In "Subterranean Worlds Inside Earth," author Timothy Green Beckley has collected many stories from a vast wealth of sources on the subject of what is often called "The Inner Earth Theory." The theory holds that the Earth does not consist of molten metal at its core, as modern science tells us, but is instead quite hollow inside, and supports several different races of sentient beings as well as their impressive underground cities. Those cities are said to be linked to one another by underground tunnels with above-ground openings that the occasional surface-dwelling mortal stumbles on to. Much of the information Beckley presents comes from a man named Richard Shaver, a spot welder on the Detroit automobile assembly lines who one day began to hear strange voices projected at him as he went about his work. Following the trail that began with that unearthly auditory experience, Shaver eventually came to the conclusion that the voices were coming from somewhere beneath the Earth, from a race of creatures he came to call the "Deros," which is short for "degenerate robots." The Deros have a story of their own. They were once a gentle race who lived on the surface of the Earth, until it became apparent that the sun was being transformed in some way that caused an increase in the amount of a form of dangerous radiation contained in its rays. Some of the Deros escaped the planet by going into space in their highly-developed spacecraft, but not all of them managed to do so. Those forced to remain went underground and built the cities referred to above, but the sun's poisonous radiation also caused them to go insane and to develop cruel and sadistic personality traits. It is because of their evil madness that mankind suffers so much today, and Shaver himself experienced some bizarre mistreatments as he sought to learn more about the mysterious Deros. Shaver eventually published many of his Dero tales in a magazine called "Amazing Stories," which were so popular that they greatly increased the magazine's circulation. But Shaver's story of the Deros is only one of many versions of exactly what is down there in the Hollow Earth. Beckley also offers stories by journalist John J. Robinson and others whose research has turned up different legends and personal experiences, some of which tell of a hidden paradise below our feet where beautiful, spiritually benevolent creatures reside. Beckley's use of numerous and divergent reports helps to paint a wonderfully complete picture of the centuries of folklore that have become mingled with scientific fact through real-world investigations into the "Subterranean Worlds Inside Earth." Some of what's here stretches credibility a little more than might be totally comfortable. But if you have an appetite for unsolved mysteries that extend beyond the realm of the safe and the knowable, then Beckley's thorough overview of what may be inside the Hollow Earth is well worth the time spent reading it.

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