Different theories about the structure of the planet have emerged over time, the hollow Earth is one of them, the flat Earth theory, one and many more. If we reflect a little, although the Earth is our home, it actually feels so far away from us when we think about it on a macroscopic scale. It is true that we can talk about what is familiar to us about it; like the recurring places where we live, but even if we have traveled to other countries and have managed to cross entire oceans from the view of an airplane, the Earth feels very distant when we think of it as a gigantic orb.
Then our eyes and ears rest on science, which is the only way to, which has been proven to be geoid and is composed of different layers. However, still There are those who believe that our Earth is really hollow and there are even those who claim that it is prolific and full of life inside.
Thanks to science we know that the planet is made up of awhich is then covered with crusts of materials that give shape to the mantle and crust, where we live. But the idea of the hollow Earth continues to live in the collective imagination despite what science says, which makes us wonder where such an idea came from.
The origin of the hollow Earth
Possibly the first person to speculate that the Earth could be hollow was himself. , the same scientist who and who is most famous for having calculated the trajectory of the famous comet that is now named in his honor.
In 1692, Halley wrote one to explain anomalous compass readings. His hypothesis established that the planet is a series of nested spherical shells, rotating in different directions and all surrounding a central core. Each of these spheres would have its own light, so he neither ruled out nor affirmed the possibility that each sphere harbored life.
Based on his knowledge of gravity between the Sun, Earth, and Moon, as well as his speculations on magnetic fields, Halley believed that such a model could explain any anomalies in measurements of the . Halley only sought to explain the anomalies of compass measurements, but his idea was taken up by other thinkers to try to explain the existence of intelligent life at the center of the Earth.
Later in 1818, John Cleves Symmes, Jr., a war veteran and unsuccessful merchant, published a circular titled ‘No.1’, where he openly declared that the Earth was hollow.. It was from this that Symmes became the main defender of the hollow Earth hypothesis.
Polar holes and inverted universes
Symmes’ version was basically a copy of Halley’s hypothesis, except that it incorporated the existence of two enormous holes each at the planet’s poles. These holes became known as ‘Symmes Holes’ and became famous to the extent that the veteran asked the world for help to finance a trip to the North Pole to prove his hypothesis to the world.
“I declare that the Earth is hollow and habitable inside; It contains a number of concentric solid spheres, each within the other, and which is open at the poles by 12 or 16 degrees.”
In his circular No. 1, Symmes swore with his life the veracity of this ‘truth’ and asked for help to finance his journey to the North Pole. The trip to the pole never came, but Symmes continued to spread his hypothesis through different campaigns and conferences, until the day of his death in 1849.
Of course Symmes was not the only defender of the hollow Earth, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, a new hypothesis arose. Created by Cyrus Teed, the leader of a cult called Koreshan Unity, took the concept and turned it on its head. According to Teed, the entire universe is immersed in a shell and From a super perspective, we humans are the ones who live in the center of the planet. The stars in our sky are, according to this hypothesis, a strange solar mechanism that leaks into the hollow center.
Teed’s followers believed in the hypothesis of the supposed spiritual leader and even formed an extensive colony in Estero, Florida, although this was dissolved in 1908 with Teed’s death. Today the idea that the Earth is hollow continues to proliferate among some people. However, as far as science allows us to know, our planet is a geoid-shaped orb, made up of different layers that in the center house a core of molten metal. Although it is true that due to the depth of the earth’s layers, geologists still cannot fully understand the structural dynamics of this place we call home.