By: Dr. Sam Osmanagich
On January 10, 2026, Erich von Däniken passed away in a Swiss hospital in Interlaken. With his passing, the creator of a different, non-dogmatic view of the world’s past has departed. He exerted an enormous influence on popular culture through his claims about advanced civilizations that visited Earth (“ancient astronauts”) and through alternative explanations of the world’s major archaeological mysteries, such as the Egyptian pyramids, the Nazca Lines, thousand-ton blocks in Baalbek, Lebanon, descriptions of ancient technologies in Indian, Babylonian, Mayan, and Egyptian texts, depictions of flying objects in Orthodox churches in Macedonia, Metohija, and Georgia, as well as many other locations around the world.
Our first encounter came at his initiative in 2014. At that time, he modestly introduced himself to me in an email as the author of Chariots of the Gods (the 1968 bestseller that made him famous). The book sold millions of copies, and together with his other works he sold a record-breaking total of more than 60 million copies. He asked to meet me in Visoko, as he had constant questions about the Bosnian pyramids and wished to visit them personally.
He arrived at the end of April 2014, and we spent two days together. We toured the archaeological excavation sites on the northern side of the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun. He was in good physical condition for a 79-year-old. He stated to Visoko television that he had been researching ancient sites for more than half a century and that he knew what artificial concrete was, and that the blocks he had seen were certainly not natural.
We spent almost four hours in the Ravne tunnels and at that time visited all tunnels that were accessible. He told me:
“I have traveled all over the world, but I have never seen a mystery like this!”
Later, we met several more times. He was always very warm and smiling in conversation with me. He appreciated what we were doing in the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids.
As a young man, I read his books, which pushed me to question what I had been taught in school. As a mature researcher, I analyzed his views on various locations. Sometimes we visited and researched the same sites, on different continents, at slightly different times. But he was always in the right place, asking the right questions.
His answers were consistently the same: advanced civilizations from other star systems.
I can say of him that he was a true researcher—persistent, knowledgeable, and curious. He did not waste time; he always wanted to see and learn something new.
Däniken was not a scientist, just as Graham Hancock, David Hatcher, Andrew Collins, Robert Schoch, Robert Bauval, and a generation of independent researchers who followed him are not scientists. They did not take samples or analyze them, they did not conduct laboratory analyses, they did not measure energy phenomena, and they did not apply any dating methods. Therefore, their books, interviews, lectures, media statements, and similar outputs do not carry scientific weight. They leave behind no published peer-reviewed scientific papers.
However, over several decades these researchers have left a deep mark on human consciousness. Instead of ready-made—and most often incorrect—explanations of the ancient past that shape our present, they posed the right questions, which is the correct path toward genuine explanations.
Our cosmic and divine right is the right to truth. Instead of dogma and coercion through the educational system and the media, each of us deserves to know our true history. And Däniken honorably lived through his earthly experience.
Attached are his first email addressed to me and a photograph from our visit to the Ravne tunnels in Visoko.
From: Erich von Däniken <evondaniken@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 4:17 PM
To: osmanagic@msn.com <osmanagic@msn.com>
Subject: Pyramid in Bosnia
Dear Sir, I am the author of CHARIOTS OF THE GODS and many other titles. Since Years I missed to visit the Pyramids in Bosnia and practicaly every evening some people ask me about the pyramids in Bosnia. And every time I give the same answers: I have not visited the place. Therefore I have nothing to say. I will change this now and I plane to visit Your Pyramid together with my secretary on Monday, April 28th. It would be great to meet You personaly. Are You there on Monday April 28th? With best regards – Erich von Däniken
