Erich von Däniken
Born in Switzerland in 1935, Erich von Däniken is widely regarded as the father of ancient alien theory, also known as ancient astronaut theory. He published his first of 26 books in 1968 while working as the manager of a five-star hotel. In Chariots of the Gods?, Däniken put forth his controversial hypothesis that, thousands of years ago, space travelers from other planets visited Earth, where they taught humans about technology and influenced ancient religions. As evidence, he pointed to religious texts in which heavenly beings with supernatural powers descend from the sky. He also suggested that extraterrestrials with superior knowledge of engineering helped ancient civilizations build architectural marvels like Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Maoi statues of Easter Island.
Chariots of the Gods? appeared at a time when aliens and space travel loomed large in film, fiction and popular culture. It was the era of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek and Frank Herbert's Dune series. Däniken's ideas thrived in this climate, and his book became an immediate bestseller in the United States and Germany. It can now be read in more than 30 languages and has seen 40 printings to date. Over the years, Däniken has attracted a large group of followers, many of whom have conducted and published their own research, although he has also received criticism from some within the scientific community.
For more than four decades, Erich von Däniken has been writing and speaking about the notion that mankind and aliens crossed paths in the distant past. His work has inspired documentary features and television specials while capturing the imaginations of multiple generations of people around the world.
Here's what the History Channel does not put on their webpage about him ... LOL ...
Wikipedia on Erich von Däniken
Legal troubles
Däniken's run-ins with the law started at an early age. In the 1960s, while working in hotels and restaurants across Switzerland, he was convicted of fraud, serving a prison sentence for defrauding his boss at one hotel. In 1967, soon after Chariots of the Gods was published he was arrested and charged by Interpol with fraud and tax evasion for non-payment of UK £7,000.00.[1] During the investigation, authorities uncovered a large personal debt totaling about UK£350,000. Däniken was found guilty of embezzlement, and served more than three years in Swiss prisons. While in prison, he continued writing, and 'Return of the Gods' was subsequently published.[2]
Criticism
A few scientists, such as Carl Sagan and I. S. Shklovskii, have written about Däniken's paleocontact and extraterrestrial visitation claims. Although Sagan did not rule out the possibility of visitation, he insisted that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence",[3] which Däniken fails to provide.
Däniken claimed that a non-rusting iron pillar in India was evidence of extraterrestrial influence.[4] (The tale of this supposedly rust-free iron pillar has already been published by Will Durant in his 1935 book Our Oriental Heritage[5]) Later, Däniken admitted in a Playboy interview that the pillar was actually rusty and man-made, and that as far as supporting his hypotheses goes "we can forget about this iron thing."[6] However, neither Däniken, nor any of his publishers have removed this, or any other discredited items from subsequent editions of his books.
Some also question von Däniken's credibility, as he has also knowingly put forward fraudulent evidence to advance his hypotheses, such as photographs of pottery "depicting UFOs", supposedly from an archaeological dig dating back to the biblical era. The PBS television series Nova determined that this was a fraud, and even located the potter who made them. When confronted with this evidence, von Däniken argued that the deception was justified because some people would only believe his theories if they saw actual proof.[7]
In The Gold of the Gods von Daniken claimed to have been guided through artificial tunnels under Ecuador containing gold, strange statues and a library with metal tablets, which he wrote was evidence of ancient space visitors. The man who he claimed showed him these alleged tunnels, Juan Moricz, told Der Spiegel that all of von Daniken's descriptions came from a long conversation and that the photos in the book had been 'fiddled'. Von Daniken eventually told Playboy that although he had seen the library and other places he'd described, he had also fabricated some of the events to add interest to his book.[8]
Most historians regard Däniken's claims as pseudoscience, and are of the opinion that he is drawing far-reaching conclusions from little evidence, and he is disregarding more likely alternative hypotheses, but a large group of followers, some of whom have written books of their own, are of the opinion that his theories are likely to be true.
The general public, however, has sometimes been more responsive. Däniken's books have been translated into 32 languages, with a gross book sales of 62 million copies worldwide, and his documentary TV-shows have been viewed in Germany, the United States, and other countries. His influence can also be seen in science fiction, the New Age culture and some modern religions like Scientology.
Some have accused Däniken of European ethnocentrism[9] and suggested that views such as his "constitute the ultimate in racism".[10]
Ronald Story published The Space Gods Revealed in 1976, providing an almost page-by-page refutation of the hypotheses and evidence in Däniken's Chariots of the Gods?.
A 2004 article in Skeptic Magazine[11] states that Däniken plagiarized many of the book's concepts from Le Matin des Magiciens, that this book in turn was heavily influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos, and that the core of the ancient astronaut theory originates in H. P. Lovecraft's short stories "The Call of Cthulhu" written in 1926, and "At the Mountains of Madness" written in 1931.
Here's the "money line" for "Erich von Daniken" and his false hypothesis about aliens -- in terms of our "culture" here on earth ... LOL ...
His influence can also be seen in science fiction, the New Age culture and some modern religions like Scientology.
He's one of the "useful idiots" -- who are perpetuating New Age and Science Fiction ideas and infusing them into our current culture, in order to divert people away from the "real story" of what our authoritative, inerrant and infallible Word of God says, about what has been going on here ... :-)
Thank you both for your posts. If things are to be “as in the days of Noe” when the Rapture occurs, I would think there would be evidence of genetic crossings with the fallen angels. Do you believe this is taking place now?