 Like that of the crop circle, they are looked upon with an air of cynicism. The ley line is another intriguing theory that, once one begins to dig into, finds the work of passionate, revered, and highly capable individuals, individuals who pursued the subject with hunger. One begins to see a rather compelling and convincing side to the field of study, which the deeper one digs into, the more convinced one can become. The Earth Mysteries Movement Much of modern culture is aware of the rebellious nature during the 60s. People rebelled in many ways, and the music became legendary. However, what many people may not be aware of is that there is also a rebellion within academic archaeology. John Mitchell was one particular individual who played a major role in promoting a belief in ley lines. His respect to status risked, as we have discussed many times, for if one even in the most established of positions can find their career disintegrate around them simply for not supporting currently funded paradigm. Yet regardless, John helped to professionalize the discipline. His acceptance, but more importantly, his valiant public exposure of his opinion, made the subject a movement, no longer a cynical pseudo-vocation, the transcendence of theory to reality for ley lines meant that it was no longer an amateur-dominated field of research. As one would imagine, the so-called ley lines upon exploration began to suggest that not only were they indeed real, but an ancient, advanced, lost, or possibly hidden civilization, not only built along them, but that evidence began to mount that, by doing so, energy fields not yet fully understood in the modern world were somehow being harvested or utilized by these ancient structures. Inevitably, this deepening of controversial conclusions made by many capable archaeologists they inevitably began to be battled against by mainstream institutions. It was in the latter decade that advocates of energy fields and their significance within an extremely ancient culture who somehow knew of these complex grid systems was ultimately the rub, as with the pyramids. It is the advanced nature of ancient ruins later realized which sentences said sight to dismissal, conspiracy, and ignorance by funded institutions. Thus, anyone who had researched and subsequently become convinced of ley lines began to be labeled as members of the counterculture, where, in the words of the archaeologist Matthew Johnson, quote, they were attributed with sacred significance or mystical power. Ruggles noted, in this period, ley lines came to be conceived as lines of power, the paths of some form of spiritual force or energy accessible to our ancient ancestors but now lost to narrow-minded 20th century scientific thought, end quote. It seems like the many other relics of antiquity, which displayed extraordinary abilities and knowledge, must be brushed under the rug regardless of the fact that anyone with even the smallest faculty of logic within their cranium can clearly see that there is a mountain of not only compelling evidence to suggest their existence but that there is an equally large amount of information due to restriction in many forms yet to be understood. Ley lines have been subsequently characterized as a form of pseudoscience. Within the skeptics' dictionary, Robert Todd Carroll noted that none of the claims about magnetic forces underpinning putative ley lines have been scientifically verified. Williamson and Bellamy characterized ley lines as, quote, one of the biggest red herrings in the history of popular thought. One criticism of Watkins' theory stated that given the high density of historic and prehistoric sites in Britain and other parts of Europe, finding straight lines that connect sites is trivial and ascribable to coincidence. Johnson stated that, quote, ley lines do not exist. He cited Williamson and Bellamy's work in demonstrating this, noting that their research showed how the density of archaeological sites in the British landscape is so great that a line drawn through virtually anywhere will clip a number of sites. In 2004, John Bruno Hare wrote, quote, Watkins never attributed any supernatural significance to Leys. He believed that they were simply pathways that had been used for trade or ceremonial purposes, very ancient in origin, possibly dating back to the Neolithic, certainly pre-Roman. His obsession with Leys was a natural outgrowth of his interest in landscape photography and love of the British countryside. He was an intensely rational person with an active intellect, and I think he would be a bit disappointed with some of the fringe aspects of ley lines today, end quote. As one can see, there are many passionate dismissals of the existence of ley lines, and as our regular viewers will know, whenever we see such passionate denials, such encouragements to not even touch upon said research of a subject, a subject one can quickly prove to be possibly real, well, we find such highly compelling.