THE TITANIC AND THE MYSTERY OF CAPTAIN SMITH

He claimed that they were telling a Titanic lie.

While Titanic Captain Edward John Smith’s official cause of death remains one of history’s enduring mysteries, author Dan E. Parkes has thrown cold water on theories that he took his own life, claiming these rumors unfairly tarnished his legacy.

He made these bombshell claims in the book “Titanic Legacy: The Captain, the Daughter and the Spy,” which details eyewitness accounts from shipwreck survivors, who discuss, among other things, how Captain Smith met his end, the Daily Mail reported.

Over 1,500 people died when the RMS Titanic sank on April 14-15, 1912, following its fateful collision with an iceberg in one of the most notorious maritime disasters in history.

Captain Edward Smith. Parkes instead claims that the gunshots had been fired to calm panicking passengers, and traumatized voyagers assumed, without proof, that they were hearing the captain’s self-inflicted gunshot wound. Unfortunately, the British Naval Officer’s body was never recovered — only 337 ever were — spawning a wide range of explanations as to how he perished.

These ranged from accounts of him gallantly going down with the ship — as depicted in James Cameron’s 1997 epic “Titanic” — to conspiracy theories claiming that the legendary mariner was living in disguise in Maryland.

The most heartbreaking forensic postulation came three days after the tragedy, when the Los Angeles Express proclaimed on its front page: “Captain E.J. Smith shot himself.”

A day later, the UK’s Daily Mirror declared on its front page: “Captain Smith Shoots Himself on the Bridge.”

During inquiries into the maritime tragedy held in New York and London, survivors claimed they’d also heard rumors of the 62-year-old commodore’s ignominious end.

Suicide was seen as a cowardly way to go out during a time when the captain was honor-bound to go down with the ship.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg: There were also controversial reports smearing Smith’s reputation when he was alive, alleging that he had an appetite for booze, was piloting the Titanic at an unsafe speed and also ignored warnings about the iceberg — throwing salt in the wound of his widow Eleanor and their 7-year-old daughter Mel.

However, Parkes labeled these rumors unfounded character assassinations and claimed that the venerated captain drowned or froze to death in the North Atlantic with the other casualties. Despite the abundance of eyewitness accounts of an officer suicide, the author believes that the official in question wasn’t Smith as he wasn’t named.

Parkes instead claims that the gunshots had been fired to calm panicking passengers, and traumatized voyagers assumed, without proof, that they were hearing the captain’s self-inflicted gunshot wound.

He pointed out that many of these eyewitnesses who claimed the latter were unreliable as they were on lifeboats that disembarked long before the Titanic’s final descent.

The port bow railing of the Titanic lies in 12,600 feet of water about 400 miles east of Nova Scotia. File photo

Parkes, who also dismissed claims of the captain’s drunkeness, reckless steering and dismissal of warnings, added that perhaps the passengers needed a scapegoat for the calamity and settled on the seaman. There are many eyewitness accounts that support Parkes’ version of his final moments, including one by, Robert Williams Daniel, a 27-year-old banker who said he “saw Captain Smith on the bridge” as the Titanic sank.

He had reportedly told the New York Herald at the time that he’d watched the water swallow the captain whole, declaring, “he died a hero.”

Isaac Maynard, a 31-year-old cook, testified in New York that he’d also seen Smith on the bridge as he himself was swept overboard, adding that he later saw the white-bearded mariner swimming in the water fully dressed with his captain’s hat atop his head.

“One of the men clinging to the raft tried to save him by reaching out a hand, but he would not let him, and called out ‘look after yourselves, boys,'” Maynard claimed. “I do not know what became of the captain, for I could not see him at the time, but I suppose he sank.”

Parkes cites other survivors who claimed that the captain even rescued a baby and handed it off to a lifeboat, but refused to board the vessel himself.

“Fifteen yards away was the body of an infant which attracted the struggling sailor,” George Brereton, a gambler and swindler who boarded the Titanic under a fake name to scam wealthy passengers, told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle “He caught hold of the child and then with his right arm made for a lifeboat. The little one was safely put aboard and the captain resumed his struggle for the sinking Titanic.”

Parkes labeled this heroic deed entirely in character for Smith, who was nicknamed the “Millionaire’s Captain” because of his popularity with upper-class voyagers.

Survivors even alleged that seafarers put on a courageous face despite knowing that doom was imminent, according to History.com.

“I saw Captain Smith getting excited; passengers would not have noticed, but I did,” May Sloan, a surviving Titanic stewardess, wrote in a letter shortly after the catastrophe. “I knew then we were soon going.”

IS THE GOVERNMENT CREATING UNDERGROUND CITIES?

The federal government has secretly spent trillions building an elaborate network of subterranean “cities” where the rich and powerful can shelter during a “near-extinction event,” a former Bush White House official sensationally claimed.

About 170 such bunkers have been built across the country since 1998 – including some resting beneath the oceans off the US coast, 74-year-old Catherine Austin Fitts said during a recent podcast.

“It’s preparation for catastrophe,” Fitts said, according to an official.

A former housing official made an astonishing claim that the U.S. government spent years funneling money into the creation of a secret underground “city” where the rich and powerful can shelter in the event of a “near-extinction event.” SAFEMore

Fitts, who served as assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1990, claimed $21 trillion in taxpayer dollars were funneled into the project between 1998 and 2015.

She provided no evidence for her claims, but said a 2017 report from Michigan State University economist Mark Skidmore indicated that much “unauthorized spending” had been uncovered across the Departments of Defense and Housing and Urban Development during that time.

After two years of combing through records related to already documented underground military bases, Fitts says she also looked into “allegations” of a wider bunker network.

Comparing her research against the missing cash, Fitts said she was able to make a “guess” about how many facilities there really are.

Catherine Austin Fitts, who served as the assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing between 1989 and 1990, made the shocking allegations during an podcast appearance.

She claimed the 170 only applied to bases on US soil and around its coastline – alleging that more exist across the world. And the bases are connected by an elaborate transportation system, she added, while claiming they are powered by a secret energy system known only to the military.

“I’m convinced that this energy exists. If you look at a lot of the really fast ships, flying around the planet, they’re not using classical electricity,” she said, in an apparent reference to a spate of bizarre unidentified aerial phenomena supposedly flying around the skies in recent years.

Those alleged bases are used not just as doomsday bunkers for the elites, Fitts claimed, but also as places for the government to operate “secret” operations like a “secret space program.”

The existence of elaborate underground government bases and bunkers is no secret. During the Cold War, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex was built inside a Colorado mountain to serve as a hardened base of operations for various military operations. It is currently used by the US Space Force.

And from the 1950s through the 1990s, a bunker intended to house all of Congress in the event of a calamity was built and operated in total secrecy beneath the bustling Greenbrier resort in West Virginia...

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SUZANNE MORPHEW AND THE MOTHER'S DAY KILLING

An autopsy conducted on the remains of a Colorado mother who disappeared while on a bike ride in 2020 and was found dead three years later determined she died by homicide and had a drug cocktail in her system that is used to immobilize animals.

Suzanne Morphew, 49, vanished while on a bike ride on Mother's Day 2020. Her husband was initially charged in the killing, but prosecutors dropped the charges in 2022, saying they had hoped her body would be found. Morphew’s remains were discovered in September 2023 roughly 50 miles south from where she was reported missing. No one is currently charged in the case.

The autopsy conducted on Morphew’s remains found her death was a “homicide by unspecified means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication,” according to a report released by the El Paso County coroner. The combination of the three drugs is often used to immobilize wildlife and can cause analgesia and sedation, the coroner’s office said.

In a statement on Monday, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Schaefer said investigators working on the case continue to “follow the evidence and only the evidence as we seek justice for Suzanne’s death.”

Twelfth Judicial District Attorney Anne E. Kelly’s Office said in a separate statement she was unable to comment as the case remains under active investigation, but added her office continues to “seek justice for Suzanne.”

Morphew was reported missing by a neighbor on Mother’s Day 2020 after she went cycling near Maysville, Colorado, and never came back home. Maysville is in Chaffee County. According to the coroner’s report, Morphew’s bike and helmet were found in separate places in the county “without significant damage.”

In 2021, Morphew’s husband, Barry Lee Morphew, was charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and attempting to influence a public servant in connection with Suzanne Morphew’s death. He pleaded not guilty, and in April 2022, prosecutors moved to dismiss the charges, saying they hoped his wife’s body would have been found by the time the trial started. A judge ruled prosecutors can still pursue the same charges against him in the future.

The couple shared two daughters together. Barry Morphew has since moved away from Colorado...

WHERE IS ALEXANDER THE GREAT BURIED?

By the age of 32, Alexander the Great had swept across Asia, conquering a region from the Balkans to Pakistan and ruling over the biggest empire in the ancient world. Then, in 323 B.C., he died, and his empire fell like a house of cards. There are two different versions of Alexander's death, differing slightly in details. Plutarch's account is that roughly 14 days before his death, Alexander entertained admiral Nearchus and spent the night and next day drinking with Medius of Larissa. Alexander developed a fever, which worsened until he was unable to speak. The common soldiers, anxious about his health, were granted the right to file past him as he silently waved at them. In the second account, Diodorus recounts that Alexander was struck with pain after downing a large bowl of unmixed wine in honour of Heracles followed by 11 days of weakness; he did not develop a fever, instead dying after some agony. Arrian also mentioned this as an alternative, but Plutarch specifically denied this claim.

Given the propensity of the Macedonian aristocracy to assassination and Alexander's relatively young age, foul play featured in multiple accounts of his death. Diodorus, Plutarch, Arrian and Justin all mentioned the theory that Alexander was poisoned.Historical documents suggest one of his generals brought his body back to ancient Egypt two years later and that his body was held in the city of Memphis while a tomb was built for him in Alexandria.

However, no one knows exactly where that iconic tomb is located. Some have suggested it has sunk beneath the waves, because it was built in the "Palaces District" that is now submerged. If that's the case, it may have been destroyed by millennia of both human and natural forces, experts previously told Live Science. Even if it were to be found, there would likely be few identifying marks proving the tomb belonged to Alexander. The ancient historians who described the building of the tomb left little physical description of it, so researchers may need an intact inscription to identify the tomb...

THE TRAGEDY OF THE BLACK HAWK CRASH: ACCIDENT OR SUICIDE MISSION

Regarding Pilot Rebecca Lobach, this is what remained on social media... Captain Rebecca Lobach loved adventure. She never shied away from a challenge and worked every day to make the world a better place. The US Army just identified her as the third pilot on the helicopter that crashed in DC last week. Please read this statement from her family and keep them close to your heart.

 
“We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. She was a bright star in all our lives. She was kind, generous, brilliant, funny, ambitious and strong. No one dreamed bigger or worked harder to achieve her goals.

Rebecca began her career in the United States Army as a distinguished military graduate in ROTC at the University of North Carolina, and was in the top 20% of cadets nationwide. She achieved the rank of Captain, having twice served as a Platoon Leader and as a Company Executive Officer in the 12th Aviation Battalion, Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. With more than 450 hours of flight time, she earned certification as a pilot-in-command after extensive testing by the most senior and experienced pilots in her battalion.

Rebecca was a warrior and would not hesitate to defend her country in battle. But she was as graceful as she was fierce: in addition to her duties as an Army aviator, Rebecca was honored to serve as a White House Military Social Aide, volunteering to support the President and First Lady in hosting countless White House events, including ceremonies awarding the Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Rebecca cared about people, and she extended to individuals the same fearless defense she gave to this nation. She was proud of the difference she made as a certified Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) Victim Advocate and hoped to continue her education so she could serve this country as a physician when her time with the Army ended. She once said, "My experiences with SHARP have reinforced my resolve to serve others with compassion, understanding, and the resources necessary for healing."

The truth is Rebecca's social media accounts were scrubed before she was announced as the third pilot. It was Rebecca who was piloting the helicopter that crashed into the airplaine, and now it was discovered that she did not listen to orders. Rebecca Lobach failed to follow her co-pilot and instructor Andrew Eaves's order to turn left in a bid to avoid the descending aircraft, ignoring his instructions just 15 seconds before the crash. A risky flying manoeuvre, a series of miscommunications, and ignoring her co-pilot's warnings led to the Black Hawk helicopter crashing into an American Airlines flight over the Potomac River in the US - resulting in the deaths of 67 people aboard, including all three members of the chopper - according to a report by The New York Times.

The helicopter was flying at 278 feet, way above its permissible limit of 200 feet, while the plane - flying at an altitude of 313 feet - was heading towards runway 33 at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia when they collided mid-air at an altitude of about 300 feet at 8:48 pm (local time) on January 29, 2025. I am not 100% ready to say that this flight was a suicide mission for Rebecca Lobach, but I definitely do not think she was a hero. It is tragic if she did this on purpose, and I hope the truth comes out...