Quote of the day by Erich von Däniken: 'Could it be that God was an extra-terrestrial?'

Erich von Däniken, the Swiss author whose bestselling books on the extraterrestrial origins of ancient civilisations earned him a devoted global following — and fierce criticism from scientists — has died at the age of 90.

Von Däniken shot to fame in 1968 with Chariots of the Gods, a book that argued that ancient cultures such as the Mayans and Egyptians were visited by alien astronauts who passed on advanced technological knowledge, enabling them to build monuments like the pyramids. The book appeared at a moment when humanity itself was preparing to step onto the Moon, fuelling public fascination with the possibility of life beyond Earth.

One of the book’s most provocative lines became famous: “Could it be that God was an extra-terrestrial?”


In the same work, von Däniken wrote: “What do we mean when we say that heaven is in the clouds? From Jesus Christ to Elvis Presley, every culture tells us of high-flying bird men who zoom around the world creating magnificent works of art and choosing willing followers to share in the eternal glory from beyond the stars. Can all these related phenomena merely be dismissed as coincidence?”

Chariots of the Gods was followed by more than two dozen similar books that went on to sell around 60 million copies in 32 languages, creating a genre in which speculation and fantasy were often presented as alternatives to established history and science.

Who was Erich von Däniken?

Born in 1935 in the northern Swiss town of Schaffhausen, the son of a clothing manufacturer, von Däniken rebelled against his strict Catholic upbringing by developing his own explanations for the origins of life. After leaving school in 1954, he worked as a waiter and barman, a period marked by repeated fraud accusations and short prison sentences.

In 1964, he became the manager of a hotel in Davos, where he began writing Chariots of the Gods. Its success was quickly followed by further legal troubles, including convictions for tax evasion and financial misconduct, which again sent him to prison. By the time he was released, the book was earning him a fortune and a sequel, Gods from Outer Space, was ready.

Throughout the 1970s, von Däniken travelled widely — especially in Egypt, India and Latin America — in search of what he believed were traces of ancient visitors from space. He lectured, founded societies to promote his ideas and later embraced video and multimedia to reach a growing audience.

In 1991, he became the first recipient of the satirical Ig Nobel Prize for literature, awarded for raising public awareness of science through questionable claims. Even when confronted with fabricated evidence in a British television documentary, he maintained that his core theories remained valid.

His influence, however, was real. His books and films inspired a wave of pseudo-archaeological documentaries and popular TV shows such as The X-Files. His final major project, the Mystery Park theme park in Switzerland, failed commercially and now stands largely abandoned.

Erich von Däniken is survived by his wife of 65 years, Elisabeth Skaja, their daughter Cornelia and two grandchildren.