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Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2004
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Claim CH505.8:

Ed Behling, a clinical psychologist working for the U.S. government in Turkey, was led to Noah's ark on Ararat in 1973 by a very old Turkish shepherd. He saw it on a cliff about 100 feet above him in foggy conditions. The front was broken off; it was basically square in cross-section. He saw 150-200 feet of it, beyond which it tapered off into the snow.

Source:

Shockey, Don, 1986. Agri-Dagh, Mount Ararat: The Painful Mountain, Fresno, CA: Pioneer Publishing, pp. 35-36.

Response:

  1. Behling's story is probably a hoax. He has refused to talk about his claims since the mid-1980s, after ark researchers questioned him about many inconsistencies in his story. For example, he mentioned making a campfire at 13,000 feet but refused to tell how he accomplished it. Friends describe Behling as a sincere Christian but prone to embellishment for effect (Crouse 1993).

  2. If true, Behling's story raises the question of why Behling never followed up on one of the most remarkable discoveries of all time. It also makes it seem implausible that the ark has stayed hidden. Behling says of his guide, "he looked like he had been dead for about five years and just didn't know enough to fall over," so the trip to the ark could not have been too difficult.

Links:

Lippard, Jim, 1993. Sun goes down in flames -- The Jammal Ark hoax. Skeptic 2(3), http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/ark-hoax/jammal.html or http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/sunhoax.htm

References:

  1. Crouse, Bill, 1993. Ararat Report #32, Christian Information Ministries, International, 2050 N. Collins Blvd., Suite 100, Richardson, TX 75080. http://surge.ods.org/idle/religion/hoax1.htm

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created 2004-1-6