George Jammal confessed to being a hoaxer on October 23 at the Freedom From Religion Found

   George Jammal confessed to being a hoaxer on October 23 at the Freedom
From Religion Foundation conference in Huntsville, Alabama.  But he was
almost certainly not the only hoaxer on the program.  There is very strong
evidence (including testimony from members of his expedition) that Fernand
Navarra was a hoaxer who bought wood from Kurds and carted it up the mountain
before making his "discovery."  (The wood, by the way, dates from the 6th
to 8th centuries.)  Ed Behling is also probably a hoaxer, as probably is
Ed Davis.  (Behling has refused to talk about his claims since the mid-1980's;
what was shown on the program was an interview from around 1980.  His account
has numerous inconsistencies, he is known as a sincere Christian who
embellishes for effect, and his refusal to talk about his story came about
after he was questioned about inconsistencies by Ark researchers.  Davis' story
has changed significantly since he first told it, and based on his initial
story it is highly unlikely that he has ever been on Ararat.  He claimed that
while he was stationed in Hamadan, Iran, he saw a snow-capped mountain which
locals said was where the Ark landed, and they took him to it one day, which
took half a day to get to.  Hamadan is 400 miles from Ararat, but there is
another mountain 60 miles west of Hamadan which is believed by locals to be the
landing spot of the Ark.  Many other details of Davis' story are consistent
with his visiting this mountain and NOT consistent with his visiting Ararat.
For example, he originally said the natives who took him up the mountain were
Lourds rather than Kurds.  (He has since changed his story.)  His description
of the geography of the mountain (containing many springs) is not consistent
with Ararat, but is consistent with this other mountain.)

   Finally, my article will have some interesting details about Dave Balsiger's
past involvement with other hoaxes.  (Balsiger is Sun's "Chief Research
Officer" and scripted "The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark" and "Ancient
Secrets of the Bible I & II.")

OK, not so finally--I also want to point out that an examination of Balsiger
and Charles Sellier's 1976 book, _In Search of Noah's Ark_, shows that in many
cases they knew about additional evidence which undercuts many of the claims
made in their program, but did not present it to the viewers.  (Including the
radiocarbon dating results for Navarra's wood, the fact that the alleged _Stars
& Stripes_ article about Noah's Ark has never been found despite extensive
search, that Navarra claimed to find the Ark in a place different from where
the recent program made it appear he did, etc.)

I think the case that Balsiger is a liar is pretty strong.

Jim Lippard              Lippard@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU
Dept. of Philosophy      Lippard@ARIZVMS.BITNET
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721