Erich von Däniken

Erich Anton Paul von Däniken (born 14 April 1935) is a Swiss author of several books which make claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, including the best-selling Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968.

Von Däniken is one of the main figures responsible for popularizing the "paleo-contact" and ancient astronauts hypotheses.

The ideas put forth in his books are rejected by virtually all scientists and academics, who categorize his work as pseudohistory, pseudoarchaeology, and pseudoscience.

Early in his career, he was convicted and served time for several counts of fraud or embezzlement, and wrote one of his books in prison.

Von Däniken later became a co-founder of the Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Association (AAS RA).

In December 1964, von Däniken wrote Hatten unsere Vorfahren Besuch aus dem Weltraum?

("Were Our Ancestors Visited from Space?") for the German-Canadian periodical Der Nordwesten.

While in Egypt, he was involved in a jewelry deal which resulted in a nine-month conviction for fraud and embezzlement upon his return to Switzerland.

Following his release, von Däniken became a manager of the Hotel Rosenhügel in Davos, Switzerland, during which time he wrote Chariots of the Gods? (Erinnerungen an die Zukunft, literally "Memories of the Future"), working on the manuscript late at night after the hotel's guests had retired.

The draft of the book was turned down by several publishers.

Econ Verlag (now part of Ullstein Verlag) was willing to publish the book after a complete reworking by a professional author, Utz Utermann, who used the pseudonym of Wilhelm Roggersdorf.

Utermann was a former editor of the Nazi Party's newspaper Völkischer Beobachter and had been a Nazi bestselling author.

In 1966, when von Däniken was writing his first book, scientists Carl Sagan and I. S. Shklovskii had written about the possibility of paleocontact and extraterrestrial visitation claims in one chapter of their book Intelligent Life in the Universe, leading author Ronald Story to speculate in his book The Space-gods Revealed that this may have been the genesis of von Däniken's ideas.

Many ideas from this book appeared in different form in Däniken's books.

Prior to von Däniken's work, other authors had presented ideas of extraterrestrial contacts.

He has failed to credit these authors properly or at all, even when making the same claims using similar or identical evidence.

The first edition of von Däniken's Erinnerungen an die Zukunft failed to cite Robert Charroux's One Hundred Thousand Years of Man's Unknown History despite making very similar claims, and publisher Econ-Verlag was forced to add Charroux in the bibliography in later editions, to avoid a possible lawsuit for plagiarism.

"That writing as careless as von Däniken's, whose principal thesis is that our ancestors were dummies, should be so popular is a sober commentary on the credulousness and despair of our times. I also hope for the continuing popularity of books like Chariots of the Gods? in high school and college logic courses, as object lessons in sloppy thinking. I know of no recent books so riddled with logical and factual errors as the works of von Däniken."

In Chariots of the Gods?, von Däniken cited the Iron pillar of Delhi in India, erected approximately 402 AD, as a prime example of extraterrestrial influence because of its "unknown origins" and a complete absence of rust despite its estimated 1,500 years of continuous exposure to the elements.

The re-write of Chariots of the Gods? was accepted for publication early in 1967, but not printed until March 1968.

Against all expectations, the book gained widespread interest and became a bestseller.

Von Däniken was paid 7 percent of the book's turnover, while 3 percent went to Utermann.

In November 1968, von Däniken was arrested for fraud, after falsifying hotel records and credit references in order to take out loans for $130,000 over a period of twelve years.

He used the money for foreign travel to research his book.

Two years later, von Däniken was convicted for "repeated and sustained" embezzlement, fraud, and forgery, with the court ruling that the writer had been living a "playboy" lifestyle.

The general claim of von Däniken over several published books, starting with Chariots of the Gods? in 1968, is that extraterrestrials or "ancient astronauts" visited Earth and influenced early human culture.

Von Däniken writes about his belief that structures such as the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, and the Moai of Easter Island, and certain artifacts from that period, are products of higher technological knowledge than is presumed to have existed at the times they were manufactured.

He also describes ancient artwork throughout the world as containing depictions of astronauts, air and space vehicles, extraterrestrials, and complex technology.

Von Däniken explains the origins of religions as reactions to contact with an alien race, and offers interpretations of sections of the Old Testament of the Bible.

In 1970, Der Spiegel referred to the hype over Däniken as Dänikitis.

He unsuccessfully entered a plea of nullity, on the grounds that his intentions were not malicious and that the credit institutions were at fault for failing adequately to research his references, and on 13 February 1970 he was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment and was also fined 3,000 francs.

He served one year of this sentence before being released.

His first book, Chariots of the Gods?, had been published by the time of his trial, and its sales allowed him to repay his debts and leave the hotel business.

Von Däniken wrote his second book, Gods from Outer Space, while in prison.

He designed Mystery Park (now known as Jungfrau Park), a theme park located in Interlaken, Switzerland, that opened in May 2003.

Von Däniken was born in Zofingen, Aargau.

Brought up as a Roman Catholic, he attended the Saint-Michel International Catholic School in Fribourg, Switzerland.

During his time at the school he rejected the church's interpretations of the Bible and developed an interest in astronomy and flying saucers.

At the age of 19, he was given a four-month suspended sentence for theft.

He left the school and was apprenticed to a Swiss hotelier for a time, before moving to Egypt.