Nestled deep in the woods near Salim, New Hampshire, resting atop a mountain known by
locals as Mystery Hill, exists a peculiar site like no other.
A site full of strange rock formations, mysterious man-made stone structures, and a labyrinth
of hand-built caves.
There are countless different theories about who is behind this strange site - was it built
by ancient peoples?
Is it the home of a long lost civilization?
Could it even have been left behind by aliens?
No one seems to know exactly how it came to be, but one thing is for sure - there are
many more questions than there are answers about the mystery behind the American Stonehenge.
The American Stonehenge is truly a remarkable site.
Spread out over 12 acres atop a rocky granite hill in New England, the site is home to some
of the most interesting and mystifying structures that can be found anywhere in the U.S.
The hill top is covered by a maze of low stone walls made of deliberately stacked flat stones.
In some places, massive granite slabs have been laboriously laid on top of the stone
walls, creating sheltered cave-like chambers with mystical names like the Sundeck and the
V-Hut.
Then there is the bewildering structure known ominously as the Oracle Chamber, a snug underground
room carved into the stone, complete with a rough stone bed and even what appears to
be a crude stone tube leading outside.
And of course, we can’t forget about the Sacrificial Table, an enormous 4-ton granite
slab that covers the Oracle Chamber, and that may have been used in ancient spiritual rituals.
There’s also the scenic astronomy trail which takes visitors on a winding tour through
the site’s staggeringly accurate astronomical calendar made of stone monoliths.
But where did these incredible structures come from?
Who built them, and, most puzzlingly, why did they create them?
These intriguing questions have been hotly debated by both professional scholars and
amateur sleuths for decades, but we have yet to unlock the site’s secrets or solve the
mystery of the American Stonehenge once and for all.
Each year, thousands of visitors from across the country and around the world flock to
the American Stonehenge, all inexplicably drawn to the mystifying site in the hopes
of finding the answers to its cryptic mysteries.
The 105 acre property that emcompasses Mystery Hill and its curious formations has been in
the Stone family for more than half a century, since they purchased the land in 1956.
The Stone family dubbed the site the ‘American Stonehenge’, a nickname that is both a play
on the family’s name, and an homage to the famed original Stonehenge site, a majestic
prehistoric stone monument located in England.
The Stones opened the site to the public and began offering tours in 1958, and the current
owner, Dennis Stone, has dutifully carried on his family’s legacy.
He runs the American Stonehenge alongside his wife and son, offering tours of the site
and educating visitors about its supposed historical importance.
They host special events like solstice celebrations and astronomical viewing parties, and they
operate a gift shop and even an alpaca farm on the property to cater to curious visitors.
Dennis and his family firmly insist that the American Stonehenge is the oldest man-made
structure in the entire U.S., and visitors to the site are invited to view a 10-minute
video that explains Dennis’ version of the site’s history and meaning.
But they don’t have to take Dennis’ word for it.
For just $12, visitors can explore the site for themselves and come to their own conclusions
about the truth behind the mystery of the American Stonehenge.
And there are plenty of intriguing things to be seen at this truly bizarre site.
Locals had been aware of the strange stone structures atop Mystery Hill for hundreds
of years before they became widely known to the public, but the site had mostly been ignored,
assumed to be the work of early colonial settlers in the area.
Things changed in 1937, when the property was purchased by insurance executive William
Goodwin.
Goodwin was a very wealthy man, and enjoyed spending his free time indulging in amateur
antiquarian projects, such as searching for evidence of Vinland, the fabled North American
settlement of the Vikings.
Of course, we now know that Vinland does indeed exist - the site was found in Newfoundland,
Canada, in the 1960s, and it is currently the only pre-Colombian site in North America
that is widely acknowledged by experts.
But back in the 1930s, Vinland was just a whispered rumor, and its location was still
a mystery.
Many, from learned professionals to amateur sleuths like Goodwin, were keen to be the
first to uncover evidence of the Viking settlement, or of any other pre-Columbian settlements
on North American soil.
When Goodwin took possession of the Mystery Hill property, he was convinced that the low,
roughly hewn stone walls were the ruined foundations of some ancient building, and that they were
proof that the site had been home to a previously unknown group of pre-Colombian settlers from
across the sea.
His personal pet theory was that the site had been created by a group of Culdees, or
Irish Monks, who were fleeing Viking invaders, seeking shelter and eventually settling atop
Mystery, where they built a new monastery.
To date, there has been no solid evidence brought to light that would support this theory,
but that hasn’t stopped it from spreading and spawning other imaginative theories about
pre-Columbian settlers.
Theories abound about different groups of European explorers reaching the Eastern shores
of North America before Columbus officially discovered it in 1492, and plenty of people
believe that the incredible structures at American Stonehenge are the product of early
Celtic settlers, adventurous Viking invaders or even intrepid Mediterrainen explorers who
arrived before the 15th century.
One of the most intriguing theories about the origins of American Stonehenge comes from
a 1976 book called America B.C. by author Barry Fell.
Fell was a marine biologist by trade, and an amateur historian in his free time, and
he claimed that American Stonehenge held proof that ancient Phoencian and Iberian people
had found their way to America as early as the first century B.C., leaving behind intricate
stone carvings in the Phoenician language that should have only been found in the Middle
East.
Experts have since debunked Fell’s ideas, but surprisingly, his is not even the most
outlandish theory about American Stonehenge.
Some take things a step further, and look for answers to the site’s mysteries beyond
our world.
One of the most astounding features of American Stonehenge is the astronomical trail, a peaceful
half mile hike through the serene woods, complete with panoramic views of the surrounding hills,
which takes visitors through a sprawling astronomical calendar.
Like it’s namesake in England, the American Stonehenge’s astronomical calendar is made
up of standing stone monoliths and functions like a huge sundial, with individual stones
aligning perfectly with important solar and lunar occurrences, like the spring and fall
equinoxes and the winter and summer solstices.
Some skeptics claim this is nothing but a coincidence, but many more believe this was
a purpose-built structure designed to help early people track the passage of the seasons
for farming or even ceremonial purposes.
More than 1 credible surveyor has carefully studied the site and confirmed that the alignment
of the stones is consistent with what astronomy would have been like thousands of years ago,
which, because of the earth’s tilt, would have been slightly different than the alignment
is today.
Which all begs the question - how did ancient, pre-industrial people amass the indepth astronomical
and mathematical knowledge required to build such an accurate model of the movement of
the heavens?
For some, the answer could only be, of course, aliens.
This theory is so popular that it was covered by the legendary TV show Ancient Aliens, in
an episode that posited that the American Stonehenge was actually built by ancient druids,
who somehow travelled to North America to share the illuminating knowledge that they
in turn had learned from their alien mentors.
Or something like that...
Anyway…
Not all of the theories about American Stonehenge are quite so outlandish.
One of the more popular - and more palatable - theories about the American Stonehenge is
that it was created by ancient Native Americans.
Extensive carbon dating testing has proved that some parts of the site are indeed more
than 4,000 years old, and archeological evidence from the site and other nearby digs prove
that early Native Americans definitely lived in the area.
Fragments of bowls and stone tools have been found nearby, along with evidence of large
fire pits of the type used to make pottery, and the area is rich in the clay deposits
that would have been needed to make ancient pottery.
Many of the site’s massive stones also show evidence of having been quarried using primitive
stone-on-stone techniques.
Did ancient Native Americans settle atop Mystery Hill and build the structures that we can
still see today?
Or, did they perhaps use the site for their ancient ceremonial rituals?
Was the monstrous 4-ton stone slab actually used as a sacrificial table?
There are grooves carved all around the edges of the stone that appear to have been designed
to funnel liquid off of the table top and into a bowl placed under the table - is it
possible that these grooves were used to collect the blood of sacrificed animals, or even humans,
as a part of a gruesome ancient tribal ritual?
Beneath the slab is a tiny, cramped underground chamber, connected to the surface via a crude
stone speaking tube.
Could an ancient person have hidden themselves away beneath the sacrificial table, speaking
into the tube in order to magnify their voice to the gathered masses in a way that made
it appear as if the voice was coming from an invisible spirit or a god?
It’s unlikely that we’ll ever know exactly how early Native Americans used this site
more than 4,000 years ago, but we definitely know that they were there.
We also know about another group of people who were most certainly in the area of Mystery
Hill hundreds of years ago.
Early European colonists flocked to the Eastern shores of North America in the 17th and 18th
centuries and established the first permanent colonial homesteads, permanently altering
the existing landscape in the process.
Could the American Stonehenge be the ruins of an early colonial settlement?
Many anthropologists and archeologists believe so, and they also have some rather less mystical
explanations for the peculiar structures that can be found on the site.
Historical records clearly show that a man named Jonathon Pattee, a shoemaker from Europe,
settled in the area in 1823 and built his homestead atop Mystery Hill, on the very same
site as the American Stonehenge.
Experts are convinced that what at first might appear to be a sacrificial table used for
gruesome and bloody ancient rituals, was actually simply a stone table used by early colonial
farmers to press fruit and collect the juices, or to extract lye from wood ashes as the first
step in the onerous chore of making lye soap.
As for the caves, rather than mysterious ancient structures with unknown, cryptic purposes,
most experts believe that they were simply a crude form of food storage used by colonists
in the days before modern refrigeration technology.
Plymouth State University archaeologist David Starbuck is one of the country’s foremost
experts on the American Stonehenge, a site that he calls "unquestionably provocative,
puzzling and, above all, controversial."
In his opinion, the most likely explanation for this mysterious site is a combination
of ancient Native American activity alongside stone structures later built by early European
colonists.
According to him, "there is probably no serious, trained archaeologist who believes that it
was created thousands of years ago."
In fact, Starbuck admits that it is now widely believed that our old friend William Goodwin
actually created most of what we can now see at American Stonehenge himself.
Theories abound about the peculiar site, but it’s highly unlikely that we’ll ever really
know the full truth behind the mystery of the American Stonehenge.
That doesn’t bother Dennis Stone, who continues to believe that he owns one of the most important
historical sites in America.
"They're kind of ignorant of all the facts of the site," he says of critics.
"I'm not saying they're stupid.
Just that they don't know the facts."
Whatever the truth is, there is no denying that it is a powerful experience to walk through
the American Stonehenge site, following in the footsteps of early, possibly even ancient
peoples, and reflecting on those who have walked where we now walk hundreds and even
thousands of years before us.
If you thought this video was fascinating, be sure and check out our other videos, like
this one called “How Did A Whole Village Disappear?
The Lost Colony of Roanoke Mystery”, or perhaps you’ll like this other video instead.