Ray Palmer, who was a writer and editor of such magazines as Amazing Stories, FATE, Search, Flying Saucers, was often referred to as the "man who created flying saucers." With his background in science fiction, Palmer was one of the earliest publishers to realize that there was money to be made on the subject of UFOs.

Palmer would never commit himself to the extraterrestrial explanation for UFOs that had become so predominant by the 1950s. Instead of looking to the heavens for flying saucers, Palmer looked downwards into the hollow Earth as a possible point of origin.

In the December 1959 issue of Flying Saucers Magazine, Palmer wrote: "Flying Saucers Magazine has amassed a large file of evidence which its editors consider unassailable, to prove that the flying saucers are native to the planet Earth and originate from the hollow interior by way of openings in the North and South Poles."

Theodore Fitch was another writer who agreed with Palmers Thesis. In his book, Our Paradise Inside the Earth, fitch writes: "UFO occupants who come to us in flying saucers and who pose to be visitors from other planets, are really members of an advanced civilization in the hollow interior of the Earth, who have important reasons for keeping their true place of origin secret, for which reason they purposely foster the false belief that they come from other planets."

Those who embrace the extraterrestrial hypothesis of UFOs find it easy to scoff at the idea that UFOs and their occupants could originate from a yet-to-be-explored realm beneath our feet. Considering the ancient worldwide traditions that say the inner world exists and is populated by a rich variety of intelligent races, it is no more difficult to imagine that some UFOs could be from right here on planet Earth then it is to imagine them traveling thousands of light years from some far, distant planet.

So the next time someone says to "keep your eyes to the skies;" perhaps you should also spend a little time looking downwards, for as above, so below.

For more information about the mysteries of the hollow Earth, check out Tim R. Swartz's new book: Admiral Byrd's Secret Journey Beyond the Poles, available at www.conspiracyjournal.com and Amazon.com