The Indian Amulet

I have been able to uncover Samor's "Indian Amulet" while sorting through his office.  It appears to be not so much a real relic as a copy of one. On the back side is inscribed the name "John H. Whitney" acompanied by "No. 046395".  Upon cleaning some corosion on the bottom of the front side of the amulet I have discovered another inscription which reads "Rattanakosin Bicentennial 1982, Bangkok, Thailand".  This confirms Samor's "Indian amulet" as an commemorative coin minted in Thailand to celebrate the Rattanakosin Bicentennial in 1982.

Ko Rattanakosin was built as the new capital of Thailand in the 18th century, today it can be found just north of Chinatown in Bangkok.  Many of Bankok's infamous historical sights are found in the old city including the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew, the learning centers of Wat Pho and Wat Mahathat.  Perhaps the most intriguing of these sites is the Giant Swing found in the temple of Wat Sutat, a structure which is exactly what its name implies - a giant ceremonial swing on which young men swung while attempting to grab a small bag of gold tied high in the air using only their teeth.  Due to the high number of deaths associated with this practice it was abandoned in 1933.


Prior to the unification of Thailand at Bangkok, the country was in fact a number of city-states that were loosely organized into pricipalities. Then in 1782 A.D. King Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulakoke founded the Chakri Dynasty and moved the capitol from Thon Buri to the east bank of the Chso Phraya River creating Ko Rattanakosin.  The new location not only offered a better defensive position but also allowed him to build a new palace, whereas the old one on the other side of the river was threatening to collapse due to erosion.  The ceremony to begin raising the city occured on April 21, 1782.

Samor's mistitled "Indian amulet" is actually one of five Cupro-Nickel Clad Bahts (the official coin of Thailand) minted in 1981 to commemorate the Bicentennial celebrations. 9,000 gold bahts and 600 silver bahts were also minted. Even if the images on the coins were copied from an earlier tradition I doubt they would prove useful to Samor's theories becaues the events they represent occured in the 18th century; a far cry from ancient history.

What then does this mean for my search, did Samor realize this all along? Did he merely use India as a stepping stone to throw off his delusional "pursuers"? Or did his condition prevent him from realizing this was an obvious fraud? And who sent this amulet to him in the first place? Perhaps if I can trace who sent Samor this clue I may be a step closer to finding Samor himself.

The email address from which my mysterious email originated contained the words "hwhitney". Could this be a coincidence? Or does this have something to do with the original owner of the coin? The egnigmatic John H. Whitney whose name is stamped on the back?

The Gold Plate

I stumbled upon this gold-colored plate hidden within the false bottom of a drawer in Samor's office.  According to the notes I've reviewed it came from the same source as the Indian Amulet. . .which I have yet to locate.

It bears a striking resemblance to the Cuauhxicalli Eagle Bowl discovered in 1760 buried under the main square in what is today Mexico City.  Carved from solid rock during the reign of the 6th Aztec monarch the stone weighs over 25 tons and is three feet thick.

 The stone was dedicated to the deity which appears represented at it's center, the Aztec sun god Tonatiuh. Around him are four square panels representing his four previous incarnations as well as the four ages of the world. Around these are scribed signs representing the 20-day Aztec month.

The Aztec calendar was, in fact, a combination of a 365 day "calendar" cycle and a 260 day "ritual" cycle. Once every 52 years these cycles coincide thus forming the Aztec "century", otherwise known as the "Calendar Round".

The calender cycle of 365 days, known alternately as the Vague Year or Civil Year, consisted of 18 months of 20 days. These 20 months made up the 360 day period known to the Aztecs as the "xihuitl". The remaining 5-6 days were called the "nemontemi" and were considered either unlucky or extremely lucky depending on which source you believe. Though I find the evidence more compelling for the consideration by the Aztecs of these days as "unlucky". Each month had a distinct name and were numbered 0 - 19 (as opposed to 1 - 20). The final days of the nemontemi period were simply numbered 0 - 4 (again as opposed to 1 - 5)

The ritual cycle of 260 days, also known as the Sacred Round or Sacred Almanac, was used exclusively by the priests and known as the "Tonalpohualli" by the Aztecs. Days were named in this system by combining one of twenty pictoral signs with the numbers 1 - 13. Furthermore, these days were each associated with one of the four cardinal directions. This partially explains the compass-like shape of the calendar.

The methods of breaking down and systemizing the ritual calendar and endlessly complex, as the Aztecs shared not only a similar calendar with the Incas, but also a seemingly insatiable fascination with the mathematics of the heavens.  On a whim I found an online Aztec calender converter and entered in the dates for Samor's disappearance.  These were the results:

Year – Acatl (Reed), as a year-bearer, Acatl is associated with the East

13 Day Period – Cipactli (Crocodile), ruled by Tonacatecuhtli, Lord of Nurturance, the primordial god of creation and fertility. Cipactli is god of the land, the great earth monster, floating on the sea of stars. This is the first trecena of the sacred year. The 13 days of this trecena are governed by the primordial urge to create order out of chaos. The three means by which the Old Ones established order are still our most important treasures: speech, agriculture, and the family. The lineage of thought runs from seed to fruit to seed: these are good days to participate in the community; bad days for solitude.

Day - Mazatl, The protector of day Mazatl (Deer) is Tlaloc, He Who Makes Seeds Sprout, god of rain and thunderstorms. Mazatl is the day of the hunt. It is a good day to stalk your quarry, a bad day to be stalked. Mazatl is a day for breaking old routines and to pay close attention to the routines of others. This is a day for doubling-back on your tracks.

Is this simply more coincidence or did Samor choose this date for a reason?  Though I am unsure if this whim of mine is of any significance several phrases within the conversion stand out to me, especially the line ". . .these are good days to participate in the community; bad days for solitude."  These are nearly the same words used by the anonymous email which first warned me that Samor was in trouble.

"These are bad days for solitude", it read, "it is imperative that you find your friend."

Is this a clue?  If so, to what end?