I've stumbled upon an interesting synchronicity concerning one of the seven victims of the 1915 San Bernardino Working and it is sincerely jaw-dropping. Though it points specifically to one victim, it hints also at "Cora Stanton" aka Etta Place.
Let's start with what I read about today: the legend of Tunupa and Lake Titicaca as related in David Childress' Ancient Technology in Peru & Bolivia. Tunupa was one of the elder gods of the ancient Andes and the Titicaca area. He had a dispute with the degenerate people of the local villages and even battled a powerful witch. The account of his demise is very simple: Tunupa died while sailing a raft across Lake Titicaca, specifically the lesser part of the lake, the raft sinking below the depths taking Tunupa to his death. This jumped off the page at me.
Readers of the first volume in the Empire of the Wheel trilogy will be familiar with victim Isidore Josseau, the Frenchman and trapper who died in Baldwin Lake. He was sailing across Baldwin Lake when his raft flipped over and sank -- and Josseau went down with it to his death. So how does this relate to the legend of Tunupa?
1. Tunupa was sailing a raft and Josseau was sailing a raft. Not boats, not canoes, but rafts.
2. Tunupa was sailing the 'lesser lake' of Titicaca, the greater lake of which is about two and a half times bigger than the lesser lake. Josseau was sailing Baldwin Lake, adjacent to Big Bear Lake which is about two and a half times its size.
3. The lesser lake of Titicaca is connected via a narrow strait to the greater lake at its southeast end; Baldwin Lake is located at the eastern end of the bigger Big Bear Lake and between these lakes was a marshland that technically could be argued to connect the two, depending on the season.
4. Peru and Bolivia, including the Lake Titicaca area which they share, are known for gold; Gold was found and could be mined in the greater Big Bear Lake area.
5. Tunupa confronted a witch and other people doing bad things in the villages around Lake Titicaca and died during his confrontation with them -- Might Isidore Josseau have been aware of the occult shenanigans going on in San Bernardino Valley and been murdered for it?
Of the seven mysterious deaths in that autumn of 1915, Josseau's death has always been the one that nagged me for my not yet seeing as overt a connection to the strange circumstances surrounding the others. I've always felt that Rick and I were missing something with Josseau, though we did nail the telluric current 'ley line' aspect of his death. Still, there seemed to be something too random about Josseau as a victim when compared to the others. But here at last is, I suspect, the reason for his selection among the sacrifices. If Josseau stood openly opposed to any of the perpetrators of the impending magical working, it likely would have marked him for death. That his death appears like a reenactment of a mythological figure's death fits right in with the Empire of the Wheel milieu.
And if these little "coincidences" aren't enough for you, remember the presence of Etta Place in all this. Recall that significant period of her life spent in Bolivia (co-location of Lake Titicaca) and Argentina and other South American points of interest. Readers of Empire of the Wheel 2: Friends From Sonora will also know that gold plays a role in her activities down there. Might this sacrificial reenactment of the death of Tunupa have been another pointer that Etta Place was really the mystery woman 'Cora Stanton'?
Consider this: In the first EOTW book, Rick and I analyze the name 'Cora Stanton' and reveal it to mean 'Kore or Persephone' of the 'Place of the Standing Stones' or a cemetery full of headstones. The 'place of standing stones' in which Etta Place was buried as 'Cora Stanton' is south (southwest) of Big Bear Lake and Baldwin Lake (our 'Titicaca' of the mystery now). The ancient ruins of Tiahuanaco are located south of Lake Titicaca and the temple there is called 'Kalasasaya' -- which means The Temple of the Stones Standing Up. I suggest this hints at Etta Place's connection to South America and stands as another clue that it is she who is buried as 'Cora Stanton'.
I can't leave you with anything but the chills, so here's one last bit to ponder. In his book, David Childress tells of the explorations of Lake Titicaca by an organization which reported that on their 2004 expedition they found a cave that has long been a part of local tradition -- a cave that the locals claimed was the site of regular child sacrifice which on one day saw 200 children murdered in ritual sacrifice, according to the legend.Readers of the Empire of the Wheel trilogy will see the connection.
Is all this just a bunch of coincidence?
You'll have to decide that for yourself.
