Theory of Hollow Earth

Jaylen Johnson

Most people who know who Edmond Halley is, know that he discovered that comets have elliptical orbits and he also has a comet named after him, Halley’s Comet. Not only did Edmond Halley discover this observation of comets, but he is the creator of the hollow earth theory. As he studied the Earth’s magnetic field, he noticed that the earth had a problem in its magnetic variations especially at the north and south poles. In 1692, he presented his theory to the British society. Edmond Halley’s theory was that the Earth was hollow and on the inside there were three smaller circles. He stated that the circles had their own magnetic field causing the magnetic variations at the Earth’s poles. The most amazing aspect of his theory was that he believed that there may be life inside of the Earth in between the gaps of these three smaller spheres. Over time, Halley’s theory has been altered by believers to what they actually thought was the case of Earth being hollow making this seem to be a psuedoscience.

This theory of Earth being hollow has much controversy surrounding it because there are so many possibilities that individuals have come up with based on Edmond Halley’s original theory. According to Eric Grunhauser, in his article “The Hollow Earth Is Filled With Giants, Germans, and A Little Sun”, some individuals believe that Hitler and the Germans made it to hollow Earth by making a deal with the people of hollow Earth. Most believers view the inside of hollow Earth to be a paradise or UTOPIA http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/utopia where technology is more advanced than on the surface and the people who live there are descendants of ancient civilizations.

John Cleeves Symmes was another major believer of Earth being hollow. He was a war of 1812 hero and wrote letters and gave lectures about Earth being hollow. Eventually made actions to go to the poles and find entrances to the hollow Earth. Even though he found no entrances to hollow earth at the poles he didn’t stop believing that the earth was hollow and kept informing people of the Earth being hollow until he died in 1849. A man named Cyrus Teed came up with the theory that the whole universe was inside of a shell and we were living on the inside of earth. He described when we look up that the moon and other planets to be an illusion and stars to be reflections of light. Teed created his own cult in Estero, Florida named Koreshan Unity, and lasted from 1894 to when Cyrus Teed died in 1908.

From my research, the hollow earth theory is really controversial because there are so many different views on this topic of whether the earth is hollow or not. What if the Earth is actually hollow? What’s inside? Who’s inside?

Works Cited:

Clark, Jerome. “Hollow Earth.” Unexplained!: Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena, Visible Ink Press, 2012, Credo Reference, search.credoreference.com/content/entry/vipunex/hollow_earth/0. Accessed 10 Oct 2016.

Edmund Halley Hollow Earth. 2016, www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/hollow/3shell.gif

Grundauser, Eric. “The Hollow Earth Is Filled With Giants, Germans, and A Little Sun.” Atlas Obscura, 10 Oct. 2016, atlasobscura.com/articles/the-hollow-earth-is-filled-with-giants-germans-and-a-little-sun.

Inside Hollow Earth. 2014, ghosthuntingtheories.com, www.2.bp.blogspot.com/-aPkqv0aBx_U/VAVZIaSIxeI/AAAAAAAAw6s/YhJ7WbjxL9c/s1600/map%2Bhollow%2Bearth.jpg

Nwachukwu, Fedora C. “HOLLOW EARTH THEORY” Can of Mystery, 10 Oct. 2016, canofmystery.blogspot.com/2012/10/hollow-earth-theory.html

Sinnema, Peter W. “We have Adventured to Make the Earth Hollow" Edmond Halley's Extravagant Hypothesis.” Perspectives on Science. Winter2014, vol. 22, no. 4, Dec. 2014, pp. 423-448. Academic Search Premier, doi:10.1162/POSC_a_00144.

Whistel, Brad. “Walter Siegmeister's Inner-Earth Utopia,” Utopian Studies: Journal of the Society for Utopian Studies. UtopSt, Jan. 2001, pp. 82-102. MLA International Bibliography, www.jstor.org.ezproxy.usca.edu:2048/stable/20718317

Links for further research:

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21Z-4IoCdWU

This video is about the Hollow Earth theory by Kristan T. Harris.

Hollow Earth Theory

http://hollowearthresearch.com/hollow-earth-theory/

This is an article on a website totally about the hollow earth theory.

Hollow Earth Theory

https://moonconspiracy.wordpress.com/hollow-earth-theory/

This is an article on the hollow earth theory, from a website about conspiracies

Hollow Earth Theory

Author: Fedora C. Nwachukwu

 What comes to your mind when you hear (or see) the words, ‘Hollow Earth Theory?’ Most likely you think of some kind of space in the middle of the Earth. Well, the hollow Earth theory is a 17^th century scientific theory that the Earth has cavities or spaces in it, and life could possibly exist in those spaces. From my research, I found this theory to be quite controversial and considered a pseudoscience. There are two major variations to the hollow Earth theory. According to David Standish in his book, “Hollow Earth: The Long and Curious History of Imagining Strange Lands, Fantastical Creatures, Advanced Civilizations, and Marvelous Machines Below the Earth Surface,” some people believe, the Earth is hollow and at certain points, we can go inside the Earth and find an advanced civilization, while others believe, we are all living inside the hollow Earth, the Earth’s surface is concave and instead of looking out to the heavens, we are looking towards the center of the Earth. That is, the planetary bodies all fit into the Earth. However, you might be wondering, ‘how did the idea of a hollow Earth originate and who first thought of it?’

The idea of a hollow Earth first started with Sir Edmond Halley. A natural philosopher, and royal astronomer in Britain, who lived from 1656 to 1742. He is mostly remembered for the comet named after him, Halley's Comet. He was the one who discovered that comets have long elliptical orbits. In 1691 he proposed to the British society, an idea that the Earth might be hollow with three concentric smaller spheres each turning within the other. He also suggested, there might be life inside the Earth. But, how did Halley come to this conclusion?

Halley's Hollow Earth

Halley studied a lot of different scientific things, and the Earth’s magnetic field was one of them. After he studied some anomalies or magnetic variations at the Earth’s poles, he attributed it to the spheres inside the Earth, saying that each sphere had its own magnetic field independent of the other. Also when the Aurora Borealis , occurred in 1716, Halley attributed it to luminous gases escaping from the hollow Earth. Was Halley the only one to think that our Earth was hollow?

No, Halley wasn’t the only one to come up with the idea of a hollow Earth. John Cleves Symmes, an ex-soldier that took on reading and studying science was another person who thought the Earth was hollow. Symmes suggested, the Earth was not only hollow but there are vast openings at each pole through which we could pass through to get to this hollow Earth. He was convinced that inside the Earth was an unspoiled paradise. As at that time, nobody had been to the poles, but Symmes’ idea sparked enough interest for Americans to spend public money on sending an expedition. Off course, these expeditions failed to find any holes at the poles; there was no scenic paradise or long lost advanced civilization. Would the lack of proof make the idea of a hollow Earth go away?

The Hollow Earth theory didn’t die out. Cyrus Reed Teed was another scientist who believed in the hollow Earth theory. He most likely is the oddest, and in my opinion the most foolish of them all. He was a scientist and a doctor, he had attended a not-so-recognized medical school, and one night while he was working in his lab with electricity, he claims he was visited by God. David Standish wrote in his book, ‘Hollow Earth…’ that Cyrus claims God came to him in the form of a very beautiful woman and told him, we as humans live inside a concave earth, and what we see is an optical illusion. 

Cyrus Teed’s Model of the Hollow Earth

 Believing that he was the second Messiah, he changed his name to Koresh, the Hebrew translation for Cyrus, and soon he founded his own religion called Koreshanity. The Koreshans lived in a secluded community and tried to prove the earth was concave instead of convex with some experiments. Needless to say, they lacked sufficient proof. Some people think that Cyrus might just have been electrocuted while he was working in his lab and instead of dying he saw a mind generated vision of God. What about today does the idea of a hollow Earth still exist?

Even today, many people still believe that there is a secret world right under our feet. Some believe that Hitler was a hollow earth believer and instead of dying in that bunker in 1945, he escaped with a few believers to the hollow Earth and he is still there now basking under an anti-aging machine, plotting his revenge. Although the idea of a hollow earth is not physically possible it’s still a cool idea.  Hollow Earth theories sure have made some good stories even if they are not good science. It doesn’t matter if some of the story is made up and not really based on science. If it gets people thinking about the universe in which we live, and seeking more information, then it has done something more than just entertain us.

Works Cited:

Fitting, Peter. Subterranean Worlds: A Critical Anthology. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2004. Print.

Foot, Richard. “Trip Proposed to Centre of Earth via Arctic Hole; HOLLOW PLANET THEORY; U.S. Scientist, Believers to Sail on Icebreaker.” National Post [Canada] National Edition, NEWS; Pg. A2. 30 May 2007. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Web. 14 Oct. 2012.

Journey to the Center of the Earth. Dir. Eric Brevig. Prod. Charlotte H. Beau Flynn. Perf. Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem. Warner Home Video, 2008. DVD.

Simanek, Donald. “Halley's Hollow Earth From his 1681 paper.” Photograph. lhup.edu. N.p. 2011. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/hollow/morrow.htm

Standish, David. Hollow Earth: The Long and Curious History of Imagining Strange Lands, Fantastical Creatures, Advanced Civilizations, and Marvelous Machines below the Earth's Surface. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2007. Print.

Warren, Michael. "Koreshan State Historic Site: 'The Ghosts of Florida's New Jerusalem'" Florida Traveler. N.p., 20 Jan. 2009. Web. 19 Oct. 2012.

Warren, Michael. “Hollow Earth Globe at the Koreshan Unity.” Photograph. floridatraveler.com. N.p. 20 Jan. 2009. Web. 19 Oct. 2012

Wigston, Nancy. "A World Apart; Restored Complex of Koreshan Unity Cult Tells the Tale of a Universe Turned Inside-out." Www.lexisnexis.com.library.usca.edu. Reed Elsevier Inc, 11 Dec. 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2012.

Links for further research:

Florida Traveler                                                                                          http://floridatraveler.com/koreshan-state-park/                                                                           
 Some information about the ‘Koreshan State Historic Site’ in Florida. It gives some background information on the hollow Earth theory.

Lock Haven University                                           
http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/hollow/morrow.htm                                                                      
Article with detailed information and pictures about the hollow Earth theory. Provides lots of information about various scientist that believed and supported this theory

The Hollow World of Edmond Halley                                                          http://www.dioi.org/kn/halleyhollow.htm
Focuses on the life of Sir Edmond Halley, including his contribution to the Hollow Earth Theory.