>CJ> I think the Flat-Earth Society still exists.

JB> Sure does. Don't have the address handy but the
JB> headquarters is in upstate SC. What???? You're
JB> surprised????

Mildly. My memory had them located in Wheaton or Zion, Illinois, but that was some decades back. (I think from a mention in Martin Gardner's Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. There's also a mention in one of my People's Alamanacs, but that would be more than a decade old.) It's also possible that the group fissioned.

Time to hit my refs.

Out of date; perhaps the society moved?

According to the 1990 Enc. of Associations, Flat Earth Research Society International, Box 2533, Lancaster, CA 93539. Founded: 1800. Members: 2800. Budget: Less than $25,000.

"Individuals whose outlook is `Zetetic,' or characterized by a seeking for truth and the denial of `imaginary' theories. Members rely only on `provable' knowledge and consequently believe that the `spinning ball' theory regarding the earth is absurd, and that, in reality, the earth is flat and infinite in size. Members maintain that Australia is not under the world, Australians do not hang by their feet head down, nor do ships sail over the edge of the world to get there; they also assert that continental drift is really the result of the earth and water being `shaken asunder by God.' The society gathers information, disseminates results of its research, and generally seeks to `push forth the frontiers of knowledge in geophysical matters.' Confers Seeker for Truth Award."

Also Known As: Flat Earthers; The Zetetics. Formerly: (1932) Universal Zetetic Society of America-Grat Britain; (1983) International Flat Earth Research Society.

Publications: Flat Earth News, quarterly. $20 for nonmembers.

The Last Iconoclast, periodic.

"Plane Truth, quarterly. Tabloid concerned with showing the Ten Commandments as a `logical and reasonable means to a better life.' Price: Free."

From the 1982 Bantam paperback, The People's Almanac #3, David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace, eds., p. 560:

Same address, but Flat Earth News is $10/year.

"Subject Matter:. . . . (Skylab was a hoax; the sun and moon are each 32 mi. across and 3,000 mi. from earth.) "Sample Article: `Charles Lindbrgh Proved Earth Flat.' "Sample Material: `The River Nile in its long course flows for 1,000 mi. with only a fall of one foot. This would be an impossibility if the supposed curvature of the earth's surface were a reality. Thus we see how irrefutable facts directly controvert the theories and assumptions of modern astronomy, and how persistently these facts are ignored.'"

Part of a title page is shown, for May 1978. The motto of the header is: "RESTORING THE WORLD TO SANITY." The front page article is "AUSTRALIA NOT DOWN UNDER: A Compass Always Points North." Putting my eye about one inch from the page, I can make out the first column inch or two:

"AUSTRALIA could very well be the Key or the catylist [sic] to the DESTINY of the human race and the Future of the World! The answer could be my friend in this IF, so much hinges on this little word as Kipling has so well said.... `If you can keep you [sic] sanity, when all about you are losing theirs...' If Aussies as a people could overcome their natural reticence and their deference to Crazy English Scientists... who have kept them `down under' you, for so very long, come out of the closet and Lift up their voice and speak up with one voice and state what they all know to be true, they are not" [Ellipses in original.]

Go Back