As claims of the supernatural at the pyramids have gained momentum, increased wrath toward skeptics and critics has also emerged. Harding of the University of Exeter encountered it whenever he criticized Osmanagich’s project in the press. Vitriolic e-mails poured into his in-box, calling him a “stinking ally of the Serbs.” The implication was clear: “Believing in the Bosnian pyramids is tantamount to patriotism, and dissent is betrayal,” Harding says. “The pyramids have become a cause for ultranationalism.”
However, neither of these issues—the supernatural aspects or the treatment of critics—was raised during Osmanagich’s spring 2008 lecture in Vienna. In English with German translation, Osmanagich described the glory of the pyramids and their ancient builders to hundreds of wide-eyed listeners filling the seats and standing in the aisles. Afterward a pyramid-shaped cake was presented and devoured. I wanted to interview Osmanagich and tried to get his attention, but he was mobbed like a rock star. Before the crowd dragged him away to drinks and dinner, I managed to ask him why his presentation did not include any mention of crystal skulls or healing stones. He smiled, recognizing me, and changed the subject.
In a telephone interview in May, Osmanagich was more forthcoming. He was in Saudi Arabia, on his way to meet with government officials about the Bosnian pyramids. When I asked him about their supernatural properties, he answered that he was interested only in scientific research, saying, “I have never written about these aspects and the connection with the Bosnian pyramids.” I reminded Osmanagich that he had written a newspaper article claiming that the Bosnian pyramids have healing powers due to their “bioenergetic” effects and that he was quoted in a 2006 magazine interview as saying that the Bosnian pyramids were the key to avoiding a long-foretold apocalypse in 2012. Osmanagich told me that the former article referred to anecdotes based on other people’s experiences, not his, and that the latter article misquoted him. He even distanced himself from the pyramid foundation’s Web site, saying that anyone is free to express his or her opinion, and supernatural claims are “never endorsed by the board of directors.”
Osmanagich’s supernatural beliefs are, in fact, easily located on YouTube. In one video Osmanagich explains that “it is proven that pyramids have the most beneficial influence on the environment. If you place a piece of raw meat in a pyramid, it will not become corrupted. If you place a blunt razor in it, it will sharpen itself. If a man enters a pyramid, energy levels increase and he becomes immune to illness.”
Pseudo-archaeology seems to be giving way to religion, says Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist who is considered Europe’s leading academic expert on religious minorities. The Bosnian pyramid-worshipping “looks like an embryonic New Age religion,” he says. Introvigne has long studied one of the most famous of the New Age groups, the Federation of Damanhur, which emerged in northern Italy in the late 1970s and has gained considerable wealth and flocks of followers around the world.
The use of pseudoscience is “a classic feature of New Age,” he says. “New Agers prefer to have the appearance of making decisions based on empirical evidence, like scientists.”
Introvigne notes that New Age groups develop along similar trajectories. “The Damanhur movement began small, with large variation in the ideas and voices,” he says, “but it grew quickly and became more unified.” After growing large enough to attract media attention, such organizations generally reach a critical juncture that leads either to extinction or to further growth. Introvigne says Osmanagich’s group will need to expand aggressively and achieve financial stability in order to survive.
But as the pyramid foundation continues to dominate what passes for Bosnian archaeology, collecting public money, courting international support, and planning parks across the nation, many scientists around the globe are watching closely, hoping for the end of Osmanagich’s grip on a small country’s consciousness.
