Atlantis Beneath the Ice

Praise for the previous edition:

“Rose and Rand Flem-Ath were the first authors to develop the idea that the earth’s surface area may at times shift on its mantle, causing radical changes in the geography of the planet that result in the almost total destruction of civilization.”

W
HITLEY
S
TRIEBER
,
AUTHOR OF
C
OMMUNION
AND RADIO HOST OF THE SHOW
D
REAMLAND

“Rand and Rose Flem-Ath have assembled a daring and extremely convincing argument that the location of the lost civilization of Atlantis is the Antarctic continent. . . . Combining mythology with a wealth of scientific and historical information, the Flem-Aths’ research will shake a few foundations.”

N
EXUS

In memory of Charles Hapgood,
a generous mentor who urged us to carry the work further.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As we wrote this Acknowledgments page we marvelled at how lucky we have been in the people we have met as a result of the original publication of this book. Those listed below have been either generous with their wise advice, encouragement, mentorship, patient art of listening or professional help; or helped with access to original research material or media exposure for our work. Sometimes all of the above! And so without further ado (listed here in alphabetical order since we could think of no other way to fairly distribute our heartfelt gratitude) are those who balanced the harsh lessons we learned with their fine professionalism or their friendship and generosity of spirit.

Mindy Branstetter for her patience, Barbara Hand Clow for her early enthusiasm, Steve Detwiler, Adrian Gilbert for wise counsel about a difficult subject, Jon Graham for opening the door, Ray Grasse for always ‘getting it’, Gwaai who shared his deep knowledge of his people’s past, Bill Hamilton who gave support when it mattered the most, Beth Hapgood, Fred Hapgood, Doug Kenyon, Laura Lee, Jeffery Lindholm for his excellent eye on the manuscript, John Michell, Caroline North for seeing the big picture but never missing the nuances, Stel Pavlou for giving credit where it was due and for his sense of humor, Paul Roberts, Alan Samson who captained a listing ship through very dangerous waters and understood the source of the damage, Martin Schnell, Whitley Strieber, Greg Taylor, Jay Weidner, John Anthony West for an early invitation to join the quest, Tony and Carol Wharrie who have patiently heard it all.

Also, the staff at the Yale/Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library were very helpful in facilitating our access to Charles Hapgood’s archives. Likewise, the staff at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem allowed us the privilege of viewing the Einstein-Hapgood correspondence. G. Thomas Tanselle of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation generously sent us copies of Albert Einstein’s writings about Charles Hapgood. Our thanks also go to the staff at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library who provided copies of Charles Hapgood’s correspondence with the President.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW EDITION

It is good to see the word
Atlantis
prominently strutting its stuff in the title of this new and expanded edition of
When the Sky Fell.
This tarnished word has been maligned, misinterpreted, and tossed back and forth between timid suitors unsure whether to embrace or disdain it.

That is understandable, if a tad fainthearted. Bias is never easy to fight. But bias against a word that denigrates no one? Seems absurd. Nevertheless, after the first edition of
When the Sky Fell
was published in January 1995, we soon learned that there are those who lose their senses so completely when the “A-word” (as author John Anthony West so succinctly labeled it) is mentioned that they stumble about blind and deaf to anything else, devoid of the resources to grasp any other concept that happens to be in the same room—or more precisely, in the same book.

For example, the theory of earth crust displacement, which proposes that the earth’s outer shell catastrophically shifts over the planet’s subterranean layers, forms the scaffolding of our quest for the lost civilization. It receives what can only be described as a hysterical reception in some quarters, even though it has hung out with some rather respectable types in the past. Was Albert Einstein silly? Most of us can probably put our hand up to a resounding no on that one. Nevertheless, his support and his active guidance of Professor Charles Hapgood, who developed the theory
and who, in turn, wrote that ours was “the
first
truly scientific exploration of my work that has ever been done,” makes our critics break out in hives. Their answer to this conundrum? Ignore this uncomfortable fact. Or actually lie to their students about what the great physicist said about the theory. (Yes, it happened.) Or better yet, let’s just claim that poor old Albert was growing senile or was out-of-date. Any or all of the above choices will do to whitewash this inconvenient truth.

Never did we imagine in 1977, when we started exchanging letters with Hapgood, that decades later we would find ourselves writing an introduction to a new edition of the controversial book that had gradually evolved as a result of that encouraging relationship.

In this new, expanded edition we detail our fresh research gleaned from three weeks of study at Hapgood’s long-neglected Yale archives. We delve into his correspondence with President Dwight D. Eisenhower and visit the president’s archives in Abilene, Kansas. These forgotten documents reveal how Christopher Columbus may have possessed a world map drawn by the survivors of Atlantis. Fragments of the map incorporate astronomical clues pointing to the date it was originally drafted, a date—3800 BCE—that coincides with the dawn of Egyptian civilization.

We learn how Einstein urged that Hapgood be awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Grant because his earth crust displacement theory was “fascinating and important.”

You’ll discover that a rare, debilitating genetic disease common to the Haida of British Columbia, on Canada’s west coast, was also suffered by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, suggesting that the two vastly separated peoples may have had a common ancestor.