While in his cell [whilst incarcerated for embezzlement, fraud and forgery], he claims, he experienced an intense vision.
Von Daniken won’t discuss the nature of the vision…
Erich Von Daniken, ancient astronaut alien fame (or, infamy)—was interviewed by Timothy Ferris; an interview you can find scanned from the original magazine here and yet, one that no one seems to have transcribed as of yet which is why we will provide much of the text within this series.
Timothy Ferris asked, “in Gold of the Gods in which you suggest that the banana was brought to Earth from space? Were you serious?”
He was referring to this bit of text:
The banana, a delicious item of food, has been known in every tropical and subtropical region of the earth for many thousands of years. The Indian saga tells of the “wonderful Kandali” (= banana bush) which the “Manu,” the loftiest spirits and protectors of mankind, brought to our planet from another star which was much further along the path of evolution than our earth.
But a banana bush or banana tree simply does not exist! The banana is an annual plant which does not multiply by seeds, which it does not possess, but by suckers. Looked at in this light, the banana is a problem. It is found on even the most remote South Sea islands.
How did this plant, which is so vital for the nourishment of mankind, originate? How did it make its way round the world, seeing that it has no seeds? Did the “Manu,” of whom the Indian saga tells, bring it with them from another star-as an all-round foodstuff?”
Apparently, not only did extra-terrestrial-alien seed bananas upon the Earth (directed panbananaia?) but they subsequently returned in order to bequeath upon up the knowledge of making iced cream Sundays!
Well, maybe not and also maybe they did not gift us with bananas as Erich Von Daniken’s reply to Ferris was, “No, and not many people realize that”:
[Timothy Ferris] That leads us to ask if all your writing is a put-on. Are you, as one writer suggested, ‘the most brilliant satirist in German literature for a century’?
[Erich Von Daniken] The answer is yes and no. We have a wonderful term in German: jein. It’s a combination of ja and nein, yes and no. In some part, absolutely not; I mean what I say seriously. In other ways, I mean to make people laugh.
[Timothy Ferris] Well, you’ve succeeded in both aims.”
Zing! seems an appropriate term at this point. Yet, while the particular issue of the banana may be very simple to refute it makes one wonder in just how many areas Von Daniken was not serious, employed the jein and no one knows about it simply because he has never been asked.
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