Daryl Friesen
Sr. Member
The spectacular ruins of Tikal lie scattered throughout the Petan district located in the jungles of Guatemala.? When one stands among the ruins of Tikal, one can?t help but wonder just how the Mayans where able to build such a spectacular city.? They were truly a spiritually motivated culture.? Only a culture that was so sure of its beliefs could have had the patience and the leadership to erect such massive stone temples as the ones that amaze you at Tikal.? As I gazed off at the temples, I started thinking about a dead explorer by the name of James Carmichael who was purely motivated by western greed.? He had done some exploring here in search of a lost treasure, which has been long forgotten.? As I climbed up temple six and looked far off into the jungle, I knew why it has been forgotten.? The jungle was so thick, it covered everything.? Its green claws reaching up the sides of the great temples erected by the Mayans thousands of years ago.
I first heard the name James Carmichael when I was reading the journal of an explorer named Thomas Gann. Who was given the papers and diaries of the dead explorer by the son of James Carmichael?? According to the papers James Carmichael was the son of John Carmichael. Who came to Central America to in 1830s?
When James was growing up in the jungle he made friends with the local natives and quickly learned to speak the Mayan and Ketchi languages.? The natives took him to all kinds of ruin sites in Belize and Guatemala, and he rapidly developed a strong passion for archaeology.
One of the sites the natives took Carmichael to was the lost city of Lubantun, which was excavated by Thomas Gann and his friend Mitchell Hedges in the 1920s.? Mitchell Hedges became famous because of his discovery of the world famous crystal skull, which he found among the ruins.
Over time the natives showed Carmichael many secrets about what lies waiting in the jungle for the explorer and in 1868 Carmichael meet two natives by the name of Jose and Bel Chen, who were father and son.? They took a quick liking to the curious explorer and they told him about a temple, which lies forgotten in the jungles surrounding the old Mayan ruins of Tikal.? The temple contained the wealth of Tikal itself as well as the treasure of Montezuma.? Naturally Carmichael became obsessed with the story and the two natives agreed to guide him to its location.
The expedition hacked its way through the thick mosquito invested jungle for five treacherous days Carmichael was sick with maleria when they? finally arrivied at five crumbling structures sticking out of the jungle.
? The guides told Carmichael that inside one of these temples lies the treasure.? ?They quickly began clearing the temples of jungle.? After two days of work came to what looked like the entrance to the main temple, which was sealed up with mortar.? According to the natives, it was one of a more recent construction than the temple itself, which implies that the temple had been sealed up before it was abandoned. Had the Aztecs used these temples as depsoitory for there treasure?? The expedition tried in vain to open the temples but they where just sealed up to tight. Whoever had sealed them out wanted to keep outsiders away for a very long time.
Carmichael knew he could never open the temple without the proper equipment and decided to leave the location.? .He arrived in the village of Tulunche, where the expedition had started from and then quickly left for England coming to the conclusion in his own mind that there was not enough evidence to support Montezumas treasure really being in those temples. All he had where rumours and that was not enough for him to risk a second expedition into the jungle the first one had been hard enough. So he abandoned his quest.
According to his papers, he then got a job and quickly got consumed by regular life forgetting about the sealed up temples. Twenty one years would passed and one day Carmacheal found himself on a buisness trip to Mexico City
. Carmacheal decided to spend some time in the Mexican library.? ?It was there where he stumbled upon an interesting manuscript while searching through some old Spanish records.? The manuscript was written by a Spanish priest and was dated 1640.? It said that a part of Montezuma?s treasure had been sent by the Aztecs to the Usuminca country to avoid being captured by the Spanish.?
This was prove in Carmichael?s mind that what the natives in Tulunche had told him was true.The Sealed up temples in the Jungle did contain the treasure of the Aztecs and they where located smack? in the middle of Usuminca country. One of the most unexplored jungles in Central America.
To be contuined
Daryl Friesen
Spindle Explorartions
www.bc-alter.net/dfriesen
I first heard the name James Carmichael when I was reading the journal of an explorer named Thomas Gann. Who was given the papers and diaries of the dead explorer by the son of James Carmichael?? According to the papers James Carmichael was the son of John Carmichael. Who came to Central America to in 1830s?
When James was growing up in the jungle he made friends with the local natives and quickly learned to speak the Mayan and Ketchi languages.? The natives took him to all kinds of ruin sites in Belize and Guatemala, and he rapidly developed a strong passion for archaeology.
One of the sites the natives took Carmichael to was the lost city of Lubantun, which was excavated by Thomas Gann and his friend Mitchell Hedges in the 1920s.? Mitchell Hedges became famous because of his discovery of the world famous crystal skull, which he found among the ruins.
Over time the natives showed Carmichael many secrets about what lies waiting in the jungle for the explorer and in 1868 Carmichael meet two natives by the name of Jose and Bel Chen, who were father and son.? They took a quick liking to the curious explorer and they told him about a temple, which lies forgotten in the jungles surrounding the old Mayan ruins of Tikal.? The temple contained the wealth of Tikal itself as well as the treasure of Montezuma.? Naturally Carmichael became obsessed with the story and the two natives agreed to guide him to its location.
The expedition hacked its way through the thick mosquito invested jungle for five treacherous days Carmichael was sick with maleria when they? finally arrivied at five crumbling structures sticking out of the jungle.
? The guides told Carmichael that inside one of these temples lies the treasure.? ?They quickly began clearing the temples of jungle.? After two days of work came to what looked like the entrance to the main temple, which was sealed up with mortar.? According to the natives, it was one of a more recent construction than the temple itself, which implies that the temple had been sealed up before it was abandoned. Had the Aztecs used these temples as depsoitory for there treasure?? The expedition tried in vain to open the temples but they where just sealed up to tight. Whoever had sealed them out wanted to keep outsiders away for a very long time.
Carmichael knew he could never open the temple without the proper equipment and decided to leave the location.? .He arrived in the village of Tulunche, where the expedition had started from and then quickly left for England coming to the conclusion in his own mind that there was not enough evidence to support Montezumas treasure really being in those temples. All he had where rumours and that was not enough for him to risk a second expedition into the jungle the first one had been hard enough. So he abandoned his quest.
According to his papers, he then got a job and quickly got consumed by regular life forgetting about the sealed up temples. Twenty one years would passed and one day Carmacheal found himself on a buisness trip to Mexico City
. Carmacheal decided to spend some time in the Mexican library.? ?It was there where he stumbled upon an interesting manuscript while searching through some old Spanish records.? The manuscript was written by a Spanish priest and was dated 1640.? It said that a part of Montezuma?s treasure had been sent by the Aztecs to the Usuminca country to avoid being captured by the Spanish.?
This was prove in Carmichael?s mind that what the natives in Tulunche had told him was true.The Sealed up temples in the Jungle did contain the treasure of the Aztecs and they where located smack? in the middle of Usuminca country. One of the most unexplored jungles in Central America.
To be contuined
Daryl Friesen
Spindle Explorartions
www.bc-alter.net/dfriesen
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