Flaxen Cords ~ A Connection between Secret Combinations and Ancient Khipu ~ Bret A. Eborn

Flaxen Cords ~ A Connection between Secret Combinations and Ancient Khipu Knotted Devices – by Bret Eborn. FACT PRESS: Salt Lake City, Utah, 2017. 100 pages. Hardbound with dust jacket. ISBN 9781890718312.

I am perfectly capable of seeing the possibilities here. Eborn’s thesis informs not just Mormon studies but also, if true, the fields of archaeology and anthropology. — Jeffrey Needle (Association of Mormon Letters).

“Eborn tells us he has a theory he cannot prove, then presents us with a tantalizing idea that shows his hypothesis is reasonable, plausible, and very likely true. His honesty establishes his credibility while presenting a scenario that leaves one thinking he might just be right. Mormon presents us with a sophisticated underground network of spies, moles and murders. He implicitly asks, but never answers the question: How did they communicate in a way that the Nephites could not intercept their messages? The answer has to be that they used some kind of code. That is the way it is always done. Now Eborn has shown us what may well be that undecipherable code. It has always been there to see, but as is true with the best of codes, those who know, know what it says, and those who do not know cannot know. It was a Morris Code-type system using a series of knots on string rather than sound. Anyone who saw the string could see the knots but only those who knew the code could read them. Eborn has recognized what the knots were, but cannot tell us what they say. So he leaves us on the precipice of a titillating adventure, having the treasure map in our hands and not knowing where to begin searching. Eborn’s book is a clever “who done it” that lays out all the clues and presents them to us as viable evidence, but only lets us peek into the secrets of the crime. It is the rationale of the work and our own sense of dangling on the edge of an unsolvable mystery that makes this book such a delightful read — LeGrand Baker (author of Murder of the Mormon Prophet).

Bret introduces some very interesting research into the controversial world of Book of Mormon Archaeology and Anthropology. While some have spent time looking at geographical research, Bret Eborn takes a decidedly unique and relatively unexplored approach to finding connections from ancient history to the text we have today–through secret combinations and a possible method of communication that they used that closely ties to evidences found in an ancient form of talking knots (in rope) called Quipu. The author offers a rather compelling and yet wide open thesis for the possibility of ancient contexts or explanations for how the Gadianton Robbers were able to exist and communicate, in secret, for generations. While not a long book, there is nothing quite like it making it both an interesting read, and the best book to-date on this subject. — Nick Galieti (author of Tree of Sacrament and the Producer of the Documentaries, Picturing Joseph  and Murder of the Mormon Prophet).

The Book of Mormon continues to amaze us, spiritually, of course, but also because we can keep finding new things in it that relate it to the ancient world. This book concerns one of these. Although there is no “proof,” Bret Eborn’s book shows that it’s quite possible that when Nephi spoke of the devil leading his victims with a “flaxen cord,” he intended a double meaning; perhaps there really were flaxen cords used for evil purposes. When Alma discussed the devil “working devices” to destroy God’s people, these may have been literal devices. This is a fascinating read… — Richard Gardner, Professor at Southern Virginia University (author of Heart of the Gospel).