THE HOLLOW EARTH: AN EXAMINATION OF ITS NATURE, AND SOME OF THE CONSEQUENCES THEREOF by John S. Olson Ancient Hyperborean wisdom tells us that the Earth is a hollow sphere, and that one may walk upon the inner surface, held there by gravity. Once, they say, the Inner Sun warmed the polar regions and made them not only livable, but pleasant. Now, it must have been extinguished, for its light no longer shines through the great chasm at the pole, and the whole region is covered in ice. If we are to accept the conceit that this is the true, or at least a possible, past of our own world, then this scenario simply will not work. We know that the Earth is not hollow, and we know what the core is made of. More importantly, we know that the gravity of a hollow sphere has no effect upon objects or people inside that sphere. And yet, if we are to accept the existence of Hyperborea as true, then we must also accept that there was at one time a huge chasm at the North Pole, and that through this opening a world could be reached that was on the inner surface of a sphere. How may we reconcile these two seemingly incompatible yet irrefutable sets of facts? The answer lies in the recently discovered theories regarding space-time first pioneered by Albert Einstein and refined by others. These theories speak of gravity and other effects producing warps and distortions in the very shape of space, and of the mathematical constants that determine the strength of the natural forces that make up the Universe. Of particular interest is the concept of the Einstein- Rosen Bridge, a twist of space that joins two spacetimes together. Taking the form of a sphere, this "interface" acts like a gateway, enabling one to move toward the center in one continuum, and without any feeling of transition, fhasm in the Earth's crust can lead to a world that defies all known laws of physics: the chasm is not a hole into the interior at all, but a bridge into another space/time continuum! This answers all objections. The existence of a hollow sphere with matter pressed to the inside by gravity is impossible in our universe, but with a different set of physical laws, it is quite possible. It simply can't happen in this universe. So, what are the principles of this other continuum? Using the principle of Occam's Razor, we can attempt to make it as similar as possible to our own, and one change will account for most of the phenomena seen. Simply, the Hollow Earth's space- time has the same four forces as our own, but its gravitational constant is a negative number! The Inner Sun, whatever it is, is an incredibly massive object, which repels everything around it, including the spherical shell itself, at a force sufficient to produce one G of gravity at the inner surface. So, what is this Inner Sun? Clearly, it's something incredibly massive, for all its small size. Even with a negative gravity, its mass must be tremendous. There is also the factor of the tremendous amount of energy it must be giving off in order to light up the interior globe which it occupies. Well, we're going to have to go away from this and come back to it from another direction. Clearly, there is some regular traffic between the Hollow Earth's continuum and our own. The presence of gateways at Earth's poles is not sufficient to explain a fully functioning ecosystem in the interior; none of the lifeforms from the outside world could get past the Polar icecap to the gateway. Other gateways, perhaps intermittent ones, clearly exist. And if small bits of living matter can make the transition, perhaps gigantic masses can do the same. So now, please consider the phenomenon known in our continuum as a black hole. This is an enormous mass, compressed to a single point. Thus, its gravity warps space until light itself is unable to escape its grip. At the center of this blackness is a single point containing the entire mass... the singularity. Now imagine the effect if a black hole were transported into a universe with a negative gravity constant. No longer would it appear as a sphere of darkness, for instead of pulling everything toward it including light, it would repel everything... including light. But, because its mass is concentrated in a single point, it will be unable to repel any part of itself. Instead, its great mass will radiate as energy through the point of singularity. This narrow bottleneck would mean that the point would continue to radiate for a very long time. It might even radiate in a narrow portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Certainly, its gravitational field will slowly diminish as its mass boils away. Imagine it. In the midst of a vast shoal of rock larger than several planets, a single point appears. Instantly, it fills the surrounding area with so much energy that the rock melts. Forced away from the point by its negative gravity, it flows away through flaws in the rock, creating a hollow bubble. As time goes on, the singularity cools slightly as the frequency of its output shifts into longer and longer ranges. Eventually, after millions of years, the point begins to radiate visible light. The gravity, too, comes closer to Earth's. How does this hollow sphere, whose surface is doubtless made of smooth glass and which is devoid of water or air, become the livable Hollow Earth known to the Hyperboreans? How, too, does this explanation account for the Inner Moon? Here we are on shakier ground. We can hope that we need not invoke Vast Intelligences from Beyond, but that may be unavoidable. Part of it is the momentary gateways from the Earth's surface to the inner surface of the hollow sphere. Earth does not have enough atmosphere or soil to coal the Hollow Earth's interior, so these must come from somewhere else. The lifeforms, however, are all from Earth, including species long extinct by the time of the Hyperborean Age. And so, the nature of the catastrophe that ended that Age is now made much clearer. For just as the gateways at the poles provided heat and light in the winter to that polar country, so must those things be lost if the gateways close. That closing is all that is required to end the existence of Hyperborea, but the legends of Atlantis speak of a great flood, or some earthquake or other cataclysm. Perhaps the closing was accompanied by some great force, possibly magical, that sank the Hyperborean lands. That some sinking eventually took place is a foregone conclusion, since there is a considerable gap between the bottom of the ice cap and the ocean floor. Submarines have navigated that gap repeatedly. On the other hand, that may have been due to grinding and gravity pressure. As to the exact nature of the cataclysm, we can only speculate. But one possible scenario is perhaps as chilling as any ever imagined. Recall that the massive Inner Sun provided the Hollow Earth with its gravity, through outward repulsion. The Hollow Earth is an empty sphere hollowed out by gravity, but this sphere existed in some larger mass. How much larger? Larger enough that its structural integrity was never threatened by the internal pressure of the sun? Or was it a mere shell around the point of singularity? If the latter, then perhaps the great cataclysm came when the Hollow Earth shattered like an eggshell, flying apart under mutual repulsion, sucking away its air and water and flinging its animals, its plants, and worst of all, its people into an awful death in endless vacuum. Perhaps the Hyperboreans were the lucky ones.