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Pornography, Pizza, and the Manufacture of "Hidden History"

2/3/2016

32 Comments

 
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If you were starting to worry that the drama over #Swordgate would diminish once the sword was shown to be a modern creation, you will be relieved to know that we're apparently still moving full speed toward some kind of culminating train wreck. I have some real information to pass on about the Fake Hercules Swords, but this story jumps the line. Cue the music.

On Monday I wrote about a recent letter from Kevin Burns (executive producer of The Curse of Oak Island) to Frank Magazine. In the letter, Burns claims that the Nova Scotia sword was purchased in part to "discredit" J. Hutton Pulitzer. In my opinion, the alleged ploy seems to have worked: Pulitzer committed fully to the sword and still maintains it is an authentic Roman artifact despite several independent lines of evidence (e.g., metallurgical analysis, comparative analysis, etc.) that quite clearly show it is nothing of the sort.

Pulitzer's response to Burns is pretty epic as far as these sorts of things go. I recommend that you read it carefully for yourself. Here are some highlights:

Pornography and Pizza: Pulitzer alleges that Burns "pulled out all the stops" to convince Pulitzer to reveal his secret research on Oak Island, writing that Burns was

"[p]lying us with porn from his series “The Girls Next Door” and “Kendra” with DVS of the deleted flesh on flesh and fresh shower scenes. We feasted on pizza as Burns promised us our own series and huge profits, if we could just help him with Curse of Oak Island."​
A Plot to Deceive: Pulitzer alleges that Burns and the Laginas plotted to cover up the real story of the sword, implying (I think) that they also considered the sword to be authentic.  Pulitzer writes that
​
"They knew full well they had to deal with this or be exposed. They had over a year to devise a way to deal with this issue.
. . .  B
oth Rick and Marty Lagina knew there was history at stake and we talked about this numerous times."
​Forthcoming Proof: Pulitzer has promised to provide recordings of his conversations with Burns regarding the sword:​ 
"That back and forth dialog went on in emails and calls and some especially enlightening calls from Kevin Burns to me, where we specifically talked about the Sword, what he though of it, how the Lagina’s wanted him top pitch in helping them buy it and many other insightful AND RECORDED THINGS (yep, going to treat you to a very, very enlightening recording now the gates have been opened)."
The Suppression is Ongoing: Pulitzer alleges that Burns used his influence to squash Pulitzer's appearance on Coast To Coast AM, originally scheduled to air following last night's season finale of The Curse of Oak Island:
"So Mr. Burns, yes you have some power and you called George Noory of Coast to Coast AM and squashed our guest appearance for this evening. You have that kind of control when in fact Mr. Noory appears regularly on Ancient Aliens, and you have control over Rick and Marty and the Curse of Oak Island, but what you do not have control over is the truth about history and the truth will always win."
All this over a modern brass sword?

Well, no, not really.  Of course there's more to it than a simple dispute over interpretation of an object. To me, this is a struggle about the power to monetize fake stories about the past.  The only winners in that game are the people making the money -- nobody else gets anything of value out of it and, in fact, I feel the whole endeavor of manufacturing and feeding nonsense to the public has the potential to do a significant degree of harm. I'm not rooting for anyone in this fight.  As Jason Colavito wrote on Monday (and see this post from today) "this is more of a King Kong vs. Godzilla thing where you really hope they just take each other out and go away."

​Amen. 
32 Comments
Pablo
2/3/2016 07:42:53 am

I promised myself long ago that I would never follow telenovelas ever again; but this one is too damn good!

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Joe Scales
2/3/2016 07:43:04 am

Pullitzer/Philyaw should get his own TV show, but in a cartoon format on Adult Swim. "Treasure Farce!"

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Gina Torresso
2/3/2016 07:47:18 am

This is deep, this fight is not going to end well for a certain someone.

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Pablo
2/3/2016 07:55:21 am

I'm not 100% sure that "the truth will always win", but in this case the truth won and HP lost!!

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Jonathan Feinstein
2/3/2016 07:55:51 am

Actually the music that went through my head on hearing about this was the Muppet Show theme, but Crazy Town is good too.

Hmm, you know, giving Gonzo a reality show in which ancient aliens came down and dug the Money Pit so the Romans could leave clues for the Templars to bury the Ark of the Covenant next to Capt. Kidd's treasure might actually be worth watching...

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Eric
2/3/2016 08:13:53 am

Sorry, Brocules, but a hot shot producer who wants to pull out the stops would have sprung for a better dinner than pizza-
"We feasted on pizza as Burns promised us our own series and huge profits"
If you truly were important, Mr. Burns would have at least bought you for a decent steak, not takeout pizza. You are a bit player with a walk on role who gets fed scraps from the big boy's table.

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Jonathan Feinstein
2/3/2016 08:21:44 am

I too was amused that he described pizza and reality show out-takes as "Pulling out all the stops."

As you say anything less than a steak (and possibly a date with one of those reality stars) doesn't even start to come close, and I suspect that would be the starting inducement.

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Eric
2/3/2016 09:09:49 am

"Exellent"

http://www.listoid.com/image/139/list_2_139_20101209_152238_269.gif

cydnee
2/3/2016 10:35:35 am

JHP fell for the "Netflix and chill" line.

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Sharmelle
2/3/2016 01:05:39 pm

HE must be a cheap date if he didn't hold out for steak or seafood.

Jason Colavito link
2/3/2016 11:23:47 am

I got a gourmet red wine risotto from National Geographic Channel, but the American Heroes Channel only sprang for deli sandwiches.

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Andy White
2/3/2016 12:13:15 pm

I've never been wooed by anyone in television. I could probably be had for a box of donuts and some money for the vending machine.

Killbuck
2/3/2016 08:27:35 pm

But if its from AHC, it would be a Hero Sandwich!

If that happened to be for the Codes and Conspiracies series which looked critically at the AA hypothesis, et al, I might have bought THEM fancy meal as thanks for a job well done.

Killbuck
2/3/2016 08:28:07 pm

But if its from AHC, it would be a Hero Sandwich!

If that happened to be for the Codes and Conspiracies series which looked critically at the AA hypothesis, et al, I might have bought THEM fancy meal as thanks for a job well done.

Randal Taylor
2/3/2016 09:34:48 am

To be honest, if someone did that to me I'd be utterly pissed. If the Jovan didn't have an ego and want to control it all maybe we'd be watching him on the telly.

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Cleo
2/3/2016 10:14:21 am

It's exactly as I figured. I wrote earlier here, before it all played out on TV, that I suspected they were going to crucify his theory for all to see. That was based on comments that I had read alleging Prometheus was pissed that Pulitzer had leaked the plot of the show prior to his original appearance on the show. It turns out that a second front-running of the show plot wasn't that prudent by him. In my opinion he made his supposed Earth shattering news dump based on the dates of the published episode titles. Nobody forced him to make a fool of himself in the press. Had he waited he might have chosen a different path. I have a hard time believing that Prometheus was in on the timing of his press releases. But, if he has proof I will look at it!

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ghettohillbilly1
2/3/2016 10:21:31 am

pulling out the all the stops with pizza and porn...lol, its hollywood their pockets go deeper way deeper they just didnt wanna waste money or real food or entertainment and "gasp" a hollywood producer "tricked" him into being on the show? he really doesnt have much of a clue how things work in showbiz, funny how his father "sarge" is in the video, if I remember correctly one of the reasons he changed his name was he didnt like his father and wanted to distance himself from his past, i think the snow ball of lies has finally broken free from his grasp and is rolling away

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Bob Jase
2/3/2016 11:24:34 am

"a hollywood producer "tricked" him"

I hear there's a whole category of porn based on that idea.

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Cort Lindahl
2/3/2016 10:42:33 am

Anonymous fringe guy here. LOL. Hidden history is all about what is now available and easy to find on the internet. This has good and bad aspects to it as we see here. If you spend some effort researching the history of Nova Scotia you will see an obvious historical rationale as to why the Oak Island Treasure LEGEND was created in the first place. And yes there are several eye opening and well recorded schemes of history there that will blow your mind.
Recently we have seen several examples of material culture being presented as evidence of this or that in N. America. No one is ever going to take any material claims seriously unless the finds are documented in an ordered and professional manner. Things are being found right now in Jamestown that are spectacular and do reveal a "hidden history" w/ real material evidence. Coincidentally many people are watching a tv show where nothing is being found. All of the truth of the legends and real persona of people like Sir Francis Bacon are being found in Jamestown while we all debate the legitimacy of a sword found by people we don't even know at a place where folklore and mythology rule the day. There is too much crazy and unexplained stuff in the historical record for us all to obsess or something like Oak Island IMO. As former dig bum turned "fringe guy" I can say for sure there is no conspiracy in the academic community to obscure or hide anything. That is a fairy tale I hear every time some one can't use a faulty piece of evidence to bolster their claims. Also everyone ignores how the movie "Bloodline" was ruined by one person using real biblical era artifacts that had been purchased on the antiquities marked that scammed an entire production company including a well respected Israeli archaeologist.......

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Bob Jase
2/3/2016 11:22:27 am

May I point out that the original japanese version of King Kong vs Godzilla ti actually a satire on contemporary economics and avertising, social commentary rather than horror.

And before JHP says it, no, there were not two different ending for the movie, that's a myth.

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Bobby B.
2/3/2016 02:15:14 pm

This Pulitzer war is getting close to warranting it's own Encyclopedia Dramatica entry.

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L. Brooks
2/3/2016 03:24:19 pm

Sooner or later the lawyers are going to get involved and then the sparks will fly!!

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cydnee
2/3/2016 08:34:19 pm

JHP may have put his Hollywood experience to good use to scam... er... partner with a mark... er... entrepreneur:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160107006216/en/FEVR-Tech-Venture-ESPN-Founder-Bill-Rasmussen

You have to check out their "website":

http://fevrtech.org/



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Killbuck
2/3/2016 09:32:02 pm

Ok, FEVR Tech. There is already another company called FVR TECH, unrelated. From the pitch on the link above, you'd think JHP with his umpteen patents used by billions and billions of devices (apologies there to the memory of Carl Sagan), why isn't JHP a multi millionare by now? He promotes himself as "The Next Bill Gates." Surely a person of such laurels as "innovation leader" must certainly have reaped significant financial reward by now. So why then would he be drawn by comparative chump change for an alleged TV series?

I am baffled by whatever motivations moves him apart from fame and fortune, and find no element of authenticity remotely large enough to hang a hat on.

Reply
Anon
2/4/2016 07:28:09 am

Yeah I think Pulitzer is being disingenuous when he talks about the impact of his patents, as well as the claim that "his patent" is being used in billions of mobile devices...

I think the latter claim is based on the ubiquity of QR scanners today. I haven't followed the paper trail enough to say one way or the other, but for this to be true, Hutton would have to have licensed his CueCat scanner technology out to all the companies using proprietary implementation of similar scanner tech, lest they be in breach of copyright law. But I don't think that's the case. Because if it were, I think he'd be too rich to care about all this treasure hunting stuff, because he'd be receiving millions of dollars in patent licensing fees.

I think what it boils down to is him claiming that he pretty much "invented" scanning tech as employed in this way with the CueCat, and so his patent is VIRTUALLY responsible for all the later-generation stuff like QR.

But the problem with that is that there were a ton of similar patents that existed before his. In fact, when Hutton launched his CueCat tech, HE actually had to pay off a company called NeoMedia for licensing rights because of patents THAT company owned (if I'm interpreting the old docs I've read online correctly).

And finally, he talks about how many patents he has applied for and how far-reaching they are in terms of "forward citation," but I wasn't able to find any info about how many of his hundreds of patents were actually ISSUED by the U.S. Patent Office. Anyone can apply for a patent, and although I don't understand the system as much as I'd like to, it seems like the majority of patents in the database today are just that; applications, as opposed to issued patents.

If someone knows this field better, please chime in!

Jonathan Feinstein
2/4/2016 02:29:49 am

"“FEVR Tech combines my patent strategies and methods with Bill’s extensive knowledge of sports "

His patent strategy is to submit anything that pops into his head regardless of merit.. When I went looking I found a long list of patents applied for but not actually granted. The CueCat did actually get patented in 2008, ten years after the patent was applied for and long after it was a dead technology. Most of his other patents (That I could find) were dropped or left in limbo. If the patent is not granted it is not a patent,

I must say I am sorry that Bill fell for this guy's blarney though. The article is pure BS and says less than a political candidate and the site is a WordPress blog page in disguise and also says nothing. The public relations guy who wrote the article seems to be a kindred spirit to Pulitzer, though. His site lists more former clients than current ones.

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Jonathan Feinstein
2/4/2016 07:28:56 am

I took a deeper look into this. Now I'm not even convinced it is real. The only mentions of FEVR Tech are the same PR blurb that was released absolutely everywhere about a month ago. The PR man seems proud of the clients he no longer has (is that normal? Maybe... I don't know), but his release really says nothing about the company or what sort of technology is involved.

The closest I could come to a revelation is a vague description that would allow sports fans to "vote" using some sort of "drop-in" that "adds no clutter." Uh huh!

So with no real description of what it will be, it sounds like the same sort of spyware that the CueCat software was riddled with only this time they want you to infect yourself without the cute kitty-shaped souvenir to console yourself with after managing to clean/resurrect your computer. At least the CueCat could be hacked and turned into a semi-useful device.
Well, I used to be an archaeology grad student, I write fantasy and SF novels, but my day-job is in IT. Why do I think I'll be making money off this when clients suddenly find their computers no longer work as well as they once did?

Only Me
2/4/2016 05:04:18 am

Here's a question: if Burns had his conversations recorded without his knowledge or consent, wouldn't that put the History Histrionic Pulitzer in hot water?

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Joe Scales
2/4/2016 08:07:31 am

Depends on the jurisdiction. At least a few years back, you could record conversations secretly in New York and Nevada. Remember the show Prank Yankers? Where they would prank call folks and reenact the scene using puppets? I'm pretty sure all that was done in Vegas.

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Mike Jones
2/5/2016 07:30:44 am

This is not really relevant to, well anything really, but your post reminded me of a conversation on "The Daily Show" between Bill O'Reilly and Jon Stewart. Stewart was chastising O'Reilly for his lack of journalistic integrity and O'Reilly accused Stewart of not being a real journalist. Stewart responded [I'm paraphrasing] "You're on a news show. My lead-in is puppets making crank phone calls!

Mike Morgan
2/6/2016 11:19:57 pm

The "Hollywood Demo" video in the link in the main blog "Pulitzers response to Burns" is no longer available due to Prometheus claiming copyright infringement.

"Video unavailableVimeo has removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Prometheus Entertainment claiming that this material is infringing: The Investigating History Team and Origins StoryRemoved on Friday, February 5, 2016 At 9:33 AMA public record of this claim is available at: http://lumendatabase.org/notices/11802005"

Payback is a bitch, huh, Hutton?

Reply
Richard P.
4/27/2016 08:41:17 am

Dr. White,

Thank you for exposing the fraud that is Jeffrey Jovan Philyaw a.k.a. J. Hutton Pulitzer. A quick Google search of this person was really eye-opening, especially how he has bilked massive corporations such as Coca-Cola and Radio Shack out of tens of millions of dollars. As much as I would love an answer to the mystery of Oak Island, I'd rather be kept in the dark on the truth if Mr. Philyaw continues to appear on the show. It's regrettable that he has even appeared on the show and was listened to by the team and the producers. I, for one, will be highly skeptical of anything else (TV shows, articles, etc.) that consults with the "historical" equivalent of Vince from Shamwow. Please keep up the critical inquiry as Snake Oil Salesmen like Jeffery Jovan Philyaw only serve to damage the real work that legitimate archaeologists such as yourself are doing. Thank you.

Reply



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