1 00:00:03,712 --> 00:00:05,546 NARRATOR: President Thomas Jefferson... 2 00:00:07,424 --> 00:00:09,509 Christopher Columbus... 3 00:00:11,595 --> 00:00:14,222 Crusaders in the Middle Ages... 4 00:00:17,017 --> 00:00:19,560 What did they have in common? 5 00:00:19,645 --> 00:00:21,437 They either experienced 6 00:00:21,522 --> 00:00:27,026 or believed in the possibility of alien encounters. 7 00:00:27,152 --> 00:00:28,945 BILL BIRNES: And the fact is there have been 8 00:00:29,029 --> 00:00:31,447 so many descriptions by various chroniclers 9 00:00:31,448 --> 00:00:36,452 talking about a strange cloud in the sky that glowed red. 10 00:00:36,453 --> 00:00:38,871 C. SCOTT LITTLETON: Columbus, on his first voyage, 11 00:00:38,997 --> 00:00:41,457 he noted in the log a glowing object 12 00:00:41,458 --> 00:00:43,626 rise out of the water 13 00:00:43,752 --> 00:00:47,588 and head off into the atmosphere. 14 00:00:47,673 --> 00:00:50,967 NARRATOR: Could alien beings have been responsible 15 00:00:51,051 --> 00:00:52,802 for biblical floods, 16 00:00:52,886 --> 00:00:54,470 medieval plagues 17 00:00:54,471 --> 00:00:58,474 and even ancient nuclear attacks? 18 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:00,768 GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Visitations occurred 19 00:01:00,853 --> 00:01:04,689 since before recorded history all the way to today. 20 00:01:04,815 --> 00:01:08,693 NARRATOR: Millions of people around the world believe 21 00:01:08,819 --> 00:01:12,488 we have been visited in the past by extraterrestrial beings. 22 00:01:12,614 --> 00:01:15,032 What if it were true? 23 00:01:15,117 --> 00:01:19,328 Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history? 24 00:01:19,455 --> 00:01:22,457 And what if these visitations didn't only occur 25 00:01:22,499 --> 00:01:24,667 thousands of years ago, 26 00:01:24,793 --> 00:01:27,628 but much more recently? 27 00:01:27,713 --> 00:01:33,426 Might there be evidence of real-life close encounters? 28 00:02:05,542 --> 00:02:09,504 NARRATOR: Alamogordo, New Mexico. 29 00:02:09,546 --> 00:02:15,259 White Sands Proving Ground, July 16, 1945. 30 00:02:15,344 --> 00:02:17,261 Early in the morning, 31 00:02:17,346 --> 00:02:20,848 a number of U.S. military officers and scientists 32 00:02:20,933 --> 00:02:24,560 gather to watch a powerful new weapon being tested. 33 00:02:24,561 --> 00:02:28,564 Some believe the device will be a complete failure. 34 00:02:28,565 --> 00:02:33,778 Others think it might destroy the entire state of New Mexico. 35 00:02:33,904 --> 00:02:36,572 As a precaution, viewing stations are placed 36 00:02:36,698 --> 00:02:40,117 from ten to 20 miles away from the test site. 37 00:02:40,202 --> 00:02:44,205 At precisely 5:29 and 45 seconds, 38 00:02:44,331 --> 00:02:47,291 the first atomic bomb is detonated. 39 00:02:47,376 --> 00:02:50,586 MAN: Three, two, one... 40 00:02:50,587 --> 00:02:51,921 Fire! 41 00:02:58,428 --> 00:03:03,516 NARRATOR: The blast emits a fireball over 600 feet wide 44 00:03:13,902 --> 00:03:18,823 and the reverberations can be felt nearly 100 miles away. 45 00:03:18,949 --> 00:03:22,535 The world had a new weapon; 46 00:03:22,619 --> 00:03:25,997 one so terrifying it left even its creator, 47 00:03:26,123 --> 00:03:30,001 Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, shocked and shaken. 48 00:03:30,127 --> 00:03:33,838 J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER: A few people laughed. 49 00:03:33,964 --> 00:03:36,132 A few people cried. 50 00:03:36,216 --> 00:03:38,634 Most people were silent. 51 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:41,721 NARRATOR: For the first time in its history, 52 00:03:41,805 --> 00:03:43,639 the Earth had been assaulted 53 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,435 by a manmade weapon of incredible power. 54 00:03:47,561 --> 00:03:50,646 But what if it had all happened before? 55 00:03:50,647 --> 00:03:52,565 What if an explosion 56 00:03:52,649 --> 00:03:54,650 of even greater force and destructiveness 57 00:03:54,776 --> 00:03:58,654 had long ago shaped the Earth's history? 58 00:04:00,282 --> 00:04:01,657 Some people have suggested 59 00:04:01,658 --> 00:04:04,452 on the basis of a number of lines of evidence 60 00:04:04,578 --> 00:04:07,955 that there may have been atomic warfare, atomic bombs, 61 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:11,667 atomic explosions, in the very distant past. 62 00:04:11,752 --> 00:04:15,463 NARRATOR: Atomic warfare among ancient civilizations 63 00:04:15,589 --> 00:04:18,674 may sound like something out of a science fiction novel, 64 00:04:18,675 --> 00:04:22,678 but descriptions of similar deadly occurrences 65 00:04:22,679 --> 00:04:25,097 can be found in the very same text 66 00:04:25,223 --> 00:04:29,435 Dr. Oppenheimer quoted after the New Mexico atomic test. 67 00:04:29,519 --> 00:04:31,687 OPPENHEIMER: I remembered the line 68 00:04:31,688 --> 00:04:35,441 from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, 69 00:04:35,525 --> 00:04:39,487 "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." 70 00:04:49,539 --> 00:04:51,666 NARRATOR: Part of an ancient Hindu scripture 71 00:04:51,708 --> 00:04:55,711 known as The Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita was written 72 00:04:55,712 --> 00:04:59,799 sometime between the fifth and second century B.C. 73 00:04:59,883 --> 00:05:03,844 This massive 100,000-verse text contains stories 74 00:05:03,929 --> 00:05:06,681 about the ancient empire of Rama, 75 00:05:06,723 --> 00:05:10,726 which it is said existed over 12,000 years ago, 76 00:05:10,727 --> 00:05:13,896 or roughly 5,000 years before 77 00:05:14,022 --> 00:05:17,733 the earliest recorded civilization in Mesopotamia. 78 00:05:19,736 --> 00:05:22,822 TSOUKALOS: If you read the ancient Indian epics, 79 00:05:22,906 --> 00:05:26,242 they read like modern-day science fiction. 80 00:05:26,326 --> 00:05:28,744 Yet they are thousands of years old 81 00:05:28,745 --> 00:05:31,956 with references not only of flying chariots 82 00:05:32,082 --> 00:05:33,958 and of these gods 83 00:05:34,084 --> 00:05:37,753 that had these incredible technological capabilities, 84 00:05:37,754 --> 00:05:43,509 but incredible weapons that they used in those epic battles. 85 00:05:43,593 --> 00:05:48,723 NANCY RED STAR: They had what was called a Brahma weapon. 86 00:05:51,768 --> 00:05:54,061 There were many people that were singed and burned 87 00:05:54,146 --> 00:05:56,772 and... and melted by the Brahma weapon. 88 00:05:58,900 --> 00:06:00,776 NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorists 89 00:06:00,777 --> 00:06:04,321 believe the Brahma weapon was an early nuclear device 90 00:06:04,406 --> 00:06:07,783 because the descriptions of its deadly aftereffects 91 00:06:07,868 --> 00:06:09,994 are eerily similar to the effects 92 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,788 of exposure to intense radiation. 93 00:06:12,789 --> 00:06:15,916 It is a theory largely discounted 94 00:06:16,001 --> 00:06:17,793 by conventional science. 95 00:06:17,794 --> 00:06:21,005 There is no evidence that a nuclear bomb was described 96 00:06:21,131 --> 00:06:23,132 in The Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita. 97 00:06:25,385 --> 00:06:27,178 It describes a battle. 98 00:06:28,805 --> 00:06:30,806 In battles, there are explosions. 99 00:06:30,932 --> 00:06:33,350 Big explosions. 100 00:06:36,438 --> 00:06:39,815 It's one thing about suggesting 101 00:06:39,816 --> 00:06:42,818 that, you know, battles have explosions, 102 00:06:42,819 --> 00:06:46,781 but that's not really what we're looking at. 103 00:06:46,823 --> 00:06:50,034 You've got to look at the whole picture. 104 00:06:52,829 --> 00:06:55,039 One reference that we have, for example, 105 00:06:55,165 --> 00:06:57,833 speaks of these explosions 106 00:06:57,918 --> 00:07:01,128 that were brighter than a thousand suns. 107 00:07:01,213 --> 00:07:04,131 And when these blasts occurred, 108 00:07:04,216 --> 00:07:06,842 the suns were twirling in the air, 109 00:07:06,843 --> 00:07:09,553 trees went up in flames 110 00:07:09,638 --> 00:07:11,847 and there was just this mass destruction. 111 00:07:13,225 --> 00:07:16,185 After those blasts, people who survive 112 00:07:16,269 --> 00:07:20,856 start to lose their hair and nails start to fall out. 113 00:07:20,857 --> 00:07:23,859 I mean, right there, we have a concise reference 114 00:07:23,860 --> 00:07:26,946 to radiation poisoning, nuclear fallout. 115 00:07:27,030 --> 00:07:30,241 And those texts are thousands of years old. 116 00:07:33,578 --> 00:07:36,997 NARRATOR: But if The Mahabharata is based on fact, 117 00:07:37,082 --> 00:07:39,875 wouldn't archaeologists have uncovered physical 118 00:07:40,001 --> 00:07:43,170 or radiological evidence? 119 00:07:44,881 --> 00:07:48,717 According to ancient astronaut theorists, they have. 120 00:07:52,097 --> 00:07:55,975 The Indus Valley, Southern Pakistan. 121 00:07:58,270 --> 00:08:01,188 In 1922, an officer 122 00:08:01,273 --> 00:08:03,899 with an Indian archaeological survey group 123 00:08:03,984 --> 00:08:05,651 discovered the ruins 124 00:08:05,735 --> 00:08:09,738 of an ancient city known as Mohenjo-Daro. 125 00:08:09,865 --> 00:08:12,825 According to mainstream archaeologists, 126 00:08:12,909 --> 00:08:16,120 the city, whose name means "mound of the dead," 127 00:08:16,246 --> 00:08:20,749 had flourished between 2600 and 1900 B.C. 128 00:08:20,876 --> 00:08:23,711 However, scientists in Pakistan 129 00:08:23,837 --> 00:08:28,007 have suggested Mohenjo-Daro is much older. 130 00:08:28,091 --> 00:08:32,344 Mainstream archaeologists believe the city was abandoned 131 00:08:32,470 --> 00:08:37,766 as a result of climatic changes or possibly a decrease in trade. 132 00:08:37,893 --> 00:08:39,935 But when the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro 133 00:08:39,936 --> 00:08:43,939 were discovered in the 1920s, 134 00:08:43,940 --> 00:08:48,027 44 skeletons were found lying face down in the street, 135 00:08:48,111 --> 00:08:50,779 many holding hands. 136 00:08:51,948 --> 00:08:54,450 Their faces and body positioning 137 00:08:54,534 --> 00:08:58,537 suggested they suffered a sudden, violent death. 138 00:09:00,332 --> 00:09:01,957 PHILLIP COPPENS: You have a culture of people 139 00:09:02,083 --> 00:09:04,293 who literally were lying dead in the street. 140 00:09:04,377 --> 00:09:06,295 Archaeologists have found human remains, 141 00:09:06,379 --> 00:09:08,380 and something big has happened to these people. 142 00:09:09,799 --> 00:09:11,467 NARRATOR: What, in fact, did happen 143 00:09:11,551 --> 00:09:13,969 to the people of Mohenjo-Daro? 144 00:09:13,970 --> 00:09:17,139 Why is there evidence that wild animals 145 00:09:17,265 --> 00:09:19,892 avoided scavenging their remains? 146 00:09:19,976 --> 00:09:23,395 And why, even after thousands of years, 147 00:09:23,521 --> 00:09:25,981 had their bones not decayed? 148 00:09:27,484 --> 00:09:30,402 TSOUKALOS: In certain areas of that site, 149 00:09:30,528 --> 00:09:33,614 you find increased levels of radiation. 150 00:09:33,740 --> 00:09:37,785 And radiation exists all over the place. 151 00:09:37,911 --> 00:09:40,329 When, all of a sudden, you have higher levels 152 00:09:40,413 --> 00:09:42,998 of radiation in certain areas of the world, 153 00:09:43,124 --> 00:09:47,086 the question arises, "Why?" 154 00:09:52,008 --> 00:09:54,760 NARRATOR: Is it possible that Mohenjo-Daro 155 00:09:54,844 --> 00:09:58,973 was one of the cities mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita-- 156 00:09:59,015 --> 00:10:01,725 a city that suffered the equivalent 157 00:10:01,810 --> 00:10:03,811 of a sudden atomic attack? 158 00:10:07,941 --> 00:10:10,025 In his 1979 book, 159 00:10:10,026 --> 00:10:13,779 Atomic Destruction in 2000 B.C., 160 00:10:13,863 --> 00:10:16,407 British researcher David Davenport 161 00:10:16,533 --> 00:10:19,576 claimed to have found a 50-yard-wide epicenter 162 00:10:19,661 --> 00:10:22,663 at Mohenjo-Daro where everything appeared 163 00:10:22,789 --> 00:10:25,332 to have been fused through a transformative process 164 00:10:25,417 --> 00:10:28,043 known as "vitrification." 165 00:10:28,044 --> 00:10:31,588 TSOUKALOS: Vitrification is a process 166 00:10:31,673 --> 00:10:35,259 in which regular-type stone 167 00:10:35,385 --> 00:10:38,762 gets molten into a magma state 168 00:10:38,847 --> 00:10:42,057 and then it hardens again. 169 00:10:42,058 --> 00:10:45,060 But once the stone is hardened again, 170 00:10:45,186 --> 00:10:47,980 it feels like glass. 171 00:10:48,064 --> 00:10:52,484 At Mohenjo-Daro, we find evidence of vitrification, 172 00:10:52,610 --> 00:10:55,070 which could have only been achieved 173 00:10:55,071 --> 00:10:59,491 if the material was exposed to extreme heat 174 00:10:59,617 --> 00:11:02,244 by some type of a blast. 175 00:11:02,370 --> 00:11:04,496 DAVID CHILDRESS: When British and Indian 176 00:11:04,622 --> 00:11:06,081 and Pakistani archaeologists 177 00:11:06,207 --> 00:11:09,168 began doing excavations in the Sian Desert, 178 00:11:09,252 --> 00:11:11,295 on the borders of India and Pakistan, 179 00:11:11,421 --> 00:11:14,006 in the late 1940s and early 1950s, 180 00:11:14,090 --> 00:11:16,467 what they found in these cities-- 181 00:11:16,593 --> 00:11:19,887 Mohenjo-Daro, Harrapa, Kot Diji-- 182 00:11:20,013 --> 00:11:22,264 was archaeological evidence to show 183 00:11:22,390 --> 00:11:25,017 there were apparently atomic weapons. 184 00:11:25,101 --> 00:11:27,853 Only it happened in ancient times. 185 00:11:27,937 --> 00:11:32,191 There's other evidence in parts of Africa and the Middle East, 186 00:11:32,275 --> 00:11:35,194 where it would seem to be like some sort 187 00:11:35,278 --> 00:11:40,908 of atomic explosion had taken place there, 188 00:11:41,034 --> 00:11:46,121 and had turned the desert sand into glass. 189 00:11:46,122 --> 00:11:49,458 And that's exactly what happened at Alamogordo, in New Mexico, 190 00:11:49,542 --> 00:11:52,669 when they detonated the first atom bomb in the desert. 191 00:11:54,130 --> 00:11:55,923 NARRATOR: Could the strange ruins 192 00:11:56,049 --> 00:11:58,050 found in the Indus Valley 193 00:11:58,134 --> 00:12:02,137 really contain evidence of an ancient atomic explosion? 194 00:12:02,138 --> 00:12:06,141 If so, where did these powerful weapons come from? 195 00:12:06,142 --> 00:12:08,268 Who was using them? 196 00:12:08,353 --> 00:12:10,145 And why? 197 00:12:10,146 --> 00:12:13,649 TSOUKALOS: In the ancient Indian texts themselves, 198 00:12:13,733 --> 00:12:17,486 it says, and I quote, "At one point, 199 00:12:17,570 --> 00:12:22,699 three giant cities were orbiting the Earth." 200 00:12:22,784 --> 00:12:25,452 And those giant cities were often described 201 00:12:25,537 --> 00:12:30,249 as being made of gleaming metal and iron. 202 00:12:30,333 --> 00:12:32,000 And at one point, 203 00:12:32,127 --> 00:12:36,672 those three cities went to war with each other. 204 00:12:39,008 --> 00:12:43,178 And it's described how the gods 205 00:12:43,304 --> 00:12:46,098 threw weapons at each other, 206 00:12:46,182 --> 00:12:50,394 destroying those cities, that they all went up in flames 207 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:54,148 and fire came raining down onto Earth. 208 00:12:56,901 --> 00:13:01,196 So, when you read those passages, the question I ask is: 209 00:13:01,281 --> 00:13:05,742 What is it that our ancestors tried to describe here? 210 00:13:07,912 --> 00:13:10,205 And I think that it was some type 211 00:13:10,206 --> 00:13:14,209 of a technology that was witnessed, 212 00:13:14,335 --> 00:13:18,213 yet our ancestors, while being highly intelligent, 213 00:13:18,214 --> 00:13:22,634 didn't understand the nuts-and-bolts aspects 214 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:25,220 behind that technology. 215 00:13:25,221 --> 00:13:28,932 And so they created something divine out of it, 216 00:13:29,017 --> 00:13:32,311 something supernatural, yet it never was divine. 217 00:13:32,395 --> 00:13:34,813 It never was supernatural. 218 00:13:36,316 --> 00:13:39,193 NARRATOR: If, in fact, The Mahabharata 219 00:13:39,235 --> 00:13:41,778 is describing historical events, 220 00:13:41,863 --> 00:13:44,448 might we also find similar accounts 221 00:13:44,574 --> 00:13:47,075 in other ancient writings? 222 00:13:47,202 --> 00:13:51,622 As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned, 223 00:13:51,748 --> 00:13:57,377 we need look no further than in the pages of the Holy Bible. 224 00:14:01,090 --> 00:14:02,758 According to one of the stories 225 00:14:02,842 --> 00:14:04,801 contained in the book of Genesis, 226 00:14:04,886 --> 00:14:06,595 angels were sent by God 227 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:09,389 to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah 228 00:14:09,474 --> 00:14:12,768 because of the sins of their inhabitants. 229 00:14:12,852 --> 00:14:15,103 Only a righteous man named Lot, 230 00:14:15,230 --> 00:14:17,689 along with his family, was to be spared. 231 00:14:17,815 --> 00:14:19,983 But while making their escape, 232 00:14:20,068 --> 00:14:24,196 Lot's wife ignores the angels' warning not to look back, 233 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,282 and upon gazing at the horror and devastation, 234 00:14:27,283 --> 00:14:29,576 is turned into a pillar of salt. 235 00:14:31,246 --> 00:14:33,205 TSOUKALOS: When you are at a nuclear testing range 236 00:14:33,289 --> 00:14:36,250 and you witness a nuclear blast, 237 00:14:36,292 --> 00:14:39,628 you're told to look away and not to look straight into the blast. 238 00:14:39,712 --> 00:14:42,047 And here we have a similar description 239 00:14:42,131 --> 00:14:46,301 in an ancient biblical text where instructions were given, 240 00:14:46,427 --> 00:14:49,513 "Whatever you do, don't look back 241 00:14:49,639 --> 00:14:51,848 because you will die." 242 00:14:51,933 --> 00:14:55,310 And sure enough, it happened to Lot's wife. 243 00:14:57,647 --> 00:15:00,857 NARRATOR: Could it be that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah 244 00:15:00,942 --> 00:15:04,611 is really a description of a nuclear explosion, 245 00:15:04,696 --> 00:15:08,949 similar to the one described in the Hindus' Mahabharata? 246 00:15:09,075 --> 00:15:12,452 Do the stories of The Mahabharata and the Bible 247 00:15:12,537 --> 00:15:15,414 represent actual historical events? 248 00:15:15,498 --> 00:15:18,333 For ancient astronaut theorists, 249 00:15:18,459 --> 00:15:21,336 the answer is a resounding "yes." 250 00:15:21,337 --> 00:15:23,880 And they believe the so-called "angels" 251 00:15:23,965 --> 00:15:26,258 who brought forth the devastation 252 00:15:26,342 --> 00:15:29,761 were, in fact, beings from another planet-- 253 00:15:29,887 --> 00:15:33,348 alien visitors armed with advanced weaponry. 254 00:15:36,561 --> 00:15:38,645 September, 2000. 255 00:15:38,730 --> 00:15:41,356 The Black Sea, Turkey. 256 00:15:41,357 --> 00:15:44,359 Marine archaeologist Robert Ballard 257 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,903 and his team of underwater scientists 258 00:15:46,988 --> 00:15:49,906 discover what appears to be a farmhouse 259 00:15:49,991 --> 00:15:54,161 some 330 feet below the surface. 260 00:15:54,287 --> 00:15:57,205 Estimates suggest the submerged dwelling 261 00:15:57,332 --> 00:16:01,460 to be approximately 7,500 years old. 262 00:16:01,544 --> 00:16:04,379 Ballard and other scholars speculated 263 00:16:04,505 --> 00:16:07,007 that rising ocean levels could have caused 264 00:16:07,133 --> 00:16:10,719 the Mediterranean Sea to burst through a natural dam, 265 00:16:10,803 --> 00:16:12,888 creating a flood so great 266 00:16:12,972 --> 00:16:16,391 it drowned an estimated 58,000 square miles 267 00:16:16,392 --> 00:16:19,394 under 500 feet of water. 268 00:16:22,023 --> 00:16:25,567 But more than finding the ruins of an ancient dwelling, 269 00:16:25,693 --> 00:16:28,320 had Ballard actually discovered proof 270 00:16:28,404 --> 00:16:33,033 that the biblical story of Noah and the great flood was true? 271 00:16:33,159 --> 00:16:35,035 CHILDRESS: And those villages, of course, 272 00:16:35,161 --> 00:16:36,745 weren't built underwater. 273 00:16:36,829 --> 00:16:42,417 So Ballard concluded that the Black Sea, as we know it, 274 00:16:42,418 --> 00:16:47,005 was only created some 8,000, 9,000 years ago. 275 00:16:47,131 --> 00:16:49,925 And that is exactly what we're talking about 276 00:16:50,009 --> 00:16:52,052 with Noah's Ark and the flood, 277 00:16:52,178 --> 00:16:54,429 the same area where all that happened. 278 00:16:54,430 --> 00:16:57,057 And, in fact, mainstream archaeologists know 279 00:16:57,183 --> 00:16:58,433 that in the Mediterranean 280 00:16:58,434 --> 00:17:02,854 there are over 200 known sunken cities. 281 00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:06,024 Those cities, too, were somehow flooded 282 00:17:06,150 --> 00:17:08,610 the same time that the Black Sea was flooded. 283 00:17:10,196 --> 00:17:12,280 NARRATOR: Also written in the book of Genesis, 284 00:17:12,407 --> 00:17:14,950 the story of Noah tells how God 285 00:17:15,034 --> 00:17:17,953 "saw that the wickedness of man was great," 286 00:17:18,037 --> 00:17:21,164 and decided to destroy all of creation. 287 00:17:23,167 --> 00:17:28,088 Only Noah, his family and the animals aboard the ark 288 00:17:28,214 --> 00:17:31,675 were allowed to survive and repopulate the planet. 289 00:17:31,801 --> 00:17:34,886 But is this the whole story? 290 00:17:35,012 --> 00:17:38,473 Was Noah selected only for his virtue? 291 00:17:38,558 --> 00:17:43,645 Or was there another reason he was chosen to save the planet? 292 00:17:45,273 --> 00:17:46,773 Ancient astronaut theorists 293 00:17:46,858 --> 00:17:50,485 believe the Bible doesn't tell the whole story. 294 00:17:50,486 --> 00:17:55,115 In the late 1940s and early 1950s, 295 00:17:55,241 --> 00:17:59,661 a series of ancient texts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls 296 00:17:59,787 --> 00:18:01,705 were discovered in a cave 297 00:18:01,831 --> 00:18:05,333 located in what is now Israel's West Bank. 298 00:18:05,460 --> 00:18:09,045 Among the ancient writings are various stories 299 00:18:09,130 --> 00:18:12,132 not found in the traditional Hebrew Bible. 300 00:18:12,258 --> 00:18:14,843 One such story tells of Noah 301 00:18:14,927 --> 00:18:18,513 and his strange, miraculous birth. 302 00:18:18,514 --> 00:18:21,600 ERICH VON DANIKEN: One of the Dead Sea Scrolls 303 00:18:21,684 --> 00:18:23,518 is called "The Lamech Scroll." 304 00:18:23,644 --> 00:18:25,020 What is Lamech? 305 00:18:25,104 --> 00:18:26,521 Lamech was a shepherd. 306 00:18:26,522 --> 00:18:30,525 And one day, Lamech, his woman was pregnant. 307 00:18:30,526 --> 00:18:32,694 And he said to her, "This is impossible. 308 00:18:32,820 --> 00:18:34,529 I was not here for months." 309 00:18:34,530 --> 00:18:37,657 But his woman with the name Bathenosh swears, 310 00:18:37,742 --> 00:18:39,701 "No one touched me." 311 00:18:39,827 --> 00:18:42,120 But Lamech doesn't believe his wife, Bathenosh, 312 00:18:42,246 --> 00:18:45,332 and he goes to his father, which was Methuselah. 313 00:18:45,458 --> 00:18:48,502 And Methuselah says to Lamech, "I can't help you. 314 00:18:48,544 --> 00:18:49,544 "I don't understand this. 315 00:18:49,670 --> 00:18:51,546 "I believe your woman, Bathenosh, 316 00:18:51,547 --> 00:18:53,381 "that nobody touched her, and I believe you. 317 00:18:53,508 --> 00:18:54,549 What shall I do?" 318 00:18:54,675 --> 00:18:56,718 So Methuselah goes to his father, 319 00:18:56,844 --> 00:18:58,553 the grandfather now of Lamech. 320 00:18:58,554 --> 00:19:00,514 His name is Enoch. 321 00:19:00,556 --> 00:19:06,478 Now, Enoch tells to Methuselah that the guardians of the sky 322 00:19:06,562 --> 00:19:09,564 have made an artificial insemination 323 00:19:09,565 --> 00:19:12,567 into the womb of Bathenosh, the wife. 324 00:19:12,693 --> 00:19:16,571 And he should accept this child, because this child 325 00:19:16,572 --> 00:19:20,575 will be the father of a new human generation. 326 00:19:20,576 --> 00:19:22,577 And in the Bible, this is Noah. 327 00:19:24,789 --> 00:19:28,583 NARRATOR: What if, as ancient astronaut theorists believe, 328 00:19:28,584 --> 00:19:30,710 the story of Lamech is true 329 00:19:30,795 --> 00:19:34,381 and the guardians of the sky described in the story 330 00:19:34,507 --> 00:19:37,592 are, in fact, aliens? 331 00:19:37,593 --> 00:19:39,594 Does this mean that Noah 332 00:19:39,595 --> 00:19:42,222 was the product of an artificial insemination, 333 00:19:42,348 --> 00:19:46,726 a genetic experiment performed by extraterrestrials? 334 00:19:46,811 --> 00:19:50,605 If so, what was the reason for the great flood? 335 00:19:52,775 --> 00:19:54,609 L.A. MARZULLI: Well, the reason for the flood-- 336 00:19:54,610 --> 00:19:55,986 and we need to understand this-- 337 00:19:56,112 --> 00:19:57,571 what it tells us is that Noah 338 00:19:57,613 --> 00:19:58,905 was pure in all of his generations. 339 00:19:58,990 --> 00:20:00,574 What does that mean? 340 00:20:00,616 --> 00:20:02,826 You know, why would the account, you know, specify 341 00:20:02,952 --> 00:20:04,619 "pure in all his generations"? 342 00:20:04,620 --> 00:20:08,623 NARRATOR: According to the Bible, God sent the flood 343 00:20:08,708 --> 00:20:12,627 because of man's wickedness and corruption. 344 00:20:12,628 --> 00:20:15,797 But ancient astronaut theorists believe the flood 345 00:20:15,923 --> 00:20:18,633 was actually a means of ridding the Earth 346 00:20:18,634 --> 00:20:21,344 of biological imperfections. 347 00:20:21,429 --> 00:20:25,640 By using Noah and his family, they could repopulate the planet 348 00:20:25,641 --> 00:20:29,436 with a genetically superior species. 349 00:20:29,562 --> 00:20:32,022 VON DANIKEN: Part of this human society 350 00:20:32,148 --> 00:20:35,567 is, again, genetically backward, closer to the animal. 351 00:20:35,651 --> 00:20:37,485 What can we do? 352 00:20:37,612 --> 00:20:39,821 These humans were spread out over the planet. 353 00:20:39,947 --> 00:20:43,658 So they said, "We have to kill them all by a great flood, 354 00:20:43,784 --> 00:20:46,202 and then we have to restart again." 355 00:20:48,664 --> 00:20:50,790 NARRATOR: Another familiar element 356 00:20:50,875 --> 00:20:52,959 in the story of Noah 357 00:20:53,044 --> 00:20:58,089 involves the collection of animals brought aboard the ark. 358 00:20:58,215 --> 00:21:01,384 In the Bible, God commanded Noah 359 00:21:01,469 --> 00:21:05,013 to collect two of every kind of living creature-- 360 00:21:05,097 --> 00:21:08,600 animal, bird and insect. 361 00:21:08,684 --> 00:21:12,604 But many biblical scholars and theologians agree 362 00:21:12,688 --> 00:21:15,273 that such a task would have been both physically 363 00:21:15,399 --> 00:21:18,610 and biologically impossible. 364 00:21:18,694 --> 00:21:22,697 Could there be another more scientific explanation? 365 00:21:22,698 --> 00:21:25,075 TSOUKALOS: The story of Noah's Ark 366 00:21:25,201 --> 00:21:28,119 is pretty implausible, if you think about it. 367 00:21:28,245 --> 00:21:30,872 You have two animals 368 00:21:30,998 --> 00:21:36,002 of each creature on planet Earth on a boat. 369 00:21:36,087 --> 00:21:39,506 Not only would the boat have to be huge, 370 00:21:39,632 --> 00:21:41,925 but how are you going to collect every animal on the planet 371 00:21:42,051 --> 00:21:43,718 and put it on that ship? 372 00:21:43,719 --> 00:21:48,431 So, could it be possible that Noah's Ark 374 00:22:01,112 --> 00:22:02,737 JONATHAN YOUNG: Could it be a story? 375 00:22:02,738 --> 00:22:05,365 Could it be technology somehow gathering up 376 00:22:05,491 --> 00:22:08,493 all living things as in a DNA bank of some kind? 377 00:22:08,577 --> 00:22:10,161 It fits together. 378 00:22:10,287 --> 00:22:13,748 Hard to imagine, uh, how that would happen so far back, 379 00:22:13,874 --> 00:22:17,252 but if it did happen, it would need to be told as a story, 380 00:22:17,336 --> 00:22:19,587 and the story of a boat works. 381 00:22:21,257 --> 00:22:22,924 CHILDRESS: Perhaps this is really 382 00:22:23,050 --> 00:22:25,969 an extraterrestrial DNA bank as well. 383 00:22:26,095 --> 00:22:29,264 The extraterrestrials need plants and animals 384 00:22:29,348 --> 00:22:31,766 and minerals on this planet, too. 385 00:22:31,851 --> 00:22:34,102 Just like when we go to Mars or something, 386 00:22:34,186 --> 00:22:36,896 we'll be using what we can use on that planet. 387 00:22:36,981 --> 00:22:38,773 So, extraterrestrials coming here 388 00:22:38,774 --> 00:22:41,401 would want to do that as well. 389 00:22:41,527 --> 00:22:44,279 And if they knew that some cataclysm was coming, 390 00:22:44,363 --> 00:22:46,781 they, too, would want to preserve 391 00:22:46,782 --> 00:22:49,784 certain kinds of animals and plant life, 392 00:22:49,785 --> 00:22:52,787 and create, you know, what we think of as Noah's Ark. 393 00:22:55,875 --> 00:22:58,126 NARRATOR: Alien DNA bank? 394 00:22:58,210 --> 00:23:02,881 Is there any evidence that such a thing is even possible? 395 00:23:02,965 --> 00:23:07,802 In 2008, on the Arctic island of Svalbard, 396 00:23:07,803 --> 00:23:10,096 a vault was built to store the seeds 397 00:23:10,181 --> 00:23:12,515 of hundreds of thousands of plants 398 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,602 in the event of a global catastrophe. 399 00:23:15,728 --> 00:23:18,772 Elsewhere, similar efforts are reportedly underway 400 00:23:18,814 --> 00:23:22,192 to store animal and human DNA as well. 401 00:23:22,318 --> 00:23:24,569 Cutting-edge science 402 00:23:24,653 --> 00:23:28,740 or merely history repeating itself? 403 00:23:29,950 --> 00:23:31,826 TSOUKALOS: The Frozen Ark Project 404 00:23:31,827 --> 00:23:33,828 is a program that was initiated 405 00:23:33,829 --> 00:23:36,831 by the London Natural History Museum. 406 00:23:36,832 --> 00:23:41,836 What they've done is they started to store DNA 407 00:23:41,837 --> 00:23:44,464 of endangered species 408 00:23:44,590 --> 00:23:47,592 for future generations, for preservation. 409 00:23:47,676 --> 00:23:51,471 And, as of today, over a thousand species 410 00:23:51,597 --> 00:23:56,267 have been preserved in small little vials. 411 00:23:56,393 --> 00:23:59,062 And so, the question arises, 412 00:23:59,188 --> 00:24:02,607 could it be possible that Noah's Ark 413 00:24:02,691 --> 00:24:06,861 wasn't necessarily a boat made out of wood, 414 00:24:06,987 --> 00:24:09,239 but what if Noah's Ark 415 00:24:09,365 --> 00:24:12,867 was some type of a DNA storage facility 416 00:24:12,868 --> 00:24:16,871 that was used in order to preserve 417 00:24:16,872 --> 00:24:19,874 all the species on planet Earth? 418 00:24:19,875 --> 00:24:25,880 If each species can be held in a tiny vial like this, 419 00:24:25,881 --> 00:24:27,882 then it all becomes very logical. 420 00:24:28,008 --> 00:24:32,887 And, once again, we have to look at it from a perspective, 421 00:24:32,888 --> 00:24:37,517 "What did our ancestors try to describe? 422 00:24:37,643 --> 00:24:39,894 What did they witness?" 423 00:24:42,398 --> 00:24:45,900 NARRATOR: Aliens artificially inseminating humans... 424 00:24:45,901 --> 00:24:48,653 Ancient DNA banks... 425 00:24:48,737 --> 00:24:53,283 Could such ideas really help our understanding of the Bible? 426 00:24:54,827 --> 00:24:57,412 And is it possible that extraterrestrials 427 00:24:57,496 --> 00:25:00,540 have influenced the development of mankind? 428 00:25:00,666 --> 00:25:02,709 There are many who claim 429 00:25:02,835 --> 00:25:07,005 that the proof can be found in some astonishing places. 430 00:25:12,928 --> 00:25:14,512 For those who believe 431 00:25:14,638 --> 00:25:16,931 that close encounters with alien beings 432 00:25:16,932 --> 00:25:19,350 have helped shape Earth's history, 433 00:25:19,476 --> 00:25:21,144 it is important to remember 434 00:25:21,270 --> 00:25:23,479 that it isn't only ancient history 435 00:25:23,564 --> 00:25:25,481 that has been so influenced. 436 00:25:25,566 --> 00:25:27,942 There have been literally hundreds 437 00:25:27,943 --> 00:25:30,737 of credible accounts of strange creatures, 438 00:25:30,863 --> 00:25:34,073 UFO sightings and otherworldly phenomena 439 00:25:34,158 --> 00:25:38,745 that took place, even in the so-called Dark Ages. 440 00:25:38,871 --> 00:25:40,747 BIRNES: There have been sightings 441 00:25:40,873 --> 00:25:43,541 all over the world throughout the Middle Ages. 442 00:25:43,667 --> 00:25:46,044 There are stories 443 00:25:46,128 --> 00:25:49,505 going from Scotland to England 444 00:25:49,590 --> 00:25:52,175 to Italy to the Crusades. 445 00:25:54,470 --> 00:25:58,306 Remember the Crusades took place over hundreds of years. 446 00:25:58,390 --> 00:26:00,391 And at certain points in the battle, 447 00:26:00,517 --> 00:26:02,101 in some cases over Turkey, 448 00:26:02,186 --> 00:26:06,898 in some cases over Jerusalem, there are images 449 00:26:06,982 --> 00:26:10,985 captured in writing by various chroniclers 450 00:26:11,070 --> 00:26:16,783 talking about "a strange cloud in the sky that glowed red. 451 00:26:16,909 --> 00:26:20,912 A strange image coming out of a cloud in the sky." 452 00:26:20,996 --> 00:26:22,997 Why would we say this is a UFO? 453 00:26:22,998 --> 00:26:27,001 Because, traditionally, UFOs mask themselves 454 00:26:27,002 --> 00:26:29,295 by forming a cloud around themselves. 455 00:26:29,380 --> 00:26:31,798 And it's a cloud that's going through the sky-- 456 00:26:31,924 --> 00:26:34,008 that's their invisibility cloak. 457 00:26:35,552 --> 00:26:38,012 NARRATOR: In his 13th century historical work 458 00:26:38,138 --> 00:26:41,849 titled Otto Imperialia, Gervase of Tilbury 459 00:26:41,976 --> 00:26:45,728 wrote about an aerial craft over the city of Bristol, England, 460 00:26:45,813 --> 00:26:48,523 which caught an anchor in a church steeple. 461 00:26:48,607 --> 00:26:51,025 BIRNES: He uses specifically the term "anchor." 462 00:26:51,026 --> 00:26:53,861 Now, we don't know what kind of anchor that is. 463 00:26:53,988 --> 00:26:59,450 But a creature-- a man-- climbs out of this craft 464 00:26:59,576 --> 00:27:02,036 and tries to free the anchor from the steeple. 465 00:27:02,037 --> 00:27:04,747 And all the people in the village start stoning him, 466 00:27:04,832 --> 00:27:07,041 thinking he's some sort of evil demon. 467 00:27:09,044 --> 00:27:11,963 NARRATOR: But for ancient astronaut theorists, 468 00:27:12,047 --> 00:27:15,383 evidence of an alien presence during the Middle Ages 469 00:27:15,467 --> 00:27:19,053 isn't only found in literature. 470 00:27:19,054 --> 00:27:21,055 All throughout the Middle Ages, 471 00:27:21,056 --> 00:27:23,891 there are some magnificent paintings. 472 00:27:25,644 --> 00:27:29,272 And in certain areas of the painting, 473 00:27:29,398 --> 00:27:33,985 there are what looks like to be UFOs. 474 00:27:34,069 --> 00:27:37,030 They're always floating up in the sky-- 475 00:27:37,072 --> 00:27:42,076 usually above the Virgin Mary or above Jesus on the crucifix-- 476 00:27:42,202 --> 00:27:46,414 or somewhere we have sceneries 477 00:27:46,498 --> 00:27:51,085 that depict what looks like UFOs. 478 00:27:52,796 --> 00:27:55,006 One very interesting painting 479 00:27:55,090 --> 00:27:58,384 is where Jesus sits up in the clouds 480 00:27:58,469 --> 00:28:00,720 with quote, unquote, "God," 481 00:28:00,846 --> 00:28:03,306 and they're holding onto the antennae 482 00:28:03,432 --> 00:28:06,017 of what looks like Sputnik; 483 00:28:06,101 --> 00:28:09,228 and theologians say what is depicted here 484 00:28:09,313 --> 00:28:13,107 is nothing else but the Earth. 485 00:28:13,233 --> 00:28:18,905 But why would Earth have two antennae sticking out of it? 486 00:28:19,031 --> 00:28:20,865 And why would it be round? 487 00:28:20,949 --> 00:28:23,451 Because the mainstream viewpoint at the time 488 00:28:23,535 --> 00:28:26,120 was that the Earth was flat. 489 00:28:31,210 --> 00:28:35,129 LITTLETON: And here are pictures of the crucifixion 490 00:28:35,130 --> 00:28:38,841 dated around 1350 from Kosovo. 491 00:28:41,929 --> 00:28:48,518 Here are, presumably, vehicles with people driving them 492 00:28:48,644 --> 00:28:51,896 in attendance at the crucifixion. 493 00:28:51,980 --> 00:28:53,981 Could this be a crude... 494 00:28:54,108 --> 00:28:56,234 an attempt on the part of the artist 495 00:28:56,318 --> 00:28:59,153 drawing on a tradition-- obviously, he wasn't there-- 496 00:28:59,154 --> 00:29:00,446 drawing on a tradition? 497 00:29:01,949 --> 00:29:04,158 Could he be reflecting a folklore? 498 00:29:04,159 --> 00:29:06,160 Possibly. 499 00:29:11,500 --> 00:29:13,584 BETTYANN BROWN: The people of the Middle Ages 500 00:29:13,710 --> 00:29:16,754 depicted devils 501 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:20,174 and angels frequently in their art. 502 00:29:22,177 --> 00:29:24,178 They did not depict 503 00:29:24,263 --> 00:29:28,933 what we today consider aliens, specifically. 504 00:29:29,017 --> 00:29:32,103 But angels are heavenly creatures 505 00:29:32,187 --> 00:29:35,356 that come from outside of our sphere, aren't they? 506 00:29:38,193 --> 00:29:39,569 NARRATOR: Did the medieval artists 507 00:29:39,695 --> 00:29:41,404 include strange creatures 508 00:29:41,530 --> 00:29:44,031 and flying spacecraft in their paintings 509 00:29:44,158 --> 00:29:47,201 because they had seen them in real life? 510 00:29:47,202 --> 00:29:49,412 Or were they trying to communicate their belief 511 00:29:49,538 --> 00:29:52,373 that the miraculous events of the New Testament 512 00:29:52,499 --> 00:29:55,376 had otherworldly origins? 513 00:29:59,006 --> 00:30:01,215 MAXIMILLIEN DE LAFAYETTE: The most famous painting 514 00:30:01,216 --> 00:30:03,843 that, without any doubt in my mind, 515 00:30:03,969 --> 00:30:07,513 depicts a UFO with its laser beam, 516 00:30:07,598 --> 00:30:11,809 was made by Crivelli in 1486. 517 00:30:13,437 --> 00:30:16,731 The Annunciation to Mary. 518 00:30:19,067 --> 00:30:22,236 In medieval art, in The Annunciation, 519 00:30:22,237 --> 00:30:27,533 when Mary is told that she will have a child, 520 00:30:27,618 --> 00:30:33,247 but she will still be a virgin, and the angels tell her this, 521 00:30:33,248 --> 00:30:38,544 over Mary's head is a space capsule. 522 00:30:38,629 --> 00:30:44,175 But what's a UFO, or a space capsule, doing over Mary? 523 00:30:44,259 --> 00:30:46,010 Maybe the artist saw it 524 00:30:46,094 --> 00:30:48,262 and he's putting it in the painting 525 00:30:48,263 --> 00:30:52,183 to bring together his own vision of a UFO, 526 00:30:52,267 --> 00:30:57,271 the annunciation from the Bible, and the mystery of salvation 527 00:30:57,272 --> 00:30:59,982 that there could be a virgin birth. 528 00:31:02,277 --> 00:31:05,446 NARRATOR: According to ancient astronaut theorists, 529 00:31:05,572 --> 00:31:08,699 the UFO-shaped objects found in medieval paintings 530 00:31:08,825 --> 00:31:13,287 aren't the only evidence of an alien presence during the era. 531 00:31:13,288 --> 00:31:16,415 In his book, The Gods of Eden, 532 00:31:16,500 --> 00:31:20,086 author William Bramley cites private journals 533 00:31:20,212 --> 00:31:23,214 and other publications throughout Europe 534 00:31:23,298 --> 00:31:26,842 which contain accounts of cigar-shaped flying objects 535 00:31:26,927 --> 00:31:29,053 emitting noxious mists. 536 00:31:29,137 --> 00:31:31,389 The first reports of this kind 537 00:31:31,473 --> 00:31:34,308 began during the mid-14th century, 538 00:31:34,309 --> 00:31:36,686 closely corresponding to the outbreak 539 00:31:36,812 --> 00:31:39,689 of the worst health epidemic in human history-- 540 00:31:39,815 --> 00:31:41,399 the black plague. 541 00:31:44,528 --> 00:31:47,321 GEORGE NOORY: The black plague back in the 1300s, 542 00:31:47,406 --> 00:31:50,658 many have said, was caused by a virus 543 00:31:50,742 --> 00:31:53,077 from a rodent bitten by fleas. 544 00:31:53,161 --> 00:31:55,496 This disease that wiped out 545 00:31:55,622 --> 00:32:00,334 75-plus million people on the planet at the time. 546 00:32:00,335 --> 00:32:01,544 But there's another theory 547 00:32:01,670 --> 00:32:04,255 by a fellow by the name of William Bramley 548 00:32:04,339 --> 00:32:09,635 who says that the black plague was created by ETs, 549 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:12,513 that they wanted to eradicate human beings 550 00:32:12,639 --> 00:32:14,932 for whatever horrible reason. 551 00:32:15,058 --> 00:32:18,769 WILLIAM BRAMLEY: We know that plague can be spread by rodents. 552 00:32:18,895 --> 00:32:21,147 But there weren't that many rodent infestations 553 00:32:21,273 --> 00:32:23,149 being reported back then, at least not enough 554 00:32:23,275 --> 00:32:25,359 to account for all of the breakouts that we had. 555 00:32:25,444 --> 00:32:28,779 So what you find in the literature from that time 556 00:32:28,905 --> 00:32:32,992 are numerous reports of bright lights moving through the sky, 557 00:32:33,118 --> 00:32:35,953 emitting gas, or what they call "mists." 558 00:32:37,372 --> 00:32:40,374 And we find them in China, you find them in Europe. 559 00:32:40,375 --> 00:32:41,959 There are similar reports 560 00:32:42,085 --> 00:32:44,378 from the Justinian plague from earlier in history, 561 00:32:44,379 --> 00:32:46,464 and even later plagues, the cholera epidemics. 562 00:32:46,548 --> 00:32:48,674 You find similar stories of mists 563 00:32:48,759 --> 00:32:51,469 that are the cause of the plague. 564 00:32:51,553 --> 00:32:55,973 We have weapons like that-- biological warfare. 565 00:32:56,099 --> 00:32:58,559 As for the motive as to why this happened, 566 00:32:58,685 --> 00:33:00,895 I can only kind of scratch my head, 567 00:33:00,979 --> 00:33:03,147 because in the UFO phenomena, 568 00:33:03,231 --> 00:33:05,399 we see certain consistent patterns, 569 00:33:05,525 --> 00:33:08,611 but we don't always understand the motive. 570 00:33:10,238 --> 00:33:13,366 NARRATOR: Italian historian Matteo Villani, 571 00:33:13,408 --> 00:33:15,409 who both chronicled the Black Death 572 00:33:15,410 --> 00:33:18,412 and died from it in the 14th century, 573 00:33:18,413 --> 00:33:20,498 wrote of pestilential fogs 574 00:33:20,582 --> 00:33:22,541 reported by travelers from Asia. 575 00:33:22,626 --> 00:33:26,212 He even wrote that people were convinced 576 00:33:26,338 --> 00:33:28,130 they could actually see the plague 577 00:33:28,215 --> 00:33:31,425 coming through the streets. 578 00:33:31,426 --> 00:33:34,220 But what some ancient astronaut believers 579 00:33:34,346 --> 00:33:36,430 find to be even stronger evidence 580 00:33:36,431 --> 00:33:39,934 of alien involvement, are the numerous reports 581 00:33:40,018 --> 00:33:42,561 of mysterious black-cloaked creatures 582 00:33:42,646 --> 00:33:45,439 who would appear on the outskirts of villages 583 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:48,442 just before plague broke out. 584 00:33:48,443 --> 00:33:51,278 Contemporary accounts describe them 585 00:33:51,405 --> 00:33:54,740 as having "terrifying faces" and "waving long, 586 00:33:54,825 --> 00:33:59,245 scythe-like objects dispensing noxious mists." 587 00:33:59,371 --> 00:34:04,458 It's the image we know today as the Grim Reaper. 588 00:34:06,461 --> 00:34:08,087 BRAMLEY: These figures in black 589 00:34:08,213 --> 00:34:10,464 would appear usually on the outskirts of a town. 590 00:34:10,465 --> 00:34:14,427 They were carrying these long devices that look like scythes. 591 00:34:14,469 --> 00:34:15,678 These figures in black 592 00:34:15,804 --> 00:34:17,805 would just start sweeping in the fields 593 00:34:17,889 --> 00:34:21,475 as though they were cutting down the wheat. 594 00:34:21,476 --> 00:34:25,771 Then immediately there would be an outbreak of the plague. 595 00:34:25,856 --> 00:34:29,066 NARRATOR: Although ancient astronaut theorists 596 00:34:29,192 --> 00:34:31,485 are divided on Bramley's proposal 597 00:34:31,486 --> 00:34:33,487 that aliens were behind the plague, 598 00:34:33,488 --> 00:34:36,490 his research, like the artwork of the time, 599 00:34:36,491 --> 00:34:39,076 has led to one important conclusion. 600 00:34:41,037 --> 00:34:42,496 TSOUKALOS: What is evidenced 601 00:34:42,581 --> 00:34:46,500 is the fact that visitations occurred 602 00:34:46,626 --> 00:34:51,213 since before recorded history all the way to today. 603 00:34:51,298 --> 00:34:54,049 It's not like ancient astronauts 604 00:34:54,134 --> 00:34:55,885 only happened thousands of years ago, 605 00:34:56,011 --> 00:35:00,055 and then all of a sudden we have Roswell. 606 00:35:00,140 --> 00:35:03,434 The fact alone that these visitations 607 00:35:03,518 --> 00:35:08,063 have been going on for all this time-- 608 00:35:08,148 --> 00:35:11,525 thousands of years-- that's sensational. 609 00:35:11,526 --> 00:35:16,280 NARRATOR: Flying cylinders spreading plague from the sky? 610 00:35:16,364 --> 00:35:20,075 Black-clad aliens looking to destroy humans? 611 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:23,287 But even if possible, why? 612 00:35:23,371 --> 00:35:27,541 And, if true, wouldn't there continue to be evidence 613 00:35:27,542 --> 00:35:29,835 of even more close encounters-- 614 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:35,549 encounters that would take place much closer to home? 615 00:35:38,553 --> 00:35:41,555 When Columbus and his men first set foot 616 00:35:41,556 --> 00:35:44,558 in what to the Europeans was the "New World," 617 00:35:44,559 --> 00:35:48,896 the indigenous people had never encountered anyone like them. 618 00:35:48,980 --> 00:35:50,940 Their skin was pale. 619 00:35:51,066 --> 00:35:52,566 They wore strange clothes 620 00:35:52,567 --> 00:35:55,361 made of bright, often shiny materials. 621 00:35:55,487 --> 00:35:58,864 They arrived in massive ships and had powerful weapons. 622 00:35:58,949 --> 00:36:03,744 To the natives, the visitors were truly aliens 623 00:36:03,870 --> 00:36:07,998 from a strange, faraway world-- powerful beings 624 00:36:08,124 --> 00:36:11,293 who might just as well have been sent from the heavens. 625 00:36:14,089 --> 00:36:15,881 CHRIS PITTMAN: Columbus wrote in his journal 626 00:36:15,966 --> 00:36:18,092 that the inhabitants 627 00:36:18,176 --> 00:36:20,886 eagerly came out to see their ships, 628 00:36:20,971 --> 00:36:23,764 and asked them if they had come from the heavens. 629 00:36:23,890 --> 00:36:26,767 And despite the fact that Columbus and his men indicated, 630 00:36:26,893 --> 00:36:28,602 "No, we didn't come from the heavens," 631 00:36:28,728 --> 00:36:31,564 they called out to the people still on the shore, 632 00:36:31,606 --> 00:36:34,024 "Come out and see the people who have come from the heavens." 633 00:36:34,150 --> 00:36:36,110 Certainly, it seems interesting 634 00:36:36,194 --> 00:36:38,737 to wonder why it is that instead of thinking 635 00:36:38,822 --> 00:36:41,448 that possibly they came from some other part of the sea, 636 00:36:41,575 --> 00:36:43,576 that they'd come from the sky. 637 00:36:44,786 --> 00:36:47,621 NARRATOR: But there is more to the story. 638 00:36:47,622 --> 00:36:50,457 Less well-known is that Columbus 639 00:36:50,584 --> 00:36:53,127 had an alien encounter of his own, 640 00:36:53,211 --> 00:36:55,129 one reported in his log 641 00:36:55,213 --> 00:36:58,632 just days before he reached the shores of the New World. 642 00:37:01,386 --> 00:37:06,765 At about 10:00 p.m. on the 1 1th of October, 1492, 643 00:37:06,850 --> 00:37:10,728 the anxious explorer was on the deck of the Santa Maria 644 00:37:10,812 --> 00:37:14,815 when he saw a "light glimmering at a great distance." 645 00:37:14,941 --> 00:37:17,776 Columbus wrote, "The admiral, 646 00:37:17,861 --> 00:37:20,988 "standing on the quarterdeck, saw a light. 647 00:37:21,072 --> 00:37:25,492 "Calling to Pedro Gutierrez, he told him he saw a light, 648 00:37:25,619 --> 00:37:29,747 "and bid him look that way, which he did and saw it. 649 00:37:29,831 --> 00:37:32,666 "The admiral again perceived it once or twice, 650 00:37:32,667 --> 00:37:35,210 "appearing like the light of a wax candle 651 00:37:35,295 --> 00:37:37,421 moving up and down." 652 00:37:37,505 --> 00:37:41,425 Summoning another member of the crew, the two watched 653 00:37:41,509 --> 00:37:44,678 as the light vanished and reappeared repeatedly. 654 00:37:44,679 --> 00:37:47,681 BIRNES: Seeing lights in the water isn't really an anomaly. 655 00:37:47,682 --> 00:37:49,808 We all know that certain kinds of underwater life 656 00:37:49,893 --> 00:37:51,685 give off lights. 657 00:37:51,686 --> 00:37:56,690 But this light actually traveled along with the ship. 658 00:37:56,691 --> 00:37:59,902 Columbus noted in the log 659 00:38:00,028 --> 00:38:03,197 a glowing object rise out of the water, 660 00:38:03,281 --> 00:38:06,784 and head off into the atmosphere. 661 00:38:08,328 --> 00:38:10,704 NARRATOR: What did Columbus see? 662 00:38:10,705 --> 00:38:13,290 A phosphorescent sea creature? 663 00:38:13,416 --> 00:38:15,417 An hallucination? 664 00:38:15,502 --> 00:38:17,878 Or was it something more? 665 00:38:18,004 --> 00:38:21,340 Something from out of this world? 666 00:38:21,466 --> 00:38:24,301 What did Columbus's men see? 667 00:38:24,427 --> 00:38:28,722 What they saw was a luminous object 668 00:38:28,723 --> 00:38:33,268 that, upon breaking the water's surface, became a UFO. 669 00:38:35,355 --> 00:38:38,357 NARRATOR: To UFO researchers like Bill Birnes, 670 00:38:38,483 --> 00:38:41,110 Columbus's sighting is significant, 671 00:38:41,236 --> 00:38:44,113 not only because of when it occurred, 672 00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:46,740 but also because the object was spotted 673 00:38:46,825 --> 00:38:50,703 coming out of the sea, ruling out the possibility 674 00:38:50,745 --> 00:38:54,748 that what he saw was a comet or a shooting star. 675 00:38:54,749 --> 00:38:57,084 LITTLETON: What's intriguing is that this was in 676 00:38:57,168 --> 00:39:00,754 what we call today the Bermuda Triangle. 677 00:39:02,924 --> 00:39:05,384 The Bermuda Triangle, that area, 678 00:39:05,510 --> 00:39:08,345 particularly off of Bimini and the Bahamas, 679 00:39:08,471 --> 00:39:12,766 may in fact be-- and I'm way out on a limb here-- 680 00:39:12,767 --> 00:39:15,769 colony headquarters underneath that. 681 00:39:15,895 --> 00:39:19,773 Your UFO goes down into the water 682 00:39:19,774 --> 00:39:23,694 and then into a subterranean. 683 00:39:23,778 --> 00:39:28,115 What better position would be to monitor South America, 684 00:39:28,199 --> 00:39:31,785 Middle America, Egypt than the Caribbean? 685 00:39:31,786 --> 00:39:33,871 PITTMAN: Many people believe that it's possible 686 00:39:33,955 --> 00:39:38,792 that UFOs could have established bases on the seafloor. 687 00:39:38,793 --> 00:39:42,337 To some extent, it's true that we know more about the Moon 688 00:39:42,422 --> 00:39:44,548 or some parts of outer space than we do 689 00:39:44,632 --> 00:39:47,009 about the deepest parts of our own oceans. 690 00:39:47,135 --> 00:39:51,805 This event is extremely important 691 00:39:51,806 --> 00:39:55,768 because it is the world's first recorded event 692 00:39:55,810 --> 00:40:00,647 that illustrates the appearance of UFO 693 00:40:00,774 --> 00:40:04,318 as object emerging from the water. 694 00:40:04,402 --> 00:40:08,822 NARRATOR: If Columbus's sighting was so extraordinary, 695 00:40:08,948 --> 00:40:12,826 why do we only find record of it in his log? 696 00:40:12,952 --> 00:40:16,789 Some believe another account of this event exists 697 00:40:16,831 --> 00:40:20,626 in the official records of the Spanish Inquisition. 698 00:40:22,337 --> 00:40:25,672 UFO researcher Maximillien de Lafayette 699 00:40:25,799 --> 00:40:29,551 claims that Columbus's shipmate, Pedro Gutierrez, 700 00:40:29,636 --> 00:40:32,763 reported him to the Inquisition after hearing Columbus 701 00:40:32,847 --> 00:40:34,848 describe the lights in the sky 702 00:40:34,849 --> 00:40:37,851 as resembling the Jewish menorah. 703 00:40:39,270 --> 00:40:41,021 LAFAYETTE: When they went back to Spain, 704 00:40:41,147 --> 00:40:45,567 Gutierrez went directly to the infamous Inquisition. 705 00:40:45,652 --> 00:40:47,861 This is the Catholic organization 706 00:40:47,862 --> 00:40:49,655 created by the Vatican 707 00:40:49,781 --> 00:40:52,199 to persecute and kill the infidels. 708 00:40:52,283 --> 00:40:55,869 The infidels means the Jews, 709 00:40:55,870 --> 00:40:59,873 the Muslims and Christians who are not Catholic. 710 00:41:04,170 --> 00:41:08,173 The Inquisition called him for explanation, deposition. 711 00:41:08,258 --> 00:41:10,592 "Did you say that you saw menorah? 712 00:41:10,677 --> 00:41:12,636 "Why did you say menorah? 713 00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:14,388 Oh, so you are a Jew." 714 00:41:14,472 --> 00:41:16,849 He said, uh, "I'm not a Jew." 715 00:41:16,891 --> 00:41:19,893 In the deposition, which is lengthy, 716 00:41:19,894 --> 00:41:23,605 you find more details-- meticulous details-- 717 00:41:23,690 --> 00:41:27,109 of what Columbus saw above the water. 718 00:41:33,908 --> 00:41:38,996 The file of the Inquisition is in the vault of the Vatican. 719 00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:42,207 And good luck if you can go to the secret file of the Vatican 720 00:41:42,292 --> 00:41:46,003 and try to dig for a document as explosive as this one. 721 00:41:48,923 --> 00:41:52,926 NARRATOR: Secret files of the Spanish Inquisition? 722 00:41:53,011 --> 00:41:57,014 UFOs and alien sightings in the time of Columbus? 723 00:41:57,098 --> 00:41:59,516 Farfetched, perhaps. 724 00:41:59,642 --> 00:42:02,644 But to proponents of ancient astronaut theory, 725 00:42:02,729 --> 00:42:05,147 these precolonial close encounters 726 00:42:05,273 --> 00:42:07,941 are considered commonplace events. 727 00:42:08,026 --> 00:42:11,278 For them, it offers additional proof 728 00:42:11,362 --> 00:42:14,698 that we are not alone. 729 00:42:14,782 --> 00:42:17,326 ALEX CHIONETTI: They have several sightings 730 00:42:17,452 --> 00:42:19,578 of what we would call UFOs today 731 00:42:19,704 --> 00:42:24,166 along the discovery of America, during the conquest of America. 732 00:42:24,292 --> 00:42:26,543 Columbus was not the only one. 733 00:42:26,669 --> 00:42:28,962 Also on the trip of Magellan. 734 00:42:28,963 --> 00:42:32,966 Fernando de Magellan, the discoverer of the Strait, 735 00:42:32,967 --> 00:42:37,095 who circumnavigated the world after Columbus, 736 00:42:37,180 --> 00:42:40,265 he have also sightings. 737 00:42:42,310 --> 00:42:44,978 NARRATOR: Seafarers often encounter strange lights 738 00:42:45,063 --> 00:42:48,899 both in the sky and below the surface of the ocean. 739 00:42:48,983 --> 00:42:51,985 Skeptics argue that Columbus's sighting, 740 00:42:51,986 --> 00:42:56,365 like many others, was simply a natural phenomenon. 741 00:42:58,117 --> 00:42:59,993 BRAMLEY: At night, there are all kinds of things-- 742 00:42:59,994 --> 00:43:01,578 for example, bolides. 743 00:43:01,704 --> 00:43:04,289 Bolides are these very large comets, 744 00:43:04,374 --> 00:43:05,958 and they're spectacular. 745 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:07,793 It's just like this enormous bright light 746 00:43:07,919 --> 00:43:10,003 with a trail that just arcs through the sky. 747 00:43:10,004 --> 00:43:12,005 But we can tell the difference. 748 00:43:12,006 --> 00:43:14,967 When you have a meteor like that or a bolide, 749 00:43:15,009 --> 00:43:16,426 the characteristics are very different 750 00:43:16,552 --> 00:43:18,595 than the ones of genuine UFOs. 751 00:43:18,721 --> 00:43:21,556 PITTMAN: As far back as the 19th century, 752 00:43:21,641 --> 00:43:22,933 people have speculated 753 00:43:23,017 --> 00:43:25,018 about what that light could have been. 754 00:43:25,144 --> 00:43:27,854 Explanations have centered around the possibility 755 00:43:27,981 --> 00:43:30,941 that it could have been a light or a torch 756 00:43:31,025 --> 00:43:34,027 being carried by an island inhabitant. 757 00:43:34,028 --> 00:43:39,032 They were, in fact, more than 35 miles away from any land, 758 00:43:39,033 --> 00:43:41,660 which makes that impossible. 759 00:43:43,830 --> 00:43:46,832 The other possibility is that it was a meteor 760 00:43:46,958 --> 00:43:49,042 traveling very close to the horizon, 761 00:43:49,127 --> 00:43:51,211 and that the movement of the ship is actually 762 00:43:51,337 --> 00:43:54,131 what made the light appear to be moving up and down. 763 00:43:55,967 --> 00:43:58,677 NARRATOR: But what if conventional science is wrong 764 00:43:58,803 --> 00:44:02,389 and the ancient astronaut theorists are correct? 765 00:44:02,473 --> 00:44:07,269 What if Columbus, Magellan and the early explorers 766 00:44:07,395 --> 00:44:09,604 really did see evidence 767 00:44:09,689 --> 00:44:13,066 of extraterrestrial creatures visiting our planet? 768 00:44:13,067 --> 00:44:17,195 What does this say about our past? 769 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:19,656 Our history? 770 00:44:19,782 --> 00:44:22,451 And our future? 771 00:44:23,828 --> 00:44:28,582 Germany, April 14, 1561. 772 00:44:30,084 --> 00:44:33,211 At dawn, the citizens of Nuremberg awoke 773 00:44:33,296 --> 00:44:36,089 to what was described in a local news flier 774 00:44:36,215 --> 00:44:40,469 as "a very frightful spectacle." 775 00:44:40,595 --> 00:44:44,639 Various strange objects were spotted in the sky, 776 00:44:44,724 --> 00:44:49,936 engaged in what appeared to be an aerial battle. 777 00:44:50,063 --> 00:44:54,399 Could they have been witnessing a close encounter? 778 00:44:54,484 --> 00:44:59,279 BIRNES: They see this incredible sight as the sun is coming up. 779 00:44:59,405 --> 00:45:03,742 They see what they describe as cigar-shaped objects, 780 00:45:03,868 --> 00:45:09,122 circles in the air and crosses-- flying crosses. 781 00:45:09,207 --> 00:45:13,043 And suddenly, these shapes begin emitting other shapes. 782 00:45:14,712 --> 00:45:17,756 PITTMAN: The spheres and discs were seen for a long time, 783 00:45:17,882 --> 00:45:19,633 as they apparently were fighting 784 00:45:19,717 --> 00:45:22,094 in some kind of a battle over the city. 785 00:45:22,136 --> 00:45:24,137 In fact, the battle was so evident 786 00:45:24,138 --> 00:45:26,139 that the people in Nuremberg 787 00:45:26,140 --> 00:45:28,225 were actually able to perceive which side was winning. 788 00:45:28,309 --> 00:45:32,145 Some of the objects were seen to crash into the ground 789 00:45:32,146 --> 00:45:35,899 and disappear in a cloud of smoke or steam. 790 00:45:35,983 --> 00:45:38,735 Other objects were seen to fly off 791 00:45:38,861 --> 00:45:41,905 and disappear in the direction of the sun. 792 00:45:41,989 --> 00:45:43,532 BIRNES: This entire event 793 00:45:43,658 --> 00:45:46,660 becomes memorialized in a broadsheet. 794 00:45:46,744 --> 00:45:49,162 Now, a broadsheet in the 16th century 795 00:45:49,163 --> 00:45:51,123 was literally a newspaper. 796 00:45:51,165 --> 00:45:56,545 And that broadsheet exists today in Zurich, Switzerland. 797 00:45:56,671 --> 00:45:59,464 PITTMAN: The Zurich Central Library to this day 798 00:45:59,549 --> 00:46:02,717 retains a copy not only of the famous woodcut 799 00:46:02,802 --> 00:46:05,804 that shows the 1561 sighting over Nuremberg, 800 00:46:05,930 --> 00:46:10,809 but also a 1566 woodcut showing a sighting from that year 801 00:46:10,935 --> 00:46:13,937 that was quite similar in Basel, Switzerland. 802 00:46:14,021 --> 00:46:16,731 What's fascinating is it's a very similar event. 803 00:46:16,816 --> 00:46:20,193 People saw a bunch of circles in the air. 804 00:46:20,194 --> 00:46:23,196 In fact, a proliferation of circles in the air. 805 00:46:23,197 --> 00:46:24,906 They didn't necessarily interpret that 806 00:46:24,991 --> 00:46:26,575 as a battle in the air, 807 00:46:26,701 --> 00:46:30,287 but they did interpret it as some kind of heavenly sign. 808 00:46:31,998 --> 00:46:33,582 NARRATOR: The broadsheets that were distributed 809 00:46:33,708 --> 00:46:36,793 both in Nuremberg and in Basel five years later 810 00:46:36,919 --> 00:46:39,421 advised people to "repent for their sins" 811 00:46:39,547 --> 00:46:42,215 and interpreted these extraordinary events 812 00:46:42,216 --> 00:46:44,342 as signs from God. 813 00:46:44,427 --> 00:46:48,221 LAFAYETTE: In old time, everything paranormal, 814 00:46:48,222 --> 00:46:51,224 extra, extra-- hyphen-- ordinary 815 00:46:51,225 --> 00:46:54,227 belongs to the realm of divinity, of Gods. 816 00:46:54,228 --> 00:46:56,229 "God's doing this! God is punishing us! 817 00:46:56,314 --> 00:46:59,316 God is blessing us! Go repent! Go to church!" 818 00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:02,777 PITTMAN: It's interesting to read the Nuremberg description 819 00:47:02,862 --> 00:47:07,240 because it is written with religious iconography in mind. 820 00:47:07,325 --> 00:47:11,244 They talk about crosses seen in the sky on the previous day 821 00:47:11,245 --> 00:47:12,996 during that sighting. 822 00:47:13,080 --> 00:47:17,209 Now, what we might think of as a fuselage with wings 823 00:47:17,251 --> 00:47:19,544 might have appeared as a cross to people 824 00:47:19,629 --> 00:47:23,048 who saw religious symbolism constantly 825 00:47:23,174 --> 00:47:24,591 in their everyday life. 826 00:47:24,675 --> 00:47:26,426 It's difficult to imagine 827 00:47:26,552 --> 00:47:28,428 how these things might have appeared, 828 00:47:28,554 --> 00:47:30,096 but it's certainly possible 829 00:47:30,223 --> 00:47:32,557 that if these were to appear in the sky today, 830 00:47:32,642 --> 00:47:34,643 we would describe them quite differently. 831 00:47:36,229 --> 00:47:38,063 NARRATOR: Could the people of Nuremberg 832 00:47:38,189 --> 00:47:42,108 have actually witnessed a battle between warring alien factions; 833 00:47:42,235 --> 00:47:46,071 an event eerily similar to the one written about 834 00:47:46,197 --> 00:47:50,909 in the Bhagavad Gita over 3,000 years earlier? 835 00:47:52,286 --> 00:47:55,205 And if not, what else would explain 836 00:47:55,289 --> 00:47:57,290 the vivid accounts of luminous globes 837 00:47:57,291 --> 00:48:02,003 and blood-red crosses appearing in the sky? 838 00:48:05,299 --> 00:48:09,302 Throughout the Middle Ages, visions of strange happenings 839 00:48:09,428 --> 00:48:13,306 were often attributed to God or to the supernatural. 840 00:48:13,307 --> 00:48:15,934 But moving into what is known 841 00:48:16,060 --> 00:48:19,312 as the early modern period of the 17th century, 842 00:48:19,313 --> 00:48:21,398 people began to look more and more 843 00:48:21,482 --> 00:48:25,610 toward science and the stars for answers. 844 00:48:25,695 --> 00:48:30,323 And with the invention of the refracting telescope in 1608, 845 00:48:30,324 --> 00:48:32,867 there would be more eyes trained on the stars 846 00:48:32,952 --> 00:48:35,245 than ever before. 847 00:48:35,329 --> 00:48:38,873 Ironically, the first report of a UFO 848 00:48:38,958 --> 00:48:41,334 witnessed through this new device 849 00:48:41,335 --> 00:48:45,255 came from colonial America's best-known Puritan minister, 850 00:48:45,339 --> 00:48:47,340 Cotton Mather. 851 00:48:47,341 --> 00:48:49,551 BIRNES: There was an incredible sighting 852 00:48:49,677 --> 00:48:53,346 that the very famous New England preacher, Cotton Mather, had. 853 00:48:53,431 --> 00:48:55,974 Cotton Mather said that he was looking 854 00:48:56,100 --> 00:48:59,936 through a telescope at the Moon, and in the telescope, 855 00:49:00,062 --> 00:49:05,317 he saw a flying light over the surface of the moon. 856 00:49:05,359 --> 00:49:07,068 Well, how did this get recorded? 857 00:49:07,153 --> 00:49:09,321 By none other than NASA. 858 00:49:09,363 --> 00:49:11,323 And people can find it themselves. 859 00:49:11,365 --> 00:49:13,366 Go to the NASA report 860 00:49:13,367 --> 00:49:16,369 on lunar anomalies over 500 years, 861 00:49:16,370 --> 00:49:19,205 and they will find Cotton Mather's sighting 862 00:49:19,332 --> 00:49:23,460 of a UFO over the surface of the Moon. 863 00:49:27,381 --> 00:49:31,718 PITTMAN: There are a vast number of natural atmospheric phenomena 864 00:49:31,802 --> 00:49:35,388 that can appear as bright lights in the night sky. 865 00:49:35,389 --> 00:49:39,392 Certainly, uh, meteors are a possibility. 866 00:49:39,477 --> 00:49:42,520 Even certain kinds of terrestrial phenomena 867 00:49:42,605 --> 00:49:45,899 do materialize as glowing balls of light 868 00:49:45,983 --> 00:49:49,319 that, seen from a distance, may appear to be a star. 869 00:49:49,403 --> 00:49:52,989 And it's incredibly difficult to judge the distance 870 00:49:53,115 --> 00:49:55,408 of a point source of light in the night. 871 00:49:55,409 --> 00:49:58,828 So he may have thought that it was on the surface of the Moon, 872 00:49:58,954 --> 00:50:01,998 or... or hundreds of miles away, when in reality, 873 00:50:02,124 --> 00:50:04,793 it could have been quite close to where he was. 874 00:50:04,919 --> 00:50:08,254 NARRATOR: Though it is uncertain what Cotton Mather saw, 875 00:50:08,381 --> 00:50:12,050 ancient astronaut theorists find it significant 876 00:50:12,176 --> 00:50:14,386 that a prominent religious figure 877 00:50:14,428 --> 00:50:17,722 would report such a sighting not as a vision from God, 878 00:50:17,807 --> 00:50:20,433 but as an astronomical event. 879 00:50:20,434 --> 00:50:22,977 They see it as a sign, 880 00:50:23,062 --> 00:50:27,023 not only of the sighting's authenticity, but that views 881 00:50:27,149 --> 00:50:29,984 on the possibility of extraterrestrial life 882 00:50:30,069 --> 00:50:31,444 were starting to shift, 883 00:50:31,570 --> 00:50:34,197 even within the Christian church. 884 00:50:34,281 --> 00:50:36,032 BIRNES: Cotton Mather was known 885 00:50:36,158 --> 00:50:38,410 as a fire-and-brimstone preacher. 886 00:50:38,452 --> 00:50:41,579 But there's a rational part of Cotton Mather as well. 887 00:50:43,624 --> 00:50:46,000 Because this was the very beginning; 888 00:50:46,085 --> 00:50:48,461 the dawn of the industrial revolution. 889 00:50:48,462 --> 00:50:53,967 And in this context, people were thinking about science, 890 00:50:54,051 --> 00:50:56,469 they were thinking about machines, 891 00:50:56,595 --> 00:51:01,474 and really thinking about, could there be something in space? 892 00:51:01,475 --> 00:51:04,102 NARRATOR: Although sightings like Cotton Mather's 893 00:51:04,228 --> 00:51:06,229 were still rare in the 1700s, 894 00:51:06,313 --> 00:51:09,482 the increasing interest in astronomy 895 00:51:09,567 --> 00:51:12,819 sparked a new debate over a centuries-old theory 896 00:51:12,903 --> 00:51:16,614 called "the plurality of worlds;" the idea 897 00:51:16,699 --> 00:51:21,119 that life might exist elsewhere throughout the universe. 898 00:51:21,245 --> 00:51:23,580 MICHAEL CROWE: By the end of the 18th century, 899 00:51:23,664 --> 00:51:27,625 the majority of people-- at least of educated people-- 900 00:51:27,710 --> 00:51:31,880 were convinced that all throughout the solar system 901 00:51:32,006 --> 00:51:37,343 there was intelligent life: on Jupiter, on Mars, on Saturn. 902 00:51:37,470 --> 00:51:40,513 All of them had extraterrestrials. 903 00:51:40,514 --> 00:51:46,019 Very possibly, the Moon would have intelligent beings on it. 904 00:51:46,103 --> 00:51:48,313 I once did a tally 905 00:51:48,439 --> 00:51:52,233 of the leading intellectuals in the 18th century. 906 00:51:52,318 --> 00:51:55,278 Over half of them included ideas 907 00:51:55,362 --> 00:51:58,823 of extraterrestrial life in their publications. 908 00:52:00,534 --> 00:52:03,077 NARRATOR: The premier 18th-century astronomer, 909 00:52:03,162 --> 00:52:05,830 William Herschel, also supported the theory 910 00:52:05,915 --> 00:52:08,541 that life existed on other planets. 911 00:52:08,542 --> 00:52:12,545 So did Thomas Paine, one of America’s Founding Fathers, 912 00:52:12,546 --> 00:52:15,548 along with many religious leaders of the time. 913 00:52:15,549 --> 00:52:19,177 CROWE: Preachers were preaching about extraterrestrials 914 00:52:19,303 --> 00:52:21,679 as a proof of God's goodness. 915 00:52:21,764 --> 00:52:27,519 That's the idea that if there is a good and beneficent God, 916 00:52:27,561 --> 00:52:30,563 he would populate all the planets, all the stars. 917 00:52:35,110 --> 00:52:38,154 NARRATOR: Though there was open debate about the existence 918 00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:41,574 of extraterrestrial life in the 1700s, 919 00:52:41,575 --> 00:52:43,910 the discussion did not often extend 920 00:52:43,994 --> 00:52:47,205 to the idea of aliens visiting Earth. 921 00:52:47,331 --> 00:52:49,541 But in 1731, 922 00:52:49,583 --> 00:52:53,086 a series of sightings occurred across Europe 923 00:52:53,170 --> 00:52:54,587 that were so compelling, 924 00:52:54,588 --> 00:52:59,217 the possibility could no longer be ignored. 925 00:52:59,343 --> 00:53:01,511 In modern UFO sightings, 926 00:53:01,595 --> 00:53:03,888 the communications about UFOs are instant. 927 00:53:03,973 --> 00:53:06,182 It's on the Internet, it's on YouTube. 928 00:53:06,308 --> 00:53:09,310 But what about some of these 18th-century 929 00:53:09,395 --> 00:53:10,687 or Renaissance sightings? 930 00:53:10,771 --> 00:53:13,523 Here's something incredible. 931 00:53:13,607 --> 00:53:17,110 In 1731, over Kilkenny, Ireland, there was a sighting 932 00:53:17,194 --> 00:53:20,780 of a luminous object coming out of a red cloud. 933 00:53:20,906 --> 00:53:23,616 That same sighting is reported 934 00:53:23,701 --> 00:53:27,203 in the span of a week over the rest of Europe, 935 00:53:27,329 --> 00:53:30,373 particularly over Romania in Eastern Europe. 936 00:53:30,457 --> 00:53:31,916 Now, here are two countries 937 00:53:32,001 --> 00:53:34,043 that are not communicating with each other. 938 00:53:34,169 --> 00:53:36,170 Newspapers don't go back and forth, 939 00:53:36,255 --> 00:53:38,172 they don't speak the same language, 940 00:53:38,257 --> 00:53:41,759 there's no radio and there's no television. 941 00:53:41,844 --> 00:53:46,764 Yet a UFO was spotted traveling from the Irish Sea, 942 00:53:46,849 --> 00:53:48,641 across Europe, 943 00:53:48,767 --> 00:53:51,811 all the way to Eastern Europe and towards Asia, 944 00:53:51,937 --> 00:53:55,648 and is spotted in different places as it goes. 945 00:53:55,649 --> 00:53:59,444 Independent observations that don't cross-pollinate. 946 00:54:01,655 --> 00:54:04,282 NARRATOR: Could these nearly identical reports 947 00:54:04,408 --> 00:54:07,577 of a strange object passing through the sky 948 00:54:07,661 --> 00:54:09,662 be mere coincidence? 949 00:54:09,663 --> 00:54:13,666 And if it was an alien craft, is it possible 950 00:54:13,792 --> 00:54:17,003 that earlier sightings simply weren't reported 951 00:54:17,087 --> 00:54:20,673 because they were interpreted as signs from God? 952 00:54:20,674 --> 00:54:25,219 In colonial America, the idea that aliens were visiting Earth 953 00:54:25,304 --> 00:54:27,388 was gaining ground. 954 00:54:27,473 --> 00:54:31,309 And in the 1800s, this controversial theory 955 00:54:31,435 --> 00:54:35,271 would even make its way to the White House. 956 00:54:45,449 --> 00:54:48,117 The United States officially declared its independence 957 00:54:48,243 --> 00:54:51,704 from Great Britain in 1776, 958 00:54:51,830 --> 00:54:55,708 and just 14 years later, a report 959 00:54:55,709 --> 00:54:59,712 of the first UFO sighting in American history appeared 960 00:54:59,713 --> 00:55:02,715 in the newly published journals of John Winthrop, 961 00:55:02,716 --> 00:55:07,720 the second governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony. 962 00:55:07,721 --> 00:55:09,722 His journals, which are now known 963 00:55:09,723 --> 00:55:14,686 as "A History of New England, 1630-1649," 964 00:55:14,728 --> 00:55:17,313 are still considered the preeminent record 965 00:55:17,439 --> 00:55:21,275 for that period in American history. 966 00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:24,570 When the journals were finally published in 1790, 967 00:55:24,697 --> 00:55:27,740 over 140 years after Winthrop's death, 968 00:55:27,741 --> 00:55:30,743 they were found to contain an alarming account 969 00:55:30,828 --> 00:55:35,248 of a possible close encounter over Boston's Muddy River. 970 00:55:40,713 --> 00:55:44,590 PITTMAN: One night in March of 1639, 971 00:55:44,717 --> 00:55:46,759 James Everell, who is described as being 972 00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:50,179 a "sober and discreet man," and two of his companions 973 00:55:50,305 --> 00:55:53,766 boarded a little boat in the Muddy River of Boston. 974 00:55:56,770 --> 00:55:59,397 As they paddled along the river, 975 00:55:59,523 --> 00:56:02,775 they saw a great bright light that hovered in the sky. 976 00:56:02,776 --> 00:56:05,778 As they watched, the light flared up 977 00:56:05,779 --> 00:56:08,281 and then contracted into what they described 978 00:56:08,365 --> 00:56:10,199 as the figure of a swine. 979 00:56:10,325 --> 00:56:12,785 It's difficult to imagine anybody seriously reporting 980 00:56:12,911 --> 00:56:15,079 a sighting of a glowing, flying pig. 981 00:56:15,164 --> 00:56:19,208 Looking at the sighting, one can't help but wonder 982 00:56:19,334 --> 00:56:21,961 if they were struggling to describe 983 00:56:22,087 --> 00:56:25,298 an oval-shaped fuselage and four short, 984 00:56:25,382 --> 00:56:28,593 what we might now call landing struts or landing gear, 985 00:56:28,719 --> 00:56:31,804 in a way that made sense in the 17th century. 986 00:56:33,307 --> 00:56:35,099 NARRATOR: Winthrop's account states 987 00:56:35,184 --> 00:56:37,810 that the object moved swift as an arrow, 988 00:56:37,811 --> 00:56:40,938 jetting back and forth, as well as up and down, 989 00:56:41,023 --> 00:56:43,316 for two to three hours. 990 00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:45,818 And when it finally disappeared, 991 00:56:45,819 --> 00:56:47,820 the three passengers in the boat, 992 00:56:47,821 --> 00:56:50,823 who had been drifting downstream the entire time, 993 00:56:50,824 --> 00:56:53,451 were astonished to find themselves 994 00:56:53,577 --> 00:56:57,789 back at the point where they began their trip. 995 00:56:59,124 --> 00:57:01,667 PITTMAN: What Winthrop describes in his journal 996 00:57:01,794 --> 00:57:03,920 is really difficult to explain. 997 00:57:04,004 --> 00:57:06,839 Certainly, it seems hard to fathom 998 00:57:06,924 --> 00:57:09,133 that, for two or three hours, 999 00:57:09,218 --> 00:57:12,553 three men in a boat watched a bright light 1000 00:57:12,638 --> 00:57:15,848 moving around in the sky over the city of Boston. 1001 00:57:15,849 --> 00:57:18,601 And it seems almost inconceivable 1002 00:57:18,685 --> 00:57:20,853 that their boat could have been drawn back 1003 00:57:20,854 --> 00:57:24,273 against the tide without their noticing it. 1004 00:57:26,276 --> 00:57:29,821 These type of strange and inexplicable phenomena 1005 00:57:29,863 --> 00:57:32,573 are now associated with the phenomena 1006 00:57:32,658 --> 00:57:34,659 that's called "alien abduction." 1007 00:57:37,871 --> 00:57:41,290 LINDA HOWE: And as the abduction cases evolved, 1008 00:57:41,416 --> 00:57:44,877 you heard people say all of a sudden 1009 00:57:44,878 --> 00:57:49,382 everything around them was slowing way, way down. 1010 00:57:52,052 --> 00:57:55,888 And they associate the slowing way, way down 1011 00:57:55,973 --> 00:57:57,890 with whatever this event is 1012 00:57:57,891 --> 00:57:59,892 that we call the "human abduction syndrome." 1013 00:58:01,436 --> 00:58:04,063 NARRATOR: Could this event at Muddy River 1014 00:58:04,189 --> 00:58:08,276 be not only North America's first documented UFO sighting, 1015 00:58:08,402 --> 00:58:13,197 but also the first account of an alien abduction? 1016 00:58:15,492 --> 00:58:18,494 Those who believe the account in Winthrop's journals 1017 00:58:18,620 --> 00:58:20,997 was an actual alien encounter 1018 00:58:21,081 --> 00:58:25,251 point to the last line of his report, which states, 1019 00:58:25,335 --> 00:58:29,881 "Other credible persons saw the same light." 1020 00:58:31,633 --> 00:58:35,511 By the time Winthrop's history was published in 1790, 1021 00:58:35,637 --> 00:58:39,724 the debate over the possibility of extraterrestrial life 1022 00:58:39,850 --> 00:58:42,852 was more heated than ever before. 1023 00:58:42,936 --> 00:58:46,939 In fact, the question of whether life existed 1024 00:58:46,940 --> 00:58:50,943 on other planets had become so hotly contested, 1025 00:58:50,944 --> 00:58:54,947 it caused one of America’s Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine, 1026 00:58:54,948 --> 00:58:58,075 to be unofficially exiled to Europe. 1027 00:58:58,160 --> 00:59:02,705 Thomas Paine enters the extraterrestrial life debate 1028 00:59:02,789 --> 00:59:04,957 in a very dramatic way. 1029 00:59:07,461 --> 00:59:11,339 He was an Englishman, but famous American patriot. 1030 00:59:11,465 --> 00:59:17,970 1793: Thomas Paine publishes a book called The Age of Reason. 1031 00:59:17,971 --> 00:59:20,681 And in The Age of Reason, he makes 1032 00:59:20,766 --> 00:59:25,353 one of the most vigorous attacks on Christianity ever made. 1033 00:59:26,980 --> 00:59:30,399 The bottom line on it is, he says, you must believe 1034 00:59:30,525 --> 00:59:34,987 in extraterrestrials if you know any modern astronomy. 1035 00:59:34,988 --> 00:59:38,574 The idea of God made the entire universe 1036 00:59:38,700 --> 00:59:41,994 going from planet to planet redeeming people 1037 00:59:42,079 --> 00:59:43,913 is just impossible to believe. 1038 00:59:43,997 --> 00:59:46,791 (angry shouting) 1039 00:59:46,917 --> 00:59:49,085 That creates a sensation. 1040 00:59:49,169 --> 00:59:52,588 Thousands of copies of the book were sold. 1041 00:59:52,714 --> 00:59:55,716 NARRATOR: In December of 1793, 1042 00:59:55,801 --> 00:59:58,970 Thomas Paine was arrested in France as a result 1043 00:59:59,012 --> 01:00:02,640 of supporting a political party that was no longer in power. 1044 01:00:02,766 --> 01:00:07,520 When the American ambassador refused to speak on his behalf, 1045 01:00:07,604 --> 01:00:09,522 Paine believed that George Washington 1046 01:00:09,606 --> 01:00:12,149 had abandoned him because of his writings 1047 01:00:12,234 --> 01:00:15,152 supporting the idea of extraterrestrial life 1048 01:00:15,237 --> 01:00:18,656 and refuting traditional Christianity. 1049 01:00:21,034 --> 01:00:24,328 In 1802, he was invited back to America 1050 01:00:24,413 --> 01:00:27,832 by the third president, Thomas Jefferson. 1051 01:00:27,958 --> 01:00:30,459 Jefferson, an intellectual, 1052 01:00:30,585 --> 01:00:34,005 was considered a genius by many in his time, 1053 01:00:34,047 --> 01:00:36,132 both for his skill as a statesman 1054 01:00:36,216 --> 01:00:38,801 and his scientific aptitude. 1055 01:00:38,885 --> 01:00:42,138 And some believe he was also a proponent, 1056 01:00:42,222 --> 01:00:45,391 like his contemporaries Ben Franklin and John Adams, 1057 01:00:45,475 --> 01:00:49,061 in the concept of the plurality of worlds. 1058 01:00:49,062 --> 01:00:51,897 PITTMAN: The concept of a plurality of worlds 1059 01:00:52,024 --> 01:00:56,610 was a very widely accepted concept in the 18th century. 1060 01:00:56,695 --> 01:00:59,488 People like John Adams and Thomas Paine 1061 01:00:59,614 --> 01:01:02,575 didn't view extraterrestrial life as a possibility, 1062 01:01:02,659 --> 01:01:06,162 but rather as a matter of fact that everybody knew to be true. 1063 01:01:07,873 --> 01:01:11,083 The new rationality in science changed the way 1064 01:01:11,168 --> 01:01:14,920 that these Founding Fathers talked about religion. 1065 01:01:15,047 --> 01:01:19,091 1825: Thomas Jefferson is hiring faculty 1066 01:01:19,092 --> 01:01:21,093 for the University of Virginia. 1067 01:01:21,178 --> 01:01:23,929 And John Adams writes to him 1068 01:01:24,056 --> 01:01:27,224 and gives him advice on how to do that hiring. 1069 01:01:27,309 --> 01:01:30,519 He says, "Do not hire any European professors. 1070 01:01:30,645 --> 01:01:33,314 "If you hire a European professor, 1071 01:01:33,440 --> 01:01:37,068 "they are liable to believe in Christianity, 1072 01:01:37,110 --> 01:01:40,112 "and that is a very dangerous doctrine 1073 01:01:40,113 --> 01:01:42,907 that we should stay far away from." 1074 01:01:44,618 --> 01:01:47,203 PITTMAN: Other Founding Fathers also agreed with this view, 1075 01:01:47,287 --> 01:01:49,121 which included a belief 1076 01:01:49,122 --> 01:01:51,749 in the existence of life on other planets. 1077 01:01:51,875 --> 01:01:56,629 Benjamin Franklin wondered if there were different gods 1078 01:01:56,713 --> 01:01:59,090 for every sun that harbored intelligent life. 1079 01:01:59,132 --> 01:02:02,134 Many of them felt it was clear 1080 01:02:02,135 --> 01:02:04,136 that there were intelligent beings-- 1081 01:02:04,137 --> 01:02:06,138 conceivably through the whole universe-- 1082 01:02:06,139 --> 01:02:11,352 and that the notion that God came to this planet as a person 1083 01:02:11,478 --> 01:02:15,272 who was spit on and persecuted simply was ridiculous. 1084 01:02:15,357 --> 01:02:19,527 And they rejected that long-held traditional belief, 1085 01:02:19,653 --> 01:02:22,279 which was a very radical thing at the time. 1086 01:02:23,782 --> 01:02:25,449 NARRATOR: America's Founding Fathers 1087 01:02:25,534 --> 01:02:28,285 defending the concept of extraterrestrial life 1088 01:02:28,370 --> 01:02:30,955 against Christianity? 1089 01:02:31,081 --> 01:02:35,167 A revolutionary idea, to be certain. 1090 01:02:35,168 --> 01:02:37,795 But perhaps not so revolutionary 1091 01:02:37,921 --> 01:02:40,172 to the country's earliest inhabitants, 1092 01:02:40,173 --> 01:02:44,927 who long before claimed to have met visitors from the sky. 1093 01:02:49,141 --> 01:02:53,269 In northwestern New Mexico lies a vast concentration 1094 01:02:53,353 --> 01:02:58,524 of ancient ruins known today as Chaco Canyon. 1095 01:02:58,608 --> 01:03:01,193 Built from sandstone blocks and timber 1096 01:03:01,194 --> 01:03:04,530 between 900 and 1 150 A.D., 1097 01:03:04,614 --> 01:03:08,200 the 15 major complexes of Chaco Canyon 1098 01:03:08,201 --> 01:03:11,912 contained four-story structures with hundreds of rooms 1099 01:03:11,997 --> 01:03:15,332 that required thousands of man-hours to construct. 1100 01:03:15,417 --> 01:03:18,210 Until the 19th century, 1101 01:03:18,211 --> 01:03:21,755 they were the largest buildings in North America. 1102 01:03:21,840 --> 01:03:25,050 Chaco Canyon was a center of activity 1103 01:03:25,177 --> 01:03:28,304 for a lot of different Indian tribes-- Pueblo tribes. 1104 01:03:28,388 --> 01:03:30,848 Archaeologists, anthropologists 1105 01:03:30,974 --> 01:03:33,350 have a lot of theories about what that was. 1106 01:03:33,435 --> 01:03:37,855 But what I have studied and what I can tell 1107 01:03:37,981 --> 01:03:39,982 by just some of the chants 1108 01:03:40,066 --> 01:03:43,235 from our own tribe and other Pueblo tribes 1109 01:03:43,236 --> 01:03:47,239 is that this would have been a big center of activity 1110 01:03:47,240 --> 01:03:51,619 for technological-spiritual activities. 1111 01:03:51,745 --> 01:03:54,246 There's a lot of places on there 1112 01:03:54,331 --> 01:03:58,250 that has direct bearings up into the universe. 1113 01:04:01,254 --> 01:04:02,630 NARRATOR: When archaeologists 1114 01:04:02,756 --> 01:04:06,258 first excavated these ruins in 1896, 1115 01:04:06,259 --> 01:04:09,803 they marveled at their architectural precision. 1116 01:04:09,888 --> 01:04:12,264 But even more astonishing 1117 01:04:12,390 --> 01:04:15,976 was the fact that many of these ancient structures-- 1118 01:04:16,061 --> 01:04:20,898 like those found in Egypt, England and South America-- 1119 01:04:21,024 --> 01:04:22,441 suggested the inhabitants 1120 01:04:22,567 --> 01:04:26,237 had a sophisticated knowledge of astronomy. 1121 01:04:26,279 --> 01:04:29,281 A number of devices designed 1122 01:04:29,282 --> 01:04:32,701 for tracking solar events were found. 1123 01:04:32,827 --> 01:04:37,122 And at Fajada Butte, which sits at the entrance of the canyon, 1124 01:04:37,249 --> 01:04:40,084 three giant slabs of rock are positioned 1125 01:04:40,210 --> 01:04:44,380 near two spiral petroglyphs etched on a cliffwall. 1126 01:04:44,464 --> 01:04:47,299 During the solstice and the equinox, 1127 01:04:47,425 --> 01:04:50,302 these rocks catch the sun in such a way 1128 01:04:50,303 --> 01:04:52,596 as to shine daggers of light 1129 01:04:52,681 --> 01:04:55,641 on different areas of the petroglyphs. 1130 01:04:57,519 --> 01:05:00,479 But why would early Native Americans 1131 01:05:00,605 --> 01:05:04,733 spend so much time building the structures at Chaco Canyon 1132 01:05:04,859 --> 01:05:08,862 along such precise astronomical alignments? 1133 01:05:08,947 --> 01:05:14,868 And why build them in such a desolate area of the country? 1134 01:05:14,953 --> 01:05:16,453 COPPENS: It is one of those sites 1135 01:05:16,538 --> 01:05:19,331 which has been posing so many questions, 1136 01:05:19,332 --> 01:05:22,626 and which science is only slowly beginning to explain. 1137 01:05:22,711 --> 01:05:25,337 But really, there are more questions than answers 1138 01:05:25,338 --> 01:05:27,673 at this moment in time about Chaco Canyon. 1139 01:05:31,344 --> 01:05:35,180 NARRATOR: In his 2006 book, The Orion Zone, 1140 01:05:35,307 --> 01:05:38,350 archaeo-astronomer Gary David proposed 1141 01:05:38,351 --> 01:05:40,185 that the geographical layout 1142 01:05:40,312 --> 01:05:43,355 of Hopi ruins in the American Southwest 1143 01:05:43,481 --> 01:05:45,649 precisely mirrors the star patterns 1144 01:05:45,734 --> 01:05:48,360 of a number of constellations. 1145 01:05:48,486 --> 01:05:52,072 COPPENS: When you look at where the ancestral Pueblan 1146 01:05:52,157 --> 01:05:55,200 major ceremonial sites are actually located, 1147 01:05:55,327 --> 01:05:58,912 Gary David has identified that when you just map these, 1148 01:05:58,997 --> 01:06:02,458 you actually find that they depict constellations. 1149 01:06:02,542 --> 01:06:05,377 Specifically, Orion is very important. 1150 01:06:07,380 --> 01:06:09,715 NARRATOR: Orion's Belt points 1151 01:06:09,799 --> 01:06:13,010 to the brightest star in the sky-- Sirius. 1152 01:06:15,096 --> 01:06:19,725 If one looks at the Hopi mesas as the stars of Orion's Belt, 1153 01:06:19,809 --> 01:06:25,022 they also point to an important location-- Chaco Canyon. 1154 01:06:26,524 --> 01:06:28,400 But why Orion? 1155 01:06:28,401 --> 01:06:31,195 And could it be merely a coincidence 1156 01:06:31,321 --> 01:06:34,031 that this constellation pattern has been found 1157 01:06:34,157 --> 01:06:36,909 at other important sites around the world, 1158 01:06:36,993 --> 01:06:39,411 and always with the belt pointing 1159 01:06:39,412 --> 01:06:41,705 toward a place of significance? 1160 01:06:41,790 --> 01:06:43,999 Ancient astronaut theorists 1161 01:06:44,125 --> 01:06:46,418 have discovered the constellation of Orion 1162 01:06:46,503 --> 01:06:48,629 lining up with the Mayan complexes 1163 01:06:48,755 --> 01:06:51,924 along the Street of the Dead in Mexico City. 1164 01:06:52,008 --> 01:06:55,928 And here, Orion's Belt points to Cholula, 1165 01:06:56,012 --> 01:06:59,056 the largest pyramid in the world. 1166 01:06:59,182 --> 01:07:03,268 They also find it at the Giza Pyramids in Egypt, 1167 01:07:03,395 --> 01:07:06,939 with the belt pointing toward the city of Heliopolis, 1168 01:07:07,023 --> 01:07:09,733 a place of worship for ancient Egyptians. 1169 01:07:09,818 --> 01:07:11,777 COPPENS: One thing we know about Orion's Belt 1170 01:07:11,861 --> 01:07:15,406 is that this is a theme which is recurring in Mayan mythology. 1171 01:07:15,448 --> 01:07:17,449 It's also actually a theme which is occurring 1172 01:07:17,450 --> 01:07:19,368 in Egyptian mythology. 1173 01:07:19,452 --> 01:07:21,203 Orion's Belt, and the stars around it, 1174 01:07:21,287 --> 01:07:23,205 were seen as the heart of creation. 1175 01:07:23,289 --> 01:07:25,791 It is where everything began. 1176 01:07:25,875 --> 01:07:28,210 And it's probably not coincidental 1177 01:07:28,294 --> 01:07:30,838 that the Hopis see the place where they are living 1178 01:07:30,964 --> 01:07:32,881 as the heart of the world. 1179 01:07:34,467 --> 01:07:36,051 BIRNES: These are ancient people. 1180 01:07:36,177 --> 01:07:39,471 All they had to go by were the stars. 1181 01:07:39,472 --> 01:07:43,475 And so, they believed-- as astrologists believe today-- 1182 01:07:43,476 --> 01:07:46,270 that the stars have certain powers 1183 01:07:46,396 --> 01:07:48,480 over what goes on on planet Earth. 1184 01:07:49,899 --> 01:07:51,900 NARRATOR: According to their legends, 1185 01:07:52,026 --> 01:07:54,486 the Hopi believe there were three worlds 1186 01:07:54,571 --> 01:07:57,030 that preceded the one we are in today. 1187 01:07:57,115 --> 01:07:59,783 Each of those worlds was wiped out 1188 01:07:59,868 --> 01:08:03,287 when guardians of the sky called to the Creator 1189 01:08:03,413 --> 01:08:06,999 to tell him that his finest creation, humans, 1190 01:08:07,083 --> 01:08:09,501 were no longer living according to his plan. 1191 01:08:11,337 --> 01:08:14,089 And they called to him by setting off a warning 1192 01:08:14,215 --> 01:08:16,049 through the Earth's axis, 1193 01:08:16,134 --> 01:08:20,012 a vibration strong enough to shift the balance of the planet. 1194 01:08:22,724 --> 01:08:26,518 Is it possible the structures at Chaco Canyon 1195 01:08:26,519 --> 01:08:29,521 were built along precise celestial alignments 1196 01:08:29,647 --> 01:08:32,524 so that the Hopi could predict the periods 1197 01:08:32,525 --> 01:08:36,528 of Earth's devastation and renewal? 1198 01:08:36,613 --> 01:08:40,657 Could the guardians of the sky have led them here 1199 01:08:40,742 --> 01:08:43,619 so they could monitor the position of the sun? 1200 01:08:43,703 --> 01:08:45,537 THOMAS O. MILLS: Why in the world 1201 01:08:45,538 --> 01:08:47,539 people settled at that location wasn't... 1202 01:08:47,540 --> 01:08:49,541 wasn't something that they did on their own. 1203 01:08:49,626 --> 01:08:51,376 There's no running water there. 1204 01:08:51,503 --> 01:08:53,253 There was no reason to live there. 1205 01:08:53,338 --> 01:08:54,880 There's no good soil. 1206 01:08:54,964 --> 01:08:56,548 They did that because their guardian 1207 01:08:56,549 --> 01:08:58,759 told them to live there. 1208 01:08:58,885 --> 01:09:03,347 NARRATOR: During the times of the summer and winter solstices, 1209 01:09:03,473 --> 01:09:06,558 as well as the spring and fall equinoxes, 1210 01:09:06,559 --> 01:09:09,978 the people at Chaco Canyon could gauge the Earth's balance 1211 01:09:10,104 --> 01:09:15,150 by watching the path of the sun daggers at Fajada Butte. 1212 01:09:15,276 --> 01:09:18,195 If the daggers did not pierce the petroglyphs 1213 01:09:18,321 --> 01:09:21,114 at the same points as the previous year, 1214 01:09:21,199 --> 01:09:23,575 they would know that the Earth was out of balance. 1215 01:09:23,576 --> 01:09:26,787 And since the Earth fell out of balance 1216 01:09:26,913 --> 01:09:30,582 at the end of the previous three worlds, 1217 01:09:30,708 --> 01:09:34,920 this could mean the end was coming once again. 1218 01:09:35,004 --> 01:09:36,588 (deep, rumbling boom) 1219 01:09:36,589 --> 01:09:39,132 Scientists from NASA determined 1220 01:09:39,217 --> 01:09:43,428 the earthquake that hit Chile on February 27, 2010 1221 01:09:43,555 --> 01:09:46,598 shifted the Earth's axis by three inches. 1222 01:09:46,724 --> 01:09:49,601 Would the ancestral Pueblo people 1223 01:09:49,602 --> 01:09:53,230 have seen this as a sign from the guardians above? 1224 01:09:53,356 --> 01:09:55,566 MILLS: Well, do you think that's going to show up 1225 01:09:55,608 --> 01:09:57,192 at Chaco Canyon on that dagger stick 1226 01:09:57,318 --> 01:09:59,695 that comes down at the time of the solstice? 1227 01:09:59,779 --> 01:10:02,614 Do you think the Indians were watching that? 1228 01:10:02,615 --> 01:10:06,535 NANCY RED STAR: It's what the Hopi call koyaanisqatsi. 1229 01:10:06,619 --> 01:10:10,622 We are living in koyaanisqatsi right now. 1230 01:10:10,623 --> 01:10:14,710 We are living in a life that's out of balance. 1231 01:10:14,794 --> 01:10:17,629 NARRATOR: Could these Native American legends 1232 01:10:17,714 --> 01:10:20,340 be more than just myth? 1233 01:10:20,425 --> 01:10:22,634 Is it possible that these stories, 1234 01:10:22,760 --> 01:10:24,845 along with the ancient texts of India 1235 01:10:24,971 --> 01:10:27,139 and the stories of the Bible, 1236 01:10:27,223 --> 01:10:29,641 are all describing alien visitations? 1237 01:10:29,642 --> 01:10:34,646 For ancient astronaut theorists, the answer is yes, 1238 01:10:34,731 --> 01:10:37,065 and the proof may lie 1239 01:10:37,191 --> 01:10:41,778 on a small, uninhabited island in Nova Scotia, Canada. 1240 01:10:46,284 --> 01:10:50,662 In 1795, three Nova Scotia farm boys 1241 01:10:50,747 --> 01:10:53,665 set out to explore nearby Oak Island 1242 01:10:53,750 --> 01:10:56,668 after witnessing strange green lights 1243 01:10:56,669 --> 01:11:00,255 coming from its shore in the middle of the night. 1244 01:11:01,758 --> 01:11:03,634 TSOUKALOS: As they came to the island, 1245 01:11:03,676 --> 01:11:08,889 they saw that there was one little, you know, pit 1246 01:11:09,015 --> 01:11:11,391 that they thought, "Well, this is very odd," 1247 01:11:11,476 --> 01:11:15,687 so they started to dig in that particular spot. 1248 01:11:15,688 --> 01:11:19,691 They came across different platforms 1249 01:11:19,692 --> 01:11:23,111 made out of wood, especially out of oak, 1250 01:11:23,237 --> 01:11:26,531 and the deeper they dug, they also came across 1251 01:11:26,658 --> 01:11:29,701 a mat made of coconut fiber, 1252 01:11:29,827 --> 01:11:33,664 and they came across a stone slab 1253 01:11:33,706 --> 01:11:37,084 that had very bizarre writing on it. 1254 01:11:39,087 --> 01:11:41,922 One thing is crystal clear: 1255 01:11:42,048 --> 01:11:45,300 Canada does not have any coconut trees, 1256 01:11:45,426 --> 01:11:48,220 so the mat made of coconut fiber-- 1257 01:11:48,304 --> 01:11:49,721 where did it come from? 1258 01:11:49,806 --> 01:11:51,723 That's a very intriguing question-- 1259 01:11:51,724 --> 01:11:54,935 how all these different levels were made. 1260 01:11:55,061 --> 01:11:59,439 NARRATOR: The initial excavation stopped at a depth of 30 feet. 1261 01:12:00,733 --> 01:12:02,109 But since that time, 1262 01:12:02,235 --> 01:12:04,653 over a dozen professional excavations 1263 01:12:04,737 --> 01:12:06,947 have been attempted and funded 1264 01:12:07,073 --> 01:12:10,742 by everyone from actors John Wayne and Errol Flynn 1265 01:12:10,868 --> 01:12:13,495 to Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1266 01:12:13,579 --> 01:12:16,039 TSOUKALOS: Mining and excavation companies 1267 01:12:16,124 --> 01:12:18,583 have dug multiple shafts 1268 01:12:18,710 --> 01:12:20,377 surrounding the whole Money Pit 1269 01:12:20,503 --> 01:12:23,755 with the hopes of achieving 1270 01:12:23,756 --> 01:12:26,717 or reaching whatever is buried down there. 1271 01:12:26,759 --> 01:12:30,137 They've even tried to dig in sideways, 1272 01:12:30,263 --> 01:12:32,055 and even that didn't work. 1273 01:12:32,140 --> 01:12:36,101 NARRATOR: Based on the findings from numerous excavations, 1274 01:12:36,185 --> 01:12:39,855 the Money Pit contains a series of oak platforms 1275 01:12:39,939 --> 01:12:42,607 starting at a depth often feet 1276 01:12:42,734 --> 01:12:45,777 and recurring every ten feet thereafter, 1277 01:12:45,903 --> 01:12:49,114 going at least 200 feet down. 1278 01:12:49,198 --> 01:12:53,577 In between these platforms are slabs of flagstone-- 1279 01:12:53,703 --> 01:12:58,331 not indigenous to the island-- and layers of puddle clay. 1280 01:12:58,416 --> 01:13:01,001 Efforts to reach the bottom of the pit 1281 01:13:01,127 --> 01:13:02,878 have proven so dangerous, 1282 01:13:02,962 --> 01:13:06,798 six people have died in the attempt. 1283 01:13:06,799 --> 01:13:09,551 (Peter Fiebag speaking German) 1284 01:13:13,139 --> 01:13:15,766 (translated): Its underground is covered with canals-- 1285 01:13:15,808 --> 01:13:19,144 flooding canals that lead seawater into the system. 1286 01:13:23,816 --> 01:13:26,193 Each time there seemed to be progress, 1287 01:13:26,319 --> 01:13:27,986 underground floods in the canals 1288 01:13:28,112 --> 01:13:31,114 would make further searches impossible. 1289 01:13:31,199 --> 01:13:33,200 So, this is what we know: 1290 01:13:33,326 --> 01:13:35,827 many centuries ago, someone constructed 1291 01:13:35,953 --> 01:13:39,164 a giant hydraulic system under this island. 1292 01:13:41,626 --> 01:13:43,376 It couldn't have been pirates. 1293 01:13:43,461 --> 01:13:45,837 It had to be someone with great expertise 1294 01:13:45,838 --> 01:13:48,173 for architecture and hydraulics. 1295 01:13:51,844 --> 01:13:54,763 TSOUKALOS: We still haven't been able 1296 01:13:54,847 --> 01:13:57,808 to access whatever is down there 1297 01:13:57,850 --> 01:14:02,145 because of the incredible flooding system. 1298 01:14:02,230 --> 01:14:04,564 These treasure hunters 1299 01:14:04,649 --> 01:14:08,985 poured red paint into one of these shafts, 1300 01:14:09,070 --> 01:14:13,573 and not only did it come out on one side of the island, 1301 01:14:13,658 --> 01:14:16,034 but also on the other side. 1302 01:14:16,160 --> 01:14:20,288 Up to three shafts have been discovered. 1303 01:14:20,414 --> 01:14:21,873 I mean, it's ingenious. 1304 01:14:23,459 --> 01:14:25,418 NARRATOR: But who-- or what-- 1305 01:14:25,503 --> 01:14:28,839 constructed this elaborately booby-trapped pit? 1306 01:14:28,881 --> 01:14:31,216 And, perhaps more importantly, 1307 01:14:31,300 --> 01:14:35,887 what-- if anything-- lies hidden at the bottom? 1308 01:14:35,888 --> 01:14:38,473 Some have speculated that it might be 1309 01:14:38,599 --> 01:14:43,854 the crown jewels of England, pirate treasure, Viking hoards 1310 01:14:43,896 --> 01:14:47,899 and even the original manuscripts of Shakespeare. 1311 01:14:47,900 --> 01:14:50,652 But perhaps the most audacious theory of all 1312 01:14:50,736 --> 01:14:53,446 is that the Money Pit is the hiding place 1313 01:14:53,531 --> 01:14:56,533 for one of the most sacred objects in the world. 1314 01:14:56,659 --> 01:14:59,202 There is a possibility 1315 01:14:59,287 --> 01:15:02,831 that the Ark of the Covenant, with its contents, 1316 01:15:02,915 --> 01:15:06,042 has been hidden on Oak Island. 1317 01:15:08,296 --> 01:15:10,547 NARRATOR: The Ark of the Covenant? 1318 01:15:10,673 --> 01:15:14,926 The most sacred object in all of Judeo-Christianity? 1319 01:15:16,679 --> 01:15:19,931 The gold chest that is supposed to contain the tablets 1320 01:15:19,932 --> 01:15:23,435 on which the Hebrew God wrote the Ten Commandments? 1321 01:15:23,519 --> 01:15:27,314 Why would this religious relic be placed at the bottom 1322 01:15:27,440 --> 01:15:29,482 of an elaborately booby-trapped pit 1323 01:15:29,567 --> 01:15:31,943 in northeastern Canada? 1324 01:15:31,944 --> 01:15:35,488 Ancient astronaut theorists believe the Ark 1325 01:15:35,573 --> 01:15:38,867 may have been hidden because of the powers it held-- 1326 01:15:38,951 --> 01:15:41,953 powers from out of this world. 1327 01:15:41,954 --> 01:15:46,374 TSOUKALOS: According to the ancient astronaut hypothesis, 1328 01:15:46,500 --> 01:15:51,087 the Ark of the Covenant housed an extraterrestrial device 1329 01:15:51,172 --> 01:15:53,673 which was given to the Israelites 1330 01:15:53,758 --> 01:15:56,968 during their 40-year wandering through the desert. 1331 01:16:00,973 --> 01:16:04,100 GRAHAM HANCOCK: When you go back to the biblical descriptions, 1332 01:16:04,185 --> 01:16:06,186 it becomes a weapon. 1333 01:16:06,312 --> 01:16:08,939 It rises up into the air. 1334 01:16:08,981 --> 01:16:11,983 It rushes towards the enemies of Israel. 1335 01:16:14,987 --> 01:16:18,698 When the Philistines briefly capture it, um, 1336 01:16:18,783 --> 01:16:21,993 they make the mistake of opening it and filing past it. 1337 01:16:21,994 --> 01:16:24,579 Suddenly, thousands of people start to die. 1338 01:16:24,705 --> 01:16:27,916 The biblical account states quite clearly 1339 01:16:28,000 --> 01:16:31,002 that the cause of death was cancerous tumors. 1340 01:16:31,003 --> 01:16:33,380 This is a very mysterious and puzzling thing. 1341 01:16:33,506 --> 01:16:35,006 What kind of object could have 1342 01:16:35,007 --> 01:16:37,759 these almost machine like attributes 1343 01:16:37,843 --> 01:16:42,013 and cause deaths that sound like radiation sickness? 1344 01:16:45,226 --> 01:16:47,519 NARRATOR: What powers the Ark held 1345 01:16:47,603 --> 01:16:50,313 is the subject of wide speculation, 1346 01:16:50,398 --> 01:16:54,109 but an even bigger mystery is what happened to the Ark 1347 01:16:54,193 --> 01:16:57,320 and where it might be located today. 1348 01:17:00,241 --> 01:17:04,119 One legend says that it was taken during the Crusades 1349 01:17:04,203 --> 01:17:07,205 by an elite band of monk-like warriors 1350 01:17:07,331 --> 01:17:09,958 known as the Knights Templar. 1351 01:17:10,042 --> 01:17:13,044 HANCOCK: The cover story-- and it feels like a cover story-- 1352 01:17:13,045 --> 01:17:15,630 is that they were to protect pilgrims 1353 01:17:15,756 --> 01:17:19,551 on the route between the coast and Jerusalem in the Holy Land. 1354 01:17:19,635 --> 01:17:22,345 But they don't ever seem to have done any of that. 1355 01:17:22,430 --> 01:17:25,390 Um, right soon after they were founded, 1356 01:17:25,474 --> 01:17:28,059 they took possession of the Temple Mount, 1357 01:17:28,185 --> 01:17:29,811 uh, in Jerusalem. 1358 01:17:32,648 --> 01:17:36,484 And, uh, for the best part of 80 or 90 years, 1359 01:17:36,610 --> 01:17:38,987 they devoted themselves to what looked like 1360 01:17:39,071 --> 01:17:41,448 an archaeological expedition on the Temple Mount. 1361 01:17:41,574 --> 01:17:43,074 And I'm pretty certain they were looking 1362 01:17:43,075 --> 01:17:45,076 for the Ark of the Covenant. 1363 01:17:47,079 --> 01:17:49,622 NARRATOR: The legend tells of the Knights taking the Ark 1364 01:17:49,707 --> 01:17:52,083 to Scotland, where they formed an alliance 1365 01:17:52,084 --> 01:17:54,085 with the powerful Sinclair family. 1366 01:17:54,170 --> 01:17:55,837 Some historians believe 1367 01:17:55,921 --> 01:17:59,090 William Sinclair may have taken the Ark 1368 01:17:59,091 --> 01:18:02,093 to Oak Island in Nova Scotia in the 1400s 1369 01:18:02,178 --> 01:18:05,096 to protect it from English invasion. 1370 01:18:05,097 --> 01:18:08,516 Here, Sinclair and his men could have built 1371 01:18:08,642 --> 01:18:12,437 what might be the most impenetrable vault ever made-- 1372 01:18:12,521 --> 01:18:15,899 the notorious Money Pit. 1373 01:18:18,110 --> 01:18:22,030 But, if so, where is the evidence? 1374 01:18:22,114 --> 01:18:25,116 (speaking German) 1375 01:18:25,117 --> 01:18:28,203 (translated): In the 1990s, some scientists were able 1376 01:18:28,287 --> 01:18:31,289 to send cameras down into one of the shafts. 1377 01:18:31,415 --> 01:18:34,542 There, they discovered strange objects 1378 01:18:34,668 --> 01:18:37,420 that had a rounded, tubular shape. 1379 01:18:39,548 --> 01:18:42,092 Their C-14 values were diverse, 1380 01:18:42,134 --> 01:18:46,513 and their radiometric age ranged from very old to futuristic. 1381 01:18:49,141 --> 01:18:51,976 Now, that is basically impossible. 1382 01:18:52,103 --> 01:18:55,855 However, there is some chance that that effect 1383 01:18:55,940 --> 01:18:59,150 could be caused by some kind of radioactivity. 1384 01:19:01,153 --> 01:19:03,530 That's why we suspect that a nuclear reactor 1385 01:19:03,656 --> 01:19:05,740 may have been taken there and hidden 1386 01:19:05,866 --> 01:19:09,119 inside this ingenious hydraulic system... 1387 01:19:12,164 --> 01:19:15,125 ...so that it would be kept safe forever. 1388 01:19:17,711 --> 01:19:20,296 NARRATOR: What would it mean if the Ark of the Covenant 1389 01:19:20,381 --> 01:19:24,092 really was discovered at the bottom of the Money Pit? 1390 01:19:24,176 --> 01:19:28,179 Would it provide the proof of alien intervention-- 1391 01:19:28,264 --> 01:19:31,933 the very proof that ancient astronaut theorists 1392 01:19:32,017 --> 01:19:34,394 have been waiting for? 1393 01:19:37,148 --> 01:19:39,399 TSOUKALOS: If the Ark of the Covenant 1394 01:19:39,525 --> 01:19:44,195 is found at the bottom of the Money Pit, 1395 01:19:44,321 --> 01:19:47,198 well... story's over. 1396 01:19:49,743 --> 01:19:51,202 NARRATOR: Perhaps. 1397 01:19:51,203 --> 01:19:55,707 But an even greater question persists: why? 1398 01:19:55,791 --> 01:19:58,042 Has mankind been helped 1399 01:19:58,169 --> 01:20:00,587 by the intervention of beings from other worlds, 1400 01:20:00,713 --> 01:20:03,840 as ancient astronaut proponents contend? 1401 01:20:03,966 --> 01:20:07,302 Or was there a more ominous intention? 1402 01:20:07,386 --> 01:20:13,224 Could the Ark, if discovered, be a sort of Pandora's box 1403 01:20:13,225 --> 01:20:18,062 that, once opened, would reveal more about our origins 1404 01:20:18,189 --> 01:20:21,191 than we would ever want to know? 1405 01:20:24,820 --> 01:20:27,197 As the 20th century dawned, 1406 01:20:27,239 --> 01:20:29,032 the industrial revolution suggested 1407 01:20:29,158 --> 01:20:33,411 that nothing conceived by man could be impossible. 1408 01:20:33,537 --> 01:20:35,955 We could now ride through the countryside 1409 01:20:36,040 --> 01:20:37,248 in horseless carriages... 1410 01:20:37,374 --> 01:20:38,750 (car horn honks) 1411 01:20:38,834 --> 01:20:40,960 (ship horn blows) 1412 01:20:41,045 --> 01:20:44,255 ...sail the seas in huge ocean liners... 1413 01:20:44,256 --> 01:20:48,259 fly through the sky in airships. 1414 01:20:50,763 --> 01:20:53,264 Even the idea of building rockets and flying them 1415 01:20:53,390 --> 01:20:58,811 to the Moon, Mars and beyond seemed well within our grasp. 1416 01:21:02,399 --> 01:21:06,903 It was the era of science fiction writers like H.G. Wells 1417 01:21:07,029 --> 01:21:09,280 and inventors like Einstein, 1418 01:21:09,281 --> 01:21:14,077 Tesla, Edison and Ford. 1419 01:21:16,288 --> 01:21:19,832 In 1896, there were widespread reports 1420 01:21:19,917 --> 01:21:23,044 of strange airships hovering over various locations 1421 01:21:23,128 --> 01:21:25,296 in the American West. 1422 01:21:25,297 --> 01:21:29,050 Coincidence or consequence? 1423 01:21:30,302 --> 01:21:32,387 There were sightings throughout history, 1424 01:21:32,471 --> 01:21:34,264 and of course, there were a large number 1425 01:21:34,306 --> 01:21:36,140 of sightings in the 19th century. 1426 01:21:36,267 --> 01:21:38,810 But it wasn't until 1896 1427 01:21:38,894 --> 01:21:41,646 that there were waves of sightings. 1428 01:21:43,399 --> 01:21:47,485 Thousands of people in 1896 and 1897 in the United States 1429 01:21:47,611 --> 01:21:52,323 saw phantom airships, the origin of which was never explained. 1430 01:21:54,326 --> 01:21:59,706 These reports were catalogued, discussed in newspapers. 1431 01:21:59,832 --> 01:22:06,337 BIRNES: There were sightings in 1896, 1897, 1898. 1432 01:22:06,463 --> 01:22:09,674 And, in fact, we kind of know 1433 01:22:09,758 --> 01:22:12,760 from newspaper reports from the Southwest 1434 01:22:12,886 --> 01:22:15,346 that people were seeing craft with wings. 1435 01:22:16,932 --> 01:22:19,350 And the Wright Brothers didn't fly an airplane 1436 01:22:19,351 --> 01:22:23,730 until 1903, so what were these craft? 1437 01:22:23,856 --> 01:22:25,898 Well, on the one hand, 1438 01:22:25,983 --> 01:22:29,193 people were flying balloons in the 19th century. 1439 01:22:29,320 --> 01:22:31,988 So, balloons were not high technology. 1440 01:22:32,114 --> 01:22:34,449 What was high technology back then 1441 01:22:34,533 --> 01:22:40,121 was affixing a gasoline engine to the gondola of a balloon. 1442 01:22:41,749 --> 01:22:44,709 BRAMLEY: That whole airship mystery-- 1443 01:22:44,793 --> 01:22:46,377 my guess is that some of those 1444 01:22:46,378 --> 01:22:48,588 were just dirigibles that people were flying around. 1445 01:22:48,714 --> 01:22:50,798 On the other hand, during that time, 1446 01:22:50,924 --> 01:22:53,760 we also find reports of objects 1447 01:22:53,886 --> 01:22:56,721 that moved really too quickly to be dirigibles. 1448 01:22:56,805 --> 01:23:00,099 And some were maybe too shiny really to be the types 1449 01:23:00,184 --> 01:23:02,143 of balloons that they were making at that time. 1450 01:23:02,227 --> 01:23:04,604 BIRNES: The prevalence of these balloons 1451 01:23:04,730 --> 01:23:07,315 powered by gasoline engines flying around 1452 01:23:07,399 --> 01:23:09,901 in the late 1890s in the turn of the century 1453 01:23:09,985 --> 01:23:12,028 probably opened up people's minds 1454 01:23:12,154 --> 01:23:14,405 to the possibility that there could be 1455 01:23:14,406 --> 01:23:17,700 literally unidentified flying objects. 1456 01:23:17,785 --> 01:23:21,954 People began, to put it bluntly, looking up. 1457 01:23:24,416 --> 01:23:28,419 So it could be said that modern UFO history began 1458 01:23:28,545 --> 01:23:32,131 with these mysterious airships of the 1890s. 1459 01:23:34,968 --> 01:23:36,594 PITTMAN: It certainly seems possible, 1460 01:23:36,720 --> 01:23:39,597 if we believe that the airship sightings 1461 01:23:39,723 --> 01:23:43,059 were sightings of extraterrestrial spaceships, 1462 01:23:43,185 --> 01:23:46,562 that perhaps the aliens were interested 1463 01:23:46,647 --> 01:23:48,439 in human activity at the time 1464 01:23:48,440 --> 01:23:51,192 because of the rapid increases being made in technology. 1465 01:23:52,444 --> 01:23:54,445 BIRNES: Some people have suggested 1466 01:23:54,446 --> 01:23:57,782 that aliens have been interfering 1467 01:23:57,866 --> 01:24:01,452 with the lives of human beings for thousands of years. 1468 01:24:01,453 --> 01:24:04,455 And because they were always here 1469 01:24:04,581 --> 01:24:08,418 at significant points in human history, 1470 01:24:08,460 --> 01:24:11,462 they introduced various kinds of technologies 1471 01:24:11,547 --> 01:24:14,465 to spur development along a certain line. 1472 01:24:16,468 --> 01:24:18,553 NARRATOR: Could the same alien presence 1473 01:24:18,637 --> 01:24:22,473 that some believe had been visiting the Earth for centuries 1474 01:24:22,474 --> 01:24:25,476 have been responsible for inspiring 1475 01:24:25,477 --> 01:24:28,062 our great leap into the modern age? 1476 01:24:29,690 --> 01:24:33,067 Or could the increased close encounters with UFOs-- 1477 01:24:33,193 --> 01:24:35,987 which would persist through the next century-- 1478 01:24:36,071 --> 01:24:40,658 be a sign that we were in danger of going too far? 1479 01:24:40,784 --> 01:24:43,202 A very common idea that we have today 1480 01:24:43,287 --> 01:24:45,580 is that, as we develop technologically, 1481 01:24:45,664 --> 01:24:48,624 we're going to see an increase in UFO phenomena-- 1482 01:24:48,709 --> 01:24:51,419 that UFOs are basically monitoring us. 1483 01:24:52,629 --> 01:24:55,715 Decades ago, we saw a lot of UFO activity 1484 01:24:55,841 --> 01:24:59,010 around air bases, around atomic bases 1485 01:24:59,094 --> 01:25:01,512 and also UFOs following airplanes 1486 01:25:01,638 --> 01:25:04,515 and maybe following our aircraft. 1487 01:25:04,516 --> 01:25:06,017 I would say that certainly, 1488 01:25:06,101 --> 01:25:08,895 as we keep developing, we will continue to see 1489 01:25:09,021 --> 01:25:12,607 that monitoring aspect to the UFOs. 1490 01:25:14,067 --> 01:25:16,235 Especially as we continue going to space, 1491 01:25:16,320 --> 01:25:19,530 we're going to continue seeing more UFO activity. 1492 01:25:19,531 --> 01:25:23,534 Whether it's for our benefit or not, that's hard to say. 1493 01:25:23,535 --> 01:25:25,119 BIRNES: Our history, 1494 01:25:25,245 --> 01:25:27,538 the history of human beings on planet Earth-- 1495 01:25:27,539 --> 01:25:29,874 whether we ourselves are the aliens 1496 01:25:29,958 --> 01:25:31,959 seeded from another planet 1497 01:25:32,085 --> 01:25:34,378 or that the aliens created us, 1498 01:25:34,505 --> 01:25:36,506 as the stories of the Anunnaki say-- 1499 01:25:36,548 --> 01:25:39,342 regardless, it may be that human beings 1500 01:25:39,468 --> 01:25:41,886 are being directed toward a certain end. 1501 01:25:46,266 --> 01:25:49,560 NARRATOR: In the 20th century, the inhabitants of planet Earth 1502 01:25:49,561 --> 01:25:54,565 were capable of blasting off and touching the stars. 1503 01:25:58,946 --> 01:26:02,949 We were also capable of harnessing the atom... 1504 01:26:06,495 --> 01:26:09,539 ...and using it to inflict the deadliest of devastations. 1505 01:26:13,001 --> 01:26:15,920 We would send satellites into orbit, 1506 01:26:16,004 --> 01:26:20,591 land on the Moon and reach Mars. 1507 01:26:20,592 --> 01:26:22,927 But what would we find? 1508 01:26:23,011 --> 01:26:26,931 A barren, empty universe of dead planets 1509 01:26:27,015 --> 01:26:28,933 or something else? 1510 01:26:29,017 --> 01:26:31,435 TSOUKALOS: In the 1960s, 1511 01:26:31,562 --> 01:26:34,355 mainstream scientists were already exploring the question 1512 01:26:34,439 --> 01:26:39,443 of whether or not we're alone in the universe. 1513 01:26:39,570 --> 01:26:41,612 And there was only a handful of scientists 1514 01:26:41,738 --> 01:26:44,615 who actually proposed the idea 1515 01:26:44,741 --> 01:26:49,579 that, yes, there are other civilizations out there. 1516 01:26:51,582 --> 01:26:53,624 Now fast-forward 50 years. 1517 01:26:53,709 --> 01:26:58,629 You'd be very hard-pressed to find any scientist today 1518 01:26:58,630 --> 01:27:01,632 saying that we're alone in the universe. 1519 01:27:03,635 --> 01:27:05,469 HOWE: What we're coming up to now 1520 01:27:05,596 --> 01:27:09,140 in the 21st century is going to be a redefinition. 1521 01:27:09,224 --> 01:27:13,227 Our entire history may have to be revised, 1522 01:27:13,353 --> 01:27:18,733 in the context of nonhuman intelligences coming and going. 1523 01:27:18,817 --> 01:27:21,861 And what else is out there in this incredible universe 1524 01:27:21,987 --> 01:27:25,448 of which we humans are a part? 1525 01:27:29,244 --> 01:27:31,787 NARRATOR: Perhaps the dawn of the space age 1526 01:27:31,872 --> 01:27:36,667 was a signal to whatever-- or whoever-- was out there 1527 01:27:36,668 --> 01:27:40,671 that, after centuries of writing on cave walls, 1528 01:27:40,672 --> 01:27:45,676 building temples and mapping the skies, 1529 01:27:45,677 --> 01:27:52,099 the inhabitants of planet Earth were at last ready. 1530 01:27:52,225 --> 01:27:55,686 Ready for their return.