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David Hatcher Childress

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David Hatcher Childress
Born(1957-06-01)June 1, 1957(age 67)
France
OccupationAuthor

David Hatcher Childress(born June 1, 1957) is an Americanauthor,and the owner of Adventures Unlimited Press, a publishing house established in 1984 specializing in books on unusual topics such as ancient mysteries, unexplained phenomena,pseudohistory,andhistorical revisionism.His own works primarily concentrate onpseudoarchaeologicalandpseudoscientifictopics such as "UFOs,secret societies, suppressed technology,cryptozoology[and]conspiracy theory."Childress, having no degree, refers to himself as a" rogue archaeologist ".[1]

Biography[edit]

Born in France to American parents, and raised inColoradoand Montana, United States, Childress went toUniversity of Montana–Missoulato study archaeology, but left college in 1976 at 19 to begin travelling in pursuit of his archaeological interests.[1]After several years in Asia and then Africa, Childress moved in 1983 toStelle, Illinois,a community founded byNew Agewriter Richard Kieninger; Childress had been given one of Kieninger's books while touring Africa.[1]Childress chronicled his explorations in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in hisLost Cities and Ancient Mysteriesseries of books.

Childress's first book,A Hitchhikers Guide to Africa and Arabia,was published in 1983 byChicago Review Press.In 1984, Childress moved toKempton, Illinois,and established a publishing company named Adventures Unlimited Press,[1][2]which is a sole proprietorship. His company published his own works and then those of other authors, presentingfringe-scientifictheoriesregardingancient civilizations,cryptozoology,and little-known technologies.[1][2]In 1992, Childress founded theWorld Explorers Club,which occasionally runs tours to places he writes about, and publishes a magazine calledWorld Explorer.[1]

Reception[edit]

Patrick D. Nunn,a professor of geography at theUniversity of the Sunshine Coasthas noted that Childress is a proponent of pseudoscientific claims such as the lost continentMuandmegalithson the Pacific islands built bylevitation.Nunn wrote that "the disappearance of Mu is very convenient because it means that theorists like Childress can say what they like and appear convincing to people who are comparatively uninformed, as many naturally are, of the huge body of scientific information on Pacific geology and cultures."[3]

Historical archaeologistCharles E. Orser(editor ofInternational Journal of Historical Archaeology) has criticized Childress's writings:

Pseudo-archaeologists continue to perpetuate the idea that Atlantis was a racialized place. David Hatcher Childress, one of the most flagrant violators of basic archaeological reasoning, has provided perhaps the most outrageous racialized vision of Atlantis. In discussingTiahuanacoin Bolivia—as a palace built long before any Native South Americans were present—Childress proposes that the majestic site could only have been constructed by the "Atlantean League." The league was composed of mythic seafarers who "sailed the world spreading a megalithic culture, and wore red turbansover their blond hair"(Childress 1986: 139, emphasis added). Nowhere didPlato,the only actual source on Atlantis, mention the blond hair of the Atlanteans. Plato did mention that the men and women of Atlantis, being semi-divine, were inherently good... The correlation between goodness and whiteness is thus obvious in Childress's formulation and in much else that has been written about Atlantis.

— Charles E. Orser,Race and Practice in Archaeological Interpretation[4]

Publications[edit]

Childress's company has published nearly 200 books (many translated into foreign languages) over the course of two dozen years. Childress himself has authored and co-authored over a dozen books, from his first in 1983 to his most recent in 2013. His influences includeErich von Däniken,Thor Heyerdahl,andCharles Berlitz.[1]

Author or co-author[edit]

  • A Hitchhikers Guide to Africa and Arabia,1984,ISBN0-914091-42-5
  • Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries of Africa and Arabia,1984,ISBN0-932813-06-2
  • Lost Cities of China, Central Asia and India,1984,ISBN0-932813-07-0
  • Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries of South America,ISBN0-932813-02-X
  • Lost Cities of Ancient Lemuria and the Pacific,ISBN0-932813-04-6
  • Lost Cities of North and Central America,ISBN0-932813-09-7
  • Lost Cities of Atlantis, Ancient Europe and the Mediterranean,ISBN0-932813-25-9
  • Extraterrestrial ArcheologyISBN0-932813-77-1
  • Vimana Aircraft of Ancient India and Atlantis,ISBN0-932813-12-7
  • Man-Made UFOs 1944-1994(withRenato Vesco)ISBN0-932813-23-2
  • The Time Travel HandbookISBN0-932813-68-2
  • Pirates and the Lost Templar FleetISBN1-931882-18-5
  • Technology of the Gods, The Incredible Science of the Ancients,ISBN0-932813-73-9
  • Lost Continents and the Hollow EarthISBN0-932813-63-1
  • A Hitchhikers Guide to ArmageddonISBN0-932813-84-4
  • Mystery of the OlmecsISBN978-1-931882-71-2
  • Inside the Gemstone File(withKenn Thomas)ISBN0-932813-66-6
  • Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries of the American SouthwestISBN1-931882-94-0
  • Yetis, Sasquatch and Hairy GiantsISBN1-931882-98-3
  • Ancient Micronesia and the Lost City of Nan ModalISBN0-932813-49-6(1998)
  • The Enigma of Cranial Deformation: Elongated Skulls of the Ancients(withBrien Foerster) (2012)
  • Vimana: Flying Machines of the AncientsISBN1-939149-03-7(2013)
  • The Lost World of Cham: The TransPacific Voyages of the Champa "ISBN9781939149725(2017)
  • Haunebu- the Secret Files: The Greatest Ufo Secret of All TimeISBN978-1948803311(2021)

Editor[edit]

Contributor[edit]

  • Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America: Lost History And Legends, Unearthed And ExploredISBN1-56414-842-4
  • Unearthing Ancient America: The Lost Sagas of Conquerors, Castaways, and ScoundrelsISBN1-60163-031-X
  • The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola TeslaISBN0-932813-19-4

Notes[edit]

  1. ^abcdefgMike Sula (September 8, 2006)."Atlantis, Ho!".Chicago Reader.Retrieved2021-12-15.
  2. ^abWorld is a stage for David, Adventurer's exploits rival Indiana Jones', anon. staff,Daily Mirror of Sydney,Australia, December 11, 1985
  3. ^Nunn, Patrick D. (2008).Vanished Islands And Hidden Continents Of The Pacific.University of Hawaii Press. pp. 123-124.ISBN978-0824832193
  4. ^Orser, Charles E. (2003).Race and Practice in Archaeological Interpretation.University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 69.ISBN978-0812237504.

External links[edit]

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