28. The Campaign Promise to Explore the Hollow Earth’s Innards
Per the Hollow Earth theory, each concentric circle within the hollow earth was supposed to contain its own subterranean world. Each of those words was supposedly heated and illuminated by a sun-like object at the center of the earth. John Cleves Symmes hit the lecture circuit, and lobbied the government for an expedition to the poles, where he claimed the openings to the hollow earth’s interior were located.
Educated people scoffed at the notion, but it was taken seriously enough by many, including John Quincy Adams. He not only saw nothing weird about the theory, he believed in it so much that he lent his support to the proposed Symmes expedition. Indeed, John Quincy Adams promised to do just that during his successful 1824 presidential campaign.
