BERLIN -- Erich von Däniken, the Swiss writer whose bestselling books astir the extraterrestrial origins of past civilizations brought him fame among paranormal enthusiasts and scorn from the technological community, has died. He was 90.
Von Däniken's representatives announced connected his website connected Sunday that helium had died the erstwhile time successful a infirmary successful cardinal Switzerland. His girl Cornelia confirmed the accusation to Swiss quality bureau SDA.
Von Däniken roseate to prominence successful 1968 with the work of his archetypal publication "Chariots of the Gods," successful which helium claimed that the Mayans and past Egyptians were visited by alien astronauts and instructed successful precocious exertion that allowed them to physique elephantine pyramids.
The publication fueled a increasing involvement successful unexplained phenomena astatine a clip erstwhile acknowledgment to accepted subject antheral was astir to instrumentality its archetypal steps connected the Moon.
"Chariots of the Gods" was followed by much than 2 twelve akin books that sold 60 cardinal copies successful 32 languages, spawning a literate niche successful which information and phantasy were mixed unneurotic against each humanities and technological evidence.
While von Däniken managed to motion disconnected his galore critics, the erstwhile edifice waiter had a troubled narration with wealth passim his beingness and often came adjacent to fiscal ruin.
Born successful 1935, the lad of a covering shaper successful the bluish Swiss municipality of Schaffhausen, von Däniken is said to person rebelled against his father's strict Catholicism and the priests who instructed him astatine boarding schoolhouse by processing his ain alternatives to the biblical relationship of the origins of life.
After leaving schoolhouse successful 1954, von Däniken worked arsenic a waiter and barkeeper for respective years, during which helium was repeatedly accused of fraud and served a mates of abbreviated stints successful prison.
In 1964, helium was appointed manager of a edifice successful the exclusive edifice municipality of Davos and began penning his archetypal book. Its work and accelerated commercialized occurrence were rapidly followed by accusations of taxation dodging and fiscal impropriety, for which helium again spent clip down bars.
By the clip helium near prison, "Chariots of the Gods" was earning von Däniken a luck and a 2nd publication "Gods from Outer Space" was acceptable for publication, allowing him to perpetrate himself to his paranormal passionateness and question the satellite successful hunt of caller mysteries to uncover.
Throughout the 1970s von Däniken undertook countless tract trips to Egypt, India, and supra each Latin America, whose past cultures held a peculiar fascination for the amateur archaeologist.
He lectured wide and acceptable up societies devoted to promoting his theories, aboriginal pioneering the usage of video and multimedia to scope retired to ever-larger audiences bare for a antithetic relationship of history.
No magnitude of disapproval dissuaded him and his fans from believing that Earth has been visited repeatedly by beings from Outer Space, and volition beryllium again successful the future.
In 1991 von Däniken gained the damning accolade of being the archetypal recipient of the "Ig Nobel" prize for lit — for raising the nationalist consciousness of subject done questionable experiments oregon claims.
Even erstwhile confronted with fabricated grounds successful a British tv documentary — supposedly past pots were shown to beryllium astir caller — von Däniken insisted that, insignificant discrepancies aside, his theories were fundamentally sound.
In 1985 von Däniken wrote "Neue Erinnerungen an dice Zukunft" — "New Memories of the Future" — ostensibly to code his galore critics: "I person admitted (my mistakes), but not 1 of the foundations of my theories has yet been brought down."
Although his popularity was waning successful the English-speaking satellite by the 1980s, von Däniken's books and films influenced a question of semi-serious archaeological documentaries and galore fashionable tv shows, including "The X-Files," which featured 2 FBI agents tasked with solving paranormal mysteries.
His past large venture, a taxable parkland based connected his books, failed aft conscionable a fewer years owed to deficiency of interest. The "Mystery Park" inactive stands, its man-made pyramids and otherworldly domes rotting arsenic tourists similar to research the charms of the adjacent municipality of Interlaken and the imposing Swiss Alps that situation it.
Erich von Däniken is survived by his woman of 65 years, Elisabeth Skaja, Cornelia and 2 grandchildren.
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