# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SweetLucy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@SweetLucy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SweetLucy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/21 "2009-07-24T04:08:18Z")
I read something, years ago, that polar explorer Richard Byrd reported flying over Antarctica and suddenly seeing a green, tropical area with people hunting mastodon. I wonder if this account was conflated with the idea of a hollow earth? I searched the Net about this, but couldn’t find much outside of raving Hollow-Earth type websites. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/22 "2009-07-24T04:35:36Z")
Tekeli-li comes from Poe, not Lovecraft. _The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym_ ---
**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 24, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/23 "2009-07-24T04:41:01Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Tekeli-li comes from Poe, not Lovecraft. _The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym_ That’s true. (I read Poe’s story as well, years ago.) But [from here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Mountains_of_Madness): > [@](#): > > Lovecraft twice cites Poe’s “disturbing and enigmatic” story in his text, and explicitly borrows the mysterious phrase “Tekeli-li” from Poe’s work. And from the link **robardin** posted earlier: > [@](#): > > At the time, his shrieks were confined to the repetition of a single, mad word of all too obvious source: “Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/24 "2009-07-24T11:01:29Z")
Wasn’t there some crap about people living in the sewers of New York or something similar? Guess it was more a society than a civilisation. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/25 "2009-07-24T16:48:53Z")
> [@SweetLucy](#): > > I read something, years ago, that polar explorer Richard Byrd reported flying over Antarctica and suddenly seeing a green, tropical area with people hunting mastodon. No, I read an account of that trip, and there was nothing like that. In any case, there’s doubt that he really flew over the North Pole in 1926. ---
**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 24, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678/26 "2009-07-24T16:53:35Z")
> [@SweetLucy](#): > > I read something, years ago, that polar explorer Richard Byrd reported flying over Antarctica and suddenly seeing a green, tropical area with people hunting mastodon. I wonder if this account was conflated with the idea of a hollow earth? I searched the Net about this, but couldn’t find much outside of raving Hollow-Earth type websites. 😕 This anecdote is indeed recounted in the previously cited “Raymond Bernard’s’” “Hollow Earth.” BTW, I put “Raymond Bernard” in quotes, as that name is made up. Martin Gardner, in one of his books, actually IDed who the writer was. Unfortunately, I’ve since forgotten. Seems like the guy moved to Mexico or South America or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polar-explorers-journal-underground-civilization/503678.md?page=1)