Admiral Byrd and the new Atlantis

Did Admiral Byrd fly not only over the poles of the earth, but also inside them, to discover new continents inside the earth? The answer would be a resounding no. Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888 – 1957) was an Antarctic explorer, pioneering aviator, and US Naval Officer. On May 9, 1926, Byrd, as the navigator, and pilot Floyd Bennett made what may be considered the first aeroplane flight over the North Pole, in a 15 and a half hour flight. They flew from King's Bay, Spitsbergen, Norway, to the North Pole and back again. There is some controversy as to whether they actually reached the pole.

In 1928, Byrd began his first expedition to the Antarctic involving two ships and three aeroplanes. He undertook three more expeditions to the south pole from 1933–35 and 1939–41, culminating in Operation Highjump from 1946-1947, the largest Antarctic expedition to date. The genesis of the apocryphal tale that Admiral Byrd flew not only over, but also inside the poles, comes from a book that was published in 1959 by an obscure author, who published the book at his own expenses. Entitled Worlds beyond the Poles, its author, Francis Amadeo Giannini, postulated that Admiral Byrd not only flew towards, and over the poles, but also beyond them – and as a consequence discovered a vast and as yet unknown hinterland.

From Giannini's Worlds beyond the Poles

Who was Giannini? In one contemporary newspaper article he is described as ‘a philosopher’ and ‘an intense, black-eyed man from Cambridge, Massachusetts who once served as an antarctic chartmaker for bearded Sir Hubert Wilkins’. But while legend has it that Admiral Byrd flew inside the pole and thus travelled inside the earth, the author of the strange book was by no means a proponent of the hollow earth theory. Giannini had an even more remarkable tale to tell. He postulated that the earth was not a globe, but that the portions of the earth form a small part of an endless landmass that stretches forever beyond the poles into space.

Giannini’s cosmology was not without its forerunners. Thomas Erskine’s utopian novels Armata (1816), and The Second Part of Armata (1817), describe the discovery of an inhabited planet attached to the South Pole, which can be reached by a sailing vessel. In his The Austral Globe (1892), Milton W. Ramsey also described a journey to a planet attached to earth at the South Pole. Thomas McGrady described in his Beyond the Black Ocean (1901) an inhabited sphere attached to the Earth at the North Pole. The scientific attainments of the inhabitants include airships and communication with Mars occurs. The transmutation of Giannini’s supposition is to be found in the magazines of Raymond Palmer. Here it became a story of a travel inside the earth.

In later years, a purported diary of Admiral Byrd surfaced, which alleges to be the account of what he discovered there. Consensus is that Admiral Byrd did no such thing. However, I found a mysterious letter tucked inside a book that was sent to him by a female correspondent. The book that was sent to Admiral Byrd is entitled A Dweller On Two Planets, the author given as Phylos. The book was astrally dictated to the young author, who wrote it when but 18 years of age. In it, we are taken to an incredible world where long lost Atlantis was a fact, where airships fly and where there are numerous instances of fabulous technologies employed by that ancient civilisation.

Map of Atlantis in A Dweller On Two Worlds

The letter found in this book is dated December 9th, 1933, consists of two pages and was written by one Lulu G. Tingey. In it, she writes:

'Dear Sir, Pardon my taking the liberty in sending you the enclosed two books. I am following what they call in your country "a hunch". May you press the Button which will reveal the New Atalantis (sic) in which "The Dweller on Two Planets" states. "Babylon"is unique in its symbology. Wishing you + your Party the Very Highest + Best. I remain yours humbly, Lulu G. Tingey.’

Admiral Byrd's reply - if any - to this strange letter is not known. For whatever reason, the letter remained tucked inside the book all the ensuing years. The book itself was part of the library of Admiral Byrd, until it was sold some years ago. The cryptic letter opens up a new and unsuspected field of research in the strange legends that surround this legendary man and his equally legendary career.

A longer version of this article with notes was published in Gazette Forteenne, vol. 3, 2004, and Strange Atttractor, vol. 2, 2005.