The Cave of the Oilbirds
When Erich von Däniken published his book “The Gold of the Gods” in 1972, it quickly became an international best seller. By far the most sensational and controversial chapter in the book was his description of his visit to an underground cavern in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador, in which he claimed to have seen a vast collection of golden artifacts that were considered to be the products of some long forgotten civilization that had once existed in the area.
In his book von Däniken described how he had been guided to the location of this underground chamber by a man who had lived for many years in Guayaquil in Ecuador. He not only identified the man who claimed to have discovered these subterranean tunnels as Juan Moricz, but gave detailed instructions on how he could be traced.
Juan Moricz was a reclusive man who had always shunned publicity. Now, as a result of the publication of von Däniken’s book, he found that he was the object of a world wide search to discover the location of this collection of golden artifacts, and the Metal Library that von Däniken had described. Not surprisingly, Moricz now told a different tale.
When reporters of Europe’s most influential weekly magazine “Der Spiegel” tracked him down, Moricz denied having ever taken von Däniken to an underground cavern. When these comments were subsequently published, this retraction by Moricz served to undermine von Däniken’s credibility, and implied that his entire story was a fraud.
The ensuing uproar led one man to undertake a scientific expedition to Ecuador to try to establish the truth of the story, and to find this elusive library of metal plates. This man was a Scottish engineer by the name of Stanley Hall. Hall had read von Däniken’s book and he traveled to Ecuador to meet with Juan Moricz.
Moricz finally admitted to Hall that he had in fact met with von Däniken in 1972, and had taken the Swiss author from Guayaquil to Cuenca to meet with Padre Crespi to see his collection of golden artifacts. He also confirmed that he had taken von Däniken to visit a nearby cave system called “Cueva de los Tayos”.
“Cueva de los Tayos“, or to give it its English translation, means “Cave of the Oilbirds“. This subterranean cave system takes its name from the numerous buzzard-like birds that make their homes in these caverns, and fly in and out of the ventilation shafts.
It was to this system of underground caves that Juan Moricz agreed to guide Stan Hall and his scientific expedition.
