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==========================================================
Other Unorthodox Catastrophism
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* [1]Alan Alford
* [2]Alexander and Edith Tollmann
* [3]Donald W. Patten
* [4]Hanns Hörbiger
* [5]Ignatius Donnelly
* [6]Immanuel Velikovsky and Saturnism
* [7]Paul Laviolette
* [8]Richard Petersen
* [9]Tom Van Flandern
* [10]Zecharia Sitchin
* [11]Other unorthodox catastrophism

Research continues into planetary catastrophism which calls for
large-scale disruptions of the solar system involving massive
planetary orbital displacements during the Holocene. Exponents of this
viewpoint in the twentieth century include Immanual Velikovsky and a
host of his followers, Zecharia Sitchin, and Hanns Hörbiger. I do not
agree that the physical, historical, or mythological evidence requires
or supports such disruptions. I do agree that there is increasing
evidence that astronomical catastrophes have played a much larger part
in the history of our planet and of humanity than has been credited in
the past. In particular, I believe that the ideas of the [12]British
neo-catastrophists have merit. They posit that cosmic accretion events
caused by the breakup of giant comets in the inner solar system have
affected the Earth's climate and environent even over short time
periods of a few thousand years.

The following web pages discuss a number of alternative catastrophist
viewpoints. While I believe most of these ideas are wrong, they
challenge us to think more clearly about the assumptions which
underlie more orthodox theories. Some of these minority viewpoints
might be more readily integrated into the mainstream (the Tollmanns,
Van Flandern). You may also be interested in [13]criticisms of some of
these positions.
_________________________________________________________________

Alan Alford
* [14]Eridu Books offers information from Alan Alford's book "Gods
of the New Millenium" which posits an interventionist history for
humanity similar to Sitchin's. Alford's most recent book [15]The
Phoenix Solution takes a different approach. Alford now suggests
that much of ancient Egyptian mythology derives from an exploded
planet cult.

Alexander and Edith Tollmann
* [16]Comet that launched Noah's ark is an article from "The Times"
of London (April 22, 1996) that describes the ideas of Alexander
and Edith Tollmann, Austrian geologists who suggest the Biblical
flood (and other flood legends) refer the impact of fragments of a
comet about 12,000 years ago.
* [17]De bijbel heeft toch -een beetje- gelijk (in Dutch) offers a
review by Harry Fleurke of the Tollmann's book.
* [18]Great Comets, Great Floods, Alaska Science Forum by Carla
Helfferich offers a brief overview of the Tollmann's work.
* [19]Selected geomorphological features in Austria and in the Alps
by Christof Kuhn briefly mentions the Tollmanns's suggestion of an
impact origin for a series of landslides around Imst in the Tyrol.
* [20]Sintflut -- Project ECA (in German) reports on a school
project which looked at the Tollmann's idea that the Deluge was
actually an impact-generated tsunami.

Donald W. Patten
* [21]Flood and Joshua's Long Day offers an overview of the
catastrophist ideas of Donald Patten, who suggests that Mars used
to follow a very different orbit that brought it close to the
Earth from around 9900 B.C. to 701 B.C., at different times
causing the Deluge and other events.
* [22]Planetary Catastrophism (Pacific Meridian Publishing) offers
books and essays by Donald W. Patten and coworkers who invoke an
errant planet Mars and nova-like solar episodes as the cause of
several episodes of catastrophism during the Holocene.

Hanns Hörbiger
* [23]Hanns Hörbiger's Cosmic Ice Theory by Loren Petrich summarizes
the catastrophist cosmology of Austrian mining engineer Hanns
Hörbiger and his associate Philipp Fauth. Their "cosmic ice"
theory was politically influential during the Nazi regime.
* [24]Hörbiger, Hanns (in German) offers a photo and brief biography
of Hörbiger.

Ignatius Donnelly
* Donelly's influential books [25]Atlantis: The Antediluvian World
and [26]Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel are still in print
over a century after their initial publication.
* Richard L. Meehan offers a "performance/hypertext" [27]Ignatius
Donnelly and the End of the World based upon the life and ideas of
the famous nineteenth-century American catastrophist.

Immanuel Velikovsky and Saturnism
* [28]Aeon is the official web site for this pro-Velikovsky journal
published by leaders in the Saturnist movement.
* [29]Aeon also has a second unoffical web site sponsored by the
Society for Interdisciplinary Studies.
* Ted Holden's [30]Catastrophism web site collects together
documents representing various flavors of the Velikovsky and
Saturnist schools of catastrophism.
* [31]Catastrophism! Man, Myth and Mayhem in Ancient History and the
Sciences. CD-Rom disc offers a CD containing many articles and
books about various catastrophist and historical revisionist
theories, primarily but not exclusively from the Velikovskian
tradition.
* [32]Immanuel Velikovsky Archive offers the text of several
previously unpublished works by Velikovsky, including Days and
Years, Before the Day Breaks, In the Beginning, and The Dark Age
of Greece, as well as some of Velikovsky's correspondence.
* [33]Kronia Communications publishes the mythscape video series.
The first video entitled Remembering the End of the World features
Saturnist David Talbott, author of The Saturn Myth, presenting his
version of planetary catastrophism.
* [34]Kronia web page image analysis by Wayne Throop critically
analyzes images produced by Saturnists of their polar
configuration (alignment of Saturn, Venus and Mars along the north
pole of the Earth's axis). Throop concludes that the images cannot
occur with the degree of symmetry and centering the Saturnists
propose. Throop also offers [35]criticisms of other aspects of
Velikovskian catastrophism and Saturnism.
* [36]Neptune, Velikovsky, and the Name of the Game by Owen
Gingerich appeared in the "Wonders" column in the September, 1996
issue of [37]Scientific American. Gingerich discusses the role of
prediction in science and why Velikovsky's "predictions" of radio
noise from Jupiter and high temperatures on Venus were not
considered as such by scientists.
* A [38]Program Meeting caricatures some of the folks in the
Velikovsky movement. Very amusing if you know the folks being
roasted.
* [39]Saturnist Page by Ev Cochrane features articles by Ev
Cochrane, Dave Talbott, and Dwardu Cardona on the Saturnist
approach to mythological interpretation and planetary
catastrophism.
* [40]Shade Tree Physics - Velikovsky Page by Robert S. Fritzius
offers his slant on portions of Velikovsky's ideas.
* The [41]Society for Historical Research seeks to reconstruct
history based upon the idea that extraterrestrial agents caused
global catastrophes within recorded human history.
* The [42]Society for Interdisciplinary Studies (SIS) is the British
Velikovsky Society, although it has broadened its reach in recent
years to encompass other forms of catastrophism such as that of
Clube and Napier.
* [43]Truth Under Tyranny - Catastrophe of Ethics by author James P.
Hogan discusses the Velikovsky affair. Hogan is sympathetic to
Velikovsky's ideas and castigates scientists for their treatment
of him and his ideas over the years.
* The [44]Velikovskian is a pro-Velikovsky journal edited by Charles
Ginenthal.
* [45]Velikovsky Affair and Other Musings by author Jerry Pournelle
offers his personal thought about Velikovsky's ideas. Pournelle
believes that Velikovsky was almost entirely wrong, but advises
that we "take Velikosvky ... as an early starting point for
reconsidering what we know about both astronomy and the Bronze
Age; not as a specific source of hypotheses."
* Long-time Velikovskian C. J. Ransom offers a Web page entitled
[46]Velikovsky: Cosmos and Chronos which provides more information
about Velikovsky.
* Clark Whelton in [47]Velikovsky, Fundamentalism, and the Revised
Chronology recounts his meeting with Velikovsky in 1977 about the
Ages in Chaos series.
* [48]Viewpoints by Richard M. Smith offers information on Saturnism
and Velikovsky as well as American artifacts reputed to bear
ancient old-world scripts.

Paul Laviolette
* [49]Earth Under Fire is the title of Paul Laviolette's book in
which he suggests that ancient myths, esoteric lore, and ice core
records describe a recurrent galactic-based catastrophe. See the
[50]publisher's page for this book for a detailed table of
contents and a video accompanying the book.
* [51]Superwave Cataclysm is an essay by John Bloomer discussing the
suggestion by Paul Laviolette that a periodic galactic disaster,
caused by explosions in the core of our galaxy, recurs every
13,000 years.

Richard Petersen

Tom Van Flandern
* [52]Exploding Planets is a semi-moderated forum for the discussion
of various theories of exploding planets, particularly that of Tom
Van Flandern. Discussions of Alan Alford's book The Phoenix
Solution are also welcome.
* [53]Meta Research focuses on Tom Van Flandern's work. His article
[54]"New Evidence of Artificiality at Cydonia on Mars" not only
discusses the by-now famous "face" and pyramids at Cydonia, but
also offers Van Flandern's latest modification of the exploded
planet model, which involves the explosion of at least three
different planetary bodies:
+ Twenty-earth-mass planet "K" in the outer main asteroid belt
about 250 mya at the Permian/Triassic boundary;
+ Four-earth-mass planet "V" in the inner main asteroid belt
about 65 mya at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary; and
+ One-hundredth earth mass Body C (source of comets) in the
inner asteroid belt about 3.2 mya.
* [55]Tom Van Flandern is probably best known for his continued
championing of the "exploded planet" hypothesis which suggests
that the main-belt (at least) asteroids and comets resulted from
the explosion of a planet which formerly existed between Mars and
Jupiter. (This is where the main belt asteroids reside now). The
exploded planet hypothesis is currently a minority view, but one
with a long history, going back to the start of the nineteenth
century. Van Flandern's book [56]Dark Matter, Missing Planets and
New Comets: Paradoxes Resolved, Origins Illuminated discusses the
evidence for the exploded planet theory.

Zecharia Sitchin
* [57]Sitchin index by Royton Paynter offers links to sites about
the works of Zecharia Sitchen, both pro and con. Sitchin
interprets the gods in religion and mythology from around the
world as aliens from the planet Marduk. This planet approaches the
Earth every 3,600 years and causes world-wide catastrophes such
the Biblical Deluge.

Other unorthodox catastrophism
* [58]Alfred de Grazia's Encyclopedia of Quantavolution and
Catastrophes provides an overview of his catastrophist ideas which
are strongly influenced by Velikovsky. Many of his books are now
available in machine-readable on CDROM.
* [59]Catastrophism from the University of North Texas history
department offers an annotated set of links to web sites about
catastrophism of various kinds.
* [60]Creation Concept by Douglas Cox offers several unorthodox
theories about geology, the flood, the ice ages, the drift.
Includes list of links to origins and creationist sites.
* [61]Electric Sun by Donald Scott discusses the idea popular among
some Velikovskians that the Sun is powered by electricity instead
of nuclear reactions.
* [62]Emilio Spedicato of the University of Bergamo, Italy presents
essays entitled "Apollo objects, Atlantis and other tales: a
catastrophical scenario for discontinuities in hman history" which
discusses the possible role of NEOs in Holocene catastrophism; and
"Numerical Solution of the Planetary Alignment Equations" which
discusses the dynamics of the Saturnist Polar Configuration.
* [63]Evidence for a Major Impact Event in the Late Third Millennium
BC by Timo Niroma attempts to link astronomical events with
destruction layers in the archaeological record. Niroma discusses
two possible periods of impact-generated destruction: about 3100
BC and about 2200 BC. He also discusses the effect of solar
variability on climate and the relationship between planetary
positions (particularly of Jupiter) and the solar sunspot cycle.
* [64]Formation of the Asteroid Belt by Catastrophic Destruction of
the "Missing Planet" is by high school students Joshua A. Kortbein
and Anthony W. Thompson. They wrote a FORTRAN simulation program
to investigate the evolution of the main asteroid belt assuming it
started out as a single planet which exploded.
* [65]H O L O S C I E N C E is Walt Thornhill's web site on which he
discusses his version of the "electric universe."
* [66]Lords of the Earth by D. M Urquidi offers his analysis of
Mayan, Aztec, Incan, and other Native Amrerican cultures. Urquidi
suggests that myths and legends from these cultures reflect a
great meteoritic impact calamity.
* [67]Polar Publishing presents books by authors such as C. Warren
Hunt, Peter James (the geologist, not the historian), and others
which challenge orthodox geology concerning the role of impact
events in generating geological features as well as alternatives
to plate tectonics and new theories of endogeny.
* [68]Pole Shift Forum seeks to stimulate thought and host informed
debate about earth-bound mechanisms that might possibly cause the
Earth's crust to be shifted globally with catastrophic suddenness.
Highlights the ideas of Charles Hapgood.
* [69]Richard Noone is the author of [70]5/5/2000 Ice: The Ultimate
Disaster which suggests disasters such as pole shifts result from
special planetary alignments.
* [71]Unofficial Web Page for The Hab Theory by Scott Rainey
discusses the novel by Allan W. Eckert that highlights Hugh A.
Brown's theory of global catastrophe..
* [72]When The Sky Fell - In Search of Atlantis surveys the ideas of
[73]Rand and Rose Flem-Ath whose book of this title suggests an
Antarctic home for Atlantis destroyed by crustal shifting.
_________________________________________________________________

Back to [74]catastrophism.
Back to my [75]interests.
Back to my [76]home page.

Last modified by [77]pib on July 6, 2003.

References

14. http://www2.eridu.co.uk/eridu/
15. http://www2.eridu.co.uk/eridu/phoenixcontents.html
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19. http://homepage.boku.ac.at/h9440283/egeomorp.htm
20. http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/4310/sintflut.htm
21. http://www.trustthebible.com/flood.htm#joshua
22. http://www.eskimo.com/~dwpatten/index.html
23. http://www.webcom.com/petrich/misc/WEL.txt
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