Guest Research/Writer: Bruce Walton: Etidorhpa
I believe the best research ever conducted and reported having
to do with any aspect of the Hollow Earth question was done by Bruce Walton
in the following research report featured, with his permission, in THEI Volume
3, Issue IV. Here it is in its entirety
Dennis Crenshaw
THEI.com
Was William Morgan
‘The Man’?
By Bruce Walton
Few Hollow Earth enthusiasts, I believe, are unfamiliar with the fascinating story of “I Am The Man”, as it appears on John Uri Lloyd’s book Etidorhpa. The original manuscript was allegedly given to a Cincinnati man named Llewellyn Drury by a mysterious being who materialized in his room on a cold November night in the mid-1800s over 30 years before the volume was eventually published by a friend of his, John Uri Lloyd, also of Cincinnati.
This strange being claimed to have formerly been a freemason who had, through some unusual encounter with destiny, undertook a remarkable journey into the center of the earth and eventually into the hollow interior itself, some 800 miles beneath the outer surface of the earth. This mysterious being handed Llewellyn a large stack of old, yellowed paper, which he learned recorded the fantastic story of this strange visitor known only as “I Am The Man.” The story recounted his experiences from his early days as a mortal, and a Mason to his fateful journey into the unknown and eventual transformation into an immortal being. Llewellyn Drury had promised the visitor that he would hide the manuscript, and as instructed, he would publish the manuscript after an interval of 30 years. After the agreed upon interval Llewellyn uncovered the manuscript and, evading his responsibility, he gave the manuscript to a friend of his, the author John Uri Lloyd, who, after hearing his story of the visit by the mysterious man, enthusiastically set upon the task at hand. Also, as the being instructed, he hired an artist, J. Augustus Knapp, to illustrate the volume.
Shortly after the book was first published in 1896, it became quite popular and widely read, as well as highly controversial. Most people considered, and perhaps still do, that the story was the work of the imaginative mind of John Uri Lloyd. However, due to the descriptions of the earth’s interior, which parallel so closely with other accounts of the Inner Earth, Lloyd must have either done a great deal of research on the various “hollow earth” theories of the day, or the story of the visitation of “I Am The Man” to Llewellyn Drury was in fact a true occurrence.
As nowhere in the book is there a mention of the true identity of “I Am The Man” or his hometown or state. This may lead some readers to wonder whether or not the occurrences which are mentioned in the first few chapters did actually happen.
I believe that such a man existed, and that the events mentioned in the opening pages are based on fact, and I have good reason to believe that after the readers look at the evidence I am about to present, they will have to admit that this is the case.
The description of his whereabouts before his adventure begins do not specifically identify his location, but it does provide some clues from which we may be able to determine his hometown. Page 44 of Etidorpa, first edition states as follows: “In a section of the state in which I reside, a certain creek forms the boundry line between two townships, and also between two counties. Crossing this creek, a more traveled road stretches east and west, uniting the extremes of the major state.”
I believe the great state he refers to is the state of New York, and the west-east running road being the one which runs from Buffalo on the shore of Lake Erie to Rochester N.Y. on the shore of Lake Ontario. On page 72 we find perhaps the most significant clue. On that page we find a reference to Seneca Lake, which the young man knew quite well. Seneca Lake is the name of a body of water in northwest New York. So, we can assume that this was the state where his story begins, although in the manuscript it was “forbidden to give the names of the localities.”
His story begins when he receives a strange letter in the mail. Previous to this he had done some searching and delving into the mysteries of life and the Masonic science. A translation of Gerber’s “De Claritate Alchemiae” by chance came into his possession and afterwards an original version from the Latin Boerhaave’s “Elementa Cheniae,” published and translated in 1753 by Peter Shaw. It was these volumes more than anything else, which introduced him to a brotherhood of adepts, with whom he eventually gained membership through initiation. But it was before being initiated that “I Am The Man” received the strange letter. The letter was from an anonymous source who was apparently well-versed in masonry; it carried a history of the secret order from ancient times preceding the days of Hermes Ytismegistus. The letter began with the following cryptic title;