BARSOOM ‘SHROOMS?

I had to end this week's blogs on a fun note, because many people spotted this story and passed it along. And if you're wondering what the heck "Barsoom" is, it is pulp science fiction author Edgar Rice Burrough's name for the planet Mars. And "'shrooms" are, of course, mushrooms.

Which brings me to the fun story, because there are some scientists saying that there are mushrooms growing on Mars ("pass the Martian mushrooms, please"):

Mushrooms on Mars? Scientist dubbed the 'Space Tiger King' claims to have found evidence of FUNGI on the Red Planet - but NASA says they're just rocks

Note the scientists in question, who are wondering why little fungi-looking things seem to have "sprouted" in the tire tracks of the Martian rover, are not credentialed from the sorts of mail-in universities one used to find in matchbooks:

A scientist dubbed the 'Space Tiger King' has claimed that strange 'puffball-like' blobs on Mars are actually mushrooms, despite NASA tests showing that they are merely rocks.

Dr. Rhawn Gabriel Joseph made the claim along with microbiologist Dr Xinli Wei from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and astrophysicist Dr Rudolph Schild from Harvard-Smithsonian.

But, for the moment, I'll go with NASA's view: the pictures look both like rocks, and like the type of bulbous mushrooms and toadstools one encounters sprouting in the yard after a heavy rain. But NASA's view is they cannot be fungi, for some solid reasons:

'The images that are being posted are from the Opportunity rover, which discovered mineral spherules that were nicknamed 'blueberries' based on their size and shape. Scientists didn't rely solely on visual information to identify them; they used instruments on the rover to measure chemical and mineral information within these spheurles, confirming they were in fact minerals that formed in the presence of water.

'The blueberries are one of the best-known discoveries of the Opportunity mission, something countless Mars scientists from around the world would be familiar with and have studied the data for.

'The authors ignore other data that easily disprove their claims; for example, many features claimed to be biological are known to typical martian rocks, sand, dust, and ice that change in appearance due to weather, lighting, or rover interactions. Other features superficially resemble fungi but actually are commonly observed, abiotic features in rocks that occur from geochemical changes or by erosion from wind.'

Ok, for once, I can go with that. They're rocks, even though I still have a nagging little question about how rocks can sprout more rocks in a few days, and do so with remarkable regularity, but perhaps I'm unaware of some deus ex chemical-geological process known only to the wizards at NASA. So, for me, they're rocks, except they behave sorta like mushrooms.

But, as I said, this is a "fun" blog, so let's have some fun and do a bit of high octane speculation. Let's assume some of NASA's rocks aren't rocks, and are "Barsoom 'shrooms". Let's also assume all that other strange stuff that people (like me) see in those Mars pictures really is strange stuff and not just a mass psychosis example of pareidolia. Let's assume all that strange stuff  really is debris from a very old civilization there. If so, then they had to eat something, and maybe the delicacy of the day was Barsoom 'shrooms. Now let's make one final assumption: that whoever was there may have come here. Now spores from fungi are remarkably resilient sneaky things. They can "tag along" and pop up in some unusual locations (like where there's water.... hmmmm....).  So I have to wonder if some of our terrestrial 'shrooms might actually be Barsoom 'shrooms.

We might show up on Mars some day, and find that some of the rocks really were mushrooms, and we might even discover they may be related to, or of the same species as, their terrestrial counterparts.

All that is to say that I can see why there's a few scientists that can look at those pictures, and the sudden appearance of the rocks, and conclude that they're Barsoom 'shrooms.

See you on the flip side...

Posted in

Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

32 Comments

  1. Perelandra on May 16, 2021 at 7:37 pm

    Rather than give two seconds of credence to anything said by any governmental agency in the States (especially NASA), I would rather have Chaga tea with Paul Stamets and ponder the possibilities of the scientific paper in question https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351252619_Fungi_on_Mars_Evidence_of_Growth_and_Behavior_From_Sequential_Images



    • anakephalaiosis on May 17, 2021 at 1:28 am

      Gaslighting, under cover of science, is military tactics. Everybody lies, and those who lie are lied to. That is what a room of mirrors means.

      The original reason, why lying was not accepted in ancient tribal societies, is because it breaks down the social fabric.

      Originally, lies were kept at bay, by gatherings of social clearing, that became courts of law, that today are controlled by Jesuits.

      Jesuits, who are expert liars – wearing apron – are from their father the devil. They do not like the RUNES, that are natural symbols of social clearing:

      https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/pnz9jpb73u1gfla/druidry-for-dummies.pdf



  2. Arpit Kanodia on May 15, 2021 at 5:25 pm

    I think all here should watch this

    https://youtu.be/qnNJr_0TxuI

    Especially those who have interest in Indic history or indic civilization.



    • anakephalaiosis on May 16, 2021 at 2:22 am

      All astrologists are armchair occultists, with their heads in clouds, who are into spell casting, and sectarian mind control.

      Scythian yoga is martial art, in hand-to-hand combat, that in India becomes reduced, into rope trick on nail mat.

      “Pranayama” is “breath killer”, the stamina in sports. “Pratyahara” means “from here”, when attention is abstracted away from senses, in sports.

      Man walks, without thinking about walking. He just does it. That’s rock-and-roll.

      https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/xcz1yjfe3ushwxk/venn-diagram2.jpg



    • Arpit Kanodia on May 16, 2021 at 7:10 am

      This also can be said as must watch

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCpNPZCh3oE



      • Arpit Kanodia on May 16, 2021 at 7:15 am

        And I don’t know how wealth & power explained such significant changes in human society & diversity

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCpNPZCh3oE

        Sometimes these people create such idiotic arguments



        • Arpit Kanodia on May 16, 2021 at 7:16 am


          • anakephalaiosis on May 16, 2021 at 11:00 pm

            The Seven Seals in the Revelation are identified as Scythian yoga, and that is originally martial art.

            Neither modern papal Christianity, nor modern Indian yoga, appear as martial arts, because of filioque substitution.

            Filioque breaks down patriarchy, when male lines are substituted by communist Trojan Horses, in parasitic conquest.

            A knife in back is always the lying trait of Cain, as reproductive means. Jousting is was never his game.

            https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/1tkga7zlzxjt5vj/venn-diagram4.jpg



        • Roger on May 16, 2021 at 12:13 pm

          In wolf packs only the alpha male and female are generally allowed to have pups. The alphas kill or take the others offspring. In lion prides one or two males hog all an areas females for as long as they are strong enough to keep them. At this point in history the strongest males may have been in the habit of claiming all women in their domain as theirs. If so then no wonder eventually there was a great war where almost all the males killed each other over access to women. After that powerful leaders may have figured it was safer to let other men have wives to keep, or more likely were not given a choice about it after the great uprising against the culture where only royalty was allowed to have wives. Sultans in the middle east and other royalty with huge harems might be a legacy from this once greater practice of owning all women. I’m sure once such culture finally fell few men would willingly allow it to come again. I’m sure big harems create a lot of willing recruits for womenless males to band together to raid such harem owners LOL.



          • Arpit Kanodia on May 16, 2021 at 1:17 pm

            If this was the case, then why only 8000 years ago? It should happened long ago.

            Wolves are not like, first we establish civilization and then think about alpha male. If this is genetic trait in psycology of humanity of alpha males, it should happened 50k- 100k years ago.

            What so special about 7500 years ago? I think you should watch the video in YouTube, it might give some useful insight.



          • Roger on May 16, 2021 at 3:47 pm

            I watched the video but the first alternative explanation to pop into my mind was that royals likely claimed ownership of all the women during that time and that’s why your region and nearby regions had harems as a tradition until recently. And possibly why royalty used the lion standard. Monarchs in England briefly claimed the right to father Scotts first born children when they got married in the movie Brave Heart. Was it based on history? I don’t know but I can deffinately see spoiled egotistical psychopaths demanding such. But could have been a great war. Could be undiscovered errors in the process they used to come to that conclussion as well. But likely the stories were based off some truth. I also like the point that iron rusts and therefore there could have been previous iron ages and some of the bronze and copper items could be much older as well. I’m skeptical of the age dating process.



          • Roger on May 16, 2021 at 4:50 pm

            Not taught too much about Indian history in US schools. Or much about India at all. Starting to watch a lot of videos and beginning to see why the Nazi’s were so fascinated by your history and why we in the west are kept ignorant. Here is an interesting video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsAXTd3IoNU



          • anakephalaiosis on May 16, 2021 at 11:34 pm

            The tactics of the parasites is, to cause a series of genocidal wars, and then move in, and control reproduction.

            Armchair occultists, of spell cast and sectarian mind control, are desktop generals hiding in darkness.

            Armchair occultists need a series of wars, to create condition for TOTAL WAR, to wipe out total male population.

            Six million is the triggering code word to achieve that. It is old tactics.

            https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/qqkaqnr6ac58bb9/six-million.pdf



      • anakephalaiosis on May 17, 2021 at 12:12 am

        Mahabharata = Maha-hysteria. It takes a lot of social conditioning, and a massive mind control, to produce a TOTAL WAR.

        That is why Tolkien’s saga begins and ends on a Hobbit-note. Because simple life has natural resistance against evil.

        Propped up nationalism, and religious infighting, is how Pope Satan has produced endless wars in Europe.

        Jesuit moles instigate global wars, and the present scamdemic is Maha-hysteria, by fantasy of invisible devilry.



  3. Richard on May 15, 2021 at 3:51 pm

    Might have discovered why recent posts were shunted.



  4. Maatkare3114 on May 15, 2021 at 2:24 pm

    Washington State Uni 5 Mar 2020 – Study finds organic molecules discovered by Curiosity Rover consistent with early life on Mars.

    https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1562.html Jan 12 2010 This view shows color variations in bright layered deposits on a plateau near Juventae Chasma in the Valles Marineris region of Mars. A brown mantle covers portions of the bright deposits. Researchers have found that these bright layered deposits contain opaline silica and iron sulfates.

    astronomy dot com 23 Nov 2016 Opaline silica could give evidence to past life on Mars

    Natural History Museum 10 July 2015 -A special kind of opal that can trap microbes on Earth has been found in a Martian meteorite, suggesting a new target in the search for signs of life on Mars.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13554 Silica deposits on Mars with features resembling hot spring biosignatures at El Tatio in Chile



  5. anakephalaiosis on May 15, 2021 at 2:40 am

    [Little Green Men in the Holy Writ]

    Samuel poured fragrant oil, on the line of kingship, that became a smelly affair:

    1. Saul was stupid brute, causing diplomatic problems. 2. David was harp playing pūssyfoot, playing triangle drama. 3. Salomon was master of henhouse, with 700 wives, and 300 extra on the side. That is soap opera, and the reason, why the Zodiac tribe fell apart!

    The fragrant oil of Samuel became a magico-religious substance, that produced the fantasy of messiah-christus. Everybody knows, that a perfumed female is not really a flower. She just smells that way.

    When Yahshua approaches that stage, he is one of the Jacobs, who applies the philosophy of the Scythian Isaacs, towards kingship. That is the new Covenant, mending the Zodiac tribe. Simple as that!

    It spells: goodbye soap opera, and hello secular kingship, based on martial art. That is the DRUID-SCYTHIAN RUNES applied.

    Today, the Jacobs in Britain have run out of royal steam, and no fragrant oil can cover up the foul stench, of dead corpse on the throne.

    Diana was a natural…

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/wn7deus7wpcsmuu/looney-tunes2.jpg



  6. Robert Barricklow on May 14, 2021 at 7:42 pm

    Got a “strange” day going on.
    But not like the one John Carter had, when he ventured into that cave.
    Loved that book, A Princess of Mars.
    Read the rest of all the Barsoom novels[and Tarzan]
    To today’s post…

    Of course, today’s covid1984 culture much; a mushroom culture.
    Where “they” keep us in the dark, and feed us B.S.
    It’s a known faction, that on Barssom;
    “They” find their thrills; all over Barsoom’s Blueberry Hills.

    It’s true that fungi[like the shrooms of Mars] are metabolic wizards and can explore, scavenge, and salvage ingeniously; their abilities rivaled only by bacteria. Why, they even can harness radiation as a source of energy; as plants use the energy of the sunlight.

    These “barshrooms” just might possess “swarm intelligence”.
    Here, on Earth, the fungi[mushrooms being the iconic fungi] form a network called: the “wood-wide-web”[www.].

    Metaphorically; no single neuron circuit “know” what’s going on any more than a single termite “knows” the structure of the mound, but large numbers[a recent blog on that subject] of neurons can build a network from which surprising phenomena can emerge.
    Indeed, these large numbered networks have hypertrophied into a “master concept”.

    Isn’t it funny how the “real” truth; maybe even far stranger,
    than any E.G. Burrough’s fiction we can imagine.



  7. marcos toledo on May 14, 2021 at 7:38 pm

    No oxygen on Mars then what is CO2 one carbon and two oxygen molecules. And if carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas why is Mars a pole to pole arctic world or is it what do the elites know about the planet and since when and how thin is its atmosphere really.



    • Richard on May 15, 2021 at 2:25 pm

      Mars is good when software isn’t hybridizing glossed over and blurred out Martian and Moonscapes. Apparently, Mars has become an interplanetary obfuscation again. Need to be careful what one says. It’s recent, too. A regular at viewing it, the moon, and Earth, blurring and air brushing have noticeably increased.

      Anyway, those four Martian Mons,’ Olympus Mons, Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons, for instance, have unique placements on the Martian surface one would likely have placed there if [something] else was placed there. Their craters are nearly circular, really very circular, as if pipes were taken out of them or retracted within, massive pipes (or something). Pavonis lies nearly on the Martian equator while Arsia & Ascraeus Mons’ are neatly equidistant away from Pavonis at opposite angles or on opposite rays from Pavonis as their vertex (as if on the same line) and strikingly in a geometrical formation to include Olympus Mons their bisector. This kind of formation is something one would’ve liked to be able to conjure in an earlier sophomore geometry class in high school years ago on a spheroid.

      When one takes into consideration that the Martian night sky has some semblance to the Earthen night sky, one variable is duration in an orbit, you get the idea that something else looks very similar from an Earthen perspective or, may be the other way round from a Martian perspective with each of similar past histories. A lot of triangular geometry. Quite possibly mushrooms, too, when it was wetter like another Earthen landscape once was thousands of years ago.



  8. ats on May 14, 2021 at 3:24 pm

    Here’s an actual scientific paper on the phenomena in the journal of Advances in Microbiology, with PhDs from the following institutions:

    1. Cosmology.com
    2. School of Life & Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
    3. State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Beijing. China
    4. Scripps Center for Astrophysics Space Sciences, Dept. Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, CA
    5. National Center for Scientific Research, Biogéosciences, University of Bourgogne, France
    6. Dept. of Zoology, Oklahoma State University, Emeritus, OK
    7. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Egypt
    8. Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University, VA
    9. Astrobiology Research Group, Finland
    10. National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
    11. Center for Astrophysics, Harvard-Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351252619_Fungi_on_Mars_Evidence_of_Growth_and_Behavior_From_Sequential_Images

    Not some “Space Tiger King” purposeful ad hominem.



    • HD on May 14, 2021 at 6:39 pm

      Had a read of the paper over breakfast. Yes I can see what the authors are getting at. Particularly with respect to figures 9 and 13. The red circled portions in 9 do show structures that look like hyphae from which the basidiomycete-like puffballs have arisen from a subsurface mycelial network.. The right hand image in 13 appears to show a longitudinal cleavage/ rib (relative to the frame if the image) along which cells that constitute the “puff ball” have grown and are affixed laterally.

      I note within the conclusion (page 68) ” Almost all scientists who have searched for current or past
      life on Mars, have reported positive findings. What would be surprising is if there was no life on Mars.”



      • HD on May 14, 2021 at 6:41 pm

        Erm, page 59.



  9. Roger on May 14, 2021 at 9:29 am

    Odd! Unimagined new kind of Mineral based life if the tests were really done? Or does an organism secrete and forms a hard mineralized shell around itself after growing to a certain size? Possible adaptation to Mars having no protective magnetic shielding from harmful Sun rays? Or are they really just rocks and Mars really does have much more of an atmosphere than what is claimed. An atmosphere dense enough to move that much sand in a single day!



  10. Michael UK on May 14, 2021 at 9:17 am

    Mushrooms and Fungi require damp and humidity to grow. Mars has neither – it is desiccated and cold – at least on the surface. I don’t recall any growing in Antarctica Dry Valleys, Death Valley, or the Sahara. However, I believe they can grow in lava tubes and caverns?



  11. KSW on May 14, 2021 at 9:14 am

    If the shrooms popped up in the wake of tire tracks, wouldn’t there be a possibility that the spores came from the tires … the Earth’s first successful terraforming of Mars?



  12. anakephalaiosis on May 14, 2021 at 5:55 am

    [fairly on topic]

    Science fiction in the Bible Belt:

    1. Elohim-Yahweh is formally defined, as astronomical and agricultural year, and informally as Father Year.

    2. Original Christianity is Druid-Scythian Yoga, that implements Runic kingship, into the Zodiac tribe narrative.

    GREEN MAN 1

    When shape-shifting into tree,
    one uses twigs to see,
    to make waves
    with leaves,
    stirring green forest sea.



    • Peter on May 14, 2021 at 7:54 am

      THE SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSS by Mr. John Marco Allegro, who was selected by Ecole Biblique in the 1950’s to be part of a small group of academics to see and study actual fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls– before they were intercepted and censored by The Vatican. After reading the scrolls he went on to write the sacred mushroom book and was ostracized from any academic discussion thereafter.



      • anakephalaiosis on May 14, 2021 at 11:48 pm

        One uses psilocybin in mushrooms, to break seals in a hurry, and therefore it is a tool in spiritual warfare, when confronting epistemological paradoxes.

        Breaking seals in a hurry is dangerous, because the seals are protective shells around the ego, as the walls of the zoo, that keep the demons beneath the road.

        Druid triads, and yoking in yoga, are Venn-diagrams, that approach the paradoxes. Scythian Isaacs would have known the value of psilocybin, in the fight, against the Assyrian empire.

        Scythian yoga = martial art = doors of perception.



        • gord on May 17, 2021 at 8:26 am

          Beware when climbing Jack’s Beanstalk wearing Buzz Lightyear’s jetpack, lest you return with a Golden Goose Egg.



  13. DanaThomas on May 14, 2021 at 5:52 am

    On Asimov’s Trantor there was a flourishing mushroom industry….



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