Recent years have seen increasing public attention and indeed concern regarding Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). Hypotheses for such phenomena tend to fall into two classes: a conventional terrestrial explanation (e.g., human-made technology), or an extraterrestrial explanation (i.e., advanced civilizations from elsewhere in the cosmos). However, there is also a third minority class of hypothesis: an unconventional terrestrial explanation, outside the prevailing consensus view of the universe. This is the ultraterrestrial hypothesis, which includes as a subset the “cryptoterrestrial” hypothesis, namely the notion that UAP may reflect activities of intelligent beings concealed in stealth here on Earth (e.g., underground), and/or its near environs (e.g., the moon), and/or even “walking among us” (e.g., passing as humans). Although this idea is likely to be regarded sceptically by most scientists, such are the nature of some UAP that we argue this possibility should not be summarily dismissed, and instead deserves genuine consideration in a spirit of epistemic humility and openness.
Received: 12 March 2024 / Accepted: 22 April 2024 / Published: October 2024
This paper explores a hypothesis concerning Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), and follows another by the same
first author focusing on a related hypothesis recently published in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology (Lomas,
2023a). Essentially, the discourse around UAP is dominated by two main classes of explanation: a conventional
terrestrial origin (e.g., human technology), or an extraterrestrial origin (i.e., advanced civilizations arriving from
elsewhere). However, such is the strange nature of many UAP that observers close to the topic have been compelled to
consider a more unconventional set of theories known collectively as the “ultraterrestrial” hypothesis. This denotes a
broad category of conjecture centred around the possibility that UAP may involve forms of non-human intelligence (NHI)
that are already present in Earth’s environment in some sense, which Puthoff
(2022) describes as sequestered terrestrial cultures… existing alongside us in
distinct stealth.
One is an “interdimensional” hypothesis, which was the focus of the previous paper; this
suggests UAP may involve beings from dimensions that coexist alongside the four dimensions of spacetime we usually
perceive, and/or that UAP occupants are “extratempestrial,” traveling through the fourth dimension to visit different
periods of Earth’s history, which may involve our descendants returning to study their own hominin evolutionary past
(Masters, 2019, 2022). In writing that paper though, the author became increasingly aware of the depth of evidence and
theory that also tentatively supports another ultraterrestrial explanation: the “cryptoterrestrial” hypothesis (CTH) –
our focus here – which holds that UAP may reflect activities of NHIs concealed here on Earth (e.g., underground) and
its environs. Indeed, the philosopher Bernado Kastrup (2024) recently argued that a version of the CTH was – despite
its seemingly outlandish, unlikely, and “far out” nature – the “most reasonable scenario” for UAP and NHI. As such, a
paper which explored the CTH in depth seemed a logical next step, and furthermore a useful counterpart to the
interdimensional paper.
Fundamentally, UAP constitute an extraordinary empirical mystery, which science is surely obligated to investigate, yet has rarely done so (at least in an open, public, visible way), especially when it comes to these more unconventional ultraterrestrial hypotheses. As such, together, the previous and current paper will hopefully serve as valuable pieces of this emergent jigsaw puzzle that is humanity’s attempt to better understanding this existentially important yet hitherto all-too-often overlooked phenomenon. The paper begins by briefly noting the recent history and concern over this topic; however, this subject has been extensively covered elsewhere – including by Lomas (2023a), whose paper offers a relatively recent summary of the relevant terrain – so we will merely point to such sources rather than delving into detail. Then, we explore the CTH over five sections, reflecting on: (1) limits to historical and geological knowledge; (2) traces of lost civilizations; (3) traces of underground civilizations; (4) traditions around “magical” cryptoterrestrials; and (5) UAP-related activity underground, underwater, and nearby (i.e., the moon). We conclude by noting that across these various considerations are actually four distinct CTHs, whose merits we briefly consider. We recognize these CTHs may rightly be regarded sceptically by most scientists, but argue they nevertheless should not be ruled out, and deserve consideration in a spirit of epistemic humility and openness.