Serpent Mound - 6/21/2003

Serpent Mound is located near Peebles, Ohio overlooking the Brush Creek valley.  It is the largest and finest Serpent effigy in the United States.  The mound is nearly 1/4 mile long.   It is nearly impossible to open a text book on North American Pre-history without seeing a picture of the Serpent.   The head of the serpent is aligned to the summer solstice sunset and the coils also may point to the winter solstice sunrise and the equinox sunrise.  The prevailing literature places the mound as being built by the Adena culture although there is a Fort Ancient occupation seen at the sight.

View from Observation Tower:

Way down at the far end of the picture, the head of the Serpent turns to the left. Directly to the left of where I took the picture is the tail.

Sunset:

I took all the pictures at the Serpent on the Summer Solstice. The sun sets in direct alignment with the head. The Winter Solstice sun sets in direct alignment with the tail. Unfortunately, the disc I stored these pictures on is ruined. These are the only four I could pull off of it. So you will have to trust me about the setting sun on the Solstice.

Tail of the Serpent:

The tail and the head look out over the Brush Creek valley. The field below has had numerous crop circles pop up in the last few years. I find it odd that the aliens always choose to visit and make crop circles the week before the Peebles, Ohio Summer Festival.

In the Serpent's coils:

The walls are high, but not quite as tall as me. One thing about the Serpent that you can't grasp unless you visit the site, is the elavation changes across the area where the Serpent was constructed. The overhead shots in books make the area look flat. In actuality, the ground is highest at the tail end and probably drops 60-80 feet leading towards the head.