Acts of Violet(65)
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: In a manner of speaking. But there’s more to it. I’ve been trying to determine whether Willow Glen might contain what I refer to as a liminal vortex.
CAMERON FRANK: I can’t say that’s a term I’m familiar with.
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: Let’s start more simply. You know about ley lines?
CAMERON FRANK: It’s the notion that certain important ancient structures are aligned along the same paths, right? Like Stonehenge, the Great Pyramids of Giza, Chichen Itza … And if I’m not mistaken, ley lines are believed to contain unusual electromagnetic energy, forming this invisible power grid … Am I close?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: You’ve got a handle on the basics.
CAMERON FRANK [STUDIO]: In all fairness, ley lines are considered a pseudoscience, since there’s no accurate way to find and measure them. Some might call it the astrology of geography. But Antoinette does not appreciate such a dismissal.
ANTOINETTE: That term, “pseudoscience,” it really burns me up. Pseudo is fake and what we do is not fake. There are effective tools that can identify ley lines, they are just more … subjective tools. But subjective is not the same as pseudo.
CAMERON FRANK: By “subjective tools,” do you mean something like dowsing rods?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: Dowsing rods are a good example. Let’s say you want to build a well and I tell you we can find a water source using dowsing rods. You try it and pick ten spots with the rods—none of them contain water. I have a go at it and find ten other spots, nine of which point to a water source. Wouldn’t you say in my hands, the dowsing rods are an effective tool? Subjectivity notwithstanding, wouldn’t it be narrow for the scientific community to dismiss such a tool?
CAMERON FRANK [STUDIO]: I was trying to be objective and open-minded here, but this was a tough one for me. There is zero scientific support that twigs or copper rods can be used to find water, metal deposits, earth energy lines, your wallet, or any other hidden items. All the reported success stories are anecdotal with no controlled scientific tests to back them up. I didn’t want to disrespect Antoinette during our conversation, but it’s frustrating to hear a scientist defend pseudoscience this way.
CAMERON FRANK: Subjectivity isn’t exactly part of the scientific method, though.
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: Subjectivity colors everything we do, even when we try to adhere to rules and formulas. Consider the double-slit experiment in physics, where observing whether light will behave as a particle or wave affects any predictability because light behaves as both a particle and a wave, and observation actually affects the outcome. Sometimes traditional scientific methods can actually limit our understanding, particularly in matters of space-time.
CAMERON FRANK: I’m guessing this connects to what you were calling a liminal…?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: Liminal vortex, yes. Certain locations in the world contain unusual energy properties. They’re often found in conjunction with ley lines, but are far more concentrated—energy hot spots, you might say. Places where the fabric of space-time is thinner and may behave differently. These hot spots usually have documented cases of perplexing disappearances. Crater Lake in Oregon. The Bennington Triangle in Vermont. Mesa Verde in the Four Corners. And I’m not simply talking about hikers getting lost in the woods. In one case, a man disappeared from a moving bus. Another disappeared from a well-trafficked quarter-mile hiking path that was scoured by helicopters and dozens of searchers.
CAMERON FRANK: Just so I’m clear on this … are you suggesting that these disappearances are due to a liminal vortex? That these people passed through some kind of … energy portal?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: It’s a theory worth considering.
CAMERON FRANK [STUDIO]: Yes, but how seriously? As utterly fascinating as I find these cases, disappearances in natural settings bring out my inner skeptic. Forested areas are notoriously difficult to search, and a person who meets an untimely end in the woods could easily be camouflaged by vegetation. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States; is it so shocking that a high number of people go missing by a large body of water that is nearly two thousand feet deep? I’m just saying, an energy portal in that kind of setting is a tough sell for me.
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: These areas have been searched to no avail and I’ve measured temporal anomalies in many of them.
CAMERON FRANK: What kind of anomalies?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: Take the Witkin Theater, for example. There are certain spots in and around the building where the passage of time is slower by several milliseconds compared to its surrounding areas. I’ve also recorded electromagnetic disturbances in specific locations: compass needles spin wildly, radio signals get interrupted, electronic devices malfunction.
CAMERON FRANK [STUDIO]: Personally, this is where I perk up. When you have a man-made stationary structure, there are a finite number of searchable locations. Add time dilation and electronic disturbances to the mix and you have my full attention.
CAMERON FRANK: So, supposing the site of the Witkin Theater contains a liminal vortex and somehow Violet Volk passed through it, as did Analise Margolis nearly a century earlier … where did they go? Are we looking at some kind of multiverse scenario? Are they in a different dimension?
ANTOINETTE STRANGER: That is the hypothesis I am developing, yes.
CAMERON FRANK: Why haven’t there been more people disappearing into this portal, then? Can we go there? What does “there” even look like? Is it possible to return?