Editing Charles Hapgood

{{Short description|American historian (1904–1982)}}
{{infobox person
|birth_name = Charles Hutchins Hapgood
|birth_date = {{birth date|1904|5|17}}
|alma_mater = [[Harvard University]]
|occupation = College professor, author
|spouse = {{marriage|Tamsin Hughes|1941|1955|end=divorced}}
|known = [[Pole shift hypothesis|Earth Crustal Displacement theory]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1982|12|21|1904|5|17}}
|death_place = [[Greenfield, Massachusetts]], U.S.
}}
'''Charles Hutchins Hapgood''' (May 17, 1904 – December 21, 1982)<ref name="Yale" /> was an American college professor and author who became one of the best known advocates of the [[pseudo-scientific]] claim of a rapid and recent [[Cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis|pole shift]] with catastrophic results.

==Biography==
Hapgood was the son of [[Hutchins Hapgood]] and [[Neith Boyce]]. Hapgood received a [[master's degree]] from [[Harvard University]] in 1929 in medieval and modern [[History]].  His Ph.D. work on the [[French Revolution]] was interrupted by the [[Great Depression]].  He taught for a year in [[Vermont]] and directed a community center in [[Provincetown]], also serving as the executive secretary of [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin Roosevelt]]'s Crafts Commission.

During [[World War II]], Hapgood was employed by the Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI, which became the [[Office of Strategic Services]] in 1942) and the [[Red Cross]], and also served as a liaison officer between the [[White House]] and the Office of the Secretary of the War. After the war, Hapgood taught at [[Keystone College]] (1945–1947), [[Springfield College]] (1947–1952), [[Keene State College]] (1956–1966) and [[New England College]] (1966–1967), lecturing in world and American history, anthropology, economics, and the history of science.

Hapgood married Tamsin Hughes in 1941 and divorced in 1955. He was struck by a motorist in [[Greenfield, Massachusetts]], and died on December 21, 1982.<ref name="Yale" />

==Polar shift==
{{main|Polar shift}}
While at Springfield College, a student's question about the [[Mu (lost continent)|Lost Continent of Mu]] prompted a class project to investigate the lost continent of [[Atlantis]], leading Hapgood to investigate possible ways that massive earth changes could occur and exposing him to the literature of [[Hugh Auchincloss Brown]].

In 1958, Hapgood published ''The Earth's Shifting Crust''. It denied the existence of [[continental drift]], an idea that became supported by mainstream science a few years later. The book included a foreword by [[Albert Einstein]]. In ''Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings'' (1966) and ''The Path of the Pole'' (1970), Hapgood proposed the hypothesis that the Earth's axis has shifted numerous times during geological history.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/eathsshiftingcru033562mbp/eathsshiftingcru033562mbp_djvu.txt Full text of ''Earths Shifting Crust''], [https://archive.org/ archive.org].</ref> ''The Path of the Pole'' was meant as a replacement for ''The Earth's Shifting Crust'' after corrections were suggested to him. Hapgood writes in ''Voices of Spirit'' (1975): "In later discussions we discussed the theories of my book 'Earth's Shifting Crust', and he [Einstein] suggested that one of them was wrong; as a result of this I revised my book, which subsequently was republished as 'The Path of the Pole'. My own further research confirmed the truth of his observation, which involved technicalities of geophysics."

In ''Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings'' he supported the suggestion made by Arlington Mallery that a part of the [[Piri Reis map]] was a depiction of the area of [[Antarctica]] known as [[Queen Maud Land]]. He used that to propose that a 15° pole shift occurred around 9,600 BC (approx. 11,600 years ago) and that a part of the Antarctic was ice-free at that time and that an [[ice-age]] civilization could have mapped the coast. He concludes that "Antarctica was mapped when these parts were free of ice" and took the view that an Antarctic warm period coincided with the last ice age in the Northern hemisphere and that the Piri Reis and other maps were based on "ancient" maps derived from ice-age originals.<ref name="Hapgood Sea Kings" />

Later research concerning the [[paleoclimatology]] and [[ice sheets]] of Antarctica have discredited the interpretations by Hapgood that an Antarctic warm period coincided with the last glacial period in the Northern Hemisphere and that any part of it had been ice-free at and prior to 9,600 BC (approx. 11,600 years ago).<ref>Anderson, J. B., S. S. Shipp, A. L. Lowe, J. S. Wellner, J. S., and A. B. Mosola (2002) "The Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum and its subsequent retreat history: a review". ''Quaternary Science Reviews''. v. 21, pp. 49–70.</ref><ref>Ingolfsson, O. (2004) [http://www.hi.is/~oi/AG-326%202006%20readings/Antarctica/Ingolfsson_SUMMARY.pdf ''Quaternary glacial and climate history of Antarctica.''] in: J. Ehlers and P. L. Gibbard, eds., pp. 3–43, ''Quaternary Glaciations: Extent and Chronology 3: Part III: South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica''. [[Elsevier]], New York.</ref>

Hapgood also examined a 1531 map by French mathematician and cartographer [[Oronce Finé]] (aka ''Oronteus Finaeus''). In ''Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings'', he reproduces letters that he states he received from the chief of a U.S. Air Force cartography section stationed at [[Westover AFB]] in 1961. These letters say that at Hapgood's request, they had studied both Piri Reis and Oronce Finé maps during their off-duty hours, concluding that both were compiled from original source maps of Antarctica at a time when it was relatively free of ice, supporting Hapgood's findings.<ref name="Hapgood Sea Kings">{{cite book|last=Charles H. |first=Hapgood|title=Maps of the ancient sea kings: evidence of advanced civilization in the ice age |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5iLG2D5eBswC&q=charles+hapgood+u.s.+air+force&pg=PA244|year=1966|publisher=Adventures Unlimited Press|isbn=978-0-932813-42-8}}</ref> Hapgood concluded that advanced cartographic knowledge appears on the Piri Reis map and the Oronteus Finaeus map, and must be the result of some unknown ancient civilization that developed advanced scientific knowledge before other civilizations such as Greece.<ref name="Aramco" />

According to historians Paul Hoye and Paul Lunde, while Hapgood's work garnered some enthusiasm and praise for its thoroughness, his revolutionary hypotheses largely met with skepticism and were ignored by most scholars.<ref name="Aramco">{{cite journal|url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198001/piri.reis.and.the.hapgood.hypotheses.htm|title=Piri Reis and the Hapgood Hypotheses|last=Hoye|first=Paul F|author2=Paul Lunde|year=1980|journal=[[Saudi Aramco World]]|volume=31|issue=1|pages=18–31|access-date=3 November 2010|archive-date=29 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829045459/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198001/piri.reis.and.the.hapgood.hypotheses.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the book ''The Piri Reis Map of 1513'' Gregory C. McIntosh examines Hapgood's claims for both maps and states that "they fall short of proving or even strongly suggesting that the Piri Reis map and the Fine map depict the actual outline of Antarctica."<ref>{{cite book|last=McIntosh|first=Gregory C.|title=The Piri Reis Map of 1513|year=2000|publisher=[[University of Georgia Press]]|isbn=978-0-8203-2157-8|page=64}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=McIntosh|first=Gregory C.|title=The Tale of Two Admirals: Columbus and the Piri Reis Map of 1513|url=http://www.diegocuoghi.it/Piri_Reis/McIntosh/McIntosh_PiriReis.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716074653/http://www.diegocuoghi.it/Piri_Reis/McIntosh/McIntosh_PiriReis.htm|archive-date=2011-07-16}}</ref>

Hapgood's ideas on catastrophe have been presented in other works by librarians Rose and [[Rand Flem-Ath]] and author and former journalist [[Graham Hancock]], each basing portions of their works on Hapgood's evidence for catastrophe at the end of the [[Last Glacial Maximum]].<ref name="Yale" /><ref name="Brass">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/tracing_graham_hancockrsquos_shifting_cataclysm/|title=Tracing Graham Hancock's Shifting Cataclysm|last=Brass|first=Michael|magazine=[[The Skeptical Inquirer]]|access-date=4 November 2010|volume=26|issue=4|date=July–August 2002|archive-date=23 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823085518/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/tracing_graham_hancockrsquos_shifting_cataclysm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Hapgood's ideas also figure prominently in the 2009 sci-fi/disaster movie ''[[2012 (film)|2012]].''

==Acámbaro figures==
Hapgood and [[Erle Stanley Gardner]] thought the collection of clay artifacts known as the [[Acámbaro figures]] were created thousands of years ago. The date estimate as well as the notion the artifacts were made by some undiscovered culture was rejected by [[archeologist]]s and [[paleontologist]]s.<ref name="Mayor">{{cite book |last=Mayor |first=Adrienne |author-link = Adrienne Mayor |title=Fossil legends of the first Americans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CMsgQQkmFqQC&q=Ac%C3%A1mbaro+figures+hapgood&pg=PA336 |year=2005 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|isbn=978-0-691-11345-6}}</ref> The figurines, which most archaeologists dismiss as an elaborate hoax, depict oddities such as non-avian dinosaurs coexisting with men and horned humans.

==Elwood Babbitt==
Hapgood spent ten years working with [[New England]] [[mediumship|medium]] [[Elwood Babbitt]] (1921-2001), attempting to make contact with notable figures from the past. Babbitt, a retired carpenter and World War II veteran, had studied trance mediumship at [[Edgar Cayce]]'s [[Association for Research and Enlightenment]]. Hapgood audiotaped and transcribed a number of Babbitt's "trance lectures" which purported to come from [[Jesus]], [[Albert Einstein]], [[Mark Twain]], and the Hindu god [[Vishnu]],<ref name="UMass">{{cite web|url=http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/umarmot/?s=Babbitt%2C+Elwood%2C+1922-|title=Elwood Babbitt Papers|work=Special Collections & University Archives|publisher=[[University of Massachusetts]]|access-date=7 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120221819/http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/umarmot/?s=Babbitt%2C+Elwood%2C+1922-|archive-date=20 November 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> using the material to publish his final three books:''Voices of Spirit, Through the Psychic Experience of Elwood Babbitt'' (1975), ''Talks with Christ and His Teachers Through the Psychic Gift of Elwood Babbitt'' (1981), and ''The God Within: a Testament of Vishnu, a Handbook for the Spiritual Renaissance'' (1982).
<ref name="Yale">{{cite web|url=http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/saxon/SaxonServlet?style=http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/saxon/EAD/yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&source=http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/fedora/get/beinecke:hapgoodch/EAD|title=Charles H. Hapgood Papers|publisher=[[Yale University Library]]|access-date=5 November 2010|location=[[Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library]]|archive-date=25 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525014601/http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/saxon/SaxonServlet?style=http%3A%2F%2Fdrs.library.yale.edu%3A8083%2Fsaxon%2FEAD%2Fyul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&source=http%3A%2F%2Fdrs.library.yale.edu%3A8083%2Ffedora%2Fget%2Fbeinecke%3Ahapgoodch%2FEAD|url-status=dead}}</ref> During this time Babbitt and Hapgood's cousin, Beth Hapgood worked closely with the nearby [[Renaissance Community|Brotherhood of the Spirit]] New Age commune. After Charles Hapgood's death, Beth Hapgood assembled a final volume of Babbitt's trance lectures, ''Dare the Vision and Endure'' (1997).

==Bibliography==
*Hapgood, Charles Hutchins; ''Earth's Shifting Crust: A Key to Some Basic Problems of Earth Science'' (1958, foreword by [[Albert Einstein]])
*Hapgood, Charles Hutchins; ''Great Mysteries of the Earth'' (1960)
*Hapgood, Charles Hutchins; ''Piri Reis map of 1513'' (1962)
*Hapgood, Charles Hutchins; ''Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age''; 1966; 1997 Paperback Reprint Edition, [[Adventures Unlimited Press]], {{ISBN|0-932813-42-9}}
*Hapgood, Charles Hutchins; ''The Path of the Pole''; 1968; 1999 Paperback edition, Adventures Unlimited Press, {{ISBN|0-932813-71-2}}
*Hapgood, Charles Hutchins; ''Mystery in Acambaro: An Account of the Ceramic Collection of the Late Waldemar Juisrud in Acumbaro'', GTU, Self Published: Mexico, 1972.
*Hapgood, Charles Hutchins; ''Voices of spirit : through the psychic experience of Elwood Babbitt'',  1975, [[Delacorte Press]], {{ISBN|0-440-05983-6}}
*Babbitt, Elwood D., with Charles Hapgood (editor); ''Talks with Christ and his teachers : through the psychic gift of Elwood Babbitt'', 1981
*Babbitt, Elwood D., with Charles Hapgood (editor); ''God Within, A Testament of Vishnu''
*Hapgood, Charles Hutchins; ''Mystery in Acambaro: Did Dinosaurs Survive Until Recently?'', 2000,  Adventures Unlimited Press, {{ISBN|0-932813-76-3}}.

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
*Flem-Ath, Rand; ''When the Sky Fell'', 1995, [[St. Martin's Press]]
*Flem-Ath, Rand, and [[Colin Wilson]]; ''The Atlantis Blueprint'', 2000, [[Time Warner]], [[Little, Brown and Company]]

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*Cuoghi, D., 2002, [http://xoomer.virgilio.it/dicuoghi/Piri_Reis/PiriReis_eng.htm ''Mysteries of the Piri Reis Map '']
*Hoye, P. F., with P. Lunde, 1980, [http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198001/piri.reis.and.the.hapgood.hypotheses.htm ''Piri Reis and the Hapgood Hypotheses.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829045459/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198001/piri.reis.and.the.hapgood.hypotheses.htm |date=2012-08-29 }} [http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198001/default.htm Aramco World Magazine.] vol. 31, no. 1 pp.&nbsp;18–31.
*Heinrich, Paul, 1996, [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/mom/atlantis.html ''The Mysterious Origins of Man: Atlantis, Mammoths, and Crustal Shift''], [[TalkOrigins Archive]].
*Mewhinney, S. 1999. [http://www.pibburns.com/smmia5.htm ''Charting Imaginary Worlds: Pole Shifts, Ice Sheets, and Ancient Sea Kings''], [http://www.pibburns.com/catastro.htm Catastrophism web page]
*[[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.hapgoodch|Charles H. Hapgood Papers]]. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hapgood, Charles Hutchins}}
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Catastrophism]]
[[Category:Pedestrian road incident deaths]]
[[Category:Pole shift theory and theorists]]
[[Category:Pseudo-scholarship]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American pseudoarchaeologists]]
[[Category:Pseudohistorians]]
[[Category:New England College faculty]]
[[Category:Keene State College faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century American historians]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]