Flat Earthers' Attempt To Sail To The Edge Of The World Ended In Massive Disaster After Just Days

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A couple tried to find the Earth's edge but didn't succeed, and that wasn't a big surprise.

The pair from Venice, Italy, decided to go on this adventure during the pandemic, which made things even harder.

These unnamed folks broke Italy's strict quarantine rules, and they went the extra mile by selling their car and buying a boat.

Why? They believed they could sail to the Earth's edge, which they thought was at Lampedusa, even though Flat Earth theories have already been proven wrong many times.

sail door country

Lampedusa is part of the Italian Pelagie Islands and sits in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.

Salvatore Zichichi, a doctor working in the maritime health office, found humor in the situation. 

The couple, who believed in the Flat Earth theory, tried to use a compass to find the island.

Ironically, this action actually serves as evidence that the Earth is round because a compass points in a direction based on our planet's magnetic field lines.

Alessio Bellsia/Getty

Zichichi told La Repubblica back in 2020: "The funny thing is that they oriented themselves with the compass, an instrument that works on the basis of terrestrial magnetism, a principle that they, as Flat-Earthers, should reject."

Their compass skills clearly needed improvement as they ended up in Ustica instead of Lampedusa.

Upon reaching the wrong island, they were required to quarantine in Palermo as a precaution.

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But their initial failed attempt didn't discourage them, and they made a second effort to escape quarantine.

Unfortunately, their escape lasted only three hours before the Harbor Master's Office found and retrieved them.

It might remind some of childhood memories when you attempted to "run away from home" but were quickly brought back.

In the end, they gave up on their mission and returned home by ferry.

sail door country

Although some find it hard to believe that flat-Earthers genuinely think the Earth is flat, psychologist Asheley Landrum, who hails from Texas Tech University, spoke with individuals at a flat-Earth convention in Denver and found that they were indeed "sincere" in their beliefs.

"If they were trolling, they are very good actors,” she said, as per Physics World.

"We talked to more than 90 members of the Flat-Earth community and they’re all very sincere in their beliefs."

Flat-Earthers' mistaken beliefs are not necessarily a result of lacking education but rather stem from a deep-seated distrust of institutions and authorities.

Landrum explained: "It’s not really an education thing - it really is about distrusting authorities and institutions."

"It seems to be based on both a conspiracy mentality and a deeply held belief that looks a lot like religiosity but isn’t necessarily specifically tied to a religion."