Antarctica

Antarctica is the last of the great wildernesses, the place where mankind’s grip is the weakest of all. Desolate and beautiful, dangerous and endangered, it’s one of the most enigmatic corners of the globe, and it has always attracted speculation.

Curiosity and paranoia were fuelled in the 1930s, when it became clear that the Nazis were attempting to explore the continent. It wasn’t just scientific analysts either — the search was conducted by organisations linked to the mystical order Thule Gesellschaft and the SS occult bureau, the Ahenerbe. No-one ever really found out what they had in mind down there, or if they succeeded, but they claimed the entire continent as territory in 1938, having extensively mapped it and renamed it Neuschwabenland. The inner circles of the Nazi party considered Antarctica to be of great importance, and maintained a presence there all through the second world war.

Conspiracy theorists really started getting hot under the collar in 1947 though. The USA sent a military expedition to the continent in 1947, under the command of Admiral Byrd. Just three months later, the expedition was back — having suffered tragically heavy losses. Even sixty years later, it is impossible to obtain any information about the purpose, experiences of aftermath of this disastrous misadventure. Whatever happened down in the bottom of the world, Uncle Sam is keeping mighty quiet about it. If the Byrd expedition was linked to the rumoured sighting of Nazi U-boats off the Antarctic coast the year before, we’re not being told.

There are also rumours of an SAS exploration team that went missing whilst investigating a strangely snow-free area of Antarctica. When they reappeared a few days later, they were rushed onto a steamer and held at sea for almost a year while they were debriefed… or quarantined.

Antractica - Neko Harbour by Rita Willaert

Of course, it doesn’t help that Antarctica is the only region on earth to be governed by a treaty signed by the major world powers — a treaty that expressly forbids commercial development and exploitation of the continents vast natural resources. Humanity has no history of holding back from exploiting wild and beautiful places, nor do we extend the same courtesy to anywhere else. Why is Antarctica so special?

Some conspiracy theorists have suggested that the remains of an ancient, highly-advanced civilization are buried deep within the ice. Opinions vary as to whether it is a lost human era or an alien outpost of some sort. H. P. Lovecraft’s haunting novel “At The Mountains of Madness” suggested the latter, with creatures living in a gargantuan mountain range stretching across the continent. The mountain range in question — or something very like it — was eventually discovered by satellite mapping, raising more eyebrows.

If there is an ancient lost civilisation there, then the most popular theory about the group running the show is that that it is an organisation known as “The Jason Society.” They were supposedly set up by Nixon in ’73 in order to examine Elder tech and control access. The Jason Society supposedly seeks mainly to make sure that we discover what happened to the Elder race and ensure it doesn’t happen to us, too.

Conspiracy theory aside, there is one genuinely strange piece of evidence to suggest that there may be more to Antarctica than meets the eye. The Piri Reis map is a document that was produced in Constantinople in 1513. It is known to have been compiled from earlier sources. It clearly and accurately maps out bits of coast from Europe, North Africa, the Azores, the Canary islands, and chunks of eastern South America. But to make things worse, it also appears to show the coast of Queen Maud Land in Antarctica. Queen Maud Land, however, was only mapped in the 1950s, with the aid of high-powered ice-penetrating radar. It has been under ice for more than six thousand years.

Debate, as always, rumbles on.