Erich Von Daniken and the Chariots of the Gods

leading from
Erich Von Daniken

a) The Von Daniken Phenomena
i.) Erich Von Däniken wrote a book of fantastical speculations about extra-terrestrials having visited Earth in the distant past, created mankind in their own image and there were giants as well, and they were responsible for the pyramids of Giza. The book was called "Chariots of the Gods" and was published in 1968.  He was only writing a book about his own private naive speculations about some of the world's ancient enigmatic mysteries, and because the book became a success, he became a victim of Switzerland's dislike of new ideas, he was ridiculed by the press and the public for many years to come. As time went by, Erich's point of view on the subject evolved and the arguments about the origins of these ancient structures have increased, which have been a starting point for many other people's ideas about the possibilities of technically advanced civilisations who have visited Earth in the ancient past.

Pakal Votan Tomb Lid (see Von Däniken's Mayan Rocket Man)

b) Pakal Votan Tomb Lid
One of Erich's most famous ideas was that the image on the Sarcophagus Lid of the Tomb of Pakal Votan depicted an astronaut in a rocket ship cockpit. Another was that the Nazca Lines were used by ancient astonauts as a landing strip.

Nazca Lines

c) Space Gods Revealed
Books were written continuing to rebuttle his claims such as Ron Story's book Space Gods revealed published in 1976 with a forward by Carl Sagan who seemed to find some value in Von Daniken's books welcoming the idea of their popularity in schools and colleges as object lessons in sloppy thinking. (See: Carl Sagan vs Von Däniken and Skeptics in for the attack on Von Däniken )

Space Gods Revealed

d) Ancient Aliens.
Von Daniken's ideas would still catch the imagination into the 21st Century,  in 2010,  a TV series called Ancient Aliens exploring his whole view with the idea of presenting the "hypotheses of ancient astronauts and proposes that historical texts, archaeology and legends contain evidence of past human-extraterrestrial contact. The show has been criticized for presenting disputed pseudoscience." (and endlessly groups of people have found the need to debunk the claims made in the TV series.)

e) Revelations of Dreams.
Von Däniken had admitted to startling dreams that he is said to have felt were communications from  space beings.  These dreams were incredibly beautiful dreams were UFOs and aliens appear. He would see great ships that were all different, and complicated like temples , flying in the air. From these temples, smaller vehicles would fly down, and he would realise that these smaller vehicles themselves were living beings that had brains and communicated to him by telepathy, but only in these dreams. It was all very strange to him.


Source quotes

1. Von Daniken does admit to startling dreams that he feels are transmitted telepathically by the spacemen. "These are incredibly beautiful dreams where UFOs and aliens appear. I see great ships and they are all different. I mean complicated ships like temples, flying in the air. From these temples, smaller vehicles fly down. Then I realise these smaller vehicles are living being. They have brains and transmit waves. They communicate, but only in dreams. It is all very strange."(Source quotes December 1996. Uri Geller's Encounters, "The truth is in the pyramids" p35)