This is a set of web collections curated by Mark Graham using the Archive-IT service of the Internet Archive. They include web captures of the ISKME.org website as well as captures from sites hosted by IGC.org.These web captures are available to the general public.For more information about this collection please feel free to contact Mark via Send Mail ||||| A human sacrifice has been staged in the grounds of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, the home of the God Particle. 
 
 A video circulating online shows hooded figures apparently engaging in a ritual, staged under a huge statue of a Hindu deity, at the end of which a woman is stabbed. 
 
 But the footage appears to have been recorded as part of a prank by scientists at Europe’s top physics lab, which serves as the home of the Lagre Hadron Collider. The identity and motives of those behind the video hasn’t yet been discovered. 
 
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 In the footage itself, multiple people are shown wearing long, flowing black robes – and one appears to have hiking boots on underneath. They are depicted walking around, before a woman moves onto the floor and is apparently stabbed. 
 
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 As that happens, the person who is supposedly recording the video appears to react – firing out expletives and apparently running away, which causes the camera to move away from the scene before it is cut off. 
 
 The ceremony took place under the large states of the Hindu deity Shiva, which permanently stands at the complex. In both the video and real life, it is lit from below – which means that a huge shadow is cast across the building behind. 
 
 The Shiva statue was a “gift from India to celebrate its association with Cern”, according to the institution’s website. 
 
 “This deity was chosen by the Indian government because of a metaphor that was drawn between the cosmic dance of the Nataraj and the modern study of the ‘cosmic dance’ of subatomic particles,” the organisation says on a website unrelated to the prank. “India is one of CERN’s observer states, along with the USA, Russia and Japan. 
 
 A Cern spokesperson confirmed that the video had been filmed there, but said that it had been made without permission or knowledge. Cern said that it doesn’t “condone this type of spoof” because it can “give rise to misunderstandings about the scientific nature of our work”. 
 
 It’s far from the firs time that scientific work has been associated with the occult or the mystical. Because of the highly-specialised – and often terrifying – work that goes on at Cern, it has become a haven of speculation for conspiracy theorists and anxious people. 
 
 Many have suggested that the Large Hadron Collider could bring about a black hole in the Earth, or that something is going on there that would allow people to access new forms of power that would be wielded against the Earth. Others still have said that the work might open a portal to another dimension – an apparent extrapolation from the fact that the work going on there might allow scientists to test theories about the presence of other dimensions. 
 
 Others have claimed that Cern’s work is meant to prove that God doesn’t exist, another claim that the institution has been forced to rebut on its website. 
 
 “People from all over the world work together harmoniously at CERN, representing all regions, religions and cultures,” an FAQ page says. “CERN exists to understand the mystery of nature for the benefit of humankind. 
 
 “Scientists at CERN use the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental particles. Particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. This process gives the physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature." 
 
 The campus has a range of security measures, ensuring that everyone on the grounds is either an official scientist or a visitor – and those involved in the ceremony appear to have had their ID checked. Cern hasn’t said who took part in the prank, but the woman at least does appear to be identifiable in the footage. 
 
 Many of those people come from around the world to the site, to partake in scientific work or to speak with people who are doing so. A Cern spokesperson appeared to blame such people, saying that “some of them let their humour go too far”. 
 
 An article has been added to the FAQ page of Cern’s social media pages, which makes the same claim. In response to the question “I have seen a video of a strange ritual at CERN, is it real?” the page says that it isn’t. 
 
 “No, this video is a work of fiction. CERN fills up with visitors over summer, with users from across the world who come to CERN as part of their work, and some of whom occasionally let their sense of humour go too far, and that is what has happened on this occasion. CERN does not condone this kind of spoof.”
– "Prankster" may not be the first word that comes to mind when describing a scientist, but a group of them at Switzerland's European Organization for Nuclear Research (aka CERN) may have just elevated the term in an odd and creepy way. The Guardian reports the research organization is looking into a video that popped up online last week showing what appears to be a mock human sacrifice, filmed in the dead of night at CERN's Geneva headquarters (where the Large Hadron Collider is housed). The Blair Witch-style tape, shot from the POV of a person watching from a window above one of the lab's main squares, shows a woman in white being pretend-stabbed amid a group of black-cloaked mysteriosos (the Independent notes one appears to be wearing hiking boots) in front of a statue of the Hindu deity Shiva. "These scenes were filmed on our premises but without official permission or knowledge," a CERN rep informed AFP via email, adding the organization frowns upon such a "spoof" as it can "give rise to misunderstandings about the scientific nature of our work." Snopes notes CERN and the Large Hadron Collider have become "conspiracy magnets" because of the complicated research there, with some even insisting that scientists are plotting to take over the Earth or open a portal to hell. Although the video raises concern about campus security, the lab's rep stresses that entry to the campus is secure and that the disguised occult wannabes must have had access badges. "CERN welcomes every year thousands of scientific users from all over the world, and sometimes some of them let their humor go too far," she says. (CERN has been trying to keep Satan at arm's length.)