Case file · Folklore / legend
Kircher's 'Mundus Subterraneus'
The Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher's 'Mundus Subterraneus' (1665) mapped an Earth riddled with fire channels and water caverns, and included reports of dragons and giants living in caves.
1665 CE · 41.90, 12.48 · status: legend
The account
Kircher had himself lowered into Vesuvius and wanted natural explanations, yet repeated accounts such as an Alpine dragon and giant bones found in caves. The book's vivid engravings influenced later hollow-earth and underworld ideas.
The sceptical view
A blend of early geology and credulity; the 'giant' bones were fossils of elephants and other animals.