I just caught a very interesting show on PBS-it concerned the best analysis I have ever seen, of the disappearence of Col. Fawcett (in Brazil, in 1924).
For those of you unfamiliar, Col. Fawcett was an eccentric explorer, who was convinced there was a city (he called it “Z”) somehere in the Amazon region of Brazil. He launched a small expoedition (himself, his son, and another man) in 1924.
He was never heard from again-other explorers concluded that fawcett was killed by local indians.
The latest take is that Fawcett was killed by local robbers 9unemployed soldiers), and that he was nowhere near the Xingu region. Instead, he was in the highlands (mastly open scrub and savannah), and the aprty was murdered for their guns and what little money they had.
It turns out that col. fawcett was a “theosophist”, and believed that a city of superior beings lived in the region. His son’s birth (in Ceylon) had been announced by a Buddhist monk-the child was supposed to ahve been an “avatar” of some kind.
Do theosophist exist today? What are thie beliefs?
The show concluded that fawcett’s remains were never found-but his signet ring turned up in 1975 (the family has since recovered it).
Whodathunkit? Wiki has an article on the subject!: Theosophy - Wikipedia
And on Col. Fawcett: Percy Fawcett - Wikipedia
Yes, they still exist, and their beliefs are , AFAICT from my contact with them, pretty much in line with generic Anthroposophy/Rosicrucian/New Age mystic woo.
Highly recommended: The Lost City of Z, if you haven’t already read it. Grann’s interviews with the local tribes pretty much proves he was killed by a hostile tribe, as certainly as anything can be proved after this amount of time. He also debunks every other theory of his disappearance.
If you want more information on “Z”, the civilization that Francisco de Orellana documented, I highly recommend 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. In short, as more research is done, it turns out that Orellana’s account (believed for centuries to be extremely exaggerated) was probably quite accurate. (1491 is heavy on the flowery language, though, and dedicates a lot more words to researchers than it does to describing life in 1491… but it’s still a good read.)
Quite a lot of material on the wackier aspects of Theosophy, as taught by its founder Helena P. Blavatsky, can be found in L. Sprague deCamp’s Lost Continents. It’s a very readable and scholarly work on the lost continent theme, including Occultism – it reads like Cecil wrote it, restraining himself from most of his snark.
[minor digression]I saw that PBS show and was left wondering where the ring was discovered and how was it identified as Fawcett’s. Has anyone explained that?[/m.d.]
Thanks. Percy Fawcett was pretty much a wack job-but he was also a skilled surveyor and (apparently) a devout Anglican. Theosophy is just so strange-and most of it must have come from Blavatsky’s imagination.
I strongly second that recommendation. Great book.
I had never heard of Fawcett until I read that fascinating book, but apparently, the mystery of his disappearance used to be as famous as Amelia Earhart’s is now.
Actually, right here you can read a very long, and absolutely excellent, The New Yorker article on Fawcett’s disappearance. (The Theosophy angle is mentioned.)
The book others have recommended – The Lost City of Z – was based on this very article.
Have fun.
I one met a theosophist who was running a B&B in Oregon. Perfectly nice woman, very new-age. I was unaware of the connection to Madame Blavatsky until I read the Z book.
Strictly speaking, I don’t think he debunked the theory (actually mentioned in the book) that Fawcett disappeared into a hole that led down to a fantastically advanced underground city built in the hollow earth, where he attained immortality and lives to this day. He did indicate that there was no evidence of this, however.
For woo stuff, I find that The Skeptic’s Dictionnary is usually the best to give an overview.
I’ve read de Camp’s book – which doesn’t concentrate on Theosophy – and lots of other things about Theosophy and Blavatsky. I read a biography about her – Marion Meade’s Helena Blavatsky – The Woman Behind the Myth . She was a fascinating and bizarre woman. Very intelligent but also evidently a charlatan.
The Theosophists got heavily into Buddhism and popularizing it, which was both good and bad. Col. Olcott vame up with a “Buddhist Cathechism”, which was an attempt to put down concisely a set of tenets that all Buddhusts – Theravada, Mahayana, Bon and Zen – universally believed. That’s like coming up with a common creed for all Christians, whether they be Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, or Coptic. It’s a useful academic exercise but doesn’t necessarily do anything else. Theosophist doctrine seeped into books supposed to be about Buddhism. The Pelican book on Buddhism authored by Christmas Humphries contains non-Buddhist Theosophical doctrine presented as if they’re Buddhist. The Theosophist science fictional ponderings also influenced pulp writers and fanrasy authors up to the present day. So when you read about the high-tech Atlantean with their vril-powered vehicles, you can thank the Theosophists (who, in their turn, stole it from Edward Bulwer-Lytton. But I doubt if mr. “Dark and Stormy Night” could’ve gotten it into the public consciousness without their help)