# Erich von Däniken has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [January 11, 2026, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576 "2026-01-11T22:37:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/21 "2026-01-12T07:52:56Z")
I have to say that the movie that was based on the book was a strange mix. The content, like the book, was complete bullshit, but the movie was technically well made and had quite a pleasant soundtrack. I am not in any way recommending that anyone subject themselves to this bullshit, just saying that it was surprising. I don’t remember how or why I came to watch it, it was a great many years ago. The essence of what Von Daniken did was to cite a whole bunch of completely unrelated phenomena, like the Nazca Lines and Bermuda Triangle incidents, leap to outrageous and totally unsupported conclusions, and claim that aliens are the commonality behind all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/22 "2026-01-12T08:52:45Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I have to say that the movie that was based on the book was a strange mix. The content, like the book, was complete bullshit, but the movie was technically well made and had quite a pleasant soundtrack. I am not in any way recommending that anyone subject themselves to this bullshit, just saying that it was surprising. I don’t remember how or why I came to watch it, it was a great many years ago. As I recall, it was shown on TV a few times, so maybe you caught one of those airings. I saw it on TV too, but it lost me when it remarked upon an Aztec or Incan stone carving where it was explained that, “This is an ancient astronaut, with his hands on the controls and his foot on what is plainly a gas pedal.” Waitaminute—spaceships have gas pedals? Yeahhh … But it was entertaining as hell, as long as you accepted it in the same way you accept pro wrestling—you know it’s BS, but it’s entertaining in a weird way. In about 1975 or so, he gave a lecture in Toronto, and I was gifted a ticket. I think it was more because, “Well, I guess we can’t sell them all, so give away some to make it look like a packed house for the press photographers.” Anyway, I went, and he rehashed pretty much _Chariots of the Gods_, both book and movie. Nothing new there. But I had taken my copy of the book, and got to meet him and I got his autograph in my book. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/23 "2026-01-12T12:25:57Z")
His kind of stuff has been with us longer than he has. I recall reading _Chariot of the Gods?_ for the first time and thinking that I already had books from several authors claiming the same things – chiefly Frank Edwards and some French dude. I learned about Charts Fort later. By that time I had also learned about how such writers bent and distorted the truth and ignored or dismissed more rational criticism of their work. We’ve still got Graham Hancock and Robert Temple and plenty of others. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/24 "2026-01-12T15:25:58Z")
People like this(and Robert Tilton, etc) remind me of a verse in Job. Job is the oldest book of the bible, written before Genesis and so forth. “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?” I wouldn’t say Daniken increased in power, but man if it doesn’t seem like evil keeps you alive longer sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/25 "2026-01-12T15:32:52Z")
Mr. Ancient Aliens himself! I wouldn’t have expected he’d still be around. Other than when I periodically re-read James Randi’s _Flim-Flam,_ I hadn’t thought about him at all since the late seventies. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/26 "2026-01-12T15:34:30Z")
Given that the book is rubbish, I actually like the graphic design of the cover. You never see anything like that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/27 "2026-01-12T15:37:20Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > It’s been so long, as with Santa Claus, I can’t tell you the precise moment I went from believing this stuff was real to understanding it wasn’t. For me it was Sagan’s _Cosmos_. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/28 "2026-01-12T15:43:46Z")
I’ve disliked EvD for some decades now, but I always thought of him as just a grifter, not an open racist beyond the whole “If it’s impressive and not by Europeans then it’s made by aliens!” general racism of the whole “Ancient Aliens/Atlanteans” shit. But I just googled “Sign of the gods” and well, let EvD speak for himself: > [@Erich Von Daniken](#): > > “The evolutionists say that man descends from monkeys. Yet who has ever seen a white monkey? Or a dark ape with curly hair such as the black race has?” > > “Were the extraterrestrials able to opt between different races from the beginning? Did they endow different human groups with different abilities to survive in different climatic and geographical conditions?” > > ”Today it is assumed that primitive men had dark skins.” > > “Was the black race a failure and did the extraterrestrials change the genetic code by gene surgery and then programme a white or a yellow race?” > > “Nearly all negroes are musical: they have rhythm in their blood.” > > “I quite understand that I am playing with dynamite if I ask whether the extraterrestrials ‘allotted’ specific tasks to the basic races from the very beginning, i.e. programmed them with special abilities.” > > “I am not a racialist… Yet my thirst for knowledge enables me to ignore the taboo on asking racial questions simply because it is untimely and dangerous… why are we like we are? > > “Once this basic question is accepted, we cannot and should not avoid the explosive sequel: is there a chosen race?” ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/29 "2026-01-12T15:44:56Z")
When I was a young teenager, I avidly read his books, and the Bermuda Triangle books, and I did my biorhythms, and was fascinated by Uri Geller and pyramid power and my horoscope…and I’m glad I did that, because as I got older it gave me a better sense, I think, of how irredeemably fucking stupid all of it is, but also why it can be attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/30 "2026-01-12T15:46:25Z")
> [@Erich Von Daniken](#): > > “Nearly all negroes are musical: they have rhythm in their blood.” 😲 > [@Erich Von Daniken](#): > > “I am not a racialist… Yet…” When defending a position, anything said before ‘but’ or ‘yet’ is bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/31 "2026-01-12T15:46:53Z")
I think a lot of us did, is not a shame to be fascinated by fascinating stuff when younger, but if as you grow older and wiser you fail to detect the bullshit and the racism… well, you have a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/32 "2026-01-12T15:47:57Z")
> [@Erich Von Daniken](#): > > “Was the black race a failure and did the extraterrestrials change the genetic code by gene surgery and then programme a white or a yellow race?” I think this is the worst one. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/33 "2026-01-12T15:48:49Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > I think this is the worst one. Yes. But the one I quoted is a more widely-known racist comment. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/34 "2026-01-12T15:52:47Z")
So he was a pioneer of Just Asking Questions? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/35 "2026-01-12T15:54:32Z")
For whatever reason the algorithm in my social showed me Giorgio (“I’m not saying it’s aliens, but look at this haircut”) Tsoukalos’ thread on this and to no one’s surprise you’d think a frikkin Nobel Prize Winning Pope had died. Geez… ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/36 "2026-01-12T15:57:58Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > By that time I had also learned about how such writers bent and distorted the truth and ignored or dismissed more rational criticism of their work. In the early 80s, in eighth or ninth grade, our German teacher (who was also our history teacher) let us read and analyse texts by von Däniken. It was an example for him to point out manipulative textual techniques and teach us critical thinking. It was a revelation for me, and I’m still thankful for that lesson. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/37 "2026-01-12T16:03:18Z")
More like a link in an ancient and time honored chain. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/38 "2026-01-12T16:20:10Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > In the early 80s, in eighth or ninth grade, our German teacher (who was also our history teacher) let us read and analyse texts by von Däniken. It was an example for him to point out manipulative textual techniques and teach us critical thinking. It was a revelation for me, and I’m still thankful for that lesson. Wow! In the eighth or ninth grade in Texas we were doing our second or third unit study on the Alamo. You had a terrific teacher. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/39 "2026-01-12T16:21:40Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > You had a terrific teacher. +1 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576/40 "2026-01-12T16:26:31Z")
Yeah, he was a great teacher, the favorite teacher of my whole school years. Thank you, Bernhard Rohr! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erich-von-daniken-has-died/1026576.md?page=3)