I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Jen! This isn't a crime-related topic! What are you doing posting this?" Well, my lovely readers, I'm going to come right out and make the statement that I believe the sinking of the RMS Titanic was criminal in nature. And I'm going to explain why. This week, I served as a guest on the Conspiracy Therapy podcast's episode dedicated to the Titanic conspiracies. (And, yes, I am going to be plugging the hell out of this fantastic [but NSFW] episode!) Ryan, Larry, Josh, April, and I discussed the sinking and what could've caused it. Was it more than a simple twist of fate or even human negligence? Did someone (or something) have it out for the doomed ocean liner? Was it even the Titanic that sank? I'm going to go ahead and assume that most of you know what happened on the night of April 14-15, 1912. For those who don't, a brief summary courtesy of Wikipedia: RMS Titanic sank in the early morning of 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean, four days into the ship's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The largest passenger liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she struck an iceberg at around 23:40 (ship's time)[a] on Sunday, 14 April 1912. Her sinking two hours and forty minutes later at 02:20 (ship's time; 05:18 GMT) on Monday, 15 April, resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 people, which made it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. So, how could a supposedly "unsinkable" ship founder on her maiden voyage? Why plow through a North Atlantic ice field full-steam ahead on a moonless night (aside from the desire to win the coveted Blue Riband)? The Titanic was supposed to be the "ship of dreams", so how did it become such a nightmare? We may never know the truth, but there are some clues that point us in the direction of a conspiracy. Let me explain. The Titanic was the middle child - the second of three liners - in a set of sisters. The Olympic was completed in May 1911 and had been constructed alongside her younger sister, the Titanic. The Britannic was completed in 1915 but sank in 1916 after hitting a mine in the Aegean Sea. Olympic was something of a trouble-maker. White Star Line prided itself on outdoing the Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauritania with its three new sister ships, but in September 1911, Olympic ran into the cruiser HMS Hawke. The Hawke's powerful bow rammed Olympic on the starboard side, close to her stern. This punctured Olympic's hull above and below her waterline, leading to the flooding of two watertight compartments. The propeller shaft was also damaged in the collision. Olympic limped back to port for repairs, but no lives were lost in the accident. Repairs would be expensive, extending into what in today's money would be millions of dollars. Guess who was the captain of the Olympic when she collided with the Hawke? Why, it was none other than Edward Smith, the captain who went down with the Titanic (and who was set to retire after its maiden voyage). Guess what was also known to be a construction flaw in both the Olympic and Titanic? The hull and rivets. At the high speed the Titanic was going, the hull and rivets failed due to their high sulfur content and the freezing water temperatures. In other words, all three factors explain why the impact with the iceberg caused too many watertight compartments to flood. The ship wasn't built to designer Thomas Andrews' (who perished in the sinking) standards, and he, at least according to Tom McCluskie, knew the rivets were subpar. Also, thanks to McCluskie, we know that Harland & Wolfe's records indicate that the ship's builders knew after the fact that Titanic had broken apart while sinking but didn't go out of their way to make this public knowledge. (In fact, it was only through the accounts of survivors like 17-year-old Jack Thayer that anyone in 1912 had reason to believe the ship split in two.) So, what am I getting at here? I'm getting at the idea that the Titanic could have been deliberately sank, that it might have actually been swapped with the Olympic, and that White Star might've done so as part of an insurance scam. But what proof is there that the Titanic was actually the Olympic? Well, here are a few items to consider:
The last serious indicator that the sinking of the Titanic might have been planned is that, oh, how convenient!, the Federal Reserve was able to be created in 1913. That's right. Centralized banking wasn't a thing in America until after the Titanic sank. It was, however, something that one of her top financiers, J. Piermont Morgan, advocated for. Perhaps ol' JP got inspired after reading Morgan Robertson's 1889 almost-verbatim telling of the sinking of a ship called the Titan. Robertson was the son of a ship's captain who sailed the Great Lakes. He also rather conveniently died due paraldehyde poisoning in 1915. JP had booked himself First Class on the Titanic's maiden voyage and even had a special bathtub installed in his room. However, JP apparently took ill right before the voyage and was caught playing hookie in France as the ship he financed sank. Calling in "sick" to work has never looked so scumbag-y. Who also played hookie? Ismay's wife was one; she was spotted in Wales, looking rather healthy that April. Milton Hershey (a close friend of JP Morgan's and the founder of the Hershey food empire) also called off the trip at the last minute. Oh yeah, did I mention that three powerful opponents to the creation of a centralized banking system were on board? John Jacob Astor, Isidor Straus, and Benjamin Guggenheim were all traveling First Class, and all three (as well as Strau's devoted wife and Guggenheim's manservant) went down with the ship. The Rothschild and Rockefeller families are other key players in this conspiracy theory. They were essentially viewed as banking agents for the Jesuits, who were keen on bringing down the Roman Catholic Church, its pope, and its wealthy status. (Oh, and Captain Smith? Jesuit.) The Jesuits were desperate to create a centralized banking system in America. It was a way to expand their wealth by getting America needlessly involved in major wars. (Just think about how rapidly World War I approached after the Titanic sank.) Let's also note that it was the Irish Jesuit priest, Father Francis Browne, who captured the last photographic images of the Titanic before she left Queenstown, Ireland (her final port-of-call). One image in particular shows Captain Smith peering over the bridge. Could these two men have met for a private discourse before the ship set sail? Certainly. Critics and conspiracy theorists cite the following Jesuit oath as an explanation as to why Smith might've been so easy for the Order to manipulate: I should regard myself as a dead body, without will or intelligence, as a little crucifix which is turned about unresistingly at the will of him who holds it as a staff in the hands of an old man, who uses it as he requires it, and as it suits him best. — R. W. Thompson, The Footprints of the Jesuits, Hunt and Eaton, p. 54. In other words, if Smith was given the order to sink the ship, he might've viewed himself as powerless and already a member of the deceased. But could he be so heartless, so lacking in compassion for the 1,500 other lives that were taken that night? Could anyone be that ruthless, that driven by greed? Honestly, I can't say for certain that the Titanic was sank as part of a cruel scheme enacted by power-hungry people. But damn, there is quite some compelling evidence to suggest so. The 700 who survived, 1500 who died, and all of their loved ones deserved better. They deserved answers for this unfathomable tragedy, and after two international inquests, they never really got them. All I can say is: Follow the money... References
Titanic's Last Secrets: The Further Adventures of Shadow Divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler by Brad Matsen The Wreck of the Titan by Morgan Robertson
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Imagine this: You're out walking your dog on a day that's like any other. The 92-acre lot where subdivision work near 118th Street was halted a year earlier, amid the 2008 recession, lies vacant. This is Albuquerque's West Mesa in 2009 - a desolate plateau situated west of the Rio Grande. Suddenly, your dog spots something out of the ordinary. You get closer to inspect. Bones. Human remains. You realize that you're standing atop a burial site, so you phone the police. This is what sparked the hunt for the serial killer(s) who became known as the West Mesa Bone Collector in 2009. After a woman walking her dog discovered human bones, crime scene technicians were able to assess that there were the remains of 11 women buried at the site between 2001 and 2005. In 2006, residential development began on the land, but by 2008, development was stunted as the housing bubble burst, leaving the economy in ruins. It was around this time that neighbours began to complain about the flooding that happened on the site, which ended up being the result of the burial of the natural arroyo. A retaining wall was constructed to help channel rainwater into a detention pond, and the construction of this wall is what seemingly dredged up the long-buried bones. But who were these women, and who killed them? 11 victims were identified, all of whom were women, predominantly Hispanic, and who ranged between the ages of 15 and 32. After detectives dug into their lives, it was discovered that many of them had used drugs and/or were known to be sex workers. The Victims
As of right now, no suspect has ever been officially identified. Instead, there are a series of possibilities and a string of dead-end leads. So, who is the infamous West Mesa Bone Collector? The Potential Suspects
In January 2018, Albuquerque Police Department talked about naming suspects, including Lorenzo Montoya and Joseph Blea. Chief Mike Geier is pursuing the case. And, in the summer of 2018, a construction crew working near 118th Street and Cenote Road SW located human remains that could be additional murder victims of the West Mesa Bone Collector. However, this will take months to determine as specialized DNA testing is required to identify the remains.
Perhaps, once the DNA testing is complete, we will have a new clue or two as to who killed all of these women. Or, perhaps, this case will always remain unsolved. Whatever happens, it is important to remember that the victims weren't just addicts and hookers; they were mothers, daughters, sisters, friends. They did not deserve the fates they received at the hands of a brutal murderer. |