''The Phantom of the Poles'' is a book written by William Reed, and published in 1906. It attempts to explain certain mysterious phenomena reported by polar explorers by postulating that the Earth is in fact

hollow Hollow may refer to: Natural phenomena *Hollow, a low, wooded area, such as a copse * Hollow (landform), a small vee-shaped, riverine type of valley *Tree hollow, a void in a branch or trunk, which may provide habitat for animals Places * Sleepy ...

, with holes at its

poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

Phenomena to be explained by the Hollow Earth theory

In the General Summary chapter of ''The Phantom of the Poles'', Reed posed several questions that he claimed were explained by the Hollow Earth theory:''General Summary''
{dead link, date=January 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes chapter of ''The Phantom of the Poles'' at sacred-texts.com, retrieved November 16, 2006

# Why is the earth flattened at the poles? # Why have the poles never been reached? # Why does the sun not appear for so long in winter near the supposed poles? # Assuming that the earth is hollow, the interior should be warmer. # We must now resort to the compass. Does it refuse to work when drawing near the supposed poles? # Meteors are constantly falling near the supposed poles. Why? # The next query is concerning the great quantities of dust constantly found in the Arctic Ocean. What causes this dust? # What produces the Aurora Borealis? #
Icebergs An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...
are next in order. Where are they formed? And how?? # What causes tidal waves? # What causes colored snow in the Arctic region? # Why are the nights so long in the polar regions? # What causes the great ice-pressure in the Arctic Ocean during still tide and calm weather? # Why is the ice filled with rock, gravel, and sand?

Failure of Reed's theory

Admiral Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...

claimed to have reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. This would have invalidated Reed's premise that the poles cannot be reached. Although Peary's claim was, in its day, and continues to be controversial, on December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen undisputedly reached the South Pole. Subsequent expeditions to and flights over the south pole have conclusively demonstrated that there are no large holes there.

References

External links

''The Phantom of the Poles''
at sacred-texts.com, retrieved November 16, 2006
''The Phantom of the Poles''
at amazon.com, retrieved November 16, 2006

in PDF, epub, and Kindle formats 1906 American novels 1906 non-fiction books Hollow Earth Science books