The following is the foreword I wrote for the first of multiple volumes of the journals of Earl Henry Sinclair and the journals of the next fourteen generations of Sinclair's (5) and Wemyss/Weems (10) clans. The story that unfolds is nothing short of incredible:
"The personal journal entries you are about to read are the
first of several installments that are either the greatest story ever told, or
the greatest hoax ever sold. Very strong words indeed, but in this particular
case they are more than appropriate. When first contacted about the journals of
Earl Henry Sinclair and his descendants, I scoffed and deleted the emails. The
third attempt included photos of one of the journal pages, and one of a
lambskin map - they got my attention. The email included Diana Muir’s phone
number and I gave her a call. We quickly hit it off and after hearing about
what she claimed to have, I invited her to Minnesota so I could introduce her
to several friends; including several Freemasons to try and vet her story.
After the meeting, Diana shared the journal entries with me and
after reading them I was convinced of one thing; if there was even one chance
in a hundred that they were authentic, they had to be vetted thoroughly and
carefully, for they were potentially far too historically important not to.
Over the course of the next two-plus years, Masonic scholar and past Grand Master
of Masons of Minnesota, Terry Tilton, and I dove
into vetting the journals with a vengeance. It quickly became apparent that if this were a
hoax, it was a masterstroke of deviant genius that had to have involved several
individuals with a vast array of knowledge in various disciplines to pull off.
If authentic, the history these documents contain is
explosive and sheds important new light on many different aspects of history,
as well as the individuals named in them over the course of just over four
centuries (1353 to 1770). This first of three personal journal books - reportedly
written by Earl Henry Sinclair - reveals many previously unknown details about
his life and activities from the time he was eight years old until he was
fifty-one in 1395. Some of the most interesting and important aspects of the
entries in this volume include the following:
The Scottish Templars led by the Sinclair’s traveled to the
“Western Lands” numerous times including Earl Henry’s father, William Sinclair
II, who made the trip a total of seven times himself. Impossible to comprehend
at first glance, the idea of frequent trips to North America becomes all the
more plausible given the “Cremona Document” tells of Templar voyages coming to
North America as early as 1179. It seems
a hoaxer would be more conservative in the number of trips knowing the context
of currently accepted beliefs of historians that the Templars no longer existed
in the mid to late Fourteenth Century, let alone ever made it to America. The fallacy here was the idea of no
pre-Columbian European contact has no factual supporting evidence and numerous
documents, artifacts, and sites found in North America directly refute this
erroneous narrative.
The young Earl Henry made numerous mentions of both old and
new religious holidays and made numerous mentions of the ‘Great Goddess” who
was central to his clan’s spiritual beliefs. These entries are also consistent
with my own research into the true ideology of the Templars. The importance of
the Goddess to Templars is also supported by numerous mentions within the
Cremona Document. Their veneration of the Goddess lies at the heart of the
success of the Templars secret medieval activities in North America - because
they shared a similar ideology as the indigenous people they constantly
interacted with and eventually assimilated with. Only a deeply knowledgeable
person on a team of hoaxers could insert these aspects into the entries in such
convincing fashion. Beyond myself and very few others, we know of no others who
understand the complicated Goddess ideology of the Templar leadership.
Here is where one the most important realizations
of this journal begins to emerge. In
multiple entries between 1373 and 1388, Earl Henry refers to what can only be a
fugitive faction of medieval Knights Templar.
The “Templari” being sheltered in the Wemyss Caves are clearly supported
by Earl Henry, the “Brethren”, and other important Scottish families most
likely for their similar ideological beliefs and their service to King Robert
the Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314. These
entries suggest, along with Earl Henry’s mention of Hiram Abiff, the apparent evolution
of the strict asceticism and celibacy of medieval Templarism into an early version
of speculative Freemasonic ideals. The
surviving Templars who had escaped to Scotland after 1307 were protected by the
ruling families were no longer celibate after being outlawed by the Roman Catholic
Church and monarchies in England and France.
Earl Henry and the Craft’s steadfast support of the “Templari” begs the
question was this when and where the rites and rituals of medieval Templarism
merged into speculative Freemasonry actively present in Scotland in the
Fourteenth Century. If so, this is a
huge revelation and deserves to be researched in much greater depth for its
potential impact on modern day Freemasonry is profound.
The revelations of Earl Henry’s initiation into Freemasonry
are detailed to the point that only someone who had experienced initiation into
Templar rituals themselves could have written them, if this was a hoax. While
not impossible, the likelihood a Freemason was involved in such a hoax is
extremely remote given this type of nefarious activity goes against Masonic
teachings. If authentic, these entries have enormous historical ramifications
for Freemasonry that will be studied for many years to come.
Arguably one of the most important aspects of the later
journal entries involves Earl Henry meeting the Italian navigators Nicolo and
Antonio Zeno. One of the most controversial documents known from this period is
called the “Zeno Narrative.” A descendant in the family reportedly restored letters
that were alleged to have been written by Antonio Zeno in the Fourteenth
Century after having been torn up by the family member as a child. The document
reports numerous factual events, most of which are consistent with the
information provided by Earl Henry upon meeting them. One important fact in the
journals that differs from restored Zeno documents (which state that Nicolo and
Antonio were brothers) is that according to Earl Henry, they were father and
son.
For me personally, the most important entries by far deal
with the “thirty men” that we learn came to the Western Lands to “…establish a
settlement” in the spring of 1358. It
can only be referring to the party that carved the Kensington Rune Stone in
1362. The implications of the Kensington party entries are huge and appear to
confirm nearly all the claims about the artifact I have made over the past
eighteen years. While admittingly hopeful that the journals are authentic, due
in no small part to these specific entries, it is also these entries that give
me the most pause. They almost feel like they were written as a trap. On the
other hand, would a hoaxer so blatantly pander to a known proponent like me by
suggesting the Kensington inscription carver’s name? My collective research has
proven the artifact authentic which means somebody connected to the Templars
created it and the story that unfolds in these journals fits perfectly with
what we already know.
I would remiss if I didn’t talk about my experiences with
Diana over the past two and half years. While I am immensely frustrated with
her decision to throw the original journals away, which were most likely copies
of the originals, along with the lambskin map at a point of personal crisis,
there is no mistaking she has done a phenomenal job of translating the Latin
(and Old English in later journals) into modern English. She admits to likely
making a few errors which would be suspicious if she hadn’t, but it appears she
has done a masterful job of putting the entries of multiple individuals into
readable modern text. Exactly how good of a job might never be fully known.
However, three pages do survive from the years 1354, 1663, and 1731. Future
testing of those pages should yield more information about Diana’s work and
what these surviving pages really are.
I have also traveled to Tennessee to vet Diana’s story about
where and how she came into possession of the journals. The archival building
where she said she got them does exist and contains valuable information about
the people who lived in that area at the time of, and after, the Revolutionary
War and about the individuals who wrote the last six journals to be published
in the future. So far, everything Terry Tilton, Diana Muir, and I have been
able to vet has proven to be true and correct. However, many of the over 300
individuals mentioned by name in the journals, whether they were Templar
knights, crew members, or Freemasons, have been impossible to determine. In
fact, our inability to find any record of many of the individuals is exactly
what should have happened. Even for Freemasons like Terry and I, who are
allowed access to certain Masonic records non-Masons cannot, we were still not
able to find confirming documents for many of the names listed. This begs the
question of how and why a forger would make up so many names of people known to
exist and others we can find no record of. That we still have many questions
about these individuals actually supports authenticity of the documents. If all
the names could be readily found by us, they could also be found by a forger.
Details about this own research into our investigation of the journals will be
presented in the future.
I invite the reader to decide for themselves if these
captivating entries represent what amounts to the first installment of one of
the greatest stories in the history of the world, or the most complex and
secretive work of deception ever assembled. Whatever the eventual outcome,
these works are nothing less than sheer brilliance."
For those people interested in a signed copy at half the publisher's price you can order
directly from the author at http://dianamuir.blogspot.com/
