In the summer of 1943, while a U.S. Army sergeant stationed in Hamadan,
Iran, Ed Davis became friends with some local Kurd tribesmen (or Lourd, in
Davis's original account), who told him of Noah's ark on Mount Ararat.
The ark and items from it were considered holy relics, generally kept from
outsiders, but the patriarch's friendship with Davis made him an
exception. They showed him items from the ark, including a cage door,
latches, and shepherd staffs. All the wooden items were described as
petrified. Tribal leader Abas-Abas and seven of his sons led Davis up the
northeast side of Ararat, but bad weather prevented getting closer than
half a mile to the ark. But Davis did see it; it was broken into three or
four pieces, of which Davis saw two; the nearer had at least three floors.
Abas-Abas supplied other details. The living space for people is at the
top; the ark's door was hinged at the top; construction was done with
wooden pegs.
Source:
Shockey, Don, 1986. Agri-Dagh, Mount Ararat: The Painful Mountain,
Fresno, CA: Pioneer Publishing.
NoahsArkSearch.com, n.d. Ed Davis drawings from 1985-1986.
http://www.noahsarksearch.com/DavisEd.htm
Response:
Davis said he saw Mount Ararat (Agri Dagh) from Hamadan, and that they
traveled to it in less than a day. But Ararat is 400 miles from
Hamadan. Davis originally described his friends as Lourds, which do
not live near the base of Ararat. (Davis later changed his story to
call them Kurds, which do live around Ararat.) Davis described springs
and caves on the mountain, which are rare on Ararat. Davis probably
visited Kuh e Alvand, a mountain sixty miles west of Hamadan which locals
believe to be the ark's landing spot (Crouse 1993).
From Davis's description, the ark was not prohibitively hard to reach,
and many people knew its location. Even if its sacredness kept them
from showing it to other Westerners, news of its exact location should
have spread to Moslems. The ark could not so easily be kept secret.
Parts of Ed Davis's story are not credible. For example, he tells of
edible food remaining after 8,000 years, yet all the wood is petrified.
He has no corroboration -- no witnesses, photographs, or artifacts. He
passed a polygraph test, but one with only six questions, and he showed
unusual stress on the question, "Are you lying when you state that no
one ever told you about the ark other than Abas and the Bible?"
(Crouse 1993). Davis's story is consistent with someone who saw some
fog-shrouded blocks and was told they were the ark.
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
