During one of Ron's trips to the site in the mid-eighties, the individual earlier mentioned, also present, set out to find "Reshit". And, as things go, the locals obliged him and returned with a man named "Reshit", then about 60 years old. To make a long story short, this "new Reshit", through a translator, provided the story this man had come to believe. The tale was retold: "Reshit" was out in his field one day when an earthquake struck. Up from his field popped a ship. It was NOT on Mt. Ararat. And, of course, everyone believed it was Noah's Ark. Further "details" emerged- the earthquake struck on May 15, 1948, which happened to be the day Israel became a state. By now, the original 1948 report bore no resemblance to this "new" tale. See Isaiah 50:11.

At the time the interview took place with the "new Reshit", Ron's Turkish liaison, Mine Unler, and the governor of the province of Agri, Gov. Sevket Ekinci, were also in Dogubeyazit. After seeing what was taking place, Ron asked the governor (through Mine) to ask Reshit if he was telling the truth. In the lobby of the Ararat Hotel (now the Isfahan Hotel), the Gov. went over to Reshit and questioned him. Reshit readily admitted that a group of men had come to him and asked him if he would like to "make a tourist happy" and also "make some money". Of course, he was more than willing. When brought to the hotel, all he did was "follow the lead" when questioned, answering in the affirmative when asked each detail. "Var, var, var!". (Yes, yes, yes!") Money exchanged hands and everyone was happy. Of course, once he learned what the story was, he repeated it when questioned.

When Ron told the man who was with him ( who had sought the "new Reshit") what the governor had said, he would not believe it. He had gotten the story he wanted and seemed to believe it was true.

That some people actually try to "create" their own reality is seen in another example involving this very same ark story. Lloyd R. Bailey, in his book, "Where is Noah's Ark", pub. by Abingdon (1978) recounts on pp. 56 & 57, the 1949 expedition of A. J. Smith, the dean of a small Bible College in North Carolina. Smith's "goal was to locate Reshit, hire him to serve as guide, and verify that the ark had at last been discovered. Unfortunately, however, Reshit could not be found. A search of villages `for 100 miles around' failed to produce anyone who claimed ever to have seen the ark or even anyone who had heard the story."

Author Bailey goes on to discuss the authors of another book on the ark, and how they "are so predisposed to believe such secondhand hearsay that they seek to explain away Smith's on-the-spot evidence (or lack of it)."

Another thing the original article about Reshit's story mentions is that "There is no folklore there about the ark,..." This is exactly what Ron discovered when he first began his field work in Turkey. His required Turkish liaisons traveled with him to a large number of villages in the region, asking about information on a large ship in the area. No one knew anything about a ship, much less Noah's Ark.

There is a good reason for this. In 1915-1917 the original inhabitants of this region were completely run out, and the people who "moved in" had no knowledge whatsoever of any "folklore" of the region. Being tribal and closed to communication with any neighbors (just as they are today) they had no knowledge of the history or folklore of the region.

Sadly, serious researchers studying the evidences of Noah's Ark, have innocently accepted the "new" story of "Reshit" as being factual because they did not have access to "the whole story". That is the sole reason we have discussed it here.

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