Erich von Däniken

Erich Anton Paul von Däniken
Erich Anton Paul von Däniken
Born	April 14, 1935 (age 89); Zofingen, Aargau, Switzerland
Occupation	Author

Erich Anton Paul von Däniken (b. Zofingen, Aargau, Switzerland, April 14, 1935) is a controversial Swiss author best known for his books which present claims of evidence for extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, most prominently Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968. Von Däniken is one of the key figures responsible for popularizing the paleocontact and ancient astronaut hypotheses.

Von Däniken is a co-founder of the Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Association (AAS RA). He developed a theme park called Mystery Park in Interlaken, Switzerland, which opened on May 23, 2003 and closed on November 19, 2006.

His 26 books have been translated into more than 20 languages, selling more than 60 million copies worldwide, and his documentary TV shows have been viewed around the world.

Claims of alien influence on Earth

Building on previous works by other authors (including Italian Peter Kolosimo, who was later critical of von Däniken), von Däniken claimed that intelligent extraterrestrial life exists and has entered the local Solar System in the past, and that evidence of this past contact is abundant. He also claims that human evolution may have been manipulated through means of genetic engineering by extraterrestrial beings.

The evidence that von Däniken has put forward to support his paleo-contact hypotheses can be categorized as follows:

Artifacts have been found which are alleged to represent a higher technological knowledge than existed at the times when they were manufactured. Von Däniken maintains that these artifacts have been manufactured either by extraterrestrial visitors, or by humans who obtained the necessary knowledge from them. Such artifacts include Stonehenge, the statues of Easter Island, the Antikythera mechanism, and the Piri Reis map.
In ancient art throughout the world, themes are observed which can be interpreted to illustrate astronauts, air and space vehicles, non-human but intelligent creatures, and artifacts of a high technology. Von Däniken also points out details that are similar in the art of unrelated cultures.
Origins of religions might be a reaction to contact with an alien race by primitive humans. The humans considered the technology of the aliens to be supernatural and the aliens themselves to be gods. According to von Däniken, the oral and literal traditions of most religions contain references to visitors from "stars" and vehicles traveling through air and space. These, he says, should be interpreted as literal descriptions which have changed during the passage of time and have become more obscure, rather than as symbolic or mythical fiction. One such is Ezekiel's revelation in the Old Testament, which he interprets as a detailed description of a landing spacecraft.

Criticism

Most in the scientific community have ignored or dismissed von Däniken's hypotheses. A few scientists, such as Carl Sagan and I. S. Shklovskii, have written about von Däniken's paleocontact and extraterrestrial visitation claims. Although Sagan did not rule out the possibility of visitation, he insisted that such extraordinary assertions as von Däniken's demand extraordinary proof, in the absence of which it is inappropriate to believe the claims.

Von Däniken claimed that a non-rusting iron pillar in India was evidence of extraterrestrial influence.^[1] However, he 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."^[2] (Von Däniken did not invent the tale of the rust-free iron pillar in India: in 1935 Will Durant inserted the same mistake in Our Oriental Heritage, p. 478.) Neither von Däniken nor his publishers have removed this, or any other item of discredited evidence from subsequent reprints of his books.

Ronald Story published The Space Gods Revealed in 1976, providing an almost page-by-page refutation of the hypotheses and evidence in von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods?.

Popularity

Von Däniken became popular in India during the 1970s, as a result of his books being translated into the Bengali language by translator Ajit Dutta. School level students were the first major group of his believers in India. Von Däniken subsequently visited the Kashmir region of India to check for the presence of radioactivity in an ancient temple, where he believed that a spacecraft had once landed. This was mostly covered in a critical manner by the Indian media. Major media houses in India referred to von Däniken's trip as a "failure," due to his inability to state the nature of the radioactivity found in the temple.

An exhibit, Un Monde Insolite, largely based on Däniken's Chariots of the Gods was opened in Montreal, Canada, for several summers in the 1970s. The exhibit was located in a former theme pavilion on the Expo 67 universal exhibition. It featured replicas of various historical artifacts that Däniken claimed were proof of past alien visitation.

Legal troubles

Von Däniken's run-ins with the law started at an early age. As a boy scout he was brought before a judge to answer charges that he had taken money from the treasury. In 1960, he worked in hotels and restaurants across Switzerland and was convicted of fraud, serving a prison sentence for defrauding his boss at one hotel. In 1967, soon after the "Chariots of the Gods" was published he was arrested and charged by Interpol with fraud and tax evasion for non-payment of $14,000.00. On behalf of the prosecution, he was subjected to psychological examinations and labeled, among many other things irrelevant for the case, a homosexual.^[3] These results of the examinations, made during preliminary inquiry, were read during trial without the defense being allowed to cross-examine them.^[4] During the investigation authorities uncovered a large personal debt totaling $700,000.00. Von Däniken was eventually found guilty of embezzlement and served more than three years in prison. In 1982, the conviction was overturned by the Graubünden cantonal court. During his jail time he wrote his second book: Return of the Gods. These convictions dogged von Däniken, who was at times not permitted a visa to enter the United States. This caused him to become a no-show at several speaking engagements including a "Legendary Times" San Francisco, California seminar in May 2004.

By 1982, after further controversies, he could not find an English or American publisher for his tenth book. Although in the past few years his theories have made a modest resurgence, a huge, multi-million dollar theme park based on von Daniken's persona was a financial disappointment and closed in November 2006 due to poor attendance.

Bibliography

Chariots of the Gods? (Erinnerungen an die Zukunft, 1968)
Gods from Outer Space (1970), formerly available as Return to the Stars
The Gold of the Gods (1972), containing von Däniken's claims about Cueva de los Tayos
In Search of Ancient Gods (1973)
Miracles of the Gods (1974)
According to the Evidence (1977)
Signs of the Gods (1979)
Pathways to the Gods (1981)
The Gods and Their Grand Design (1982)
The Eyes of the Sphinx (1996)
The Return of the Gods—Evidence of Extraterrestrial Visitations (1997)
Odyssey of the Gods—An Alien History of Ancient Greece (2000)
The Gods Were Astronauts - Revised (2002)

References

^ von Däniken, Erich: Chariots of the Gods?, p.94
^ Playboy magazine, Volume 21 Number 8, 1974
^ channel4.com - Real Lives - Erich von Däniken
^ critical review of court procedure in the case by German Spiegel magazine (in German)

Notes

In German personal names, von is a preposition which approximately means 'of' or 'from' and usually denotes some sort of nobility. While von (always lower case) is part of the family name or territorial designation, not a first or middle name, if the noble is referred to by their last name, use Schiller, Clausewitz or Goethe, not von Schiller, etc.

External links

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[1] von Däniken, Erich: Chariots of the Gods?, p.94

[2] Playboy magazine, Volume 21 Number 8, 1974

[3] 4.com - Real Lives - Erich von Däniken

[4] ritical review of court procedure in the case by German Spiegel magazine (in German)

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