Does 1 Enoch say that the watchers are buried in Antarctica? No.

OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Ancient book banned from the Bible fuels theory of fallen angels imprisoned beneath Antarctica (Stacy Liberatore, Daily Mail).

That book is, of course, the Book of 1 Enoch, specifically the Book of Watchers (chapters 1-36).

Supporters of the theory cite passages describing imprisoned heavenly beings awaiting God's final judgment, along with references to the 'ends of the earth,' sealed 'chambers of cold' and burning mountains.

They claim the descriptions align with East Antarctica, its network of subglacial lakes and the buried Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, a vast range concealed beneath up to two miles of ice.

Between 2007 and 2009, an international research team used airborne radar and other geophysical instruments to map the Gamburtsev Mountains, revealing peaks hidden beneath the ice sheet.

While proponents say the similarities are too striking to dismiss, mainstream biblical scholars generally interpret the passages as symbolic descriptions of a supernatural realm rather than a literal location on Earth.

I think biblical scholars would say that the writer of the Book of Watchers likely believed that the watchers were buried in some specific, but perhaps undisclosed, literal location on earth. But, in reality, there was no such location. Certainly not Antarctica. The location was entirely imaginary.

The Mail article goes on to mention YouTube as the source of this daft Lovecraftian notion, but it does not give a link. Perhaps because there are quite a few videos advancing it, some going back as much as eight years, other much more recent.

I flag this story not because it has any scientific merit, but because it illustrates that there is considerable and, I think, increasing interest in the Book of 1 Enoch and the story of the rise and fall of the watchers. This Antarctica nonsense is well on the fringe end, but some of the interest comes from a more mainstream curiousity about surviving scriptures that Western Christians and interested secular people don't find in their own Bibles.

These matters are, as you know, near to my own heart. I have collected more stories on interest in 1 Enoch and will get to them when I can. I encourage specialists to keep up with these things. They can provide teaching moments when they come up.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.