Quote:Life magazine described the Shaver Mystery as "the most celebrated rumpus that rocked the science fiction world." Its creators said it was a "new wave in science fiction." Critics called it "dangerous nonsense" and labeled its fans the lunatic fringe. Whatever else the Shaver Mystery was, it became a worldwide sensation between 1945 and 1948, one of the greatest controversies to hit the science fiction genre. Today these stories of the remnants of a sinister ancient civilization living in caverns under the Earth are an all but forgotten sidebar to the historical record.The Shaver Mystery began as a series of science fiction yarns in Amazing Stories nearly 70 years ago. The men behind it, Ray Palmer and Richard Shaver, were derided and seldom understood by a fandom that did its best to sweep them under the carpet of history. Though Ray Palmer was one of the earliest and biggest names in SF fandom, credited with many firsts in his field, his fannish brethren have roundly ignored him, thanks to the Shaver Mystery. What is the truth behind these men and their "mystery"? This is the question writers and editors that promoted the Shaver Mystery try to answer as they reveal the behind-the-scenes story of the phenomenon known as "Shaverism."

War over Lemuria: Richard Shaver, Ray Palmer and the Strangest Chapter of 1940s Science Fiction

(06-11-2023, 07:34 PM)BodhisattvaStyle Wrote: I live up in the mountains, and there are a maze of tunnels and access to caves all through here. It would be easy to go unnoticed if someone were to use them for tactical warfare. One could easily go thru these tunnels, pop up from one of the obscure cave entrances, launch an attack, and then stealthily vanish again like a bunch of ninjas. Most people aren't brave enough to go into the mountain like that, so if you ask me, this would be an excellent way to plan an attack (like blow something up), and then quickly disappear.

(06-12-2023, 04:37 AM)Ninurta Wrote:

(06-11-2023, 07:34 PM)BodhisattvaStyle Wrote: I live up in the mountains, and there are a maze of tunnels and access to caves all through here. It would be easy to go unnoticed if someone were to use them for tactical warfare. One could easily go thru these tunnels, pop up from one of the obscure cave entrances, launch an attack, and then stealthily vanish again like a bunch of ninjas. Most people aren't brave enough to go into the mountain like that, so if you ask me, this would be an excellent way to plan an attack (like blow something up), and then quickly disappear.

Me too. I live in the Appalachian Mountains, in an area of what is known as "karst terrain". It's limestone bedrock that has been shot through with caves by the action of water over time, like swiss cheese, but many interconnecting. Additionally, where I live now specifically is underlaid by a veritable warren of interconnected and abandoned coal mines.

In some places, the karst caves have caved in and produced new entrances over time, called "sinkholes". The valley I grew up in was littered with sink holes from the cave system underlying it. There was one on the farm, about half way up the mountain, that I could sit and drop stones into, and listen to them clattering for roughly 30 seconds before they either hit bottom or got too far down to be heard. Something lived in it. There was a trail worn from the edge of it into the surrounding woods.

There was another, on the opposite hillside, where I used to disposed of dead farm animals that died under questionable circumstances. Drop 'em in, they'd fall about 20 feet, and nature would make short work of them.

There is a cave near where I was raised that has been used in war since before the time of the American Revolution, when a couple of "Long Hunters" used it to evade pursuing Indians and came out of another cave miles away.

Yep, if you've got the nerve to use them, they can make for some real surprises!

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