The Earth - But not as we know it...

On Tuesday the 15th of May, I was fortunate to
attend a presentation, at TruthJuice Birmingham, by Andrew Johnson entitled: “The Earth – But not as we know it.”

The talk was split into two related sections: the “Hollow Earth” theory and the “Expanding Earth” theory. The first section has intrigued me ever since reading Jules Verne as a child. I have been fascinated by the notion of lost civilisations and subterranean domains. It also dovetails into subjects such as Ufology, advanced technology and inter-dimensions, which I find equally as interesting. Despite being a subject that I remain unconvinced about, the idea of a “Hollow Earth” really does fire the imagination and I can’t resist a good story!

For those of you who haven’t a clue, the Hollow Earth theory speaks for itself. It is the idea that our world consists of a shell (of varying depth, depending on who you subscribe to), with holes to enter/exit the inner side of the shell that are located in the Northern and Southern Polar regions. The centre is hollow and usually contains a small, inner sun or heated core. Whilst we assume that the outer shell represents the world that we ‘see’ around us, it is alleged by many that the inner layer contains evidence of civilisations and (possibly) intelligent life.

Andrew began the presentation with a high quality video (by Nies Lighting – 2010 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubKFmIDBMjU) which creates a 3D computer model of the interior/exterior of the earth in relation to the hollow theory, followed by a look at some possible early references to it. Proponents cite the many religious references to subterranean realms as possible examples: Christian “Hell”, Greek “Hades”, etc. The Buddhist belief in a subterranean world (called Shambala or Agharta), with “millions of inhabitants and many cities”, seems to have contributed much to these early associations.

In 1692, Edmund Halley stated that he believed the Earth to consist of a shell 800km thick and that the inner shell had a population. By the 1800s, the idea seemed to penetrate further into the social consciousness. Andrew pointed to Sir John Leslie and “Elements of National Philosophy” (1829) as one example. He also highlighted the infamous drawing by Max Fyfield, which seems to incorporate many of the disparate ideas into one image.

Despite the many strands to draw upon, Andrew decided to centre in (no pun intended!) on two of the most famous and oft-referred stories that seem pivotal to the “Hollow Earth” narrative. The first is the account of 19 year old Olaf Jansen who, along with his father (Jens Jansen), left Stockholm on the third of April, 1829, on a fishing/ivory expedition. They decided to sail onward in search of the “land beyond the north pole.” Upon leaving the North European coastal regions, they first encountered an island (which doesn’t appear on current maps according to Andrew) and stayed for a day. They continued north through fog and storms until eventually reaching a “pyrotechnic panorama of countless colours and shapes, while below could be seen the green-tinted sea, and above, the purple sky.” Jansen also claims they were sailing in freshwater at this point.

They eventually came across a land of sandy beaches and greenery, and were greeted by a huge ship crewed by several hundred “men of gigantic stature.” Jansen claimed that “there was not a single man aboard who would not have measured fully twelve feet in height.” The continuing account places them in the company of these giants, touring the inner-earth for two years, learning the language and customs, as well as witnessing advanced technology such as a vehicle, “doubtless some electrical contrivance. It was noiseless, and ran on a single iron rail in perfect balance… On the top of each car were high geared fly wheels lying on their sides, which were so automatically adjusted that, as the speed of the car increased, the high speed of these fly wheels geometrically increased… the fly wheels in their rapid revolutions destroying effectually the so-called power of gravitation.”

In time, Jansen and his father returned to the outer earth, exiting via the South Pole portal. On the journey home, his father, and their boat, fell victim to the Antarctic Sea and left Jansen stranded on an iceberg. He was eventually rescued by a Scottish whaling ship called The Arlington. He recalled his fantastic tale to the Captain – Angus MacPherson – who locked him in irons, claiming he was mad. Jansen tried in vain to mount a return expedition to the inner Earth with the help of his uncle. Sadly, his uncle became responsible for helping to get Jansen locked up in a mental institute for 28 years. Upon release, he made a new life for himself and settled in America. Toward the end of his life, he told the story to Willis Emerson – who published the story as “The Smoky God - A Voyage to the Inner World.” http://www.scribd.com/doc/81885736/The-Smoky-God

It may seem difficult to verify Jansen’s tale, however he did leave a few aspects that Andrew has been able to clarify. Malcolm Archibald (www.malcolmarchibald.com) is a maritime author and has spent many years researching the whaling industry which was once so important on the East Coast of Scotland. Andrew has consulted Archibald and, according to him, there were no Dundee whaling ships in the Antarctica in that time period. He could also find no records of a whaler called “The Arlington.”

The other famous story relating to the Hollow Earth narrative is that of Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Many claim that Byrd made a secret flight to the North Pole in February of 1947 and that the so called “Missing Diary of Admiral Byrd” is proof of that flight. This ‘diary’ alleges that Byrd flew over a green, mountainous land with Mammoths, German flying disk and a city! Arriving at the city, he is greeted by “The Master” who says “you are in the domain of the Arianni, the Inner World of the Earth. We shall not long delay your mission, and you will be safely escorted back to the surface and for a distance beyond.”

Andrew pointed out several factors that contradict this view. Firstly, there is the well documented ‘Operation Highjump’ (detailed in the film “The Secret Land”), which places Byrd on the other side of the world (Antarctica) at this time: “The operation made front-page headlines around the world with reports about the Admirals personal movements broadcast around the world daily from January 2nd until his return to America on April 14th 1947. This would have made a North Polar flight during this time damn near impossible. So, the question we need to answer is: Where did the story of a February 1947 Arctic expedition actually come from?”

There are also sections in the ‘missing diary’ (like the engine failure) that match his logs from ‘Operation Highjump’ and statements he has made regarding his other polar missions: with Floyd Bennett - Flight Over North Pole May 9, 1926, and Antarctic – 1928-1930/1933-1935. As Andrew pointed out, it seems that at some elements have been muddled into a more fanciful creation.

It seems the ‘missing diary’ story originated in a book by Amadeo Giannini called “Worlds beyond the Poles: Physical Continuity of the Universe” (1959) and has been embellished ever since. Andrew noted that Byrd was a documented freemason - www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/richard_byrd_fdc.htm and I also think it is worth remembering that much of Byrd’s early expeditions were financed by the Rockefellers.

It would be relatively easy for existing temperate zones, close to the polar region, to be mistaken for strange lands in the early days of polar exploration. There is a volcano on Ross Island that would create a temperate zone, Antarctica has a chain of warm water lakes with an average temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit…  even the film “The Secret Land” documents the discovery of several of these freshwater temperate zones.
Next, Andrew discussed what is claimed tobe photographic evidence of “holes at the poles”. The most famous (that seem to perpetuate the theory) are those taken by ESSA-3 on January 6, 1967 and ESSA-7 on November 23, 1968. Despite the continued use of these pictures as evidence, they have been discovered to be composite photos, assembled to give an idea of cloud coverage and therefore don’t prove the existence of giant polar portals to an inner realm.

Andrew contacted a pilot friend of his who has flown within 60 miles of the North Pole on several occasions. Whilst he admits that no planes are allowed to fly over the pole (to avoid the creation of polar pollution), he has yet to witness any holes in the region. He also showed a clip from Michael Palin’s “Around the World in 80 Days”, which climaxes with a visit to the South Pole. Despite the US reluctance to allow the expedition to land at their plane, it became necessary due to a need to refuel. Palin was allowed into the National Science Foundation base (Amudsen), he filmed a huge scientific dumping ground and complex, as well as the pole itself – there were no holes…

Looking at the science also tends to lean toward the earth having a centre with mass - as opposed to being hollow. To begin with, the Earth’s centre is observable via vibration. There is also the measureable density of the earth – if the earth were hollow with a shell X kilometres/miles deep, it would need to consist of a dense material like osmium to match the measureable density. Also, mass creates gravity (according to mainstream science) which generally rules out the idea of the earth being hollow.

Brooks Agnew and others haveclaimed that Aurorae at the poles could really be the result of particles of interaction between the solar wind and polar holes. Agnew, a physicist, has spoken about THEMIS – 5 identical probes designed to monitor Coronal Mass Ejections from the sun and how they interact with the atmosphere. This measureable effect would differ if the Earth were hollow with polar holes, claims Agnew. Andrew mentioned how statements made by Agnew were, however, incorrect – he described an event detected by T THEMIS as a “cosmic bullet” when the correct term was “a plasma bullet”.

Nevertheless, this has not stopped the imaginations of those who still believe in the “Hollow Earth” theory. Andrew discussed Brooks Agnew who has been attempting to mount an expedition for several years. The NPIEE (North Pole Inner Earth Expedition) is extremely ambitious and well into the advanced stages of preparation. All being well, it should take place within the next few months.

Andrew closed the first section with a curious note of optimism: that there may actually be something occurring, that could account for some of the hollow earth stories. There is the possibility of the existence of inter-dimensional portals that intersect with our Earth. Maybe people have visited other realms – just not physically inside the earth. This was a fascinating notion that I would have loved to have heard discussed more (I could say the same about the stories of secret Nazi bases in Antarctica, UFOs rising from the southern oceans, the recent Google Earth images with ‘holes’, etc.), however I know Andrew and his motto “Check the Evidence” – he tends to stay with what is quantifiable… which is probably for the best!

The Hollow Earth perspective is not one that I align myself with. Whilst it never the less sparks the imagination, there does seem to be a considerable lack of evidence to support the proposition. I was encouraged that Andrew had made a huge effort to examine the wealth of material available on the subject before coming to his conclusion: that the Hollow Earth theory is unlikely to be anything other than that – just a theory.

The second half of the presentation looked at something that I was only vaguely aware of the idea of an “Expanding Earth”. This is the theory that continental shift is not random and that the tectonic plates don’t really move, rather they appear to move apart because the Earth is continually expanding. If true, this would mean that a point in the past, when the Earth was much smaller, the continents would have fitted together and covered the planet – meaning also that there would have been no oceans.

Mainstream science tells us that the Earth’s continents once formed a single super-continent called Pangaea. The process of ‘continental drift’ was proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912 and has only been accepted, largely, since the 1950s. Andrew pointed out that continental “displacement” was replaced by “drift” thanks to detractors of the expanding Earth theory.

The first fascinating piece of evidence to support this theory is the age of the rock surrounding the continental shelves. Given the ‘official’ age of the planet (several billion years), rock at the shelves should be the oldest and reflect the planet’s age. Yet when the magnetic fields of the rock is measured (to date it in relation to the magnetic pole reversals), the oldest (in the Mediterranean Sea region) is a mere 180 million years old.

Andrew mentioned the controversial work of Immanuel Velikovsky in a book called “In the Beginning” (which was never published). His most well-known book is “Worlds in Collision”, which has been fiercely attacked by the scientific community – especially Dr Carl Sagan, who went out of his way to debunk it. With this in mind, he asked the question – where did the oceans come? Why such a disproportionate salt content? This is a question Velikovsky asks, but like everyone else, no one seems to have an answer.

At this point, Andrew presented some animations showing what the smaller Earth might have looked like and the separation of the continents as the planet expanded. He also discussed Professor S Warren Carey (“Theories of the Earth and Universe”) who has proposed a revised “slower continental drift” model. He also mentioned the work of Neal Adams who made some videos which show how the continents all fit together on a smaller globe. This work is quite well known on the web, but Neal Adams is not a scientist.

Next, we were presented with the possibility that other planets in the
solar system may also have experienced a similar phenomenon and looked at the work of Dr James Maxlow ("Terra non Firma Earth: Plate Tectonics is a Myth" - www.jamesmaxlow.com ) who presents diverse evidence about the earth’s expansion over millions of years. Andrew cited an article in Nature, published in 2002 which stated “our planet’s waste-line is mysteriously expanding!” http://www.nature.com/news/1998/020729/full/news020729-9.html

Through the use of geodetic measurements, it appears that it is – with the equator expanding at an average of 18 millimetres per year for the last 10 – 20 years. Some sections of the scientific community immediately assumed the data from which this figure was derived was erroneous once it had been calculated – even though people like Maxlow had independently calculated a similar figure.

Finally, there was a look at the nature of dinosaur anatomy
and how the reduced force of gravity of a smaller planet could explain some of the biological abnormalities in relation to the size of dinosaurs – as discussed in the work of Stephen Hurrell (www.dinox.org).

Andrew also mentioned J Marvin Herndon who has suggested the possibility that Earth once formed as gas giant with a thick atmosphere that compressed the core inwards. This atmosphere was then stripped off after a kind of giant solar flare, leaving just the core, which slowly expanded over time – although this doesn’t explain the apparent change in the force of gravity though.

The presentation was concluded with some interesting ideas to ponder. In order to keep the planet the same size, many scientists are now discussing “subduction” - which requires the notion of tectonic plate collision and overlapping. But where is the evidence of subduction? It appears that new plate is being created all the time and would thus explain the relatively young age of rock around the continental ‘shelves’.

The Q & A session at the end was great. Questions about the origins of life (absent the oceans), where did all the water come from, etc. Whether people subscribed to it or not, the idea certainly got people thinking! As for me, I remain undecided at the moment… watch this space anyway. The notes I made for the second half were a little sparse. Partly due to my limited understanding (so I had to concentrate!) and also because I got so engrossed and kept forgetting to jot things down!  I’d make a lousy reporter!

The turn-out was great. There was a nice sized crowd and a real mixed bag of age ranges. Everybody seemed really interested in the presentation, especially the second part. Andrew did his usual excellent and thorough job in presenting such a thought provoking subject. He made himself available for questions and general banter and was very approachable as always. Andrew's website is http://www.checktheevidence.com/cms/

I must also mention the sterling work of TruthJuice Birmingham (http://birmingham.truthjuice.co.uk/ )
They are a great bunch of dedicated and friendly people who always make everybody welcome. Long may it continue! And thanks also for allowing me leave some flyers for my humble little corner of the web! I really appreciate it.

Until Next Time.
The Truth Seeker’s Guide.


Books available from Carl James:
Science Fiction and the Hidden Global Agenda - Volume One - http://www.lulu.com/shop/carl-james/science-fiction-and-the-hidden-global-agenda-2016-edition-volume-one/paperback/product-23209429.html
Science Fiction and the Hidden Global Agenda - Volume Two - http://www.lulu.com/shop/carl-james/science-fiction-and-the-hidden-global-agenda-2016-edition-volume-two/paperback/product-23209433.html
What Really Happened at the London 2012 Olympics - http://www.lulu.com/shop/carl-james/what-really-happened-at-the-london-2012-olympics/paperback/product-23221527.html