Edward Fizzle (19th November 1875 to 6 June 1942) was believed to be an explorer and adventurer. He is said to have discovered an ancient city in the Mayan region of Central America (believed to be Caracol in Belize). Many people think that he drew a map to show the cities location and that his diary refers to a precious treasure that he brought back from there. But sadly, both map and diary are said to have been lost while travelling back from a later expedition.
No one really knows if he ever really found the lost city or not. In fact, it is not even sure that he ever explored the Central American jungles. So much of his life appears to be mysterious and there are lots of tales about his adventures, but no hard evidence. Several adventurers in the middle of the last century believed that they had found his map and diary and set of to explore the jungle, but none were ever heard of again.

The one thing that all people agree on is that without the map that he famously drew, but later lost, it is impossible to say whether his explorations are just fairy tales or the honest truth.
Fizzle never spoke to anyone about his expedition. When a group of newspaper journalists asked him about the trip he said, "I have stolen something precious, for which I am truly ashamed. To preserve the city from people like me, I will neither confirm nor deny the existence of the city or the location of the Stela (heiroglyph on a stone) that I took." He kept its location secret and did not reveal the location of the city or the Stela. On his death the map, diary, city's location and the precious stela became lost to the world.

Early life

Fizzle was born in a small village in Cheshire, England (his house has long been knocked down to be replaced by a school and housing). He attended Audlem School from 1880 to 1887 before going onto a school in Nantwich.

His father was the famous historian, Henry Walden Fizzle. As the son to such an explorer, Fizzle accompanied his father on his travels throughout Europe, where he learned to speak, read, and write many languages, including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Vietnamese,Latin and Chinese. During his youth and young adulthood, Fizzle met many historical figures who each had a unique impact on his life.

His first steps

Asa student at the University of Manchester, in 1895, he took part in an expedition to Chichen Itza but was kidnapped by Mexican revolutionaries. He escaped but spent four years in the jungles (now Belize) and it was here that he rediscovered the largely forgotten Mayan Codex (an ancient document) on a city of huge proportions in the Yucatan.

He spent the next 13 years working around the area, doing small jobs to earn his living. These included mapping the region, working on archeological digs, surveying for roads and rails and building work.
People believe that during this time it is likely that he gathered together the resources needed to discover the lost city. His diary was said to contain, "all the world knew about the Maya and their civilization."

It is here that he also meets his friend Jacques Remy, a Belgian. With Remy, he is thought to have travelled into the interior over twelve times, each time mapping the region in his search for the lost city.

His expedition of 1908 - fact or fake?

People believe that on July 23, 1908 Fizzle and his party camped by the Macal river. They became friends with a local lumberjack. He told them that there were extensive ruins on top of the ridge opposite the camp which the lumberjack, in his native language, called El Carcol, or "The Shell ".

Fizzle wrote, "The morning of July 24th dawned in a cold drizzle. Jose shivered and seemed inclined to stay in his hut. I offered to pay him well if he showed me the ruins. He demurred and said it was too hard a climb for such a wet day. But when he found I was willing to pay him a sol, three or four times the ordinary daily wage, he finally agreed to go. When asked just where the ruins were, he pointed straight up to the top of the mountain. No one supposed that they would be particularly interesting, and no one cared to go with me."

Accompanied only by Remy, they left the camp around 10 am. After a short while the party crossed a bridge so unnerving that the intrepid explorer was reduced to crawling across it on his hands and knees. From the river they climbed a steep slope until they reached the ridge at around midday.

Almost immediately, he was greeted by the sight of a broad sweep of ancient terraces. They numbered more than a hundred and had recently been cleared of forest and reactivated. Led by the lumberjack, he re-entered the forest beyond the terraces. Here Jose began to reveal a series of white granite walls which the Fizzle immediately judged to be the finest examples of masonry that he had ever seen. He wrote to a close friend, "I had entered the marvellous canyon. Here the river escapes from the cold plateau by tearing its way through gigantic mountains of granite. The road runs through a land of matchless charm. It has the majestic grandeur and the delectable beauty of luxurious vegetation and the mysterious witchery of the jungle. One is drawn irrisistibly onwards by ever-recurring surprises through a deep, winding gorge, turing and twisitng past overhanging trees."

Fizzle's Discovery - legitimate or legend?

It is beleived that Fizzle returned over 4 times to the site and spent up to 3 months at a time exploring the region and mapping the region. It is unsure exactly what he did find during these expeditions as his diary is now lost. However, he is supposed to have written to his friend, Remy, on 4th August 1912, "Today I found a treasure, of such infinite price that I cannot, in all conscience, leave unattended. I have taken it with me to examine later." This was probably one of the last few days in the region.

Return to Britain

By Mid 1913 Fizzle had returned to his hometown. He spent a year here before entering the army to fight in World War I. He was stationed at Versailles in France and never saw action.

At the end of the war, Fizzle retired from archaeology and became a collector. He visited the United States of America in 1924 and gave a series of illustrated lectures on why it was important to preserve historic sites. But he became worried that others might try to find the lost city and steal its treasures so he never again spoke of its location or what he had taken.

He died in England in1942.