Ignatius Donnelly

Context:

Mentioned as evidence of Donnelly's pattern of eccentric scholarly claims—this book argued that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's works. The hosts cite it to illustrate that Donnelly's credibility is undermined by the sheer volume of his outlandish theories, noting that 'in your life, you're allowed to come up with one theory of this kind.'

Context:

Mentioned as the sequel to Donnelly's Atlantis book, listed among his publications to illustrate his prolific output of eccentric theories about catastrophism and ancient civilizations.

Context:

Discussed at great length as the single most influential book on Atlantis after Plato's own writings. Published in 1882, Donnelly argued that Atlantis was a real place in the Atlantic where civilization originated, that gods of various mythologies were Atlantean kings, and that survivors colonized both the Americas and Europe/Africa. The hosts detail his specific claims about races, religions, alphabets, and metallurgy, noting that Graham Hancock's modern thesis is essentially Donnelly's framework updated.