MB Civic

Proponents cite ancient mythologies to support their viewpoints based on the idea that ancient creation myths of gods who descend from the heavens to Earth to create or instruct humanity are actually representations of alien visitors, whose superior technology accounts for their reception as gods. Proponents attempt to draw an analogy to occurrences in modern times when isolated cultures are exposed to Western technology, such as when, in the early 20th century, “cargo cults” were discovered in the South Pacific: cultures who believed various Western ships and their cargo to be sent from the gods as fulfillment of prophecies concerning their return

In Hindu mythology, the gods and their avatars travel from place to place in flying vehicles (variously called “flying chariots”, “flying cars” or Vimanas). There are many mentions of these flying machines in the Ramayana, which dates to the 5th or 4th century BCE. Below are some examples:

From Book 6, Canto CXXIII: The Magic Car:

Is not the wondrous chariot mine,
Named Pushpak, wrought by hands divine.
…
This chariot, kept with utmost care,
Will waft thee through the fields of air,
And thou shalt light unwearied down
In fair Ayodhyá’s royal town.

From Book 6, Canto CXXIV: The Departure:

Swift through the air, as Ráma chose,
The wondrous car from earth arose.
And decked with swans and silver wings
Bore through the clouds its freight of kings.

Erich von Däniken discusses the Ramayana and the vimanas in Chariots of the Gods? chapter 6, suggesting that they were “space vehicles”. To support his theory, he also offers a quotation which he says is from an 1889 translation of the Mahabharata by C. Roy: “Bhima flew with his Vimana on an enormous ray which was as brilliant as the sun and made a noise like the thunder of a storm”.

See also Vaimanika Shastra, a text on Vimanas supposedly “channeled” in the early 20th century.

The Book of Genesis, chapter 6 verses 1–4, states:

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
…
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them.
— Genesis 6:1–4 (New International Version)

One interpretation is that the Nephilim are the children of the “sons of God” and “daughters of humans”, although scholars are uncertain. The King James Version replaces the term “Nephilim” with “giants”.

The first part of the apocryphal Book of Enoch expands and interprets Genesis 6:1. It explains that the “sons of God” were a group of 200 “angels” called “Watchers”. Against God’s wishes, these Watchers descended to Earth to breed with humans. Their offspring are the Nephilim, “giants” who “consumed all the acquisitions of men”. When humans could no longer sustain the Nephilim, they turned against humanity. The Watchers also instructed humans in metallurgy and metalworking, cosmetics, sorcery, astrology, astronomy and meteorology. God then ordered the Watchers to be imprisoned in the ground. He created the Great Flood to rid Earth of the Nephilim and of the humans who had been given knowledge by the Watchers. However, to ensure humanity’s survival, Noah is forewarned of the oncoming destruction. Because they disobeyed God, the book also describes the Watchers as “fallen angels”.

Some ancient astronaut theorists believe that this story is a historical account of extraterrestrials visiting Earth. In their interpretation, the “angels” are extraterrestrials and were called Watchers because their mission was to observe humanity. Some of the extraterrestrials disobeyed orders; they made contact with humans, cross-bred with human females and shared knowledge with them. The Nephilim were thus half-human-half-extraterrestrial hybrids.

Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman argue that modern UFOs carry the fallen angels, or offspring of fallen angels: the Nephilim of Genesis, who have now returned. They believe it was this interbreeding between the angels and humans that led to what they call “the gene pool problem.” Noah was perfect in his “generations,” that is “Noah’s genealogy was not tarnished by the intrusion of fallen angels. It seems that this adulteration of the human gene pool was a major problem on the planet earth.”

Von Däniken also suggests that the two angels who visited Lot in Genesis 19 were not angels, but ancient astronauts. They may have used atomic weapons to destroy the city of Sodom. In any case, the otherworldly beings acted as if there was a time set for Sodom’s destruction. Von Däniken questioned why God would work on a timetable and why an “infinitely good Father” would give “preference to ‘favorite children,’ such as Lot’s family, over countless others.”

Marc Dem completely reinterprets Genesis by claiming humanity started on another planet and that the God of the Bible is an extraterrestrial.