Georgie had this to say...

I'm supposed to be working this weekend, but I thought I would do this before I head to the nursing home. I would love to play hookie, but I can't.

Here is the eyewitness account of George Hagopian: I believe the dude!

My grandfather was the minister of the big Armenian Orthodox Church in Van (near Lake Van), and he always told me stories about the holy ship on the mountain.

And then one day my uncle said, "Georgie, I'm going to take you to see the Holy Ark." We packed supplies on his donkey, and together we started our trek toward Mount Ararat.

My feet were getting sore, and the donkey kept wanting to go in the wrong direction, but we continued climbing until we got about halfway up. Then Uncle took both supplies and me on his back, and we climbed and climbed.

It took us almost eight days from the time we left Van to the moment we got to the place on the holy mountain where both my grandfather and my uncle had said the holy ship had come to rest.

I guess my uncle took me there that year because it was a year without much snow - a "smooth year" or "no snow year" we called it.

There's one of those about every twenty years.

And then we got to the Ark. It was getting dark and misty around us. My uncle dropped his pack, and together we began to haul stones to the side of the ship. Within a short time we had stacked a high pile of rocks against the side of the ship.

"Georgie, come here" he said, grabbing me by the arm. "You are going on top of the Holy Ark." He lifted me up and put me on his shoulders, and together we climbed the pile of rocks. When he had reached the top of the rocks, his hands grabbed my ankles and he began to push me up toward the stairs that someone had added to the ark.

"Reach for the top, Georgie," he yelled. "Grab the edge and pull yourself up!"

I stood up straight and looked all oved the ship. It was long. The height was about forty feet.

"Look inside the Ark," my uncle called up to me. "Look for the holes. Look for the big one. Look inside and tell me what you see."

I shivered from the cold and from fear and glanced around me. Yes, there was the hole, big and gaping. I peeked into the blackness of the hole, but saw nothing. Then I knelt down and kissed the holy Ark.

When we were there, the top of the Ark was covered with a very thing coat of fresh fallen snow. But when I brushed some of it away I could see a green moss growing right on top. When I pulled a piece off....it was made of wood. The grain was right there. This green moss made the Ark feel soft and moldy.

On the roof, besides one large hole, I remember small holes running all the way from the front to the back. I don't know exactly how many, but there must have been at least fifty of them running down the middle with small intervals in between. My uncle told me these holes were for air.

That roof was flat with the exception of the narrow raised section running all the way from the bow to the stern with all those holes in it.

I remember, my uncle too his gun and shot into the side of the Ark, but the bullet wouldn't penetrate. Uncle then pulled his long hunting knife from his belt, and with a heavy handle he chipped a piece from the side of the Ark. Then we went down the mountainside and returned to Van.

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George made this trip in sometime between 1900-1906. He took a photographer back to Turkey in 1922 to photograph the Ark, but due to fighting between the Turks, Greeks and Armenians, he was not allowed to travel to Eastern Turkey.

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In the book, you will read professional critique's of George's stories and of his extensive intereviews before his death. The result was that Hagopian's story was difficult to falsify. The weather, his description of the area, length of time it took to travel to the Ark, etc....all facts that were verifiable.

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It is also known during that time period....drought and no snow, there were many that claimed to travel to see the Ark.

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George made another trek to see the Ark sometime during 1902-1908, when he was 12. He relays the following about that visit:

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I saw the Ark a second time. I think it was in 1904. We were on the mountain looking for the holy flowers, and I went back to the Ark and it still looked the same. Nothing had changed. I didn't really get a good look at it. It was resting on a steep ledge of bluish-green rock about 3,000 feet wide.

Another thing I noticed was that I didn't see any nails at all. It seemed that the whole ship was made of one piece of petrified wood.

There was definately no door in the side of the ship that I could see. No opening of any kind. There may have been one in the part I couldn't see, but that I don't know. That side was practically inaccessible. I could only see my side and part of the bow.

The sides were slanting outward to the top and the front was flat. I didn't see any real curves. It was unlike any other boat I have ever seen. It looked more like a flat-bottomed barge.

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The above excerpts were taken from the book, The Explorers of Ararat. By: B.J. Corbin.

One thing I will mention about the book. It's not a subjective book of fantasy...with the agenda to make you believe. Different chapters are written by different experts and explorers and they disagree as to where the ark is, if it can be found, etc. The book contains history of documented Ark Expeditions and well as sightings. I believe it to be non-biased and a read well worth your time if you are interested.

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Well, I'm off to work............boo hiss. I won't even get started about work, but boy wouldn't I like to!

AKM