The grotto is unpleasant - absolutely, in my opinion, a Victorian (give or take) rich man's folly, per the Wiki.
The imagery is all faux-Mediaeval - mostly the standard utter nonsense Rosicrucian 'interpretation' of Kabbalistic symbols. It's very bullshit, edgy, Hot-Topic-Victorian silly stuff.
Except for where, at the Malkuth mark, IIRC, it opens up into a sort of temple-and-altar situation, where it is actually somewhat frightening, in the way that any secret Bacchanalian temple is, because nobody builds that sort of thing for a good reason.
- the mystery is more interesting or amusing than the resolution of the mystery,
- carbon dating is unreliable for dates following the industrial revolution because the burning of coal and oil ejected vast quantities of depleted carbon into the atmosphere.
It was not on my bingo card to see the Shell Grotto on HN.
I loved this place as a kid and would marvel at the patterns.
The air of mystery around who made it and why invites some fun speculation.
grottos were on recently - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45809746
I'm about a mile from this right now.
The grotto is unpleasant - absolutely, in my opinion, a Victorian (give or take) rich man's folly, per the Wiki.
The imagery is all faux-Mediaeval - mostly the standard utter nonsense Rosicrucian 'interpretation' of Kabbalistic symbols. It's very bullshit, edgy, Hot-Topic-Victorian silly stuff.
Except for where, at the Malkuth mark, IIRC, it opens up into a sort of temple-and-altar situation, where it is actually somewhat frightening, in the way that any secret Bacchanalian temple is, because nobody builds that sort of thing for a good reason.
Extremely enjoyable place to visit. Unique and intriguing atmosphere within.
Why can’t someone do a carbon 14 datation of the shells to close the debate ?
I can think of several plausible reasons:
- it costs money and no one wants to pay,
- the mystery is more interesting or amusing than the resolution of the mystery,
- carbon dating is unreliable for dates following the industrial revolution because the burning of coal and oil ejected vast quantities of depleted carbon into the atmosphere.