I was inspired by Taylors Moon episode and I decided to do something similar but a lil closer to home.. And by closer to home I at least mean in the same atmosphere us all of us Enter: the mysterious Antarctica That’s right, the continent no one owns has many a mystery about it and I thought I would delve into some of those mysteries you may or may not heard of today First up; Entrance to Hollow Earth The idea of a hollow Earth was first mentioned in 1818 by John Symmes, an American navy officer. He suggested that the Earth consisted of a hollow shell about 1,300 km (810 mi) thick, with openings about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) across at both poles with 4 inner shells each open at the poles. Symmes became the most famous of the early Hollow Earth proponents, and he even has a monument built for him in Hamilton, Ohio. He also proposed making an expedition to the North Pole hole, thanks to efforts of one of his followers, James McBride. Jeremiah Reynolds also delivered lectures on the "Hollow Earth" and argued for an expedition. Reynolds went on an expedition to Antarctica himself but missed joining the Great U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 This theory gained traction when apparently a ‘lost diary’ of Admiral Richard E. Byrd was found that details his encounter with the underground race whilst trying to build a US research base at the south pole…. According to this ‘lost diary’, he visited the Pentagon to share news of this new race he had met but was ordered to keep quiet. We will have more on Byrd in a little bit so stick a mental pin in that, and another pin for possibly another episode for Hollow earth because that was the literal least I could do on the subject without turning this into a long, multiple part episode This may, or may not be explained by an actual giant hole that periodically appears in antarctica named; THE GIANT HOLE The latest appearance was in 2017 when a polynya, the official time for a large ice hole, with an area of approximately 3,700 square miles was first observed. Over the next few weeks, it would increase in size by more than eight times. A polynya in the same place also appeared in the 1970s before eventually closing. Researchers now believe it was caused by a powerful cyclone passing through. There was a study published June 10 in the journal Nature. “We thought this large hole in the sea ice — known as a polynya — was something that was rare, maybe a process that had gone extinct. But the events in 2016 and 2017 forced us to reevaluate that,” said lead author Ethan Campbell, a UW doctoral student in oceanography. “Observations show that the recent polynyas opened from a combination of factors — one being the unusual ocean conditions, and the other being a series of very intense storms that swirled over the Weddell Sea with almost hurricane-force winds.” A “polynya,” a Russian word that roughly means “hole in the ice,” can form near shore as wind pushes the ice around. But it can also appear far from the coast and stick around for weeks to months, where it acts as an oasis for penguins, whales and seals to pop up and breathe. The biggest known polynyas at that location were in 1974, 1975 and 1976, just after the first satellites were launched, when an area the size of New Zealand remained ice-free through three consecutive Antarctic winters despite air temperatures far below freezing. The article goes on; A NASA satellite image in August 2016 drew public attention to a 33,000-square-kilometer (13,000-square-mile) gap that appeared for three weeks. An even bigger gap, of 50,000 square kilometers (19,000 square miles) appeared in September and October of 2017. Soooo, that’s whats doing on with the spontaneous mysterious holes… I mean this very well could give more evidence towards the hollow earth theory as the opening keeps caving in.. or something, I dunno I didn’t give it that much thought and with that, onto the next conspiracy theory Antarctica is Guarded By The Military One myth that has come to light in recent years is that Antarctica is guarded by the military. This theory has been supported by photos of military personnel from various countries operating in Antarctica. Whilst the photos are likely genuine, Antarctica is not Guarded. It would be illegal for military activity to take place in the region due to the Antarctic Treaty. This is the agreement between countries that operate in Antarctica that sets the ground rules for the continent. It promotes peace and specifically prohibits any military activity in the region. However, it does allow countries to use military personnel and equipment in the region, as long as it’s for scientific purposes. For example, the United States uses its airforce to supply its research bases in Antarctica from a supply base in New Zealand. This is why you will sometimes see photos of military personnel or equipment in Antarctica, not because it’s guarded. However, there have been rumours that some countries have been conducting secret operations in Antarctica, such as China, but these are low-key and not aimed at guarding Antarctica. (FYI China's Antarctic science program is broad; it has economic activities in the region include fisheries and tourism, and has expressed longer-term interest in resource extraction. In recent years, China has become an assertive participant in Antarctic governance.) To the military effect, kind of, it is also said that Antarctica is a no fly zone, which is not true- you could fly there but not sure why you would want to. It’s out of the way of literally any city on earth and the conditions are horrible so, there’s that Antarctica’s Lost Civilization There are claims that Antarctica was once home to a pre-modern civilization that could be the mythical city of Atlantis. The basis for this claim is, among many things, the ancient Piri Reis Map, created in 1513, which appears to show the Antarctic continent before it froze over, the theory even made national news. Conspiracy theorists back up the claim with many Google Earth satellite images such as this one which people are describing as a motte and bailey castle. As for the hard evidence behind this, we do know that Antarctica was formed when the supercontinent Gondwana broke up. At this time, Antarctica was tropical rainforest and could have sustained a civilization. However, Antarctica had diverged from Gondwana, moved to its southern position, and froze over long before humans had even evolved in Africa around 2-6 million years ago2. So the chances of another intelligent lifeform similar to humans existing prior to this are near-impossible. As for the ‘motte and bailey castle’ this is just a frozen lake. Related to the Lost Civilzation is the Hidden Pyramids Now there are multiple episodes of Ancient aliens on this one, Linda Moulton Howe also talks alot about this one. Perhaps built by an ancient and powerful race and hidden under the ice. Every now and then one of them pokes out accidentally and photographs are taken, but by the time anyone looks again, the snow is heaped back over it and it disappears from view. Also, some mountains look a bit pyramid like from some directions. Some say the basis for the claim is this structure found on Google Earth which appears to show a pyramid sticking out of the ice. The ‘pyramid’ is located in the southern part of the Ellsworth Mountains which is an area known for its fossils. There is another pyramid like structure in the Shackleton mountain Range in Antarctica, known as the Shackleton pyramid among theorists and is much bigger than other plain clothes, very obvious pyramids on earth, David Childress says this about the pyramid; “If this gigantic pyramid in Antarctica is an artificial structure, it would probably be the oldest pyramid on the planet and in fact, it might be the master pyramid that all the other pyramids on planet Earth were designed to look like.” Then there is Michael Sala who argues, but not against childress, that the Antarctic pyramid is just one node in a global network of power-generating pyramids strategically places around Earth. A popular pyramid conspiracy claims the triangular structures act as power generators of sorts, built for the purpose of transiting vast amounts of energy wirelessly. Dr Salla said: “There has been extensive research done on pyramids throughout the world, in terms of their structure and what is they really are. “One of the theories is that pyramids are power generators and so if you have these pyramids strategically placed around the world generating a charge, it’s possible to create a general standing wave around the world that is a wireless transmission of energy.” This theory was disregarded by Professor Eric Rignot who specialized in Earth system science at the University of California. He told Live Science that it is just a mountain that has experienced many years of erosion which has caused the steep sides that resemble a pyramid. UFO BASE & CRASH LANDINGS Could it be numerous alien spacecraft that have had less than successful landings? Various satellite images show suspicious formations and markings that some believe are evidence of extra-terrestrial activity. Currently, nothing has been proven and sceptics have come up with numerous explanations, such as shadows, mountains, or abandoned research facilities. I mean, I guess nothing has been proven literally anywhere, let alone the Antarctic. On the other side of the sceptic claim, i’m going to look to LMH on this one who, for one, interviewed a naval officer “Brian S” who retired in 1997 (he did provide his documentation to back up his credentials that I did not list here, of course) and served in the Antarctic. This is coming straight from her on an episode of Phenomenon radio, as always, love LMH, she does a great job. Check her out at Earthfiles.com or phenomenon radio, which I had no idea she was apart of with Jim Burrows! Brian S says His C130 crew, whatever that means, encountered high strangeness while they were flying cargo and doing rescues 1984-1997 during this time he flew over 300 times around this area Several times he and he crew watched silver disks darting around over the sky over the transantarctic mountains, they also saw a huge hole in the ice football field sized, 5 - 10 miles from the geographic south pole that was supposed to be an air sampling station but in a no fly zone During an emergency medevac crisis, to speed up their trip, the crew flew across the no fly zone and saw what they were not supposed to see which was the entrance to a rumoured human and ET science collaboration research base under the ice Then at a camp near marie-birdland some dozen scientists disappeared for 2 weeks and when they reappeared, Brian’s flight crew got the assignment to pick them up– Brain said they would not talk and their faces looked scared Brian and his crew rec’d several orders at different times to not talk and were told sternly “You did not see the ice hole, you saw nothing” but he was never asked to sign an NDS so now he’s out talking about it to LMH Brian states that talk among the flight crews was that there was a UFO base at the S pole and there was talk among scientists that Extraterrestrial biological entities worked with scientists beneath the air sampling station in the hole in the ice. LMH also speaks about Navy Seal and Marine whistleblowers, Spartan 1 and 2, Linda had received other confirming whistleblower information about huge, mysterious architecture two to three miles deep under the ice of Antarctica. Since the early 1970s and deep ice-penetrating radar investigations, there have been U. S. military operations to explore different, large alien sites hidden from human civilization by all the ice, but allegedly still operating with energy, light and bizarre holographic projections that emerge from some deep tunnel walls. The star maps on some large doors allegedly link to interstellar trade throughout and beyond the Milky Way Galaxy Now, this is an hour long episode and this gives you the jist of things, and i’m going to give you some food for thought here. I like LMH shes a solid researcher and she does her research and vets her whistler blowers. She’s one of my favorites and we have to do a LMH episode in the future. I don’t think everything is necessarily as it seems, I don’t think the information we Re given is always the truth and a little bit of myself dies when we do an episode of a fun theory or cryptid and the information always comes up as it can easily be explained away as this… as I have pretty much done earlier with no fly zones, the hole… etc and we see these mentioned again with LMH’s whistleblower This is literally information I googled because I can’t jump in my private jet to ensure there is not a no fly zone and the military and aliens aren’t conducting experiments in the south pole, and as we have seen with various government operations we have covered in our podcast, if the military is doing things, it’s going to cover it up… so i’m going to balance the sceptic with the believer in this episode, and say, yeah if Linda Moulton Howe did more research than me, which she sure as hell did. I’m gonna think about that a lil harder and yes, I do want there to be an alien underground base in the antarctic- it’s better than the nazis! More to come on that… again Nazi’s and Antarctica This one is loaded, so it starts with the fact that There was in fact a German expedition to Antarctica between 1938 and 1939, just before the start of the second world war. The exhibition was on a ship named Schwabenland. However, this trip was not to establish a military base there but to try and secure future whaling activity… or so they say At the time, the German whaling industry was booming and supplied oil, lubricants, and food, as well as essential ingredients for bomb-making… or so they say The Schwabenland was equipped with a steam catapult and two Dornier Wal flying boats which were used to photographically survey 600,000 square kilometres. About a dozen aluminium flags were dropped from the aircraft at turning points of flight polygons and others were left by foot expeditions, none of these have ever been recovered. Conspiracy theorists have long referred to a quote from Admiral Donitz where he mentions an “invulnerable fortress, a paradise-like oasis in the middle of eternal ice”, however, as pointed out in the journal article, this is likely referring to the Arctic, not Antarctica… Hitler's Frozen Base The cherry on the cake for those that believe this theory was when the United States sent a large fleet to Antarctica between 1946 and 1947 under Operation HIgh Jump which i’m about to tell you all about The operation was organised by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd HIGHJUMP's objectives, according to the U.S. Navy report of the operation, were:[3] Training personnel and testing equipment in frigid conditions; Consolidating and extending the United States' sovereignty over the largest practicable area of the Antarctic continent (publicly denied as a goal before the expedition ended);[3] Determining the feasibility of establishing, maintaining, and utilizing bases in the Antarctic and investigating possible base sites; Developing techniques for establishing, maintaining, and utilizing air bases on ice, with particular attention to later applicability of such techniques to operations in interior Greenland, where conditions are comparable to those in the Antarctic; Amplifying existing stores of knowledge of electromagnetic, geological, geographic, hydrographic, and meteorological propagation conditions in the area; Supplementary objectives of the Nanook expedition (a smaller equivalent conducted off eastern Greenland) Now according to some, this was not the objective at all, based on a 2006 Russian documentary that was recently translated into English revealing new information about a US Navy Antarctica expedition in 1946/47. I watched this documentary, obviously….there’s also the lost journal of Byrd which supposedly makes mentions some of the below Originally scheduled for a six month period, the scientific expedition was officially called The United States Navy Antarctic Development Program, and given the operational name Highjump. The naval component of Operation Highjump was known as Task Force 68 and comprised 4700 military personnel, one aircraft carrier (the USS Philippine Sea among the largest of all carriers of the time), and number of naval support ships and aircraft. The Naval expedition was headed by famed polar explorer Admiral Richard Byrd, who had been ordered to consolidate and extend American sovereignty over the largest practical area of the Antarctic continent.Byrd's expedition ended after only 8 weeks with many fatalities according to initial news reports based on interviews with crew members who spoke to the press while passing through Chilean ports. Rather than deny the heavy casualty reports, Admiral Byrd revealed in a press interview that Task Force 68 had encountered a new enemy that could fly from pole to pole at incredible speeds Admiral Byrd's statements were published in the Chilean Press but never publicly confirmed by US authorities. Indeed Byrd did not speak again to the Press about Operation Highjump, leaving it for researchers to speculate for decades over what really happened, and why Byrd was silenced. After the Soviet collapse in 1991, the KGB released previously classified files that cast light on the mysterious Byrd led Naval expedition to Antarctica. The documentary, made public for the first time a 1947 secret Soviet intelligence report commissioned by Joseph Stalin of Task 68's mission to Antarctica. The intelligence report, gathered from Soviet spies embedded in the US, revealed that the US Navy had sent the military expedition to find and destroy a hidden Nazi base. On the way, they encountered a mysterious UFO force that attacked the military expedition destroying several ships and a significant number of planes. Indeed, Operation Highjump had suffered many casualties as stated in initial press reports from Chile. While there is a possibility the report resulted from US disinformation fed to a known Soviet mole, the more likely explanation is that the report exposes the first known historical incident involving a battle between US naval forces and an unknown UFO force stationed near Antarctica. It is a historical fact that Nazi Germany devoted significant resources to the exploration of Antarctica, and established a prewar presence there with its first mission in the Antarctic summer of 1938/1939. According to a statement by Grand Admiral Donitz in 1943, the German submarine fleet is proud of having built for the Fuhrer, in another part of the world, a Shangri-La land, an impregnable fortress.” If the fortress was in Antarctica, was it built by the Nazis, or discovered there? After the defeat of Nazi Germany, according various sources, elite Nazi scientists and leaders escaped to this impregnable fortress by Uboats, two of which experienced difficulties and surrendered in Argentina. In the Soviet intelligence report, never before known testimony by two US Navy servicemen with Operation Highjump was revealed. A recent article in New Dawn by Frank Joseph gives a detailed analysis of the two eyewitness accounts, only the latter of which was mentioned in the 2006 Russian documentary. John P. Szehwach, a radioman stationed on the USS Brownson, gave testimony of how UFOs appeared dramatically out of the ocean depths. On January 17, 1947 at 0700 hours, Szehwach said: I and my shipmates in the pilothouse port side observed for several minutes the bright lights that ascended about 45 degrees into the sky very quickly We couldn't i.d., the lights, because our radar was limited to 250 miles in a straight line [Our Real War of the Worlds"] Over the next several weeks, according to the Soviet report, the UFOs flew close over the US naval flotilla which fired on the UFOs which did retaliate with deadly effects. According to Lieutenant John Sayerson, a flying boat pilot: The thing shot vertically out of the water at tremendous velocity, as though pursued by the devil, and flew between the masts [of the ship] at such a high speed that the radio antenna oscillated back and forth in its turbulence. An aircraft [[[Martin flying-boat]]] from the Currituck that took off just a few moments later was struck with an unknown type of ray from the object, and almost instantly crashed into the sea near our vessel. About ten miles away, the torpedo-boat Maddox burst into flames and began to sink. Having personally witnessed this attack by the object that flew out of the sea, all I can say is, it was frightening. There is a major problem with Sayerson's quote. There has been no torpedo boat named Maddox in the US Navy. In the Russian documentary, the incident described by Sayerson (misspelt Sireson) refers instead to the destroyer Murdoch. There was, however, no destroyer named Murdoch active in the US Fleet in 1947. Instead there was a destroyer named Maddox (DD-731), but it did not serve in Operation Highjump. In fact, the USS Maddox was the destroyer fired upon in the Gulf of Tonkin incident of 1964. According to Frank Joseph the USS Maddox was either a torpedo boat, or torpedo-carrying destroyer. He goes on to explain what may have happened to the Maddox mentioned in the Soviet report: A USS Maddox was indeed sunk by enemy action, but five years earlier by a German dive-bomber during the Allied invasion of Sicily. Actually there were at least three American destroyers known by that name (DD-168, DD-622 and DD-731) all of them contemporaneous. The US Navy has long been notorious for falsifying the identity of its ships and re-writing their histories if they embarrass official policy. So too, the Maddox cited by Soviet espionage was similarly consigned to an official memory hole. If Joseph is correct, then it is very possible that a USS Maddox was destroyed during Operation Highjump, and the US Navy changed official records to hide this. An alternative explanation is that the 1947 Soviet report contained U.S. orchestrated disinformation that was being conveyed to Soviet authorities by a Soviet mole known by the US intelligence community. Though plausible, this is highly unlikely given that the US and USSR were still allies at the time of Operation Highjump, and had a common interest in finding and destroying any hidden Nazi base(s) in the South Atlantic. The destructive technology used by the UFOs in the Soviet intelligence report was not something that had been developed by the defeated Nazis who had only shortly before been forced to retreat to the South Atlantic. It appears the UFOs were not intent on destroying Task Force 68, but forcing it to turn back. Were the UFOs protecting the retreating Nazis and/or their own presence in Antarctica? Was the Stalin era report disinformation deliberately fed to Soviet authorities by US intelligence? What is the most likely answer is that the Soviet era report released in the 2006 Russian Documentary was substantially correct. This suggests that Admiral Byrd's initial press report was accurate“ a new enemy that could fly from pole to pole at incredible speeds had emerged. Most importantly, the UFO force had inflicted heavy casualties on the US Navy that was powerless to oppose it. The world' s first known battle between the United States military and an unknown UFO fleet based near Antarctica very likely occurred in 1947, and the general public has never learned about it until now.