Secret Missions and Lost Civilizations: The Many Mysteries and Conspiracies of the Icy, Enigmatic World of Antarctica!

There is little doubt that one of the most mysterious and intriguing locations on the planet is the seventh continent of the world, Antarctica, an icy land that almost certainly holds secrets that are simply awaiting discovery. It is also a location that is highly protected, and as such, has a number of conspiracies that have persisted through time.

Antarctica is under the control of the Antarctic Treaty of 1961, which is overseen by multiple countries, and anyone who wishes to go to the icy continent, whether they are individuals or an organization, needs to get permission from this group. The area has been put off-limits for scientific preservation and investigation. Given that this location is the last place on Earth that is largely untouched by human activity, it is perhaps easy to understand why these protections have been put in place. However, as we might imagine, some people have questions about the rigid control such a small group has over an entire continent. Indeed, when we explore some of these conspiracies, we can see why, along with the secrecy that surrounds Antarctica, they have endured for such a long time and are likely to continue.  

The mysteries of Antarctica stretch back centuries, arguably with the discovery of the Piri Reis Map, which was made in 1513, and appeared to have Antarctica accurately placed, even though it wasn’t officially discovered until 1820. Moreover, as pointed out by the late Jim Marrs in his book Our Occulted History: Do The Global Elite Conceal Ancient Aliens?, this was “especially puzzling because (Antarctica) has been under an ice cap for at least four thousand years!” Where, then, did the information come from that had this ice-covered world not only accurately placed but depicted (presumably equally accurately) without ice?

Most research suggests that the map was created by a Turkish admiral, Piri Reis, who had used other, much older, perhaps even ancient maps to create the map that would be named after him. He also claimed to have “made use of charts and maps dating back to ancient Greece!” Making the creation of the map even more mysterious, these maps and charts from ancient Greece, according to Reis, were themselves based on documents from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, meaning he was working with information that could have been, even during his time, 4000 years old, perhaps even older. What makes these alleged ancient Egyptian documents even more intriguing is the potential that this information could itself have come from much further back than even the time of the ancient Egyptian civilization. In his book Temple of the Stars, author Brinsley le Poer Trench offered that “tradition tells us that ancient Egypt was a colony of Atlantis!” If there was any truth to this, could the information the Piri Reis Map was based on stretch back to Atlantis which would, in turn, offer proof that tales of Atlantis are much more than pure legend and myth, and that survivors of the legendary land somehow made their way to Egypt, perhaps even kick-starting the ancient civilization there.

What is even more interesting and thought-provoking is that recent satellite images taken over the icy continent appear to match the basic outline on the Piri Reis Map that most people assume to be Antarctica. If the outline is proven accurate, then other information detailing extensive forests, mountains, and other terrains would also likely be accurate, and would perhaps offer further speculative proof that Antarctica, many thousands of years ago, was once an inhabitable and inhabited land. In fact, when we consider such claims of the planet undergoing a pole shift that plunged Antarctica into the icy conditions it endures today in a matter of hours, we might also find further connections between the legends of Atlantis, as well as what was responsible for its sudden destruction. Indeed, we might contemplate that if Antarctica was once much further north than it currently is, if there had been any kind of advanced warnings, that a small group of survivors could have reached Africa and, eventually, what was the land of ancient Egypt.

One of the first people to suggest such a possibility was researcher Charles Hapgood, who, among other things, suggested that Antarctica could have been free of ice and inhabited as recently as 4000 BC. While this speculative end to Antarctica and its presumed advanced civilization would still put it 1000 years away from the accepted start of the great civilizations in Egypt and Sumer, we should also note that these dates are often the result of guesswork and might not be entirely accurate. Moreover, we might also consider that a small group of survivors, even a group that numbered several hundred, might have taken a considerable amount of time to rebuild themselves anywhere close to where the legends tell us such lands of Atlantis once were, perhaps even several hundred years.

While these suggestions might sound preposterous to some, we should consider that the Piri Reis Map also includes other accurate information before it was, once more, according to mainstream history, known to the people of Europe. It shows, for example, what appears to be the Falkland Islands just short of a century before they were discovered. Moreover, and even more impressive, the map also showed an accurate coastal outline of what is modern-day South America, including several of the major rivers, rivers, incidentally, that would not be fully mapped out until the twentieth century.

We know that the Piri Reis Map is not a silly hoax and that the map is genuine. Just how those whose work Reis used to so accurately depict such coastal outlines, including, remember, Antarctica, and how it might look without the covering of ice,  remains a complete mystery. Had an ancient civilization, one that was at its peak before the time of the ancient Egyptians, somehow managed to map out most of the land masses of the planet? And if so, just how had they done this? Were they masters of the waves and had mapped out the land masses of the world that way? Or might they have even had access to aerial vehicles, machines, and devices, in much the same way as we do today, and is this how they so accurately recreated such coastal outlines?

Even considering these possibilities forces us to look deeper into the mystery, which, in turn, brings up further questions. For example, according to mainstream science and history, Antarctica has been under a huge sheet of ice for approximately the last 15 million years (just think about that number for a moment!). So, does that mean that the coastal outline of Antarctica was mapped out by an advanced civilization over 15 million years ago, obviously much earlier than mainstream history says advanced humans existed, or does that mean that Antarctica was, as Hapgood suggested, not covered by ice as recently as several thousand years ago? If either of those possibilities were true, it would be highly significant for our understanding of human history.

Of course, we should perhaps also consider, if mainstream history is correct and Antarctica has been under ice for around 15 million years, as well as being correct about advanced humans not existing so far back, then might whoever made the outlines of Antarctica before it was covered by ice not have been human at all but some other intelligent species that once existed on Earth and whose knowledge and wisdom was somehow preserved right up until the time of ancient Egypt, before the scribes and scholars of ancient Greece preserved it further, with it eventually falling into the hands of Piri Reis himself in the early sixteenth century. It is also interesting to note that Hapgood speculated that this information was likely passed down through the generations in an “underground stream” – essentially, through secret societies, whose presence in such matters only makes them more mysterious.

Before we move on, it is worth our time briefly examining another mysterious map that Charles Hapgood discovered hidden in the Congress archives in 1960. Known as the Terra Australis Map, it was drawn up in 1531 (less than 20 years after the Piri Reis Map, incidentally), and contains an area of land, named Terra Australis on the map, that appears remarkably similar to the ice mass of Antarctica. Moreover, there are even markings for mountains on this particular piece of land that also match those known to exist on Antarctica. Once more, considering that no type of known exploration of Antarctica had taken place in the early 1500s, then we have to assume that this map, or at least the information it was based on, was created thousands of years previously, quite possibly around the same time as the documents used to create the Piri Reis Map were created.  

Without a doubt, some of the most enthralling and equally outrageous conspiracies concerning Antarctica have taken hold since the years following the Second World War, and it would be impossible to explore the mysteries of Antarctica during this time without turning our attention to Operation Highjump, which took place in late 1946 and early 1947. Whether the real reason for the expedition was for training exercises in “cold conditions” as well as to establish a multinational research base or not remains open to debate. There were, however, even then, rampant rumors of a Third Reich base in Antarctica, as well as even more bizarre rumors that the Third Reich had stumbled upon an entrance to the alleged Inner Earth and had established contact with an extraterrestrial race that had resided there for thousands of years. As bizarre as these suggestions might be, we might also consider that many Third Reich engineers and scientists had been transplanted to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip, and could very well have passed on such information to their new superiors.

With these last thoughts in mind it is also worth considering the contemplations of researcher and author Graeme Davis, who claimed in his book Nazi Moonbase that the Third Reich had managed to transfer the Haunebe Disc to this base in Antarctica, and high-ranking Third Reich member, Hans Kammler, had also traveled to the base to carry on working on the program with a view to “continuing the war!”

Whatever the truth, the multinational mission resulted in some of the strangest encounters ever documented, as well as some remarkable statements from one of the highest-ranking members of the mission, Admiral Richard Bryd. The fleet was approaching the Antarctic coast in December 1946. However, it was in February 1947 when Byrd took to the skies in order to observe the icy land that was Antarctica. He would, if we are to believe his reports and diary notes to be accurate, see a lot more than he bargained for.

He claimed that, as opposed to being continuous sheets of ice below, the terrain suddenly changed to vast fields of green vegetation. What’s more, he could see multiple animals that “shouldn’t have been there”, including some kind of “mammoth-like animal!” Even stranger, at one point when he looked down from his plane, he saw something that appeared “to be a city!” Then, as he ventured deeper and deeper over the land, a voice suddenly came over the radio. However, it wasn’t from his Operation Highjump crew, but instead had a “Nordic or Germanic accent!” This foreign voice welcomed Byrd to “our domain!”

It was around this time that he realized he had been flying into some kind of “opening” in the Earth, and only moments after this realization, some powerful force suddenly took control of his aircraft. Before he had time to contemplate what was happening, his plane was surrounded by several saucer-shaped vehicles – and each of these strange vehicles had what appeared to be a Third Reich swastika on their exteriors. Realizing he was in a helpless situation, Bryd remained as calm as he could as his plane was brought down calmly to the ground.

According to his flying notes, after his plane was brought down, several “tall men with blond hair” approached the aircraft, while “in the distance,” he could see “a shimmering city pulsating with rainbow hues of color!” He noted that he couldn’t see any signs that the men were carrying any weapons before ending his flight notes, stating he could “hear a voice ordering me by name to open the cargo door!” According to recollections he later revealed from memory, he did so and stepped out of the plane.

Upon scanning his surroundings, Byrd found himself standing inside a “mammoth cavern”. As he looked around further, he could see what appeared to be large stretches of vegetation, as well as what looked like lakes. Stranger still, Bryd claimed he could sense or feel the presence of some kind of sun. The next thing he realized, he, along with one of his wingmen, was led towards a large building. As they walked, Byrd could see that many of the buildings of this inner city were “made of a crystal material!” Once inside the building, the two men were led inside a room where they were each given a “warm beverage which tasted like nothing I have ever savored before!” They were left alone for several minutes before two of the tall, blond men returned, requesting that Byrd join them, which he duly did.  

According to what Byrd later stated, he was taken to meet representatives of a civilization that resided inside the Inner Earth, and that they had allowed him entry to their subterranean domain because he was “of noble character and (was) well known on the ‘Surface World’”. Further, according to Byrd’s recollections, this civilization had taken a great interest in the human race following the dropping of the atomic bombs over Nagasaki and Hiroshima, not least because of the potential danger the use of such weapons had to their own civilization. Moreover, at least according to claims Byrd made during a press conference interview with a Chilean newspaper shortly after his encounter, he was told by these representatives of this inner race that “in the case of a new war, the continental United States would be attacked by flying objects which could fly from pole to pole at incredible speeds!” Although it wasn’t perhaps picked up on that much at the time, in the years and decades that have followed, it appears that Byrd was describing many of the disc-like objects that would be witnessed regularly following the wave of UFO sightings in the summer of 1947, just one of which, remember, was the infamous Roswell crash.

As we might imagine, there was and has been a mixed reaction to Byrd’s statements and claims. It is interesting to note, though, that Byrd was “hospitalized” only days after his famous press conference, the last such press conference he would ever give. He did, though, make further references to the incident, both in his reports and his writings. In one of his reports to his superiors, for example, he stated that he had been “ordered to remain silent regarding all that I have learned on behalf of humanity!” One of his final thoughts, committed to paper in December 1956, however, is particularly interesting. In this writing, he stated his desire that “this secret will not die with me!” It is, though, his last line of this particular piece of writing that his of most interest, when he states, “…for I have seen the land beyond the pole, that center of the great unknown!”

Byrd, incidentally, passed away suddenly in 1957 from an “underlying heart ailment!” While you might make of that what you will, it is also interesting to note the sudden death of Byrd’s son, who had accompanied his father on Operation Highjump, whose dead body was discovered in suspicious circumstances in an abandoned warehouse in New York.    

Several years before Operation Highjump, in the immediate months following the end of the war in Europe, according to a series of articles by James Roberts in Nexus Magazine between late 2005 and early 2006, a discreet British military unit was dispatched to Antarctica on a highly secretive mission. James claimed his source was a (then) serving British soldier, whose unit was “resting in a cave in the former Yugoslavia” following the end of the fighting in Europe. His unit was expecting to be dispatched to Japan, where the conflict was still raging, but they instead were sent to Palestine to help ease rising tensions in the country. Then, out of the blue in October 1945, he received orders to immediately report to his commanding officer, where he was informed he had been selected for an ultra-secret mission – a mission so secret that “none of his senior officers knew why!”

He found himself on his way to Gibraltar, where he would be sent to the Falkland Islands. Once there, he found himself among other soldiers from various units across “other elite British forces”, all specifically selected for this top-secret mission. Moreover, during the flight to the Falklands Islands, all of the unit was told they were under strict orders to speak to nobody outside of the unit about their mission. Once on the Falkland Islands, the unit was met by a British Officer who would be leading the mission, as well as a member of the Norwegian Resistance, who, they were told, would train them in “winter warfare and survival!”

For the next month, the unit underwent intense training in cold-weather warfare, including exercises in the icy waters of the South Atlantic Ocean. Following this, the unit was finally briefed on the nature of their mission, a mission, incidentally, that there was “little chance” of all of them surviving. They were informed they were to be transported to the British base in Maudheim on Antarctica, where they would investigate “anomalous activity” in the Muhlig-Hoffmann Mountains, which was, they were told, part of “Britain’s secret war!”

The unit was then briefed on the British military’s secret operations and activity on Antarctica. According to the briefing, the British military had begun establishing bases on Antarctica following the Third Reich's establishment of a presence there in the late 1930s. Moreover, Maudheim, where they would be based, was less than 200 miles from this main Third Reich base. Then, the briefing turned even stranger.

The unit was briefed on “extensive German activity” in the water of the South Atlantic Ocean, specifically off the coast of Antarctica, activity which appeared to increase at the same time as several German U-boats went “missing” after the war. According to their briefing, following the fall of Berlin and the end of the war in Europe, British forces had captured leading Third Reich members, Rudolph Hess, Heinrich Himmler, and Hitler’s named successor, Karl Donitz, which gave them the chance to question the men extensively, away from the Americans and the Soviets. This meant they managed to extract information that remained with the British only, allowing them to act independently of the Allied powers. This intelligence suggested that the Third Reich had not only managed to establish one base on Antarctica, but several, and what’s more, not only were these bases used to house high-ranking Third Reich members, but the results of ominous and bizarre experiments.

The briefing continued that several months earlier, a first unit had been sent to the region to investigate. This unit, which consisted of a mixture of soldiers, scientists, and engineers, had discovered an “ancient tunnel” that they, ultimately, investigated. The mission, though, seemingly took a tragic turn. Only two members of the unit returned from wherever the tunnel system had led. However, as the intense winter had now set in, the pair were stranded in their location for several months. They managed to remain in radio contact with the main base for some time, but their communications became increasingly bizarre and absurd. They began reporting, for example, of surviving Third Reich members who had control of strange creatures referred to as “Polar Men!” Then, in late July 1945, the main base received a final message from the pair. This communication ended with a panicked voice stating that, “The Polar Men have found us!”

At this point, the newly assembled unit received the directives of their mission. They were to head to Maudheim and then locate the ancient tunnel network that the first unit had investigated. They were then to venture inside and report back on what they found. Moreover, they were to investigate the claims of the surviving Third Reich members, as well as the mysterious and ominous-sounding Polar Men. Ultimately, if they were to find such a base or survivors, they were under orders to completely destroy it.

According to Roberts’ source, the unit then bombarded their superiors with a flurry of questions – questions which he stated, to their credit, their superiors were “honest and direct” in answering. The unit asked, for example, why Britain had decided to undertake such a mission alone, to which they were told that the British government did not wish the United States or the Soviet Union to gain access to any further Third Reich technologies, or scientists or engineers in the interests of keeping the balance of power on the international stage.

Not long after this brutal briefing, the unit was taken to their drop-off point approximately 20 miles from Maudheim Base, where they “parachuted into the icy wilderness” below. Once on the icy terrain, they discovered snow tractors awaiting them to negotiate their route to the base. Ominously, each of the units realized that as soon as they touched down on the ground, they were “on a war footing!” Moreover, they all knew that there was “no back-up or chance of retreat!”

It didn’t take long for the unit to discover the base, which very much appeared abandoned. They split into several smaller groups and began searching. Moments later, some kind of tripwire was broken, and alarms blared out all around them. As the unit quickly scanned their surroundings, looking to identify any potential threats, a voice sounded out, telling the men to identify themselves. Suddenly, with all members of the units with their guns at the ready, the leader of the mission ordered them to lower their weapons before telling them the voice belonged to the surviving member of the first unit.

The men quickly went about debriefing this surprise survivor. He informed them that the other missing soldier was locked in “Bunker One” with one of the savage Polar Men. Not long after, members of the unit were ordered to gain entry to Bunker One and inspect inside. The surviving soldier warned the unit not to open the bunker, but his concerns were overruled by the leader of the mission.

After opening the bunker, one of the soldiers stepped inside. For a moment or two, there was nothing but silence. Then, two gun shots rang out before a huge, bulking figure sprang from the darkness and vanished from the base with remarkable speed. The unit then inspected the bunker from which the figure had emerged, and into which their colleague had entered. Once inside, they were greeted with the sight of their dead colleague, his “throat ripped out!” They then turned their attention to a grim pile of bones close by – bones they presumed belonged to the other surviving soldier.

The leader of the mission then turned his attention back to the lone surviving soldier, who told them everything that had happened. He claimed that when his unit had searched the ancient tunnel system, it had gone on for several miles before they entered a “vast underground cavern” that he recalled was “abnormally warm!” Even stranger, they noticed several large lakes within this cavern, as well as artificial lighting – lighting they assumed belonged to the Third Reich presence they had come to investigate.

As the unit searched this huge, cavernous space, they made further, even more remarkable discoveries, finding huge hangars large enough to fit several aircraft, as well as a docking station for U-boats, with one U-boat even being docked there. It was as they were investigating these parts of the cavern when they were suddenly surrounded by a unit of Third Reich soldiers. The soldier informed them that he and the other surviving member had somehow managed to go unnoticed and had managed to slip back into the tunnel system, although not before they witnessed several of their unit executed by the Third Reich soldiers. It was as they were making their way back through the tunnel systems that they realized two large figures were pursuing them – figures they would call Polar Men.

By the time they arrived back at the base, the two soldiers, realizing they would be unable to reach the main base on foot and that a rescue attempt would be doomed, decided to each take a radio and then head to a separate bunker. Here, though, is where the story became a little strange. For reasons the surviving soldier simply couldn’t fathom, his fellow soldier seemingly enticed one of these Polar Men into the bunker with him, perhaps in an attempt to kill it, an attempt that clearly failed. Following this, the surviving soldier simply remained in the bunker until the second unit arrived – a unit, remember, that he would have had no knowledge of.

The survivor was then asked who these monstrous Polar Men were, and the answer he gave turned the whole affair even more bizarre. He stated that they were the result of some kind of Third Reich experiment that involved the “mastery of an unknown power source!” These Polar Men were men that had been genetically altered to allow them to adapt to their environment – in this case, the brutal cold conditions of Antarctica – as well as making them aggressive, obsessive human killing machines, essentially, a super soldier who would stop at nothing to hunt and kill its target.

Despite what they had learned, the following day, this second unit received orders to investigate the tunnel system. They set out for their destination, amazed that the icy environment around them suddenly changed to one of a “dry valley” that was more akin to a North African desert than the subzero conditions of Antarctica. Not long after finding themselves in this region, they discovered the tunnel’s entrance. Rather than investigate immediately, they decided to camp down near the entrance for the night in order to rest. However, several hours after doing so, one of these mysterious Polar Men approached their camp. This time, though, the unit was not only quick to react to the threat, but they managed to kill the intruder. They quickly dissected the specimen, noting that while it was indeed human, it was much stronger than even the strongest human might be, and seemingly had the ability to grow thick hair on its body, seemingly to protect it from the harsh, icy conditions.

The following morning, after leaving two soldiers to guard the tunnel entrance and the carcass of the Polar Man, the rest of the unit set off into the tunnel network. There were nine men in total, including the unit leader, one of the scientists, the Norwegian Resistance member, and the surviving member of the first unit, each carrying with them heavy weapons and “enough explosives to wage a small war!” For a large part of the descent, the unit found themselves in almost complete darkness. Then, suddenly, they could see a light in the distance ahead of them. A short time later, they found themselves in the artificially lit cavern.

At this point, they moved quietly and were soon looking down at various Third Reich personnel “scurrying about like ants” below them. As this was happening, and with the unit leader relaying the plan for their operation, the scientist scribbled down as many notes as he could of the activity unfolding below them. This discreet surveillance continued for the next 48 hours before specific targets in the base were identified as locations to plant explosives. This operation went perfectly, with the Third Reich personnel remaining ignorant of their activities. In fact, things went so perfectly that the unit even managed to capture a member of the Third Reich unit who could be used as a hostage or source of information. However, as they were about to vacate the cavern and set off the carefully planted explosives, a number of Third Reich soldiers spotted them. Moreover, they, along with what appeared to be several of the Polar Men, began in pursuit of them.

The unit decided to quickly set up some of the explosives near the tunnel entrance in an attempt to destroy the way out of the cavern, and so buy them some time to escape their pursuers. This worked, but by the time the mines had gone off, several Third Reich soldiers as well as several Polar Men had already managed to venture into the tunnel. According to Roberts’ source, by the time they reached the tunnel’s outer entrance, only he, the scientist, and the Norwegian Resistance member remained alive. Along with the two soldiers who had remained guarding the entrance, the three of them quickly set up the rest of their explosives at the tunnel’s entrance. They managed to detonate them before their pursuers had reached them, and by the time the air had settled, there was “no evidence of any tunnel ever existing!” Ultimately, the unit was successfully recovered from the base a short time later and transported back to the Falkland Islands. Once there, they were debriefed, with a lot more urgency and harshness than before. They were told that it was strictly forbidden for any of them to speak to anyone about their mission, including their superiors. As Roberts’ source noted, the cover-up was already unfolding, and it appeared to be more than just the mission that was being suppressed.

As they had ventured into the tunnel system, for example, the scientist had noticed that not only was it clear that it was ancient and not recently created, but that it was not a naturally occurring tunnel but one of precision planning and execution. Their superiors, however, insisted that the tunnel was the result of “glacial erosion”, something they were quite insistent on. Perhaps most remarkable of all, though, despite the clear findings of the dissection they had performed, not to mention the superhuman strength and speed they had witnessed, the unit was told the Polar Men were “nothing more than unkempt soldiers who had gone crazy!”

The source also told Roberts that the Royal Air Force continued to fly mysterious missions over this part of Antarctica for several years following the mission. The official reason for these flybys was to scout potential locations for scientific bases. However, the source stated to Roberts that “one can’t help but wonder!” Indeed, one can’t.

We might contemplate just how true such claims might be, and who might have been the source of such information to the British military. According to some researchers, a likely candidate could very well be none other than the previously mentioned named successor to Adolf Hitler, Karl Dönitz. Dönitz was in charge of the German Navy and, in turn, the German U-boat program, something that Hitler became quite fixated on towards the end of the war. Most mainstream researchers suggest that this fixation likely came out of a hope that the U-boats could turn the tide of the war back in the Third Reich’s favor. However, some researchers have suggested that the real reason for a concentration on the U-boat program was so they could be used to secretly transport high-ranking members of the Third Reich – perhaps even Hitler himself – to locations in South America, and perhaps, Antarctica.

Another thing to keep in mind about Dönitz is his trial as a war criminal following the war. While many of his fellow Third Reich members were executed, Donitz insisted that he was “ignorant of Nazi atrocities” and that he “only fought a legal war!” He further claimed that he had no knowledge whatsoever of the horrors of the concentration camps. Ultimately, he was not only spared the death penalty, but he received a prison sentence of only 10 years. We might ask how likely it is that someone so high up in the Third Reich, not to mention the person named as Hitler’s successor, would have been unaware of the full horrors of the regime’s actions. Moreover, we might indeed ask if some kind of deal was arranged behind the scenes between Donitz, the British, and those at the Hague.

It is also not unrealistic to think that the British military would have had relatively free access to Antarctica following the end of the war in Europe, with various factors at play. Of immediate concern for the United States, for example, was bringing the conflict with Japan to an end, something that happened several months later with the dropping of the atomic bombs over Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Moreover, it was becoming apparent to the United States that the Soviet Union was about to join them as a superpower on the world stage, and that despite their alliances in the conflict with Germany, their political ideology of communism set them against the United States and its interests – ultimately, the Cold War was just about to unfold.

Of course, by the time of Operation Highjump, the secretive British missions were over a year in the past. However, if Admiral Bryd’s claims are true and accurate, if only partially, it would very much attest to a prolonged Third Reich presence on Antarctica after the secretive British mission.

Whether a secret British mission to Antarctica took place or not remains very much open to debate, at least for some. With this in mind, we might ask, if there was any truth to such claims, just what the real importance of the nearby Falklands Islands might actually be. Could it be that it provides the British military with a quick launch-point to the icy continent should further discoveries be made or anomalous activity detected? Perhaps they are still monitoring the region today.

Another thought-provoking detail to note, however, before we move on, was the discovery in 1984 (although not made public until 1985) by the British Antarctic Survey of a hole in the Ozone layer – a hole that was over the same location as the secretive British missions at the end of the Second World War. The cause of this hole was determined to have been due to an increase in the use of CFCs. However, some researchers into the alleged strange goings-on in Antarctica have offered that this hole in the Ozone layer could very well have been the result of powerful explosions from nuclear weapons deployed in a war that the vast majority of the world is completely ignorant of.  

One last thing to consider is another detail put forward in the Nexus Magazine articles that detailed the secret British mission in late 1945. It stated that in 1999, a team of scientists on an expedition in the area allegedly discovered a new virus that no animals or humans had immunity to. While it is not clear what happened to this virus and how it was contained, as well as the fact that we need to treat such claims with a considerable helping of salt, it is also interesting to think that if Third Reich scientists were continuing their experiments on Antarctica in the years following the war could very well have established some kind of new virus to attack their enemies. Perhaps their bases were destroyed before this virus could be unleashed, but the virus itself remained within the icy ruins of these facilities.

Several years after these events, including Operation Highjump, one of the first recognized UFO researchers and investigators, Albert Bender, also made some remarkable discoveries about Antarctica, at least according to reports in the years that followed. As Bender began to investigate the many UFO reports that were surfacing across the United States, he formed the International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB) and soon caught the attention of the authorities and, as we shall see, the Men In Black. Bender spoke to hundreds of people who claimed they had witnessed these strange craft, and put out multiple articles and books. Then, out of nowhere in the mid-1950s, he suddenly claimed that he had ”solved the mystery of UFOs!” He also stated, though, that he was unable to speak further about his findings and that he would no longer comment publicly on UFOs. He then closed down the IFSB and disappeared from public life. However, that wasn’t the end of Bender’s story.

In 1956, Gray Barker released the book They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers, and in it, he made some claims as to Bender’s mysterious statements and behavior several years earlier. He stated that Bender was at home one evening when he suddenly felt an intense feeling of dizziness overtake him. The next thing he knew, three strange men were standing in his living room, each dressed in the same style of dark suit. Even stranger, where their eyes should have been, there were instead glowing red orbs. Moreover, several times, these glowing orbs appeared to “flash,” and with each flash, a surge of pain went through Bender’s head. It wasn’t made clear exactly what was said, but they certainly scared Bender enough for him to draw back from the public.

Then, however, six years later in 1962, Bender suddenly returned to public life with a new book, Flying Saucers and the Three Men, in which he made some truly remarkable and, to some, outrageous statements. He claimed that the three men who visited him – essentially the Men In Black – were, in fact, extraterrestrial entities. Moreover, they appeared as they did because their real appearance was “so monstrous” that they couldn’t allow human beings to see their true form (a statement, incidentally, that was often attributed to the gods of the ancient world). Of most interest to us here, though, are his claims that he made several journeys with these strange men to a subterranean base in Antarctica.

Although we should perhaps treat it with a considerable pinch of salt, it is worth examining an article by Jonathan Gray in the newsletter of World Education Research Ltd., Archaeology News Flash, in which he claimed that a video that appeared to be some kind of unfinished documentary or news report from a television crew from California who had seemingly gone missing while reporting in Antarctica in 2002. Moreover, the article claimed that the video detailed “spectacular ruins” on the icy continent. Even more interesting, and remember, we should treat the claims with caution, the article claimed that the video showed “intense activity” in the region by what appeared to be American authorities (we should note that the American presence in Antarctica on scientific missions all denied any knowledge of the missing crew, or the claims made in the video). Whether the video does exist, and where it might be now, remains unknown.  

There have also been several strange and chilling encounters in more recent times. On December 10th, 2019, for example, a military plane left a runway in Chile and disappeared while on its way to Antarctica. The BBC reported on the incident, claiming that 38 people went missing with the plane – 17 crew members and 21 passengers. The plane was on its way to a military base on King George Island on a “logistical support” mission. What made the disappearance even stranger was that the pilot, who had extensive experience, didn’t issue any kind of distress call. What is also of interest is that the last known location of the plane – the Drake Passage – is known to be home to some of the most vicious waters on the planet. Of course, whether or not the plane’s mission was something other than what was officially declared remains open to debate.

As we can see, then, while some claims and conspiracies are perhaps more likely than others, Antarctica is one of the most mysterious and enigmatic locations on the planet – perhaps, outside of the world’s oceans, the last unexplored region on Earth. And, due to it being one of the most guarded and off-limits locations on Earth, it makes it a hotspot for conspiracies – conspiracies that are almost certain to continue to swirl for the foreseeable future.

Is it possible that this icy, inhospitable world was once the legendary land of Atlantis, or even some older advanced civilization from prehistory hundreds of thousands of years ago? And what should we make of the claims of some kind of entrance to the Inner Earth? Could it be the case that, if there is some kind of connection between Atlantis and Antarctica, some of the Atlantean survivors had used this entrance to escape disaster, perhaps even permanently residing in this Inner Earth? And if there are connections between Atlantis and some of the ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians and the Sumerians, perhaps these were outposts of Atlantis. There is, as always, much for us to consider and contemplate, regardless of how outrageous it all might seem.