Erich von Daniken, Swiss writer who spawned alien archaeology, dies at 90

[eShirl]

Source: Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Erich von Däniken, the Swiss author whose bestselling books about the extraterrestrial origins of ancient civilizations brought him fame among paranormal enthusiasts and scorn from the scientific community, has died. He was 90.

Von Däniken’s representatives announced on his website on Sunday that he had died the previous day in a hospital in central Switzerland.

Von Däniken rose to prominence in 1968 with the publication of his first book “Chariots of the Gods,” in which he claimed that the Mayans and ancient Egyptians were visited by alien astronauts and instructed in advanced technology that allowed them to build giant pyramids.

The book fueled a growing interest in unexplained phenomena at a time when thanks to conventional science man was about to take its first steps on the Moon.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/switzerland-obit-erich-von-daeniken-57a8a84b8976475791eee82461d53138

[Clouds Passing]

1. Erich...

[JustinBulletin]

2. RIP to an explorer of possibilities.

Whether you agreed with him or not, he made you stop and consider alternative explanations to many long held beliefs about the history and origins of man and our societies. Thinking is such a precious commodity these days.

[wolfie001]

11. Alternative "facts"

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. He won't be missed. A fabulist who continued selling crap, even after he'd been exposed

as a fiction writer.

If he donated the money to some good cause, I suppose that would give him an excuse - having parted fools and their money. Did he ever help people?

[paleotn]

5. +1000

Just make shit up. If it's sensational enough, the rubes will waste their money on it. He knew his marks well. So does Trump.

[wolfie001]

10. Basically the whole premise of the Joe Rogaine Show

He regularly has these pathetic and grifting fabulists. They all chew on their cigars purporting intelligent conversation when everything they push is lying for $ gain. Flint Dibble exposed Graham HANDcock on his show. It was pretty funny. I suggest following Dibble's quest against pseudoarcheology.

[OC375]

4. Fascinating

As a kid I found his books amazing. Made me look at things differently. While I don’t share many of his view about cause, he was great at calling BS on lazy science.

[paleotn]

6. Lazy science? Oh! You mean science based on actual evidence.

instead of something Daniken pulled out of his butt.

[wolfie001]

9. THIS

[OC375]

17. Nope

I meant what I said.

[Bayard]

7. I read that book many years ago

I think it opened a lot of peoples' minds to what could be possible. Anyone who still thinks we're alone in this great big universe is close minded.

Believe in old time angels? I think they were aliens. Flame on!

[wolfie001]

8. Pseudoarcheology with probably white supremacist views

They think there is no way the ancient Egyptian and Mayan peoples could have built these amazing monuments on their own. Meanwhile, in much of Europe, many grass huts were being constructed Graham Hancock is an infamous spinner of this pure bullshit/nonsense.

[LudwigPastorius]

22. "Pseudoarcheology with probably white supremacist views"

The published version of "Chariots of the Gods" was basically co-written by the former editor of the Nazi Party's newspaper.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Utermann

[Jacson6]

12. All UFO stuff is so k00ky. But it was fun to watch TV shows when I was teenager. n/t

[wolfie001]

13. I've yet to see anything convincing in regards to aliens

With over 30 billion smart devices running every day. I've seen lots of bullsh7t though. Big heaps of that.

[TomWilm]

14. Loved Dniken's stuff as a kid, but then I grew up ...

... today we have politicians and influencers making a good living on still believing fairy tales like his.

[dalton99a]

15. "Brown people are dumb"

von Daniken in a nutshell

[Martin68]

16. Chariots of the Gods was a total crock. Any scholar who had studied Aztec, Mayan, Indian, or Egyptian mythology and

hieroglyphics knew that that the clueless von Deniken claimed were depictions of alien astronauts had clear meanings in the context of each culture's mythology and cosmology. He spawned an entire industry of amateurs looking at artifacts and drawing sensationalistic conclusions based on nothing but their own imaginations. Junk science.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

18. Racist grifter.

[trusty elf]

19. ...

[bmichaelh]

20. Science Fiction

There were multiple science fiction stories about aliens visiting Earth in the past written decades before Chariots of the Gods.

Per Wikipedia:

A 2004 article in Skeptic magazine states that von Däniken plagiarized many of the book's concepts from The Morning of the Magicians, 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 stories "The Call of Cthulhu" and At the Mountains of Madness.

[LudwigPastorius]

21. Dude was a con man his whole life.

While I can say that I never bought into von Däniken's crap, I did read "Worlds In Collision" by Velikovsky in the 70s.

Hey, I was a dumb teenager.

[Mustellus]

23. Jailed for stealing from the Swiss Boy Scouts....

.... selling ancient alien stuff was a safer grift.