Resumo de Motel Of The Mysteries

In 1985 all forms of life in North America are destroyed by a cataclysmic coincidence involving junk mail and air pollution which instantaneously preserved this "lost" civilization under hardened layers of detritus. Two millenia later scholars and souvenir-hunters have begun to unearth the archaeological record. The observation that the continent was covered by a network of large gray and black stripes (the interstate highway system) leads to the conclusion that these stripes were planned as landing strips for extraterrestrial crafts or, perhaps, as coded messages from the inhabitants of the continent to their gods in the sky. The clustering of monumental inscriptions mounted on huge poles along the sides of these highways are assumed to represent different religious sects or varying points of view. Over the years religious significance is also assumed to be the best explanation for the exposed pinnacles of New York City's skyscrapers and the St. Louis Arch.

In a parady of archaeologist Howard Carter's discovery and excavation of the tob of King Tut in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, a European dillettante discovers what he believes to be an ancient North American burial site, undefiled by tomb-robbers as indicated by the sacred seal still in place on the door -- "Do Not Disturb". Using modern archaeological methods, the group painstakingly records every nuance of the entrance to tomb 26, including its "sacred eye" believed to ward off evil spirits (the peephole) and "containers in which the sacrifical meal was offered to the gods of eternal life" which had been left on a tray on the floor outside the door. When the door is finally opened and lighting moved into place, the group asks if anything can be seen within. "Yes", the archaeologist replies, "wonderful things!"

A detailed excavation report follows recoding the funerary goods of the two bodies found within the "tomb" and the presumed religious significance of each item. The most important artifact discovered is termed the "Great Altar", a magnificent square structure of plastic and glass wired into the wall, toward which everything else in the outer chamber is directed. Although seeminly capable of communication with a large number of gods, the altar was assumed to have been intended primarly for communication with the gods MOVIEA and MOVIEB. Some aspect of this communication was dependent upon pounding the surfaces of the altar as judged by impact marks on the top and sides. Communication with the altar was symbolically continued into eternal life by placing a small communicator box in the hand of the deceased lying in a ceremonial bed facing the great altar. Another interred body was found lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber wearing a ceremonial burial cap made of flexible "plasticus".

Souvenir reporductions of the most important artifacts are made available following the excavation report. The book ends with an epilogue lamenting the tragic deaths of the main excavators and the possibility of a curse surrounding Tomb 26.

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