Just beneath the southern tip of Italy, in the extreme
western part of the Mediterranean sea, lies the island of Malta.
In the past Malta has been the possession of many nationalities,
and has been considered to be one of the most strategic areas on
earth, being a port and an intersecting point between Europe,
Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, etc. This 9-mile-long island
was an ancient center of civilization at the time when the
Phoenicians from Carthage invaded and began to rule it. When a
group of ancient priests who worshipped the "god" Moloch (another
name for Baal, Osiris, or Nimrod - considered by the ancients to
be the "sun god") visited the island in Old Testament times, the
islanders readily accepted their teachings, including that of
offering up human sacrifices to appease their "god" Moloch, for
the ancient Maltese themselves practiced human blood sacrifice to
the "gods" of the underworld which were believed to exist beneath
the island and elsewhere, so-called deities which were often
identified with "serpents". When the Apostle Paul visited the
island as recorded in the book of ACTS chapter 28, he learned of
their superstitious beliefs concerning serpents after he had been
bitten by one of the beasts on the island (at the time called
Melita) and survived by the power of the risen Jesus - a God
which the Maltese knew nothing about until Paul's fateful visit.
Since the time of the Carthagians, Malta has had many
rulers--Romans, Arabs, Normans, Argonese, Castillians, the
Hospitalers or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, later known as
the Knights of Rhodes, and still later as the Knights of Malta,
who remain there to this day, having duel headquarters in Rome.
A few miles south of the town of Valletta, Malta, is the small
village of Casal Paula. In the year 1902, workmen who were
digging a well literally fell into the earth. What they
discovered (or rather re-discovered) was a series of ancient
caves, mostly excavated out of solid rock, which descended into
the earth and into three lower levels below. These multi-leveled
catacombs became known as the "Hypogeum of Hal Saflienti", named
after the street beneath which they were discovered. A hypogeum
is the Latin name for an underground structure.
Near the floor of the last chamber, within the 3rd and last
(officially recognized) sub-level of these ancient catacombs,
there are a few so-called "burial chambers". These are only a
few feet square and situated right next to the floor, and one
must get on their knees just to look into them. These "burial
chambers" are just large enough for one to crawl through. There
have for years been rumors that one of these "burial chambers"
does not end, but continues into deeper and unexplored caverns
beyond.
This, according to certain sources, was the subterranean
passage and chamber which was referred to years ago in an article
which appeared in the August, 1940 issue of the NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC Magazine. The article stated the following concerning
several people who disappeared in these catacombs without a
trace:
"Many subterranean passageways, including ancient catacombs,
now are a part of the island's fortifications and defense system.
Supplies are kept in many tunnels; others are bomb shelters.
Beneath Valletta some of the underground areas served as homes
for the poor. Prehistoric men built temples and chambers in
these vaults. In a pit beside one sacrificial altar lie
thousands of human skeletons. Years ago one could walk
underground from one end of Malta to the other. The Government
closed the entrances to these tunnels after school children and
their teachers became lost in the labyrinth while on a study tour
and never returned."
The story goes much "deeper" however, than the NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC article indicates. Other sources say that ABOUT 30
CHILDREN vanished in these catacombs on the study tour, and that
when the "Hypogeum" was first discovered nearly 30,000 human
skeletons of men, women and children (victims of ancient
sacrifice to the "underworld gods", performed by an old neolithic
race) were discovered as well.
One article written by a Miss Lois Jessup, at the time an
employee of the British embassy and later secretary for the New
York Saucer Information Bureau (better known as NYSIB), appeared
in an old issue of Riley Crabb's BORDERLAND SCIENCE magazine,
published by the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation
(B.S.R.F.) and was later reprinted in full in Dr. Allen's book
ENIGMA FANTASTIQUE.
Miss Jessup claimed that she visited Malta and the Hypogeum
also, once before the tragic disappearance of the children, and
shortly thereafter. She described how on her first visit to the
catacombs she finally convinced the guide to allow her to
investigate one of the so-called "burial chambers" near the floor
of the last chamber in the third sub-basement, the supposed "end"
of the Hypogeum tour. He seemed to know something she didn't,
but finally consented and told her that she could enter at "her
own risk". As she did so, candle in hand and her loosed sash
being used as a guide rope for her friends who followed behind,
she crawled through the small passage and eventually emerged
into a large cavern, where she found herself on a ledge
overlooking a very deep, seemingly bottomless chasm. Below and
on the other side of the chasm was another ledge which appeared
to lead to a doorway or tunnel in the far wall. We realize that
what happened next might sound unbelievable to many who read
this, but we would ask them to make their own determination of
it's validity. Miss Jessup swears that what follows really
happened.
Out of this lower tunnel on the far side of the chasm, she
claims, emerged in single file several very large creatures of
humanoid form but completely covered with hair from head to foot.
Noticing her, they raised their arms in her direction, palms out,
at which point a violent "wind" began to blow through the cavern,
snuffing out her candle. Then, some "thing" wet and slippery
(apparently a creature of a different sort) brushed past her.
This all happened just as the person behind her was beginning to
emerge from the passage and into the cavern. They could not
understand her panicked attempts to get back to the "Hypogeum"
room, but they consented after she insisted. When they found
themselves back in the Hypogeum chamber, the guide saw her
expression and gave her a "knowing" look. About a week
afterwards the disappearance of the children and their teacher(s)
took place, and on her second visit she saw an entirely new guide
who denied that the other guide had ever worked there, although
she knew that this new guide was hiding something.
She learned from more cooperative sources however, that THIS
was the tunnel that the children and their teacher(s) and
possibly the old guide, had entered. She also learned that after
the last child had made it through, the walls of the small tunnel
just "happened" to collapse or cave-in. Although the official
version stated that the walls caved-in on the students, search
parties were never able to locate any trace of the teacher(s) or
the children, although the rope that they had used to fasten
themselves to the lower Hypogeum chamber was found to have been
CLEAN CUT as if by something sharp (not falling rock). It was
asserted that for weeks afterwards the wailing and screaming of
children was heard underground in different parts of the island,
but no one could locate the sources of the cries. As for the
Catacombs beneath Malta itself, there are some ancient accounts
which say that deep caverns beneath the island continue
underground BEYOND the shores, and according to one source
[i.e. the ever elusive "Commander-X"], part of this labyrinth
stretches hundreds of miles northwards and intersects with
catacombs beneath Rome (the hill Vaticanus?) or at least did
so in ancient times...
