Lemuria

IsLemuria a real place or the fever dream ofcrackpots, mystics, conspiracy theorists, and Bigfoot hunters?Below the waters where the Pacific and Indian Oceans lies alost continent. One of hopes and dreams that housed a race of beings thatarrived from foreign planets and from which sprang humanity, religion, civilization, andour modern world. It was called Lemuria and it was all fake. What began as a theoretical land bridge to explain themystery of lemurs on Madagascar quickly got hijacked to become the evolutionaryhome of humankind, the cradle of spirituality, and then the source of cosmologicalwonders. Abandoned by science as hokum, Lemuria morphed into a land filled withancient, advanced civilizations, hollowed-out mountains full of gold andcrystals, moon-beings descending in baskets, underground evil creatures, and abreast-feeding Bigfoot.The history of Lemuria is populated with a dizzying array of peoplefrom early Darwinists to conspiracy spouting Congressmen, globetrotting madams,Rosicrucians, Hollow-Earthers, sci-fi writers, UFO contactees, sleepingprophets, New Age channelers, a Mother God, and a tequila swigging conspiracytheorist. Historian Justin McHenry provides a thoughtful exploration ofhow pseudo-science hijacked the gentle Victorian-era concept of Lemuria and, infollowing decades, twisted it into an all-encompassing home for alternativeideas about race, spirituality, science, politics, and the paranormal.