This intriguing question has attracted the attention of free thinkers, scientists and a wide assortment of crackpots back through the ages.
The most ancient of stories of modern mankind can be found written on the clay tablets of Mesopotamia. Two, “Gilgamesh” (Table XII) and “The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld”, are about adventures among different kinds of creatures inside the earth. 1
Plato wrote of enormous subterranean tunnels both broad and narrow that made up the earth’s interior.
Dr. Edmond Halley, of comet fame, believed that all heavenly bodies were hollow and in a speech before the members of the Royal Society of London stated,
“Beneath the crust of the Earth, which is 500 feet thick, is a hollow void”. Then there was Leonard Euler (1707-1783), noted mathematician and one of the founders of higher mathematics. He stated that, “mathematically the Earth has to be hollow”. He also believed there “was a center sun inside the Earth’s interior, which provided daylight to a splendid subterranean civilization.” 2
Next came Captain John Cleves Symmes, war hero of the War of 1812.
Once his studies led him to believe in a Hollow Earth, he used his knowledge to convince James McBride, a Miami Ohio millionaire. Mr. McBride used his political connections to Rep. Richard M. Johnson (D) of Kentucky [later vice-president under Van Buren 1837-18411] to petition congress to finance an expedition to claim the lands inside the earth for the U.S. The petition, by a vote of 56-46 was tabled. 3
The Hollow Earth was next theorized by William Reed in his 1906 book “The Phantom of The Poles”. Based on his studies of early Arctic explorations and scientific evidence, he states that the Earth is not solid as widely believed, but hollow with openings at both ends.
In the summary of his revolutionary theory, Reed states:
“The Earth is hollow. The Poles, so long sought, are phantoms. There are openings at the northern and southern extremities. In the interior are vast continents, oceans, mountains and rivers. Vegetable and animal life are evident in this New World and it is probably peopled by races unknown to dwellers on the Earth’s surface”. 4
Marshall B. Gardner reached the same conclusions after 20 years of researched and published his finding in “A Journey to the Earth’s Interior, or, Have the Poles Really Been Discovered” in 1913, revised 1920.
He was unaware of Reed or his theory at the time.
Mr. Gardner puts forth the argument that neither Cook nor Peary reached the True North Pole since, according to the theory, it does not exist. Mr. Gardner states:
“Scientific societies that considered Cook’s and Peary’s claims concluded that in neither case could it be said authoritatively that the explorer had reached the pole”. 5
This controversy still exists today.
Science fiction writers have had a field day with the theory. Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth, Edgar Rice Borrough’s “Tarzan at the Earth’s Core” and scores of other authors have let their talents run wild in the Inner World. Grade-B film makers know a good theme when they find one also.
Then there are those people who claim to have visited the interior of our planet. Olaf Janson’s “The Smoky God”, is one such story that comes to mind. Another is “EDIDORPHA or The End Of The Earth” by John Uri Lloyd published in 1895.
Ray Palmer was one of the first researchers and reporters on the UFO scene during the 50s and 60s. In his ground breaking publications “Flying Saucers” and Search Magazine he speculated that, because UFOs have been seen in earth’s sky throughout history , they may very well be from our earth, in fact, evidence seemed to indicate that UFOs could very well come from a subterranean world inside our earth.
Then on the cover of “Flying Saucers” magazine issue #69 – June 1970 and in issue #92 of “Search Magazine” published in July of 1970, the late Mr. Palmer published a photo that is still a controversy.
Excerpts from his Editorial in the above mentioned “Flying Saucers” magazine tell it best:
“On the cover this month we reproduce the most remarkable photo ever made. It was taken by the ESSA-7 satellite on November 23, 1968 the North Pole photo lacking clouds in the polar area, therefore reveals the surface of the planet.
Although, surrounding the polar area, and north of such areas as the North American continent and Greenland and the Asian continent, we can see the ice-fields 8-foot thick ice we do not see any ice fields in a large circular area directly at the geographic pole.
Instead we see THE HOLE!” 6
The ESSA-3 Photograph
The first photograph referred to by McElwaine was taken by ESSA-3 on January 6, 1967:
The caption includes the words “clearly showing the hole at the North Pole.” If this is indeed the case, then it is nothing short of remarkable, as the North Pole is in complete darkness at this time of year!
There are other extremely suspicious things about this photograph. Not just the “hole”, but the entire visible hemisphere of the Earth is in sunlight – clearly impossible unless the pole is oriented directly toward the sun. This is not, of course, the case. At no time during January 1967 was the entire Northern Hemisphere simultaneously bathed in sunlight.
Oh, and another thing. If the interior of the Earth is illuminated by “a glowing ball of plasma, about 600 miles in diameter”, why don’t we see a bright disk instead of a dark hole?
Answer: it’s a composite photo. ESSA-3 was a polar-orbiting satellite, and this image is a clearly a montage produced by NASA from a number of separate half-lit images to give a measure of global cloud cover.
The ESSA-7 Photograph
Here is McElwaine’s second photograph, taken by ESSA-7 on November 23, 1968:
The photograph taken by the satellite Essa-7, with the “hole” that has so alarmed the American public.
It is the “hole” that would lead to the center of the earth, to cities and fabulous “bases” of UFOs!
In fact this “hole” comes from the limit of the photographic coverage of the satellite, which, since its orbit does not see to the pole …
Again, the same observations about lighting apply to this photograph. January 6 is as close to midwinter as makes no odds, and everything within the Arctic Circle should be completely hidden from view.
It’s a composite image again. Long, straight lines radiate from the edge of the “hole” at around 7 o’clock and 9 o’clock, reaching the the Equator, and in the case of the 7 o’clock line, considerably further, indicating that this is stuck together from several smaller images. The bright rim is almost certainly and edge-of-frame artifact from the camera rather than any physical effect.
If there were indeed holes at the poles, why do we not see them in pictures taken from the ESSA satellites in July, for example?
In 1981 I came into possession of another group of NASA photos showing earth from deep in space which, not only substantiates the ESSA-7 photos, but adds weight to another feature of the hollow earth theory.
At this point any practical person will start to ask themselves, if this is all true why isn’t it common and accepted knowledge. As Ray Palmer said in one of his articles:
” A government that will not tell you what they know about UFOs would certainly keep the origin of then a secret”.
Then there are those researchers who say some of us spend entirely too much time looking at the poles.
“Certain researchers swear the earth is shaped like a giant doughnut and that holes at the poles provide an entrance into the inner lands. “Not so!” shouts another group. “Entrance to the interior world can be gained only by entering a cave and discovering the subterranean tunnels.””
Most of the people who claim to have visited the inner lands arrive there through old mine shafts, caves and subterranean tunnels.
Others claim to have traveled through extent volcanoes. There is good solid evidence supporting all these theories. Evidence also supports the possibility of other hidden entrances to the inner realms in The Bermuda Triangle and other strange areas around the world. 7
One of these areas of interest in the Pacific Northwestern area of the United States. It was in this area that the name “Flying Saucers” was first heard.
“On June 24, 1947, Kenneth Arnold, a businessman and commercial pilot from Boise, Idaho, was flying past Mount Rainier, in Mount Rainier National Park, State of Washington, when he sighted a strange formation of nine luminous saucer-shaped objects. He related this unusual experience to newsmen and news of the mysterious objects dubbed “flying saucers” was spread nationwide”. 8
UFOs are quite common in the area. In fact the thousands of miles of untrodden land that makes up the extreme Northwestern part of America hides many unexplained mysteries.
This is the land of “Bigfoot” or “Sasquatch” as the local Native Americans call him.
In connection with our research into different possibilities we offer the following interesting story which was reported in the January 1975 issue of “Saga” by B. Ann Slate:
“In April 1974, Psychic Joyce Partise of Southern California held a sealed envelope in her hands. Unknown to her, that envelope contained a photograph of a Sasquatch footprint {Ms Partise said] “These things are coming from outer space – it’s an outer space war! The first area will be Portland, Oregon. There’s a mountain with a hole in it.
Someone should investigate this mountain because they’re down in there already. You know those hairy things that run around, the ape man? He’s not an ape. They’re underground, in contact with outer space and their intentions toward mankind is total destruction!.. this gorilla man – there’s a civilization of thousands of them their eyes are extremely light sensitive from being underground.
These tunnels I’m seeing is part of their habitation. They’ve dug them. I think it may even go into California” 9
Just south of the Oregon – California border the snow-capped peak of mysterious Mt. Shasta keeps her secrets.
Locally there are whispers of certain merchants quietly doing business, for gold, with strange young looking men with piercing blue eyes wearing unusual clothing and footwear, who mysteriously, upon completing their business fade away into the wilderness. Are these mysterious consumers from the legendary underground city of “Telos” said to exist under Mt. Shasta?
Could they actually be descendants of the lost continent of “Lemuria”. Could the strange men seen in the small communities of the area be on a “munchies run” for their underground friends?
Anything is possible in the realm of the underground.
- Myths From Mesopotamia. Stephanie Dalley. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press. 1989
- This Hollow Earth. Eric Norman. New York: Lancer Books. 1972
- History of Congress. The Congressional Record. January 1823. Pages 698-699 “Symmes Theory”
- Phantom of the Poles. William Reed. New York: Walter S. Rockey Company. 1906
- A Journey to the Earth’s Interior. Marshall B. Gardner. Aurora, Illinois. By the Author. 1920
- Flying Saucers. #69 – June 1970. Ray Palmer (Publisher).
- The Under-People. Eric Norman. New York: Award Books. 1969
- The UFO Guidebook. Compiled by Norman J. Briazack & Simon Mennick. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press. 1978
- Saga Magazine; “UFO Gods and Inner Space”, by B. Ann Slade; Jan 17, 1975
