JASON COLAVITO
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Legends of the Pyramids
    • The Mound Builder Myth
    • Jason and the Argonauts
    • Cult of Alien Gods >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Foundations of Atlantis
    • Knowing Fear >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Hideous Bit of Morbidity >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Cthulhu in World Mythology >
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
      • Necronomicon Fragments
      • Oral Histories
    • Fiction >
      • Short Stories
      • Free Fiction
    • JasonColavito.com Books >
      • Faking History
      • Unearthing the Truth
      • Critical Companion to Ancient Aliens
      • Studies in Ancient Astronautics (Series) >
        • Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts
        • Pyramidiots!
        • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • Fiction Anthologies >
        • Unseen Horror >
          • Contents
          • Excerpt
        • Moon Men! >
          • Contents
      • The Orphic Argonautica >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • The Faust Book >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • Classic Reprints
      • eBook Minis
    • Free eBooks >
      • Origin of the Space Gods
      • Ancient Atom Bombs
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Ancient America
      • Horror & Science
  • Articles
    • Skeptical Xenoarchaeologist Newsletter >
      • Volumes 1-10 Archive >
        • Volume 1 Archive
        • Volume 2 Archive
        • Volume 3 Archive
        • Volume 4 Archive
        • Volume 5 Archive
        • Volume 6 Archive
        • Volume 7 Archive
        • Volume 8 Archive
        • Volume 9 Archive
        • Volume 10 Archive
      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
        • Volume 11 Archive
        • Volume 12 Archive
        • Volume 13 Archive
        • Volume 14 Archive
        • Volume 15 Archive
        • Volume 16 Archive
        • Volume 17 Archive
        • Volume 18 Archive
        • Volume 19 Archive
        • Volume 20 Archive
      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
        • Volume 21 Archive
        • Volume 22 Archive
    • Television Reviews >
      • Ancient Aliens Reviews
      • In Search of Aliens Reviews
      • America Unearthed
      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
      • Forbidden History Reviews
      • Expedition Unknown Reviews
      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
  • About Jason
    • Biography
    • Jason in the Media
    • Contact Jason
    • About JasonColavito.com
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Search

Review of America's Book of Secrets S02E01: "The Ancient Astronaut Cover-Up"

4/6/2013

26 Comments

 
I’m going to make a confession: I’ve never seen America’s Book of Secrets before, so I had no idea what to expect going into this hour, which I am only watching because it is tied to the ancient astronaut theory. So imagine my surprise when there I am again on this show, my 2004 article “Charioteer of the Gods” used as wallpaper for a discussion of evil academics in material recycled from the 2009 Ancient Aliens pilot. Pardon my language but: FUCK YOU H2! As it happens, this show is another one from Prometheus Entertainment, the company behind Ancient Aliens, and they share executive producer Kevin Burns, so I shouldn’t have been surprised.

The first season of the show aired from January to March of 2012 and covered a range of contemporary conspiracy theories surrounding the U.S. government, including both claims that the Freemasons are implementing the New World Order and claims that Area 51 has something to do with aliens. As a modern conspiracy show, it really had nothing to do with my areas of interest until this episode. I will, however, damn it with faint praise by noting that Burns makes a show of being fairer and more balanced on this program, offering contrary views to the ancient astronaut narrative as well as mainstream perspectives. However, these skeptical views are introduced primarily to ridicule them, the pretence of fairness serving to make the ancient astronaut theory look stronger through appeals to conspiracies and straw man arguments.

The second season premiere, S02E01 “The Ancient Astronaut Cover-Up,” asks whether the United States government is covering up evidence to ancient astronauts. Tied to H2’s other hit series, Ancient Aliens (to the extent that they are reusing a great deal of interview footage from that show), the episode brings in the talking heads from Ancient Aliens, including Giorgio Tsoukalos and the now long-dead Philip Coppens, to repeat Ancient Aliens’ claims about ancient astronauts. This is really just a Cliff’s Notes version of Ancient Aliens with a soupcon of panic about how social mores and norms would be thrown aside in a “holocaust of ecstasy and freedom” should the public learn of the existence of aliens.

Do people really watch a show whose opening credits tell us that “some” unidentified people believe that “a book” of America’s top secrets may or may not exist and asks “if such a book exists what would it contain?” The government of the United States is many things, but efficient enough to hide alien secrets for centuries just isn’t one of them, especially since the narrator notes at the top that aliens are prevalent in our popular culture.

The narrator asserts that those who believe in ancient astronauts are subject to “ridicule, scorn, and in some cases government scrutiny.” Erich von von Däniken is shown as these words are spoken. I have reviewed all of the government’s files on ancient astronauts, and I have obtained some that are not available on Google from the National Archives, and I can state categorically that the United States government not only did not care about ancient astronauts, the Ford administration tried as hard as it could to blow off Erich von Däniken so he would leave them alone. This is not the behavior of a government conspiring to hoard ancient astronaut theories.

Let me tell you a little something about the difference between real research and conspiracy mongering. This show uses no other research than newspaper article, and it relies only on the talking heads of Ancient Aliens to explain them. That’s conspiracy mongering. On the other hand, I have done the research, and I’ve clawed through all of the U.S. government’s ancient astronaut files, including some that were not released to the public until I requested them. I’ve even read ancillary documents looking for even the slightest hint of references to ancient astronaut investigations. (You can guess what hasn’t been released by seeing references in other files, like the way the existence of an FBI file on Rod Serling can be deduced from mentions of him in Steve Allen’s file.) The U.S. government was not careful about hiding that material, and the story it tells is clear and obvious: American interest in ancient astronauts extended only to interest in whether the Soviets and anti-government groups were using the idea to undermine American society and values. Otherwise, they just didn’t care. The show, of course, does not even take a superficial look at any of the actual government ancient astronaut files but nevertheless pretends to speak from secret knowledge.

Naturally, this means that we need to talk about the Roswell Incident, which of course occurred in 1947 and therefore is not ancient. Worse, the story has been extensively debunked to the point that even many ufologists no longer believe it was an alien event. Jim Marrs, author of a new but heavily recycled ancient astronaut book whose title I refuse to utter because HarperCollins refused to send me a review copy, blathers on about flying saucers on the strength of an “officially sanctioned press release” that he mistakenly believes mentions flying saucers. The release, from Roswell in 1947, actually reports on a “flying disc” and makes no implication of aliens. The incident is well understood as a secret balloon project and dummy drop that the government attempted to cover up with a smaller weather balloon.

Refreshingly, America’s Book of Secrets has on skeptic Michael Shermer and actually reports on the Air Force’s discussion of what really happened. Sadly, though, they let Jim Marrs lie about it and scoff based on ignorance—he believes, falsely, that the dummies were shaped like “Grey” aliens, but this is based only on later, false testimony from “witnesses.”

George Noory, another Ancient Aliens staple, claims that UFOs are kept secret to avoid panic, and Marrs adds that the government is using UFOs to (a) get new weapons and (b) maintain the power of the ruling elites.

Marrs does not understand history and therefore falsely claims that “until 1947, ’48, ’49,” technology advanced slowly but afterward took off exponentially. In truth, technology has advanced exponentially since the dawn of human civilization, and no major change happened in 1947; in fact, the most widespread and dramatic changes in the lives of everyday people actually occurred between 1850 and 1900. Marrs doesn’t really understand what “exponential” means or how later discoveries build on earlier ones. Instead, he looks at the modern world and is baffled by science he personally fails to understand. He asks, befuddled, “Where did all that come from?” Believing humans stupid, he can only project his own ignorance onto all humanity and thus assigns science to aliens.

“What is so strange about the idea that extraterrestrials should come here?” David Childress asks. Well, the fact that science explains how extraordinarily difficult it would be to travel between the stars, for one. Another might be the challenge of an alien race—let alone dozens of them!—picking out our earth from among the billions of stars and planets in the whole of the universe and deciding that this planet is the one to come to and anally sodomize its residents. Yet Tsoukalos tells us that scientists are arrogant.

But so far none of this has anything to do with ancient aliens, and I’m feeling a bit annoyed.

Fifteen minutes in, still no ancient aliens. Instead the show talks about the 1969 moon landing and alleged conspiracies about the moon landing. Jason Martell, author of the correctly-titled Knowledge Apocalypse, for that is what his book represents—the end of knowledge, asserts that Neil Armstrong saw a UFO and alien technology on the dark side of the moon—a strange notion to ascribe to a man who later investigated Erich von Däniken’s golden library in Ecuador and found no evidence of aliens. But now that he’s dead, he can’t be libeled, so whatever, right?

The show falsely asserts that Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods was “flying off store shelves” at the time of the moon landing. This isn’t true, at least not in America. Although the book was reviewed in Time in 1969 and had modest sales, it was only with serialization in the National Enquirer in 1970 that sales began to pick up in the United States. The book achieved its greatest sales only with the broadcast of the tie-in documentary In Search of Ancient Astronauts in 1973, itself an edited dubbing of a 1970 German documentary. In Europe, sales were more robust, but at the time that continent was in the middle of an ancient astronaut craze with books from a number of competing authors, now forgotten in America. The show conveniently elides this and makes von Däniken’s sales in Europe stand for the world.

I find it amusing that von Däniken appears on the show to repeat his claim that the Nazca lines “look like airstrips,” a claim even Ancient Aliens couldn’t countenance. He then complains that critics began criticizing Chariots “within four weeks” of its publication. Well, that’s what happens when you’re wrong; you get criticized. Several skeptics appear to explain why the idea isn’t true, and I am a bit sad that no one thought to interview me since I am, after all, probably the most prolific writer about ancient astronauts.

I also give America’s Book of Secrets credit for doing what Ancient Aliens would not do an hour earlier: They admitted that he was arrested for fraud and embezzlement. But sadly the narrator suggests that this was a government (Swiss?) conspiracy to “discredit and silence” him—leaving out the fact that he had been in trouble with the law over such problems several times in the past and had a history of embezzlement and fraud. David Childress chimes in that this was part of the “natural suppression” of extreme ideas, and Tsoukalos says that science has a “status quo that needs to be maintained” while pictures of Charles Darwin flash by. Darwin, of course, revolutionized science, overturned the status quo, and secured widespread acceptance within a few years of proposing his ideas based entirely on the rigor of his analysis and explanatory power of his theory of evolution. Von Däniken lacks any of that, and after 45 years, nothing has changed.

Philip Coppens asserts that science is “unwilling to address” the ancient astronaut theory and therefore can offer “no answers.” Science has repeatedly tested ancient astronaut hypotheses where and when they can be tested, and they have turned up nothing. Hell, I’ve examined and tested their literary hypotheses, and I’ve discovered nothing but lies and fraud. I don’t think the problem is with the scientists.

Reviewing the success of Chariots, we next hear about the film version. “For the first time ever, the idea that extraterrestrials might have visited earth in the remote past was being popularized,” Tsoukalos enthuses. He obviously missed out on Morning of the Magicians (1960), H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos (1926-1937 and after), Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophy (fl. 1870s-1920s), and more. This idea was not new, nor was this its first popular go-around; but Tsoukalos—who is only three years older than me—deigns to speak for the 1970s as though he had firsthand knowledge of the “upheaval” in America, which he compares to today’s unsettled climate. Apparently he has half an inkling that the revival of the ancient alien idea in 2009 could be tied to the same economic and social unrest that led to its first heyday in the 1970s.

The narrator attributes the ancient astronaut theory’s acceptance in the 1970s to the Baby Boomers’ questioning of political elites and (with a thunderclap no less!) questioning of “even the existence of God.” H2 has some weird fetish for promoting submission to God’s will as the highest form of human service.

America’s Book of Secrets then tries to trace the influence of Chariots of the Gods on popular culture, and it tries to rope in Star Wars, which was not in fact based on Chariots. Battlestar Gallactica was perhaps closer, but the show is right in that popular culture helped to cement the idea in the public mind that von Däniken might be right.

Anyway, still no ancient astronaut government conspiracy as we hit the halfway point.

As we cross into the second half, the narrator acknowledges that critics of von Däniken cited the racist and colonialist backdrop of his theories—which is undeniable, given his adaptation of the colonial narrative whereby a superior master race tutors benighted natives and improves them through knowledge transfer and sexual intercourse—but the narrator takes another potshot at “academia” for being closed to the awe and wonder of von Däniken’s fact-free fantasy. Let me get this straight: Asking 238 questions and calling it a thesis is an act of heroism, but evaluating those claims, sorting through the evidence, and coming to conclusions about those questions is small-minded evil? Philip Coppens fumes that “academics” were upset because of preconceived notions that alien visitation was “impossible.” He isn’t able to understand that academics concluded von Däniken was wrong because his evidence doesn’t hold up.

Remember how I said that this show was reusing material from Ancient Aliens? Well, here I am on America’s Book of Secrets. My 2004 article “Charioteer of the Gods” appears on screen and then turns blood red (in material reused from the 2009 Ancient Aliens pilot) while Coppens talks about how “science was basically saying there was no validity whatsoever” to the ancient astronaut theory. Again: FUCK YOU, and fuck your recycling, Prometheus Entertainment. You still haven’t asked for or received permission from me to use my name and my work in your foul documentaries.

Picture
My bloody valentine from the Ancient Aliens pilot, repeated on America's Book of Secrets.
Well, that made me mad, especially when the show followed the display of my article with the implication from the narrator that as a “mainstream” writer I and others like me have a “secret” reason for resisting the ancient astronaut theory. Once again, since this is H2, that secret reason is an abject terror about the collapse of religious dogma and the creation of a new, alien-centered Holy Bloodline Templar Freemason sacred feminine goddess cult of Sts. Tsoukalos and Wolter at the Church of the Newport Tower and Area 51.

Former vice president Dan Quayle incongruously appears to note that the United States has no conclusive proof of aliens on earth (no other American officials appear on the show), but the narrator fears that the presidents are being kept in the dark by the military elites. George Noory and Philip Coppens and Jim Marrs are all certain that presidents can’t have access to UFO secrets, but this is beyond my remit. Instead, we get a summary of the Ancient Aliens episode in which the pundits try to claim that aliens were present at the founding of America.

Having run the American government angle dry, we turn to the Catholic Church but I can’t follow the logic. A Catholic theologian suggested that it was possible to believe in God and that other worlds were populated. This is presented as a powerful upheaval of Church dogma, but so far as I know, it is nothing of the sort. Theologians (and Mark Twain) debated whether Jesus was the savior of our planet or all planets for years, and in the Middle Ages—before anyone knew just what a planet was—Catholic dogma populated the planets with ranks of “otherworldly beings”—angels. I just don’t see why this is weird; other faiths, particularly Islam, have speculated about life on other worlds and how it represents more of God’s creation. Looking for bacteria on Saturn’s moons is not, as the narrator claims, tantamount to saying that earth’s religions “have extraterrestrial origins.” Jim Marrs actually says “Pfft!” while asserting that “power and control” are at stake should aliens be proved to be the origins of the ancient gods. Power and control of what? Perhaps Marrs hasn’t noticed that we don’t live in a theocracy anymore.

This leads directly to a discussion of Intelligent Design, and I give the show credit for recognizing the clear similarity between ancient astronauts and creationism, for they are two sides of the same coin, but America’s Book of Secrets leaves out the fact that Intelligent Design was not an ancient astronaut spinoff but rather a redefinition of creationism in response to court rulings about religion in school. The two ideas moved on similar and parallel paths, but they are not connected directly except in their likeminded effort to make religion palatable to people who accept science as a source of truth. Therefore, the show’s implied conspiracy that conservatives are using intelligent design to marry religion to evolution in order to prepare for the revelation of alien involvement in the ancient earth is speculation without foundation. Intelligent Design advocates become red faced whenever they are told that their pseudo-religion could equally well support ancient astronaut theories. Intelligent Design is a gateway to religion, not to aliens.

As we start bringing this bird in for a landing, we explore the possibility that aliens are sending radio signals to earth. Then we hear—without proof—that the United Nations has secret plans for an alien invasion. The narrator reminds us that the “foundations of government, religion, science, and our society” will fall before the reality of aliens—and the revelation of “our origins.”

“If an American Book of Secrets existed,” Tsoukalos says, “then the chapter on ancient astronauts would suggest that we shouldn’t look for our origins on planet earth, but in fact our origins lie out there.”

And that is the ancient astronaut theory in a nutshell: Evolution is evil, God is good, and the aliens are angels who remind us that we are made of star dust and have deep connections to the cosmic wonder of the heavens. It’s religion by another name, cloaked in the trappings of science. Unless, as the final moments suggest, a “sect” of the aliens are “strangely evil” and could just destroy all us sinners, like God before Sodom and Gomorrah. Still religion, though, just Old Testament “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” religion.

So, if America’s Book of Secrets is superficially more balanced than Ancient Aliens, it is still cut from the same cloth: endless rhetorical questions, vitriol aimed at academia, anger at the very notion of expertise, a loose interpretation of the episode’s theme, and the hope that throwing enough claims at the viewer will overwhelm critical ability. Tied in with all that is a strange undercurrent of spiritual longing and a desire to support traditional social norms and mores by bolstering the authority of religious texts, religious beliefs, and those who can speak for the gods.

26 Comments
Geoff link
4/6/2013 10:41:45 am

Ironically, creationists are to biblical scholars, what Von Daniken and Tsoukalos are to science.

Most of us these days, believe that what ever science shows to be true about how things have come to be what they are "Scientifically" is true (and therefore subject to change along with scientific discovery - for example, the understanding of evolution has changed over the years).

What is most important is that we believe the Bible only tells us "why" not how (except in a very very few cases actual testable data is presented, and usually found to be factual, and not terribly shocking).

Anyway, I find your analysis to be insightful, and far more interesting than the actual shows. I watch them because I get to see stuff that then prompts me to go looking for sites like this, where I can actually learn the truth.. and ultimately "learn" :) So, thanks.

Reply
geniopow
4/12/2013 07:06:52 pm

ancient astronaut theorist ? is this a new religion? do we all want to know the answers to the question why? are you an idiot? i don't think you are. why would you treat your ancestors as idiots?
Give man (humans) the fucking respect we deserve.your acting like a child in an adult world.if present man can figure out any issue . why would you think like a child and consider yourself superior? its obvious we are inferior. so inferior to are ancestors we have to give them unearthly powers.
obviously, our pre history opinion of man is not accurate. The fact that you have to give unearthly life the credit for our achievments is amazing. mankind is awesome and the fact that your able to sell your bullshit to man is proof.

Reply
Cathleen Anderson
4/6/2013 11:01:02 am

So, go after them for copyright infringement. If they have anything online, issue a takedown notice to their ISP.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
4/6/2013 11:11:27 am

Since they were using it for, technically, critical commentary, they can claim fair use and judges would, I'm sure, likely agree. (It's the same reason I can quote large chunks of their crap without paying them--but you can bet your bottom dollar that they gave EVD a royalty for showing the interior pages of his Chariots of the Gods.) The whole thing started in 2009 when Prometheus requested and received permission from Skeptic magazine to reproduce an illustration they did for the article, and Prometheus instead took it as blanket permission to show the whole article. I complained to Prometheus and History at the time, but they never responded.

Reply
hssh
7/10/2015 02:43:44 am

You are so dumb. He has history channel money now? Get a clue, you go lose all your money in a lawsuit if YOU want you ho

Reply
RLewis
4/6/2013 03:02:30 pm

Speaking of creationism proponents:
"This film is cheerfully ignorant, manipulative, slanted, cherry-picks quotations, draws unwarranted conclusions, makes outrageous juxtapositions, segues between quotes that are not about the same thing, tells bald-faced lies, etc."
Roger Ebert - review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, 2008

Pretty much sums it up,
RIP

Reply
Geoff link
4/6/2013 03:23:22 pm

RLewis: Even Christians agree..

It should be noted that several prominent scholars and theologians have lost their jobs for suggesting that evolution is "probably true" and "deserves to be factored in" (the mildest statements ever..).

The whole thing is ridiculous. The bible is a theological claim regarding origins, and evolution is a scientific claim regarding origins, and never the twain shall meet.

Reply
Gunn
4/7/2013 04:25:43 am

In my view, creationism and Christianity go hand-in-hand; they aren't mutually exclusive of one another.

Anyone, Christians included, are foolish to disregard the evidence of evolution, as it is easily seen. The dinosaur bones cannot be explained away, unless one chooses to believe that God created the earth with trappings of false aging to fool us.

In my view, Intelligent design may be a misnomer if a Creator is left out of the picture. The term "intelligent design" is something Christians are watching carefully, to make sure the argument doesn't try to leave God out.

I would like to say something about free speech. Just because I'm a Christian doesn't mean I have to lay down by a proverbial doggy-bowl and shut up when someone tells me to, nor is it necessary for me to back down when someone tries to injure me. If someone else stands with a sword in their hand against me, I will defend myself, just as a Christian nation must defend itself.

I have a touch of untreated OCD (stoneholes, anyone?) and Tourette Syndrome, but it didn't keep me from joining the Army during the Vietnam war. I take the right of free speech very seriously, and sometimes I may push the submit button too quickly because I have little tolerance for people who come to a public blog just to throw stones, without adding anything but negativity.

Anyway, it seems fairly obvious that God used a process of evolution to bring things to where they are today. Believing in God is a personal matter. For some, faith in God becomes so real that the experience of God is as real as the dinosaur bones.

Geoff, it seems to me that the twain have already met. But of course it's the same problem (as in history) of accepting and combining evidences...what is real and what isn't?

Reply
Geoff link
4/7/2013 10:10:05 am

Gunn,

They have met in the minds of some people, but that does not mean they _should_. Science has no place making theological or even philosophical metaphysical determinations, and theologians and philosophers have no place "doing science".

Reply
Byron
4/7/2013 11:44:45 am

Geoff, Isn't that the definition of utopia -- 'no-place'? ;)

Geoff link
4/7/2013 11:54:10 am

Bryon, lol, I guess..

Gunn
4/7/2013 12:17:37 pm

I respectfully disagree, Geoff. There are quite a few examples of "biblical archaeology" that combine the two. In other words, there are examples of theological determinations from the Bible that have been proven out with science/archaeology.

Also, there are many scientists who have crossed this imaginary line you have proposed not crossing, believing in both science and God jointly. So, who is to say that the two _should not_ be met in one's mind, when it is currently being done by thousands of intelligent people? There are Christian archaeologists, for example, working in the Holy Land. They are not uneducated, unintelligent fools wasting their time. Rather, they took God's admonition that "the fool says in his heart, there is no God."

For many people, there is God and there is science, too. I am one of these people. But I understand that some folks may not want to mix the two...though I don't quite understand why, either from Christians or from scientists. To me, they go together like a hand and glove...and not like that glove OJ was trying to put on!

Reply
Geoff link
4/7/2013 12:38:40 pm

Gunn,

I'm not sure I explained myself clearly enough, from your response. Firstly, I am a christian, and I have no problem with Evolution.

Sure, there is historical data in the Bible, and this can be used to "verify" archaeology, and conversely, it can be used to verify the biblical history. However, one should NEVER set out to 'prove' the bible by doing archaeology, because it will only end up tainting the findings. One does the archaeology first, then in retrospect one checks ancient documents to find correlations.
Some of these christian archaeologists mention do fine work, but many of them have set out with presuppositions and agendas and have made horrendous errors, etc. I subscribe to some biblical archaeology mailing lists and watch the discussions between these Gentlemen and ladies daily.

I also know, and read quite a number of scientists who are Christian, and are friends with several - Physicists, biologists, and even an astrophysicist (not that common an occupation in New Zealand). So yes, there is no problem with Christians being in science, in fact, one might suggest that (and one of my Physicist friends does), it is because of their faith that they are interested in the make up of the universe. However, they can not draw metaphysical understandings from science.
Science requires measurable, observable, empirical data - once it gets out of this sphere, it is no longer science.

Reply
Gunn
4/8/2013 03:45:12 am

"However, one should NEVER set out to 'prove' the bible by doing archaeology, because it will only end up tainting the findings."

I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense to me. When the team of elderly archaeologists found evidence of Vikings in Newfoundland, that was what they were seeking. There is no good reason I can think of why Christian archaeologists can't do the same thing...believe in the possible existence of evidence and then go after it.

I do know what you mean, though, that someone may focus too much in trying to prove something and end up looking goofy. Yes, this can certainly happen, but I still think it is okay to mix spiritual understandings with science when it is done correctly. Here is the real issue: performing science truthfully, and then seeing actual evidence. But there is nothing inherently wrong with anyone doing archaeology, as long as he or she is both professional and unbiased.

Yes, mischief does creep in though, I'll agree to that.

(Not to be overly picky, but you didn't cap Christian but managed to cap evolution...also Gentlemen, but not ladies, which I found a bit odd.)

Geoff link
4/8/2013 11:06:28 am

hi Gunn,

In the case of the Vikings then, we need to carefully examine the evidence, to make sure that they did actually find what they were looking for, not just "find stuff" then go "ooh, that looks like Viking to me", if you know what I mean.
If you go hunting for a ghost, there is an 80% chance you will find some evidence of it. (I cant remember off hand what this is called, but it is a documented phenomena).

Gunn
4/9/2013 02:37:27 am

Right, "truth in finding and reporting is key." We finally agree, I think. My only point was that Christians can't automatically be excluded from the joys of archaeology, assuming they will taint the findings. What kind of message is that?

I'm staying away from the Vikings, especially anything that has them going inland carrying chisels. (Not that 1350'ish was Viking.)

I don't believe in ghosts. To me, ghostly activity (negative) is demonic activity, unless the activity (positive) is other-angelic activity, with God being involved.

Geoff link
4/9/2013 10:13:03 am

hi Gunn,

I dont mean to exclude Christians from Archaeology either.

The thing about Ghosts was a sort of analogy. When the "Ghost Hunters" go into a house looking for Ghosts, science says that there is an 80% chance they will find some kind of evidence (experience, sound, etc) that will convince them they have a ghost. The same applies to archaeology, if you go into an area thinking that you will find the ruins of kalamazoo, chances are you will find evidence of ruins, and ascribe them to kalamazoo.

A man once went into the desert looking for Sodom and Gomorrah. He found a burnt patch of ground and some rocks that looked like they might have been a building. As far as he was concerned that was enough evidence, and proclaimed it far and wide.
Now, he may well have found what he was looking for, but since his method was flawed, his findings must be discounted.

It doesnt have to be religious things either. Scott Wolter, for example, finds evidence in everything for his preconceptions, same with the ancient aliens and UFO hunter crowds. If you stand back and look objectively, you realise these conclusions are leaps of logic.

Varika
4/11/2013 07:43:04 pm

Can you provide any sources for reputable biblical archeology that has proven a theological consideration? I know that biblical archeology has proven certain towns to have taken place, and certain events to have taken place, but I know of none that have conclusively proven anything supernatural, divine, or miraculous. For instance, I know that archeology has uncovered Jericho, and possibly even a wall that came down suddenly, but this doesn't prove that God knocked it down after the armies of Israel circled the city once a day for seven days and then blew trumpets and shouted. It only proves that the wall fell down, and not even necessarily all at once. And that would be assuming that the date of the wall's existence actually wasn't in question AND dated to the time of the Israelites' appearance in the area.

Biblical archeology is something of a passion of mine, though I don't claim to be anything more than a moderately informed armchair enthusiast, so if you do have links to these things, I'd love to see them.

Reply
Geoff link
4/11/2013 08:01:56 pm

Varika,

I am just an armchair enthusiast myself. Try having a read of Dr Robert Cargill's blog.
RE: Jericho; there are a couple of sites that have been proven to be Jericho, from what I remember, and last count, I think this was one of the very claims that was brought into dispute precisely because of the preconceptions of the finders.

I havent got any links handy though, although if you subscribe to mailing lists, the biblical-studies one on yahoo groups is quite good.

Varika
4/12/2013 07:03:56 am

Sorry, Geoff, I was actually trying to prompt Gunn, since he's the one who has claimed "there are examples of theological determinations from the Bible that have been proven out with science/archaeology."

It's cool to find out even a little more about Jericho, though, and thanks for the heads-up about the blog and the mailing list!

The Other J.
4/7/2013 03:21:25 pm

"However, one should NEVER set out to 'prove' the bible by doing archaeology, because it will only end up tainting the findings. One does the archaeology first, then in retrospect one checks ancient documents to find correlations. "

Well-put. The evidence should inform ideology ex post facto; ideology should frame how the evidence is considered. Allowing metaphysics to inform physics (science) has always been a dangerous prospect.

Reply
Geoff link
4/7/2013 03:31:26 pm

Thanks :)

Reply
The Other J.
4/7/2013 08:24:55 pm

"ideology should frame how the evidence is considered."

That should read:
Ideology should NOT frame how the evidence is considered.

By the way, Geoff -- about a decade ago, I met three Kiwi rugby players who were playing for Leinster. My friend and I ran into them in a pub on St. Patrick's Day. I'd only started watching the game when I got to Ireland; was never really exposed to it in the states, first came across Jonah Lomu in an Adidas ad, and started watching it at Trinity and my local. I didn't really know at first quite what I was watching, but your countrymen set me straight. They were really fantastic -- completely friendly, totally personable, and more than willing to tell us all we wanted to know about the game and even the haka. I'd never met pro athletes before who came off like other students who were just happy to hang out and meet people, and they were just as curious about us. I wish I would have wrote down their names, because they represented your country very well, and I've been interested in your country and a massive rugby fan ever since. There's a lot to like about Aotearoa.

Reply
The Other J.
4/7/2013 08:26:29 pm

(argh... Leinster = Dublin, Ireland)

Geoff link
4/7/2013 09:14:37 pm

I read the "not" anyway :)

I am glad you had a good experience with them. Most of them are decent blokes,but you get the occasional idjit. I had occasion to meet Justin Marshall and Jeff Wilson the other day - my rugby heroes.

We have a lot of great stuff here. My in-laws are here from the USA, and I have had to find cheap/free places to take them to visit.. they're here for 3 months and even doing 2 trips a week we wont see everything worth seeing in Auckland..

CHF01
8/20/2014 05:32:43 pm

“What is so strange about the idea that extraterrestrials should come here?” David Childress asks. Well, the fact that science explains how extraordinarily difficult it would be to travel between the stars, for one.

I disagree with this statement. This implies that you have working knowledge of interstellar space travel technology that could possibly have been developed by other beings from other solar systems. The fact is, we know nothing about their technical capabilities at all. Or if we do know, many of us aren't told and are left to guess. Just because we can't achieve this now doesn't mean another civilization on a distant planet that has a 10 billion year head start on us couldn't. Einstein introduced us to wormholes, and many physicists claim this is a real possibility.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Blog
    Picture

    Author

    I am an author and researcher focusing on pop culture, science, and history. Bylines: New Republic, Esquire, Slate, etc. There's more about me in the About Jason tab.

    Become a Patron!
    Tweets by JasonColavito
    Picture

    Newsletters

    Enter your email below to subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my latest projects, blog posts, and activities, and subscribe to Culture & Curiosities, my Substack newsletter.

    powered by TinyLetter

    Blog Roll

    Ancient Aliens Debunked
    Picture
    A Hot Cup of Joe
    ArchyFantasies
    Bad UFOs
    Mammoth Tales
    Matthew R. X. Dentith
    PaleoBabble
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Alternative Archaeology
    Alternative Archaeology
    Alternative History
    Alternative History
    America Unearthed
    Ancient Aliens
    Ancient Astronauts
    Ancient History
    Ancient Texts
    Ancient Texts
    Archaeology
    Atlantis
    Conspiracies
    Giants
    Habsburgs
    Horror
    King Arthur
    Knights Templar
    Lovecraft
    Mythology
    Occult
    Popular Culture
    Popular Culture
    Projects
    Pyramids
    Racism
    Science
    Skepticism
    Ufos
    Weird Old Art
    Weird Things
    White Nationalism

    Terms & Conditions

    Please read all applicable terms and conditions before posting a comment on this blog. Posting a comment constitutes your agreement to abide by the terms and conditions linked herein.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    RSS Feed

Picture
Home  |  Blog  |  Books  | Contact  |  About Jason | Terms & Conditions
© 2010-2023 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved.

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Legends of the Pyramids
    • The Mound Builder Myth
    • Jason and the Argonauts
    • Cult of Alien Gods >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Foundations of Atlantis
    • Knowing Fear >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Hideous Bit of Morbidity >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Cthulhu in World Mythology >
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
      • Necronomicon Fragments
      • Oral Histories
    • Fiction >
      • Short Stories
      • Free Fiction
    • JasonColavito.com Books >
      • Faking History
      • Unearthing the Truth
      • Critical Companion to Ancient Aliens
      • Studies in Ancient Astronautics (Series) >
        • Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts
        • Pyramidiots!
        • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • Fiction Anthologies >
        • Unseen Horror >
          • Contents
          • Excerpt
        • Moon Men! >
          • Contents
      • The Orphic Argonautica >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • The Faust Book >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • Classic Reprints
      • eBook Minis
    • Free eBooks >
      • Origin of the Space Gods
      • Ancient Atom Bombs
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Ancient America
      • Horror & Science
  • Articles
    • Skeptical Xenoarchaeologist Newsletter >
      • Volumes 1-10 Archive >
        • Volume 1 Archive
        • Volume 2 Archive
        • Volume 3 Archive
        • Volume 4 Archive
        • Volume 5 Archive
        • Volume 6 Archive
        • Volume 7 Archive
        • Volume 8 Archive
        • Volume 9 Archive
        • Volume 10 Archive
      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
        • Volume 11 Archive
        • Volume 12 Archive
        • Volume 13 Archive
        • Volume 14 Archive
        • Volume 15 Archive
        • Volume 16 Archive
        • Volume 17 Archive
        • Volume 18 Archive
        • Volume 19 Archive
        • Volume 20 Archive
      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
        • Volume 21 Archive
        • Volume 22 Archive
    • Television Reviews >
      • Ancient Aliens Reviews
      • In Search of Aliens Reviews
      • America Unearthed
      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
      • Forbidden History Reviews
      • Expedition Unknown Reviews
      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
  • About Jason
    • Biography
    • Jason in the Media
    • Contact Jason
    • About JasonColavito.com
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Search