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/