UNEXPECTED FINDS
Coventry magnet-fisher catches mysterious cubes, while bored Plymouth resident discovers secret tunnel
MYSTERY CUBES
A man and his two young sons were using a magnet to ‘fish’ for metal objects in a Coventry river when they reeled in almost 60 cubes inscribed with a mysterious script. The engraved lead squares were found in the river Sowe by Will Read, 38. The face of each cube bears a neat grid with what appear to be Sanskrit letters. All the cubes are identical except for a different face on one side.
After cleaning them up, he posted images of the cubes on Facebook and Reddit appealing for information about his unusual catch. Responses suggest the objects are linked to a Hindu prayer ritual which takes effect when they are thrown in running water. The ‘magic squares’ are said to be a form of yantra, containing a numerical formula to invoke the protection of Rahu, one of nine major astronomical bodies in Indian astrology. Rahu, generally considered a malefic planet, is associated with materialism, mischief, fear and obsession, and presides over thieves, magicians, snakes, poison and politicians. One suggestion is that whoever placed the cubes in the river was seeking protection from “hidden enemies, wrong diagnosis of illness and deceit”. coventrytelegraph.net, 12 May 2020.
TIME TUNNEL
A Plymouth man has discovered a secret 120-year-old tunnel beneath his house during the coronavirus lockdown. Jake Brown, who recently purchased the Georgian property, said “curiosity and a little boredom” caused him to start excavating his basement after noticing a patch on the exterior wall of a different texture to the rest.
He found a tunnel leading to a cavernous space 5m (16ft) deep, 3m (10ft) high, and 3m (10ft) wide. The cellar contained old builders’ waste, including bottles etched with detailing indicative of the early 1900s, tins of paint with 1950s/1960s-style labels, and an old newspaper, which was extremely fragile and “almost disintegrated upon human touch”. Jake managed to salvage some fragments of the “congealed brown mess” by soaking it in a warm bath and then using tweezers to separate it. A barely-legible date of 1964 established that the space had been blocked up for over 50 years. An historian friend said the house’s location had once been a large hill that was “quarried away to almost high-tide level,” adding that he had seen similar spaces “turned into wine cellars, a place to grow mushrooms, and… a ‘grotto’ type bathing area.” plymouthherald.co.uk; Metro; D.Mirror, 4 May 2020.