One of the most controversial tales of inner-Earth-dwellers is the so-called Shaver Mystery. In 1945, Amazing Stories magazine, under the editorship of Ray Palmer, ran a story told by American writer and artist Richard Shaver, who claimed he had recently been the guest of what remained of an giant race called the Elder Race, or Titans, an underground civilization that lived in caverns under the earth.
Shaver contended that the Elder Superior Pre-historic Race came to this planet from another solar system in our prehistoric past. After a time of living on the surface, they realized our sun was causing them to age prematurely, so they escaped underground, building huge subterranean complexes in which to live. Eventually, they decided to seek a new home on a new planet, evacuating the Earth and leaving behind their underground cities – a honeycomb of caves in the Earth – populated by artificial beings: the evil Dero, detrimental robots and the good Tero, integrated robots. Shaver claimed to have met the Tero.
According to Shaver, the Dero, live there still, using the fantastic machines abandoned by the ancient races to torment those of us living on the surface. As one characteristic of this torment, Shaver described “voices” that purportedly came from no explainable source. Thousands of readers wrote to affirm that they, too, had heard the fiendish voices from inside the Earth.
Despite the enormous popularity of the “Shaver Mystery in Amazing Stories”, Palmer milked it for all it was worth, and more. The location of the entrance to this underground world was never divulged. Although few really believed the story, and many suspect that Shaver may actually have been psychotic, Shaver always averred that his story was true.
