An Unauthorized Commemoration of the Classic Bestseller
Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past was published in February 1968 as Erinnerungen an die Zukunft: Ungelöste Rätsel der Vergangenheit (Memories of the Future: Unsolved Mysteries of the Past) and rapidly achieved bestseller status, selling more than 200,000 German-language copies in its first year of release and launching a wave of what German media called Dänikitis, or the obsessive desire to talk about ancient astronauts. An English translation by Michael Heron soon followed, released in Britain in 1969 and the United States in 1970, both as a book and as a serialization in the National Enquirer. Although the book was neither the first nor the best to discuss the ancient astronaut theory, its fortuitous timing, coming during the heyday of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Apollo moon missions, and careful revision by ex-Nazi book editor Wilhelm Utermann, turned what even the publisher later conceded was largely a plagiarism of earlier authors like Jacques Bergier, Louis Pauwels, and Robert Charroux into a synonym for the ancient astronaut theory. This status was cemented by the popular movie version, originating in an Oscar-nominated German adaptation and best known from the reedited version narrated by Rod Serling that aired on NBC in 1973 as In Search of Ancient Astronauts. The book was adapted for television at least three more times, as In Search Of... (1977-1982), a spin-off of the movie, as a 1990s-era ABC pseudo-documentary starring von Däniken and Richard Karn, and as Ancient Aliens (2009 pilot, series 2010-present), the longest running and most successful ancient astronaut series in television history. A revival of In Search Of... went into production in 2018.
This special collection will commemorate the legacy of the book by gathering articles and information about Chariots of the Gods? and its impact.
This special collection will commemorate the legacy of the book by gathering articles and information about Chariots of the Gods? and its impact.
First editions in Germany (left), the United States (center) and Britain (right)
Charioteer of the Gods?
The idea that extraterrestrials served as humanity's earliest deities came to popular attention with Swiss author Erich von Daniken's 1968 best-seller Chariots of the Gods and the influential 1973 NBC documentary In Search of Ancient Astronauts, based on that book. But for people familiar with the science fiction magazines of the 1940s and 50s, von Daniken's "revolutionary" assertion held more than just a hint of other writings that claimed long before that the gods were not of this world. In fact, much of von Daniken's case perfectly parallels the work of a certain New England writer of horror stories, and the route from horror story to nonfiction best-seller bounces us from America to France to Switzerland.
The idea that extraterrestrials served as humanity's earliest deities came to popular attention with Swiss author Erich von Daniken's 1968 best-seller Chariots of the Gods and the influential 1973 NBC documentary In Search of Ancient Astronauts, based on that book. But for people familiar with the science fiction magazines of the 1940s and 50s, von Daniken's "revolutionary" assertion held more than just a hint of other writings that claimed long before that the gods were not of this world. In fact, much of von Daniken's case perfectly parallels the work of a certain New England writer of horror stories, and the route from horror story to nonfiction best-seller bounces us from America to France to Switzerland.
Tracking Down the Mahabharata Nuclear Bomb Passage from "Chariots of the Gods"
This isn’t the most dramatic or bizarre bit of ancient astronaut malfeasance ever; in fact, it isn’t entirely Erich von Däniken’s fault. But it is interesting nonetheless as an example of the sort of slipshod scholarship and lack of care that went into the supposedly “revolutionary” works of fringe history. It’s the story of publishers, mostly, and the games they play with their authors and their audiences. The story begins with an odd and unusual passage in Chariots of the Gods, which supposedly presents a nuclear bombing recorded in the Mahabharata.
This isn’t the most dramatic or bizarre bit of ancient astronaut malfeasance ever; in fact, it isn’t entirely Erich von Däniken’s fault. But it is interesting nonetheless as an example of the sort of slipshod scholarship and lack of care that went into the supposedly “revolutionary” works of fringe history. It’s the story of publishers, mostly, and the games they play with their authors and their audiences. The story begins with an odd and unusual passage in Chariots of the Gods, which supposedly presents a nuclear bombing recorded in the Mahabharata.
Review of Ancient Aliens: "The Von Däniken Legacy"
In The Cult of Alien Gods I tell much of the story of how Erich von Däniken developed his version of the ancient astronaut “theory,” and since 2005, I’ve filled in some additional details. The story is not terribly complicated, but it’s one Ancient Aliens doesn’t want you to know.
In The Cult of Alien Gods I tell much of the story of how Erich von Däniken developed his version of the ancient astronaut “theory,” and since 2005, I’ve filled in some additional details. The story is not terribly complicated, but it’s one Ancient Aliens doesn’t want you to know.
Chariots of the Gods at 50: An Early German Review
A discussion of early coverage of Chariots of the Gods in the German newsweekly Der Spiegel in 1968 and 1969.
A discussion of early coverage of Chariots of the Gods in the German newsweekly Der Spiegel in 1968 and 1969.
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“This is the same way those rockets landed years ago, so those spacemen could mate with monkeys and create the human race. It’s happening now!”
- INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978) |
“Happens all the time, man. They’re falling out of the skies like flies. Government knows all about it... Chariots of the Gods, man... They practically own South America. I mean they taught the Incas everything they knew...”
- THE THING (1982) |
