For those who never heard of him, he came up the idea that Earth was visited in the past by aliens, which can be seen from certain arefacts. He also maintained that ancient civilisations could not have been built without the aid from these advanced alien visitors.

In the 1970's / 1980's the BBC TV series Horizon totally rubbished his ideas.

Today experimental archaeology has reclaimed some of the feats for ancient peoples.

Is Eric still around today and does he still maintain his claim that artefacts prove we were visited by aliens in the distant past?

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Van Rijn's original Invisible Elf was running for the North Carolina Senate, but dropped out of the contest after the paparazzi snapped him with a cute pixie just outside Disney World in Florida. Now he has settled down with her as they await their first child, writing his biography of life in Van Rijn's backyard, - Now you prove me wrong

Well the only amazing feat really left is the building of stone henge as the rocks came from wales and took a massive trip. But i still think it was people... if not the builders of stone henge were obviously the more advanced alien race :wink:

First, you gotta spell his name right.

Welcome to the World of Mysteries of Erich von Däniken

A theme park. Pfft.

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Check out the big, gold, shiny edition of the movie Stargate on DVD. One of the extras is called Is there a Stargate? However, it's really just an excuse for Daniken to promote his views and book. This edition only came out a year or so ago.

...which theme park is already open (his website needs updating).

http://www.mysterypark.ch/

Opened in May of 2003.

The real mystery is why people still buy into this stuff :roll:

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Van Rijn's original Invisible Elf was running for the North Carolina Senate, but dropped out of the contest after the paparazzi snapped him with a cute pixie just outside Disney World in Florida. Now he has settled down with her as they await their first child, writing his biography of life in Van Rijn's backyard, - Now you prove me wrong

Hey this guy doesn't even want to make any real money
Personaly i'd like something that was still a legit currency

Grumble...grumble... No offense is ment but this guy is easily on the lines of Hoagland. He believes what he says and absolutely refuses to hear anything to prove him wrong.

He may actually be worse. Hoagland may just be delusional. Von Daeniken has actually admitted - on film - to faking evidence in order to promote his theories.

-Taibak

The Swiss Franc still exists.

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"Flying in space is risky business, but just staying on this planet is risky business too." - John Young, astronaut

The Swiss Franc is as legit as the English Pound. England isn't the only European country not rushing into the Euro

In Belgium cars ride on the right side, and trains on the left. Europe is about as complex as relativity (and follows almost the same principles )

On topic, if Hoagland ever wanted to open a theme park, someone please stop him from calling it Hoaxland [-(

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Wir danken unseren Main Partners: Coca-Cola, Fujitsu, Swatch, Sony, etc.

Two quotes come to mind

"There's a sucker born every minute" and "A fool and his money are oft soon parted"

I actually was in to EVD when I was a child and read his book, Return to the Stars.

The Horizon programme was a real eye opener

One of the pieces of evidence in his book as "alien runway markings" on a South American pampas was actually quite small. The phot had been quite deceptive. There was a subsequent TV show here about that region of South America where the Archaeologists reclaimed it. This is the place where giant animals were drawn. It all seems to be connected to Shamanism, early narcotics and drug trips thought to be spiritual experiences.

Mind you I have heard people claim that the first chapter of the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament is an eye witness testimony of a flying saucer :roll: ](*,)

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Van Rijn's original Invisible Elf was running for the North Carolina Senate, but dropped out of the contest after the paparazzi snapped him with a cute pixie just outside Disney World in Florida. Now he has settled down with her as they await their first child, writing his biography of life in Van Rijn's backyard, - Now you prove me wrong

OTOH, they have each won an Ig Nobel prize.

Ig Nobel home page

His book, Chariots of the Gods, is very convincing.

Convincing of what?

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Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

That the human eye can see common day, modern things in ancient drawings and writings not intended to show those things.

The only good thing I can think of about von Daniken is that without him there probably wouldn't have been a Thor Heyerdahl. (sp?)

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I've gotta get me a sig line.

I mean that I know the stuff's not true, but his writing really makes me think from the other perspective.

Thor Heyerdahl was operational well before EVD showed up to promote silliness. Thor H is noted for being nearly always wrong in his theories, but doing so within the methodology of science and being recognized as a 'gentleman' at all times. He was inspirational as hands on experiencer of what the ancients had done or might have done.

Some of his earlier expeditions

The Kon-Tiki Expedition (1947)
After the war, Heyerdahl continued his research, only to meet a wall of resistance to his theories amongst comtemporary scholars. To add weight to his arguments, Heyerdahl decided to build a replica of the aboriginal balsa raft (named the "Kon-Tiki") to test his theories. In 1947, Heyerdahl and five companions left Callio, Peru and crossed 8000 km (4300 miles) in 101 days to reach Polynesia (Raroia atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago). Despite skepticisim, the seaworthiness of the aboriginal raft was thus proven and showed that the ancient Peruvians could have reached Polynesia in this manner.

he Galapagos Expedition (1952)
Following the success of the Kon-Tiki Expedition, Heyerdahl organized and led the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to the Galapagos Islands. The group investigated the pre-Columbian habitation sites, locating an Inca flute and shards from more than 130 pieces of ceramics which were later identified as pre-Incan. The Galapagos Islands are located about 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador and thus South American archaeology was extended for the first time in to the open Pacific Ocean. Parallel to this expedition, Heyerdahl worked with experts in rediscovering the lost art of the guara, a kind of aboriginal center-board used by the indians of Peru and Ecuador for navigation. From this tool, not used on the Kon-Tiki voyage, it become clear that ancient South American voyagers had the means to navigate as well as travel great distances in the Pacific.

The Easter Island Expedition (1955-56)
Following his successful work, Heyerdahl was encouraged to direct a major archaeological expedition to the Pacific's most isolated island: Easter Island. An expedition of 23 persons reached the island and began the first sub-surface archaeological excavation every attempted. They soon discovered that Easter Island had once been wooded until deforested by its original inhabitants, who also planted water-reeds and other South American plants.

Carbon dating showed that the Island had been occupied from about 380 A.D., about one thousand years earlier than scientists previously believed. Excavations indicated that some ancient stone carvings on the Island were similar to ancient traditions in Peru. Some Easter Islanders claimed that according to their legends, they orginally arrived from the far away lands to the East. The results of Heyerdahl's work were widely discussed and presented at the Tenth Pacific Science Congress in Honolulu (1961) where they were supported by the unanimous statement: "Southeast Asia and the islands adjacent constitute one major source area of the peoples and cultures of the Pacific Islands and South America". Thus, Heyerdahl's eastern migration theory had gained considerable influence.