Mystery Staircase: Some reading you may find interesting - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

greatgarrett2 · 02-28-2006, 09:33 PM

Greetings,

I was sufing the Net and came across this interesting little link on the Mystery Staircase at Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, NM.

It was constructed by an unknown carpenter and had exactly 33 steps, the same number of years Jesus Christ was said to have been on this Earth.

Anyone may find this interesting:

http://www.theoutlaws.com/unexplained4.htm

Cheers,

greatgarrett2

Infojunkie · 03-01-2006, 12:23 AM

I ran across a couple of articles about the stair case. One about it's construction. I'm not as certain about the miracle properties of the stairs myself, and apparently neither is this author.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...22/ai_21275520

And then another article about the unknown carpenter, whose identity may have been known.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...24/ai_67691830

For anyone who's interested.

Awsi Dooger · 03-02-2006, 03:25 AM

That's a cute segment. But come on, that 33 steps aspect is wildly overblown. It's like the final combined score of a football game. You know it's going to be somewhere in the norm, not 3 points scored or 200. In the 30 to 50 range much more often than not.

Identical application to that staircase. What are we talking about, two stories? That pretty much narrows down the permutations. You're not going to have 300 tiny meandering steps or three steps requiring two high jumps. Stairs are very uniform in dimension. The carpenter probably had a normal range of something like 28 to 38 steps depending on the exact height he made them, plus the scope of the staircase, and it fell on the mid and most likely number of 33. Big deal. It was probably a 25% chance of exactly 33 steps given the necessary height of the staircase, so hardly a biblical miracle.

Besides, why was Jesus' supposed age the reference point? Because it was a convenient backfit, that's why. Let's say it had been 36 steps. Do you think someone might have found a biblical reference to the number 36 and claimed miraculous coincidence, and ignored the age aspect? I'd love to bet yes.

It reminds me of some of these psychic detective programs. Now, I don't discount the potential benefit of psychics. But they have every built in advantage in the rationalization of a case and what they said. For example, there's one case where the woman psychic proposed a number like 3 was important to the case, and when the body was found the detective was all amazed and said something like, "Well, it was three miles from the turnoff where we located the body, so that's where the 3 came in. She got it right again." I hit the floor in a seizure of laughter.

DALLASTEXAN!! · 04-01-2017, 04:51 AM

I just watched this segment. I will admit I have a soft spot for it especially compared to the other "miracle" segments because it does have a good story. I do find it ironic that the sisters believe a messenger from god built the stairs to answer their prayer(which is fine by me), but find it a bit ironic that when the carpenter comes with a decent claim that his grandfather built the stairs, they suggest he could be a fraud and want more proof.

dynoguy88 · 04-01-2017, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DALLASTEXAN!!

I just watched this segment. I will admit I have a soft spot for it especially compared to the other "miracle" segments because it does have a good story. I do find it ironic that the sisters believe a messenger from god built the stairs to answer their prayer(which is fine by me), but find it a bit ironic that when the carpenter comes with a decent claim that his grandfather built the stairs, they suggest he could be a fraud and want more proof.

Ha! I watched this segment on Prime last week for the first time in forever and that was my exact reaction. It's actually an interesting story. But I found it funny how quickly the sisters wrote off the carpenter's claim about his grandfather. I got the sense they wanted to share their story but they don't want the mystery solved.

hostedbyrobertstack · 04-01-2017, 01:44 PM

I watched this again and never realized the amazing coincidence....It was actually Brushy Bill Roberts, AKA Billy the Kid, who built the staircase! A man of many talents. HAHA!

Awsi Dooger · 04-02-2017, 03:21 AM

I didn't remember this thread. I was shocked to see that I posted in this thread.

I'm very impressed with my post.

mozartpc27 · 04-02-2017, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

Ha! I watched this segment on Prime last week for the first time in forever and that was my exact reaction. It's actually an interesting story. But I found it funny how quickly the sisters wrote off the carpenter's claim about his grandfather. I got the sense they wanted to share their story but they don't want the mystery solved.

The story is cute, but I remember even when we first watched it as a family - and my family is all Catholic, went to Catholic schools, etc. - that it was a little silly. The segment takes all this time to suggest that perhaps the staircase was built by some kind of miraculous event, even maybe an angel in mortal disguise here just to build this staircase... or it could be this guy who lived one town over and built a nearly identical staircase over in Europe.

Gee, I wonder which it is?

Janel "Jaycee" Miller · 04-04-2017, 06:24 PM

I remember visiting this place during my Southwestern Sampler in 2006. There was a sign out front that read "As seen on Unsolved Mysteries." I also recall you could buy a small container of holy water, but I don't recall how much it cost. FWIW.

Todd Mueller · 04-04-2017, 10:03 PM

Last week, I had a sink full of dirty dishes. I kept hoping they would go away, but they didn't. In fact, the pile got bigger.

After praying about it all weekend, my prayers were answered. A woman appeared who said she could make it all go away. She worked for hours and before I knew it, my sink was clean. I cried tears of joy...

The woman never said her name. But she did look a lot like my wife.

Corkys-Place · 04-06-2017, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd Mueller

Last week, I had a sink full of dirty dishes. I kept hoping they would go away, but they didn't. In fact, the pile got bigger.

You're not the moderator of The Charley Project by any chance?

freakbook · 04-06-2017, 10:41 AM

I gotta say, I typically hate stories like this (miracles, lost loves, psychics, etc). However, this one was touching. I liked it. I'm not religious by any means, and I consider myself a serious skeptic, but this was a nice story.

And to everyone who's saying the nuns are crazy for denying the man's claims, I don't blame them. If some guy randomly showed up and said "my grandfather did this" without proof then I'd be skeptical too. You'd have to wonder how many people came in over the years who claimed them, or someone they knew built the stairs. I'm sure it was a lot. I understand they wanted the more "miracle" or "religious" twist to the story, but they're not wrong for not believing someone with no solid proof.

Whoopie Goldberg should've slid down the stair railing on Sister Act. Party on, Sisters.

RobinW · 04-09-2017, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hostedbyrobertstack

I watched this again and never realized the amazing coincidence....It was actually Brushy Bill Roberts, AKA Billy the Kid, who built the staircase! A man of many talents. HAHA!

I just watched this segment today for the first time in ages and was quite surprised to notice it was the same actor.

"I didn't get these scars building no mystery staircase."

rusty spike · 09-23-2018, 02:30 AM

I find it hard to believe that the church didn't keep better records as to the carpenter that built something very crucial to the function of the church. I mean we're not talking about something minor like replacing a broken window, but a major addition. The church has been known to have amazing record-keeping skills.

Mike82 · 09-24-2018, 07:28 AM

I couldn't understand why this segment was made and what the mystery is. Maybe it's because of knowing my Grandfather: with only an 8th grade education and no formal carpentry or construction training he managed to build an entire house by himself without any sophisticated tools or blueprints and some of his designs were nothing short of genius. Some people like him have amazing carpentry skills: no supernatural explanation required.

02-28-2006, 09:33 PM	#1
greatgarrett2 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 11, 2006 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 544	Mystery Staircase: Some reading you may find interesting Greetings, I was sufing the Net and came across this interesting little link on the Mystery Staircase at Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, NM. It was constructed by an unknown carpenter and had exactly 33 steps, the same number of years Jesus Christ was said to have been on this Earth. Anyone may find this interesting: http://www.theoutlaws.com/unexplained4.htm Cheers, greatgarrett2

04-01-2017, 04:51 AM	#4
DALLASTEXAN!! Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 31, 2007 Location: Devil's Backbone Posts: 3,139	I just watched this segment. I will admit I have a soft spot for it especially compared to the other "miracle" segments because it does have a good story. I do find it ironic that the sisters believe a messenger from god built the stairs to answer their prayer(which is fine by me), but find it a bit ironic that when the carpenter comes with a decent claim that his grandfather built the stairs, they suggest he could be a fraud and want more proof.
	Last edited by DALLASTEXAN!!; 04-01-2017 at 08:25 AM.

03-01-2006, 12:23 AM	#2
Infojunkie Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Apr 02, 2005 Posts: 8	I ran across a couple of articles about the stair case. One about it's construction. I'm not as certain about the miracle properties of the stairs myself, and apparently neither is this author. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...22/ai_21275520 And then another article about the unknown carpenter, whose identity may have been known. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...24/ai_67691830 For anyone who's interested.

03-02-2006, 03:25 AM	#3
Awsi Dooger Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 18, 2003 Location: Miami Posts: 1,537	That's a cute segment. But come on, that 33 steps aspect is wildly overblown. It's like the final combined score of a football game. You know it's going to be somewhere in the norm, not 3 points scored or 200. In the 30 to 50 range much more often than not. Identical application to that staircase. What are we talking about, two stories? That pretty much narrows down the permutations. You're not going to have 300 tiny meandering steps or three steps requiring two high jumps. Stairs are very uniform in dimension. The carpenter probably had a normal range of something like 28 to 38 steps depending on the exact height he made them, plus the scope of the staircase, and it fell on the mid and most likely number of 33. Big deal. It was probably a 25% chance of exactly 33 steps given the necessary height of the staircase, so hardly a biblical miracle. Besides, why was Jesus' supposed age the reference point? Because it was a convenient backfit, that's why. Let's say it had been 36 steps. Do you think someone might have found a biblical reference to the number 36 and claimed miraculous coincidence, and ignored the age aspect? I'd love to bet yes. It reminds me of some of these psychic detective programs. Now, I don't discount the potential benefit of psychics. But they have every built in advantage in the rationalization of a case and what they said. For example, there's one case where the woman psychic proposed a number like 3 was important to the case, and when the body was found the detective was all amazed and said something like, "Well, it was three miles from the turnoff where we located the body, so that's where the 3 came in. She got it right again." I hit the floor in a seizure of laughter.

04-01-2017, 01:44 PM	#6
hostedbyrobertstack Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Feb 23, 2007 Location: OH Posts: 436	I watched this again and never realized the amazing coincidence....It was actually Brushy Bill Roberts, AKA Billy the Kid, who built the staircase! A man of many talents. HAHA!

04-02-2017, 03:21 AM	#7
Awsi Dooger Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 18, 2003 Location: Miami Posts: 1,537	I didn't remember this thread. I was shocked to see that I posted in this thread. I'm very impressed with my post.

04-04-2017, 06:24 PM	#9
Janel "Jaycee" Miller Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Aug 19, 2010 Location: South Jersey Posts: 408	I remember visiting this place during my Southwestern Sampler in 2006. There was a sign out front that read "As seen on Unsolved Mysteries." I also recall you could buy a small container of holy water, but I don't recall how much it cost. FWIW.

04-04-2017, 10:03 PM	#10
Todd Mueller Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 11, 2005 Posts: 1,626	Last week, I had a sink full of dirty dishes. I kept hoping they would go away, but they didn't. In fact, the pile got bigger. After praying about it all weekend, my prayers were answered. A woman appeared who said she could make it all go away. She worked for hours and before I knew it, my sink was clean. I cried tears of joy... The woman never said her name. But she did look a lot like my wife.

04-06-2017, 10:41 AM	#12
freakbook Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 10, 2017 Posts: 2,256	I gotta say, I typically hate stories like this (miracles, lost loves, psychics, etc). However, this one was touching. I liked it. I'm not religious by any means, and I consider myself a serious skeptic, but this was a nice story. And to everyone who's saying the nuns are crazy for denying the man's claims, I don't blame them. If some guy randomly showed up and said "my grandfather did this" without proof then I'd be skeptical too. You'd have to wonder how many people came in over the years who claimed them, or someone they knew built the stairs. I'm sure it was a lot. I understand they wanted the more "miracle" or "religious" twist to the story, but they're not wrong for not believing someone with no solid proof. Whoopie Goldberg should've slid down the stair railing on Sister Act. Party on, Sisters.

09-23-2018, 02:30 AM	#14
rusty spike Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 08, 2015 Location: Southwest Posts: 1,124	I find it hard to believe that the church didn't keep better records as to the carpenter that built something very crucial to the function of the church. I mean we're not talking about something minor like replacing a broken window, but a major addition. The church has been known to have amazing record-keeping skills.

09-24-2018, 07:28 AM	#15
Mike82 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 19, 2017 Posts: 299	I couldn't understand why this segment was made and what the mystery is. Maybe it's because of knowing my Grandfather: with only an 8th grade education and no formal carpentry or construction training he managed to build an entire house by himself without any sophisticated tools or blueprints and some of his designs were nothing short of genius. Some people like him have amazing carpentry skills: no supernatural explanation required.