“Chariots of the Gods” Erich von Daniken Dead at 90

Monday, January 12, 2026

Erich von Dniken, the Swiss author whose bestselling books about the extraterrestrial origins of ancient civilizations brought him fame among paranormal enthusiasts and scorn from the scientific community, has died. He was 90. Von Dniken's representatives announced on his website on Sunday that he had died the previous day in a hospital in central Switzerland. Von Dniken rose to prominence in 1968 with the publication of his first book "Chariots of the Gods," in which he claimed that the Mayans and ancient Egyptians were visited by alien astronauts and instructed in advanced technology that allowed them to build giant pyramids.

Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 06:34 AM | 8 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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In 1964, he was appointed manager of a hotel in the exclusive resort town of Davos and began writing his first book. Its publication and rapid commercial success were quickly followed by accusations of tax dodging and financial impropriety, for which he again spent time behind bars.

By the time he left prison, "Chariots of the Gods" was earning von Dniken a fortune and a second book "Gods from Outer Space" was ready for publication, allowing him to commit himself to his paranormal passion and travel the world in search of new mysteries to uncover.

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Von Daniken, a cultural phenomenon, wrote hilarious, hugely profitable rubbish.
Oh, right, almost forgot: He did his "own research."
Lol.

#1 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-01-12 06:38 AM | Reply

Thanks for reporting this, Doc Sarvis.

I have several shelves dedicated to my Erich von Daniken and Immanuel Velikovsky collection. Post-WWII 1950 was probably the beginning of the age of "pseudo-science."

An extraterrestrial traveler who visited South America a thousand years ago is depicted by the natives wearing an oxygen helmet in this stone relief.

#2 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-12 07:01 AM | Reply

Coriolanus ...
In the 50s, as a kid, I devoured Frank Edwards (en.wikipedia.org(writer_and_broadcaster)#Books) " Stranger Than Science, etc., and other great, preposterous stuff that could withstand no real scrutiny (along with Mad and the usual horror magazines). The problem, of course, wasn't that the writers hadn't done any research; they just hadn't bothered to conduct any real research. Von Daniken demonstrated how playing on wishful thinking and ignorance could be monetized. He wasn't the first and he certainly won't be the last, but he was hugely influential and historians and anthropologists still answer questions generated from his grab bag of Great Whatisits.

#3 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-01-12 07:31 AM | Reply

Frank Edwards. Wow. Good stuff.

Have you read The Day After Roswell by Philip Corso? He was a serious US Army Counterintelligence Officer (LTC) during the Second World War and he extricated 10,000 Jewish refugees from Rome to Palestine. His book about the USG exploiting UFO technology is pretty interesting to say the least.

As you know, since you lived through it ahead of me, many of those ideas from the writers of Sci-Fi pulp and comic books became realities.

Charles Moulton (Wonder Woman creator) wrote about the "Purple Healing Ray" and her "Golden Lasso" which made one tell the truth. Today we use infrared and ultraviolet light therapy for a host of skin infections and the polygraph machine was invented by Moulton.

Did you own of these when you grew up with movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Red Planet Mars?

#4 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-12 07:49 AM | Reply

Everything the man wrote was nonsense.

#5 | Posted by Zed at 2026-01-12 08:58 AM | Reply

Sad commentary on snake oil demand that we even know this guy's name.

#6 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-12 09:02 AM | Reply

Hi Zed

But Erich von Daniken was entertaining.

Decades ago I read the book and saw "Chariots of the Gods."

Soon after the US release of the film, a TV show called "In Search of...." aired to capitalize on the success of the movie.

Hosted by Leonard Nimoy, he used his rich voice to narrate each episode which explored UFOs, yetis, spontaneous combustion, etc.

This should be the entire 1974-75 series here: www.youtube.com

#7 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-12 09:08 AM | Reply

Von Daniken demonstrated how playing on wishful thinking and ignorance could be monetized.

Human slop. As opposed to AI slop.

I gotta say tho ... I love Giorgio Tsoukalos hair.

#8 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-01-12 11:49 AM | Reply