Childress, David Hatcher

David Hatcher Childress (1957- )^(d) >was born in France to American parents.<He is a prolific writer on the subject of ancient civilisations, having written a series on ‘Lost Cities’. He describes himself as a ‘rogue archaeologist’. He has had an exciting life^(a) worthy of a book itself. His literary output, which deals extensively with ‘ancient technologies’, is somewhat speculative and inclined to veer close to the ravings of Erich von Däniken.

A link to several of Childress’ papers is available^(h).

In 2016, Childress, in Ark of God ^[1743], repeated old speculation that the Ark of the Covenant was capable of flight, suggesting that the Ark was an example of advanced ancient technology!>Which begs the question, if it could fly, why did it need carrying poles?<

Childress extended his interest in the possibility of advanced ancient technology in Vimana Aircraft of Ancient India and Atlantis ^[1252]. I can only assume that ‘Atlantis’ was added to the title as a marketing ploy, as it would be more recognisable than ‘vimana. He also offers some of the content in a short paper^(g).

Some time ago Jason Colavito tackled the matter of Childress’ vimanas, noting the development of the use of the word in Hindu mythology, but crucially pointing out that “The concept of these flying chariots as UFO-style airships originates in a fraud, the Vaimanika Shastra, allegedly an ancient Sanskrit epic, but one “channeled” from the astral realm by a Hindu psychic in 1918. No evidence of this text exists prior to 1952, and even the “translator” of the text makes explicit that it was channeled from the spirit world between 1918 and 1923. The fake text specifically compares the vimanas to modern aircraft, describing their propulsion systems and other modern technological achievements.” ⁽ⁱ⁾.

However, on the subject of Atlantis, he has kept his options open by listing ten possible locations for Atlantis^(b). You would imagine that an archaeologist ‘rogue’ or otherwise would be prepared to express a clearer opinion. However, if you are a book publisher as well, there is no point in competing with your clients, so it is safer to sit on the fence. Nevertheless, in the 2007 DVD, Atlantis: Secret Star-Mappers of a Lost World, Childress identifies the Baltic as the original home of the Sea Peoples, reminiscent of the theories of Jürgen Spanuth, half a century earlier.

>In 2018 and in a number of previous editions of Ancient Aliens, Childress endorsed the daft idea that our Moon is hollow and artificial. Jason Colavito noted that this idea has “been going around for the past half-century, based on a piece of Russian propaganda from the 1960s aimed at Western audiences. Childress alleged that aliens created the moon by inflating an asteroid. Yes, really. “Like a glass blower blows glass, you go out into the asteroid belt, get yourself an asteroid, and with your alien technology you superheat that asteroid. Then you blow into it to make a giant space station,” he said. That seems like rather a lot of work to avoid showing yourself to humans.^(k)“<

His Lost Cities of Atlantis, Ancient Europe and the Mediterranean^[0620] is a volume that does not lead to any firm conclusions as it tends to see evidence of Atlantis everywhere. Nevertheless, although Childress has written at least six books in the ‘Lost Cities’ series, only the one dealing with Europe and the Mediterranean that includes Atlantis in the title, which may indicate his belief that it had existed in that region of the world! However, he does offer a number of interesting tidbits such as his view ^[p.61] that the ancient Egyptians and the Hittites were successors of the Atlanteans and his suggestion that the landbridge linking Europe and Africa at Gibraltar was breached around 9000 BC ^[p.261]. Unfortunately, he offers nothing by way of evidence to support these claims. 

Childress claims that he was researching a book on Atlantis ^[p.450] but nowhere does he unequivocally reveal his conclusions on the subject. On the other hand, he may have wished to avoid conflicting with the opinions of his clients as he was also the founder of Adventures Unlimited Press, which has published a number of books on Atlantis including reprints of many of the classic books on the subject.

2000 finally saw Childress reveal his preferred location for Atlantis in his Technology of the Gods, where he says “Atlantis, I believe, is beneath the mid-Atlantic in the vicinity of the Azores and the Bahamas” ^[1355.334]

Jason Colavito has written a four-part review of this book^(e) in which he is highly critical of Childress’ penchant for recycling his own work, provocatively referring to it as self-plagiarism! Colavito also records Childress’ courtroom appearances^(f).

^(a) https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/atlantis-ho/Content?oid=923072

^(b) https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/atlantida_mu/esp_atlantida_17.htm

^(c) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog.html

^(d) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hatcher_Childress

^(e) http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/reviewing-david-childresss-technology-of-the-gods-pt-1-plagiarism-of-the-gods

^(f) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/david-childress.html

^(g) Ancient Indian Aircraft Technology (bibliotecapleyades.net)

^(h) The Discoveries of David Hatcher Childress (bibliotecapleyades.net)

⁽ⁱ⁾ https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/vimana-aircraft-of-india-more-sloppy-scholarship-from-david-childress

^(j) Knowledge from Nowhere | Mysterious Universe *

^(k) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/david-childress-aliens-living-in-the-hollow-moon-created-bigfoot-to-serve-as-missing-link-between-humans-and-apes *