Chapman University Survey Finds Majority of Americans Now Believe in Ancient Advanced Civilization, While a Third Believe in Ancient Astronauts

10/14/2017

Something bad is going on in America, and I’m not entirely sure whom to blame. For the past few years Chapman University has conducted a Halloween-themed study of paranormal and superstitious beliefs tied to Americans’ worst fears. Included in the survey questions were items related to subjects of interest to us: ancient astronauts, lost advanced civilizations, etc. The latest survey was released this week, and for the first time a clear majority of American now professes to believe in a lost Ice Age civilization similar to Atlantis. Across the board, fringe history beliefs reached new heights. People write to me all the time to ask why I bother to talk about “crazy” topics like aliens and Atlantis. I am flabbergasted to report now that it is because more Americans now believe in Atlantis than do not.

The 2017 Chapman University Survey of American Fears Wave 4 found that 55% of Americans believe in Atlantis or another lost ancient super-civilization. Additionally, 35% now believe space aliens visited ancient people in the past. Such figures are simply astonishing, even after accounting for the fact that technically speaking Atlantis and aliens are not “paranormal” per se. The numbers are unprecedented in reputable surveying, but they are the culmination of a clear upward trend. The numbers are growing compared to the 2016 and 2015 surveys, as the chart below shows:

Belief	2015	2016	2017
Ancient advanced civilizations such as Atlantis once existed.	--	39.6%	55%
Aliens visited earth in our distant past.	20.3%	27%	35%
Aliens have come to earth in modern times.	18.1%	24.7%	26%

The numbers represent the percentage of respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with the statement. The survey did not ask about Atlantis in 2015.

The usual caveats apply, of course: Some of the questions are a bit ambiguous and might include some who have different definitions of “advanced” civilizations, or who imagine that a single vacationing alien stopped by Earth in the Carboniferous period.

But despite this, the general thrust is quite clear: Belief in fringe history topics is growing, and even Chapman University notes that Atlantis is now the single most popular fringe belief in America, eclipsing astrology and ghosts for the first time. It is also the first paranormal (as they call it) belief ever to command a clear majority among Americans, though this year ghosts also crossed that threshold, up from 46% in 2016.

This raises the question of why the number of believers seems to be rising in a time when the number of cable TV shows devoted to ancient astronauts and lost civilizations has declined markedly from their 2011-2013 peak, and when even major book releases in the category, such as Magicians of the Gods, were relative disappointments. Surely 48 million Americans didn’t suddenly develop a belief in Atlantis between 2016 and 2017. If they did, I do not want to live in a country where that many people are that easily influenced. That leaves us with a few potential answers. The survey might be flawed, oversampling believers each year. Or believers are more comfortable expressing their beliefs now than in past years, perhaps due to the rise of fake news and “alternative facts.” Or maybe the internet is actually radicalizing the public, and fringe claims spread through social media and via Putin’s ancient astronaut and lost civilization propaganda in outlets like Sputnik and RT is succeeding in destabilizing public belief in the authority of science. It seems difficult to imagine that tens of millions of people suddenly developed a belief in Atlantis, but whatever the cause, even if the survey over-counts believers by huge margins, the numbers are simply stunning. Fringe history is no longer fringe by volume, only by logic and reason, which is not really enough.

As in the past, Chapman University found that believers tend to be lower income, rural, and conservative—i.e., the History Channel’s and Destination America’s audience. Overall, women and racial minorities are more likely to believe in the paranormal, but because the results weren’t broken down by question, we can’t say whether there is a racial or gender difference between different beliefs.

I will confess to being shocked that a Graham Hancock-style lost civilization is now an accepted fact among a majority of Americans. I should not be, however. Anecdotally, it aligns with my own experiences. Most people I encounter who try to strike up conversations with me profess beliefs in either Atlantis or ancient astronauts, and it seems that this is not a fluke, only a total failure of public education and science advocacy.

55 Comments

Joe Scales

10/14/2017 09:24:41 am

Not shocking at all when you consider how many believe in magic religions.

bear47

10/14/2017 12:37:34 pm

My opinion, ALL religions are magic based. They all claim at some point that "doG did it".

Shane Sullivan

10/14/2017 03:35:10 pm

The belief is not terribly surprising, but the rate of increase sure is. I mean, I don't think there's been a 15% change in America's religious demographic in the past twelve months, so why the sudden leap in credulity toward Hyboria?

10/14/2017 10:29:50 pm

"... I don't think there's been a 15% change in America's religious demographic in the past twelve months..."

It's certainly on the decline though. Perhaps they're converting to Ancient Alienism?

Jim

10/14/2017 11:03:17 pm

Goddess worship.

ROBZ

10/16/2017 08:58:44 am

Indeed. My first thought exactly. It's not so surprising for a country in which, in practice, you cannot be elected to hold a public office if you do not profess to believe in god (oh nonono, not that one! The other one true god.)

Especially, if you take into account how US popular culture thrives on conflating religion with fantasy myths and SF through books, movies and TV series. Sometimes even purposefully bringing this as "The Truth-you-are-not-supposed-to-know" and wilfully twisting actual facts.

Clete

10/14/2017 11:08:11 am

I noticed that the survey did not include sample size or the method used to conduct the survey and those are important factors. The smaller the sample size the less the valid the finding. In order for the survey to be valid the sample size has to be large enough to become significantly valid and has to include to represent a cross section of the population as a whole.

David Bradbury

10/14/2017 12:01:56 pm

Have you seen this pdf on the Survey Methodology?
https://www.chapman.edu/wilkinson/research-centers/babbie-center/_files/Chapman-Survey-of-America-Fears-methodology.pdf

DPBROKAW

10/17/2017 02:42:25 pm

It's really annoying when people wish to believe everything is because of religion. We've had various religious beliefs for thousands of years. I'm of the opinion that it's the internet and it's effects on younger people. There's less fear of being criticized on the internet when professing one fringe belief or another. And the more people you see responding to some fruitcake like Graham Hancock or Giorgio Tsoukalos positively gives them courage not only to express their own beliefs, but to also see strength in numbers. "Look how may people believe in..."! It's like a disease that spreads thru contact. Everyone has the right to believe what they want, but it's scary when they are putting more faith in the internet and social media than in our eduction systems.

Americanegro.

10/17/2017 09:23:05 pm

Let me add that shows like America Unearthed, Ancient Aliens and so forth are running in perpetuity on my local cable system and I would guess certainly others. So it makes no sense to say "show and show went off the air five years ago" because they never really did. The reruns usually run in blocks, perfect for binge-watching for anyone who hasn't figured out "on-demand". If anything the number of people who've watched these shows has increased. That in and of itself explains the increase in the percentage of people who believe nonsense.

Titus pullo

10/14/2017 01:14:19 pm

Public education is a key driver. The triumph of so called social sciences over the teaching of real science results in adults not having even the basic knowlwdge of natural laws, physics, and reasoning. When presented idiotic theories they can only judge based on the whooly subjective methods they were taught. Yes fuzzy math, whole language, cut and paste science, sociology of gender, identity politics, junk economics and on an on. Hayek identified social science as an ideology cherry picking data to support a very marxist approach. When more time is spent discussing white privledge than newton this is where u wind up.

10/14/2017 02:20:58 pm

If by "Newton" you mean his science rather than his pseudo-science, then discussion is not really needed: plenty of real-world data exists to show that it works well in most situations. On the other hand, privilege is an enemy of efficient use of human resources, and discussing ways to mitigate its effects is entirely reasonable.

Not the Comte de Saint Germain

10/14/2017 02:21:40 pm

Social sciences don't have much influence at the public school level, which is where the fundamental failing is. Treatment of history and geography in public schools is disastrously bad. There's very little context for the things classes tend to focus on, so if children remember anything from history classes at all, they remember a disjointed jumble of facts, not how civilizations arise and why, not the nature of technological development. And public schools fail even worse at teaching children how to evaluate which sources are trustworthy and which are not.

Riley V

10/14/2017 09:03:08 pm

So Marxism is the reason for the increased belief in the Supernatural and Paranormal?
Huh. I'll be damned. I better read some Neo-Marxist scholarship. It certainly isn't like the Marxist thought I read in college. But then again, I haven't kept up.

An Over-Educated Grunt

10/14/2017 09:59:16 pm

While you're at it why don't you tell those kids to get off your lawn, complain about the decline in manners, and loudly proclaim the virtues of the music of your youth?

10/15/2017 09:10:50 am

Yes the music of led zepplin, the who, clash, pink floyd is as ive told my college kids clearly superior to rap, hip hop, katy perry and of couse justin timberlake. Dad knows best

10/15/2017 01:02:19 pm

I think you missed the point there, Pullo.

MARS VLTOR

10/15/2017 01:35:42 pm

TITVS PVLLO,

Agreed.

Signed,
The God Who Kept You Alive During The Two Seasons of “Rome”

Sarah

10/15/2017 11:03:05 pm

Buwahaha!

10/15/2017 11:04:31 pm

Social studies aren't the problem, man.

Not teaching them gives people a bad idea of what goes on in the world or in the world's past, as does teaching them poorly. Teaching them *well* gives people tools to understand what's real and what isn't.

Keep in mind - a god-damned LOT of engineers are Creationists.

10/16/2017 01:38:22 pm

I realize this will upset some of the more progessive folks but my point was the method used by educational “science” advocates not the scientific method. We have lifted non scientific theories on how to teach and how to interprete the social world toa higher level than the physical world. Classic E&M in physics is, interpreting history is based today on your base ideology first and facts second. If reality doesnt fit ur views and upsets your world view u have nothing to balance ur emotions. We aee this daily with the so called wage gap which had been shown factually to not exist but its dogma to the left and given almost all social scuentists and educational “experts” are left wing u get wooly narratives which drive poor critical reasoning.

10/16/2017 03:18:53 pm

"the so called wage gap which had been shown factually to not exist"
Well, there you go. There are, and have been over the course of history, many many wage gaps, which have existed in many different ways. All have contributed to the way things are now.

Only Me

10/14/2017 05:39:27 pm

I'm not shocked by the results. The popularity of fringe ideas is cyclical. The belief in them may wax and wane, but they're always around.

Atlantis has been a staple of the fringe. It remains in the public consciousness mostly through the various forms of media. It also doesn't hurt that major archaeological discoveries, like Göbekli Tepe, are often used to raise the possibility of Atlantis-like cultures waiting to be found.

These ideas may be part of pop culture, but pop culture is a fickle mistress.

Kal

10/15/2017 03:51:17 pm

"Chapman University has initiated a nationwide poll on what strikes fear in Americans. The Chapman University Survey on American Fears included 1,207 participants from across the nation and all walks of life." CU web site

The sample size is not large enough.

Sharon Hill link

10/15/2017 08:25:41 pm

The sample is size is perfectly fine, if it was representative of the population. If you keep going past n=1000, it's diminishing returns for extra money.

While I was surprised at the Atlantis thing, I think there is a huge influence from Ancient Aliens, Above Top Secret, general conspiracy ideas, distrust in scientific authority and too much goddamn YouTube. There is NOT good research on how paranormal media influences belief. There is some but it conflates fiction and what people assume to be non-fictional sources (like "science" TV channels). I have a new book coming out next month about amateurs and paranormal investigation. Since the research was done in 2010, and its about the "groups" formed to do this, it missing the pseudo archaeology thing. But watch for Spooky Archaeology to be published soon from Jeb Card.

10/15/2017 09:08:32 pm

Good point about YouTube. Watch any video there that's related to ancient civilizations, and you're likely to see a video propounding one of these stupid ideas in the sidebar.

Peter MacKinnon

10/15/2017 09:18:11 pm

Re: American Paranormal beliefs
Do you know if the study extracted data for particular professions. I am a science teacher and would like to think that the vast majority of science teachers would not buy into the crazy ideas. But given modern America, I would like to be reassured.

OCS

10/15/2017 09:39:19 pm

I think a lot has to do with the general social environment. Given all the fake news, crazy attacks and general distrust along with uncertain economic futures, I suspect many just want to believe in something new.

Brady Yoon

10/16/2017 12:41:47 am

Knowing this, I've even more depressed at the fact that my self-published book on Amazon's kindle platform sold exactly zero copies. Thankfully, I didn't quit my day job!

10/16/2017 12:42:46 am

https://www.amazon.com/Atlantis-Underworld-Jay-Yoon-ebook/dp/B00B1JJDTS

T. Franke link

10/16/2017 07:05:52 am

It would be really interesting to know, how many of the believers in an ancient civilization "such as Atlantis" are considering this civilization to be indeed Atlantis.

Because, the Nazis in general rejected to call the assumed cradle of the Aryan race "Atlantis". Only a minority of Nazis did so in private (e.g. Himmler). The majority thought themselves to be very scientifc by rejecting to call it "Atlantis". Hitler always insisted that his views are scientific (which they were not, but he himself believed them to be).

I will write to the Chapman University, maybe they can provide more differentiated numbers.

10/16/2017 05:04:29 pm

I got the answer, they have no more detailed data.

Harry

10/16/2017 08:27:18 am

I question the accuracy of the survey unless someone can explain why belief in an advanced ancient civilization jumped from 39.6% to 55% in one year. That suggests either that the sample size in at least one of those years was too small to be statistically significant, the question was so ambiguous that those surveyed differed as to what it meant, there was a significant difference in the way the survey was conducted that accounts for much of the difference, or there was some other defect in the survey that renders it unreliable.

Mary Baker

10/16/2017 08:46:25 am

If I think the Atlantis story is about the Minoans and Santorini, should I mark yes or no?

Americanegro

10/20/2017 03:00:55 am

A simple "I, Harry, do not know." would suffice.

Pearl

10/16/2017 10:30:19 am

I've been wondering why the history and science channels present these theories the way they do. People don't hear the "could it be" phrase that people like Georgio utter before their untested theory. I think all the upper channels are showing just ridiculous things instead of what their names imply they should be showing.

10/16/2017 11:22:48 am

Yes, this. "History Channel"... right... "Discovery Science"... my.xss, "The Learning Channel"... er learning what exactly?

By the way, It gets even worse if you look at the (in my case Dutch) subtitles which often omit any clauses like "Could it be?" "Is it possible that?"

A propos: Funny how they never have anyone on those shows answering: "Nope, can't be. Because we knew such and such".

RiverM

10/20/2017 10:03:31 pm

No different than watching most news channels in the US, especially those cable news channels. One side fits all, not one size.

Bob Jase

10/16/2017 12:38:59 pm

I really dislike the question on ancient civilizations because it doesn't define 'advanced'. I'm sure that there have been many ancient neolithic civilizations that came & went that we have little or no evidence for because of time and geologic changes. No lasers, no tame dinosaurs (or even mammoths), no vril or whatever sciency-sounding stuff mind you, but at least the equal to the pre-Roman Britains and such.

10/16/2017 05:43:18 pm

Given that the work is actually a "Survey of American Fears" I think the "paranormal" section serves mostly as a way to provide context.

TARIS link

10/18/2017 05:34:29 am

No surprise, especially how vast numbers believe the lies told by venal politicians. Compared to what comes out the mouths of corrupt politicians, Atlantis, ancient aliens and anal probing Zeta Reticulans sounds even more credible.

10/18/2017 08:20:17 pm

If only the "venal" and "corrupt" politicians could be more like the ones you like.

10/18/2017 10:31:17 pm

I never stated any politicians that I like. Learn to read, SJW.

10/19/2017 01:02:49 am

The use of the term "SJW" pegs you. My mockery was agnostic.

Really, it works everywhere. I don't know or care what politicians you like, dummy. It's a safe bet you don't consider them "venal" or "corrupt".

This ole niggruh reads jus fine, massah!

10/19/2017 01:45:28 am

AMERICANEGRO,

I tip my golden laurel to you, Sir.

M•V

10/19/2017 02:04:43 am

Americannego-Then why comment on it, you idiot.

10/19/2017 03:36:42 am

MARS VLTOR- Why did you're laurel tip off? Try not being on all fours like a subservient poodle.

10/19/2017 07:18:34 am

TARIS,

SALVE!

“You’re” command of English is absolute; I obsequiously bow to “you’re” monolithic intelligence and keen wit.

BARK! BARK!
M•V

10/19/2017 05:17:15 pm

MV-Then bow, pug.

10/19/2017 05:50:24 pm

TARIS,

My dearest friend, you have demoted me! A pug? Alas, I thought I was a poodle.

MARS sees that you are a petty, envious and angry little man who commands respect from no one. MARS sees that your life will pass unremarked, without meaning or substance. MARS sees that VIRTVS is a word that will never define you. MARS sees that loneliness, obscurity and oblivion are your domain.

M•V

10/19/2017 07:04:04 pm

MARS seems to suffer from severe autism.

10/19/2017 07:30:48 pm

Ah, TARIS, my dear Dr. TARIS. You are a both a psychologist and a cynologist! Astounding! What a treat to be diagnosed by a polymath of such breadth and stature! I must know at which reknowned institutions you’ve studied. My friends and colleagues will surely want to know.

10/19/2017 07:52:35 pm

MARS- do you dribble retarded bullshit vocabulary to people in everyday life?

10/19/2017 08:04:33 pm

Apologies. You don’t have “you’re” dictionary handy?

10/20/2017 10:20:32 pm

The only slightly shocking result to me is that more people believe in alien visitation of earth in ancient times than in modern times. I'd think the numbers would be more equal or slightly higher for modern times, unless the questions were asked in a manner that made arrival in the far past a Yes but continuing to stay a No for modern times.

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