Ley lines are alignments of a number of places of geographical interest, such as ancient megaliths. Their existence was first suggested in 1921 by the amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins, whose book The Old Straight Track first brought the phenomenon to the attention of the wider public. The existence of these apparently remarkable alignments between sites is easily demonstrated. However, the causes of these alignments are disputed. There are three major schools of thought: Anthropological: According ...

Including:

• Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track
• Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines
• Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments
• Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?
• Ley line - Controversy
• Ley line - Scientific investigation
• Ley line - Compare with

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Some skeptics have suggested that ley lines are a product of human fancy. Watkins' discovery happened at a time when Ordnance Survey maps were being marketed for the leisure market, making them reasonably easy and cheap to obtain; this may have been a contributing factor to the popularity of ley line theories. One suggestion is that thanks to the high density of historic and prehistoric sites in Britain and other parts of Europe, that finding straight lines that "connect" sites (usually selected to make them "fit") is trivial, and may ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments

The concept of ley lines was first propounded by Alfred Watkins. On June 30, 1921, Watkins visited Blackwardine in Herefordshire, and went riding around near some hills in the vicinity of Bredwardine when he noted many of the footpaths therein seemed to connect one hilltop to another in a straight line. He was studying a map when he noticed that a number of significant places were in alignment. "The whole thing came to me in a flash," he would later explain to his son. Some people have portrayed this as being some sort of mystical experience ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track

According to data obtained by investigators of ley line theories, some ley lines points possess higher magnetic energy than the average geomagnetic intensity. This has been investigated and published about in sources such as "Places of power" (Paul Devereux; Blandford Press, 1990) and "Lodestone Compass: Chinese or Olmec Primacy?" (John B. Carlson; Science, 1975) among other sources. Theories of magnetic interaction at ley line points suggest to some observers that these points were used to induct energy. Some geomantic researc ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - Scientific investigation

The demonstration of the plausibility of the current evidence under the null hypothesis is not a formal disproof of ley line claims. However, it does make skeptics likely to consider ley line theories as unsupported by the current evidence. Most skeptics would be willing to reconsider the hypothesis of ley lines if there was non-anecdotal evidence of physical, geomagnetic or archeological features that actually lay along the paths of ley lines. Skeptics believe that no such ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - Controversy

The existence of the observed alignments is not controversial. Both believers in magical and ancient theories of ley lines and skeptics of these theories agree that these alignments exist between megaliths and ancient sites. Most skeptics believe that their null hypothesis of ley-line-like alignments being due to random chance is consistent with all known evidence. They believe that this removes the need to explain these alignments in any other way. Some Chaos Magicians have views consistent with this, and claim this is in accord with ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?

Watkins' theories have been adapted by later writers. Some of his ideas were taken up by the occultist Dion Fortune who featured them in her 1936 novel The Goat-footed God. Since then, ley lines have become the subject of many magical and mystical theories. The two British dowsers, Captain Robert Boothby and Reginald Smith of the British Museum have linked the appearance of ley-lines with underground streams, and magnetic currents. Ley-spotter / Dowser Underwood conducted various investigations and claimed that crossings of 'ne ...

See also:

Ley line, Ley line - The anthropological approach: Alfred Watkins and The Old Straight Track, Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines, Ley line - The skeptical approach: chance alignments, Ley line - Are alignments and ley lines the same thing?, Ley line - Controversy, Ley line - Scientific investigation, Ley line - Compare with

Read more here: » Ley line: Encyclopedia II - Ley line - The New Age approach: magical and holy lines