# Take a Hollow Earth Vacation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 21, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-hollow-earth-vacation/225488 "2004-01-21T18:02:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-hollow-earth-vacation/225488/1 "2004-01-21T18:02:32Z")
Steve Currey of [Steve Currey’s Expeditions](http://www.expeditioncompany.net/upcoming_trip.htm?trip_id=67) is apparently serious. > [@](#): > > Would you be interested in a once-in-a-life-time chance to discover Our Hollow Earth first hand? We invite you to join us now on an expedition to Our Hollow Earth! . . . > > At Murmansk, Russia, (at about 33 E Longitude, 69 N Latitude) expedition members will board a world class Nuclear Icebreaker, a literal motel on ice, with the utmost in comfort and amenities, that has 75,000 horsepower, and cuts through the arctic ice like butter. Our first stop will be the geographic North Pole north of Franz Josef Land. . . . > > Within Our Hollow Earth at the City of Jehu, expedition members could take an inner earth monorail train to visit the lost Garden of Eden located under America on the highest mountain plateau of the Inner Continent. It is also the capital city of Inner Earth, according to Olaf Jansen. Perhaps in this City of Eden we can visit the palace of the King of the Inner World, as did Olaf Jansen and his father. > > \*Please note that if we are unable to find the Polar opening, we will be returning via the New Siberian Islands to visit skeleton remains of exotic animals thought to originate from Inner Earth. Leaving in June 26, 2005; cost $18,950 per person. (Thanks to Rift on the Bad Astronomy Bulletin Board for pointing this out.) ---
**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-hollow-earth-vacation/225488/2 "2004-01-21T18:19:38Z")
Here are some Hollow Earth links that apparently are said to relate to Adm. Richard Byrd’s expeditions and missing diaries: [http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=291033](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=291033) Several people help debunk the “hollow earth” diaries in the comments on the question. Best regards, Mooney252 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-hollow-earth-vacation/225488/3 "2004-01-21T18:52:56Z")
Ooooh! This makes my head hurt! The Fight Against Ignorance has a long way to go! :rolleyes: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-hollow-earth-vacation/225488/4 "2004-01-21T23:40:59Z")
All the way to the North Pole, apparently. And beyond. Tinfoil hats weren’t enough, I guess. Now we’ve got a full-blown tinfoil submarine. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-hollow-earth-vacation/225488/5 "2004-01-22T07:11:14Z")
Not a very complete tour if you ask me. By God, if I have to shell out $18,950 to tour the Hollow Earth via the North Pole, Santa’s House and Toy Factory better damn well be part of the itinerary! ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-hollow-earth-vacation/225488/6 "2004-01-22T13:43:44Z")
I’m in the wrong line of work. So… Come join my Martian tour! We could get on a swan-powered pirate boat and fly to Mars! We could dine with John Carter himself and take a romantic gondola ride down the Martian Canals! We could even, if possible, see the fabled crystal palaces of the martian emperor and dine with Dejah Thoris herself. Thrill to the excitement as we, potentially, stop on the two moons of Mars and dine on Martian green cheese. On the way back, we could also turn into a squad of dancing psychic monkeys and take a psychedelic trip into the Light Fantastic. Marvel to the excitement as we might even take a tour through heaven, all the way through the Empyrean and then return for–possibly–a trip through Purgatory. We might even meet Benito Mussolini! Or Charro! Yes, for the low, low price of $500,000 we could do all of this! - Note: in the event of any of these being impossible or unachievable, the bulk of the tour will be spent at Hardee’s. No refunds. ---
**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-hollow-earth-vacation/225488/7 "2004-01-23T19:04:08Z")
I was aware of connections with Adm. Byrd and this hollow earth theory. But I wasn’t aware of how old it was until I started reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s “Sea of Glory,” about the Wilkes Expedition, which explored the southern Pacific and the Puget Sound. (Wilkes was said to be the model that Melville used for Capt. Ahab. Philbrick writes that Capt. Downees of the ship Potomac brought back a Chilean whaling legend called “Mocha Dick, the White Whale of the Pacific” in 1834. But I digress.) Apparently the theory dates to the early 1800s, when John Cleve Symmes, of St. Louis, theorized that Arctic foxes and reindeer thrived in the winter by entering inside the outer sphere of the earth. He circulated a pamphlet on April 10, 1818 declaring: “TO ALL THE WORLD! I declare the earth is hollow. . . containing a number of solid concentrick (sic) spheres.” Symmes apparently spoke throughout the Midwest about his theory and garnered some support. Audubon sketched his portrait and he was referred to as “Newton of the West.” So it’s not just bad astronomy but bad (or detracked) history. Best regards, Mooney252