What follows is the record from the team’s return to the laboratory onward.
Based on subsequent news reports, Mercer and her colleagues believe that the forced withdrawal was probably due to a safety assessment concerning unexploded ordnance and abandoned munitions dating from World War II.
It was later learned that the U.S. military had also taken part in the safety assessment in the area at the time.
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As for the magnetic measurements, the hypothesis formed before the withdrawal largely held up under subsequent analysis.
A magnetic rock body that acts as a magnetic source is likely present beneath TB-3, particularly around the cavity.
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In an experiment conducted the day before the withdrawal, Mercer confirmed that magnetic readings were locally elevated near the cavity and varied with the position and orientation of a steel survey stake.
The results suggest that, in their original configuration, the stakes canceled part of the local magnetic field, keeping the readings at approximately 9–10 nT. When the stake configuration changed, this canceling effect weakened, allowing the readings to rise to approximately 48 nT. The subsequent return to approximately 9–10 nT after the stakes were restored to their original positions is consistent with this interpretation.
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Further analysis was carried out on the greenish-gray particles in the pottery sherds.
The particles were derived from hydrothermally altered volcanic rock containing chlorite.
Their mineralogical characteristics were very similar to those of rock samples obtained around TB-3.
No definitive conclusion can be drawn, but it is now more likely that at least some of the raw material originated in the surrounding geological environment.
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Andrea still seemed unable to remember what had happened during the several-hour period when her whereabouts were unknown.
It is tempting to suspect a connection between her memory loss and the magnetic anomaly.
However, it is difficult to imagine that even a magnetic field of several teslas could cause a memory gap lasting several hours.
If anything, Andrea herself is now actively investigating what happened that night.
The coin she had been holding was identified as an old coin of Portuguese origin.
What was unusual was that it showed quite strong remanent magnetization.
Compared with coins made of the same material, its remanent magnetization was clearly higher.
The reason remains unknown.
At one point, while they were talking about it, Thomas said with a laugh,
“Maybe this was a thank-you from the Ebu Gogo for the stakes they took. The two missing stakes still haven’t turned up, right?”
Andrea laughed and continued.
“True. Maybe they collect things that respond to magnetism and took the stakes down to their underground den.”
Somehow, the cavity had come to be referred to as the Ebu Gogo’s den.
“I think the stakes were in the way because they were weakening the magnetic field inside the cavity.”
Even Ronald joined in, adding a joke of his own.
In the laboratory, the Ebu Gogo had somehow become a running joke.
Whenever something could not be explained, someone brought up the name.
The mud left in Andrea’s room became part of that theory too.
The idea was that the Ebu Gogo had come to her room to pick her up.
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Certainly, if everything that happened on Flores was linked to the Ebu Gogo, it was easy to form a hypothesis.
But a hypothesis and evidence are not the same thing.
As for the small shadow Mercer herself had seen on the final night, perceptual error or hallucination could not be completely ruled out.
Fatigue, limited visibility in the low light, and the brevity of the sighting all left that possibility open.
As of October 2026
Permission to resume excavation at the site has still not been granted.
What “that” was.
Why so many anomalies came together in that place.
Mercer still has not reached a clear answer.
Flores Island: The TB-3 Record