That the earth is hollow, that the sun is really at its center, and that men men live inside the earth instead of on it, are the views held by the Koreshan cult, whose headquarters are in Florida. Koreshanity, or the Church Triumphant, was the creation of Dr. Cyrus R. Teed, a Utica, N.Y. physician.
The name Koreshan is taken from Koresh, the Hebrew equivalent of Cyrus and is based upon Isaiah xiv,.1, where Cyrus is called the Messiah. The founder’s given name was also Cyrus.
Communism was a central teaching of Teed’s, and he is convinced hundreds of followers the he was the promised Messiah. His first religious community was founded in Chicago in 1886, but in 1903 this group of adherents was transferred to Estero, Fla., where another center had previously been established. Only a small number of believers remain, but they are still active and advertise books explaining their teachings in various periodicals. They still stress their teaching that the planets move inside the hollow sphere of the universe, and challenge contradiction.
