like "messages in a bottle" traveling through time. Are we able to decipher these messages today and to understand the code? Could it be that the choice of location for the pyramids was not random?and phenomenon of stone.
Gods were portrayed as real beings, even though they were superbeings - but always in direct contact with the priests. They were the masters deciding on life and death, and they even created the most outrageous hybrid beings - the horror visions of today's genetic engineering. The sphinx, half man and half lion, is only one example. Holy bulls were creatures that were buried in the largest sarcophagi mankind has ever seen (in Saqqara).
--- The doc concluded with a scene where the sarcophagus from the burial chamber was propulsed to the sky, like the pyramid was a kind of elevator, or launcher to the stars ---
Pavilion 3 - Maya
Maya: A nation of brilliant astronomers
Around 600 AD, the Maya people inexplicably left their tribal territory, which they had dotted over centuries with enormous and magnificent religious buildings, pyramids, roads, and other structures. Who or what could have prompted this cultured people to undertake such a mass migration?
The most complex calendar system in the world served solely to calculate their return. But why did they start their calendar on August 11, 3114 BC? What will happen when it ends on December 23, 2012, the magical year when, according to the Maya, “a new era begins”?
Pavilion 4 - Megastones
Stonehenge, a place of worship that has existed for thousands of years. Is Stonehenge a megalithic time machine that reaches not only into the past, but also far into the future?
[...]
Mysterious sites can often be connected on a map, forming straight lines that cross mountains and seas, creating geodesic figures. This is no coincidence.
[...]
From about 3000 BC, such monuments were created all around the world, just as if the builders had coordinated their activities through some kind of prehistoric Internet.
[...]
The "Cyclopean architects" shaped the stones and assembled them [...]
--- In the end, the documentary argued that Stonehenge was a celestial observatory built according to knowledge delegated by superior beings (ancient astronauts) ---
Pavilion 5 - Contact
Whenever a civilization comes into contact with visitors and their sophisticated technologies, which the less advanced civilization does not understand, a situation is created known as the "God effect". Another term for it is "cargo cult". This is how the visitors came to be worshipped as "Gods" or other supernatural beings by such tribes and peoples.
[...]
The Kayapo tribe in Brazil worship a being called Bep-Kororoti - "astronaut-like" god today symbolized by a straw man - and recite its messages - more proof of a living mythology that, to this day, relates information from a dark past.
In Colombia small "plane-like" objects of pure gold have been found. The way the wings of these objects had been arranged and their upright tail fin prompted the Aeronautical Institute in New York to start wind-tunnel experiments. Dr. Arthur Poyslee came to a positive conclusion as to the objects' ability to fly. One of these gold models has been reconstructed in a true-to-life fashion, with a wingspan of 87 cm. On August 26, 1996, this model took to its first remotecontrolled solo flight, which lasted several minutes - its performance was convincing and successful in all flight attitudes. An achievement made possible by German engineers. Designer: Peter Belting. Concept by: Dr. Algund Eenboom and Conrad Lübbers.
[...]
Would it be possible that even ancient Biblical reports might serve as historical sources? The prophet Ezekiel witnessed a "celestial vehicle" and described its many different technical details. As a matter of fact, Ezekiel himself traveled in it and was taken to a strange temple like building. When reconstructing this account, it becomes apparent that both the description of the vehicle and of the hangar-type building could have been based on facts.
--- The brochure contains a list of quotations from the book of Ezekiel that mention celestial vehicles. ---
If we came into contact with a highly advanced extraterrestrial civilization, would we be able to grasp their world and not consider it "magical"? Or would WE take the role of the natives?
Aside about antique airplanes
In the "Contact" brochure, there is a paragraph about the Incan Golden Airplanes.
Some golden miniature "airplanes" have been found in Colombia. Some say that these are miniature representations of ancient aircraft while some says these are just representations of birds and fish.
The Mystery Park brochure mentions Arthur Poyslee, Peter Belting, Algund Eenboom and Conrad Lübbers. Arthur Poyslee was the first to claim, in the 70's, that these artifacts were actually able to fly. 20 years later, the three other guys built exact replicas increased in size by a factor of 16 and equipped them with engines and radio control systems. In 1997 they performed a flight test at the Ancient Astronauts Society World Conference and the replicas were actually able to lift off, fly and perform maneuvers. The obvious conclusion was that the Inca objects were proven to be actual replicas of 100% functional aircrafts.
This website (kimcampion.com) writes about this and I personnaly find this website really cool in a goofy conspiracy theorist way.
Peter Belting, Algund Eenboom and another guy even wrote a book about this subject: "Die Flugzeuge der Pharaonen: antike Flugtechniken in drei Kontinenten" (The Pharaohs' Aircraft: Ancient Flight Techniques on Three Continents). The description is lovely: " [...] Ancient engineers did not use primitive flying machines, but rather highly efficient, state-of-the-art aircraft similar to those used today in space shuttles. [...] Small gliders were already flying in the realm of the pharaohs over 2300 years ago. [...] A functioning miniature jet engine shows that any village blacksmith in ancient Egypt could have manufactured engines. [...] This book presents the evidence of their functionality
Pavilion 6 - Nazca
- straight lines, several kilometers long, spanning hills and valleys
- areas resembling airstrips of up to 3.8km in length and 70m in width
- Giant drawings of animals (monkeys, spiders, dolphins) 50 to 300 meters long
[...]
The puzzle of Nazca cannot be seen from the ground when walking or driving around - the images only become visible from an airplane. [...] Since 1949, scientists, as well as amateurs, have put forth several possible explanations for the mystery of Nazca. But none of these theories succeeded; they can all be refuted.
Erich von Däniken had his own theory: Perhaps the various lines and figures scraped into the barren ground had been created by the natives later so as to invite the "Gods" to return to them. If that is true, the Nazca structures, visible only from the air, could be the traces of a type of "cargo cult" of prehistoric Indian tribes.
Some discovered figures and symbols over a stretch of land of several kilometers: the Pintados. The squares, arrows, ladders with curved rungs and rays resemble pictograms. Are the symbols a type of script? Signs from the Gods - or for the Gods?
[...]
There is evidence that other drawings were created at different times - spanning hundreds of years. What was the "common denominator" or motivation behind these drawings?
One theory is pitted against another - which one is the most likely? Messages left behind for the Gods. What Gods?
Pavilion 7 - Challenge
One of the greatest challenges facing research today is the question of whether extraterrestrial life exists. SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is the name of the international scientific research project that is tackling this challenge. Are there any traces that indicate visits by extraterrestrials to our Milky Way, or even to Earth?
[...]
Scientists agree: we are not alone in the cosmos. The probability is high that we will make contact. And even that “others” could have visited our solar system and Earth several times already. The search for clues is on!
[...]
And then there is the phenomenon of reports that radio signals are being received from within our solar system. Are these our own, reflected, signals? Or is it that ETs have left behind a probe in our solar system?
Erich-von-Daniken.md
All this has been created by Erich von Däniken.
Däniken is born in 1935 in Switzerland and is the author of multiple books but he became known mainly because of "The Chariots of the Gods". A book theorising that humanity has been visited by extraterrestrials who brought us knowledges. Apparently, we can find evidence of this in numerous archeological sites. This book greatly contributed to popularizing the Ancient Astronauts theory.
The Ancient Astronauts theory is a CENTRAL part of the mystery park. Almost everything is related to this theory.
The theories of Däniken go further. According to him, humans were created by aliens.
In the early 70's, some people influenced by The Chariots of the Gods founded "The Ancient Astronaut Society". Today, the society has become the "Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Association (A.A.S. R.A.)" and its congress was held at the Mystery Park.
Do you know who is the chairman and co-founder of the A.A.S. R.A. ? Yes, you do know, it's him: (not jocking)
sponsors.md
So yeah, this place was a cultish looking building with exhibitions and shows that was promotting pseudoscientific beliefs that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans.
And all of this was sponsored by: Coca Cola, CFF, Swisscom, Fujitsu, Swatch, Sony