# Polar explorer's journal; underground civilization? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 20, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678 "2009-07-20T21:54:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/1 "2009-07-20T21:54:30Z")
Years ago, with certain chemical assistance, some friends told me about one of the early polar explorers (I can’t remember which) had entries in his journals of meeting people who lived far underground, in a previously undiscovered civilization. I never bothered to look it up. It sounded, well, nuts. Later, I heard that one of the explorers went mad on the journey. The Firesign Theater’s _Everything You Know Is Wrong_ packed together several bushels of such wacko theories into one story. Sure enough, there were the underground people. Where does all this crazy shit come from? Did a polar explorer really have anything like that in a journal? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/2 "2009-07-20T22:56:05Z")
In [The Hollow Earth](http://www.amazon.com/Hollow-Earth-Raymond-Bernard/dp/0787300977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248130225&sr=8-1) by Professor Raymond Bernard, AB, MA, PhD, he relates evidence by various researchers that indicate that the Earth is indeed hollow, and inhabited by an advanced civilization. I don’t recall anything in it about the researchers going mad, but it’s been quite a few years since I read it. Two other researchers, David Innes and Abner Perry, recounted a civilization, although the one they found was rather primitive. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/3 "2009-07-20T23:08:25Z")
That’s none your business Eloi! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/4 "2009-07-21T00:03:09Z")
Alternately, it sounds like something from Lovecraft or some other fiction writer, which might have been written like an explorer’s journal. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/5 "2009-07-21T00:04:26Z")
The [Hollow Earth theory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_earth) was popular with early Science Fiction authors. Edgar Rice Burroughs used it in [At the Earth’s Core](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Earth%27s_Core_(novel)), and Jules Verne used it together with Polar explorers’ journals in [Journey to the Center of the Earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journey_to_the_Center_of_the_Earth). ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/6 "2009-07-21T02:28:10Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Alternately, it sounds like something from Lovecraft or some other fiction writer… Ah yes. [_Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!_](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_Madness) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/7 "2009-07-21T02:35:36Z")
The first to postulate this was [John Clives Symmes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cleves_Symmes,_Jr.), who put forth the idea in 1818. Symmes became wildly popular as a lecturer and nearly convinced Congress to fund an expedition to check it out. He influenced Edgar Allen Poe’s story **The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym** and Jules Verne was familiar with Symmes theory when he wrote **A Journey to the Center of the Earth**. There were books purporting to be actual accounts that confirmed Symmes theories, such as **Symzonia; Voyage of Discovery** (1820). Symmes never wrote a book on his theory (a student of his did), though he did put out quite a few pamphlets on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/8 "2009-07-21T13:46:46Z")
Innes and Perry, huh? Those names sound very familiar. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/9 "2009-07-21T14:35:27Z")
There are many science fiction stories using a polar explorer’s diary telling about underground civilizations. There are no polar explorers that wrote in their journals about underground civilizations. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/10 "2009-07-23T04:06:19Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > There are many science fiction stories using a polar explorer’s diary telling about underground civilizations. > > There are no polar explorers that wrote in their journals about underground civilizations. Hmmm. Well, I guess it’s not that unusual for folks’ musings in the wee hours of a long party to confuse fiction with little known facts. 😛 Thanks for all your insights, my friends. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/11 "2009-07-23T06:08:36Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > There are many science fiction stories using a polar explorer’s diary telling about underground civilizations. > > There are no polar explorers that wrote in their journals about underground civilizations. I believe that Congress thought enough of Symmes’s theory to ask some polar explorers to look out for that sort of thing. But that’s not crazy, even Jefferson asked Lewis & Clark to look out for prehistoric giant mammals. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/12 "2009-07-23T08:54:20Z")
Well of course it’s true, but Congress didn’t want to incite a panic so they downplayed it. In the meantime, the party in power developed a plan to flood Middle Earth. It was bitterly opposed by the other side but they didn’t control Congress. No amount of fillibustering could stop it, and they looked very foolish when the plan successfully wiped out all below-ground civilizations. The unfortunate thing was that now they can’t reverse the melting of the polar ice caps and it has left a large hole in the ozone layer. To this day, certain parties refuse to acknowledge the existence of the phenomena. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/13 "2009-07-23T13:28:17Z")
Here is an interesting book on the subject: > **[ARKTOS: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism & Nazi Survival: Godwin,...](https://www.amazon.com/ARKTOS-Polar-Science-Symbolism-Survival/dp/0932813356)** > > ARKTOS: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism & Nazi Survival \[Godwin, Joscelyn\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. ARKTOS: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism & Nazi Survival ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/14 "2009-07-23T14:34:15Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Ah yes. [_Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!_](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_Madness) ATMOM was the first thing I thought of. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/15 "2009-07-23T15:38:03Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ATMOM was the first thing I thought of. “At the Mountains of Madness” is a great story. One of Lovecraft’s finest! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/16 "2009-07-23T16:30:17Z")
I saw H.P. Lovecraft running in terror out of a sushi restaurant. He was yelling, ‘Tekka maki! Tekka maki!’ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/17 "2009-07-23T16:33:10Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I believe that Congress thought enough of Symmes’s theory to ask some polar explorers to look out for that sort of thing. But that’s not crazy, even Jefferson asked Lewis & Clark to look out for prehistoric giant mammals. That’s not really crazy, though; it wasn’t unreasonable to speculate that there might be some fantastic undiscovered creatures in the vast unexplored swathes of what was then “the west”- and there were! Bison, the American grizzly, etc. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/18 "2009-07-23T17:13:28Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That’s not really crazy, though; it wasn’t unreasonable to speculate that there might be some fantastic undiscovered creatures in the vast unexplored swathes of what was then “the west”- and there were! Bison, the American grizzly, etc. Right, it sounds crazy today but at the time it wasn’t unreasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/19 "2009-07-23T20:17:48Z")
Johnny L.A. WINS !!! 😃 I quote: " I saw H.P. Lovecraft running in terror out of a sushi restaurant. He was yelling, ‘Tekka maki! Tekka maki!’ " ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/20 "2009-07-23T21:43:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I saw H.P. Lovecraft running in terror out of a sushi restaurant. > > He was yelling, ‘Tekka maki! Tekka maki!’ It didn’t help that he was writing [The Shadow Over Innsmouth](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Over_Innsmouth) at the time, and caught sight of [Dagon](http://lolthulhu.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/cube-off_ur_coast.jpg) the [Sushi Chef](http://lolthulhu.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/arwedda-fish-god_cult.png). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678.md?page=2)