奶油小生艾瑞克

Date: 14/09/2019

Note

a gift from the ancient world with healing ability

red mercury

the shinning liquid picture on Facebook

liquid red mercury

ancient antiquity

archaeologist

mystery gift

princess from Arab to Egypt

Her mother is in a coma for a long time

He tries to use all the way to save her mother

there’s no liquid mercury, in fact

magical ancient substances

giant monument from Egypt pyramids

be fooled in the Internet

cause a lot of damage to pyramids

produced by vampire bites

graphic blood in a video which has no reflection at all

red mercury could also be used to seek out gold

buy red mercury to become rich

synabar is mercury salfy in archaeological research

is something for pigments

synabar is very toxic and if you buy is could receive a nasty result

investigating red mercury

also because it could be used to create nuclear weapons

Soviet Union

red mercury is a code word that represents a kind of substances used in making nuclear bomb

NCND from government

is also a kind of way invented by the US in order to attract terrorist

deadly material used in the Hollywood movie

computer game also use it as a bomb material

99.999999% pure in social media

Facebook will forbidden those frauds, also in Twitter and Youtube

Don’t try to buy it, it’s a trap

Transcript

Some people believe it is a gift from the ancient world, a mystical substance with magical healing powers. Others claim that it could bring about nuclear apocalypse.
It’s being offered for sale across social media and the internet. tiny amounts sometimes cost thousands of dollars. But there’s one catch. This substance doesn’t actually exist.
This is BBC trending the podcast that takes an investigative look at the world of social media. I’m Michael entering the bizarre substance that I’m talking about. It’s called Red mercury. I’m joined by Sarah miles, who’s been delving into this very strange story.

Hi, Mike.

So Sarah, I think most of us are probably familiar with plain old ordinary Mercury, the silver kind, the stuff that’s in old style thermometers and the periodic table.

That’s right.

But that’s not what we’re talking about here. Is it?
No, Mike, it’s not. It’s something we became aware of a few weeks ago during research for a story about, remember the ancient artifacts being sold on Facebook groups,

of course. And by the way, that’s still available to download is a BBC trending podcast.

That’s right. So we were looking at the Antiquities being allegedly traded on Facebook groups, when we came across something called Red Mercury, and it’s been sold in the same circles. So just take a look at this Facebook page.

So there’s a photo of a close up of a drop of a shiny red liquid on a plate. The page says it’s for sale, and then it has 99.9999%. Purity is very, very, very clear. Now there are contact details for anybody who wants to get in touch with the seller.

Yeah, so what you’re saying that is claimed to be liquid red mercury. And it’s a substance which is very different things depending on who you talk to. When we first started on Facebook, you can also find advertise on other social media sites and a bunch of websites.

Now, I’m already intrigued, but you must explain what’s the connection between red mercury and ancient antiquities.

Okay, so let’s hear from Lisa when she’s an associate professor and head of the anthropology department at Macquarie University in Sydney. She has an interesting story about how she first came across the phenomenon that is red mercury.

Back when I was doing my PhD. My research was on tourism. And I was comparing Western and Arab tourism in Egypt. I was based at the Giza pyramids and the offices of the archaeologists who work there. And so I would go there three days a week, and I would just help out.

So one day, Lisa was working in the office, one of the senior archaeologists, doctors that way, how was came in and said, Lisa, you’re gonna have to go into another room, because I’m receiving a VIP visitor from the Gulf,
as he would be. Lisa was curious about who this mystery guest might be.

So I’m there with the archaeologist. And we see this guy coming up the path to the offices, and we all cluster around the window to watch him and he was a prince, I think, from Saudi Arabia, and he’s, you know, he’s beautifully dressed and these long flowing robes, and he looks like super dignified, and he goes into the office, and we’re all sitting there wondering, like, what is this all about? We’re so intrigued. And the reason for his visit wasn’t exactly typical. Later on, I find out that what he was there for is because his mother was very sick. She, she was in a coma, she’d been in a coma for a long time. And this man had been, you know, spending all of his energies and money trying to find something that would save his mother that would cure her right. And so he exhausts all of the possibilities of medical science. And so he turns to a chef in Saudi Arabia, faith healer, who tells him, there’s this magical substance that is found buried with mummies in the throats of mummies in ancient Egypt. And if you go to Egypt, and ask this archaeologist, doctors house, he will be able to provide you with red mercury. And so he goes, and he tells the story to Dr. House, and Dr. House says, you know, I’m so sorry about your mother. But this is bunk. There is no such thing as red mercury. This is a myth.

So this poor guy had traveled to Egypt in the hopes that he could find a magical substance found in the mouths of Egyptian mummies to cure his mother only defined that it was total nonsense.

Yes, but Lisa says this was not a new thing for the Egyptian archaeologists.
So Dr. ZOS told me that this was very common actually, for him to find Arabs who had this idea about red mercury. And so they believed that this was this magical ancient substance that was found in the throats of mummies, and had these mystical curative powers.

So where did this belief come from?

Okay, so it goes back centuries, I get Lisa to read something that gives you an idea of just how far back

Okay, so it’s an eighth and ninth century alchemists, jabber even how yen, who wrote quote, the most precious elixirs to ever have been blended on earth were hidden in the pyramids. And, you know, historically, there were Arabs who believed that ancient Egypt was the remains of an ancient race of giants who have all died out. And you can see why they would think that I mean, if you see the monuments, they are gigantic in proportion, they were meant to all you. And it’s not surprising that you would look at those enormous columns and think, Oh, my gosh, giants lived here. And they must have had amazing magical powers, right?

But hating powers are not the only properties came for red mercury. Some people also believe that I can be used to some engine as they are known in the Arab world. So Jen, our spirits or genies,

okay. And regardless of what you think about spirits, clearly, if people think this magical substance exists, then there’s a market for it. And thus, the as that you found online,

right. And that’s the problem. If people think it can be found in pyramids, and other Egyptian tombs, they are likely to start crawling all over historically important sites to try and find it. They could do a lot of damage. And that’s not only a concern to archaeologists,

recently, there circulated this theory that red mercury could be found in the nest of bats, who live in the tombs in done in Luxor, right. And the idea that there would be red mercury in these nest is, of course, absurd. But that’s how urban legends work. Right. And so currently, there’s apparently this fad for finding red mercury in the nests of bats. And it’s too bad because it’s going to disrupt these poor bats who are trying to just you know, live.

And if you think this story is wild, now it gets even Wilder. So some people believe that you don’t get mercury from annual but they say it is produced by vampire bats, vampire bats.

And because of that, it has some of the same properties as vampires

as vampires. Okay, explain this.

Right. So you don’t need to be a massive horror movie buff to know that a vampire supposedly don’t have a reflection and be the way to ward off on pose is with garlic. And so red mercury that comes from Bath is supposed to have the same qualities. So take a look at this is one of the many YouTube videos where someone is showing off the Vampira qualities of red mercury.

There’s no voiceover By the way, just this haunting music.

Right. Okay, so this video is in Arabic, and it’s got I see nearly 300,000 views. And what we’re seeing here is a red blob that’s placed onto a piece of paper. It doesn’t look that real, it looks suspiciously like this blob is actually something that’s like a graphic that’s been painted on the screen rather than a real liquid.

But anyway, a mirror is being held up beside it. And we can see the paper and the stuff in the background. But we can’t see the block. It has no reflection.

Wow, crazy.

Yeah, and now hand is holding a clove of garlic near the blob.

Okay, great special effects here because now the blob is scuttling away from the garlic like it’s being repelled by the garlic. And it’s moving like it’s alive.

Okay, wait, now here’s another he’s holding up a piece, sort of like a bangle some sort of jewelry. A piece of gold is being placed across from the red mercury. And the red Mercury is being attracted to the gold.

Okay, so explain this What’s going on here?

Oh, that that’s because of another one of red mercury suppose it qualities and it is that it can be used to seek out gold.

Okay, so in addition to all this stuff, people believe some people that you can actually find gold with red mercury.

Yeah, well, so the story goes. Katie Paul is the CO director and co founder of the Antiquities trafficking and heritage anthropology research project. She’s come across red mercury in her work tackling the Alyssa trade of ancient artifacts. She reckons people want to buy red mercury as a way to get rich quick. It’s a folk tale, particularly in North Africa and areas like Egypt, individuals will try to use mercury as a way to coax genies out of tombs and help find treasure. But Katie says that just like your typical get rich, quick scheme, this one is a con.

And unfortunately, for some of the individuals who are more susceptible to believing in this folklore, they’re really swindled by people who are on these groups trying to sell them something that doesn’t actually exist. So sometimes they’ll offer thermometers and say that the red liquid in thermometers, the red Mercury, and misunderstanding of the fact that there’s mercury and thermometers, but that is not the red liquid that is seen.

Yes. In fact, these days, the red stuff in the monitors is usually not even ordinary mercury. It’s more than likely alcohol dyed red, which is much safer if your thermometer breaks. However, there is one form of bad mockery that we can confidently say does exist. Haha,

you found it.

Yep. So here’s this one again, she says is a material called Cinnabar that has also historically been known as red mercury. cinnabar is mercury sulfide. It’s some salt of mercury that is mined. And it’s been found in archaeological excavations and ancient Chinese carved these beautiful vases out of this mercury or, and it was grounded down and used to make this really brilliant pigment, 4 million.

Okay, so there is something that is mercury and colored red, and it does exist.

Yeah, but it’s fairly boring by comparison to what we’ve been hearing about. It definitely doesn’t have vampire qualities on it. 100% isn’t going to magically cure you of anything. In fact, quite the opposite.

Look, I mean, red mercury. If we’re talking about cinnabar, like as an actual substance, it’s highly toxic, right? Like it could be dangerous if you actually found mercury and ingested it for its healing properties.
So if you buy some red mercury via one of these adverts that we’ve seen on social media, you could get a very nasty surprise.

Well, yeah, that is even if you do receive anything once you send your money off.

Okay, well, coming up, you’ll be hearing more about another one of the amazing lives of red Mercury, this time, centuries after the time of the pharaohs and halfway around the world in Russia. And we’ll ask, why does the myth of red mercury persist?

Continue…

Vocabulary

• thread
• fraudulent
• be mugged
• be swindled
• dignitary
• reassuring
• mystique
• dodgy
• flat
• grainy pictures
• Take your pick
• notion
• shortcut
• detonate a bomb
• mercenary
• hysterical
• decent
• hostages
• fanatics
• be set up by
• acquitted
• Sneaky
• entrap
• slippery
• NCND no confirmation, no denial
• cogent
• isotope
• nuclear arms race
• consensus
• proponent
• caveat emptor : buyer beware
• flyer
• hoax
• advisories
• rogue
• snapped up
• under lock and key
• disintegrate
• nuclear inventories
• shadowy
• perpetrators
• have 101 different uses
• get their hands in
• pharaohs