David Childress & the Aliens

DAVID CHILDRESS AND THE ALIENS
THE ANCIENT ALIENS STAR SAYS WHATEVER SELLS

Jason Colavito
2012

David Childress on Ancient Aliens

David Childress (formerly David Hatcher Childress) is a self-published author of more than 20 books who appears weekly on H2's documentary series Ancient Aliens.

I wrote about Childress in my 2005 book The Cult of Aliens Gods and described him as an ancient astronaut theorist because he had written a book, Extraterrestrial Archaeology (1999) in which he claimed (or rather, in the manner of these “theorists,” suggested) that aliens had left archaeological remains on Mars and the moon. He even included material from H. P. Wilkins arguing that the moon was an alien spaceship, and he quoted so-called “legends” about Martians who came to earth to create the human race. He quoted Zecharia Sitchin for support of his views.

However, Childress took exception to this description and attacked me in a 2006 Chicago Reader article (quoted below) because, he claimed, he was not an ancient astronaut theorist. I have discussed his theories here.

But a look at Childress's actual record of comments will demonstrate that over the past 25 years, Childress has advocated whatever theory happened to be popular and profitable at any given time. (As Ancient Aliens grew in popularity, his interviews became increasingly alien-focused, for example.) The following quotes show that Mr. Childress (who refers to himself as an "archaeologist" in his YouTube Extraterrestrial Archaeology video but does not have any education in archaeology) has taken two wildly different stances on the existence of extraterrestrial visitors. I will leave it to the reader to decide if Childress genuinely changes his beliefs ever few years, if he holds two contradictory beliefs simultaneously, or if he has ulterior motives for advocating divergent positions.

And a special note to David Childress: If you hadn't attacked me by name in print, I probably would never have paid enough attention to you to discover just how dramatically you contradict the information in the books you promote on Ancient Aliens when you speak on Ancient Aliens.

On the Aliens

“[M]y whole thing is that this stuff is from this planet. These giant ruins aren’t built by extraterrestrials. I say they were built by humans. Mankind and civilization goes back 50,000 years or more. What else can I assume is inaccurate in this book [Cult of Alien Gods]? This guy just plain doesn’t do his research.”

"Atlantis, Ho!", Chicago Reader, 2006

“Ancient lasers were probably being used, and that technology probably came from extraterrestrials.”

Ancient Aliens S03E10, September 28, 2011

On Lord Pacal's Sacrophagus Lid

“I stared at the sarcophagus lid for a while, it was indeed fascinating. It was a bizarre scene, though von Däniken’s explanation didn’t quite make sense to me. The man was barefoot and wore no shirt, a typical dress for the Maya, but is this how one dresses when one is in one’s space ship? … it is unlikely that any sort of rocket power was ever used in the past or will ever be used in the future by visiting astronauts …”

Lost Cities of North and Central America, 1992, p. 197

“Lord Pacal’s sarcophagus was his spaceship. He’s the original rocket man.”

Ancient Aliens S04E01, February 17, 2012

On Explaining Anomalies

“I don’t say” extraterrestrials are responsible for the anomalies of the past but instead that human beings from an advanced civilization were responsible.

Conversation with a cable television producer, December 2011

“Our ancient ancestors here may well be in a sense aliens from some other solar system, perhaps the Greys. What they’ve done is manipulate what were already humanoids on this planet, brute humanoids.”

Ancient Aliens S04E07, March 23, 2012

On Alien Intervention

“Andrew Rothovius…suggests that ancient astronauts had descended from a mothership in small landing craft. … I surmise the real answer is simpler, and more easy to swallow.”

Lost Cities of Ancient Lemuria & the Pacific, 1988, p. 169

“You have to think, are the extraterrestrials particularly interested in what happens to us in certain catastrophes and life-changing events that are occurring on this planet? And it’s possible that the extraterrestrials themselves are influencing some of these events.”

Ancient Aliens S04E04, March 3, 2012

Final Thoughts

“Nearly all of the ‘ancient astronaut’ evidence that can be found in the hundreds of books on the subject, can be alternatively explained in the time travel hypothesis, and have been.”

The Time Travel Handbook, 1999, p. 62

“What kind of powers would you have to have to do that? The powers of an extraterrestrial?”