The founder of an organization digging at a site in Turkey he believes could unveil the real-life Noah’s Ark has reportedly faced terrifying death threats and a burglary of his apartment.
Andrew Jones, founder of Noah’s Ark Scans, said it took years to get a permit from the Turkish government to be able to dig.
“For our efforts, it’s taken years, if not decades,” he said. “When you’re trying to get a permit, you have to work under a Turkish university, and it’s not just under the Turkish university; you’re working with a Turkish professor.”
Jones continued, “So here’s someone who’s going to say, ‘OK. I’m going to put my reputation on the line looking for Noah’s Ark, and then I’m going to go ahead and get go through the obstacles, and the time,’ and anything else being thrown at him or her to get a permit done.”
In addition to finding people willing to put their reputations on the line, Jones said you also need to have funding, which can be another barrier. Jones said he and his team had to act quickly once the permit was approved.
“It was the start of this year when we got the permit,” he said. “We had one month to basically fundraise, get organized, get people involved.”
Challenges still abound. The professor involved in the Noah’s Ark Scans project is reportedly being called a “traitor” to Turkey by some, with his atheist and agnostic friends also piling on.
Jones, too, has faced some challenges. He’s unsure whether the Noah’s Ark expedition sparked problems for him, but, months ago, he started having people pound on his door in the middle of the night earlier this year while issuing threats to kill him.
While motives are difficult to know, Jones said the chaos started after his team announced they received a permit.
“We made the mistake of announcing we had a permit,” he said. “In regards to like physical threats or robbery, I’ve never had that issue until this happened.”
The people pounding on the door in the middle of the night were “making threats and cursing in English.”
“They were targeting someone who they thought spoke English,” he said. “It wasn’t Turkish they were speaking. They were saying, ‘F you, and I’m going to kill you.'”
Jones called a friend to come over and examine the situation, but they never found the culprit. Then, just days later, it happened again. The Noah’s Ark Scans founder inevitably decided to leave the apartment altogether and stay with a friend out of abundance of caution.
His mission to find the Ark hasn’t stopped, and he has no plans to halt. Watch the video for the full story on where the expedition currently stands:
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