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Hold the world's wisdom in the palm of your hand with the ISTA Flash 9.0. The most comprehensive collection of books on religion, mythology, folklore, and the esoteric ever assembled. An incredible value, with over 1700 sacred books, many of which are rare and hard to find.

Earth Mysteries

This part of the site has texts that deal with earth mysteries, such as ley lines, Atlantis, Feng Shui, and so on.

General

 The Sacred Theory of the Earth
by Thomas Burnet [1691]

 Theory of the Earth
by James Hutton [1788 and 1795]
The Darwin of Geology.

 Paradise Found
by William F. Warren [1885]
The antediluvian Polar Eden.

Flat, Hollow or Inside-Out?

One of the oldest earth mysteries was ‘what shape is it?’ Eratosthenes, in 240 BC, was able to prove the sphericity of the earth and estimate its size to a reasonable margin of error, by comparing the angle of the sun at two distant locations simultaneously. Aristotle knew that the earth was spherical, citing the horizon, the Earth’s circular shadow during lunar eclipses, and other phenomena.

Many educated people knew about the spherical earth from late antiquity on. However, most Europeans believed that the earth was flat until the explorations of the renaissance. The Biblical concept of an earth with four corners (e.g. Isa 11:12) was taken very literally. Note that the word used here, kanaf, is a word used for corners of buildings, cloth, bedsheets, and so on. To confuse matters somewhat, the earth is also described in Isaiah as being circular (Isa 40:22), specifically it says the circle of the earth. Some modern inerrantists point to this as ‘evidence’ that the earth is round, although Isaiah seems to imply that it is disk-shaped here. The Hebrew word used here is khug, which unambiguously means circle, not sphere. It is related to a root khagag, which means to dance in a circle, or a sacred procession which moves in a circle. Square? Circular? it’s enough to make your head spin…

In the late 19th century a number of alternative theories of the shape of the earth were proposed, flat, hollow and inside-out. By the time the poles had been reached in the early 20th century, the time for these theories had passed. Today, some Biblical inerrantists still believe that the Earth is flat.

General

 The Book of Earths
by Edna Kenton [1928]
A survey of the theory of the shape (and nature) of the Earth, lavishly illustrated. A great introduction to the subject.

The Earth is Flat

 Christian Topography
by Cosmas Indiopleustes, translated by J. W. McCrindle [1897]
He was sure that the universe resembled the interior of a pirate chest, with a flat Earth.

 Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not a Globe
(3rd ed.) by Parallax [Pseud. Samuel Birley Rowbotham] [1881]
A tireless 19th century flat-Earther’s masterwork.

The Earth is Hollow

Symzonia; Voyage of Discovery
by Adam Seaborn, (pseud. John Cleves Symmes?) [1820]
One of the rarest Hollow Earth books: a perilous sea journey to a utopian society in the inner earth.

 Journey to the Center of the Earth
by Jules Verne, tr. by Frederick Amadeus Malleson [1877]
The classic science fiction tale of a subterranean journey down to a world teeming with prehistoric beasts.

 Etidorhpa
by John Uri Lloyd (8th ed.) [1897]
Doomed by the Illuminati to journey to the center of the hollow earth in a quest for the Goddess of Love.

The Smoky God
by Willis George Emerson [1908]
A novel of the hollow earth, and the race of giants within.

 The Phantom of the Poles
by William Reed [1909]
Strange polar phenomena, and the Hollow Earth

 At the Earth’s Core
by Edgar Rice Burroughs [1914]
A Hollow Earth fantasy where humans are very low on the food chain.

 Pellucidar
by Edgar Rice Burroughs [1915]
The first of several Pellucidar sequels, the conclusion to ‘At the Earth’s Core.’

 A Journey to the Earth’s Interior
by Marshall B. Gardner (2nd ed.) [1920]
The Hollow Earth in depth.

The Earth is Inside-Out

 The Cellular Cosmogony
by Koresh [Pseud. Cyrus Reed Teed] [1922]
We are inside the Hollow Earth!

Ancient Monuments

The earth is dotted with ancient and mysterious monuments. Is there some deeper message to these constructs?

 A Miracle in Stone: or The Great Pyramid of Egypt
by Joseph A. Seiss [1877]
A classic of pyramidology and dispensationalism.

 The Origin and Significance of the Great Pyramid
by C. Staniland Wake [1882]
Who actually built the Pyramids–and why?

 The House of the Hidden Places
by W. Marsham Adams [1895]
Were the twisty passages of the Great Pyramid a roadmap of esoteric initiation?

 Architecture, Mysticism and Myth
by W.R. Lethaby [1892]
The macrocosm reflected in ancient architecture.

 Stonehenge, A Temple Restor’d to the British Druids
by William Stukeley [1740]
A pioneering study of Stonehenge, with all of the classic illustrations.

 Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically Considered
by Norman Lockyer [1906]
Was Stonehenge a megalithic observatory?

Legendary Creatures

Accounts of dragons, unicorns, sea monsters are found throughout history and folklore.

 Legendary Creatures now have their own page.

 Mythical Monsters
by Charles Gould [1886]
Dragons, Sea-serpents, Unicorns: fact or fiction?

 Lore of the Unicorn
by Odell Shepard [1930]

 Dragons and Dragon Lore
By Ernest Ingersoll [1928]

Ancient Voyagers

Renaissance Europe was not the first high culture which was capable of globe-spanning sea journeys. Were there other pioneering voyages which left traces of contact between the continents? Where did they come from and how much impact did they have on world culture?

 Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic
by Thomas Wentworth Higginson [1898]
Voyages to mythical islands in the Atlantic.

 Fusang
or the Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century, by Charles G. Leland [1875]
Evidence of pre-Columbian voyages from China to America.

 Pale Ink
by Henriette Mertz [1953]
Did the Chinese discover America? Follow their ancient footsteps up and down the Americas, sourced from ancient Chinese texts.

 The Norse Discovery of America
by Arthur Middleton Reeves, North Ludlow Beamish, and Rasmus B. Anderson [1906]
All of the Sagas and documents relating to the Norse voyages to ‘Vinland’.

 The Voyage of Bran
by Meyer Kuno [1895]
Old Irish saga of a voyage to the pagan Celtic otherworld, with parallel English and Gaelic.

 The Piri Reis map
A controversial early map which appears to show an ice-free Antarctic opens up a big can of worms, including Atlantis, pole shifts, and pre-columbian contact with the New World.

Earth Mysteries
Elsewhere at this Site

Today, earth mysteries include ley lines, lost and underground civilizations, pole shifts, and other unexplained phenomena. Here are some highlights:

 Feng Shui
by Ernest J. Eitel [1873]
Arranging your furniture so your luck doesn’t run out the door is only part of Feng Shui. The ancient Chinese geomancers thought of the earth as having streams of energy that lined up with prominent landmarks.
 Early British Trackways, Moats, Mounds, Camps and Sites
by Alfred Watkins [1922]
The very first book about Ley Lines.
 Vril, the Power of the Coming Race
by Edward Bulwer-Lytton [1871]
One of several 19th century science fiction yarns predicated on a subterrenean civilization.
 Atlantis, the Antediluvian World
by Ignatius Donnelly [1882]
The central text of 19th century atlantis-ology.

 I Remember Lemuria
by Richard S. Shaver [1948]
Beware the devolved tunnel-dwellers who rule the earth: the dress-rehearsal for the UFO craze.

Links

World Mysteries
Explore lost civilizations, ancient ruins, sacred writings, unexplained artifacts, and science mysteries. Highly recommended.