Erich von Däniken - interviewed by Bill Ryan

Von Däniken, Erich (1935-)
Swiss writer whose 1969 book, Chariots of the Gods, gave focus to a wave of popular interest in the idea that in ancient times the earth was visited by extraterrestrials whose presence is documented in a variety of archeological remains. Born in Zofingen, Switzerland, April 14, 1935, he was brought up in a conservative Roman Catholic setting at St. Michel College in Fribourg. At an early age von Däniken was fascinated by "inconsistencies" between religious doctrine and the accounts of mysterious events in the Bible. After leaving school, he took various jobs in hotels, and this seasonal work left him with spare time that he spent in traveling and reading. He visited South America, Russia and Egypt, seeing firsthand many of the monuments of the ancient past.

In his reading, he was particularly impressed by the biblical account of Ezekiel's fiery wheel and by Sumerian accounts of the coming of the Sun God in the ancient epic of Gilgamesh. Von Däniken began to evolve a theory of sky-borne gods in vehicles resembling accounts of flying saucers, built around the religious legends and myths of ancient civilizations. With the advent of American and Soviet space travel, such theories became much more plausible to many people.

In 1961, von Däniken started publishing articles about his theories and by 1966 had prepared a book, Erinnerungen an die Zukunft, which was published in Germany and serialized in the Swiss newspaper Die Weltwoche. This book was translated into English and published in England in 1969 and in the United States the following year under the title Chariots of the Gods? Von Däniken's introduction stated:

"I claim that our forefathers received visits from the universe in [the] remote past. Even though I do not know who these extraterrestrial intelligences were or from which planet they came, I nevertheless proclaim that these 'strangers' annihilated part of mankind existing at the time and produced a new, perhaps the first homo sapiens. "

As evidence, von Däniken cited accounts of cosmic battles in ancient legends and inscriptions suggestive of space travel. In later books he supported his theories by further legends, travel-er's tales and photographs of ancient religious inscriptions.