06.11.2012 09:38 AM

Erich von Daniken, god-like genius™


Von Daniken, with a pipe given to him by an ancient astronaut.

Oh my God (pun intended), I was totally into this dude when I was a teenager. I thought Chariots of the Gods was more reliable than most of my text books, which succinctly explains many of the marks I got.

Anyone else remember him? He hasn’t died or anything (and, even if he did, it would be only to be transformed into a space ancestor at Stonehenge or Easter Island).  His theories are on view, partly, in Ridley Scott’s new flick, Prometheus.  Personally, I think he’s awesome.

Anyone else have a von Daniken-inspired revelation to pass along?  Be kind.  When crop circles and giant rust-free phalluses start appearing on your front lawn, you’ll regret being critical of this god-like genius.

18 Comments

  1. Steve Gallagher says:

    Yes. I also loved the book. I actually think I saw the man interviewed by
    Pierre Berton although I could be mistaken.

  2. Jon Powers says:

    Kewaunee Lapseritis: Master Herbalist and all round know-it-all about sasquatches. Ever wonder why no one has ever seen a sasquatch? Kewaunne Lapseritis has the answers. It’s ’cause sasquatches are “highly psychic, very intelligent and can disappear at will.” Sort of like Jedi Wookies. Awesome.

    http://www.unlimited-resources.com/bigfoot.html

  3. deb says:

    lol
    he is still alive and kicking!

  4. starbaby says:

    A fun book. So are its sequels. So too are the many others published in the wake of Chariot’s success. I heard an interview with Von Daniken recently. Older, yet as vibrant as I hope to be at his age, he responded to criticism of his theory by pointing out the over-looked fact that there are hundreds of question marks in the book. Ultimately, he wasn’t arguing Prometheus is real, he was merely posing the question, could it be? Which is why it is both a success and a must-read: it finds the midway point between the two accepted views of mankinds origins (God made us vs. we’re a fluke), a dares us to ponder another somewhere in the middle. Kinda like Liberals.

  5. Al in Cranbrook says:

    Yep, read several of his books, along with many, many others. What’s interesting is that he (and others, like Graham Hancock, the late Zecharia Sitchin, among others) bring to the forefront massive amounts of ancient stuff that makes conventional science more than a tad uneasy…and thus they tend to shuffle such inconsistencies under the nearest handy rug. And now the relatively new field of Marine Archaeology is turning up yet more conventionally inexplicable ruins under many meters of sea water.

    In some regards, scientists aren’t all that different from theologians: When the evidence doesn’t neatly fit the religion/theory du jour, they often opt to deflect.

    As that famous movie line put it: You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!

    Heh!

  6. billg says:

    Watched “Chariots” at the old Auto Sky Drive in Ottawa….1974? Guessing on that one. Was so fascinated that I asked to go see the movie for my birthday. Space TV had him on on show last fall…they hired scientists to come up with ways to counter his arguements, one of the flimiest was a scientist saying it was very possible for early man to make a make shift light bulb out of lemon juice and copper conduit, Von Daniken’s arguement was, how could so many wall writings be in areas of total darkness inside the Pyramids and there be no trace of soot on the walls or ceilings? Erich Von Daniken and Ray Bradbury…the only reasons I know how to read today.

  7. Monica says:

    In my high school Chariots of the Gods was used in a section on “how to disprove faulty theories.” It was very educational.

  8. Andrew Ferris says:

    The shorter von Daniken is simply “the savages couldn’t have done it so … spacemen”. No modern archaeologist espouses anything like that. von Daniken should be left behind.

  9. Some guy says:

    He’s actually established a big theme park, of sorts, in his native Switzerland, which has a bunch of planetarium type theatres with multimedia presentations on various ‘alien astronauts in X historical region’ themes, with headphones streaming the audio in your language of choice.

    Here’s site http://www.jungfraupark.ch/de/mystery-world.html

    a pdf brochure: http://www.jungfraupark.ch/fileadmin/dokumente/MysteryWorld.pdf

  10. student501 says:

    He’s a regular on the series Ancient Aliens on History Television

    have a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LeHm3yVrSg

  11. bluegreenblogger says:

    Yeah, but is he running for the Liberal leadership..lol

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