SUBJECT: THEORY OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL GODS                     FILE: UFO2118



BY PATRICK HUYGHE - OMNI


A little more than 25 years ago, the manager of a first class Swiss hotel
wrote a worldwide best seller titled Chariots of the Gods? Its author, Erich
Von Daniken, captured the public imagination with a dramatic presentation of
idea that extraterrestrials had left physical traces of their presence throu-
ghout the world. Chariots held, for instance, that the giant stone faces on
Easter Island off the coast of Chile were probably constructed with the help
of extraterrestrials; the long Nazca lines, crisscrossing the plains of Peru
and only visible from the air, Von Daniken said, were probably landing strips
for their craft.

By the late 1970s, however, Von Daniken's ancient astronaut theory was crumb-
ling under an avalanche of criticism from archaeologists and astronomers. To-
day, few believe these extraterrestrial gods ever existed. But don't tell that
to the 350 people who met in Las Vegas last August to attend the twentieth
anniversary conference of the Ancient Astronaut Society, or to any of the Soc-
iety's 10,000 members in 93 countries worldwide. Twenty speakers, including
numerous Ph.D.'s, engineers, and writers gave presentations that touched on
everything from the spaceships of the Biblical prophet Ezekiel to the notor-
ious face on Mars.

Von Daniken's largest base of support, however, is not in the Unided States,
but rather in Germnay and other nations of Europe. In 1993, for instance, Eur-
openas saw Von Daniken star in a 25 part biweekly TV series titled On the Tra-
ce of the Almighty. And touring the cities of Europe, Von Daniken still mana-
ges to fill 2,000 seat auditoriums. His last nine books, all best sellers in
Germany, have also appeared in Italy, France, Holland, Spain, Greece - every-
where, it seems, but in the United States, England, and Australia. I must be
blacklisted in America, says the 58 year old author with a chuckle.

Despite such slights, Von Daniken's belief in the ancient astronaut theory
remains firm. Each and every one of my books has had to be better than the one
before, he says. We have had to come up with stronger proof each time out.

Of note are the new translations of some ancient Asian Indian texts Von Danik-
en has commissioned. They describe gigantic space cities that surrounded our
planet thousands of years in the past, he says wit great enthusiasm. And from
these cities, extraterrestrials used small vehicles to descend to Earth.

Carl Sagan, a major critic of Von Daniken in the 1970s, says he has not chang-
ed his mind. One of Sagan's original objections was the underlying assumption 
that our ancestors were apparently too stupid to create the monumental archit-
ecture of our past.

But it's never been my idea, Von Daniken objects, that ancient astronauts had
constructed great buildings and temples. Mankind did. But why? Mythology and
religion say they were dealing with the teachers that had descended from heav-
en.

Von Daniken's protestations are unlikely to sway his critics. The whole ancie-
nt astronauts hypothesis was based more on pseudohistory and pseudoarchaeology
than any reasonable hypothesis about extraterrestrial intelligence, says Kend-
rick Frazier, editor of the Skeptical Inquirer. I just don't know anybody who
takes this seriously anymore.

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