Addicks Reservoir Mystery Road And Cross

[theoriginalkj]

Out in the middle of Addicks Resevior, in a small section just off the north-east corner of Highway 6 and I-10 is strange mystery road and some interesting markings. There is a small gated road leading off Eldrige Parkway (about a mile north of I-10) that heads west out into a dry field that clearly has been designated a trail for some type of automobile traffic a long long time ago. This small unpaved and unbelievably extremely overgrown road leads all the way to Langham Creek. The road does not show even the slightest hint that it has been driven on for many years! It's enough of a road of some sort to be listed on the 1980 terraserver.microsoft.com map shown below:

Here's some great GoogleEarth images of the area of interest, from furthest zoomed out, to furthest zoomed in...

I have been out to the area and driven to it, trying to locate it with a GPS. I have been around the exact spot on the GPS provided by terraserver and GoogleEarth and cannot locate these huge markings. One of the markings is a perfectly round circle with a dome in it and the other is a perfectly round circle with a cross in the middle. The two areas are far too perfect looking to be anything other than man-made - I just want to find out what it is.

I should note, that this area is probably a 1/2' mile south from a semi-famous cemetary called the 'Blue Light Cemetary' that is located in Bear Creek Park. This cemetary was featured on Ripley's Believe it or Not as a haunted cemetary that emits an erie blue haze over the cemetary on full-moons. The immediate location of this cemetary is all the more reason to suspect that these markings have something to do with the cemetary. Does anybody have any hints as to what these markings are? Even zooming all the way in with the various satellite maps does not seem to answer this question, only make it more puzzling.

Kevin Jackson

kevinj@houston.rr.com

[editor]

They're landing and navigation markers for the alien invasion.

You have been warned.

[TheNiche]

The amazing thing to me is that these markings show up as depressions in old topographic maps. That indicates to me that they've been around for a long time and that somebody has to have noticed them by now.

If I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with Christians. Probably was an old summer camp or something. Or perhaps it was a heaven's gate-type cult building landing pads for the spaceship.

[MarthaG]

I went to Blue Light Cemetary a few times when I was in high school. And we use to go to Addicks Resevior and shoot fireworks.....actually the guys would have bottle rocket wars there. This was the mid 70's and it was a big hang out for teenagers.

Perhaps some hippies made those patterns, just for fun. Or like TheNiche said, some Christian group. Could there have been a Christian camp in that area at one time? But I must say, very interesting stuff... how did you come across this Kevin?

[torvald]

i guess my question would be about the leftmost circle.

you can see the shadows (from trees, etc) but there is one square one.

what would that be?

[Jeebus]

That's just some creepy Blair Witch stuff there.

[ricco67]

seems to me an operation should be organized.

[Parrothead]

Oooh! I agree ricco! That is just too cool and freaky not to go check out!!

[TheNiche]

Oooh! I agree ricco! That is just too cool and freaky not to go check out!!

I'm game.

[nm5k]

Out in the middle of Addicks Resevior, in a small section just off the north-east corner of Highway 6 and I-10 is strange mystery road and some interesting markings.

Pretty weird.. Do look manmade, unless some kind of visual fluke.

You can almost see where it looks mowed down to make the circles.

I see slight lines that looked like the mower went around in circles,

but could be an illusion.. Yep, I also used to go to blue light back in the

70's , but the cops started chasing everyone off. You used to be

able to park on Patterson, hop the fence, and no one would bother

you, but the police started hassling parkers on patterson, so we

didn't go anymore. I think there are actual "no parking " signs

now if I remember right. It's been quite a while since I've been there.

I've been at it both in the day, and also remember going out there

late at night. Never saw any ghosts or blue lights though... :/

I did once see signs of some grave tampering though. There is

also another small cemetary at the end of Patterson where it hits

highway 6, unless they moved it. It's on the corner, and only has a

few graves. But they always stood out to me as the headstones

had pictures of the people buried there. They were pretty old graves,

and the pictures were pretty old style oval pictures that were imbedded

into the headstones, and covered with glass. Or I think anyway..

I'd love to hit that old road with my metal detector... How did you

get past the gate? Are you the landowner, or know them?

This is not the first time I've seen "veggie art" in the landscape, or

lawn. I was looking at an old picture of "domain privee" which was a

gambling house on old main street back years ago. We used to party

out at that place also when I was a teen.. Anway, if you look real careful,

you can see where they had lawn art out front. One was a big star

that seemed to be trimmed from tall bushes, or whatever. Like

that place, the star was set in a mowed down area to stand out

better from the air. I think they had something else too, but I forgot.

I'd have to look at it again.

MK

[torvald]

I'm game.

perhaps this is the next HAIF field trip?

[groovehouse]

No open toed shoes, watch out for snakes and look out for this guy...

[TheNiche]

Pretty weird.. Do look manmade, unless some kind of visual fluke.

You can almost see where it looks mowed down to make the circles.

I see slight lines that looked like the mower went around in circles,

but could be an illusion.. Yep, I also used to go to blue light back in the

70's , but the cops started chasing everyone off. You used to be

able to park on Patterson, hop the fence, and no one would bother

you, but the police started hassling parkers on patterson, so we

didn't go anymore. I think there are actual "no parking " signs

now if I remember right. It's been quite a while since I've been there.

I've been at it both in the day, and also remember going out there

late at night. Never saw any ghosts or blue lights though... :/

I did once see signs of some grave tampering though. There is

also another small cemetary at the end of Patterson where it hits

highway 6, unless they moved it. It's on the corner, and only has a

few graves. But they always stood out to me as the headstones

had pictures of the people buried there. They were pretty old graves,

and the pictures were pretty old style oval pictures that were imbedded

into the headstones, and covered with glass. Or I think anyway..

I'd love to hit that old road with my metal detector... How did you

get past the gate? Are you the landowner, or know them?

This is not the first time I've seen "veggie art" in the landscape, or

lawn. I was looking at an old picture of "domain privee" which was a

gambling house on old main street back years ago. We used to party

out at that place also when I was a teen.. Anway, if you look real careful,

you can see where they had lawn art out front. One was a big star

that seemed to be trimmed from tall bushes, or whatever. Like

that place, the star was set in a mowed down area to stand out

better from the air. I think they had something else too, but I forgot.

I'd have to look at it again.

MK

I work very near Kirkwood and I-10 and am there right now (will be through Monday). I'll scout the area tomorrow morning and report back on signage/access.

By the way, if you'll check out my post from a few weeks ago entitled "Landscape Grafitti", you'll find large-scale examples of mega-landscaping projects. There's one near Smithville that you can see clearly from 10 miles in altitude.

[TheNiche]

I work very near Kirkwood and I-10 and am there right now (will be through Monday). I'll scout the area tomorrow morning and report back on signage/access.

Reporting in:

The stretch of Eldridge from I-10 to Pattison and Pattison between Eldridge and SH 6 has no signage that would suggest any restrictions on parking in any way shape or form. The only problem is a guardrail along the west side of Eldridge that prevents curbside parking by anyone who cares about the 'togetherness' of their vehicle.

The only catch appears to be that the entrance is only large enough to fit three or four cars safely. If there's too much interest in this event, we may need to organize a carpool.

In other respects, a survey of the perimeter suggests that the hike will be relatively easy and uneventful...that said, if you've got snake gaiters, bring them. I'm not the type to carry your carcass back to civilization.

[ricco67]

Tell you what, if we go, I hear ONE banjo tune, I'm so outta there I'd be back in Downtown by the time y'all go "Where'd ricco go?"

[torvald]

hmmm.... now that i think of it. i'm still reading up on my texas

history but there were a few indian tribes in the area. could they

be small burial or ceremonial mounds? i know there is a cross on

one but geometric lines are common on such things.

i used to be really interested in archaeoastronomy, some people

think of stonhenge or other monoliths stones outright but it

also includes the study of astronomy before the telescope and

other types of structures used to record the calendar for religious

and planting seasons... like stonehenge, burial mounds or land

depressions.

the mound sort of thing is well represented here --- and more

common in our area than stone ones.

someone said previously that these circles are depressions?

how large are they?

trees and vegetation (other than grass) do not grow on the

mounds/depressions due to a layer of solids or mineral debris

added when the land was changed.

[TheNiche]

Tell you what, if we go, I hear ONE banjo tune, I'm so outta there I'd be back in Houston by the time y'all go "Where'd ricco go?"

Just so you're aware, Addicks Reservoir is inside Houston City Limits. If you hear banjos, well that would be amusing more than anything else...just that we have such incredible diversity in this town.

[ricco67]

Just so you're aware, Addicks Reservoir is inside Houston City Limits. If you hear banjos, well that would be amusing more than anything else...just that we have such incredible diversity in this town.

Noted and edited.

I'd still be gone.

[TheNiche]

hmmm.... now that i think of it. i'm still reading up on my texas

history but there were a few indian tribes in the area. could they

be small burial or ceremonial mounds? i know there is a cross on

one but geometric lines are common on such things.

i used to be really interested in archaeoastronomy, some people

think of stonhenge or other monoliths stones outright but it

also includes the study of astronomy before the telescope and

other types of structures used to record the calendar for religious

and planting seasons... like stonehenge, burial mounds or land

depressions.

the mound sort of thing is well represented here --- and more

common in our area than stone ones.

someone said previously that these circles are depressions?

how large are they?

trees and vegetation (other than grass) do not grow on the

mounds/depressions due to a layer of solids or mineral debris

added when the land was changed.

I wish I could back that theory and be able to land a spot on George Nory's late night Coast to Coast AM show...but I'd be dubious of that kind of a conclusion. Here's why:

I think that the cross is a Christian religious symbol becausee the this symbol matches the dimensions and proportions of the traditional Christian cross in nearly every way. Also if you look at the shape closely, it isn't perfectly round...seems like folks from way back (and especially prehistoric astronomers) went through great pains to create perfect geometric shapes...I still envision this as the half assed work of a Christian summer camp or some such thing.

I forget which Indian tribes were in the west Houston area (I know that the Karankawa were nearer to the coast), but every part of Texas was populated by various tribes. The Caddo, up in east and northeast Texas were aligned to some extent with the Mississippian civilization and copied a few of the mounds. If you're interested, the State has turned them into a public park. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure that the Caddo didn't make it out this way.

Lastly, the depressions (and I'm not so sure now that I take a look at the map again) is indicated, I think, by the dashed blue circles on the topographic map. The only thing is that I recall depressions as having a different symbol with marks coming off of a contour in the direction of the depression. But I can't think of what else these might represent. It doesn't look like water. In any case, its worth checking out.

[torvald]

I wish I could back that theory and be able to land a spot on George Nory's late night Coast to Coast AM show...but I'd be dubious of that kind of a conclusion. Here's why:

I think that the cross is a Christian religious symbol becausee the this symbol matches the dimensions and proportions of the traditional Christian cross in nearly every way. Also if you look at the shape closely, it isn't perfectly round...seems like folks from way back (and especially prehistoric astronomers) went through great pains to create perfect geometric shapes...I still envision this as the half assed work of a Christian summer camp or some such thing.

the cross (as in +) is also a primitive/tribal symbol and is sometimes

elongated to point at a certain point on the horizon where a particular star

heralds the start of the planting season or religious/important day.

i'm not sure about that george nory show but looking it up it looks like ufo/

paranormal stuff. it's archaeo/astronomy not astrology. many universities

have classes and are currently researching this subject.

[TheNiche]

the cross (as in +) is also a primitive/tribal symbol and is sometimes

elongated to point at a certain point on the horizon where a particular star

heralds the start of the planting season or religious/important day.

i'm not sure about that george nory show but looking it up it looks like ufo/

paranormal stuff. it's archaeo/astronomy not astrology. many universities

have classes and are currently researching this subject.

Nory replaced Art Bell a few years ago if that rings a bell for you...no pun intended. His show spans three hours every night, so he has to fill the void with more than aliens and ghosts. In addition to the paranormal, he does whole shows about astronomical matters...including every side of the subject. He speaks of planetary movements frequently, albeit not at length, and does a lot of discussion with various scientists regarding the reality of human exploration of the solar system. Sometimes he'll discuss issues related to postmodern physics (i.e. light speed barrier, wormholes, time travel, etc.), and other times, he'll discuss nothing more than the latest goings on at NASA. In every case, the show is presented in a non-biased and completely open minded format. Everybody gets taken seriously without exception...believers, skeptics, fiscal conservatives, and kooks alike. In a sense, it is academia the way it should be...no stupid questions. It is at its core a forum for the geeks and insomniacs of the world...so naturally, I fit right in to the listenership.

[ricco67]

What happend to Art Bell? I know at one point he lost it a few years back and decided he was feeling better and returned.

Did he finally lose it again or did the company finally get sick of him?

[TheNiche]

What happend to Art Bell? I know at one point he lost it a few years back and decided he was feeling better and returned.

Did he finally lose it again or did the company finally get sick of him?

He's on the air a couple days per week. How exactly did he "lose it"? I must've missed that part.

[ricco67]

If Memory serves me correctly, he basically said that he quit that he had some issues to take care of and he quit. That was it.

Said something about people were after him or something and his life was in danger. This happened about 6 years ago, I beleive.

They replaced him with someone for a few weeks (or months) and he eventually came back. Dunno, maybe he was off his meds. I only listened to him when I couldn't sleep.

BTW: did a quick goggle and found the following links.

http://www.drudge.com/1998/19981013.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Bell

Personally, I think he's bonkers.

Intelligent, but bonkers.

[torvald]

regardless, if any of you folks go

to investigate, i'd love to come along.

[editor]

i guess my question would be about the leftmost circle.

you can see the shadows (from trees, etc) but there is one square one.

what would that be?

Maybe it's water.

[editor]

The only catch appears to be that the entrance is only large enough to fit three or four cars safely. If there's too much interest in this event, we may need to organize a carpool.

So now we know. It takes an alien invasion to make Houstoners carpool!

[sevfiv]

regardless, if any of you folks go

to investigate, i'd love to come along.

ooh ooh! this sounds quite interesting...just wish i had some better navigational tools - i can only imagine that from the ground level it might be a tad difficult to navigate, especially if some of the imagery is outdated

[MarthaG]

Reporting in:

The stretch of Eldridge from I-10 to Pattison and Pattison between Eldridge and SH 6 has no signage that would suggest any restrictions on parking in any way shape or form. The only problem is a guardrail along the west side of Eldridge that prevents curbside parking by anyone who cares about the 'togetherness' of their vehicle.

The only catch appears to be that the entrance is only large enough to fit three or four cars safely. If there's too much interest in this event, we may need to organize a carpool.

In other respects, a survey of the perimeter suggests that the hike will be relatively easy and uneventful...that said, if you've got snake gaiters, bring them. I'm not the type to carry your carcass back to civilization.

Did you by chance see the "mystery road"? Is that the entrance you refer to?

[TheNiche]

Did you by chance see the "mystery road"? Is that the entrance you refer to?

Yes, and it is far from a 'mystery road'. If you're heading north on Eldridge from I-10, it'll be the second gate on your left once you're in the reservoir...it is easy to miss, so keep an eye out.

ooh ooh! this sounds quite interesting...just wish i had some better navigational tools - i can only imagine that from the ground level it might be a tad difficult to navigate, especially if some of the imagery is outdated

Anybody got a working GPS that wants to come along? Unfortunately, mine is not working.