Hoaxes

Hoaxes associated with Atlantis are of various types; the most common sort are those perpetrated by writers who write volumes of balderdash about information they claim to have received through psychic channels. The simple fact that so many of these authors contradict each other demonstrates the fictional nature of their offerings. To be extremely kind, I might accept that some of these people are simply self-deluded but to be brutally honest, I believe that the majority of them are simply churning out their rubbish, in collusion with equally opportunistic publishers, in order to separate gullible readers from their cash.

The father of such drivel has to be Edgar Cayce, although I am inclined to think that he personally was in some way one of the self-deluded and did not have any financial motivation. However, it was pure greed or should it be impure greed that ‘inspired’ the vast majority of writers who followed Cayce, building on his foundation of spurious information.

Other types of hoaxers must include Madame Blavatsky, the godmother of occultic garbage, who was declared a fraud in 1884 by the London Society for Psychical Research. Her first book, Isis Unveiled, published in 1877 devotes just one page out of two volumes to Atlantis. Her second book The Secret Doctrine (1888) expands greatly on her ‘knowledge’ of Atlantis. It is worth pointing out that these extended ‘revelations’ were produced only a few years after the success of Ignatius Donnelly’s groundbreaking book in 1882.

Another strange Atlantean hoax concerns Paul Schliemann the grandson of Heinrich Schliemann the discoverer of Troy. See the Paul Schliemann for fuller details.>Incredibly, there are still writers citing Paul Schliemann’s story as fact.<

A more harmless story, frequently touted in books on Atlantis, is that of the S.S. Jesmond that was reported to have discovered an uncharted island in the Atlantic on which they found artefacts including a sarcophagus complete with an occupant. The ‘discovery’ was published in a New Orleans newspaper after the ship arrived there on April 1^st, 1882, the same year that Donnelly’s book was published. The newspaper retracted the story later.

Another frequently quoted claim is the alleged discovery of an underwater pyramid by the late Dr Ray Brown, which does not stand up to the most cursory examination.

Other hoax nominees must include Aaron DuVal^(g) and Jerry Querrard.

In 1970 a book entitled Mu Revealed purported to have evidence which supported Churchward’s claims, but was subsequently revealed as a hoax perpetrated by one Raymond Buckland, writing under the pen-name of Tony Earll, an anagram of ‘not really’.

>Carla Sage was an invented British archaeologist, who was reported to have announced in November 2003 her support for a North African location for Atlantis, in particular, she believed that the Gulf of Sidra (Syrtis Major) held their ports,  apparently impressed by ancient accounts that recorded how the Mycenaean, Cretan and Egyptian civilisations all traded with Atlantis. This has now been confirmed as fiction, as the Sage story originally appeared in the now-defunct and largely fictional US tabloid magazine, Weekly World News (11/11/2003). It was then picked up by many less than diligent websites and took on a life of its own.<

Blatant commercial frauds have also been perpetrated invoking Atlantis as the ultimate source. One such instance is the sale of replicas of the so-called ‘Atlantis Ring’, an object that is decorated with special geometric symbols and is claimed to emit electromagnetic waves that protect the wearer, give increased psychic abilities, and healing powers and bring the owner good luck. It is claimed that the original was found in 1860 in the Valley of the Kings by “well-known French Egyptologist” Marquis d’Agrain who claimed that it came from Atlantis. He is supposed to have bequeathed the ring to another “famous Egyptologist” Arnold de Belizal^(h). An Internet search reveals little about either person apart from this alleged connection with the Atlantis Ring. Two more articles about it are available online^(d)(e), unfortunately, they include a lot of psychic twaddle. One supplier charges $350 for replica rings^(a).

There are so many other Atlantis-related claims which stretch credibility beyond breaking point that a book devoted to that subject alone is warranted.

In fact, some years ago the Atlantis Online website had a forum devoted to the subject of Atlantis hoaxes^(c). But Atlantis was not the only classical subject that has a hoax associated with it. In 1924, Di Martino, editor of Mouseion, an Italian classics journal, claimed to have discovered all the lost books of Livy^(b).

Jason Colavito has written an interesting article^(f) on hoaxes, which were more prevalent before WWII.

However, before anyone cries ‘hoax’ or ‘fake’, they should remember the case of the Parian Marble (Parian Chronicle), which was found in two sections on the Greek island of Paros in the 17th century. In 1788, Joseph Robertson (1726-1802) declared the Chronicle to be a ‘modern’ fake in a lengthy dissertation^[1401], a claim disproved by the discovery of the final third piece, over a century later.

^(a) https://web.archive.org/web/20181103053016/https://www.atlantisring.com/sales/order.aspx

^(b) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2013/09/the-great-livy-manuscript-hoax-of-1924.html

^(c)https://atlantisonline.smfforfree2.com/index.php?topic=5834.0

^(d) History of the Atlantis ring (archive.org) *

^(e) Atlantis ring journal at home2b.nl (archive.org) *

^(f) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/new-york-times-founder-admitted-stories-of-monsters-ancient-artifacts-unearthed-treasure-were-lies *

(g) http://atlantisonline.smfforfree2.com/index.php?topic=5834.0 *

(h) Archive 6669  (private correspondence}  *