The extraterrestrial hypothesis
Gods from Eden
The first dates back to the year 18,617,837 BC; the last to 607 BC: we are talking about the landings of extraterrestrial peoples who would have aided the evolution of our civilization, if not actually "created" man through daring biogenetic operations. Among the various pseudo-cults related to UFOs, the so-called Extraterrestrial Hypothesis is undoubtedly the most popular. At the origin of human civilization, there would be a visit - indeed, several visits, as you will read in this same entry - by an alien people, just as various mythologies claim when they speak of "Gods from the Sky." The space visitors would have provided earthlings with the necessary knowledge to begin their long journey towards civilization; then, having completed their mission, they would return to their world lost in the Galaxy.
It's not easy to trace an "official" inventor of the extraterrestrial hypothesis: for years, it was relegated to highly specialized magazines circulated among ufologists or other clubs interested in mysterious things. Among the most popular writers who have dealt with it, we remember the French Robert Charroux and Pauwels & Bergier, the Italian Peter Kolosimo, and, above all, the German Erich Von Daeniken, whose books have become best-sellers in 26 languages.
A billion-dollar hypothesis
Millions and millions of copies sold, billions in royalties, a lawsuit for fraud, a veritable army of followers, dozens of imitators worldwide: this is what has made Erich Von Daeniken a series of books that began in 1967 with Erinnerungen an die Zukumft (literally "Memories from the future"). The skilled German writer has been able to elaborate the extraterrestrial hypothesis in an extremely popular and readable form, even though the evidence exhibited in its favor is very scarce. Von Daeniken (like his imitators) merely shows photos of ancient statuettes and jewelry; if the head of the statuette is round, according to him, it undoubtedly represents an astronaut's helmet; if the character wears a horned headdress (as in many ancient depictions), these are radio antennas, and so on. Often, the writer cites journeys he has never undertaken, invents testimonies, talks about places that don't actually exist; so his work has, paradoxically, provided new weapons to the detractors of a hypothesis that, after all, might hide a grain of truth.
East and West
Von Daeniken and his successors propose an extraterrestrial solution to many of the enigmas described in this volume: the giant drawings only visible from the sky that stretch for miles on the Nazca plateau were part of a spaceport; the great constructions like Stonehenge, the pyramids, Tiahuanaco were built with the aid of alien technologies; the engraving on the sarcophagus of the temple of Palenque, the Dogu statuettes, and certain graffiti in Australia and the Sahara represent astronauts in flight suits; the Piri Re'is map was drawn aboard a spaceship; the explosions that destroyed Mohenjo-Daro and Tunguska were caused by extraterrestrial weapons.
Even in the current Commonwealth of Independent States, the extraterrestrial hypothesis is surprisingly widespread. Authors like Alexandr Kazantsev have collected in various volumes the "evidence" of remote visits by "Gods from space" in what was the Soviet Union. The Eskimos who live in the far north of the Commonwealth of Independent States actually come from fertile tropical regions and were transported to the Arctic (out of pure malice?) by "large metallic birds" from the stars. Other peoples living within the Arctic Circle, like the Yucaghirs settled between the Yana and Kolyma rivers, would descend from extraterrestrial ancestors who arrived with a formless appearance and were later magically transformed into human beings. "Proof" of the passage of extraterrestrials in Eastern countries consists of graffiti, which represent - as usual - details of diving suits or spacecraft. Near the village of Fergana, on the river Shiahimardan, an engraving depicts a being equipped with a stylized "helmet." At Sarmys, in Uzbekistan, a graffito dating back at least 3000 years depicts a "missile" surrounded by men wearing something resembling a respirator. In the monastery of Visoki Decani, in Albania, the frescoes on the walls depict some characters aboard very noisy spacecraft: the surrounding characters in the fresco, indeed, cover their ears with their hands.
In the paleontology museum of Moscow, there is a bison skull found in Yakutia, with a perfectly round hole in the center of the forehead. According to Alexandr Kazantsev, it was caused by "some kind of bullet"; and since the bone partially reformed around the hole indicates that the animal managed to survive, this means it was shot while still alive, thousands of years ago. But who could have had a firearm back then? Perhaps the spirits who, according to the inhabitants of the region, "descended from the sky with their shining chariots" to collect the souls of the dead?
Extraterrestrials in the Bible
The Bible has provided followers of the extraterrestrial hypothesis a vast array of "evidence": some attribute the episode in which Joshua stopped the Sun or the one in which he knocked down the walls of Jericho with a trumpet to alien intervention; some believe that the Ark of the Covenant is an alien artifact; still others think that angels are spaceship pilots. In short, all the extraordinary events of the Old Testament acceptable only thanks to faith in God (the following constitutes a very reduced list) have been reexplained with the help of another faith: that in the existence of aliens particularly interested in the destiny of our ancestors.
The Advent of the Elohim
The plural form of the name of God (in Genesis it is called both Elohim, which means gods; and Yahweh in the singular) is justified by the fact that the Elohim were a group of extraterrestrials who built man through elaborate biogenetic operations.
Ezekiel's Flying Saucer.
Ezekiel's vision of the Chariot of Fire did not represent an angel, but a flying saucer complete with wheel-shaped propulsors.
Atomic at Sodom.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was caused by an atomic explosion triggered by extraterrestrials. This is proven by the fact that Lot's wife, turning to observe its glow, turned into a salt statue, i.e., was calcified by the heat.
The Crossing of the Red Sea.
Moses parted the waters of the Red Sea with the help of friendly extraterrestrial forces. The manna with which the fleeing Jews were fed was nothing more than a deposit (evidently edible) left by the combustion of alien spaceship engines.
Earth, a Cosmic Terminus
Examining the volumes dedicated to the extraterrestrial hypothesis, it is even possible to trace a chronology of the major landings of aliens on Earth. In parentheses are cited the authors or "schools of thought."
18,617,837 BC: A group of aliens called Kumaras from Venus land on an island in what is now the Gobi Desert, then an ocean (Brahminical Traditions)
5 million BC: The Venusians land again near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, where they found the fortress of Tiahuanaco. They are led by a tapir woman, known by the name of Orejona (Peter Kolosimo)
443,000 BC: The Nephilim, from the planet Marduk, land in Mesopotamia and give rise to the Sumerian civilization (Zecharia Sitchin)
Around 400,000 BC: Amphibious extraterrestrials spread the culture of Oannes, the Fish God, among the Sumerians, Philistines, and Dogon
38,000 BC: Following a space war, a group of extraterrestrials settles on Earth, where they build immense underground tunnels to hide from pursuers (Von Daeneken)
12,000 BC: Extraterrestrials land in Amazonia, where they found the never-again-found civilization of Akakor (Karl Brugger)
Between 8000 and 500 BC: A new wave of extraterrestrials lands at various points on Earth, contributing to the founding of some so-called "mysterious" civilizations (Maya, Incas, Egyptians, Basques, Etruscans) (Von Daeneken)
From the planet Hub come evil beings who will enter legend as Lucifer and the fallen angels. They still survive today, and to them are due the troubles that plague the world (Group of "Sons of Jared")
3097 BC: Again the Venusians, forced to abandon their planet due to a cosmic catastrophe, land on Earth. The catastrophe causes the famous universal flood (Signorini)
1927 BC: Following celestial wars fought on our planet, the advanced civilization of Mohenjo Daro (Pakistan) is erased from the face of the Earth by an atomic explosion (Davenport)
1246 BC: Destroyed by its own weapons, the planet Maldek crumbles. On Earth, a rain of flaming fragments and unknown viruses pours down, causing the legendary plagues of Egypt (Raymond Drake)
607 BC: Travelers from another dimension, arriving to "reset Earth's orbit and the solar system" (?) found the Maya civilization (José Argüelles)
March 28, 1950 AD: A patrol of Ummite lands on Earth, who describe - by letter - the technological wonders of their planet to numerous correspondents scattered around the globe.
Contemplative Life
We conclude with two observations.
First:
the same places, the same objects, and the same episodes that we have just mentioned are used as "proof" of the veracity of their assertions by proponents of other non-orthodox theories different from the extraterrestrial hypothesis: there are those who attribute them to the intervention of the inhabitants of Atlantis, those - with equal certainty - to that of the Angels, those to magic. In short, all that is certain is that their origins will be debated for many years to come.
Second:
all the peoples in whose countries the extraterrestrials would have landed importing their "superior wisdom" (in South America, in Africa) were conquered and destroyed by more technologically advanced civilizations (for example the Spanish, regarding the South American peoples). It would seem, then, that the extraterrestrials spread, more than technical knowledge, a particularly contemplative philosophy of life.
