In the land of where civilization began again
after the catastrophical global flood that had destroyed the old world leaving only Noah
and his family that had survived in an Ark and landed on the mountains of Ararat. From
the writings of Marco Polo about the ark it is written: "In the central part of
Armenia stands an exceedingly large mountain, upon which, it is said the ark of Noah rested and for this reason it is termed the mountain of
the ark." Is the ark still on top of the mountain? Or has it been destroyed by the elements in
the process of time? There have been a number of expeditions over the years to Mount Ararat and
others have claimed to have seen it still there. Dr Carl Baugh, the co-director of two
of the expeditions to Mount Ararat has agreed to an interview to discuss
the findings of the expeditions. It's 1989 when Dr. Don Shockey contacted
me. Dr. Don Shockey had just returned from the surveillance of Mount Ararat and he was
planning a full-scale expedition and wanted me to be co-director with him. So we ended up
as co-director(s). I raised the funds and we had the Ararat eight; symbolic of the
original eight people on the ark. And we flew, Don Shockey, Robert Summers and I flew to Turkey
to make special arrangements and get the permit to fly the following year. To have attempted to
fly without a permit would have been suicide. To have attempted to climb Mount Ararat without a
permit would have been suicide. So we went in 1989 for the special arrangements which
took weeks to carry out. Then in 1990, when we did arrive, we had to with the
entire team of eight, we had to make special arrangements with a helicopter
company. One of our supporters who had promised financial support had wanted us to fly a Sikorsky.
A Sikorsky would have been a much better plane under all the conditions weather
conditions, terrain conditions, potential landing conditions. But the nearest
Sikorsky was in Switzerland and we had a window in our permit, it would not have been possible to get
it there, when we first tried to get a Sikorsky. So we negotiated with the local helicopter
company in Ankara and we were able to lease a Russian-built helicopter. And Sikorsky
was not Russian built. Sikorsky he would not have been permitted by the Russians to
fly. We had to have a helicopter that was permitted by the Russians and flown by
the Russians. So the helicopter company in Ankara made special arrangements and the MI-8
Russian-built, helicopter 29th place helicopter, was leased by them to us. And
the pilot, and to a co-pilot, and another assistant were involved (included).
The price was $90,000. And that was 1989, and my wife had to raise that amount of money.
It was not in our budget originally. We were considering more like $20,000 and the sponsor
pulled out, so my wife had to raise the money. And because of those arrangements, we were
able to fly and it was relatively successful. We were very fortunate in the selection of
individuals involved in the program. Dr. Walter T Brown was selected because of his expertise,
military background and because of his research on Ararat. We had a businessman (Fahrettin
Kolan) specifically selected and he had climbed around many many times. And was able
to verify some of the things that we saw as being ice and snow covered, he had seen them
when they were not ice and snow covered. But a very special member of the team was Texas,
Glen Rose, Texas, Artist Robert Summers. Bob Summers sculpted the nine and a half foot John
Wayne, the nine and a half foot, Byron Nelson, the nine and a half foot Tom Landry. Sculpted the
largest bronze monument in the world: "The Trail Drive" in Downtown Dallas. Bob has a special
ability to interpret activities and artifacts in a scene, and we needed his expertise. We had
to fly the Russian-built helicopter very rapidly. We were not able to hover. We were going to
have to look at the details of our photography after the fact, and bob was selected because
he has a genius approach at observing details that have to do with the landscape and artifacts.
So he was able to point out some things that we didn't see at all and it turned out that he was
one of the most valuable members of the team. Getting permission to fly Mount Ararat is not
an easy task and it took negotiation with the Emissary to (Turkish) President Özal, to get the
permission for us to use a Russian-built MI-8 helicopter. It had to be Russian built and it had
to be flown by a Russian pilot; his name was Yuri. All this is simply because the Russians have a
base a military base and they claimed the airspace from the north over Mount Ararat. And we were of
course, going to be flying in that airspace. Not over Russia (the Soviet Union) itself, but they
have a military and satellite and launch station just over the border. But Yuri had flown Brezhnev
and Gorbachev, and as we began to fly he had to patch to them, to let them know that we were not
aiming even our cameras in their direction at all. He said don't shoot! Don't
shoot! We're not filming you. We're looking for a boat and they said, how do
we know you're who you claim to be? He said patch me into the Kremlin. So they patched him into
the Kremlin and he chatted for a few minutes, it was Yuri who had flown Brezhnev and Gorbachev.
They visited for a while and then disconnected, so we were able to perform 11 separate helicopter
sortie expeditions around Mount Ararat. Basically, because of his connection with the Kremlin
and his assurance constantly that we were not filming them. However, their guns were aimed
directly at us throughout the entire series of episodes. We had difficulty after a few of the
flights, because the local Kurds were assembling. They felt that they owned the mountain, they felt
that they owned the artifact on the mountain and we had no right to be there. So, it took a couple
of days of negotiation and then we had to assure them that we were flying out. But we were able to
perform 11 separate helicopter sortie expeditions. Being co-director, administration has its
own responsibilities and so, you have to work with all of the local authorities. You
have to make sure that everything is in order. But Yuri and Walter Brown since
Walter Brown spoke some Russian, PhD having to do with a lot of military artifacts,
so they were able to exchange communication. And Bob's very knowledgeable, Robert Summers is very
knowledgeable in that area as well. So the three of them got together and determined that even if
I couldn't get permission to land and I was not able to get permission for us to land the craft on
Ararat. It was not designed or built to even fly at 17,000. It was designed to fly at 10,000,
even though we did fly at 17,000. But they, I practiced some repelling, Walter Brown
was good at repelling, Bob Summers was very good at repelling, and they had determined that
worst case scenario, even if i couldn't if, as co-directors Don Shockey and I were not able
to get permission for us to land the craft, they were going to repel and and accomplish
the mission anyway. Now of course, that would have been an extremely risky thing
to do because of the ice and snow, the terrain. You can step off a cliff and it's 300 feet to the
bottom. But they were behind my back my friends and they are my friends, they were planning worst
case scenario. But we they never got to pull that off and I know these men they probably could have
and would have pulled it off. And this is the main mountain, the Greater Ararat. The scripture
says, the ark landed in the mountains of Ararat. So we have the armitage glaciers, here that
have been identified for a century and a half, and we, Bob Summers and I discussed with you
the terrible volcanic eruption that occurred in 1843. It blew out one-sixth of the mountain,
literally one-sixth of the mountain was blown out. And it blew huge boulders as far away as 20
miles and I was in this area and personally saw some of those boulders half as big as boxcars.
Here is our site. This is what we call the Shockey Site because he was
able to obtain this information. And when you look very closely there is a
structure. Our satellites interpreted this structure as being organic, meaning wood. There's
a structure barge-like structure, the end of the barge-like structure is here. You see this icicle
hanging off, there's actually a series of steps running through here and the planking in
this direction. And 800 feet below it, we have an area of debris of material that had
fallen out of it and this is the debris field. I personally saw a huge beam of
laminated wood, that beam right there, as we flew Mount Ararat. And here are two broken
structures, the water reservoirs, here is a ramp inside. And for that reason, we knew to build the
ramps, we knew how to build the water reservoirs. Ed Davis, who is now deceased, had performed a
special favor for the people of the area. So Abbas Abbas whose family was commissioned to protect the
ark and to actually kill anybody who got close, I mean it's it's very cut throat over there, took
him up to see the ark. He saw this, he saw three layers, he saw structural inter-lamination. On
that particular trip they were not able to get across that ravine, due to the rain and the snow
and the weather. So it got up to waist high, so they had to go down in peril of their lives.
But he could see the other end that has now slid over to the gorge over here. But he was able
to see how this structure, was laminated, had been originally laminated to that structure even
though it had turned in the opposite direction. The ark now being in two pieces, is likely from
volcanic eruptions. Especially the one in 1843. Here we have at the Creation Evidence Museum in
Glen Rose, Texas, a replica of the ark, based on the book of Genesis and the observations
observed in the first expedition. I'll never forget leaving Doğubeyazıt
at the foot of Ararat. Our interpreter/attorney, who accompanied us with at
every step to assure our safety, informed us that the locals had reassembled and were going to shoot
us out of the air. So we had to leave Doğubeyazıt. Had to leave in a very obvious manner. Now,
if you can imagine, there I was co-director of the project, the raiser of the funding
for the project and I get motion sick, so Yuri said I know how we can take care of
this and it'll be obvious that we're leaving. So we all got our gear got in the helicopter,
the morning we were to fly back to Ankara, and he flew directly over and around
Doğubeyazıt. Doing dipsy-doodles, doing figure eights. It was very obvious and people
as we were looking down from the air, people came out of their homes because of the noise,
noise factor. They ran out into their yards, people by the hundreds were seeing
this helicopter doing dipsy-doodles, doing figure eights, all over the place
and then heading completely out of sight. So I'm sure they still talk about the drunk crazy
pilot of a Russian-built helicopter losing control of his craft over Doğubeyazıt. But he didn't
lose control at all, it was part of the plan. Later went back with the permission of
the Turkish government. In so doing, it required the Turkish military to protect us
and they did. There were various stations where during our zone of 72 hours of permission,
they they watched us every moment, they protected us from the local inhabitants
who didn't want us on the mountain, at all. But weather, plus health factors, aborted the
program before we could assault the area, where we had information, good information, that at least
one component of the ark was probably in place. However, we were not able to physically
approach the area, so therefore no matter what our surveillance from the air
indicates, without having access the site, without having procured some direct artifact
that could be studied. Could be analyzed and could be verified, we cannot claim to
have found any indication of Noah's ark, no matter what our surveillance indicated.
But we were able to gain a lot of information and to our own satisfaction, the
program was relatively successful. Though no artifact has been examined from
Noah's ark, we have always known where it is at. Countless people have seen it throughout
the ages. in ancient times the Akkadians, Sumerians and Assyrians called Mount Ararat,
"the mountain of the gods" because they believed, not only did their gods live there, but it
was from whence their civilization had begun. Today the Kurds protect the ark, considering
it holy. But the ship that saved some can no longer save anyone. When Jesus closed the door
of the ark, it was a sign to what he would say of himself in the future. I am the door: by me
if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Behold, Jesus stands at the door; if any man hears him
and lets him into his heart, he shall be saved. This is what is important, not a ship on a
mountain only confirming what we've always known.
