Illustration from the October 1882 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, showing the appearance of Symmes' Hole near the North Pole.

One can never be sure just how serious they are about it, but there does exist a group of people who call themselves the "Flat-Earth Society" (remember the news item about the old gentleman who was invited to Cape Kennedy to watch an Apollo moon launch, but came away convinced that it was all a hoax?). There is another group, equally vocal, who believe that the earth is hollow. Several years ago, a group of "believers" informed a member of the Geophysical Institute staff that there was an opening to the center of the earth in the Alaska Range, and that this was an entry and exit point for flying saucers.

Modern-day proponents of the hollow earth theory can refer nonbelievers to the book The Hollow Earth (Bell Publishing Company, 1979) by Raymond Bernard. Bernard, judging from the initials he lists behind his name, holds just about every advanced academic degree, but is apparently somewhat of a recluse. As a spokesman for the publisher states in a foreword to the book, "I will not enter into any correspondence regarding this book--or the author. Whether you accept or reject the content of this book is your privilege. No one cares."

The Aryan invasion theory has been a basis and justification of Western interpretation upon the civilization and history of India. Although many Indologists within India have been influenced by such thought, the theory has not met majority acceptance within India and is even coming under attack in the West. David Frawley, one Sanskrit scholar recognized both inside as well as outside of India has assessed the current situation of the Aryan invasion theory thusly:

“ One of the main ideas used to interpret - and generally devalue - the ancient history of India is the theory of the Aryan invasion. According to this account, India was invaded and conquered by nomadic light-skinned Indo-European tribes from Central Asia around 1500-100 BC, who overthrew an earlier and more advanced dark-skinned Dravidian civilization from which they took most of what later became Hindu culture ... This idea- totally foreign to the history of India, whether North or South, has become an almost unquestioned truth in the interpretation of ancient history today. Today, after nearly all the reasons for its supposed validity have been refuted, even major Western scholars are at last beginning to call it into question.” ( David Frawley, “ The Myth of the Aryan Invasion” )