Overview
- His office and family confirmed he died Saturday in Unterseen/Interlaken after a short hospital stay, with his publisher posting the news on his Twitter account.
- The Swiss autodidact broke through in 1968 with “Erinnerungen an die Zukunft” (“Chariots of the Gods”), later publishing more than 40 books translated into over 30 languages.
- By his and his publishers’ counts, his works sold tens of millions of copies, commonly cited between roughly 60 and 75 million worldwide.
- He argued that extraterrestrials visited ancient Earth and helped shape monuments and myths, claims repeatedly dismissed by archaeologists and other scientists as unscientific.
- He maintained a large public following through lectures, a YouTube presence, his A.A.S. foundation and the Mystery Park, and filmmakers such as Ridley Scott acknowledged his work, while he said Steven Spielberg told him he was an influence.