WNYC and the Land of Mu

WNYC History Notes Vol. 3, Issue 1
Friday, January 13, 2012 – 11:00 AM
By Andy Lanset: Director of Archives

Colonel James Churchward (1851-1936)
(Photo courtesy of Jack Churchward)

Archives and Preservation
Established in the year 2000, the WNYC Archives are the station’s physical link to its rich and storied past. More

Between 1924 and 1925, world traveler, inventor, geologist, archeologist, metalurgical chemist and researcher James Churchward delivered more than two dozen lectures over WNYC. A former colonel in the British Army, Churchward gave talks based on decades of research that focused on what he called, ‘the motherland of man,’ the lost continent of Mu.

According to Churchward, some 25,000 years before the common era Mu had been a Pacific Ocean rival to Atlantis, with its northern reach just beyond Hawaii and southern boundary between Easter Island and Fiji. Before its destruction from a volcanic explosion, Mu was home to as many as 64,000,000 people whose culture and inventions, he argued, far surpassed those of the modern era. [1]

Churchward began his quest to prove the existence of Mu in 1868 as a young English officer on famine relief duty in India. There, he befriended a high priest at a temple school monastery who revealed to him ancient tablets written in Naacal, a language known only to a dwindling few. The priest reportedly taught Churchward how to read this language and the tablets which described the lost continent of Mu. So began Churchward’s lifelong project to corroborate the tablets.

In his WNYC talks Churchward discussed many of his discoveries and findings, conclusions he detailed in The Lost Continent of Mu: Motherland of Man, published in 1926. This work was followed by The Children of Mu, The Sacred Symbols of Mu, and two volumes on The Cosmic Forces of Mu.
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Eighty-seven years ago today, Churchward spoke for 15 minutes about Atlantis, Egypt and Greece.

The above two pages are from Churchward’s original WNYC broadcast scripts and have been reproduced courtesy of the Las Vegas-based publisher Brotherhood of Life, which intends to publish the whole set of 251 pages. These also include Churchward’s diagrams, paintings and colored maps like the one featured below.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s radio columnist commented on Churchward’s WNYC talks on several occasions. Regarding the May Day, 1925 broadcast, he poked some fun at the colonel:

“Professor Churchward dealt in no topics of today after the manner of Will Rogers. Everything Mu-ish happened over 16,000 years ago, and we just had to believe all he said about those dear old days. Nothing was said about the Mu cows, or any of the other homely things of life in the Land of Mu, but as a hylogriphical [sic] tale it was a first-rater. We learned about cosmic eggs from which the ancients believed life came. We used to know some barnstorming actors that had good reason to share that notion.”[2]

Other Mu related broadcasts included, “Mu and Her Ancient Past” and “Life on Mu.” Churchward’s WNYC talks also touched on the Himalayas, the origins of savagery, the sun, pygmy hunting in Central America, and what he called “the great magnetic cataclysm.”

Churchward’s writings have been a source of material and inspiration for many others, including the work of H.P. Lovecraft and the British-based electronic music record label Planet Mu.[3] Jack Churchward, the great grandson of James Churchward, maintains a detailed website aimed at promoting a more complete understanding of James Churchward’s writings and theories.

Thanks to Richard Buhler and Jack Churchward for their assistance with this piece.