Two days later I was meeting with Donna in town to visit one of these chambers.

We parked in a school parking lot. It was four of us; Gary, Donna, my assistant, Vanessa and myself. We did our introductions and then Donna eagerly said, "Follow me." She was like a kid on an Easter egg hunt...

As we walked I asked, "So, Donna what exactly do you do?"

"Me and a fellow chamber lover, Polly Migley, research, survey and measure the chambers and log them for Putnam County".

"Do all the chambers look the same?"

"No, but they do have some things in common. For example, all the chambers are made from large stones, and most of them have seven slab stones for roofs. They are usually built on bedrock. Some are recent with regular, smoothly cut stones; some have been modified recently with brick and mortar. The cool thing is some chambers have been reported to be ancient, based on carbon 14 dating of charcoal. Some chambers allow viewing of specific horizon events. Such as solstices, equinoxes, rising of Pleiades...etc."

"Okay, not sure what all that means... except that it sounds really cool."

"Well basically it means that many of the chambers were used as calendars. When the sun hit them, the people knew it was season change."

"Couldn't they just look out their window, see snow and say... ah winter?" I smiled.

She laughed, "This was before clocks and calendars that was their way of knowing."

"That's one heavy clock."

In less than five minutes we were at the Double Chamber.

It was right off the side of a highway that I passed every day! I couldn't believe I never saw it. The chamber wasn't cave like as I though it would be... I was thinking I would be climbing down or in a long tunnel.

"This chamber according to the Celtic book is the second largest anomaly in Putnam Valley with a reading of negative 320 gamma degrees magnetivity."

"Okay.... not exactly sure what that means."

Gary butted in, "It means that the level of magnetic field here can reverse the needle on a compass or in other words, the level right here is strong enough to counter the local Earth's magnetic field when a compass is held directly over the center of the anomaly."

Donna added, "The only anomaly higher in Putnam Valley is that of Balancing Rock, with a 400 gamma reading."

"Geez I feel like I'm talking to Dr. Spock from Star Trek."

Donna laughed..."Well you might be onto something since in the book here the chart says, the purpose of these chambers are for the setting sun, and the other chamber is a ritual chamber... but you seem like you would like to know this fact... the book says the activity found in this chamber is both UFO and paranormal activity."

"Now we're talking... as a Guinness holder and Ripley's bion... weird is right up my alley. Okay, well then lets go inside, I want to see if I feel something."

Donna said, "Some people feel drained after they stay in this chamber too long. Others feel nothing."

Gary added, "You probably won't feel anything. Direct effects on human health of the magnetic field at the Earth's surface are, quite frankly, insignificant. The primary effects of geomagnetism are on the health of electrically-based technological systems that are critically important to the modern civilization of humanity, not the humans themselves, that is unless of course you are known as what is a sensitive."

"I've heard that term, that's people who pick up on things intuitively. It's also the people who let's say can't wear a watch because their watch always stops..."

With that Vanessa, Gary and I went inside with a flashlight. Each chamber was about the size of a large living room. It was damp and there were faint carvings on the ceiling. I also saw some candles on the floor... "looks like someone had camped here".

When we came out I looked at my watch, it was fine. Disappointed I said, "Well, I don't feel any different, I have the same energy as always... maybe my internal compass is spinning wildly, who knows... I'm still feel I'm missing something here... why are these chambers important? I need to understand."

Donna chimed in. "Well first, the stone chambers are fragile and are being destroyed at a steady rate... they are part of history, as well as a mystery to many. When the first English settlers came to New England they discovered many of these chambers.

There are extreme views as to the nature of the some chambers.

One belief is that they are Colonial root cellars used to store food. That would put them at about 250 years old. That's the popular or conventional view that is taught in schools around here."

"Okay, but you told me that some chambers are entirely or partially out of the ground... which would be useless for the storage of food. And I don't see any hinges for a door attachment... so how would the food be protected from animals or sealed for insulation to protect it from extreme temperatures to preserve the food? Unless after all this time the wood just disintegrated... also, I don't see any ventilation in these chambers... which would mean that produce would rot inside here from mold and the buildup of ethylene gas... I remember reading that... that would mean if there is no ventilation that fruits would ripen faster."

"Fran, I don't have the answer... I'm just telling you what the theories are."

"Sorry Donna, my mind just starts asking a million questions."

She smiled, "So does mine. The second theory is...."

"Wait, I have another question on this food storage thing. I thought the lower Hudson Valley was one of the last areas to be settled because of all the hills? That would mean it was a lousy area to grow crops in. From what I read, sheep and dairy farming were the big things around here... so why would they build over 200 food chambers in this area? Wouldn't the food chambers be uniform across the whole state? Why would they all be in this area were the least amount of produce is grown, unless of course it was to preserve what was so scarce."

"Fran, I don't know... no one does. That is just one theory."

"Ah, sorry Donna, okay what's the second theory?"

"The second theory is that they are Celtic-Druid temples, placing them at about 2,500 years old. Those who believe this theory say they were built as an extension of the same Neolithic culture (ie Stonehenge) that built passage tombs in Ireland. I do know that a hand knife was found under one rock in a chamber and the shape and design was that of the Druids."

Vanessa and Gary were standing by just listening to this history lesson.

Donna continued, "The third theory is that they are Native American Temples, part of Native American spirituality linking to Mother Earth, dating them back then over 10,000 years. Those who believe this say that the stone slab roofs are not Colonial in nature, no cement is used and the stones were not quarried with the use of metal drills." They say these chambers are like the New England version of Kiva."

"Okay what's a Kiva, I thought that was a fruit."

Donna laughed, "That's Kiwi. A kiva is a room used by modern Puebloans for religious rituals, many of them associated with the Kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, kivas are square-walled and aboveground, and are used for spiritual ceremonies. The katchina belief system dates back to approximately AD 1250, while kiva like structures occurred much earlier."

"So, Donna which do you think is the real answer?"

"Well... there is enough variety of chambers to support all these views. Hence the mystery. The bottom line is some chambers have good feelings around them and some have bad... but all are a mystery."

With the history lesson over and pictures taken it was time to head out... but on our way home we stopped at the local library and rented a DVD on a seminar that was done on the Stone Chambers. I asked Vanessa what she thought of the double chamber. She said, "I got a creepy feeling that something was watching me."

"Really?"

"Really." She said.

I went home to watch the DVD and suddenly in the middle of the day I was exhausted... me, the Energizer Bunny was running out of steam. I had to take a nap. At first I thought nothing of it, but later I questioned if it was the chamber. I got really suspicious when Vanessa told me she had to take a nap too. Mmm, maybe this was more of an adventure than I bargained for.

Once awake, I popped the DVD in my machine... maybe there was an answer for my sudden tiredness on here.

The first speaker on the DVD said that the chambers were portals for extra terrestrials, that was in align with what the book said. This adventure was getting stranger by the minute. I started doing some research and found out that near Brewster there is a desolate road known as "Reservoir Road" where a small stone chamber was discovered. On this road, supposedly several encounters with unusual beings have been reported. It has also been reported that one woman took a picture of ghostly, hooded figures in front of a stone chamber."

I remembered that there was a lot of Wicca in the area... so maybe it was just them practicing some ritual.

I called Donna... I had her look up some things for me in her Celtic book. She read strange images on film at these sites are not at all uncommon. That at many of the stone chambers people have taken photographs which when developed, show floating globes of light or strange glows. All of the strange apparitions were never seen, but for some reason appeared on film. There was a report that in 1992, a man encountered a white robed figure in a slab chamber along route 301 at night. He had seen a red-glow from the chamber from the highway and went in. He was warned off by the being. (Although why he would do that in the middle of the night I have no idea.) But needless to say, the book says the reports of strange chamber occurrences are too frequent and numerous to dismiss as an overactive imagination.

Needless to say, I felt the urge to visit that chamber – in the day of course. So I arranged with Donna to take me to three more chambers.

According to the Celtic book, (which at this point was becoming our Stone Chamber Bible), the purpose of this chamber was Ritual, acting as a channel for the natural energy of mother earth. The activity of this chamber was reported as paranormal.

All I can say was I felt great in the chamber... it had very positive feelings around it. I don't know about that hooded character, but he wasn't around... maybe because it was daylight. I looked from the inside out... I could see this being a cool hiding place.

We headed to two more chambers, this time ones in the town of Mahopac. One chamber had a bush in front of I so you could barely see it from the highway.

The purpose of this chamber according to the book was ceremonial. It was well hidden. I took a picture looking out at Donna.

Our final chamber was again along the side of the road, but actually on private property. The book said the purpose of this chamber was the setting sun, and the activity was unknown.

If I had it on my property, I would probably make it into a cool little den.

We ended our chamber hunting for the evening as the light faded. I thanked Donna for pointing out these chambers. She mentioned to me that she was checking out an equinox chamber on Sunday... where the light at 5:05 in the morning is supposed to shine through... I told her if I am up, I'd love to join her..."Oh no, am I addicted now?" I have to say it is pretty fascinating... I couldn't ponder the thought too long however, because I rushed home to

write this blog and report to you good people about the cool things right here in Putnam, proving that sometimes you don't have to travel around the world to get a thrill but just open your eyes to what is around you, and with an open mind discover all life has to offer. The mystery continues.