An A-Z Guide To The Search For Plato's Atlantis

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    NEWS September 2023

    September 2023. Hi Atlantipedes, At present I am in Sardinia for a short visit. Later we move to Sicily and Malta. The trip is purely vacational. Unfortunately, I am writing this in a dreadful apartment, sitting on a bed, with access to just one useable socket and a small Notebook. Consequently, I possibly will not […]Read More »
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    Joining The Dots

    I have now published my new book, Joining The Dots, which offers a fresh look at the Atlantis mystery. I have addressed the critical questions of when, where and who, using Plato’s own words, tempered with some critical thinking and a modicum of common sense.Read More »
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Lunatic Fringe

Atlantis Nonsense #18 *

The subject of Atlantis has kept the ‘lunatic fringe’ busy for over a century. In total defiance of commonsense and/or science, there is a continual outpouring of nonsensical ideas and claims that are totally at variance with the only real source of information regarding Atlantis, namely, the writings of Plato. I have already written about the worthlessness of ‘channelled’ information. Some of that material is the result of plagiarism or self-delusion. In other instances, we are dealing with simple hoaxes, while in other cases we are possibly reading the sad consequences of some psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia. The advent of the internet has provided an inexpensive and readily accessible outlet for both the deluded and the dishonest. So, from time to time I shall add examples of these fantasies and frauds, the reader will have to decide which are which and whether they warrant laughter or tears.

Atlantis Nonsense #18

Dolores Cannon offered the following titbit of historical trivia – “It would appear that the long vanished pyramids of Atlantis and the ruins of pyramids that remain in Egypt and elsewhere in the world were built with the knowledge or assistance of aliens. What their exact purpose was and is remains to be discovered.”

Aliens: The Pyramids of Atlantis, Egypt and the Ancient World – Dolores Cannon (archive.org) *

This information she gleaned from ‘past lives regression sessions’ with various subjects. Although the same sources ‘revealed’ that the pyramids were built using levitation and pure mental energy. Yet, she cannot tell why they were built! All fairly standard humbug.

Atlantis Nonsense #17

Delahnnovahh-Starr Livingstone is the author of a number of books and the Revelatorium.com website. If there was an award for the worst website in terms of literary bilge, Mr Livingstone would have my vote. I spent a considerable time trying to decide what excerpts might be more representative but found that it was all so bad that I chose the first paragraph and two others entirely at random(e).

Fourteen thousand years ago saw the founding of Atlantis at the beginning of the Virgo dispensation, signified by the Great Pyramid. Also called the ‘Temple of the Hieroglyph’. Pyramid geometry was used extensively at strategic leyline locations all around the World at the time to help in the induction and dispersement of the incoming frequencies of Virgo. Virgo saw the establishment of Planetary Law of one hundred and eight at the third dimensional level of consciousness for the first time as a first step back towards full inter-dimensional Galactic Law normalcy starting to come in now.”

“During Atlantis, you had been brought forward into prominence in preparation for the opportunity of clearing within the Christ cradle to come two thousand years ago. During Atlantis most of you were located in Sodom and Gomorrah, being the most removed from the mainstream of Atlantian civilization.”

“Similarly in the warm-up to Atlantis the main portion of the Grand Canyon was carved. The Atlantians travelled in magnetic levitational devices called Vailxes, able to move a hundred miles an hour up and down the meridians and a thousand miles an hour across. An early Atlantian had sat in a Vailxe over the canyon watching it being carved out and later recounted it.”

(e) Atlantis | Island of Atlantis | Sodom and Gomorrah | Black Masters of Altlantis (archive.org) 

Atlantis Nonsense #16

It appears to me that somewhere out there is a training school for people that want to use Atlantis as a marketing tool. Book publishers are notorious for inducing authors to include ‘Atlantis’ in the title of their books. It seems that Zoë Devi graduated from that school.

She is a typical example of a self-appointed guru delighting the world with goodies such as ‘Nordic Light Healing’ and ‘Soul Vibration Marketing’. However, when she ventured to include Atlantis in her vast output of bovine manure, I had to say something. She offers to reveal Atlantis Codes that will wait for it, ‘awaken your DNA’. Now, I did not know that our DNA was asleep and neither did you. Zoë’s video with start you on the road to ending this dormancy.

DNA activation – The Codes of Atlantis – Introduction – Bing video

Atlantis Nonsense #15

Just over a decade ago, the following headline adorned one website “Cocaine Mummies as Evidence for Atlantis in Antarctica”. With visions of pharaohs having damaged septa as well as junkie penguins, I was not sure whether to laugh or cry. The story of the cocaine mummies has been around since 1979 and has been used to prove the existence of very early trans-Atlantic contacts. That debate has rumbled on, while the Antarctica connection could easily be mistaken for the ramblings of an addled addict’s brain.

https://oilismastery.blogspot.com/2009/06/cocaine-mummies-as-evidence-for.html

Atlantis Nonsense #14

It is some time since I added anything to my collection of Atlantis nonsense. This is due to a lack of time rather than material. This contribution comes from the keyboard of Geoffrey Keyte, Atlantean Reiki Grandmaster.

“Using Atlantean crystals which you intuit as “clear” (not previously programmed), you may tap into the Atlantean Crystal Matrix–the “light net” connecting all the Atlantean crystals to the greater universal grid of UNITY Thoth calls the “Attasic,” which is beyond the half-light reality-universe in which we collectively maintain in our field. To aid you in accessing the Atlantean Crystal Matrix, you may wish to visualize a blue-green light in the centre of which is a sparkling clear crystal radiating rainbow colours. Chant the mantram OMU-RA-SA-SET-TA until you feel that you have successfully entered the matrix. Then chant AB-E-VEH-SEE-MA-ON-UR-EH as you call upon these codes to quicken your light body to the “Attasic” Universe.”

*https://lightgrid.ning.com/forum/topics/atlantian-crystal-by-geoffrey-keyte?groupUrl=lightgrid-crystal-connection-lcc&  (link broken Dec. 2019)

Atlantis Nonsense #13

It is some time since I added anything to this nonsense section, not because there was any shortage of Atlantis drivel to entertain us, but because I had other more important matters to attend to. Today’s bovine effluent came from the keyboard of Antoinette-Lyons Glynn in 2014 as a promo for a workshop.

REAWAKENING THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF ATLANTIS IRELAND

ACTIVATING THE 7 PORTALS – BOOK OF COMING FORTH BY LIGHT

ACTIVATING THE ANCIENT CRYSTAL LIGHT GRIDS OF ATLANTIS IRELAND”

ACTIVATE THE LIGHT, RAINBOW, DIAMOND BODY

SYCHRONOIZE YOUR LIGHT BODY WITH THE HARMONIC SPEED OF LIGHT

ENTER THE MYSTERY SCHOOLS & ACCESS THE SECRETS OF SONIC SACRED GEOMETRIC ALCHEMY”

https://atlantisireland.webs.com/eventsireland2014.htm (offline Oct.2016)

https://www.positivelife.ie/event/opening-the-atlantian-portals-of-ancient-egypt-ireland-with-antoinette-lyons-glynn/ {3209}

Atlantis Nonsense # 12

The marketing power of the name Atlantis has been long recognised. Today’s delight is from a site endeavouring to get the unsuspecting to part with their cash for what is promoted as ‘Classic Atlantean Triads’ and which – joy of joys – also include EMO beads. A snip at $3500.

The lengthy copy includes so much drivel that the following will have to suffice;

“The Atlanteans had machines. Lots of machines, lots of what is considered now ‘modern’ technology, including safety razors, pressure-cookers, perfumes, complex dinner menus, fast food shops, timepieces, water and windmills, steam engines, maps, compasses and astrolabes, complex hand-operated computers that rival any Swiss watch for intricacy and engineering, indoor plumbing, hot water heaters, ice cream and ice makers, leather shoes, dentistry almost as sophisticated as today’s, refrigerators, wireless telegraphy, electroplating and sets of building and measuring tools as good as any you’ll find in your modern hardware store.”

https://www.yoyodyneindustries.com/triads/index.html

Atlantis Nonsense # 11

Hollywood It seems that actress Shirley McClaine revealed that A Dweller on Two Planets[1014], by Frederick S. Oliver, “jumped out of a bookshelf into her hands” in a New Age bookstore in Hong Kong (and obviously had a big influence on her subsequently)! I think a comment is unnecessary.

A Dweller on Two Planets Index (archive.org)  

Atlantis Nonsense # 10

This gem comes from a site dealing with the astrological meaning of individual letters in a person’s name. Comment would be superfluous.

“BRIAN (letter B)

People whose name starts with the letter B are controlled by the planet Saturn. If you have a B in your name then you are helpful, humorous, mostly resolved, but often fearful. Looking at the letter B one sees the heart which mirrors feminine energy. It also looks like a figure eight lying down and that can mean infinity. The task is to discover the world, and to find sacred powers to gain greater protection for themselves and others. If you have a B in the name, then you have been incarnated in several races: Lemuria, Atlantis, and other planets. Through the experience accumulated from previous lives, you are the one who wants to prove himself in this life.”

https://www.namespage.com/posts/brian-slade (offline Mar.2016)

Atlantis Nonsense # 9

It is some time since I added to this section, but today I must share with CooperDiana166x178you some of the drivel published by Diana Cooper, with which her website abounds.

I met my first unicorn when I was sitting on the lawn with my laptop on my knee. A beautiful white presence appeared by my side and I was amazed to realize it was a unicorn. It gave me information about the unicorn realms and told me that they are looking for people of high energy who want to help the world. They will connect to them and help them.

   Unicorns are pure white seventh-dimensional horses who have returned to Earth for the first time since Atlantis to help us with our ascension. They are known as the purest of the pure and have qualities of love, peace, calm, gentleness, hope, majesty, caring, magic and mystery. They will come to you when you are ready, helping you too to develop your unicorn qualities.

https://www.dianacooper.com/books/unicorns/ (Link broken Feb. 2019) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20180116183643/https://www.dianacooper.com/books/unicorns/

Atlantis Nonsense # 8 For New Age crazies, have included here an offering from the keyboard of StinsonDeanna Jaxine Stinson, who admits to co-owning “a paranormal business that seeks out extraterrestrials, demons, ghosts, monsters, vampires and so much more.” Stinson is an Atlantis sceptic but does tell us that “the story is that Atlantis is a highly developed society that just goes missing one day. There is a lot of debate and there is really no good evidence that this was a real place or where it was. It is more of a spiritual place. People who connect with the spirit world through crystal skulls commonly process that the people of these times were using crystal skulls and that they summoned something that caused their city to be sucked into some kind of vortex and transported to another dimension.” There is more literary effluent where that came from.*Stinson also informs us that “the ancient lost city of Atlantis is believed to have been destroyed by crystal skulls.” (a)

(a) https://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/2014/10/crystal-skulls-the-lost-city-of-atlantis-and-your-higher-self-2477736.html

Alantis Nonsense #7 As a rule I encourage recycling, but when it comes to the regurgitating of old and sometimes discredited Atlantis stories, my blood boils. An example today (5 Sept. 2014) concerns the 2001 claim by Zelitsky and Weinzweig that they had discovered a sunken city off the west coast of Cuba, between the island and the Yucatan Peninsula. Nothing substantial has been heard since, but it’s reasonable to wonder why the cash-poor government of Cuba has failed to capitalise on what potentially should be one of the world’s most lucrative tourist attractions. The story got a lot of attention at the time and is occasionally ‘recycled’ by careless researchers. Some of the images are suspect and not a single piece of verifiable scientific evidence has been offered to support the original claim. Even if the ‘city’ exists, there is absolutely no reason to identify it with Atlantis. Sunken cities exist all over the world. And so, today (5th Sept 2014) we have Terrence Aym misleadingly presenting(a) the story again as if it was new and inaccurately locating the proposed Cuban site inside the Bermuda Triangle, which it clearly is not. This sort of sloppy research is what I expect from someone desperate for publicity. All that Aym has produced is another piece of literary bovine manure, however, he has not cornered the market for that exotic product.

(a)https://galacticconnection.com/atlantis-found-giant-sphinxes-pyramids-bermuda-triangle-update/  

 Atlantis Nonsense #6   This contribution comes from the fertile imagination of Lewis E. Graham PhD who in a radio interview(a) ranging over many subjects including astronomy, the Nephilim, geology, and Atlantis. Graham was Lewid E. Grahama minister by both the Temple of Knowledge and the Huna Heiau, which also awarded him its Doctorate of Divinity degree (D.D.) in 2000. He locates Atlantis in Antarctica which was destroyed by an encounter with the rogue planet Tiamat. He also claims that the Atlanteans averaged 8.5 feet in height and had an alphabet of three-dimensional symbols, the first three of which are the basis for his brand of Atlantean meditation. He further claims that there was a linkage between the language of ancient Egypt and that of Hawaii! In his interview, which lasts for two hours, he quotes frequently from Robert Schoch, the Flem-Aths, Graham Hancock and the Bible. Plato, however, gets very little mention. It is a collection of unsubstantiated claims based on ‘revelations’ made to him. His sincerity is not for me to judge.

(a) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP0RrNYe3fA  (audio only)

Atlantis Nonsense #5 In February 2014 it was reported(a) that two scientists had announced in Bern that they had ‘proof’ that Atlantis had existed on Mars and had traded with the ancient Egyptians! Dr Stephan Weisz and Egyptologist Conrad Vetsch claimed that “a recently deciphered Egyptian scroll first led them to believe that Atlantis was located on Mars. The scroll describes a technologically advanced civilization existing beyond our own planet “in the vast, black ocean of space.” It also alludes to space travel and the use of a shuttlecraft to ferry manlike extraterrestrials from a space-bound mother ship to the surface of Earth.” The credentials of these two gentlemen were not provided. No information regarding the scroll was forthcoming. Apparently, Plato did not get a mention, nor was there any explanation of how Atlanteans capable of space travel were defeated by the relatively primitive Athenians. In the absence of further information this b.s. should be treated as a hoax, concocted to achieve for the perpetrators ‘their fifteen minutes of fame’.

(a) https://thisisyourwake-upcall.blogspot.com/2014/02/swiss-scientists-say-they-can-prove.html

Atlantis Nonsense #4

This offering is from ‘The Solar Brotherhood of the Seven Rays’ and signed by Rev Dr Robert Ghost Wolf robert ghost wolf“The Atlanteans were a very scientific and intellectual people, with little regard for the natural laws of cause and effect. The Atlanteans were a Patriarchal society, and the Lemurians were a Matriarchal society, their philosophies as well as their perceptions being constantly at odds. The Atlanteans were as well obsessed with the acquisition of ever-increasing levels of power and control over nature, and if possible the Earth herself.  This carries over into a blatant recklessness regarding their experiments. Their attempts to harness the Earth’s energies, at one point caused a complete tear in the membrane of the Earth’s atmosphere itself.  This tare in the fragile living membrane occurrence was much like the ozone layer is behaving today, the membrane was spreading of its own accord, causing rips in the time-space continuum.  This allowed for thin spots or holes as it were to appear in the membrane. Once it was realized what was occurring it was too late, there was no way to slow the process, as they had little knowledge of that kind of science.  Eventually, there were leaks from the layers that separated the dimensions; allowing life forms from many different dimensional expressions to enter not only into the Earth plane, but also into all manner of expressions of life forms thereon, including humans, and animals that dwelled upon her.”    https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sumer_anunnaki/reptiles/reptiles23.htm

Atlantis Nonsense #3 This gem comes from a forum on David Icke’s website. This contribution links Atlanteans, Reptilians, crystal skulls and Easter Island! david icke“The once-mighty Atlanteans came from the star system Epsilon Bootis to Earth about 20,000 years ago. The Atlanteans are benevolent! They settled on Easter Island until they were wiped out by the Reptilians about 12,000 years ago. The Easter Island monoliths were meant to ward off humans from finding the secrets off the shores of Easter Island and the buried secrets below Easter Island. This was set up by the Reptilians. The crystal skulls are artefacts of the Atlanteans. The malevolent Draconian Reptilians captured and eliminated most of all the ancient Atlante and altered their DNA. In fact, the Queen of England is .333 part Reptilian and about .012 Atlantean. When the 13 skulls are found, then this will give humans information on how to build ships to reach distant star systems and colonize them.”

>https://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75783 (Link broken March 2020)<

Atlantis Nonsense # 2 This offering comes from an American, Mark Hammons, in a piece entitled Accessible Remains of Atlantis. This lengthy blog jumps from Tesla to LSD to Stargate Atlantis and beyond. The entire blog must be read if appropriate treatment is to be recommended, but the following extract should give you a flavour; “Among the accomplishments of the Atlanteans, for example, was “perfect” weather control. Now the average immediate notion is of abundant fields of waving grain in endless summer alongside the most beautiful of beaches. They had that, and it bored them; too utilitarian to them as we might look at a vineyard. They left such backlands to the serving creatures. The Atlanteans had come into the physical world essentially for stimulation. They loved storms. Whole areas of their land were given over, like national parks, to violent displays of atmospheric turbulence. Their servants, of course, were less fond of these events, which could in the equivalent of  ”artistic license” spillover and kill them, at will. Some did, some didn’t. They also had the ability to affect geological events for their experiential pleasure. Volcanic fountains were a favourite, but much was done with steam and mineral venting for an artistic result. They had plenty of time–the earlier ones were still immortal. More than one volcanic seamount poking its head above the waters of the Atlantic Ocean started out this way. Later, of course, they lost control. “ https://www.scribd.com/doc/36543783/Accessible-Remains-of-Atlantis  

Atlantis Nonsense # 1 This first piece of drivel comes from the pen of the prolific Frank Joseph. These are excerpts from a paper entitled Atlantis and the Great Pyramid from the July/August 2006 edition of Atlantis Rising magazine. ” They (the Egyptians) somehow foresaw some inevitable celestial catastrophe with potential for extraordinary destructiveness. As the object’s orbit began to noticeably decay, ground-observers concluded that an impact with our planet was un­avoidable, and began to prepare for the event by constructing a device that would bolster earth’s ionosphere, thereby deflecting the course of the falling object. The pyramid builders erected their geo-transducer because they understood that the earth was periodically en­dangered by recurring cycles of celestial bombardments. The Great Pyramid was built to guard against future colli­sions from outer space.” “These and other revelations are not mere speculations, but bolstered by evidence for Atlantean influences in Egypt, Mesopotamia and North Africa, as presented in my four published books on the subject. A straightforward ex­amination of the evidence shows that the Atlanteans created a material culture in some respects superior to and in most aspects entirely different from our own. But their strange technology, however powerful, could not save them from the sudden oblivion that consigned Atlantis to the realm of legend. All this began prior to but also accompanied the official rise of high cultures, some five thousand years ago. The fate of this lost race and the ultimate purpose of their Great Pyramid are interwoven motifs laying bare the roots of our civilization. Those roots are not hidden in the sands of Egypt but under the dark fathoms of the ocean that derived its name from the lost homeland of mankind.”

 

Susemihl, Franz

Franz_SusemihlFranz Susemihl (1826-1901) was a professor of classical philology at Greifswald University and later became rector there. He was renowned in academic circles for his translations of the works of Plato and Aristotle. His remarks on the Atlantis commentators of his day are as relevant today as over a century ago when he said “The catalogue of statements about Atlantis is a fairly good aid for the study of human madness.”  The accuracy of his statement is borne out by the swollen ranks of today’s ‘lunatic fringe’ who claim inspiration from psychics, extraterrestrials or who insist that Atlantis was powered by crystals and possessed flying machines. The publication of such nonsense has continually undermined the credibility of serious Atlantology.

*Susemihl’s German translation of Plato’s Timaeus and Critias is available online.(a)(b). Thorwald C. Franke has also included Susemihl’s translation along with that of Müller, Bury and Jowett and the Greek text of John Burnet[1492], all in a parallel format(c).*

It should be noted that Susemihl was an Atlantis sceptic.

(a) https://www.opera-platonis.de/Timaios.html

(b) https://www.opera-platonis.de/Kritias.html

*(c) https://www.atlantis-scout.de/atlantis-timaeus-critias-synopsis.htm*

Forster, Gerry

Gerry Forster (1930-2004) was a British anomalist who devoted much of his time to Gerry Forsterresearching the origins of humanity and the planet that we live on. According to any criteria, I would classify him as a prominent member of the ‘lunatic fringe’. He was an advocate for the Hollow Earth theory and proposed that mankind had originated on a planet, Astrida, in what is now the Asteroid Belt. Less controversially, he also wrote a 50-page  paper on Atlantis entitled The Lost Continent Rediscovered(a) in which he closely follows the views of Ignatius Donnelly

(a) https://onelight.com/forster/index.htm

Yurchey, Doug *

Doug Yurchey (aka Tray Caladan) has written articles on a variety of subjects TrayCaladan_DougYurcheyfrom advanced technology in the Bible to Bode’s Law(f). However, his views on Atlantis show a firm drift towards the Lunatic Fringe(h)*. He proposes that Atlantis had an electricity grid, based on principles later postulated by Nikola Tesla. He explains that any proof of this was washed away in catastrophic floods. He goes much further with an assertion that our distant ancestors not only had electricity but ‘cloning, space travel, atomic energy, anti-gravity, lasers, etc.’

In 2002, Yurchey published a paper detailing high-technology in the Bible, in which he also declares that “the Bible is the most amazing account of Close Encounters.”(g)

He also manages to put Yonaguni in the South China Sea instead of the East China Sea.

Yurchey has also attacked Erich von Däniken’s ‘ancient astronaut’ theories, but only because he thinks them unnecessary, as his (Yuchey’s) view of Atlantis being so technologically advanced that it makes the idea of aliens redundant(c).

Evidence is not produced to support any of his wild speculations, many of which are to be found on his website(a).

A cynic might be forgiven for attributing his outlandish views to his unrepentant support for the use of marijuana(b).

2014 found Yurchey with a new name, Tray Caladan. But, although the name is new, he is still spreading the same old natural fertiliser(e).

(a) You searched for Yurchey – World Mysteries Blog (world-mysteries.com)

(b) https://archive.lewrockwell.com/spl2/reason-hemp-is-illegal.html

(c) Von Daniken’s Mistake (archive.org)

(d) https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/column.php?id=93290

(e)  https://blog.world-mysteries.com/strange-artifacts/revelations-of-tray-caladan-doug-yurchey/

(f) https://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/new-order-to-the-solar-system/

(g) https://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/high-technology-in-the-bible/

(h) https://old.world-mysteries.com/mpl_10dy.htm *

Spanuth, Dr Jürgen

Spanuth-1Dr Jürgen Spanuth (1907-1998) was born in Austria and studied theology and archaeology at university. He became the pastor of Bordelum in Northern Germany.

According to Life magazine of Sept. 8, 1952(g), after twenty years of research, he organised a dive around Heligoland and found extensive underwater structures. These explorations led to his book Das Entraselte Atlantis [0016] being published in 1953.  It was later translated into English and published as Atlantis of the North [0015] and is now available to read on the internet(a).

Spanuth’s basic thesis was that following a major catastrophe in the North Sea around 1250 BC, the Mediterranean experienced an invasion of Scandinavians, whom he referred to as the ‘North Sea Peoples’. Part of the physical evidence he produced was the horn-helmeted Sea Peoples depicted at Medinet Habu. Since we are all used to seeing Vikings depicted with horned helmets, many are surprised to find that it is a late 19th-century invention(e)(f).

Spanuth’s theory implies that such helmets had been a standard army issue in the region for over a millennium. In fact, the Vikings used rather plain helmets which they did not manufacture themselves but traded for them from other Germanic peoples in mainland Europe(d). On the other hand, one of the Sea Peoples, the Shardana, generally believed to have come from Sardinia, did use horned-helmets. However, there are aspects of this claim that are the subject of continuing debate, but the suggestion of a North Sea connection has weakened considerably.

Spanuth considered Basileia, the royal island of Atlantis, to have been located near Heligoland. He produced a mass of evidence to support his views but found his book under severe attack by many academics, which, in general, had the support of the public. After being publicly labelled, among other things, a liar, Spanuth was forced to challenge his detractors in the courts. After some six years, he was vindicated when ten professors withdrew their plea, admitting that their arguments against the pastor were untenable. Felix R. Paturi has more information[1339.215] on this disgraceful episode, as well as a note of scientists who supported Spanuth.

>The late Bernhard Beier expanded on the list of academics who did endorse Spanuth(i)(j) and in some ways more interesting is an article he wrote giving an account of the efforts of many academics to silence Spanuth completely. Coincidentally, around the same time, Immanuel Velikovsky was under a similar attack in the USA.<

A study of Spanuth’s references would suggest that he had access to the prehistoric research archives of the Ahnenerbe and has successfully collated and analysed a lot of this extensive material in his books. Vidal-Naquet bluntly labels him a Nazi[580.124], although his publisher, Wolfram Zeller, denied it. It may be relevant to mention that in the 1930s, Heinrich Pudor an avowed German anti-Semite also proposed Helgoland as Atlantis, but I have been unable to find any reference to Pudor by Spanuth!

The German Wikipedia claims that Spanuth was a member of the NSDAP (Nazi Party) from 1933 until 1945. Similar claims that he had been in the SS have also been refuted(c). In 2002, Frank Doenenburg, on his website(b) discussed Spanuth’s politics at length. In my view, all these matters, however unsavoury, risk distracting us today from discussing dispassionately the merits or otherwise of Spanuth’s Atlantis theories.

Spanuth’s second book[017] had a much better reception. His final offering was Die Atlanter(1976), which was also published in English[015], however, this is just a revised and expanded version of his 1965 book[048].

Atlantisforschung has highlighted Spanuth’s opposition to the Minoan Hypothesis in a discussion paper on its website. I have published here a translation of a short excerpt from Die Atlanter that shows his disdain for the idea of an Aegean Atlantis.

“Neither Thera nor Crete lay in the ‘Atlantic Sea’, but in the Aegean Sea, which is expressly mentioned in Crit. 111a and contrasted with the Atlantic Sea. Neither of the islands lay at the mouth of great rivers, nor did they “sink into the sea and disappear from sight.” ( Tim. 25d) The Aegean Sea never became “impassable and unsearchable because of the very shallow mud”. Neither Solon nor Plato could have said of the Aegean Sea that it was ‘still impassable and unsearchable’                                     

or that ‘even today … an impenetrable and muddy shoal’ ‘blocks the way to the opposite sea’ ( Crit. 108e). Both had often sailed the Aegean Sea, and their contemporaries would have laughed at them for telling such follies.”(h)

Spanuth has still a lot of supporters and is constantly referred to, particularly by German investigators such as Arn Strohmeyer[557] and Gerhard Herm[382]. Felice Vinci, who strongly favours a Northern European origin for Homer’s epic tales, also places Atlantis in a northern context. The Danish writer, Kirsten Bang, published a short book [679] in which she also placed Atlantis in the Wadden Sea where Helgoland is located. She also supports a date of 1300 BC for its destruction.

Another recent supporter of Spanuth’s Atlantis theory is Holger Kalweit who has written a trilogy, the first of which is Irrstern über Atlantis [1024]. This initial volume is concerned with the destruction of Atlantis by a comet (Phaeton) in 1222 BC, leaving Helgoland as a remnant. Refugees fled south to the Eastern Mediterranean leaving their cultural imprint on the region. Unfortunately. this huge 700-page book is to be followed by two more in which the author moves on to expand on the subject of ‘lizard people’, which for me has him as a fully paid-up member of the lunatic fringe.

(a) https://archive.org/details/atlantisofnorth00span/mode/2up Read Only

(b) https://www.fdoernenburg.de/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1213 (page closed, July 2017)

(c) https://groups.google.com/group/sci.archaeology/tree/browse_frm/month/1999-10/f5357cd7bdf26eef?rnum=211&_done=%2Fgroup%2Fsci.archaeology%2Fbrowse_frm%2Fmonth%2F1999-10%3F

(d) https://www.quora.com/Where-did-the-myth-about-the-Vikings-having-horned-helmets-originate

(e) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Shardana+horned+helmets&hl=en-GB&rlz=1T4GUEA_en-GBIE623IE623&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi40t7ht7TNAhWBEhQKHcaSAegQ_AUICCgB&biw=881&bih=399#imgrc=kbbujC1RTkgdIM%3A

(f) https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/exposing-roots-viking-horned-helmet-myth-005292?nopaging=1

(g) Atlantis placed at the island of Heligoland, off the coast of Germany in the North Sea. From LIFE magazine, Sep 8, 1952. : HighStrangeness (reddit.com)

(h) Jürgen Spanuth über ‘Atlantis in der Ägäis’ – Atlantisforschung.de 

(i) An “illustrious society” – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) *

(j) An “illustrious society” (II) – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) *

 

Hancock, Graham

Graham Hancock_thumb[1]Graham Hancock the well-known investigator of prehistoric mysteries has never discussed the Atlantis enigma in depth. In fact, he once remarked on BBC Television that he avoids using the word ‘Atlantis’ in his books “because most people when they hear the word Atlantis immediately think that they’re dealing with the lunatic fringe”.

Furthermore, he emphasises the potential value of myths as transmitters of historical facts, albeit distorted.

In his 1995 tome on civilisations submerged at the end of the last Ice Age, Fingerprints of the Gods [275.462] he briefly discusses the subject of Atlantis. He accepted that the Atlantic was not harbouring any lost continent, although he was seeking a continental-sized home for his vanished civilisation. Paul Heinrich has posted a review(v) of ‘Fingerprints’.

Similarly, in his earlier work, The Sign and the Seal [678.319], Hancock had clearly discounted the Atlantic as the home of Atlantis. At this point, he appeared to be considering the Antarctic location proposed by the Flem-Aths.

His book, Underworld [274] was published in 2002 and was followed by a TV programme, Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age, which was based on it. The latter evoked a highly critical review(s) from N.C. Flemming, who has written widely on maritime matters including sea-level changes and sunken cities [1682]. Hancock wrote an equally strong response(r) to this.

Hancock maintains an interesting website(a) that is regularly updated with contributions from a wide range of contributors. His bestselling Fingerprints of the Gods is now available online(b).

The other side of the coin is that Hancock’s evidence supporting his theories has been heavily criticised as flawed(g) and misleadingly presented(h).

Hancock regularly draws attention to what he considers mystical relationships between the Great Pyramid of Giza and the radius, circumference, and axial precession of the earth…….. Proponents of these “mystical” relationships contend, in addition to existing in the first place, that the relationships must be purposeful and therefore provide direct evidence of advanced capabilities in technology, mathematics, and precise astronomical observing techniques that scholars have long asserted were not available to humans when the pyramids were constructed.”  These are among the opening remarks by Thomas W. Schroeder, who published two papers in 2019 criticising Hancock’s scholarship.(y-z)

>E.J. de Meester who proposed an English location for Atlantis, before his website went offline, was critical of Graham Hancock’s hyperdiffusionist concept of Atlantis commenting that In 1999 Discovery Channel broadcast a three-part series called ‘Quest for the lost Civilisation’.In it, Graham Hancock stated that the pyramids, Angkor Vat, Stonehenge, the stones of Carnac, the Nazca lines, temples in Mexico and the statues of Easter Island were all part of an ancient global civilisation of seafarers who were apparently obsessed by astrology. The temples of Angkor Vat (in Cambodia) were said to be built in the shape of the zodiac sign Draco, the pyramids of Gizeh in the shape of Sirius; the Sphinx is supposed to be looking at the sign of Leo. It’s all rather vague. Hard to say whether it’s nonsense or not. More information can be found in Hancock’s books, like ‘Fingerprints of the Gods’[0275]  and ‘Heaven’s Mirror’ [0855] .” De Meester’s comments are still (2023) available on the archive.org website(ar).

For my part, I consider this hodgepodge of locations presented by Hancock as parts of his global civilisation to be utter nonsense. The sites listed above have little in common; Carnac and Stonehenge are probably the only two that might be considered to be related. Perhaps the most obvious weakness in his claim is the fact that some of the sites are separated by millennia. Easter Island, Angor Wat and Nazca were developed long after Atlantis was submerged<.

Further criticism of Hancock’s scholarship has come from Garrett Fagan, particularly in relation to his comments regarding Antarctica.(aa)

Jason Colavito has written(c) a critical review of Hancock’s work and his recent advocacy “for ayahuasca, a South American hallucinogen. Since taking the drug for his 2005 book Supernatural, Hancock has supported the concept that mind-altering substances give their users access to a spirit world where one can commune directly with the ‘gods’.”

In April 2015, Hancock was due to engage in a debate with Zahi Hawass on the subject of their conflicting views of ancient history. However, when Hawass saw that Hancock included an image of Robert Bauval in his presentation, he refused to continue with the arranged format(d)(t).

In September 2015, Hancock published his, Magicians of the Gods [1119] which worryingly sounds like a von Däniken book title! Already, he is trailing this publication with teasers, such as a claim that he has finally identified the ‘smoking gun’ that demonstrates that a cometary impact destroyed an advanced civilisation in the Antarctic 12,800 years ago(e) Shortly after the initial report was published, Hancock had to correct errors in it(f), the principal one being that the impact site was the North American ice cap NOT Antarctica. An interview with Hancock shortly before the publication of ‘Magicians’(n) is online as is also a review of the book itself(o). A full-length video lecture based on the book is available online(x).

Hancock also climbed aboard the Gobekli Tepe bandwagon, incorporating it along with Noah’s Ark and Atlantis into one narrative(p).

Hancock’s book also engages in scaremongering, with a sales-boosting prediction that an asteroid impact is possible in 2030 when the Earth once again enters the orbit of the remains of Encke’s Comet!

Jason Colavito’s critical review of ‘Magicians‘ is now online(j). A more favourable evaluation of his book is now available from Dr Jon Epstein of Greensboro College, who expresses some interesting views on the closed-mindedness of many academics(k). Epstein’s review prompted further comments from Colavito(l). Following correspondence between Epstein and Colavito, additional claims of academic conspiracy to block Hancock have emerged.

Michael Shermer, a professional sceptic, attacked Hancock’s ‘Magicians’ in a Scientific American article arguing first of all that, “no matter how devastating an extraterrestrial impact might be, are we to believe that after centuries of flourishing, every last tool, potsherd, article of clothing, and, presumably from an advanced civilization, writing, metallurgy and other technologies—not to mention trash—was erased? Inconceivable.” (ab)

Hancock recently received the endorsement of the South African Professor of Philosophy, Bert Olivier, which swiftly produced a response from Colavito(q).

Hancock’s next book, America Before, published in April 2019, proposes that North America was inhabited 130,000 years ago and was home to an advanced civilisation that was destroyed by a cometary impact at the end of the Younger Dryas period, around 10,000 BC. The fact that this is contradicted by Plato does not seem to bother him. Hancock proposed cometary impact damage as the cause of Atlantis’ demise, Plato says flooding. I would prefer Plato’s account as he was nearly two and a half millennia nearer the event. Hancock claims that Atlantean survivors spread their alleged high-tech civilisation around the world. Plato does not describe Atlantis as any more advanced than any other culture. Hancock offers no tangible evidence for his claim.

When asked what he meant by ‘advanced’ Hancock revealed(u) that “I think we’re talking about a civilization – more than 12,000 years ago – which was as advanced as our civilization was, say in the late 18th century or early 19th century. In other words, they could navigate the world, they could explore the world, they could measure the world accurately, they had precise astronomy, they could create beautiful maps that were accurate in terms of latitude and longitude. That kind of level of civilization.”

In late 2022, Hancock had a TV series entitled Ancient Apocalypse transmitted on Netflix. It was, of course, joyously greeted by his fans, but received more muted reviews in other quarters(ad). Not unexpectedly Jason Colavito(af) and Thorwald C. Franke (Newsletter 206)(ae). Murdoch’s The Sun tabloids offered a voice(ac) for the cries of protest from academics. It appears that the series has been used as a multi-episode aggressive rant against conventional archaeology. Perhaps it was just the ayahuasca speaking.

In response, this week (Dec.2, 2022), the Society for American Archaeology published an open letter(ah) to Netflix and the television production house ITN requesting that they re-classify its new series Ancient Apocalypse as a work of fiction rather than a docuseries(ag). Eventually, Hancock responded with a lengthy article(al) described by Jason Colavito as ‘hysterical’(am), but in my view, it contains many interesting points.

The uproar over the Hancock-Netflix series continues unabated with Colavito offering the following addition to his website(ai) and a longer piece on The New Republic website(aj); “It has also sparked unparalleled outrage from archaeologists and journalists, resulting in dozens of think pieces decrying the show’s many false claims and illogical arguments, analyzing its racist implications, and declaring the series everything from “fishy” to the “most dangerous” show on Netflix. “Why has this been allowed?” asked Britain’s The Guardian. The answer to that seemed pretty obvious: Hancock’s son, Sean Hancock, is Netflix’s senior manager for unscripted originals.”

The Guardian newspaper (UK) took another perceived aspect of the series to accuse Hancock – who describes himself as a journalist presumably to avoid being called a pseudo-scientist” – of taking “the story to a new controversial level in suggesting that survivors of such a deluge were the instigators of the great works of other civilisations, from Egypt to Mexico and Turkey to Indonesia. As (Flint) Dibble states, such claims reinforce white supremacist ideas. ‘They strip indigenous people of their rich heritage and instead give credit to aliens or white people.’ In short, the series promotes ideas of ‘race science’ that are outdated and long since debunked.”(ak).

On April 2023, Jason Colavito reported(an) In a surprise move, Graham Hancock pulled out of June’s Cosmic Summit, a meeting of catastrophists in support of the theory that a comet hit the Earth at the end of the last Ice Age and destroyed a high-tech lost civilization. Atlantis speculator Jimmy Corsetti, who was also scheduled to speak, also said he would not be attending. Corsetti claimed he had been ‘removed’ against his will from the list of speakers, leaving the conference in chaos.”  There is some suggestion that problems arose over a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Hancock offered the following explanation on his website(ao)  “Serious concerns have been brought to my attention that has caused me to lose confidence in the fundamental philosophy and direction of this conference.”

In June 2023, Michael Shermer published an article in Skeptic magazine that attacked Hancock’s theories generally and the 2022 Netflix series in particular(ap).

The Netflix episode dealing with the Maltese megaliths has drawn criticism from archaeologists in Malta, one of whom appeared briefly in the episode and later implied that her appearance was “manipulated to suit the narrative that the series is trying to push.” (aq)

(a) https://www.grahamhancock.com

(b) https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/egipto/fingerprintgods/fingerprintgods.htm#contents

(c) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2012/09/graham-hancock-maya-knew-about-5000-year-cycle-of-bureaucratic-civilization.html

(d) https://www.grahamhancock.com/forum/HancockG15.php

(e) https://metro.co.uk/2015/05/18/comet-which-hit-antarctica-13000-years-ago-wiped-out-advanced-civilisation-5202576/

(f) https://m.facebook.com/Author.GrahamHancock/photos/a.10151524582402354.1073741825.31260747353/10153324831577354/?type=1&theatre

(g) https://web.archive.org/web/20200225173834/http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/mom/atlantis.html

(h) https://www.luckymojo.com/hancocklecture.html

(i) https://web.archive.org/web/20200804080428/http://csglobe.com/exclusive-comet-three-times-bigger-than-dinosaur-killer-could-soon-destroy-earth/

(j) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/magicians-of-the-gods-review.html#.VfaDWMtRFwF

(k) “But then, just for the hell of it, you decide to up the ante”- Review- Graham Hancock’s Magicians of the Gods – Camel City Dispatch (archive.org)

(l) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/greensboro-college-professor-graham-hancock-is-showing-archaeologists-how-to-ask-real-questions

(m) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/sociologist-claims-hubris-of-archaeology-resulted-in-conspiracy-to-silence-graham-hancock

(n) https://andrewgough.co.uk/interviews_hancock_2015/

(o) Archive 2904

(p) Gobekli Tepe, Noah’s Ark & Lost Atlantis – Collective Evolution (archive.org) 

(q) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/south-african-philosophy-professor-endorses-graham-hancocks-lost-civilization-demands-paradigm-shift-in-archaeology

(r) https://grahamhancock.com/archive-underworld2/

(s) https://www.scribd.com/document/335992579/Nick-Flemming-Review-of-Flooded-Kingdoms-of-the-Ice-Age

(t) https://www.dailygrail.com/2015/04/game-of-groans-egyptologist-zahi-hawass-goes-into-meltdown-during-debate-with-graham-hancock/

(u) https://www.dailygrail.com/2019/04/watch-graham-hancock-discuss-his-new-book-america-before/

(v) The Cuicuilco Pyramid and Fingerprints of the Gods (archive.org)  

(w) An Analysis of the Quality of Graham Hancock’s Science (hallofmaat.com) 

(x) Magicians of the Gods Lecture by Graham Hancock at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey – YouTube

(y) https://www.hallofmaat.com/numerology/a-critique-of-graham-hancocks-forced-numerical-relationship-between-the-great-pyramid-of-giza-and-earths-dimensions-1/

(z)  https://www.hallofmaat.com/numerology/a-critique-of-graham-hancocks-forced-numerical-relationship-between-the-great-pyramid-of-giza-and-earths-dimensions-2/

(aa) https://www.hallofmaat.com/meh/antarctic-farce/

(ab) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/no-there-wasnt-an-advanced-civilization-12-000-years-ago/

(ac) https://www.thesun.ie/news/9782110/wild-atlantis-theory-netlfix-documentary/

(ad) Lost city of Atlantis rises again to fuel a dangerous myth | Archaeology | The Guardian 

(ae) https://www.atlantis-scout.de/atlantis_newsl_archive.htm

(af) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-netflixs-ancient-apocalypse 

(ag) Archaeologists Ask Netflix to Reclassify Graham Hancock’s ‘Unfounded’ Netflix Docuseries ‘Ancient Apocalypse’ as Fiction | Artnet News 

(ah) saa-letter-ancient-apocalypse.pdf

(ai) Read My New Piece on “Ancient Apocalypse” in “The New Republic” (substack.com)  

(aj) The Strange and Dangerous Right-Wing Freakout Over Ancient Apocalypse | The New Republic

(ak) https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/nov/27/atlantis-lost-civilisation-fake-news-netflix-ancient-apocalypse

(al) Response by Graham Hancock (GH) to the open letter to Netflix dated 30th November 2022 from the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) concerning the eight-part docuseries Ancient Apocalypse presented by Graham Hancock – Graham Hancock Official Website

(am) Graham Hancock Issues Response to Archaeology Association’s Open Letter – JASON COLAVITO

(an) Graham Hancock Pulls Out of Cosmic Summit, Replaced by Scott Wolter – JASON COLAVITO 

(ao) https://grahamhancock.com/events/ 

(ap) Skeptic » Reading Room » Alternative Civilization and Its Discontents: An Analysis of the Alternative Archaeologist Graham Hancock’s Claim That an Ancient Apocalypse Erased the Lost Civilization of Atlantis 

(aq) https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/maltese-archaeologists-push-back-netflix-show-s-temple-claims.995910

(ar) https://web.archive.org/web/20090614050055/http://home-3.tiscali.nl/~meester7/engatlantis.html *

Blavatsky, Madame Helena Petrovna

Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky(1831-1891) was nothing but another charlatan in a long line of fraudsters who have tried Blavatskyto exploit the story of Atlantis. However, she and her ilk are frequently quoted as ‘authorities’ on the subject. Consequently, I felt obliged to give some of her history in order to bring some perspective into her rather dubious credentials.

Blavatsky was born in Ekaterinoslav, now known as Dnepropetrovsk in the Ukraine. She had a colourful life including a stint as a circus bareback rider to being a professional pianist. She was born in Ukraine and married a Russian military man, who was a provincial governor. After a brief period, she left him and embarked on extensive travels in the East, during which she claims to have spent seven years studying in Tibet. Eventually, she ended up in New York and became a co-founder of the Theosophical Society. Theosophy is an occult philosophical religious system allegedly based on ancient Hindu writings. She claimed to have had direct contact with two dead Tibetan Mahatmas. In 1877, Blavatsky published a huge, two-volume book called Isis Unveiled. It contained just ONE page about Atlantis in which she presented her views regarding Plato’s lost civilisation. She claimed that the people of Atlantis were the “fourth race” on Earth. She said they were a super-human people who lived long before human beings. According to Blavatsky, the era of Atlantis lasted for eight to ten million years, and the cataclysms that caused its main continental formations to sink happened as much as four to five million years ago. She believed Atlanteans had amazing psychic powers. However, they were corrupted by a great dragon king, Thevetat, and turned into wicked magicians who started a war that destroyed Atlantis.

In 1884, following accusations by the Indian press that she was promoting a deception, the London Society for Psychical Research carried out an investigation and the following year declared that Blavatsky was a fraud.

>In September 1887 she co-founded a monthly journal with the attractive title of Lucifer that was published until August 1897(i).<

In her next book, The Secret Doctrine[1495], published after her death, Blavatsky tells much more about her Atlantis. In that book, she comments on an ancient text that she claims to have been written in Atlantis. She tells how the survivors of Atlantis settled in Egypt and built the pyramids about 100 thousand years ago. A far cry from the conventionally accepted, though sometimes disputed, date of around 2600 BC for their construction.

One of her revelations in The Secret Doctrine was the existence of an Atlantean race of ‘dragon people’(h), who seem reminiscent of David Icke’s ‘lizard people’, more recently adopted by the ‘loopers’ who follow QAnon(g).

In 1893, W.E. Coleman made a study(c)(e)of her books and concluded that they were the result of a remarkable act of plagiarism. Isis Unveiled was calculated to contain at least 2,000 passages copied without credit. A core of around 100 books was used which in turn quoted with references to a further 1,400 works. By the time Secret Doctrine was being ‘assembled’ Ignatius Donnelly’s first book had been published and was also subjected to Blavatsky’s style of literary cannibalism.

Coleman concluded his analysis with the following observation; “ There is not a single dogma or tenet in theosophy, nor any detail of moment in the multiplex and complex concatenation of alleged revelations of occult truth in the teachings of Madame Blavatsky and the pretended adepts, the source of which cannot be pointed out in the world’s literature. From first to last, their writings are dominated by a duplex plagiarism, – plagiarism in idea, and plagiarism in language.”

Theosophy spawned a number of breakaway groups and has inspired quite a number on the lunatic fringe of Atlantis writers. Anthroposophy, a concoction of Rudolf Steiner, was one of these. Blavatsky has done nothing to advance the study of the Atlantis mystery, instead with her deceit; she only muddied the waters further. Since Atlantis had disappeared through flooding, it was possible to write almost anything about it, without any real danger of being definitively refuted. It is rather like libelling the dead; they can’t come back to prove you wrong. To-day Blavatsky is often referred to as “the grandmother of the New Age movement”.

For further information, you can view a website(a) devoted to Blavatsky. A further site(b) outlines in some detail the level of plagiarism that she engaged in.

In 2013, Gary Lachman, the musician and occult writer, published a book attempting to rehabilitate Blavatsky and followed up with an article in the June edition of Fortean Times of the same year promoting the book. Jason Colavito has written a review(d) of the FT article. Colavito has also debunked(f) the claim that Blavatsky had discovered the theory of relativity before Einstein, an idea put forward by her grand-nephew Boris de Zirkoff (1902-1981).

(a) https://www.blavatsky.net/

(b) https://www.rense.com/general66/blav.htm

(c) https://www.blavatskyarchives.com/cole1893.htm

(d) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2013/05/gary-lachman-albert-einstein-and-the-rehabilitation-of-helena-blavatsky.html

(e) https://blavatskyarchives.com/colemansources1895.htm

(f) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/did-helena-blavatsky-discover-the-theory-of-relativity-before-einstein

(g) Like QAnon’s Capitol rioters, the Nashville bomber’s lizard people theory is deadly serious (nbcnews.com)

(h) The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky, vol 2, part 1, stanza 12 (sacred-texts.com)

(i) https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/madame-blavatsky-a-seeker-of-truth-and-a-fraud-1.6478885 *

Lunatic Fringe

The Lunatic Fringe, is a phrase coined by US president Theodore Roosevelt to describe political extremism, since then it has come to mean irrational extremism of any sort. However superficially unkind as the term may seem, it can be justifiably applied to many of the writers on the mystery of Atlantis. The phrase should also be applied to the public who continue to purchase the extensive array of balderdash written on the subject. Most of these writers are just intent on capitalising on the popularity of the subject by getting the gullible to part with their cash in return for fantasy masquerading as fact. Admittedly, there are some authors who appear to actually believe the drivel that they write and who should be pitied rather than condemned. However, the real blame should accrue to the greedy unscrupulous publishers who are ultimately responsible for much of the trash that can be found in bookshops and which led to the efforts of serious Atlantologists being ‘tarred with the same brush’ and unnecessarily subjected to ridicule.

Franz Susemihl (1826-1901) the German classical philologist once remarked that “the catalogue of statements about Atlantis is a fairly good aid for the study of human madness.” Frankly, I think his comments are even more relevant today judging by some of the recent claptrap written about Plato’s island.

This eccentric fringe of Atlantology is somewhat amorphous and difficult to objectively define. Therefore any references under this heading are purely an expression of the personal views of this compiler. Since the aim of this encyclopaedia is primarily to provide information relating to the history of the search for Atlantis, as described in Plato’s Dialogues, it is consequently not appropriate to include any serious mention of such subjects as extraterrestrial Atlanteans, glowing pyramids under the ocean or channelled ‘revelations‘.

Unfortunately, the advent of the Internet has brought additional outlandish Atlantis theories into the public domain(a)(b), a trend that continues unabated.
Also See: Blavatsky, Steiner, Gordon, Cayce, Zink, Nazis, Asher, Ambrose, Judge, McCullough, Planet X and Yurchey .
(a) https://www.tribwatch.com/atlantis.htm

(b) https://mushroom-atlantis.blogspot.com/

 

Däniken, Erich von

vonDanikenErich von Däniken (1935-) is famous for his ancient astronaut theories. However, others, such as W. Raymond Drake preceded him. Similarly, George Hunt Williamson (1926-1986), who also wrote of alien visitors, was irked by Däniken being referred to as “the father of the ‘ancient astronaut’ theory”(g).

As a young man, I was influenced by Däniken’s writings and it took time to develop my critical faculties to the point where I could discount his ideas as ‘pure waffle’. I now see him as a guru for the lunatic fringe who cynically presents distorted collections of historical artefacts and data for financial gain.>One website(a) recounts his claim that the humble banana is evidence of extraterrestrials visitors.<The same source also deals with his lack of truthfulness, which along with one particular blog(c) from Jason Colavito are both well worth a read. Colavito has also reviewed the racism expressed by von Däniken(d).

Von Däniken had seldom touched on the Atlantis story until his Odyssey of the Gods published in English in 2000[273]. He concentrated his discussion on the work of fellow Swiss writer, Eberhard Zangger, who identifies Atlantis with Troy. Von Däniken appears ambiguous about the actual existence of Atlantis, although he seems most reluctant to accept Zangger’s Trojan theory.>“Almost anything is possible where Atlantis is concerned. Only Eberhard’s assumption that Atlantis was nothing other than Troy is hard to sustain.”<

Von Däniken joined the many 2012 opportunists in his 2010 offering Twilight of the Gods. He claims that 2012 will not see the end of the world but in fact, the Mayan ‘prophecies’ relate to the return of the ‘gods’ in the form of alien astronauts. I hope Von Däniken meets them and expresses his gratitude for the good living that they have provided him with for nearly half a century.

Jason Colavito offers an extensive 7-part critique of ‘Twilight’. Colavito is also featured in Issue 8 of the English magazine Explore History which reviews 50 years of ancient aliens a la von Däniken. The article includes a number of references to Colavito’s criticism of Däniken’s theories(f).

E.C. Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles offers a highly critical review of von Däniken’s astronomical knowledge [1842.247]. However, in a balanced conclusion, Krupp candidly wrote “it would be very difficult to prove that ancient astronauts did not visit the earth. But evidence for their having been here is not convincing.”

Some of Daniken’s books are now available as free pdf files(e).

(a) Erich von Daniken: Fraud, Lies and Bananas – Skepticism (paranormalknowledge.com) *

(b) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/category/ancient%20astronauts/1.html

(c) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2013/04/review-of-ancient-aliens-s05e10-the-von-dniken-legacy.html

(d) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2014/01/the-astonishing-racial-claims-of-erich-von-daniken.html

(e) https://epdf.tips/miracles-of-the-gods-a-new-look-at-the-supernatural.html

(f) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/british-magazine-profiles-erich-von-daniken-interviews-me-as-counterpoint

(g) George Hunt Williamson and the ‘Brotherhood of the Seven Rays’ (bibliotecapleyades.net) 

Alexander, Edward

Edward Alexander (1981- ) is a Norwegian researcher currently living in Argentina. He is edward-maggador-alexanderendeavouring to promote the idea of a Latin American Atlantis. His thoughts on the subject were available on his American Atlantis Research website (a), but it’s now closed down).

His former website had a number of interesting ideas and focussed on similarities between structures in Egypt and the New World. However, he does not offer any substantial evidence that might identify any particular location as the site of Plato’s Atlantean capital or the date of its demise. He also fails to offer any explanation for an invasion from South America of the most distant part of the Mediterranean or evidence that any indigenous civilisation had a maritime culture capable of such a strange venture. I’m sorry, but Edward Alexander, or Maggador IX-777  as he sometimes calls himself, does not convince me.

Alexander is a conspiracy theorist, and occultist, who claims to have been reincarnated on earth many times, over the past nine thousand years(b) since his distant origins in the Pleiades.

While a belief in a life before birth is just as questionable as belief in a life after death, I will let that pass. However, his Pleiadian ancestry should be dismissed as New Age twaddle.

Since the above was written, Alexander had developed a new website(c) that is now (2019) for sale, which included an image of himself that was eerily reminiscent of Augustus le Plongeon. (See Above)

Although Alexander has apparently offered little new on Atlantis in recent years, this may be a good thing. I should, in fairness, mention that Alexander is also the author of a number of books(d).

*(a) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20190124134552/https://americanatlantis.blogspot.com/

(b) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20140416043813/https://www.pleiadiantalk.com/2009/05/background-of-maggador-ix-777.html*

(c) https://www.maggador.com/ (offline May 2015)

(d) https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/maggador