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Joining The Dots
I have now published my new book, Joining The Dots, which offers a fresh look at the Atlantis mystery. I have addressed the critical questions of when, where and who, using Plato’s own words, tempered with some critical thinking and a modicum of common sense.Read More »
Doug Yurchey
Bode’s Law
Bode’s Law or more correctly Titius-Bode’s Law is named after two German astronomers, Johann Daniel Titius and
Titius
Johann Elert Bode, proposed in the 18th century that there was a mathematical relationship between the then six known planets and their distance from the sun, with each one roughly twice the distance as the previous planet. Although the idea was conceived by Titius, it was Bode who gave it greater prominence, when he used it to predict the existence of Uranus and later Ceres in the Asteroid Belt. At that point, it was accepted as a ‘law’.
In the 19th century, Urbain LeVerrier and John Couch Adams working independently, used the Titius-Bode model combined with calculations based on Newton’s Law of Gravity to predict where the next planet, Neptune, should be found. Kamienski wrote a short paper comparing the formulae of LeVerrier & Adams with that of Titius-Bode(m).
The subject has been debated throughout the 20th century. I.J. Good, a British mathematician who worked with Alan Turing during WWII at Bletchley Park, offered a paper in support of Titius-Bode in 1968(b). Bradley Efron, an American statistician, proposed an opposing view(c). Both papers are best suited to the mathematically advanced.
The late Timo Niroma has offered some interesting observations(j) on the mechanics behind Titius-Bode and developed a cosmology based upon atomic weights, noting that “What happens on a small scale seems to obey the same laws on a much grander scale.”
Georgi Gladyshev, a Russian scientist, has proposed an explanation for Titius-Bode based on the work of Raphael Liesegang(g) who proposed the concept of ‘periodic precipitation’. Gladyshev applied Liesegang’s theory to the early stages of the formation of our Solar System(h)(i)(t)*. It was hoped that this may bring us closer to the physics behind the distribution of the planets!
It has also been proposed that a Titius-Bode-Type ‘rule’ seems to be applicable to planetary satellite systems(d), particularly that of Uranus(p), and there appears to be evidence(a) that Titius-Bode is also applicable to exoplanetary systems!
Bode
The Titius-Bode Law has also been linked with the Fibonacci Series(e) as well as the Golden Mean(f).
Velikovskian catastrophism proposes[0037.152] that Atlantis was destroyed as a result of the periodic close encounters of our planet and Moon with Venus and/or Mars during the 1st & 2nd millennia BC. According to Velikovsky, Venus was a relatively recent newcomer to the Solar System and the orbit of Mars had been disturbed, which would suggest that prior to the arrival of Venus and the displacement of Mars, Bode’s Law would have been invalidated! C.J. Ransom has tackled this head-on in The Age of Velikovsky [1880.90]. However, his defence of Bode and Velikovsky was rejected by Dr M. M. Nieto(n).
Louis Jacot (1906- ) was a Swiss economist and jurist who added the study of science and philosophy to his intellectual toolkit. He developed some novel cosmological theories, including enthusiastic support for Bode’s Law which he described as “the great key to the mysteries of the Universe.” [1774] While this may be overstating his case, I cannot help feeling that Bode’s Law is an expression of cosmological principles operating in a manner not as yet identified! At its simplest, the question is, are we to believe that the spacing of the planets came about purely by chance or is there an unrecognised force or forces at play?
For my own part, I have always felt that Bode’s Law was a highly convincing concept, but unfortunately, I do not have the mathematical or astronomical ability required to objectively verify its reality, nor the proposed Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Mean relationship with it. It would appear that acceptance of Bode would create difficulties not just for the Saturn Theory but also for Velikovsky’s idea that Venus was just a large piece of ejecta from Jupiter that had catastrophic close encounters with Earth and Mars, within human experience, just a few thousand years ago. Such an idea would mean that prior to the Saturnian rearrangement of the planets or the Velikovskian creation of Venus, the positional relationship of the planets probably did not conform to any known mathematical model but after this/these calamitous events everything ‘coincidentally’ settled into orbits that are now claimed to conform to Bode, Fibonacci and the Golden Mean! Can we believe that after careening around the solar system including a number of close encounters with Earth, that all the planets adopted new orbits that conformed closely with Bode’s Law? Surely, this is a coincidence too far?
Stephen M. Phillips has published a lengthy paper entitled ‘The Logarithmic Spiral Basis of the Titius-Bode Law’. For me this document is difficult to absorb, involving as it does Musical theory, Pythagoras, String Theory and plenty of mathematics (q).
Although the ‘Law’ has been generally abandoned by mainstream scientists, there is still interest in some quarters. One of those was the British astronomer, the late Michael Ovenden (1926-1987) who produced a modified version of the original formula(k). Another version involves an interpretation of quantum mechanics, called pilot-wave theory(l)!
W.I. Newman, M.P. Haynes, and Y. Terzian “have considered the psychological tendency to find a pattern where none exists, and have also discussed how inappropriate inferences regarding astronomical phenomena have been drawn from statistical analyses.” (o)
In May 2023, the Live Science website(r) wrote that “Earth probably shouldn’t exist – that’s because the orbits of the inner solar system planets — Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars — are chaotic, and models have suggested that these inner planets should have crashed into each other by now. And yet, that hasn’t happened.”
Jacques Laskar, astronomer and research director at the National Center for Scientific Research and Paris Observatory is a co-author of the new study(s). in which he and his colleagues have identified for the first time ‘symmetries’ or ‘conserved quantities’ in the gravitational interactions that create a “practical barrier in the chaotic wandering of the planets,” Where previously they had calculated that there was a 1% possibility of collision among the inner planets over 5 billion years. However, the introduction of these new ‘symmetries’ suggested that it could take 30 billion years for any planets to collide.
I can’t help wondering if Bode’s Law might be an expression of these symmetries.
>Nearly a decade ago Doug Yurchey (writing as Tray Caladan) published a paper(u) in support of Bode’s Law. He brought Pluto back into the family of Solar System planets and suggested that more may be added – “Is Sedna the furthest extent of our planetary system? Doubtful. We may have to carry Bode’s Law out one, two or even three more places (distances) to arrive at the actual composition of our Solar System.”<
Also See: Saturn Theory
(a) https://arxiv.org/abs/1602.02877
(d) Titius-Bode-Type Rules for Planetary Satellite Systems (archive.org)
(f) https://www.fq.math.ca/Scanned/22-1/lombardi.pdf
(g) https://www.insilico.hu/liesegang/history/history.html
(h) As Above So Below – Georgi Gladyshev | MalagaBay (archive.org)
(i) https://file.scirp.org/pdf/NS_2015051816303613.pdf
(j) As Above So Below – Timo Niroma | MalagaBay (archive.org)
(k) https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2021145656_Michael_W_Ovenden
(m) Atlantis, Volume 13, No.1 December 1959
(n) The Titius-Bode Law (archive.org)
(o) Redshift Data and Statistical Inference, Astrophys. J., 431, 147, 1994.
(p) https://old.world-mysteries.com/sci_8.htm 2/3rds of the way down
(q) http://www.smphillips.mysite.com/article-17.html
(r) Scientists discover secret ‘symmetries’ that protect Earth from the chaos of space | Live Science
(s) XY10707_min.pdf (pardot.com)
(t) (99+) The solar system evolution | Georgi Gladyshev – Academia.edu *
Yurchey, Doug *
Doug Yurchey (aka Tray Caladan) has written articles on a variety of subjects 
from advanced technology in the Bible to Bode’s Law(f). However, his views on Atlantis show a firm drift towards the Lunatic Fringe(h)*. He proposes that Atlantis had an electricity grid, based on principles later postulated by Nikola Tesla. He explains that any proof of this was washed away in catastrophic floods. He goes much further with an assertion that our distant ancestors not only had electricity but ‘cloning, space travel, atomic energy, anti-gravity, lasers, etc.’
In 2002, Yurchey published a paper detailing high-technology in the Bible, in which he also declares that “the Bible is the most amazing account of Close Encounters.”(g)
He also manages to put Yonaguni in the South China Sea instead of the East China Sea.
His comments regarding the early Amazon inhabitants are quite entertaining –
Yurchey has also attacked Erich von Däniken’s ‘ancient astronaut’ theories, but only because he thinks them unnecessary, as his (Yuchey’s) view of Atlantis being so technologically advanced that it makes the idea of aliens redundant(c).
Evidence is not produced to support any of his wild speculations, many of which are to be found on his website(a).
A cynic might be forgiven for attributing his outlandish views to his unrepentant support for the recreational use of marijuana(b).
2014 found Yurchey with a new name, Tray Caladan. But, although the name is new, he is still spreading the same old natural fertiliser(e).
(a) You searched for Yurchey – World Mysteries Blog (world-mysteries.com)
(b) https://archive.lewrockwell.com/spl2/reason-hemp-is-illegal.html
(c) Von Daniken’s Mistake (archive.org)
(d) https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/column.php?id=93290
(e) https://blog.world-mysteries.com/strange-artifacts/revelations-of-tray-caladan-doug-yurchey/
(f) https://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/new-order-to-the-solar-system/
(g) https://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/high-technology-in-the-bible/
Exploded Planet Hypothesis
The Exploded Planet Hypothesis (EPH) has its origins in the 18th century when the regular spacing of the orbits of the then known six planets, with the glaring exception of the apparently empty theoretical position between Mars and Jupiter, led to the formulation of the Titius-Bode Law. The discovery of Neptune in 1846 in a position that did not conform to the rule of Titius-Bode, led to its gradual abandonment. However, the discovery of Pluto in the 1930’s brought the ‘Law’ back into consideration as Pluto was in the position that should have been occupied by Neptune. The exceptions to the Titius-Bode law are the lack of a planet where the Asteroid Belt is and the position of Neptune. In 2003, a further planet, Sedna, was discovered at a distance of 8 billion miles from the sun, as predicted by Doug Yurchey on the Internet in 2002. Since then, further bodies have been discovered in the outer region of our solar system, one of which was larger than Pluto.
As you will see below, a credible explanation for the Asteroid Belt is on offer and if correct, it means that now ten of the eleven planetary orbits in our Solar System correspond with the prediction of Titius-Bode. Statistically, this must have some significance. Therefore, in order to reinstate the Titius-Bode ‘law’ back on the statute book it is important to find an acceptable explanation for Neptune’s orbit.
Particular planets with satellite systems also confirm Titius-Bode, such as the principal satellites of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. Furthermore, even at this early stage in our investigation of extrasolar planetary systems, one, 55 Cancri, has at least four planets whose orbits appear to follow a similar pattern(c).
The 19th century saw the discovery of more asteroids in the orbit where a planet would have been expected. As early as 1802 the suggestion that an exploded planet had originally occupied this position was considered. As more asteroids were discovered the idea gained support. However, there remained one major problem with the theory, namely, that the total mass of the known asteroids would not constitute one thousandth of our earth. So where did all the matter go?
Donald W. Patten (1929-2014) has made a study of Martian craters and discovered a number of anomalies. One such detail is that 93% of all craters 20 miles or greater in diameter are in one hemisphere, which led Patten to conclude that “Mars received about 86% of its craters in one catastrophic day”(e)(f) and that the other 14% are spread equally on both hemispheres and over all other time. The suggestion being that these craters were possibly caused by the disintegration of large asteroid or small planet!
Tom Van Flandern (1940-2009), the leading exponent of the EPH, explained; ‘Consider what would happen if the Earth exploded today. Surface and crustal rock would shatter and fragment, but remain rocks. However, rocks from depths greater than 40 km are under so much pressure at high temperature that if suddenly released into a vacuum, such rocks would vaporise. As a consequence, over 99% of the Earth’s total mass would vaporise in an explosion, with only its low-pressure crustal and upper mantle layers surviving’. This explanation would clearly account for the low total mass of the objects in the Asteroid Belt. Van Flandern has expanded on his theory in what many consider a landmark book, Dark Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets[293].
Van Flandern ascribes a date for this planetary explosion that is well before man existed on Earth. However, many of our ancient myths have been interpreted as describing celestial events in the vicinity of Earth that had a direct physical effect on our planet. Immanuel Velikovsky wrote extensively on these ancient tales and concluded that they referred to close encounters between Earth and Mars and separately with Venus.
The date of the Asteroid Belt collision or explosion was estimated in 2015 to be 470 million years ago after the identification of twin impact craters in Sweden(d).
If Titius-Bode is valid and Velikovsky’s planetary encounters real, we need to explain how they left their orbits in the first place and then must explain how they returned to their original positions. Ralph E. Juergens, an American engineer, supports Velikovsky with the idea that electromagnetic and electrostatic forces and not conventional celestial mechanics alone were responsible for the cosmic encounters witnessed and recorded by our ancestors(b). My personal hunch is that Van Flandern is correct about the explosion of a planet but wrong about the date of the occurrence.
The EPH may have a bearing on the demise of Atlantis in the shape of an asteroidal collision with Earth that in turn precipitated the ending of the last Ice Age and the consequential flooding of large areas of exposed land.
Alan Alford has a different view in The Atlantis Secret [009] in which he attempts to prove that Atlantis originated in an ancient myth concerning an exploding planet. However, this would require an event that occurred within the experience of speaking man for it to have been passed on in the form of myth.
(b) https://www.thunderbolts.info/pdf/Reconciling%20Celetial%20Mechanics.pdf
(c) BBC Focus magazine (No. 169, October 2006 p.58-63)
(d) https://phys.org/news/2015-09-globally-unique-crater-sweden.html
>(e) https://web.archive.org/web/20200224091448/http://www.thule.org/mars/index.html<
(f) https://web.archive.org/web/20200203185917/https://thule.org/mars/mars2.html
Also See: Asteroids, Catastrophism
Atlantis in America: Navigators of the Ancient World *
Atlantis in America: Navigators of the Ancient World [244] by Ivar Zapp & George Erikson, was initially inspired by Professor Zapp’s interest in the stone spheres of Costa Rica, which he first encountered in 1979. Local myth hinted at a connection with the stars but Zapp’s perusal of this idea led nowhere. Unfortunately, many of these remarkable spheres have been moved from their original locations. However, Zapp discovered that the sightlines of all the stones remaining in their original positions, did point to important ancient sites such as Giza, Stonehenge and Easter Island. It would be prudent to treat Zapp’s claims with caution as his claim regarding the ‘perfect’ sphericity of the balls has been shown to be untrue(b)(c).
My question is, how could a sphere ‘point’ anywhere?
A simpler explanation is that the spheres were symbols of power and status(e) .
The authors examine the links between MesoAmerica and the Mediterranean as well as with Polynesia. They perceive America as having been pivotal to the cultural empire of Atlantis. The general idea there was ancient links between the Old and New worlds in ancient times is perfectly tenable. However, to suggest that Plato was referring to an Atlantis centred in Mesoamerica is more difficult to accept. Zapp & Erikson have proposed that an asteroidal impact in the Caribbean in 10513 BC generated enormous tidal waves that caused widespread devastation in Central America where they have located Atlantis. Plato tells us that Atlantis ruled,“Europe as far as Tyrrhenia and North Africa as far as Egypt”, before mounting an invasion in the east against the Athenians. The only physical evidence of ancient American influence anywhere in the Mediterranean, are traces of cocaine and tobacco in ancient Egypt. This widely reported discovery may have its significance weakened by the conclusions of article published in the April/May 1949 edition of Egerton Sykes’ Atlantis Research magazine entitled Did Tobacco Originate In Africa?, by M. Brenda Francklyn. In it the author quotes from an earlier book, The Ivory Coast, which recounts a myth from West Africa that suggests that the tobacco plant originated there and was in fact exported to the Americas.
However, in the western Mediterranean, in an area apparently controlled by Atlantis, no tangible evidence of any ancient American importation has been found. Furthermore, there is nothing in the detailed description of Atlantis given by Plato that can be identified as exclusively American in origin. In the opinion of this reviewer, the case for any American connection with Atlantis is still very much an open question. Although this book presents a lot of interesting and thought-provoking ideas it must be read without the abandonment of the readers’ critical faculties.
Zapp & Erikson published their book in 1998, while a few years later Doug Yurchey wrote a paper(d) on the spheres without a single reference to the highly publicised Atlantis in America. However, he does offer an even more outlandish theory regarding the purpose of the spheres with the following gem: “What if the CRBs were ancient power receivers? This writer has established, in previous articles, the possible existence of a prehistoric/worldwide Tesla system used by the descendants of the Atlanteans. The ancient monoliths, pyramids, stone circles and grand statues were not just art or architecture. They were the Utility Poles of the Gods. Wireless, power distribution is the key to understanding the pyramid civilizations. All we need is a stone, (crystalline) ground contact to tune in the power. Functioning like tuning forks, the stones vibrate or relay the EM world frequency. The Costa Rican Balls are all we need, in a cityless region, to expand the World Wireless; so that communications remain intact; so that ancient aircraft remain powered, etc.”
In 2006, a National Geographic documentary entitled “Atlantis: Is it Real?” gave further exposure to the theories of Erikson & Zapp.
The truth behind the spheres would appear to be much more mundane according to conventional researchers. An article by Markus Milligan offers some very interesting facts regarding the creators of the spheres, who seem to have been the now extinct Disquis people.Their activities apparently lasted from around 1500 BC until 1500 AD. When the Spanish arrived in the 17th century they did not record any communities living there! After that, little was heard of the spheres until the 1930s when they were rediscovered as the United Fruit Company was clearing ground to develop banana plantations(f).
(b) https://www.ticotimes.net/travel/finca-6-mystery-of-ancient-costa-rica-stone-spheres-solved
(c) Stone Spheres of Costa Rica – Fake Archaeology (archive.org)
(d) https://old.world-mysteries.com/sar_crb_doug.htm *
(e) https://www.ticotimes.net/travel/finca-6-mystery-of-ancient-costa-rica-stone-spheres-solved
(f) The Mysterious Stone Spheres of Costa Rica | HeritageDaily – Archaeology News
Costa Rica *
Costa Rica is home to one of the great megalithic mysteries of Mesoamerica, namely its enigmatic stone spheres measuring up to 10 
feet in diameter and 30 tons in weight. The spheres were discovered in the Disquis Delta region of the country but unfortunately few, perhaps six remain in their original positions. They number in excess of 300 and it is claimed that they are perfectly spherical to within a couple of millimetres.
The spheres were rediscovered in the 1930s by the United Fruit Company while clearing the jungle to make way for banana plantations. Wikipedia informs us that “The first scientific investigation of the spheres was undertaken shortly after their discovery by Doris Stone, a daughter of a United Fruit executive. These were published in 1943 in American Antiquity, attracting the attention of Samuel Kirkland Lothrop of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. In 1948, he and his wife attempted to excavate an unrelated archaeological site in the northern region of Costa Rica. In San José he met Doris Stone, who directed the group toward the Diquís Delta region in the southwest.”
Some years later Nothrop’s wife, Eleanor, wrote an account of their research in Costa Rica(h) including the discovery that “Some of the pottery under one of the stone platforms turned out to be of classical Chiriqui type, best known in western Panama. We already knew from other evidence that this pottery was still being made at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Thus, by the same token, the stone ball found above it must also have been made at approximately the same period. The majority of the stone balls were probably considerably older, but it is safe to say that, although their date of origin is open to speculation, the cult of making stone balls was a late one, continuing into the sixteenth century.”
Ivar Zapp and George Erikson have linked [0244] these spheres with ancient navigational systems in a worldwide culture that included Atlantis. At best their suggested connection with Atlantis is somewhat tenuous. Zapp gave a talk in 2005 in which he identified a location in southwest Costa Rica as the site of Plato’s Atlantis(b).
A more objective review by professor John W. Hoopes of the University of Kansas, of the Costa Rican stone sphere ‘mystery’ can be found on the World-Mysteries website(a).
In 1974, a paper entitled Atlantis – The Seat of Man(g) also written by Hoopes was published in support of an Atlantic location for Atlantis. The author quotes a number of mesoamerican traditions in support of this idea.
A 2022 report describes recent excavations Disquis Delta region aimed at conserving badly weathered spheres there, “the team focused on the Finca 6 archaeological site located in the canton of Osa in the Puntarenas Province, in which stone spheres have deteriorated due to alterations derived from the constitution of the rock, damage caused by humidity, and floods resulting from hurricanes and tropical storms.”(c)
Some year ago Marisol & José Antonio Roldán offered an overview of the background to the Costa Rica stones which included some additional peripheral details(f).
In 2024, Ancient Aliens S20E recycled some of their earlier output relating to the srone spheres of Costa Rica. Jason Colavito, once again, offers a debunking of the many ridiculous claims that have been made about the stones, starting with the untrue claims of having ‘perfect’ sphericity. The show also included segments regarding the so-called stone spheres in Bosnia and the Neolithic round stones found in Scotland(e).
To end on a lighter note, I find that some years ago Doug Yurchey suggested that the Costa Rican spheres might have been some sort of power receivers(d)! This particular piece of nonsense was later removed.
(a) KU researcher investigates mysterious stone spheres in Costa Rica – KU News (archive.org)
(b) See: https://atlantipedia.ie/samples/archive-2537/
(c) Archaeologists excavate giant stone spheres in Costa Rica – HeritageDaily – Archaeology News
(d) World Mysteries – WERE COSTA RICAN SPHERES ANCIENT RECEIVERS? by Doug Yurchey (archive.org)
(e) Review of Ancient Aliens S20E10 “Mystery of the Stone Spheres” – JASON COLAVITO
(f) ESFERAS DE COSTA RICA (oocities.org)
(g) (PDF) Atlantis – The Seat of Man (1974) | John W Hoopes – Academia.edu (archive.org) *
(h) Prehistoric Stone Balls–a Mystery | Natural History Magazine