The Secret Chamber of Osiris: Lost Knowledge of the Sixteen Pyramids Read online

  To my wife, Louise, whose generous, patient, and warmhearted nature allowed me the time and space to write this book; and to my children, Jamie and Nina, for even more of your marvelous questions—for questions truly are more important than answers. Love you all forever.

  The Secret Chamber of Osiris

  “In The Secret Chamber of Osiris, Scott Creighton presents an intriguing and insightful perspective on the Egyptian pyramids, the geometry of their placement, and their relationship to a body of ancient hidden knowledge. He succeeds in presenting well-considered ideas within the context of a very readable book.”

  LAIRD SCRANTON, AUTHOR OF

  SACRED SYMBOLS OF THE DOGON:

  THE KEY TO ADVANCED SCIENCE IN THE

  ANCIENT EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS

  “Creighton exposes very real scientific problems and guides us along a fascinating path as he researches novel solutions and offers a radical and fresh explanation for one of the world’s oldest mysteries. Scott’s power of imagination is matched only by the discipline of his logic.”

  RAND FLEM-ATH, COAUTHOR OF

  ATLANTIS BENEATH THE ICE:

  THE FATE OF THE LOST CONTINENT

  Praise for

  Scott Creighton’s The Giza Prophecy

  “Remarkable . . . original . . . convincing . . . explosive.”

  GRAHAM HANCOCK, AUTHOR OF

  FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

  Acknowledgments

  This book would not have been possible without the input, assistance, and encouragement of many individuals. I would first like to express my sincere thanks to everyone on the team at Inner Traditions • Bear & Company, whose professionalism took much of the pain out of producing this book.

  To my nephew, Jim Buchanan, and my dear friends George Cummings, John Paul Servadei, and Shirley Gray—you have listened to my theories now for more years than any of us probably care to remember and have always done so with grace, good humor, and the odd provocative question. My lifelong friend Eric Watson, who sadly and unexpectedly departed this world for pastures new, would have been proud of you. Thank you all for your unstinting support over the years; it is appreciated more than you can possibly ever imagine.

  Special mention must be made here also to John Ferguson, whose invaluable expertise and advice greatly assisted with some technical aspects of this book. Also to Dr Patricia Usick of the British Museum for arranging access to the Hill facsimiles and to Roger Bettridge and the staff of the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies for providing access to the Howard Vyse archive. The Archive Department staff at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, also deserves recognition for its generous and expert assistance in transcribing parts of the Howard Vyse journal.

  My gratitude is also given to Sam Petry, Dennis Payne, and Audrey Mulertt, who each, in his or her own unique and subtle way, assisted me greatly in the development of this book.

  And finally, I could not, in all sincerity, complete these acknowledgments without mentioning the Monday-night gang of Andrew, Kenny and Louise, Sarah, Tony and Trisha, and last, but by no means least, Colin; thank you all so much for keeping me mostly sane throughout the course of this endeavor. I couldn’t have done it without the craic and, of course, the beers.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Acknowledgments

  Foreword by Rand Flem-Ath

  Introduction

  Chapter 1: Legends of Secret Chambers CAIRO, MARCH 22, 2008, 11:30 A.M.

  WHISPERS OF THE CHAMBER

  THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN

  FOUND BY THREE

  Chapter 2: In the Footsteps of the Ancients THE PENNY DROPS

  THE TRIPLE CENTROID

  THE MYTH OF OSIRIS

  Chapter 3: A Wrong Turn 1. PYRAMID SIZE

  2. PYRAMID SHAPE

  3. PROVINCIAL PYRAMIDS AND CENOTAPHS

  4. MULTIPLE PYRAMIDS

  5. ANONYMOUS CHAMBERS, NAMELESS SARCOPHAGI

  6. PRECONCEIVED, UNIFIED PLAN

  7. PYRAMID SECURITY

  8. INTRUSIVE BURIALS

  9. QUEENS, BOATS, AND SOUL SHAFTS

  10. THE SARCOPHAGI

  Chapter 4: Barriers to Discovery

  Chapter 5: Thoth: Harbinger of the Deluge

  Chapter 6: Gunpowder and Plot QUESTIONS OVER VYSE'S CHARACTER

  A DUBIOUS DISCOVERY

  A WITNESS TO DECEPTION

  VYSE'S JOURNAL SPEAKS

  ANOMALIES IN THE CARTOUCHES

  THE LIE OF THE LANDSCAPES

  HILL'S ORIENTATIONS

  A FINAL NOTE

  WHERE NOW FOR EGYPTOLOGY?

  Chapter 7: Ages of Deluge and Drought DELGUE

  DROUGHT

  EXPLOSIVE EVIDENCE

  A GREATER ANTIQUITY

  PYRAMID REPAIRS

  ARK OF AGES

  EARTH'S CHANGING POLE

  ARK FOR ART'S SAKE

  Chapter 8: Flying Stones PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

  A CURIOUS ARTIFACT

  THE BALLOON BULB

  Chapter 9: Project Osiris THE BODY OF OSIRIS

  RAISING THE DJED PILLAR

  Chapter 10: Journey’s End HYMN TO OSIRIS

  Footnotes

  Endnotes

  Bibliography

  About the Author

  About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company

  Books of Related Interest

  Copyright & Permissions

  Index

  Foreword

  Does the sophisticated positioning of the Giza pyramid complex point to a reservoir of knowledge hidden beneath the sand? This is the compelling question raised by Scott Creighton in The Secret Chamber of Osiris. Boldly tackling a puzzling series of inconsistencies in the record, he questions why the architects of these iconic monuments not only took on the great challenge of aligning them with north, south, east, and west but also considerably increased the difficulty of their task by including features that only appear to be functional during a solstice or equinox. In answering the questions he reveals something extraordinary subtly concealed within the very design of the complex.

  Egyptologists tell us that the Giza pyramids were constructed to serve the pharaohs’ vainglory. Scott finds this hypothesis preposterous, writing, “There are simply too many anomalies, too many affronts to common sense, too many facts that simply do not fit the tomb paradigm that is so embraced by the Egyptologists.” He exposes very real scientific problems and guides us along a fascinating path as he researches novel solutions and offers a radical and fresh explanation for one of the world’s oldest mysteries.

  He suggests that the people of ancient Egypt were privy to a deep and largely forgotten secret: that the Earth experiences periodic catastrophes that destroy civilization. To arm themselves against such future events, they constructed pyramids—not as tombs, but rather as reservoirs that would preserve the building blocks of civilization. These caches contained not only precious information on how best to reboot civilization but also held a sufficient store of grains to sustain the survivors as they launched their daunting task.

  In The Atlantis Blueprint, coauthor Colin Wilson and I propose that the underlying geometry of the Giza site can be used to pinpoint the location of Thoth’s Holy Chamber (containing records from a lost civilization). Scott takes the same broad approach but concludes that a different geometric solution provides the answer. He offers good reasons to believe that Egyptian authorities are fencing off the exact location that he believes should be the focus of an excavation. These efforts include “CCTV, infrared sensors, mo
tion detectors” as well as “metal detectors”—useful tools to keep any but the most official investigators well away from the site.

  That an amateur archaeologist might be the inspiration for present-day excavations in Egypt is not as unexpected as we might think. Albert Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.”1 Seeing ancient Egypt anew is precisely what Scott Creighton has done in The Secret Chamber of Osiris.

  This engrossing book reminds us that geology, archaeology, and Egyptology were once the subjects of great minds. In the nineteenth century these disciplines were at the cutting edge of science. But in recent times our best minds have been drawn to engineering, physics, the digital sciences, and the biological revolution in all its myriad and nascent branches. The stagnation in the official branches of geology, archaeology, and Egyptology has given rise to a generation of independent researchers motivated above all by curiosity, the real driving force of science. They are not willing to accept a prevailing paradigm just because academia decrees it so.

  The problems that Scott confronts are worthy of serious consideration from our new generation of informed investigators, whose tools include an understanding of astronomy, survey and construction techniques, geometry, world mythology, and plain old common sense—all skills frequently lacking among present-day Egyptologists.

  Critical questions raised by Scott include: Why are there so few inscriptions found within the Giza pyramids? What was the purpose of incorporating massive granite blocks within the Great Pyramid? Why did the builders leave in place a pulley system that allowed entry to the so-called King’s Chamber? Why not seal the entry for eternity? Scott writes, “One has to conclude that the ancient architects went out of their way to ensure that the Great Pyramid (and its internal chambers), although reasonably secure, was in no way as tightly secure as the builders could have made it: it is almost as though the builders were going out of their way to invite relatively easy access to whatever lay within” (italics added). If this statement doesn’t pique your curiosity, nothing will!

  Scott also takes us deep inside the mysterious motives of Colonel Richard William Howard Vyse, whose dubious discoveries set the compass for much of which is still taken as gospel by Egyptologists. Not only does Scott reveal new facts about the case, he also suggests a relatively simple empirical test that could once and for all determine Howard Vyse’s veracity. Chapter 6, “Gunpowder and Plot,” is a welcome addition to the cause of keeping the field honest.

  Having spent decades trying to unravel the mysteries of the termination of the last ice age, I find that “Ages of Deluge and Drought” is a chapter that tackles subjects close to my heart. Although our conclusions differ somewhat, Scott has done a thorough job in articulating the problem. The point where we concur is important: the ancient Egyptians believed in cyclical time, which suggested to them that deluges that occurred in the past would inevitably be echoed in the future. And we both maintain that traditional geological explanations are incapable of resolving the mystery of the relatively rapid changes in ocean levels exhibited at the termination of the Pleistocene, not to mention the phenomena of massive extinctions and migrations of people across the globe. We both explain worldwide myths that depict a great flood, falling skies, and stars that appeared to change position as the fearful legacy of ancient people who suffered a terrible catastrophe.

  For those curious about the ever-intriguing mystery of how the ancient Egyptian builders manipulated the massive stones used in the construction of the pyramids, the author presents a novel and fascinating solution—one that has hitherto been missed.

  Scott’s power of imagination is matched only by the discipline of his logic. He is not afraid of the difficult questions nor is he shy in admitting the lure of the mysterious. “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science,” said Einstein. “He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”2 Scott’s eyes are most definitely wide open!

  RAND FLEM-ATH

  RAND FLEM-ATH is a Canadian writer, librarian, and independent scholar. He has coauthored several books with his wife, writer Rose Flem-Ath—When the Sky Fell: In Search of Atlantis and Atlantis Beneath the Ice—and also with British writer Colin Wilson for The Atlantis Blueprint. He lives in British Columbia, Canada.

  Introduction

  For the best part of two hundred years it has been the settled opinion among Egyptologists and other scholars that the great pyramid-building age of ancient Egypt served one purpose and one purpose alone: to construct for the god-kings of the ancient Egyptian people a monumental pyramid that would serve both as tomb and as the vehicle by which the king’s soul could be transfigured and sent onward to take its place in the afterlife among the stars (the gods) of the heavens.

  While this view of these first pyramids presently remains the prevailing opinion among many as being the original and true function of these structures, there is a growing body of compelling evidence that suggests this view to be quite erroneous and says that these great structures, rather than serving as “revivication instruments” for the kings, actually were intended and served as revivication instruments for the kingdom. In short, each of the first sixteen or so pyramids built in ancient Egypt was built as an ark, and collectively these early, giant pyramids represent the ark of the ancient Egyptian gods Osiris and Thoth—the ark of the gods.

  To support its controversial conclusions, this book presents a broad array of evidence from many diverse sources and, with meticulous attention to detail, demonstrates precisely where conventional Egyptology has gone awry in its interpretation of this evidence and in its understanding of these magnificent, awe-inspiring monuments. The Secret Chamber of Osiris will show that there is a perfectly reasonable and viable alternative function for these monuments and, furthermore, that this alternative function resides within an equally valid ancient Egyptian cultural narrative.

  The Secret Chamber of Osiris will show—with compelling evidence—how the first sixteen pyramids built in ancient Egypt were perceived as and would come to represent the allegorical “dismembered body of Osiris,” the ancient Egyptian god of agriculture and rebirth, and that through the agency of Osiris it was hoped that the kingdom could be reborn after an anticipated cataclysm—the great deluge of Thoth.

  Explaining the legendary myth of Osiris and how it speaks of a lost or hidden part of Osiris—a secret or hidden chamber—that may lie under the sands to the southwest of the Giza plateau, the book will take the reader on a vicarious journey of discovery to explore this possibility and, in so doing, will reveal some provocative new perspectives and answers to some of the enduring mysteries of ancient Egypt, mysteries that persist even to this day and that the prevailing mainstream paradigm fails to adequately answer.

  As well as presenting many new and original ideas, The Secret Chamber of Osiris also revisits some old questions with fresh new evidence that is sure to reopen and reignite these old controversies. In particular the long-standing controversial claim of forgery having occurred within the Great Pyramid, first penned by international bestselling author Zecharia Sitchin, is revisited with new evidence that paints the character of Colonel Richard William Howard Vyse, the man who allegedly discovered ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions within sealed chambers of the Great Pyramid in 1837, in a very different and questionable light.

  While the primary focus of The Secret Chamber of Osiris concerns itself with the why question, that is, why the giant pyramids of ancient Egypt were built, some time is taken within the book to also consider the how question, presenting an intriguing and somewhat radical new theory—supported by tangible evidence—as to how these structures might actually have been built.

  The Secret Chamber of Osiris concludes with a truly startling revelation related to the quest to discover the legendary secret chambe
r of Osiris, showing how the theorized location of this hidden chamber—a location at Giza that had never before been explored—suddenly became the site of a major excavation by the Egyptian authorities shortly after I revealed the possible location of this secret chamber to the world.

  This book is about collating the available evidence, discovering new evidence, and evaluating all the evidence in order to present a solid, well-grounded, no-nonsense alternative view to the mainstream opinion as to why our ancient ancestors expended so much blood, sweat, and tears into the construction of these giant monuments. In short, this book offers a new contextual paradigm—a new Egyptology—through which this remarkable civilization can be understood.

  This is The Secret Chamber of Osiris.

  1

  Legends of Secret Chambers

  The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance—it is the illusion of knowledge.

  DANIEL J. BOORSTIN,

  PULITZER PRIZE–WINNING HISTORIAN

  AND FORMER LIBRARIAN OF THE U.S. CONGRESS

  CAIRO, MARCH 22, 2008, 11:30 A.M.

  The hotel lobby was abuzz with tourists from just about every conceivable corner of the globe, most clustered in small groups, chatting avidly about their excursions from the previous day: up to Alexandria, down to Karnak, or over to the Great Pyramid at Giza. It was impossible not to find yourself affected by the sheer sense of expectation and excitement rising from their collective voice as the next exhilarating chapter of their Egyptian adventure was about to unfold: the Sphinx, a Nile cruise, the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, the Valley of the Kings. Or a thousand and one other marvels this ancient country has to offer.