The Unsolved Mystery of Noah’s Ark

CHAPTER ONE
In the beginning was…National Geographic

I was blissfully unaware of what was about to transpire as I sat, with my family, in front of the television. In May 2009, I was contacted by Zig-Zag productions located in London, England. They were hired by National Geographic to film a documentary called, “The Truth Behind the Ark,” and had contacted me to include my husband Jim’s and my expeditions on Ararat. The prospect of getting the truth out about the elusive Ark’s where-a-bouts prompted me to agree to their filming. I decided to include my son-in-law, John Christensen; he had been with Jim on his first Ararat expedition and could share his side of that story.

We were happy to give up four hours of our time for filming in my home. We had photos, maps, the Bible, a small model of the ark, and lots of my research material for them to photograph. The filming crew rearranged my home to make a better background for the camera, then had me change my shirt several times to find a color that hid the microphone. The crew told us it would be aired on the National Geographic channel, November 8, 2009.

When the day finally arrived, my family, friends, and neighbors gathered round their televisions to watch the anticipated documentary. As I watched and listened, I was astounded to learn that the so called, “truth behind the ark” was slanted toward an agnostic view making Bible-believing Christians look like gullible fools who had been tricked into believing Mesopotamian folklore. What their truth was in the film, escaped me, for there was barely a shred of it in the whole hour of presentation. It was then that I knew I must publish this book of research and let the reader sort out the truth for themselves.

Emotionally charged by the deceptive program and spurred on by my children to print the truth, after more than twenty years of research, I settled down to the daunting task before me. Sorely disappointed from National Geographic’s portrayal of the “truth behind the ark,” I pulled out my tattered copy of Violet Cumming’s book Has Anyone Really Seen Noah’s Ark, (1982) and reread the conversation between her husband Eryl and the president of National Geographic Magazine. Eryl had met with their representatives hoping to obtain funding for his first expedition to Mount Ararat around 1950. She recalls:

Among other early and important contacts was a visit to the prestigious National Geographic Society in Washington D. C. Here both Dr. Gilbert Grosvenor, President of the institution, and his associate, Dr. Williams listened with unfeigned interest as plans for the proposed SHRE
(Sacred History Research Expedition) expedition were presented to them. Even though impressed with what now seems the very meager data available at that time, Dr. Williams pleaded their long time support of evolutionary science as an excuse for not joining forces to try to verify the reports. The story of Noah and the ark, as he explained, had always been considered only “Mesopotamian folklore.” And his attitude was definitely agnostic “You look like an honest agnostic to me,” said Cummings. Nevertheless, the two gentlemen graciously declined participation with the SHRE group. (emphasis added, p 27-28)

After the 2009 documentary aired, it was apparent that National Geographic’s position had not changed in fifty years. Had I remembered Violets Cumming’s written words, I would never have agreed to their filming and inadvertently opened the way to further derision of one of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity.

Because I have been to Mount Ararat several times with my late husband, Jim, his hand-picked men, and our son, we received the following two letters on February 2, 1985, from Abdul Kadir Talay, the mayor from the village of Aralik at the foot of Mount Ararat.

My first encounter with this kind man, Abdul, was on my second trip to Mount Ararat. We were all slightly winded carrying our own backpacks up the steep slopes when seemingly out of nowhere came Abdul. He walked over to me, took off my backpack, put it on his back, and handed me his coat to carry. His act of kindness almost overwhelmed me to the point of tears.