5.10 – THE VON DÄNIKEN LEGACY (4.5.13)

ANCIENT ASTRONAUT THEORISTS ^[11e]

In the more than four decades since the publication of Chariots of the Gods?, writer and researcher Erich von Däniken has continued his search for the truth about mankind’s otherworldly origins.

“I wish and I hope that the society finally starts to take this proposition we make here serious, that the scientific community starts to think in this way. But I have to express one thing very clear: what I do here has nothing to do with a new religion. I would turn myself in my tomb if some idiots create a new religion according to my thinking. This is the last thing I wish. Absolutely not.” – Erich von Däniken (Author, Chariots of the Gods?)

And joining Erich von Däniken has been a small but growing number of what have become known as Ancient Astronaut Theorists – men and women who have expanded and at times refined von Däniken’s findings.

“I’m curious how many people here have seen in their lifetime some unidentified aerial object in the sky? How many? Hands. You represent what I think is a slice of humanity everywhere because I am convinced that telling the human family of this planet the truth is probably what most souls are hungering for.” – Linda Moulton Howe (Author / Investigative Journalist, Earthfiles)

“One of the things that we know about human behavior is that it is shaped by our world view, our paradigm, and I would suggest that this is a very significant time to change this paradigm. We are not alone in the Universe and that we are a part of this bigger network of life.” – Paul von Ward (Author, We’ve Never Been Alone)

“To me, personally I think there is a paradigm shift going on, and it’s an incredibly positive movement because we’re all in this together.” – Giorgio A. Tsoukalos (Publisher, Legendary Times Magazine)

“We live in a society which I call reasonable. To be reasonable means to believe what the scientists say. So, it’s up to us; just don’t accept everything the reasonable ones say. Please be unreasonable. I am unreasonable.”  – Erich von Däniken (Author, Chariots of the Gods?)

“What I’ve really liked about Erich is that he does bring up a lot of unusual ideas. He points out inconsistencies in mainstream archaeology. I’ve never really bought into all of Erich’s conclusions, but I was always interested in it. So, in many ways, he spurred me to go around the world to remote islands, to unusual archaeological sites. I wanted to check them out for myself. Now, all of his explanations weren’t always the explanation I would have given, but it’s what’s leading me and other people down a certain track: investigate this. Go check it out for yourself. Don’t just take my word for it.” – David Childress (Author, Technology of the Gods)

“When I began to explore ancient civilizations, in a library in Belgium, I stumbled upon a book by Erich von Däniken, and I was hooked. Because I think I was one of thousands, if not millions, of people who began to realize that ancient history wasn’t clear-cut. And he really, in me, began to open up this exploratory process, whereas I had always been interested in recent history, that really this mystery of the ancient world was more complex, more beautiful and more interesting. And so in the last two decades, Erich has informed me on my path of saying: we need to explore, we need to open up our minds into trying to understand what our ancient ancestors were doing, because there are still gigantic question marks as to how our past has been created.” – Philip Coppens (Author, The Ancient Alien Question), (The Lost Civilization Enigma)

“We must be open to Erich von Däniken. Däniken is the first man who gutsily came out and faced the world in saying: I think it’s possible that Ancient Astronauts have come to visit our planet, and the pyramids, the various temples, all this was perhaps remnants of their visits. Now, I must say that I was a great skeptic on the Ancient Alien Theory until recently. Because everything has changed for us skeptics. For example, within the last 12 years we’ve looked at the little patch of our galactic system, which is the Milky Way, and so far we’ve found 3,000 planets. When we extrapolate the possibility over the whole galactic system, it’s estimated that there must be about a billion planets in our galaxy alone. So, the odds are extremely high of finding life out there. Now, having said this, if we can go out there, why can’t they come here? We must be open to possibility that life on this planet has been touched by extraterrestrial beings.” – Robert Bauval (Egyptologist), (Author, The Egypt Code), (Author, Secret Chamber Revisited), (Co-Author, Black Genesis)

“Thanks to my grandmother, growing up, ideas of Ancient Aliens and Atlantis and all those alternative viewpoints on history, that was dinner table conversation at my house. I grew up in Switzerland, and Erich von Däniken was Swiss as well, and so I started to attend his lectures, I read and studied all of his books. I have been to places that Erich has described. It has opened my mind to possibilities, because the big point of Erich’s books are the questions. What if everything in our past is not the way it’s presented to be? What if our planet was visited by extraterrestrials in the past?  That means that creation is even more magnificent than what we’re being told, because the divine is permeating throughout the entire Universe, not just on Planet Earth. In fact, Jesus himself said: My father’s home has many rooms. And so what if that was just a metaphor to suggest that the Universe houses a whole bunch of different species, that the Universe is teeming with life and we all belong to it?” – Giorgio A. Tsoukalos (Publisher, Legendary Times Magazine)

Although mainstream scholars have so far refused to acknowledge Erich von Däniken’s controversial theories as little more than pseudoscience, his exhaustive efforts on behalf of Ancient Astronaut Theory have started to gain acceptance – not in the hallowed halls of academia but with ordinary citizens – men and women who, like the Swiss author himself, prefer to ask their own questions even if it means challenging Erich von Däniken himself.

Previous: Significant Archaeological Sites | Next: Ask the Questions

References:

^[1a] Prometheus Entertainment. (2013). Ancient Aliens: Season 5, vol 1. [DVD Back Cover]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™.

^[1b] Prometheus Entertainment. (2013). Ancient Aliens: Season 5, vol 2. [DVD Back Cover]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™.

^[2] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.1 – Secrets of the Pyramids. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: December 21, 2012, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[3] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.2 – Aliens & Cover-Ups. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: December 28, 2012, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[4] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.3 – Alien Power Plants. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: January 4, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[5] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.4 – Destination Orion. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: January 11, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[6] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.5 – The Einstein Factor. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: January 18, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[7] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.6 – Secrets of the Tomb. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: January 25, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[8] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.7 – Prophets & Prophecies. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: February 8, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[9] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.8 – Beyond Nazca. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: February 15, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[10] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.9 – Strange Abductions. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: February 22, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

[11] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.10 – The Von Däniken Legacy. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: April 5, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5. [11a] Prometheus Entertainment. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.10 – The Von Däniken Legacy. [DVD Footage: Introduction]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [11b] Prometheus Entertainment. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.10 – The Von Däniken Legacy. [DVD Footage: Chariots of the Gods?]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [11c] Prometheus Entertainment. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.10 – The Von Däniken Legacy. [DVD Footage: Von Däniken’s Spiritual Journey]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [11d] Prometheus Entertainment. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.10 – The Von Däniken Legacy. [DVD Footage: Significant Archaeological Sites]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [11e] Prometheus Entertainment. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.10 – The Von Däniken Legacy. [DVD Footage: Ancient Astronaut Theorists]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [11f] Prometheus Entertainment. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.10 – The Von Däniken Legacy. [DVD Footage: Ask the Questions]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™.

^[12] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.11 – The Viking Gods. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: April 12, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[13] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.12 – The Monoliths. [Episode Description].  Retrieved: April 19, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[14] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.13 – The Power of Three. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: September 30, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[15] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.14 – The Crystal Skulls. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: October 7, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[16] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.15 – The Anunnaki Connection. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: October 14, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[17] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.16 – Magic of the Gods. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: October 21, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[18] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.17 – The Satan Conspiracy. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: October 28, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[19] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.18 – Alien Operations. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: November 1, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[20] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.19 – Emperors, Kings, & Pharaohs. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: November 8, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.

^[21] History™. (2013). Ancient Aliens: 5.20 – Mysterious Relics. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: November 15, 2013, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5.