About the author
From disco architect to novelist
Spörri was born in Basel in 1955. After school, vocational training and military service, he ventured into self-employment in 1978. With his company Z-Productions, he realizes ideas and visions: the design of themed interior architecture and spectacular technical equipment for clubs and discotheques. His impressive facilities and special effects made him a pioneer of the Swiss disco scene in the 1980s and 90s. But Spörri wants more. Between 1985 and 2008, he built and ran his own cult venues, which are still legendary and unforgotten among partygoers today.
The incredible journey of Gregor Spörri
In search of inspiration for a new club project, Spörri traveled to Egypt in 1988. His goal: to explore the magnificent world of the pharaohs and transform the sublimity of their buildings into a club design. But he has completely different plans: driven by his thirst for adventure, he ventures into experimental trials in and on the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Further information: Mystery research / The relic of Bir Hooker / How it all began.
An encounter that changed everything
Spörri’s actions do not go unnoticed, whereupon a mysterious grave robber enters his life. In a village called Bir Hooker, a meeting takes place that changes the Swiss man’s life forever. Najib shows the Swiss an artifact so uncanny and absurd that it shatters his world view – a gigantic, mummified finger of a human-like giant.
The photos of the relic continue to spark debate around the world to this day. Science, myth and conspiracy collide.
Further information: Mystery research / The relic of Bir Hooker / The discovery.
From club operator to the world of the incomprehensible
For Spörri, it is the beginning of a decades-long search for answers. His journey takes him deep into the mysterious early history of mankind, to the ancient myths of the gods, the emergence of religions and the origin of the legendary pyramids.
His research into Enoch and the “biblical giants” finally led him to the daring hypothesis of paleo-SETI (pre-astronautics) and its most prominent proponent: Erich von Däniken.
Together with him, he travels to Egypt, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras in search of the mysterious astronaut gods. In the end, his thirst for knowledge takes him deep into the Chinese hinterland.
Further information: Mystery research
The encouragement of H.R. Giger
Gregor Spörri has both feet firmly on the ground and describes himself as a critical thinker. Nevertheless, what he experienced in Egypt has left him deeply unsettled. He receives hardly any support from academic circles – neither for a serious analysis of the photos of the relic nor for the results of his own research.
H.R. Giger – creator of the legendary monster from the ALIEN film series 1979-1997 – is fascinated by Spörri’s surreal Egyptian tale. The Swiss artist – who has been haunted by oppressive fears since childhood, which he reveals in his dark paintings and sculptures – advises Spörri to process the knowledge he has gathered over the years as well as his daring theories and fantasies in a novel or screenplay. Because in this way, Giger explained to him, he was completely free in his thoughts.
The work as an author
Spörri had no experience as a writer at the time, but he took up the challenge. What he now finds easy and fun to do is meticulous research.
In order to describe the space travel scenes (2012-2018 edition) as realistically as possible, for example, he travels to the Kennedy Space Center in the USA, where he witnesses the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour at close range. He also consults specialists who have worked on previous space shuttle missions. For the space scenes in the revised edition from 2024, he will of course also be visiting SpaceX.
He even had Illobrand von Ludwiger (a graduate physicist and systems analyst for aerospace in the USA, France and England) carry out a gravity calculation to describe his mighty ship of the gods. He also visits many of the places where the events took place, which, although fictitious, lends the story additional authenticity.
Further information about the author and his work at: About the movie
Five editions of Gregor Spörri’s novel have been published to date
1995: THE IRON WORLD (short story in booklet form (partly illustrated from 1995 to 2006).
2012: THE LOST GOD: Day of Damnation (hardcover from 2012 to 2016).
2017: LOST GOD: The Last Judgment (paperback & e-book from 2017 to 2023).
2024: LOST GOD: The Last Judgment (paperback & illustrated e-book from 2024).
