The June 1947 issue of Amazing Stories featuring the “Shaver Mystery” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
by Brad Steiger Excerpt From STAR GODS: Clone Masters Of The Universe 1997
There are persistent legends in nearly every known Earth culture that tell of the Old Ones, an ancient race who populated the surface of our planet thousands, if not millions, of years ago.
According to these ancient legends, the Old Ones are an immensely intelligent and scientifically advanced race, who, eons ago, chose to structure their own environment under the surface of the planet and manufacture all their necessities. The Old Ones are human in appearance, extremely long-lived, and pre-date Homo sapiens by at least a million years.
They generally remain aloof from the surface dwellers, but from time to time they have been known to appear and to offer constructive criticism–and it has been often charged that they kidnap human children to tutor and rear as their own. In virtually all of the legends, the Old Ones have gone underground to escape natural catastrophes or the hidden death that paradoxically exist in the life-giving rays of our Sun.
Some researchers believe that the Old Ones, the mysterious Teachers from the Caves, represent those Atlanteans who survived the great cataclysm and learned to perpetuate themselves in underground caverns. In this version of the destruction of the fabled continent, Atlantis shattered into the ocean because of a tremendous nuclear blast that had been ignited by a self-destructive super science. The need to find underground accommodations was thus compounded by the deadly radiation on the surface and by the knowledge that existence with limited exposure to the normal radioactivity of the Sun is a healthier one.
An alternate theory to explain the ancient legends of the Old Ones is that the Cave Masters are surviving colonies of extraterrestrials, who, after walking the surface of Earth as Star Gods, grew disgusted with humankind and retreated to under-earth bases from which they might continue to watch over the primitive species’ intellectual and cultural development. A Subterranean Empire of Supermen and Gods Buddhists have incorporated Agharta, a subterranean empire, into their theology, and they fervently believe in its existence and in the reality of underworld supermen, who periodically surface to oversee the progress of the human race.
Among the Native American tribes, Navajo legends teach that the forerunners of humankind came from beneath the surface of the planet. These ancient ones were possessed of supernatural powers and were driven from their caverns by a great flood (another echo of the Atlantis myths). Once on the surface, these protohumans passed along great knowledge to the tribes before they once again sought secret sanctuary.
The cosmology of the Pueblo tribe places their gods’ origin in an inner world that is connected to the surface people by a hole in the north. Mesewa, the chief of the gods, was succeeded as leader by his brother Oyoyewa, which some researchers have pointed out is quite similar to the Hebrew Yahweh. The Three Basic Arguments Regarding an Underground World For centuries now, scholars and priests, scientists and explorers, have argued about the actual existence of an advanced and very ancient civilization beneath the surface of our planet. The essential arguments have boded down to three main points of contention:
1.) An ancient hominid race, antedating Homo sapiens by at least a million years, withdrew from the surface world to exist in subterranean eaves. Such an extensive withdrawal of a people gave birth to the legend of Atlantis in the memories of emerging humankind.
2.) The super-science of fabled Atlantis was created by a prehistoric race of Earth-evolved hominids that achieved its apex only to blow itself to bits. Its survivors sought refuge under the crust of the Earth and remain there, emerging only to monitor the planet’s current dominant species.
3.) Extraterrestrial beings planted a colony on Earth as long as 250 million years ago.
These Star Gods made a decision to give evolving Homo a boost up the evolutionary ladder about a million years ago, then, after greatly accelerating humankind’s brain approximately 100,000 years ago, then again, about 20,000 years ago, grew increasingly aghast at Homo sapiens’ lapses into complete savagery and barbarism. Deciding to withdraw to a more aloof position in regard to their genetically engineered species, the Star Gods, the Old Ones, created underground bases from which to continue to monitor their prodigal sons and daughters.
THE CONTROVERSIAL SHAVER MYSTERY
In the March 1945, issue of Amazing Stories, Editor Ray Palmer introduced the Shaver Mystery, an alleged “racial memory” of a young welder named Richard Shaver, who first claimed to have remembered a life in the caves, then, later, maintained that he had in actuality returned from a recent visit to the vast underground civilization of the ancient cave-dwellers.
In its May 21, 1951 issue, Life magazine decreed the Shaver Mystery to he “…the most celebrated rumpus that ever racked the science fiction world.” Richard Shaver, however, never called his accounts anything other than factual reportage.
A Race of Cosmic Super-beings It was Richard Shaver’s contention that in prehistoric times, when our solar system was very young, Earth was inhabited by a race of cosmic super-beings who had come to our planet from another solar system. Although the members of the Elder Race were not truly immortals, they had discovered secrets of incredible longevity. Later, when Homo had developed into a sentient being, such physical attributes of the Elder Race, together with their highly developed scientific technology, caused the extraterrestrials to be regarded as gods by the primitive and unsophisticated humans.
The Elder Race possessed fantastic mechanical devices, which Shaver called “mech,” capable of projecting three-dimensional images, extracting or implanting thoughts into others’ minds, scanning over great distances, curing diseases, producing food and clothing–and killing and destroying life when deemed necessary. The Extraterrestrial Race Discovers the Sun’s Detrimental Rays After a time, the Elder Race, the Titans, began to notice that the once beneficent Sun now seemed to contain detrimental rays which were shortening their life-span by causing premature aging. While they had achieved near-immortality on their native planet, Earth’s Sun, over the many centuries that their alien race had dwelt on its surface, had begun to take a toll on their physical bodies. But now they were no longer extraterrestrials.
They had become citizens of Earth and were subject to its unique physical laws. In order to escape from the harmful rays of the Sun, the Elder Race entered deep underground caverns and began carving out a fantastic subterranean kingdom, using their powerful ray guns to disintegrate rock. Soon they had constructed awesome machines that could duplicate the health-giving rays of the Sun while excluding the detrimental radioactivity. Meanwhile, beings of the developing Homo species continued to evolve in the Sun, ignorant of the rays which would shorten their life-span–and puzzled by the withdrawal of their gods.
The Myriad Activities of the Elder Race Become Our Cultural Myths Shaver informed his readers that the Elder Race was not without its sensualists, and certain of its members, particularly, the lesser ones, varied greatly in morality and intelligence. Perhaps the majority of the Elder Race regarded their lesser evolved human cousins with a feeling of superiority and ill-concealed contempt. Others may have exploited the females of Homo sapiens and may even have set the barbaric tribes of humans against one another for their own perverse pleasure, rooting for and assisting their favorite tribes and warriors. The more humane among the Elder Race did their best to assist primitive humankind to develop a more functional culture and serviceable technology.
According to Richard Shaver, the ancient myths and legends of such cultures as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were the unsophisticated surface dwellers’ interpretation of the myriad activities of the Elder Race. An Exodus from Earth of the Few Leaves Many Titans to Degenerate After a time, the Shaver Mystery has it, the Elder Race became so dissatisfied with life on Earth that a space mission was sent to find a more suitable world where they could live on the surface without fearing negative rays from the Sun. When the scouts finally returned with word of a planet with a beneficial Sun, a mass exodus was set in motion at once. Because of the great distance involved in the interstellar travel and the limited number of spacecraft large enough to serve as transports, a good many of the Titans were forced to remain on Earth, sealed in underground caverns with their marvelous machines of super science.
Centuries passed, and a series of desperate experiments with the “mech” brought about certain radiation that began to destroy a portion of the brain of many of the underpeople and produced a dangerous form of hereditary insanity. Vast numbers of the cave people began to degenerate into physically stunted near-idiots, incapable of constructive reasoning. Shaver told his readers that such beings were the “Dero,” that is, detrimental or degenerate robots. “Robot,” as Shaver used the word, doesn’t refer to a mechanical representation of a human being, but is rather a designation for those cave people who became controlled, or obsessed, by degenerative forces. The Deros, due to their hereditary brain damage, are completely devoid of any moral sense or humane instincts.
They do harm at every opportunity, and they gain immense satisfaction from the sufferings of others. They have mastered the use of certain of the “mech,” and they take great pleasure in directing negative rays at Earth’s surface dwellers whenever possible. The greatest delight of the Dero comes when they are able to lure or to kidnap humans into the caverns and set about debasing them in sadistic orgies. Such abductions usually result in death or enslavement for the unfortunate captive.
Throughout the centuries, Shaver stated, the horrid details of some of these grotesque debaucheries reached the surface world and established the foundations for the accounts of devils, demons, and the underworld hells of religion. The Tero Alone Can Keep the Demonic Dero at Bay Standing between the degenerate Dero and the complete annihilation of the surface people are the “Tero” (The Elder Race used T as a symbol of their religious philosophy, so the “T” in Tero stands for good). The Tero have devised a means of staving off many of the degenerative effects of their poisonous partial science by the use of machines and chemicals and the direction of beneficial rays. Through centuries of experimentation, the Tero have nearly mastered the manipulation of the “mech” left by the leaders who deserted their ancestors.
They are able to defend themselves from the Dero and are able to keep them from swarming up to the surface world en masse. Although many of the Tero harbor friendly sentiments toward their human cousins above the caverns, they still consider humankind too barbaric to be entrusted with the secrets of the ” mech. ” In ancient times, extensive trade and exchange was carried on between the Tero and the surface peoples, but as humans became more sophisticated and their communications became more efficient, the Tero have almost completely withdrawn from open intercourse with the surface world. The surviving remnant of the Elder Race is determined to keep its Inner World a secret from the surface people until humankind has matured enough to share the marvels of the “mech,” which remain operable and fully functional after millions of years.
A Warning To Future Man Richard Shaver had originally entitled his manuscript, ” A Warning to Future Man,” because, according to his observations during his alleged sojourn in the eaves, he perceived that the Dero were becoming more numerous and had begun to weaken the more pacifistic Tero with their constant attacks. Shaver believed that the greatest danger to humankind lay in the uncomfortable fact that the Dero had access to the “mech” of the Elder Race’s super-science, but they did not have the requisite intelligence or the highly developed moral sense needed to handle the powerful machines responsibly. Shaver went on to declare that the Dero was little more than sadistic idiots who have taken enormous delight in precipitating many of our surface wars, arranging terrible accidents for select members of humankind, and even in creating nightmares, as they train “dream mech ” on unsuspecting humans as they sleep.
Over the passing centuries, both the Tero and the Dero have learned to master — Vision ray machines that can penetrate solid rock and view scenes all over the planet; Teleportation units that can affect instant transport from one point to another; Bizarre ” mech ” that can create ” solid ” illusions, dreams, and compulsions; The aerial craft that humans refer to as flying saucers or UFOS; Deathrays; “Stim ” machines to revitalize the reproductive organs; “Ben” rays that heal and restore the physical body.
Because these fantastic products of a technology not yet equaled by the surface dwellers are still in perfect working order due to the high degree of scientific craftsmanship with which they were constructed, the remnants of the Elder Race could still appear almost god-like even in our nuclear age.
The Mystery of the Old Ones Continues Ray Palmer claimed that the issue of Amazing Stories (March, 1945) that carried the first Shaver fact-fiction piece brought in unprecedented mail response, all of which was from readers who swore that “…Shaver spoke the truth, there actually were eaves, and Dero, and rays, and stim, and contrived train wrecks, and mental control, and thought records, and Titans, and ancient spaceships, and radioactive death raining down on us from the Sun.” By Palmer’s own account:
Although I added all the trimmings, I did not alter the factual basis of Mr. Shaver’s manuscript–except in one instance. Here, perhaps, I made a grave mistake. However, I could not bring myself to believe that Mr. Shaver had actually gotten his alphabet and his ‘Warning to Future Man,’ and all the “science” he propounded from actual underground people. Instead, I translated his thought- records into ‘racial memory” and felt sure this would be more believable to my readers…
After all, Palmer reasoned, if all of Shaver’s incredible claims were actually based on fact, then a reasonable explanation was that these fantastic underground people and their prehistoric science existed in Shaver’s memories–or in his mind–
Which is where I felt it really was going on, and not in any caves or via any telaud rays or telesolidograph projections of illusions from the cavern ray operators. Ray Palmer kept the Shaver mystery and the resultant controversy going in his magazines for four years, in more than fifty consecutive issues of Amazing Stories, Fantastic Adventures, Mammoth Adventures, and even South Sea Stories.
Although both Palmer and Shaver have passed away, the furor the Shaver Mystery set off among the science fiction and Fortean buffs continue today to break out in periodic brush fires. From our present perspective, we might suggest that the super-science of the Old Ones and their retreat into the underground eaves is yet another human attempt to describe and to explain the incredible history that our species shares with the Star Gods.