Thomas Sheridan & Neil McDonald

Thomas Sheridan & Neil McDonald are the authors of Atlantis: An Empire Lost and Found ^[2070] in which they attempt to associate the megalithic monuments of the eastern Atlantic seaboard with Atlantis. In particular, they are in awe of the sophistication of the megaliths of the Orkneys and the ongoing discoveries being made there. I agree that they are impressive, but there is no evidence to link them with Atlantis. Such speculation regarding the megalith builders is nothing new, so I let it pass. Additionally, the book lacks both a Bibliography and an Index.

However, speculation is okay, but a distortion of facts is unacceptable. The authors’ speculation continued later with the suggestion that the round towers of Ireland “may well indicate artefacts of an Atlantean civilisation.” To support this contention they claim that in his 1834 book, The Round Towers of Ireland ^[0124], Henry O’Brien “proposed that the towers were constructed by survivors of an Atlantean-style civilisation, and these had become known in time as the Tuatha Dé Danann of Irish mythology.” To be clear, O’Brien never once mentioned either Plato or Atlantis. Muddying the waters further, the theories of Phillip Callahan regarding the towers and paramagnetism are added to the mix.

When I found that Sheridan & McDonald liberally cited sources such as Blavatsky, Steiner and Cayce, I realised that this book had no real value for me and abandoned it.