Journey to the Center of the Earth

"My initials! Just like in Journey to the Center of the Earth! That means the DeLorean is right behind this wall!"

—Doc

Journey to the Center of the Earth was a science fiction novel written by Jules Verne in 1864. In the novel, a professor and his nephew attempt to recreate a voyage to center of the Earth by following clues that were left by a medieval adventurer named Arne Saknussemm. Deciphering a coded message that leads them to the crater of an extinct volcano in Iceland, the entrance passage is confirmed to be the correct one when they discover the adventurer's initials "AS" in runic letters at the entrance. On another occasion, when the passage divides into three branches, they notice the initials "AS" carved above one of the passages and choose the correct path.

Emmett Brown first read the novel when he was a little boy, and as a result was inspired to attempt to dig to the center of the Earth himself. Although Emmett failed miserably in this endeavor, partly due to the fact that he had rather limited resources to do such a thing when he was only twelve years old, he dedicated his life to science from that point on.

Note: The following section is considered non-canon or is disputed in canonicity.

The story would later inspire Doc to conceive the ideas for a Rocket-powered drill.

Non-canon or disputable information ends here.

When Emmett hid the DeLorean time machine in 1885, he placed it in a side tunnel of the Delgado mine and sealed the entrance with rocks and wooden planks so that nobody else would discover it for the next seventy years. As a secret message to his 1955 counterpart that would help Marty look for it, he inscribed his own initials, "E.L.B." (Emmett Lathrop Brown) on one of the planks, knowing that the mine would remind him of the novel, and furthermore, he would recognize the adventurer's method of using his own initials to mark the passageway that he used.