Erich von Däniken Still Going at 70

Theories way out there

Author who believes aliens built pyramids always draws a crowd

By Lysann Heller
The Budapest Times
2-27-06

     Erich von Däniken has been causing controversy with his theses, books and television programmes about “prehistoric astronauts” for almost 40 years. Although mocked by serious scholars, his lectures are well attended and his books are sold around the world. Last Wednesday von Däniken familiarised an audience at the Budapest Congress Center with the “mysteries of the past.”

No, he still has not seen a UFO and not met any extraterrestrials, the 70-year old said, and he is still struggling to have his theories accepted. “I still have the feeling that when I turn up, people always scram,” he said.

However, von Däniken is undeterred and still spreads his theory that extraterrestrials were present on the earth thousands of years ago and were behind the construction of prominent buildings such as the pyramids of Giza, the stone statues on Easter Island and Stonehenge.

Von Däniken first began to develop his theories at a Jesuit school, when he realised “the God of the Bible” didn’t tie up with “god of my imagination.” He began to doubt Catholic belief and started to get interested in other religions.

“Many stories were repeated and so I gradually came to the explanation that the gods mentioned were in reality extraterrestrials.”

In order to prove his theses about prehistoric astronaut landings and lost civilisation, he undertook expensive world travel, which got him into financial troubles. He has yet to find objective proof but claims to have come across “chains of evidence for it,” and compared the situation to a murder case without a body.

He achieved world fame with his first book Chariots of the Gods, which was published in 1968 after being rejected twenty times. It became a film the following year. Von Däniken has written 29 books, which have been translated into 32 languages.

His theory is always questioned in scientific circles but that does not bother him. “My theory is not on a scientific level, but all sciences started that way. After all, before Darwin there was no anthropology,” he said.

Despite the criticism, he is convinced his theories will be taught in schools in “ten years at the latest.”

To find out more about his theories, visit www.evdaniken.com.

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