OOMS is the acronym for On the Origin of Mysterious Structures. It is a story that started on simonburrow.com/ yesterday.  BTW the name is a takeoff on Darwin’s classic “On the Origin of Species.”  I expect that, in the fullness of time, OOMS will be as significant a work as Darwin’s.

We went on a walking tour in Maine in September and while walking on Monhegan Island between the harbor

and the high cliff

we passed through a wooded glade.

Nestled in the roots of the trees were some mysterious little houses.

Our guide called them “fairy houses” and we stopped for a few minutes to admire them.  She explained that this was an enchanted wood that was the home of a forgotten group of faries.  Before long she suggested that we might like to help build some new houses for the fairies to replace the ones that had been destroyed by the long winter or some such malarkey. We took the bait and for a short while we were busy building little fairy houses.

It was only a few days ago that I realized that this event in Maine offered a solution to the puzzle of the Mysterious rock piles on Maui.  The answer is tour guides.  They distract their groups and help them to bond with each other and the area by allowing them to participate in what becomes a self perpetuating mystery.  Everybody benefits from this tiny subterfuge.  Tourism is slightly enhanced.  The tourists are entertained at no cost.  A little mystery is good in every-one’s life and we all connect a bit more.

Tomorrow two more examples that provide more evidence to support my brilliant solution to the mysterious structures mystery.