About the Episode
Professor TSC Lowe (who was not a professor at all) had visions for a transatlantic balloon flight. He never succeeded in that but he did wind up as the Chief Aeronaut of the Balloon Corps during the American Civil War. His vision laid the ground work for Ferdinand Von Zeppelin’s later accomplishments.
John Cleves Symmes Jr. popularized a theory known as the Hollow Earth Theory. He believed that the earth was hollow and contained other habitable worlds. Was he right? He was worse than right. He was wrong.
If you’d like to learn more about how far humans have actually made it below the surface of the earth, check out this video I found on my favorite website The Kid Should See This.
https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/how-deep-have-humans-dug-into-the-earth
Also, if you’d like to hear more from Symmes’s writings, I recommend Boring Books For Bedtime, which is a weekly bedtime story podcast for the sleepless, the stressed, the anxious, the insomniacs—anyone who struggles with that endless brain chatter that keeps us up at night. The host reads books from the public domain that are, well, pretty boring. It’s a great way to zone out, but they also have two episodes of Symmes’s writings. So if you want to listen to a soothing voice read it – try staying awake!
https://boringbooksforbedtime.libsyn.com/symmes-theory-of-concentric-spheres-showing-that-the-earth-is-hollow
All music, as usual, by Mick Sullivan. The writing and voices too.
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