ARTHUR C CLARKE’S MYSTERIOUS WORLD

PART 2

Welcome back. Last month, we looked at the first six episodes of Arthur C Clarke’s famous 1980 documentary series and asked what, if anything, we had learned about the programme’s “mysteries” in the intervening years (FT410:32-39).

We saw how several archæological mysteries had been resolved one way or the other with the help of modern techniques and new scientific evidence, which allowed us to sift real wonders (the Antikythera mechanism) from the fake (the Mitchell Hedges skull). ¹ And while we’ll never have all the answers when it comes to the identity and motivation of the people who cut the Nazca lines or the Uffington Horse, the questions at least make sense and the possible answers feel human and relatable.

Meanwhile, the cryptozoological mysteries left us with more of a challenge. Science, over the intervening 40 years, has not been particularly kind to the existence of Bigfoot, sea serpents or lake monsters: hoaxes have been exposed and purported evidence critiqued and sometimes debunked. But a large body of personal testimony, of raw experience, remains. It is difficult to dismiss the conclusion that normal people inconveniently experience the technically impossible.

In this second part of our analysis, we will tackle the next four episodes, once again covering a diverse range of subjects – everything from the Tunguska explosion to Stonehenge, and from falls of fish to the search for evidence of UFOs.

And don’t forget that you can watch along at home with the Network DVD edition, released shortly before Clarke passed away in 2008.

SCIENCE, OVER THE INTERVENING YEARS, HAS NOT BEEN KIND TO THE EXISTENCE OF LAKE MONSTERS

Episode 7: The Great Siberian Explosion

This episode is something of an outlier, for it focuses on one specific mystery for the whole