Editing America's Stonehenge

{{short description|Tourist attraction in New Hampshire}}{{About|the archaeological site in New Hampshire|the former granite monument in Georgia|Georgia Guidestones|the replica in Washington state|Maryhill Stonehenge}}[[File:America Stonehenge.jpg|325px|thumb|Some of the rocks at America's Stonehenge.|alt=]]
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'''America's Stonehenge''' is a privately owned [[tourist attraction]] and archaeological site consisting of a number of large rocks and stone structures scattered around roughly {{convert|30|acre|abbr=off|lk=on|0}} within the town of [[Salem, New Hampshire]], in the United States. It is open to the public for a fee as part of a recreational area which includes [[snowshoe]] trails and an [[alpaca]] farm.

A number of hypotheses exist as to the origin and purpose of the structures. One viewpoint is a mixture of land-use practices of local farmers in the 18th and 19th centuries and construction of structures by owner William Goodwin, an insurance executive who purchased the area in 1937.<ref>Wright, Karen [http://discovermagazine.com/1998/feb/lightelementsyan1410 "Light Elements: Yankee Doodle Druid"], ''[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]'' (February 1998)</ref><ref>[http://granitegeek.org/blog/2006/11/01/locals-like-idea-of-utility-scale-wind-farm/ Professor at Central Connecticut State University view of site's history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726130637/http://granitegeek.org/blog/2006/11/01/locals-like-idea-of-utility-scale-wind-farm/ |date=2011-07-26 }}</ref> Some claim that the site has a [[pre-Columbian]] European origin, but this is regarded as [[pseudoarchaeology|pseudoarchaeological]].<ref name="bubridge">Fitzgerald, Brian. [http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2002/02-01/archaeology.htm "Archaeology professor debunks claims for ancient rock structures as pseudoscientific fallacy"]. ''B.U. Bridge'' (February 1, 2002)</ref> Archaeologist David Starbuck has said: "It is widely believed that Goodwin may have 'created' much of what is visible at the site today."<ref name="Starbuck">{{cite book |last=Starbuck |first=David R. |url=https://archive.org/details/archeologyofnewh00star |title=The Archeology of New Hampshire: Exploring 10,000&nbsp;years in the Granite State |publisher=University of New Hampshire Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-58465-562-6 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|106}}

The site was first dubbed '''Mystery Hill'''<ref name="Greenberg">{{cite news |newspaper=[[Detroit Free Press]] |first1=Joel |last1=Greenberg |location=North Salem, New Hampshire |title=Mysteries in Stone {{ndash}} Near the Dairy Queen |agency=[[Knight Newspapers]] |date=March 20, 1977}}</ref><ref>{{gnis|868670|Mystery Hill}}</ref> by William Goodwin. This was the official name of the site until 1982, when it was renamed "America's Stonehenge", a term [[neologism|coined]] in a news article in the early 1960s. The rebranding was an effort to separate it from [[Tourist trap|roadside oddity sites]] and to reinforce the idea that it is an ancient archaeological site. The area is named after [[Stonehenge]] in England, although there is no evidence of cultural or historical connection between the two.

It is mentioned, as Mystery Hill, on [[List of New Hampshire historical markers (51–75)#72|New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 72]].

== History ==
Archaeologists radio-carbon analysis of charcoal on the site shows that there were humans occupying the area 4,000 years ago.<ref name=":03"/>

In 1982, David Stewart-Smith, director of restoration at Mystery Hill, conducted an excavation of a megalith found in a stone quarry to the north of the main site. His research team excavated the quarry site under the supervision of the New Hampshire state archaeologist and discovered hundreds of chips and flakes from the stone. They concluded that this was evidence of tool manufacture, consistent with American indigenous lithic techniques, although no date could be ascertained.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}} Archaeologist Curtis Runnels stated, "No Bronze Age artifacts have been found there. ... In fact, no one has found a single artifact of European origin from that period anywhere in the New World."<ref name="bubridge" />

The surface of the stone suggests that it was quarried with percussion techniques, indicating that the stone was modeled by indigenous stone workers as it was sculpted by indigenous stone tools rather than the metal tools that were used by European settlers. Some also speculate that the structure is an accurate astronomical calendar that can be used to predict lunar and solar events in North America.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last1=Cohen |first1=Stephen M. |last2=Cohen |first2=Brenda H. |date=2020-12-15 |title=America's Scientific Treasures |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197545508.001.0001 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197545508.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-754550-8 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The remains of a Native American wigwam have been found in the area and a replica can be seen next to the trail. Associated with it were two fire pits that date back to 2,000 years ago. A canoe dated to approximately 300 years ago can be seen in the museum.<ref name=":03"/> Various Native American tools and pottery have also been found on the site.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Horrocks |first=Alyson |date=June 23, 2021 |title=America's Stonehenge: A Historical Site Shrouded in Mystery |url=https://newengland.com/today/travel/massachusetts/americas-stonehenge/ |access-date=April 26, 2022 |website=America's Stonehenge}}</ref>

The site first appears in print in the 1907 ''History of Salem, N.H.'':

{{blockquote|text=Jonathan Pattee's Cave. He had a house in these woods 70 years ago; took town paupers before the town farm was bought. This is a wild but beautiful spot, among rough boulders and soft pines, about which the most weird and fantastic tale might be woven. There are several caves still intact, which the owner used for storage purposes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Edgar |title=The History of Salem, N.H. |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofsalemnh00gilb_0 |year=1907 |publisher=Rumford Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofsalemnh00gilb_0/page/418 418]}} [https://archive.org/stream/historyofsalemnh00gilb#page/418/mode/2up]</ref>}}

Many believe that Pattee built the site in the nineteenth century, and no unequivocal pre-Columbian European artifacts have been found there.<ref>{{cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel Eliot |title=The European Discovery of America |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1971 |place=New York |page=30}}</ref>

The site's history is muddled partly because of the activities of William Goodwin, who became convinced that the location was proof that [[Ireland|Irish]] [[monk]]s (the [[Culdee]]s) had lived there long before the time of [[Christopher Columbus]], and he sought to publicize the concept. He held a strong belief that the site was built by Irish monks, and because of this he rearranged many stones to fit his theory.<ref>{{Cite web |last=George |first=Stephen C. |date=February 3, 2021 |title=America's Stonehenge: Inside the Rocky History of New Hampshire's Mystery Hill |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/americas-stonehenge-inside-the-rocky-history-of-new-hampshires-mystery-hill |access-date=2022-04-24 |website=Discover Magazine |language=en}}</ref>  The site has been altered by stone quarrying, and also by Goodwin and others who wanted to move the stones to what they considered to be their original locations; Goodwin might have been responsible for much of what can now be seen.<ref name="Starbuck" />{{rp|pages=&nbsp;106–107}} Many of the stones have drill marks from the quarrying that took place on the site.<ref name="Starbuck" />{{rp||page=&nbsp;108}}

The myth that Irish people came to North America spawned from a story about an Irish priest named [[Brendan the Navigator|St. Brendan]], who was said to have sailed to North America in the late 500s or early 600s. It was because of this myth that Goodwin and others believed the site to be built by Irish monks. However, there is no archaeological evidence of this happening.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Feder |first=Kenneth L. |title=Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology |year=2020 |isbn=9780190096410 |location=New York |pages=116–117}}</ref>

In 2019, the site was vandalized with power tools.<ref name="Feder2025" />   On March 4, 2021, NH State Police arrested Mark L. Russo, a member of the online group "[[QAnon]]" and charged him with criminal mischief.<ref>[https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/n-j-man-indicted-for-qanon-defacement-of-americas-stonehenge-in-salem/article_be61e578-2dd8-54e5-96d6-13a916617d73.html "NJ man indicted for QAnon vandalism of America's Stonehenge"]</ref> Two inscriptions were etched into the so-called "sacrificial table": the QAnon slogan [[WWG1WGA]] meaning "Where we go one, we go all" and IAMMARK, Russo's Twitter handle. By using a pseudonym to search social media researcher Chris Walters found photographs showing the site as well as items later found by the police. Later it was determined that two QAnon followers with adult sons who had died.  Both believed that the "sacrifical table" was real and that their sons had been killed by a worldwide conspiracy led by [[Hillary Clinton]] in order to extract [[adrenochrome]] which they believed could renew life.<ref name="Feder2025">{{cite book |last1=Feder |first1=Kenneth L. |author1-link=Kenneth Feder |title=Frauds, myths, and mysteries: science and pseudoscience in archaeology |date=2025 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780197757796 |pages=122–124|edition=Eleventh |access-date=}}</ref>

== The "Sacrificial Stone" ==
[[File:Lye-leaching Stone at America's Stonehenge.jpg|thumb|The "Sacrificial Stone"]]
There is a so-called "sacrificial stone" which contains grooves on site that some say channeled blood, but it closely resembles "lye-leaching stones" found on many old farms that were used to extract [[lye]] from wood ashes, the first step in the manufacture of [[soap]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Wagg |first=Jeff |date=July 24, 2009 |title=Lie Leaching |url=http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/647-lie-leaching.html |access-date=September 28, 2015 |publisher=James Randi Educational Foundation}}</ref> The "sacrificial stone" could have also been a [[Fruit press|cider press]] bed stone, a common tool among colonial farmers in New England, the grooves in the table serving to collect the cider.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Feder |first=Kenneth L. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1108812780 |title=Frauds, myths, and mysteries : science and pseudoscience in archaeology |date=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-009641-0 |edition=Tenth |location=New York |pages=121 |oclc=1108812780}}</ref>

== In popular culture==

American horror writer [[H. P. Lovecraft]] was an enthusiast for New England [[megalith]] sites, and he visited Mystery Hill sometime between 1928 and the 1930s.  The site is popularly attributed as inspiration for his story "[[The Dunwich Horror]]".<ref>David Goudsward and Robert Stone. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8AiJzXBLLDkC&pg=PA65 America's Stonehenge: the Mystery Hill story, from Ice Age to Stone Age]''. Wellesley, MA: Branden Books, 2003. 65–66.</ref> Scholars, however, place Lovecraft's visit too late to have inspired the 1929 story.<ref>Joshi, S.T. ''The Annotated Lovecraft.'' New York: Dell, 1997. 106.</ref>

[[Barry Fell]] in the book ''America BC: Ancient Settlers in the New World,'' published in 1976 and revised in 1986, provides evidence of occupation in pre-Columbian times based on astronomically linked positioning of stones and claims of Phoenician inscriptions written in [[Ogham]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McKusick |first1=Marshall |title=Canaanites in America: A New Scripture in Stone? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3209381 |journal=The Biblical Archaeologist |date=July 1979 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=137–140 |doi=10.2307/3209381 |access-date=26 October 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, Barry Fell's specialty was marine biology, and though he wrote about archaeology and epigraphy, experts have widely deemed his writings to be pseudo-archaeological.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 7, 2009 |title=Mystery Hill: America's Stonehenge |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/americas-stonehenge-mystery-hill |website=Mystery Hill: America's Stonehenge}}</ref>

The site has been featured or mentioned on a number of television programs including:
	
*American [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] TV series ''[[Secrets of the Ancient World]]'' which aired on January 14, 2002, in which [[Boston University]] archaeology professor Curtis Runnels refuted the theory that it was built by [[Celts]] in ancient history.<ref name=bubridge>Fitzgerald, Brian. [http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2002/02-01/archaeology.htm "Archaeology professor debunks claims for ancient rock structures as pseudoscientific fallacy"]. ''B.U. Bridge'' (February 1, 2002)</ref>
	
*''[[In Search of... (TV series)|In Search of...]]'' TV series which focused on investigating mysterious phenomena. The show presented the theory that the site was of ancient [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] origin. The episode aired on April 24, 1977.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Strange Visitors/Oracle Chamber |episode-link= |url= |access-date= |series=In Search of... |series-link=In Search of... (TV series) |first= |last= |network= |station= |date=24 April 1977 |season=1 |series-no= |number=2 |minutes= |time= |transcript= |transcript-url= |quote= |language=}}</ref>

* In the TV series [[The X-Files]], Season 2, Episode 14, Die Hard Die Verletzt, American Stonehenge was mentioned as a place Shannon went on a high school field trip.

==See also==
*[[Stonehenge replicas and derivatives]]

==References==

===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===Further reading===
* Cahill, Robert Ellis, ''New England's Ancient Mysteries'' 1993, Old Saltbox, Danvers, MA: {{ISBN|0962616249}}
* Feldman, Mark, ''The Mystery Hill Story'' 1977, Mystery Hill Press: {{ISBN?}}
* Fell, Barry, ''America B.C.'' 1989 (2nd edition), Pocket Books: {{ISBN|0671679740}}
* Gage, Mary, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ryyWW_Px0wUC America's Stonehenge Deciphered]'' 2006, Powwow River Books: {{ISBN|097179104X}}
* Goudsward, David, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8AiJzXBLLDkC Stonehenge: The Mystery Hill Story]'' 2003, Branden Books: {{ISBN|0828320748}}
* Goudsward, David, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_bt3AAAAMAAJ Ancient Stone Sites of New England]'' 2006, McFarland Publishing: {{ISBN|0786424621}}
* Goudsward, David, ''H. P. Lovecraft in the Merrimack Valley'' 2013, Hippocampus Press: {{ISBN|978-1614980575}} 
* Lambert, Joanne, ''America's Stonehenge'' 1996, Sunrise Publications: {{ISBN|0965263002}}

== External links ==
* {{official|www.stonehengeusa.com}}
* [http://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2002/02-01/archaeology.htm "Archaeology professor debunks claims for ancient rock structures as pseudoscientific fallacy"], ''BU Bridge'', 1 February 2002, Boston University
* [http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/travel/escapes/11stonehenge.html?scp=1&sq=america%27s%20stonehenge&st=cse Dec. 11, 2009 N.Y. Times travel article]
* [http://discovermagazine.com/1998/feb/lightelementsyan1410 ''Discover Magazine'' "Light Elements: Yankee Doodle Druid"]

[[Category:Salem, New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Landmarks in New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact]]
[[Category:Ruins in the United States]]
[[Category:Pseudoarchaeology]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Rockingham County, New Hampshire]]