Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel (L)

Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel [022] by Ignatius Donnelly, who took the title of his book from the word ‘Ragnarök’, which in Scandinavian mythology describes the destruction of the world of men and gods. He claims to have written this 450-page book in seven weeks in 1882. Some later editions have misleadingly added The Destruction of Atlantis to the original
title, as Atlantis is only peripheral to the subject in a book title will always help sales

Donnelly seems to have anticipated the work of Immanuel Velikovsky when he wrote of a close encounter or actual impact with the Earth by a comet. He presents an array of geological evidence to support this contention. In addition he proposes that this celestial clash also a displacement of the poles. Again this is an idea that was taken up by a number of writers in the succeeding century and is still strongly supported today. Like Velikovsky, Donnelly postulated that the resulting catastrophes were recorded in mythology and biblical texts. One of the specific consequences of this encounter was the destruction of Atlantis, which he expanded on in his previous book, Atlantis, concerning Plato’s sunken civilisation. Both of Donnelly’s books are available to read on the Internet^(a).

In 2013 experts in Norse mythology announced that a Viking apocalyptic ‘Ragnarok’ was due on February 22^nd 2014!^(b). The claim, which I suspect  was a publicity stunt, was downplayed on February 23^rd(c).

^(a) https://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/rag/

^(b) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2507778/Will-world-end-100-days-Sounding-ancient-trumpet-York-warns-Viking-apocalypse-22-February-2014.html

^(c) https://news.cision.com/jorvik-viking-festival/r/apocalypse-not–relief-as-prediction-for-ragnarok-passes-,c9541085