Jason Colavito - Faking History: Essays on Aliens, Atlantis, Monsters, and More

Ive been interested in fringe ideaancient aliens, Atlantis, monsterssince I was a kid. In my first book, The Cult of Alien Gods (2005) I told the story of how my childhood discovery of the ancient astronaut books of Erich von Dniken prompted a teenage belief in alternative history that lasted until the house of cards came crashing down in my collegiate years. The Sirius Mystery author Robert Temple had claimed that an African tribe called the Dogon possessed anomalous knowledge of the Sirius star system, knowledge only aliens could provide. But I learned that anthropologists had found no such evidence, and the Sirius mystery crumbled. More research revealed still more distortions, omissions, and lies until nothing remained.

In early 2001, I began writing about what I had learned, just before I turned twenty. I pu blished my thoughts about alternative history on my first website, Lost Civilizations Uncovered . In 2003, I made my most important discovery: that much of todays alternative history could be traced to the influence of the horror and science fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, which I reported in my first professionally published article, Charioteer of the Gods (2004). It ran in Skeptic magazine, and I later expanded and updated it for Dark Lore 7 (2012). I have included it in this anthology as Chapter 2. This article led to a book deal for The Cult of Alien Gods , which I thought would be my last word on ancient astronauts and alternative history. I continued writing articles for Skeptic magazine after this, but I turned my focus to my other love, horror fiction, producing a well-received study of the relationship between horror fiction and science as well as a critically acclaimed anthology of early horror criticism.

Then things changed. In 2009, the History Channel screened Ancient Aliens , a two-hour special intended as a pilot for a future series. I didnt watch it the night it debuted. Instead, I got a phone call from my father telling me that a friend of his had watched the show and saw my name in it. I turned on the show in a subsequent showing, and there I was, or rather a full-screen image of my Charioteer of the Gods with my name prominently displayed. The narrator was discussing von Dnikens 1968 book Chariots of the Gods? But in spite of the books enormous popularityor perhaps because of it, von Dnikens theories were scorned by scientists, and jeered at by theologians. As scare quotes I never said scrolled across my name, the image inverted to deep black, and my name burst into an evil blood redimplying without words that the show took a negative view of my work.

Well, that wasnt good.

Ancient Aliens rekindled my passion for truth, and in the intervening years, I have investigated hundreds of claims made by every manner of alternative historian, from ancient astronaut writers to Atlantis believers, from pyramid mystics to mystery-mongers. I have published these investigations in the pages of Skeptic magazine, the eSkeptic online newsletter, as well as my website, JasonColavito.com, both as feature articles and among my daily blog posts. What you are about to read is a collection of fifty of my best essays on fake history and false claims, covering everything from Atlantis to Chupacabra to Stonehenge to UFOs, and even the demonic power of the humble dinner fork. All of these essays have been newly revised and updated for this edition, including full references.

Mark Twain once said, Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing the matter with this, except that it aint so. I hope that the following essays make at least a tentative step toward giving the truth a fighting chance.