Welcome to Lemuria!
The reclusive editor of The Observer talks with author Justin McHenry about the history and legacy of "Atlantis' Little Brother."
Author Justin McHenry despises lemurs.
“All species of lemur seem pretty awesome to be honest.”
Okay, well, he strongly dislikes certain types of lemurs.
“I think living with ring-tailed lemurs would be a little much.”
His unbridled contempt toward these animals is surprising considering the author and historian recently published a book about the mythical continent that gets its name from those pesky primates (apparently lemurs are monkeys). In Lemuria: The True Story of a Fake Place, the lemur-hating author sheds light on one of the most misunderstood stamps in the Fortean passport.
Thought to have once existed in the Indian Ocean, “Lemuria” was a hypothetical land bridge used to explain the migration of lemurs from Madagascar to India and other parts of Africa. After the land bridge idea eroded, the existence of a sunken landmass like Lemuria fell out of favor with the scientific community. It was eventually resurrected by various occult groups and individuals who used it’s fertile ground to plant fringe theories about evolution, extraterrestrials, and humanity’s hidden past.
McHenry elaborates on all of these interesting points in Lemuria, ultimately proving why the scrappy little slice of terra firma from the Indian Ocean deserves a prominent place in the history of high strangeness.
The Observer: Thanks for agreeing to this, Justin. Let me start by getting the elephant in the room on the table—as mythical continents go, Lemuria doesn’t get the respect it deserves. It’s often referred to as “Atlantis’ little brother” around The Observer’s offices. Google fetches 237,000,000 results for “Atlantis.” Meanwhile, “Lemuria” yields a measly 7,000,000. Atlantis has Plato. Lemuria has Blavatsky.
Justin McHenry: “Is there a question in there somewhere?”
TO: Why write a book about Lemuria? Was Atlantis not returning your calls?
JM: “Atlantis has been done and is so pre-pandemic. It's finally Lemuria's time to shine. I love history and all things weird. And I love the history of all things weird. Living in that sphere and headspace I have picked up bits and pieces of the Lemuria story over the years. A little bit here with Blavatsky. A little bit here with the Shaver Mysteries. And a little bit with James Churchward and Mu. I wanted a topic to explore to describe how best to use scientific primary sources, and knowing that Lemuria began as a land bridge, I thought it would make an excellent example and also a fun one because of all of the different routes that it took. This is really what led me to explore Lemuria and realize that there was a lot more going on there than I knew, and there really hasn’t been any serious writing about it.”
TO: Lemur to your head—if you had to choose one—which of these fabled continents would you prefer as a place to live: Atlantis or Lemuria?
JM: “Atlantis is Yawnsville in comparison to Lemuria.”
TO: Can you be more specific?
JM: “Lemuria is where lost continents go to get funky and wild, let their hair down and go a little crazy. Where else can you ride in wicker baskets to the Moon or Mars, fire off various ray- guns, fight dinosaurs, have wild invisible parties on the slopes of Mt. Shasta, all while being a giant?”
TO: I assume you mean besides Las Vegas. But let’s put a fine point on your answer—given the opportunity to live out your days on the shores of the utopia that was Atlantis, or to wallow away in the lemur-filled jungles of Lemuria, you’d pick Lemurville all day?
JM: “Lemuria hands down.”
TO: It sounds like you need more time to think through your answer. We’ll give you a chance to consider the question more fully and circle back to the topic later on in the interview.
Moving on for now—you explicitly state that your book is not intended to prove or disprove the existence of Lemuria. We have no such pretense with this interview. Was Lemuria a real place?
JM: “The best evidence I came across would lay in the scientific realm and involves the continual discoveries being made of sunken continental pieces and now submerged ridges around Madagascar in the Mozambique Channel and in the Indian Ocean that kinda, sorta, almost backs up P.L. Sclater’s original theory of Lemuria being a land bridge that brought lemurs to Madagascar.
These new findings that have been made over the past couple of decades could have significant ancient zoological consequences, but sadly, they happened long before Cyclops and Jedis and evil dwarves roamed the shores of Lemuria.”
TO: So what you’re saying is that Lemuria did exist, but its history is being suppressed through a joint operation between the United Nations and the Council on Foreign Relations. I think I remember that chapter in your book. Speaking of—what’s your favorite story associated with the Lemurian saga?
JM: “The Bilderberg Group’s HQ is actually on Lemuria. But my favorite story from the book would have to be that of Frederick Spencer Oliver, the amanuensis of A Dweller on Two Planets. Learning more about his life, the weird trials that he went through in trying to get his quasi-cult off the ground, get his channeled text published, and the whole story about him becoming obsessed with a murderous sex worker makes for an engaging human interest story. Added to that is just how influential his book would be after finally being published but only after his death. Also, how others took and twisted and used his story for their own personal motivations, which is a microcosm of the larger Lemuria story. There’s a misbegotten tragedy somewhere there.”
TO: The founder of Theosophy, Helena Blavatsky, factors heavily into Lemuria’s history. If you could ask the ‘Channelin’ Cossack’ one question, what would it be?
JM: “I’m not sure I would get a straight answer from her if I could ask her a question. If she were still around today, I would be interested in her thoughts on what she hath wrought and all of the woo/New Age off-shoots she inspired either directly or indirectly. I imagine she would be appalled at their shallowness.
If anything, I would love to ask Henry Steel Olcott about Blavatsky and what it was about her that drew people in. In particular, I’d ask him about their first meeting at the Eddy Brothers’ farm because, from his book, People from the Other World, Blavatsky just walks into those proceedings seemingly out of nowhere and just dominates. She’s a rockstar. Like Keith Richards showing up at your local pub’s open mic night.”
TO: In Lemuria: The True Story of a Fake Place, you highlight various individuals who claim to have the ability to channel information from “someplace else.” What are your general feelings about channelers? Do you believe channeling is real?
JM: “I don’t want to discount anyone’s experiences. This is truly a weird universe we inhabit with many unexplainable things going on, so some form of channeling could be possible and could be real. And there were some genuine channelers that I ran across in the Lemuria story, like Jane Roberts and the Seth Material. I even have time for someone like Edgar Cayce, but there were also others who clearly had ulterior motives for their channeling, like J.Z. Knight and Ramtha, who sully channeling’s good name.”
TO: What’s your take on the UFO situation? Are they just Lemurians tooling around in their flying submersible trans-medium airboats from a base within Mt. Shasta?
JM: “I am decidedly in the “I Want to Believe” camp when it comes to UFOs. Where they are coming from is anyone’s guess. It would be cool if they were intergalactic space travelers, and maybe a little scary if you spend too much time thinking about those implications. But there have been far too many credible sightings and experiences for far too long that something so far unexplained has been haunting our skies and swimming around underwater for that matter. Not too many of those UFOs though are hauling around Lemurians. The true believers know that the Lemurians left Mt. Shasta in the mid-1930s and retired to Mexico, where they’re probably playing bocce, drinking margaritas, and working on their tans (they’re very pale).”
TO: On behalf of our readers, I have to ask—have you ever had an experience with high strangeness?
JM: “Yes. I saw a shadow figure once, or what I thought was a shadow person. I was in college at the time DJing my college radio show. I had the midnight shift and the station was in the basement of one of the oldest buildings on campus. I was alone in the building and squirreled away in the booth when a black shadow walked past the window of the booth. It spooked me out pretty good.”
TO: What are you working on next? More in the same Fortean vein? Or an entirely different topic?
JM: “I am finishing up a book on Colonial Philadelphia that should be out in the fall, so something completely out of the realm of Forteana. But I’m scratching that weird history itch through my newsletter, Our Belated Past, where I like to explore more strange and conspiracy-y stories. I hope, though, to jump back and write another book covering some sort of esoteric historical topic. It was so much fun researching all of the crazy twists and turns of Lemuria that I’d love to tackle another large project like that.”
TO: Justin, this has been a fantastic conversation. Thank you. Before we close, I wanted to give you the opportunity to reconsider the whole Alantis-vs-Lemuria thing again by leaving you with this fact: Madagascar, Lemuria’s genetic cousin, is home to 24 different species of rodent-sized lemur.
By choosing Lemuria over Atlantis, you’re telling me and the tens of people who will read this esteemed magazine, that you’d prefer to make your home among rat-monkeys. Atlantis has magical dolphins, Justin. Think this through.
JM: “I still gotta go with Lemuria. They have pygmy lemurs! They are so small and adorable, and their cuteness is way more magical than dolphins. I would love to adopt a handful of them and just let them roam around the house.”
IMPORTANT: Justin McHenry is a historian first and foremost. Justin is also a great sport, and we want to sincerely thank him for humoring us with his time and expertise.
Lemuria: The True Story of a Fake Place is more than a clever subtitle and striking cover art—it’s an incredibly fun read. And whether or not it ever existed, one thing’s for sure: If Lemuria ever rises from the sea, you can bet Justin McHenry will be on the first boat over, ready to document the next fascinating chapter.
You can purchase a copy of Lemuria: The True Story of a Fake Place by Justin McHenry online or ask your local bookstore.
You can follow all of Justin’s work at: justinjmchenry.com
Interesting to come across this interview after having just finished A Dweller on Two Planets myself. It’s too bad that there continues to be (at least a mainstream) resistance to studying channeling. Parapsychology is one of those fields where it takes only one charlatan or “misapplication” for the whole thing to be discounted as bunk. Of course, that’s not how, say, pharmaceutical or physics research goes.
A little biased but this may go down as the greatest interview of ALL TIME. Real Frost/Nixon stuff going on here.