Analysis of Sample From 'Miraculous' Stairs in Santa Fe Found Unknown Species of Wood

Originally posted by BONFIRE2012
Oh Yes, Staircase is Amazing !! This is the first time I have seen the staircase after hearing the story for the past 40 years,,,Magnificent !!! This staircase really points out an important aspect about Life these days,,,,Craftsmanship is a Lost Art,,,the World as a society is losing very neat & important Ancient Wisdom ,, trading Wisdom for instant gratification like email, IM, TV, --- I'm new to this site & I'm in wonder of the neat topics, posts & People on here,,,I think All of Us can admit that this site ATS is a good site where We can share, give & learn,,,Thx Yall !!

I always find you people on these type of sites. You have no clue what you're talking about and you make all your assumptions out of pure ignorance. Craftmanship a lost art ? How ? You obviously have no interest in craftmanship and basically everything you said is a projection of yourself and has nothing to do with "the world as a society". There's nothing "wise" about this staircase, infact it's pure luck that it has not failed and hurt people. It has lousy support and didnt even have a rail originally. The carpenter was playing with peoples lives making this staircase and in it's orignal form without the rail, it looks quite less impressive :



Hardly something to compete with the creations humankind has achieved since then.

Now i find it hard to believe a forgiver like jesus or any other from the cool clique in heaven, would build something as unforgiving as a staircase like that with no rail.

If you actually would pay some interest to the "lost art" you can find TONS of BEAUTYFUL amazingly designed and foremost SAFE TO WALK ON staircases created by modern societys most brilliant craftsmen by the help of guess what ... Computers and modern technology, the so called thief of wisdom.




I hope i've shed some light in your pessimistic world view.

Originally posted by GhostLancer
reply to post by predator0187

 

It is said that one of the choir members would sing during the old man's work, that she was enchanted by the old man. She would feed, water and brush his donkey for him. After a while, they had formed somewhat of a bond, much like father to daughter. She would make him meals and bring him water. After a while, the old man would drop hints about his previous travels, his former life.

He told her he had been a crewman aboard a whaler. One day, in his youth, "A very long time ago," his ship had been caught in a terrible storm. It was swept far into the Arctic. For weeks the crew fed off the carcass and blubber of their last take, sprinkling it with lemon juice to prevent scurvey. Still, many of the crew died, and only a dozen men were left. The northern lights filled the sky, and like a dream, "Angles descended upon us and saved us." He awakened in a land of tropical flora and fauna under a sky of hazy orange, all the while with the aurora glowing above.

Over the course of building the stairs, he continued his account to the choir girl's delight. Apparently, he had stayed for quite a long time in this land, meeting exotic people, some even had blue skin. According to the man, he lived in this land for over 100 years. And then there was some disturbance and he and his friends were told that they must either remain in the land permanently or be returned home. While he loved this new place, he missed his home dearly, his family. He surely outlived everyone he knew, but maybe he could track down his descendants. He decided to leave, along with four others.

The blue people helped the men construct a small, seaworthy vessel from local wood and assisted them with navigation. Suddenly, strong sea currents brought them into a place where it was hard to distinguish sky from sea, and then they were once again in the Arctic waters. Before long, they happened upon a larger fishing ship that took them aboard and towed their vessel home.

Each of the four men wanted some reminder of the mysterious land, and dismantled the vessel. The old man took his wood and returned home, perhaps to use some of it to build a home. He discovered that his family had either died or moved away. He said something about having tracked a great granddaughter to the very church in which he was constructing the stairway with the last of the wood from his fantastic journey.

The man eventually completed the stair and thanked the choir lady for her kindness. He bid her farewell and gave her a gold ring that housed a vibrant jewel. She kissed him on the cheek and wished him good journey. Upon a feeling, she asked her mother if they had any missing relatives. Her mother told her that the family rarely spoke of it, her grandfather had gone missing. The choir lady asked her excitedly, "Was he aboard a whaling ship?" The mother's eyes widened in confirmation.

The wood is from a species from the wondrous land that the old man spent nearly a century within. As far as the jewel goes, upon the choir lady's death, an heir had succumbed to gamgling and was forced to sell it to preserve his life. It is said that the Smithsonian Institute bought the jewel to include in a (then) upcoming display of exotic gems. But, it was never included because of the controversial nature of the vibrant jewel's origins. Much like the Hope Diamond, this jewel emitted a slight glow. However, unlike the Hope Diamond, this jewel glowed independent of any external light source.

Well, that's the tale. The wood, from my conclusions based on this tale would have originated from lands within the Hollow Earth. But, we all *know* the Earth isn't hollow, right? I mean, that would be sheer nonsense...?

edit on 14-3-2011 by GhostLancer because: Typo

That was the most contrived piece of garbage I have ever read. What a weak attempt at making up a story. Middle earth mythology mixed with blue skinned people. What a joke this is. I can't belive these people pass this tripe off as real. Instead of the badly written sci fi it really is.

reply to post by Mallik

There's nothing "wise" about this staircase, infact it's pure luck that it has not failed and hurt people.

That is was not designed with the benefit of CAD makes it all the wiser. What makes you think it was pure luck? There are much older and equally fascinating structures about. Perhaps everything you say is a projection of yourself.

It has lousy support and didnt even have a rail originally.

The support (including the iron support bracket half way up) looks pretty good to me. Handrails are for pussies.

I really love a good mystery and I read this with a lot of interest.
Indeed, I had never heard of this story.
But I think we need a small reality check here.
I won't comment much on the origins and quality of the wood used or the vanishing man, but I do have something to say about the building itself.
The building of a wooden rotating staircase may seem amazing, but it's by no means a mystery.
My family had a carpenting enterprise in Jemappes (Belgium) at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century and the rotating staircase without a center column was their speciality. The process was something of family secret of which I must admit I don't know that much. But the general idea, was that the weight of the stairs was not causing vertical pressure on the ground, but was rather directed in the direction the stairs go. Much like a giant screw that wants to go in the ground, but doesn't. (Hard to explain in plain words.)
Simply put, It was (and still is) a carpenting marvel. But it's by no means "miraculous".
And in Europe, there were a fair amount of carpenters doing this. At the time, rich people showed off by having a staircase like this one placed in their home. It was a kind of competing thing between wood carpenters and the new metal workers, who also made stairs, but with either a center column, a system hanging from the ceiling or even "planted" in the sides of the stairs shaft.
Stairs like these survive all over the place here, and I had the privilege of examining a huge example of my ancestor's work at the public school of Jemappes. Truly impressive and still solid after two world wars and over a century of use in a public building. To give you an idea, on every step, four men can stand side by side.
The school was on the other side of the street, right in front of the workshops, so my great-grandfather offered the stairs to the school. Briliant marketing and advertisement move, as all the rich parents of the kids wanted something comparable to boast with.
So there. Sorry to burst the bubble, guys, but that's it.
As for the vanishing workman, well people were very devout at the time, and perhaps he wanted to make a contribution to the church. Job done, he just left.
The limited number of tools he used are also something of a tradition with carpenters. Is still have all my great-grandfather's tools he made himself. As things go, my wife's grandfather was also a carpenter and he also made all his tools himself. And these people didn't use many tools. That's the art of woodwork: it's in the hands, not in the tools.
As for the unknown wood variety: sorry guys, I'm open to aliens, the holy grail, 9/11 conspiracies, the lot, but there's no such thing as unknown wood variety. Wood comes from a tree or a bush. If the wood is not identifiable, it's because of other factors, but it must come from an existing plant.
Nice story, though.

Greetz to all ;-)

sorry...i only read the first two pages...got bored of the scratching-of-heads...

unknown species of wood ---hogwash...the unique 'glue' is what's unidentifiable...

the glue was used to glue the 'Laminated wood veneers' together...
IOWs...the technique is very much like gluing the pages of a phonebook together,
have Hercules or Schwartzneegger try to rip that book apart in a demonstration of strength

the mystery is that the thread does not have a 'Ripley's...believe it or not' insert
from the '40s-'50s newspapers included in the OP.


1 out of a possible 10

It shows to what marvels of genius and beauty man is capable, if free in mind and doing and not enslaved by someone who wants to use him to work.

Originally posted by conar

Originally posted by AnnieMaine
There is an article on the Snopes site about the stairs that say the legend is false. The wood is spruce. And it does have a center support because the inner wood stringer has such as narrow radius, it acts almost like a solid pole. Also the outer stringer is connected to one of the columns that supports the loft. So it apparently is not such a mystery; however, it is a very beautiful staircase.

Where do you see this "almost inner pole".
There is no center support.
Why are you lying?

They are not lying. They simply quoted snopes, which is actually worse than quoting wikipedia. Snopes is a proven disinfo agency.

Originally posted by doctor j and inmate c5779

Originally posted by Deebo
Very neat story, that is amazing. Even more mysterious that the man "vanished". Good find op.

Deebo

Yes, I agree... A little "too" mysterious for my taste. Keeping this church seems to have a history of money problems... I`d bet the old man & his donkey were buried out back somewhere once the nuns realized they could never afford such a magnificent staircase, nor were they willing to accept his "other deal" of having a nun/donkey/old man sex party. And once they realized he was a pervert, killing him didn`t really seem like That bad of a sin. And they couldn`t just make payments over the next 20 years and have this weirdo and his donkey lurking around, it just would be too akward after he made his advances... Better to just nip this little problem in the bud, me thinks. Yep, that`s what happened. Case closed.

Every day I hear police calls come in about mysterious peddlers soliciting door to door. The people want these freaks arrested. I figure these calls, along with 'open burning', will increase in frequency till the day police calls become illegal to monitor.

Thanks for the laugh. I'd like to find original OC and Stiggs text to help me through this month's spate of crisis.

Originally posted by woghd

Originally posted by conar

Originally posted by AnnieMaine
There is an article on the Snopes site about the stairs that say the legend is false. The wood is spruce. And it does have a center support because the inner wood stringer has such as narrow radius, it acts almost like a solid pole. Also the outer stringer is connected to one of the columns that supports the loft. So it apparently is not such a mystery; however, it is a very beautiful staircase.

Where do you see this "almost inner pole".
There is no center support.
Why are you lying?

They are not lying. They simply quoted snopes, which is actually worse than quoting wikipedia. Snopes is a proven disinfo agency.

Beautiful staircase indeed. Not to sure its miraculous but easy on the eyes non the less.

As for Snopes being "a proven disinfo agency" thats a crock to. It clearly says "Urban Legends" theres your disclaimer right there. Its not their fault if anyone is foolish enough to take their word as truth.
Why you feel the need to label what is clearly meant to be an interesting website (not a tell all truth) as a disinfo agency is beyond me.... Its like saying the Sun or Enquirer are disinfo agencies or that fiction of any kind is disinfo.... Which of course they are not they are ENTERTAINMENT.... If your finding need to chop down "disinfo agancies" heres a list to start with and i assure you Snopes is not on it...

FOX
CBS
NBC
CNN
New York Times
Washington Post

Originally posted by chr0naut
Beautiful!

Perhaps he did it because no-one had told him it was impossible (it obviously isn't).

It appears that he hand-curved the wood, which would account for its great structural strength.

A friend of mine (now deceased) had a process whereby the density of wood could be increased with pressure and steam and then "locked" into that state with resin/lacquer.

He claimed that the resultant material was stronger than steel. I wonder if this wood had been similarly treated?

edit on 13/3/2011 by chr0naut because: (no reason given)

This guy may have did that or whatever he did he did something that maybe in the past they knew how to do.

perhaps it is the glue the builder concocted and used to laminate the staircase. that is causing the weird analysis info....

but on the other hand.... if it really is an unknown kind of 'wood'... then maybe its the long forgotten
Gopher Wood used in constructing the ARK used by Noah.

the Bible tell us the Ark was 'gopher wood' and pitch... gopher wood was probably a common wood prior to the flood.
We have no idea what modern wood would have been gopher wood way back then... ( at the latest date around 4,000BCE or even before)...


maybe an Angel brought a cache of that wood for the carpenter to build with ...
seeing as the job was for a group of Sisters

The guy who built it was probably an experienced word worker.
But damn thats impressive