Erich Von Daniken, the Fibber

[Summerlander]

Daniken authored CHARIOTS OF THE GODS, where he asserts that ancient gods were actually advanced extraterrestrials who influenced religions and culture on Earth. An intriguing hypothesis for which there isn't one shred of convincing evidence; not to mention that the book---deemed by reputable scientists to be pseudoscientific and found by historians to be fraudulent---was drafted several times by Wilhelm Uterman, the head of the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter, after having been rejected by several publishers.

CHARIOTS OF THE GODS is thoroughly refuted in Ronald Story's THE SPACE GODS REVEALED (which also defecates on ex-NASA religious fantasist Josef Blumrich) and Daniken is accused of plagiarism of several works of literature---most notably, THE MORNING OF THE MUSICIANS, which took inspiration from the real originator of the 'ancient astronaut' theory, H. P. Lovecraft's horror fiction.

THE CALL OF CTHULHU ( /kəˈθuːluː/) by Lovecraft precedes Chariots of the Gods by 40 years. In the foreword of THE SPACE GODS REVEALED, the scientist Carl Sagan declares that he knows of 'no recent books so riddled with logical and factual errors as the works of von Daniken'.

[Summerlander]

Someone just told me that, after repudiating Von Daniken's book to his neighbour, this one stormed out.

Wow! Some people can't get over their bruised egos. Von Daniken himself has even admitted to 'embellishing' his claims. Despite the fact that he recanted an assertion about an Indian pillar being of alien origin, fans out there still believe the object is extraterrestrial in nature.