The fact that the earth is round seems so obvious, it’s hard to believe that flat-earthers still exist. We have pictures, after all! However, there are those who insist those pictures are fake and that other evidence is either made up or misunderstood. The Flat Earth Society began in the 1950’s and for years was led by Charles Kenneth Johnson. Under his leadership, the group grew to 3,500. In his newsletters, Johnson called sunrises and sunsets “optical illusions,” and that Charles Lindbergh proved the earth was flat. When he died, the Society had shrunk down again to around 100 people, but its legacy thrives on the internet.
This past year, YouTuber Flat Out Hero, a flat-earth theorist, presented a challenge to another streamer, Wolfie6020. If he could use flight charts to fly from Point A to Point B, and from Point B to Point C without getting back home, with the same amount of distance between turns, while using only 90-degree turns, he would pay him $100,000. Flat Out Hero believed it would be impossible, saying that it would be the “final nail in the ball earth coffin.”
Challenged accepted. Wolfie6020 presented the flight path in an October video, showing how he did it, and asked for his prize money. At first, Flat Out Hero expressed skepticism because of the electronic flight charts, so Wolfie did it again with paper flight charts. Flat Out Hero is flat out refusing to pay. While he did admit that the other YouTuber successfully plotted out the trip, he wasn’t convinced it was actually flyable. He has some other excuses, as well, and is being heckled.
This isn’t the first (or sadly, the last) time someone has attempted to prove the earth is not round. “Mad Mike” Hughes launched himself just under 1,900 feet in the air using a homemade rocket, so he could see for himself if the earth was round. However, he would need to get at least 35,000 feet to see the curve, but it’s a pretty good start. It’s also extremely dangerous, but apparently nothing will convince Mike except his own eyes.
