The famous explorer of the past, Erich von Daniken, often baffled scientists and surprised readers. His numerous books undermined the foundations of religion - in the interpretation of the Swiss ufologist, writer and filmmaker, the gods turned out to be aliens from outer space, and the sacred books, including the Bible, were "reports from the cosmodrome." However, no one expected Erich von Däniken to dare to perform even more shocking performances
In 2006, he published the novel Tomy und der Planet der Luge (Tomys and the Planet of Lies). Only recently did Daniken tell ufologist Robert Fleischner that the novel is based on a true story of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence!
- A documentary author needs to maintain a reputation, and this story, although it happened twenty-five years ago, can spoil the reputation, says Daniken. - I kept it a secret for a long time - scientists and the press would tear me to pieces, they thought I was crazy. I did not want to write a documentary book about this, since there was no evidence of the reality of what happened. Let "Tom and the Planet of Lies" be considered fiction, although basically everything is true, only some details have been changed. I wrote all this, because I am becoming an old man and I do not care what they say about it.
In the early 1980s, Erich, along with his assistant, Mark, went on another expedition. The route ran through the Baluchistan Desert, which lies on the border between Iran and Pakistan. There were no roads, not even country roads, and the sand was fine as dust. Mark developed allergies, he coughed, then he developed a fever. When it got dark, Erich stopped the jeep.
“There were only two front seats in the car,” Daniken recalls. - Mark went there, and I took a blanket and climbed onto the roof. It got cold quickly, but the sight of the starry sky was indescribably beautiful. The stars shone brightly, twinkled like diamonds, and it seemed that you could touch them with your hands. I imagined that extraterrestrial civilizations exist on planets near distant stars, and I said to myself: "If there is someone there, show yourself, I have never seen you." I fell asleep repeating the call over and over.
Fulfilling a wish
The next morning Daniken was awakened by a sound like a shot. Erich thought it was a thunderstorm, but then the car shook.
“I thought that something had happened to Mark,” von Daniken continues his story. - Just in case, a pistol was hidden between the seats, and it seemed to me that Mark started shooting during a fever attack. I bent down and shouted: “What's the matter? Why did you shoot? " - "I didn't shoot!" he responded. At that moment, several more times in a row crashed: plastic water bottles exploded in the cabin. A jet from one bottle gushed into my face, but not a drop flew. The water spiraled and hung in the air. Meanwhile, Mark got out of the car and stared at the sand. In the first rays of the sun, we saw that something was moving in the sand. I thought it was a scorpion or a snake. But I was wrong. Something in the sand was growing before our eyes. At first it was just a pile of wet sand interspersed with meat,then a human embryo was formed from it, which continued to grow … A male baby quickly developed from him, before our eyes he turned into a boy, who became more and more, and finally we saw that a young man was lying on the sand. He awkwardly began to get up, looked at us and said: "You won't shoot yourself, Erich?"
Looking at the stranger, Daniken realized that before him was his exact copy, but twenty years younger. The newcomer spoke in the Swiss dialect of the German language and perfectly understood everything that the shocked travelers said.
“It was sheer madness,” Erich recalls. - I asked where he came from, and the young man pointed to the sky. "Who are you, what is your name?" - there was a second question, and he replied: “I have no name. Give me a name."
Daniken and Mark settled on Tomi's name. The stranger laughed, thanked them, got to his feet, shook himself off the sand and said: "Now my name is Tomi."
Tomi's Space Adventures explained why all the bottles exploded. He needed water to "collect the body." But this water was not enough, and he borrowed water from the jeep's radiator. The wrenches turned out to be bent, the metal from which they were made became porous: it turned out that Tomi borrowed the impurities he needed from there.
The alien said he came from a star system we call Vega. He caught Daniken's mental call and, after scanning his body, assumed an identical form. In fact, he was pure energy combined into a single whole with other similar creatures.
All this, of course, was interesting, but Erich and Mark were in a critical situation. They were in the middle of the desert, and Tomi "sucked" all the water, thereby immobilizing the car. The stranger, realizing that he had let the earthlings down, said: "I will help you," lay down on the sand and entered a state of trance. After a while, coming to his senses, he literally stunned his interlocutors. He said he got into the mind of the commandant of the Iranian military base and convinced him to send a truck with a driver overseas.
Help arrived an hour and a half later. The driver, without saying a word, poured water into the radiator for them and did everything so that the jeep could go again.
Now the expedition was commanded by Tomi, who did not attach importance to such trifles as borders. Soon, all three were in Tehran. Everywhere they were greeted with excellent hospitality, and the bills were already paid. As a sign of reciprocal "courtesy", the newcomer completed a number of tasks for Iranian intelligence, easily penetrating the minds of the right people. The Swiss embassy, at the request of the Iranians, issued Tomi a passport, and, finally, through Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia and Italy, after many adventures, arrived in Switzerland.
The hardest part was explaining to Elisabeth von Daniken where the copy of her husband came from, but twenty years younger. But the dog, Erich's favorite, did not need to explain anything: she happily rushed towards both men, not recognizing Tom as a stranger.
Journey of Mind
During the trip when they lived in Ankara, Tomi entered Erich's consciousness and showed what his world was like. Daniken then described it all this way:
- I no longer had a body, and matter did not mean anything. I could fly through the walls of the hotel, through the universe, through the suns in the blink of an eye. I've seen solar systems, ships flying through space, planets and strange creatures! In an instant it seemed to me that the movement had stopped, and I found myself in a library, but so huge that wherever you look, there are books everywhere, for thousands of years of flight. And I knew everything in these books. Then there was music, it came from everywhere, and everything sounded at the same time: psalms, Bach's masses, the Beatles, everything …
Waking up in a hotel room, Erich realized that the "flight through the universe", which seemed to last for long hours, in our reality took several seconds. Before disconnecting, he touched the bottle and, regaining consciousness, saw that water had just started to flow out of it!
The death of
Tomi's body lived for some time at the Danikens' villa.
“One evening my wife was cooking, and I was sitting in the garden with the dog,” Erich recalls. - Suddenly the dog barked and ran to the gate, and a few seconds later I felt that Tomi entered my mind. “Erich, she did it! - sounded in the brain of the ufologist. "An Iranian intelligence woman killed my body!" I asked how, and he replied: "Electroshock." I ran to the gate after the dog and saw that he was lying there, crumpled."
Erich, his brother Otto and Mark dug a grave for Tom, without even thinking that everyone could see it. As a result, the maid reported them to the police. But when the police began to open the grave, there was only Tomi's wet clothes. The alien's body again disintegrated into atoms, from which it was once collected.
While Daniken and his family were harassed by the police, Tomi mentally said goodbye to his friend. Erich asked if the alien would return, but he said: "I don't think I will find your planet among the billions of celestial bodies again."
Scientists do not yet know how to relate to the revelation of the 75-year-old ufologist. Apparently, the Italian proverb is best suited here: "If this is not true, it is well thought out!"
Mikhail GERSHTEIN Based on materials from Open Minds magazine