There are symbols in northern New Mexico that mark a Church of Scientology vault built in a mountainside. The facility contains founder L. Ron Hubbard's writings etched into stainless steel tablets that are stored in titanium capsules. The Church of Scientology apparently asked Albuquerque TV station KRQE not to air its report last week about the markings in the desert. From the Washington Post:
The church offered a tour of the underground facility if KRQE would kill the piece, the station said in its newscast. Scientology also called KRQE's owner, Emmis Communications, and "sought the help of a powerful New Mexican lawmaker" to lobby against airing the piece, the station reported on its Web site…
What do the markings mean? For starters, the interlocking circles and diamonds match the logo of the Church of Spiritual Technology, which had the vault constructed in a mesa in the late 1980s. The $2.5 million construction job was done by Denman and Associates of Santa Fe, but company Vice President Sally Butler said of the circles, "If there is anything like that out there, it had nothing to do with us."
Perhaps the signs are just a proud expression of the Scientology brand. But there are other, more intriguing theories.
Former Scientologists familiar with Hubbard's teachings on reincarnation say the symbol marks a "return point" so loyal staff members know where they can find the founder's works when they travel here in the future from other places in the universe.
Link to Washington Post article, Link to .wmv of a KRQE follow-up story
UPDATE: BB reader Tim Pozar points us to the Google Satellite Maps image of the symbols. Link
UPDATE: And from Matt Pierce, a link to an even more striking image from Terraserver. Link
