Hollow Earth

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The idea of a subterranean land inside the Earth appeared in ancient mythology, folklore and legends. The concept became intertwined with the idea of 'places' of origin or afterlife, such as the Greek underworld, the Nordic Svartálfaheimr, the Christian Hell, and the Jewish Sheol. According to one story from Tibetan Buddhist tradition, there is an ancient city called Shamballa which is located inside the Earth. In Hindu mythology, the underworld is referred to as Patala. The Angami Naga tribes of India claim that their ancestors emerged in ancient times from a subterranean land inside the Earth. The Taino from Cuba believe their ancestors emerged in ancient times from two caves in a mountain underground. Natives of the Trobriand Islands believe that their ancestors had come from a subterranean land through a cavern hole called 'Obukula'. In Native American mythology, it is said that the ancestors of the Mandan people in ancient times emerged from a subterranean land through a cave on the north side of the Missouri River. The elders of the Hopi people believe that a Sipapu entrance in the Grand Canyon exists which leads to the underworld. Ancestors of the Inca supposedly came from caves which are located east of Cuzco, Peru.

In Their Own Story

The notion was proposed by Athanasius Kircher's non-fiction Mundus Subterraneus (1665), which speculated that there is an 'intricate system of cavities and a channel of water connecting the poles'. Edmond Halley in 1692 conjectured that the Earth might consist of a hollow shell about 800 km (500 mi) thick, two inner concentric shells and an innermost core. Halley proposed this scheme in order to explain anomalous compass readings. He envisaged the atmosphere inside as luminous (and possibly inhabited) and speculated that escaping gas caused the Aurora Borealis. In 1818, John Cleves Symmes, Jr. suggested that the Earth consisted of a hollow shell about 1,300 km (810 mi) thick, with openings about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) across at both poles with 4 inner shells each open at the poles. Symmes became the most famous of the early Hollow Earth proponents, and Hamilton, Ohio even has a monument to him and his ideas. Sir John Leslie proposed a hollow Earth in his 1829 Elements of Natural Philosophy (pp. 449–453).

Reader's Guide

The concept was disproven, first tentatively by Pierre Bouguer in 1740, then definitively by Charles Hutton in his Schiehallion experiment around 1774. It was still defended through the mid-19th century, notably by John Cleves Symmes Jr. and J. N. Reynolds, but by this time it was part of popular pseudoscience. An early 20th-century proponent of hollow Earth, William Reed, wrote Phantom of the Poles in 1906. He supported the idea of a hollow Earth, but without interior shells or the inner sun. Marshall Gardner wrote A Journey to the Earth's Interior in 1913 and published an expanded edition in 1920. He placed an interior sun in the Earth and built a working model of the Hollow Earth which he patented (U.S. patent 1,096,102). Around the same time, Vladimir Obruchev wrote a novel titled Plutonia, in which the Hollow Earth possessed an inner Sun and was inhabited by prehistoric species. The interior was connected with the surface by an opening in the Arctic.

Did You Know?

• Edmond Halley proposed the hollow Earth in 1692 to explain anomalous compass readings.
• The concept was definitively disproven by Charles Hutton in his Schiehallion experiment around 1774.
• John Cleves Symmes Jr. suggested the Earth had openings about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) across at both poles.
• Marshall Gardner patented a working model of a Hollow Earth in 1920 (U.S. patent 1,096,102).
• The Italian writer Dante describes a hollow earth in his 14th-century work Inferno.

Narrative Scope and Hollow Earth Exploration

The source does not cover the King Kong film series or the Monsterverse. It only covers the historical concept of a hollow Earth.

The Antagonistic Forces and Prophecy

The source does not cover the King Kong film series or the Monsterverse. It only covers the historical concept of a hollow Earth.

Titan Dynamics and Alliance Formation

The source does not cover the King Kong film series or the Monsterverse. It only covers the historical concept of a hollow Earth.

Production History and Franchise Impact

The source does not cover the King Kong film series or the Monsterverse. It only covers the historical concept of a hollow Earth.