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enough to keep him sea rch ing. " If
you had the experiences I've had
with a theists, agnostics, infide ls,
evolutionists, young kids who have
given up their faith, even sorne of
these church people who just don ' t
believe the first ll books of the
Bible, then you know why I'm in it,"
he told
The P/ain Truth.
" Just to see
them change their whole atti tude -
because a tangible object could
prove the Bible's story - would
make it worthwhile forme."
Says 29-year-old scientist John
Morris of the Institute for Crea tion–
Research: "lts discovery would have
a tremendous impact in the scien–
tific rea lm to disprove many theo–
ries by provi ng the catastrophe of a
ftood."
" It would have profound implica–
tions on a lot of things," envisions
John Bradley, Jr. , president of the
Scientific Exploration and Archae–
olog ical Research Foundation
(SEARCH).
" In
education, politi–
cally, sociologically ... it would be
havoc ifyou really think it out."
If they fiad it.
"There have been 37 expeditions
since 1961 , and I'm familiar with
practically all the ex peditioners,"
says the 71-year-old Cummings. " I
don't know any one of them who
has been successful. "
Turkish Objections
In fact, the only success severa! Ark
hunters have had has been in con-
HAND TOOLED WOOD,
alleged/y
found on Mt. Ararat by Fernand
Navarra,
is
partially fossi/ized and
appears to be very old.
24
sistency of arrests. Too oft en groups
with boundless zeal a nd a paucity of
foresight charge boldly up Ara rat's
face without acquiring the appro–
priate government permission.
Turkey's uneasiness with a moun–
ta in full of adventure rs is under–
standable considering that Ararat is
only a short distance from the So–
viet
U
nion's border. " I t's a very sen–
si
ti
ve military zone," says Morris.
"It would be like a bunch of Turks
coming to the United States and
messing around
in
Fort Knox with–
out asking the government. You just
don't do it."
Severa! would-be ARKeologists
from France and Germany were ar–
rested last year for barging up Ara–
rat without a perm it, and one
American group of zea lots was
thrown in j ail for the fifth con–
secutive year. "] told them not to go
because it was October, they wou ld
run in to snow, and they didn't have
a permit," Cummings remembers.
"It
took them six days to cover five
miles in snow up to their knees and
sometimes their hips. One of their
crew wen
t
stark crazy and had to be
put in ao asylum. When they got off
the mountain, they were arrested,
and it took high offi cials of the
United States and Turkish govern–
ments to get them out
Qf
jail. It gives
the whole endeavor a bad name. "
Such tlagrant disregard for Turk–
ish concerns has severely hampered
elforts to ga in permits by expedí-
A STRANGE OBJECT
(above) on Mt.
Ararat
is
thought by
sorne
to be
related to Noah
's
Ark. Below, map
shows
where the search
is
focused.
tioners who possess a uthentic scien–
tific and archaeological intent.
Hollywood film prod ucer Bart
LaRue, perturbed by Turkey's un–
willingness to grant permits, fil med a
1974 documentary on bis unau tho–
rized sea rch, including scenes of him
bribing Turkish officials to gai n ac–
cess to the mountain.
"1
talked with
LaRue a bout it," says Morris. "The
reason he did it was to try and force
the Turks to take a better view ofthe
search, to get world opinion against
them. Well, the Turks don' t operate
that way. You kick them in the face,
a nd they'll kick you back. Certainly
if
he were to go back there, he would be
thro~n
in jail irnmediately. I don't
The
PLAIN TRUTH October 1976