All language subtitles for 7o9-ancient-aliens-s01e04-720p-bluray-x264

NARRATOR:
President Thomas Jefferson...

Christopher Columbus...

Crusaders in the Middle Ages...

What did they have in common?

They either experienced

or believed in the possibility
of alien encounters.

BILL BIRNES:
And the fact is there have been

so many descriptions
by various chroniclers

talking about a strange cloud
in the sky that glowed red.

C. SCOTT LITTLETON:
Columbus, on his first voyage,

he noted in the log
a glowing object

rise out of the water

and head off
into the atmosphere.

NARRATOR: Could alien beings
have been responsible

for biblical floods,

medieval plagues

and even ancient
nuclear attacks?

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
Visitations occurred

since before recorded history
all the way to today.

NARRATOR: Millions of people
around the world believe

we have been visited in the past
by extraterrestrial beings.

What if it were true?

Did ancient aliens really help
to shape our history?

And what if these visitations
didn't only occur

thousands of years ago,

but much more recently?

Might there be evidence
of real-life close encounters?

NARRATOR:
Alamogordo, New Mexico.

White Sands Proving Ground,
July 16, 1945.

Early in the morning,

a number of U.S.
military officers and scientists

gather to watch a powerful
new weapon being tested.

Some believe the device
will be a complete failure.

Others think it might destroy
the entire state of New Mexico.

As a precaution,
viewing stations are placed

from ten to 20 miles away
from the test site.

At precisely 5:29
and 45 seconds,

the first atomic bomb
is detonated.

MAN:
Three, two, one...

Fire!

NARRATOR: The blast emits
a fireball over 600 feet wide

and produces an explosion
equal to 20,000 tons of TNT.

The mushroom cloud reaches
over seven miles in height,

and the reverberations can
be felt nearly 100 miles away.

The world had a new weapon;

one so terrifying
it left even its creator,

Dr. Robert Oppenheimer,
shocked and shaken.

J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER:
A few people laughed.

A few people cried.

Most people were silent.

NARRATOR: For the first time
in its history,

the Earth had been assaulted

by a manmade weapon
of incredible power.

But what if it
had all happened before?

What if an explosion

of even greater force
and destructiveness

had long ago shaped
the Earth's history?

Some people have suggested

on the basis of a number
of lines of evidence

that there may have been
atomic warfare, atomic bombs,

atomic explosions,
in the very distant past.

NARRATOR: Atomic warfare
among ancient civilizations

may sound like something
out of a science fiction novel,

but descriptions
of similar deadly occurrences

can be found
in the very same text

Dr. Oppenheimer quoted after
the New Mexico atomic test.

OPPENHEIMER:
I remembered the line

from the Hindu scripture,
the Bhagavad Gita,

"Now I am become death,
the destroyer of worlds."

NARRATOR: Part of
an ancient Hindu scripture

known as The Mahabharata,
the Bhagavad Gita was written

sometime between the fifth
and second century B.C.

This massive 100,000-verse text
contains stories

about the ancient empire
of Rama,

which it is said existed
over 12,000 years ago,

or roughly 5,000 years before

the earliest recorded
civilization in Mesopotamia.

TSOUKALOS: If you read
the ancient Indian epics,

they read like modern-day
science fiction.

Yet they are thousands
of years old

with references
not only of flying chariots

and of these gods

that had these incredible
technological capabilities,

but incredible weapons that they
used in those epic battles.

NANCY RED STAR: They had
what was called a Brahma weapon.

There were many people
that were singed and burned

and... and melted
by the Brahma weapon.

NARRATOR:
Ancient astronaut theorists

believe the Brahma weapon
was an early nuclear device

because the descriptions
of its deadly aftereffects

are eerily similar
to the effects

of exposure
to intense radiation.

It is a theory
largely discounted

by conventional science.

There is no evidence that
a nuclear bomb was described

in The Mahabharata,
the Bhagavad Gita.

It describes a battle.

In battles,
there are explosions.

Big explosions.

It's one thing about suggesting

that, you know,
battles have explosions,

but that's not really
what we're looking at.

You've got to look
at the whole picture.

One reference that we have,
for example,

speaks of these explosions

that were brighter
than a thousand suns.

And when these blasts occurred,

the suns were twirling
in the air,

trees went up in flames

and there was just
this mass destruction.

After those blasts,
people who survive

start to lose their hair
and nails start to fall out.

I mean, right there,
we have a concise reference

to radiation poisoning,
nuclear fallout.

And those texts
are thousands of years old.

NARRATOR: But if The Mahabharata
is based on fact,

wouldn't archaeologists
have uncovered physical

or radiological evidence?

According to ancient astronaut
theorists, they have.

The Indus Valley,
Southern Pakistan.

In 1922, an officer

with an Indian archaeological
survey group

discovered the ruins

of an ancient city
known as Mohenjo-Daro.

According
to mainstream archaeologists,

the city, whose name
means "mound of the dead,"

had flourished
between 2600 and 1900 B.C.

However, scientists in Pakistan

have suggested Mohenjo-Daro
is much older.

Mainstream archaeologists
believe the city was abandoned

as a result of climatic changes
or possibly a decrease in trade.

But when the ruins
of Mohenjo-Daro

were discovered in the 1920s,

44 skeletons were found
lying face down in the street,

many holding hands.

Their faces and body positioning

suggested they suffered
a sudden, violent death.

PHILLIP COPPENS:
You have a culture of people

who literally were lying dead
in the street.

Archaeologists
have found human remains,

and something big
has happened to these people.

NARRATOR:
What, in fact, did happen

to the people of Mohenjo-Daro?

Why is there evidence
that wild animals

avoided scavenging
their remains?

And why,
even after thousands of years,

had their bones not decayed?

TSOUKALOS:
In certain areas of that site,

you find increased levels
of radiation.

And radiation exists
all over the place.

When, all of a sudden,
you have higher levels

of radiation in certain areas
of the world,

the question arises, "Why?"

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that Mohenjo-Daro

was one of the cities mentioned
in the Bhagavad Gita--

a city that suffered
the equivalent

of a sudden atomic attack?

In his 1979 book,

Atomic Destruction
in 2000 B.C.,

British researcher
David Davenport

claimed to have found
a 50-yard-wide epicenter

at Mohenjo-Daro
where everything appeared

to have been fused
through a transformative process

known as "vitrification."

TSOUKALOS:
Vitrification is a process

in which regular-type stone

gets molten into a magma state

and then it hardens again.

But once the stone
is hardened again,

it feels like glass.

At Mohenjo-Daro, we find
evidence of vitrification,

which could have only
been achieved

if the material
was exposed to extreme heat

by some type of a blast.

DAVID CHILDRESS:
When British and Indian

and Pakistani archaeologists

began doing excavations
in the Sian Desert,

on the borders
of India and Pakistan,

in the late 1940s
and early 1950s,

what they found
in these cities--

Mohenjo-Daro, Harrapa,
Kot Diji--

was archaeological evidence
to show

there were apparently
atomic weapons.

Only it happened
in ancient times.

There's other evidence in parts
of Africa and the Middle East,

where it would seem to be
like some sort

of atomic explosion
had taken place there,

and had turned the desert sand
into glass.

And that's exactly what happened
at Alamogordo, in New Mexico,

when they detonated the first
atom bomb in the desert.

NARRATOR:
Could the strange ruins

found in the Indus Valley

really contain evidence
of an ancient atomic explosion?

If so, where did these
powerful weapons come from?

Who was using them?

And why?

TSOUKALOS: In the ancient
Indian texts themselves,

it says, and I quote,
"At one point,

three giant cities
were orbiting the Earth."

And those giant cities
were often described

as being made
of gleaming metal and iron.

And at one point,

those three cities
went to war with each other.

And it's described how the gods

threw weapons at each other,

destroying those cities,
that they all went up in flames

and fire came raining down
onto Earth.

So, when you read those
passages, the question I ask is:

What is it that our ancestors
tried to describe here?

And I think
that it was some type

of a technology
that was witnessed,

yet our ancestors,
while being highly intelligent,

didn't understand
the nuts-and-bolts aspects

behind that technology.

And so they created
something divine out of it,

something supernatural,
yet it never was divine.

It never was supernatural.

NARRATOR:
If, in fact, The Mahabharata

is describing historical events,

might we also find
similar accounts

in other ancient writings?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

we need look no further than
in the pages of the Holy Bible.

According to one of the stories

contained in the book
of Genesis,

angels were sent by God

to destroy the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah

because of the sins
of their inhabitants.

Only a righteous man named Lot,

along with his family,
was to be spared.

But while making their escape,

Lot's wife ignores the angels'
warning not to look back,

and upon gazing at the horror
and devastation,

is turned into a pillar of salt.

TSOUKALOS: When you are at
a nuclear testing range

and you witness a nuclear blast,

you're told to look away and not
to look straight into the blast.

And here we have
a similar description

in an ancient biblical text
where instructions were given,

"Whatever you do,
don't look back

because you will die."

And sure enough,
it happened to Lot's wife.

NARRATOR: Could it be that
the story of Sodom and Gomorrah

is really a description
of a nuclear explosion,

similar to the one described
in the Hindus' Mahabharata?

Do the stories
of The Mahabharata and the Bible

represent actual
historical events?

For ancient astronaut theorists,

the answer
is a resounding "yes."

And they believe
the so-called "angels"

who brought forth
the devastation

were, in fact,
beings from another planet--

alien visitors armed
with advanced weaponry.

September, 2000.

The Black Sea, Turkey.

Marine archaeologist
Robert Ballard

and his team
of underwater scientists

discover what appears
to be a farmhouse

some 330 feet below the surface.

Estimates suggest
the submerged dwelling

to be approximately 7,500
years old.

Ballard and other scholars
speculated

that rising ocean levels
could have caused

the Mediterranean Sea
to burst through a natural dam,

creating a flood so great

it drowned an estimated 58,000
square miles

under 500 feet of water.

But more than finding the ruins
of an ancient dwelling,

had Ballard
actually discovered proof

that the biblical story of Noah
and the great flood was true?

CHILDRESS:
And those villages, of course,

weren't built underwater.

So Ballard concluded that
the Black Sea, as we know it,

was only created some 8,000,
9,000 years ago.

And that is exactly
what we're talking about

with Noah's Ark and the flood,

the same area
where all that happened.

And, in fact,
mainstream archaeologists know

that in the Mediterranean

there are over 200
known sunken cities.

Those cities, too,
were somehow flooded

the same time
that the Black Sea was flooded.

NARRATOR: Also written
in the book of Genesis,

the story of Noah tells how God

"saw that the wickedness of man
was great,"

and decided to destroy
all of creation.

Only Noah, his family
and the animals aboard the ark

were allowed to survive
and repopulate the planet.

But is this the whole story?

Was Noah selected
only for his virtue?

Or was there another reason he
was chosen to save the planet?

Ancient astronaut theorists

believe the Bible doesn't tell
the whole story.

In the late 1940s
and early 1950s,

a series of ancient texts
known as the Dead Sea Scrolls

were discovered in a cave

located in what is now
Israel's West Bank.

Among the ancient writings
are various stories

not found in the traditional
Hebrew Bible.

One such story tells of Noah

and his strange,
miraculous birth.

ERICH VON DANIKEN:
One of the Dead Sea Scrolls

is called "The Lamech Scroll."

What is Lamech?

Lamech was a shepherd.

And one day, Lamech,
his woman was pregnant.

And he said to her,
"This is impossible.

I was not here for months."

But his woman
with the name Bathenosh swears,

"No one touched me."

But Lamech doesn't believe
his wife, Bathenosh,

and he goes to his father,
which was Methuselah.

And Methuselah says to Lamech,
"I can't help you.

"I don't understand this.

"I believe your woman,
Bathenosh,

"that nobody touched her,
and I believe you.

What shall I do?"

So Methuselah goes
to his father,

the grandfather now of Lamech.

His name is Enoch.

Now, Enoch tells to Methuselah
that the guardians of the sky

have made
an artificial insemination

into the womb of Bathenosh,
the wife.

And he should accept this child,
because this child

will be the father
of a new human generation.

And in the Bible, this is Noah.

NARRATOR: What if, as ancient
astronaut theorists believe,

the story of Lamech is true

and the guardians of the sky
described in the story

are, in fact, aliens?

Does this mean that Noah

was the product
of an artificial insemination,

a genetic experiment
performed by extraterrestrials?

If so, what was the reason
for the great flood?

L.A. MARZULLI:
Well, the reason for the flood--

and we need to understand this--

what it tells us is that Noah

was pure in all
of his generations.

What does that mean?

You know, why would the account,
you know, specify

"pure in all his generations"?

NARRATOR: According to
the Bible, God sent the flood

because of man's wickedness
and corruption.

But ancient astronaut theorists
believe the flood

was actually a means
of ridding the Earth

of biological imperfections.

By using Noah and his family,
they could repopulate the planet

with a genetically superior
species.

VON DANIKEN:
Part of this human society

is, again, genetically backward,
closer to the animal.

What can we do?

These humans were spread out
over the planet.

So they said, "We have to kill
them all by a great flood,

and then we have
to restart again."

NARRATOR:
Another familiar element

in the story of Noah

involves the collection of
animals brought aboard the ark.

In the Bible, God commanded Noah

to collect two of every kind
of living creature--

animal, bird and insect.

But many biblical scholars
and theologians agree

that such a task
would have been both physically

and biologically impossible.

Could there be another
more scientific explanation?

TSOUKALOS:
The story of Noah's Ark

is pretty implausible,
if you think about it.

You have two animals

of each creature on planet Earth
on a boat.

Not only would the boat
have to be huge,

but how are you going to collect
every animal on the planet

and put it on that ship?

So, could it be possible
that Noah's Ark

and Noah's Ark was a DNA bank?

JONATHAN YOUNG:
Could it be a story?

Could it be technology
somehow gathering up

all living things
as in a DNA bank of some kind?

It fits together.

Hard to imagine, uh, how that
would happen so far back,

but if it did happen, it would
need to be told as a story,

and the story of a boat works.

CHILDRESS:
Perhaps this is really

an extraterrestrial DNA bank
as well.

The extraterrestrials
need plants and animals

and minerals
on this planet, too.

Just like when we go
to Mars or something,

we'll be using what we can use
on that planet.

So, extraterrestrials
coming here

would want to do that as well.

And if they knew
that some cataclysm was coming,

they, too, would want
to preserve

certain kinds of animals
and plant life,

and create, you know,
what we think of as Noah's Ark.

NARRATOR:
Alien DNA bank?

Is there any evidence that such
a thing is even possible?

In 2008, on the Arctic island
of Svalbard,

a vault was built
to store the seeds

of hundreds of thousands
of plants

in the event
of a global catastrophe.

Elsewhere, similar efforts
are reportedly underway

to store animal
and human DNA as well.

Cutting-edge science

or merely history
repeating itself?

TSOUKALOS:
The Frozen Ark Project

is a program that was initiated

by the London
Natural History Museum.

What they've done
is they started to store DNA

of endangered species

for future generations,
for preservation.

And, as of today,
over a thousand species

have been preserved
in small little vials.

And so, the question arises,

could it be possible
that Noah's Ark

wasn't necessarily a boat
made out of wood,

but what if Noah's Ark

was some type
of a DNA storage facility

that was used
in order to preserve

all the species on planet Earth?

If each species can be held
in a tiny vial like this,

then it all becomes
very logical.

And, once again, we have to look
at it from a perspective,

"What did our ancestors
try to describe?

What did they witness?"

NARRATOR: Aliens artificially
inseminating humans...

Ancient DNA banks...

Could such ideas really help
our understanding of the Bible?

And is it possible
that extraterrestrials

have influenced the development
of mankind?

There are many who claim

that the proof can be found
in some astonishing places.

For those who believe

that close encounters
with alien beings

have helped shape
Earth's history,

it is important to remember

that it isn't only
ancient history

that has been so influenced.

There have been
literally hundreds

of credible accounts
of strange creatures,

UFO sightings
and otherworldly phenomena

that took place,
even in the so-called Dark Ages.

BIRNES:
There have been sightings

all over the world
throughout the Middle Ages.

There are stories

going from Scotland to England

to Italy to the Crusades.

Remember the Crusades took place
over hundreds of years.

And at certain points
in the battle,

in some cases over Turkey,

in some cases over Jerusalem,
there are images

captured in writing
by various chroniclers

talking about "a strange cloud
in the sky that glowed red.

A strange image coming out
of a cloud in the sky."

Why would we say this is a UFO?

Because, traditionally,
UFOs mask themselves

by forming a cloud
around themselves.

And it's a cloud
that's going through the sky--

that's their invisibility cloak.

NARRATOR: In his 13th century
historical work

titled Otto Imperialia,
Gervase of Tilbury

wrote about an aerial craft over
the city of Bristol, England,

which caught an anchor
in a church steeple.

BIRNES: He uses specifically
the term "anchor."

Now, we don't know
what kind of anchor that is.

But a creature-- a man--
climbs out of this craft

and tries to free the anchor
from the steeple.

And all the people in
the village start stoning him,

thinking he's some sort
of evil demon.

NARRATOR: But for ancient
astronaut theorists,

evidence of an alien presence
during the Middle Ages

isn't only found in literature.

All throughout the Middle Ages,

there are some
magnificent paintings.

And in certain areas
of the painting,

there are what looks like
to be UFOs.

They're always floating up
in the sky--

usually above the Virgin Mary
or above Jesus on the crucifix--

or somewhere we have sceneries

that depict
what looks like UFOs.

One very interesting painting

is where Jesus sits up
in the clouds

with quote, unquote, "God,"

and they're holding
onto the antennae

of what looks like Sputnik;

and theologians say
what is depicted here

is nothing else but the Earth.

But why would Earth have
two antennae sticking out of it?

And why would it be round?

Because the mainstream viewpoint
at the time

was that the Earth was flat.

LITTLETON: And here are pictures
of the crucifixion

dated around 1350 from Kosovo.

Here are, presumably, vehicles
with people driving them

in attendance
at the crucifixion.

Could this be a crude...

an attempt on the part
of the artist

drawing on a tradition--
obviously, he wasn't there--

drawing on a tradition?

Could he be reflecting
a folklore?

Possibly.

BETTYANN BROWN:
The people of the Middle Ages

depicted devils

and angels frequently
in their art.

They did not depict

what we today consider aliens,
specifically.

But angels
are heavenly creatures

that come from outside
of our sphere, aren't they?

NARRATOR:
Did the medieval artists

include strange creatures

and flying spacecraft
in their paintings

because they had seen them
in real life?

Or were they trying
to communicate their belief

that the miraculous events
of the New Testament

had otherworldly origins?

MAXIMILLIEN DE LAFAYETTE:
The most famous painting

that, without any doubt
in my mind,

depicts a UFO
with its laser beam,

was made by Crivelli in 1486.

The Annunciation to Mary.

In medieval art,
in The Annunciation,

when Mary is told
that she will have a child,

but she will still be a virgin,
and the angels tell her this,

over Mary's head
is a space capsule.

But what's a UFO, or a space
capsule, doing over Mary?

Maybe the artist saw it

and he's putting it
in the painting

to bring together
his own vision of a UFO,

the annunciation from the Bible,
and the mystery of salvation

that there could be
a virgin birth.

NARRATOR: According to ancient
astronaut theorists,

the UFO-shaped objects
found in medieval paintings

aren't the only evidence of an
alien presence during the era.

In his book, The Gods of Eden,

author William Bramley
cites private journals

and other publications
throughout Europe

which contain accounts
of cigar-shaped flying objects

emitting noxious mists.

The first reports of this kind

began during
the mid-14th century,

closely corresponding
to the outbreak

of the worst health epidemic
in human history--

the black plague.

GEORGE NOORY: The black plague
back in the 1300s,

many have said,
was caused by a virus

from a rodent bitten by fleas.

This disease that wiped out

75-plus million people
on the planet at the time.

But there's another theory

by a fellow by the name
of William Bramley

who says that the black plague
was created by ETs,

that they wanted
to eradicate human beings

for whatever horrible reason.

WILLIAM BRAMLEY: We know that
plague can be spread by rodents.

But there weren't that many
rodent infestations

being reported back then,
at least not enough

to account for all
of the breakouts that we had.

So what you find
in the literature from that time

are numerous reports of bright
lights moving through the sky,

emitting gas,
or what they call "mists."

And we find them in China,
you find them in Europe.

There are similar reports

from the Justinian plague
from earlier in history,

and even later plagues,
the cholera epidemics.

You find similar stories
of mists

that are the cause
of the plague.

We have weapons like that--
biological warfare.

As for the motive
as to why this happened,

I can only kind of scratch
my head,

because in the UFO phenomena,

we see certain
consistent patterns,

but we don't always understand
the motive.

NARRATOR: Italian historian
Matteo Villani,

who both chronicled
the Black Death

and died from it
in the 14th century,

wrote of pestilential fogs

reported by travelers
from Asia.

He even wrote that people
were convinced

they could actually see
the plague

coming through the streets.

But what some
ancient astronaut believers

find to be even stronger
evidence

of alien involvement,
are the numerous reports

of mysterious
black-cloaked creatures

who would appear
on the outskirts of villages

just before plague broke out.

Contemporary accounts
describe them

as having "terrifying faces"
and "waving long,

scythe-like objects
dispensing noxious mists."

It's the image we know today
as the Grim Reaper.

BRAMLEY:
These figures in black

would appear usually
on the outskirts of a town.

They were carrying these long
devices that look like scythes.

These figures in black

would just start sweeping
in the fields

as though they were cutting down
the wheat.

Then immediately there would be
an outbreak of the plague.

NARRATOR: Although ancient
astronaut theorists

are divided
on Bramley's proposal

that aliens
were behind the plague,

his research,
like the artwork of the time,

has led to one
important conclusion.

TSOUKALOS:
What is evidenced

is the fact
that visitations occurred

since before recorded history
all the way to today.

It's not like ancient astronauts

only happened thousands
of years ago,

and then all of a sudden
we have Roswell.

The fact alone
that these visitations

have been going on
for all this time--

thousands of years--
that's sensational.

NARRATOR: Flying cylinders
spreading plague from the sky?

Black-clad aliens
looking to destroy humans?

But even if possible, why?

And, if true, wouldn't there
continue to be evidence

of even more close encounters--

encounters that would take place
much closer to home?

When Columbus and his men
first set foot

in what to the Europeans
was the "New World,"

the indigenous people had never
encountered anyone like them.

Their skin was pale.

They wore strange clothes

made of bright,
often shiny materials.

They arrived in massive ships
and had powerful weapons.

To the natives,
the visitors were truly aliens

from a strange, faraway world--
powerful beings

who might just as well
have been sent from the heavens.

CHRIS PITTMAN:
Columbus wrote in his journal

that the inhabitants

eagerly came out
to see their ships,

and asked them if they had come
from the heavens.

And despite the fact that
Columbus and his men indicated,

"No, we didn't come
from the heavens,"

they called out to the people
still on the shore,

"Come out and see the people
who have come from the heavens."

Certainly, it seems interesting

to wonder why it is
that instead of thinking

that possibly they came
from some other part of the sea,

that they'd come from the sky.

NARRATOR:
But there is more to the story.

Less well-known is that Columbus

had an alien encounter
of his own,

one reported in his log

just days before he reached
the shores of the New World.

At about 10:00 p.m.
on the 1 1th of October, 1492,

the anxious explorer was on
the deck of the Santa Maria

when he saw a "light glimmering
at a great distance."

Columbus wrote, "The admiral,

"standing on the quarterdeck,
saw a light.

"Calling to Pedro Gutierrez,
he told him he saw a light,

"and bid him look that way,
which he did and saw it.

"The admiral again perceived it
once or twice,

"appearing like the light
of a wax candle

moving up and down."

Summoning another member
of the crew, the two watched

as the light vanished
and reappeared repeatedly.

BIRNES: Seeing lights in the
water isn't really an anomaly.

We all know that certain kinds
of underwater life

give off lights.

But this light actually traveled
along with the ship.

Columbus noted in the log

a glowing object
rise out of the water,

and head off
into the atmosphere.

NARRATOR:
What did Columbus see?

A phosphorescent sea creature?

An hallucination?

Or was it something more?

Something
from out of this world?

What did Columbus's men see?

What they saw
was a luminous object

that, upon breaking the
water's surface, became a UFO.

NARRATOR: To UFO researchers
like Bill Birnes,

Columbus's sighting
is significant,

not only because
of when it occurred,

but also because the object
was spotted

coming out of the sea,
ruling out the possibility

that what he saw was a comet
or a shooting star.

LITTLETON: What's intriguing
is that this was in

what we call today
the Bermuda Triangle.

The Bermuda Triangle, that area,

particularly off of Bimini
and the Bahamas,

may in fact be-- and I'm way out
on a limb here--

colony headquarters
underneath that.

Your UFO goes down
into the water

and then into a subterranean.

What better position would be
to monitor South America,

Middle America, Egypt
than the Caribbean?

PITTMAN: Many people believe
that it's possible

that UFOs could have established
bases on the seafloor.

To some extent, it's true
that we know more about the Moon

or some parts of outer space
than we do

about the deepest parts
of our own oceans.

This event
is extremely important

because it is the world's first
recorded event

that illustrates the appearance
of UFO

as object emerging
from the water.

NARRATOR: If Columbus's sighting
was so extraordinary,

why do we only find record of it
in his log?

Some believe another account
of this event exists

in the official records
of the Spanish Inquisition.

UFO researcher
Maximillien de Lafayette

claims that Columbus's shipmate,
Pedro Gutierrez,

reported him to the Inquisition
after hearing Columbus

describe the lights in the sky

as resembling
the Jewish menorah.

LAFAYETTE:
When they went back to Spain,

Gutierrez went directly
to the infamous Inquisition.

This is the Catholic
organization

created by the Vatican

to persecute
and kill the infidels.

The infidels means the Jews,

the Muslims and Christians
who are not Catholic.

The Inquisition called him
for explanation, deposition.

"Did you say
that you saw menorah?

"Why did you say menorah?

Oh, so you are a Jew."

He said, uh, "I'm not a Jew."

In the deposition,
which is lengthy,

you find more details--
meticulous details--

of what Columbus saw
above the water.

The file of the Inquisition
is in the vault of the Vatican.

And good luck if you can go to
the secret file of the Vatican

and try to dig for a document
as explosive as this one.

NARRATOR: Secret files
of the Spanish Inquisition?

UFOs and alien sightings
in the time of Columbus?

Farfetched, perhaps.

But to proponents
of ancient astronaut theory,

these precolonial
close encounters

are considered
commonplace events.

For them,
it offers additional proof

that we are not alone.

ALEX CHIONETTI:
They have several sightings

of what we would call UFOs today

along the discovery of America,
during the conquest of America.

Columbus was not the only one.

Also on the trip of Magellan.

Fernando de Magellan,
the discoverer of the Strait,

who circumnavigated the world
after Columbus,

he have also sightings.

NARRATOR: Seafarers often
encounter strange lights

both in the sky and below
the surface of the ocean.

Skeptics argue
that Columbus's sighting,

like many others,
was simply a natural phenomenon.

BRAMLEY: At night,
there are all kinds of things--

for example, bolides.

Bolides are these
very large comets,

and they're spectacular.

It's just like this
enormous bright light

with a trail that just arcs
through the sky.

But we can tell the difference.

When you have a meteor like that
or a bolide,

the characteristics
are very different

than the ones of genuine UFOs.

PITTMAN: As far back
as the 19th century,

people have speculated

about what that light
could have been.

Explanations have centered
around the possibility

that it could have been a light
or a torch

being carried
by an island inhabitant.

They were, in fact, more than
35 miles away from any land,

which makes that impossible.

The other possibility
is that it was a meteor

traveling very close
to the horizon,

and that the movement
of the ship is actually

what made the light appear
to be moving up and down.

NARRATOR: But what if
conventional science is wrong

and the ancient astronaut
theorists are correct?

What if Columbus, Magellan
and the early explorers

really did see evidence

of extraterrestrial creatures
visiting our planet?

What does this say
about our past?

Our history?

And our future?

Germany, April 14, 1561.

At dawn, the citizens
of Nuremberg awoke

to what was described
in a local news flier

as "a very frightful spectacle."

Various strange objects
were spotted in the sky,

engaged in what appeared to be
an aerial battle.

Could they have been witnessing
a close encounter?

BIRNES: They see this incredible
sight as the sun is coming up.

They see what they describe
as cigar-shaped objects,

circles in the air and crosses--
flying crosses.

And suddenly, these shapes
begin emitting other shapes.

PITTMAN: The spheres and discs
were seen for a long time,

as they apparently were fighting

in some kind of a battle
over the city.

In fact, the battle
was so evident

that the people in Nuremberg

were actually able to perceive
which side was winning.

Some of the objects were seen
to crash into the ground

and disappear in a cloud
of smoke or steam.

Other objects were seen
to fly off

and disappear
in the direction of the sun.

BIRNES:
This entire event

becomes memorialized
in a broadsheet.

Now, a broadsheet
in the 16th century

was literally a newspaper.

And that broadsheet exists today
in Zurich, Switzerland.

PITTMAN: The Zurich
Central Library to this day

retains a copy
not only of the famous woodcut

that shows the 1561 sighting
over Nuremberg,

but also a 1566 woodcut showing
a sighting from that year

that was quite similar
in Basel, Switzerland.

What's fascinating
is it's a very similar event.

People saw a bunch of circles
in the air.

In fact, a proliferation
of circles in the air.

They didn't necessarily
interpret that

as a battle in the air,

but they did interpret it
as some kind of heavenly sign.

NARRATOR: The broadsheets
that were distributed

both in Nuremberg
and in Basel five years later

advised people
to "repent for their sins"

and interpreted
these extraordinary events

as signs from God.

LAFAYETTE: In old time,
everything paranormal,

extra, extra-- hyphen-- ordinary

belongs to the realm
of divinity, of Gods.

"God's doing this!
God is punishing us!

God is blessing us!
Go repent! Go to church!"

PITTMAN: It's interesting to
read the Nuremberg description

because it is written with
religious iconography in mind.

They talk about crosses seen
in the sky on the previous day

during that sighting.

Now, what we might think of
as a fuselage with wings

might have appeared
as a cross to people

who saw religious symbolism
constantly

in their everyday life.

It's difficult to imagine

how these things
might have appeared,

but it's certainly possible

that if these were to appear
in the sky today,

we would describe them
quite differently.

NARRATOR: Could the people
of Nuremberg

have actually witnessed a battle
between warring alien factions;

an event eerily similar
to the one written about

in the Bhagavad Gita
over 3,000 years earlier?

And if not,
what else would explain

the vivid accounts
of luminous globes

and blood-red crosses
appearing in the sky?

Throughout the Middle Ages,
visions of strange happenings

were often attributed to God
or to the supernatural.

But moving into what is known

as the early modern period
of the 17th century,

people began to look
more and more

toward science and the stars
for answers.

And with the invention of the
refracting telescope in 1608,

there would be more eyes
trained on the stars

than ever before.

Ironically,
the first report of a UFO

witnessed
through this new device

came from colonial America's
best-known Puritan minister,

Cotton Mather.

BIRNES:
There was an incredible sighting

that the very famous New England
preacher, Cotton Mather, had.

Cotton Mather said
that he was looking

through a telescope at the Moon,
and in the telescope,

he saw a flying light
over the surface of the moon.

Well, how did this get recorded?

By none other than NASA.

And people
can find it themselves.

Go to the NASA report

on lunar anomalies
over 500 years,

and they will find
Cotton Mather's sighting

of a UFO over the surface
of the Moon.

PITTMAN: There are a vast number
of natural atmospheric phenomena

that can appear as bright lights
in the night sky.

Certainly, uh, meteors
are a possibility.

Even certain kinds
of terrestrial phenomena

do materialize
as glowing balls of light

that, seen from a distance,
may appear to be a star.

And it's incredibly difficult
to judge the distance

of a point source of light
in the night.

So he may have thought that it
was on the surface of the Moon,

or... or hundreds of miles away,
when in reality,

it could have been quite close
to where he was.

NARRATOR: Though it is uncertain
what Cotton Mather saw,

ancient astronaut theorists
find it significant

that a prominent
religious figure

would report such a sighting
not as a vision from God,

but as an astronomical event.

They see it as a sign,

not only of the sighting's
authenticity, but that views

on the possibility
of extraterrestrial life

were starting to shift,

even within
the Christian church.

BIRNES:
Cotton Mather was known

as a fire-and-brimstone
preacher.

But there's a rational part
of Cotton Mather as well.

Because this was
the very beginning;

the dawn of the industrial
revolution.

And in this context, people
were thinking about science,

they were thinking
about machines,

and really thinking about, could
there be something in space?

NARRATOR: Although sightings
like Cotton Mather's

were still rare in the 1700s,

the increasing interest
in astronomy

sparked a new debate
over a centuries-old theory

called "the plurality
of worlds;" the idea

that life might exist elsewhere
throughout the universe.

MICHAEL CROWE:
By the end of the 18th century,

the majority of people--
at least of educated people--

were convinced that all
throughout the solar system

there was intelligent life:
on Jupiter, on Mars, on Saturn.

All of them
had extraterrestrials.

Very possibly, the Moon would
have intelligent beings on it.

I once did a tally

of the leading intellectuals
in the 18th century.

Over half of them included ideas

of extraterrestrial life
in their publications.

NARRATOR: The premier
18th-century astronomer,

William Herschel,
also supported the theory

that life existed
on other planets.

So did Thomas Paine, one
of America’s Founding Fathers,

along with many
religious leaders of the time.

CROWE: Preachers were preaching
about extraterrestrials

as a proof of God's goodness.

That's the idea that if there
is a good and beneficent God,

he would populate
all the planets, all the stars.

NARRATOR: Though there was
open debate about the existence

of extraterrestrial life
in the 1700s,

the discussion
did not often extend

to the idea of aliens
visiting Earth.

But in 1731,

a series of sightings
occurred across Europe

that were so compelling,

the possibility
could no longer be ignored.

In modern UFO sightings,

the communications about UFOs
are instant.

It's on the Internet,
it's on YouTube.

But what about some
of these 18th-century

or Renaissance sightings?

Here's something incredible.

In 1731, over Kilkenny, Ireland,
there was a sighting

of a luminous object
coming out of a red cloud.

That same sighting is reported

in the span of a week
over the rest of Europe,

particularly over Romania
in Eastern Europe.

Now, here are two countries

that are not communicating
with each other.

Newspapers
don't go back and forth,

they don't speak
the same language,

there's no radio
and there's no television.

Yet a UFO was spotted traveling
from the Irish Sea,

across Europe,

all the way to Eastern Europe
and towards Asia,

and is spotted
in different places as it goes.

Independent observations
that don't cross-pollinate.

NARRATOR: Could these
nearly identical reports

of a strange object
passing through the sky

be mere coincidence?

And if it was an alien craft,
is it possible

that earlier sightings
simply weren't reported

because they were interpreted
as signs from God?

In colonial America, the idea
that aliens were visiting Earth

was gaining ground.

And in the 1800s,
this controversial theory

would even make its way
to the White House.

The United States officially
declared its independence

from Great Britain in 1776,

and just 14 years later,
a report

of the first UFO sighting
in American history appeared

in the newly published journals
of John Winthrop,

the second governor
of the Massachusetts Bay colony.

His journals,
which are now known

as "A History of New England,
1630-1649,"

are still considered
the preeminent record

for that period
in American history.

When the journals
were finally published in 1790,

over 140 years
after Winthrop's death,

they were found to contain
an alarming account

of a possible close encounter
over Boston's Muddy River.

PITTMAN:
One night in March of 1639,

James Everell,
who is described as being

a "sober and discreet man,"
and two of his companions

boarded a little boat
in the Muddy River of Boston.

As they paddled along the river,

they saw a great bright light
that hovered in the sky.

As they watched,
the light flared up

and then contracted
into what they described

as the figure of a swine.

It's difficult to imagine
anybody seriously reporting

a sighting of a glowing,
flying pig.

Looking at the sighting,
one can't help but wonder

if they were struggling
to describe

an oval-shaped fuselage
and four short,

what we might now call
landing struts or landing gear,

in a way that made sense
in the 17th century.

NARRATOR:
Winthrop's account states

that the object moved
swift as an arrow,

jetting back and forth,
as well as up and down,

for two to three hours.

And when it finally disappeared,

the three passengers
in the boat,

who had been drifting downstream
the entire time,

were astonished
to find themselves

back at the point
where they began their trip.

PITTMAN: What Winthrop describes
in his journal

is really difficult to explain.

Certainly,
it seems hard to fathom

that, for two or three hours,

three men in a boat
watched a bright light

moving around in the sky
over the city of Boston.

And it seems almost
inconceivable

that their boat
could have been drawn back

against the tide
without their noticing it.

These type of strange
and inexplicable phenomena

are now associated
with the phenomena

that's called "alien abduction."

LINDA HOWE: And as
the abduction cases evolved,

you heard people say
all of a sudden

everything around them
was slowing way, way down.

And they associate
the slowing way, way down

with whatever this event is

that we call
the "human abduction syndrome."

NARRATOR: Could this event
at Muddy River

be not only North America's
first documented UFO sighting,

but also the first account
of an alien abduction?

Those who believe the account
in Winthrop's journals

was an actual alien encounter

point to the last line
of his report, which states,

"Other credible persons
saw the same light."

By the time Winthrop's history
was published in 1790,

the debate over the possibility
of extraterrestrial life

was more heated
than ever before.

In fact, the question
of whether life existed

on other planets
had become so hotly contested,

it caused one of America’s
Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine,

to be unofficially exiled
to Europe.

Thomas Paine enters
the extraterrestrial life debate

in a very dramatic way.

He was an Englishman,
but famous American patriot.

1793: Thomas Paine publishes
a book called The Age of Reason.

And in The Age of Reason,
he makes

one of the most vigorous attacks
on Christianity ever made.

The bottom line on it is,
he says, you must believe

in extraterrestrials if you know
any modern astronomy.

The idea of God
made the entire universe

going from planet to planet
redeeming people

is just impossible to believe.

(angry shouting)

That creates a sensation.

Thousands of copies of the book
were sold.

NARRATOR:
In December of 1793,

Thomas Paine was arrested
in France as a result

of supporting a political party
that was no longer in power.

When the American ambassador
refused to speak on his behalf,

Paine believed
that George Washington

had abandoned him
because of his writings

supporting the idea
of extraterrestrial life

and refuting
traditional Christianity.

In 1802, he was invited
back to America

by the third president,
Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson, an intellectual,

was considered a genius
by many in his time,

both for his skill
as a statesman

and his scientific aptitude.

And some believe
he was also a proponent,

like his contemporaries
Ben Franklin and John Adams,

in the concept
of the plurality of worlds.

PITTMAN: The concept
of a plurality of worlds

was a very widely accepted
concept in the 18th century.

People like John Adams
and Thomas Paine

didn't view extraterrestrial
life as a possibility,

but rather as a matter of fact
that everybody knew to be true.

The new rationality in science
changed the way

that these Founding Fathers
talked about religion.

1825: Thomas Jefferson
is hiring faculty

for the University of Virginia.

And John Adams writes to him

and gives him advice
on how to do that hiring.

He says, "Do not hire
any European professors.

"If you hire
a European professor,

"they are liable to believe
in Christianity,

"and that
is a very dangerous doctrine

that we should stay
far away from."

PITTMAN: Other Founding Fathers
also agreed with this view,

which included a belief

in the existence of life
on other planets.

Benjamin Franklin wondered
if there were different gods

for every sun
that harbored intelligent life.

Many of them felt it was clear

that there
were intelligent beings--

conceivably through
the whole universe--

and that the notion that God
came to this planet as a person

who was spit on and persecuted
simply was ridiculous.

And they rejected that
long-held traditional belief,

which was a very radical thing
at the time.

NARRATOR:
America's Founding Fathers

defending the concept
of extraterrestrial life

against Christianity?

A revolutionary idea,
to be certain.

But perhaps not so revolutionary

to the country's earliest
inhabitants,

who long before claimed to have
met visitors from the sky.

In northwestern New Mexico
lies a vast concentration

of ancient ruins known today
as Chaco Canyon.

Built from sandstone blocks
and timber

between 900 and 1 150 A.D.,

the 15 major complexes
of Chaco Canyon

contained four-story structures
with hundreds of rooms

that required thousands
of man-hours to construct.

Until the 19th century,

they were the largest buildings
in North America.

Chaco Canyon was a center
of activity

for a lot of different
Indian tribes-- Pueblo tribes.

Archaeologists, anthropologists

have a lot of theories
about what that was.

But what I have studied
and what I can tell

by just some of the chants

from our own tribe
and other Pueblo tribes

is that this would have been
a big center of activity

for technological-spiritual
activities.

There's a lot of places on there

that has direct bearings
up into the universe.

NARRATOR:
When archaeologists

first excavated these ruins
in 1896,

they marveled at their
architectural precision.

But even more astonishing

was the fact that many
of these ancient structures--

like those found in Egypt,
England and South America--

suggested the inhabitants

had a sophisticated knowledge
of astronomy.

A number of devices designed

for tracking solar events
were found.

And at Fajada Butte, which sits
at the entrance of the canyon,

three giant slabs of rock
are positioned

near two spiral petroglyphs
etched on a cliffwall.

During the solstice
and the equinox,

these rocks catch the sun
in such a way

as to shine daggers of light

on different areas
of the petroglyphs.

But why would early
Native Americans

spend so much time building
the structures at Chaco Canyon

along such precise
astronomical alignments?

And why build them in such
a desolate area of the country?

COPPENS:
It is one of those sites

which has been posing
so many questions,

and which science is only
slowly beginning to explain.

But really, there are more
questions than answers

at this moment in time
about Chaco Canyon.

NARRATOR: In his 2006 book,
The Orion Zone,

archaeo-astronomer Gary David
proposed

that the geographical layout

of Hopi ruins
in the American Southwest

precisely mirrors
the star patterns

of a number of constellations.

COPPENS: When you look
at where the ancestral Pueblan

major ceremonial sites
are actually located,

Gary David has identified
that when you just map these,

you actually find
that they depict constellations.

Specifically,
Orion is very important.

NARRATOR:
Orion's Belt points

to the brightest star
in the sky-- Sirius.

If one looks at the Hopi mesas
as the stars of Orion's Belt,

they also point to an important
location-- Chaco Canyon.

But why Orion?

And could it be
merely a coincidence

that this constellation pattern
has been found

at other important sites
around the world,

and always
with the belt pointing

toward a place of significance?

Ancient astronaut theorists

have discovered
the constellation of Orion

lining up
with the Mayan complexes

along the Street of the Dead
in Mexico City.

And here, Orion's Belt points
to Cholula,

the largest pyramid
in the world.

They also find it
at the Giza Pyramids in Egypt,

with the belt pointing
toward the city of Heliopolis,

a place of worship
for ancient Egyptians.

COPPENS: One thing we know
about Orion's Belt

is that this is a theme which
is recurring in Mayan mythology.

It's also actually a theme
which is occurring

in Egyptian mythology.

Orion's Belt,
and the stars around it,

were seen as the heart
of creation.

It is where everything began.

And it's probably
not coincidental

that the Hopis see the place
where they are living

as the heart of the world.

BIRNES:
These are ancient people.

All they had to go by
were the stars.

And so, they believed--
as astrologists believe today--

that the stars
have certain powers

over what goes on
on planet Earth.

NARRATOR:
According to their legends,

the Hopi believe
there were three worlds

that preceded
the one we are in today.

Each of those worlds
was wiped out

when guardians of the sky
called to the Creator

to tell him that
his finest creation, humans,

were no longer living
according to his plan.

And they called to him
by setting off a warning

through the Earth's axis,

a vibration strong enough to
shift the balance of the planet.

Is it possible the structures
at Chaco Canyon

were built along precise
celestial alignments

so that the Hopi
could predict the periods

of Earth's devastation
and renewal?

Could the guardians of the sky
have led them here

so they could monitor
the position of the sun?

THOMAS O. MILLS:
Why in the world

people settled at that location
wasn't...

wasn't something
that they did on their own.

There's no running water there.

There was no reason
to live there.

There's no good soil.

They did that
because their guardian

told them to live there.

NARRATOR: During the times of
the summer and winter solstices,

as well as the spring
and fall equinoxes,

the people at Chaco Canyon
could gauge the Earth's balance

by watching the path of
the sun daggers at Fajada Butte.

If the daggers
did not pierce the petroglyphs

at the same points
as the previous year,

they would know that the Earth
was out of balance.

And since the Earth
fell out of balance

at the end
of the previous three worlds,

this could mean the end
was coming once again.

(deep, rumbling boom)

Scientists from NASA determined

the earthquake that hit Chile
on February 27, 2010

shifted the Earth's axis
by three inches.

Would the ancestral
Pueblo people

have seen this as a sign
from the guardians above?

MILLS: Well, do you think
that's going to show up

at Chaco Canyon
on that dagger stick

that comes down
at the time of the solstice?

Do you think the Indians
were watching that?

NANCY RED STAR: It's what
the Hopi call koyaanisqatsi.

We are living in koyaanisqatsi
right now.

We are living in a life
that's out of balance.

NARRATOR: Could these
Native American legends

be more than just myth?

Is it possible
that these stories,

along with the ancient texts
of India

and the stories of the Bible,

are all describing
alien visitations?

For ancient astronaut theorists,
the answer is yes,

and the proof may lie

on a small, uninhabited island
in Nova Scotia, Canada.

In 1795,
three Nova Scotia farm boys

set out to explore
nearby Oak Island

after witnessing
strange green lights

coming from its shore
in the middle of the night.

TSOUKALOS:
As they came to the island,

they saw that there
was one little, you know, pit

that they thought,
"Well, this is very odd,"

so they started to dig
in that particular spot.

They came across
different platforms

made out of wood,
especially out of oak,

and the deeper they dug,
they also came across

a mat made of coconut fiber,

and they came across
a stone slab

that had very bizarre writing
on it.

One thing is crystal clear:

Canada does not have
any coconut trees,

so the mat made
of coconut fiber--

where did it come from?

That's a very intriguing
question--

how all these different levels
were made.

NARRATOR: The initial excavation
stopped at a depth of 30 feet.

But since that time,

over a dozen professional
excavations

have been attempted and funded

by everyone from actors
John Wayne and Errol Flynn

to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

TSOUKALOS:
Mining and excavation companies

have dug multiple shafts

surrounding the whole
Money Pit

with the hopes of achieving

or reaching whatever
is buried down there.

They've even tried
to dig in sideways,

and even that didn't work.

NARRATOR: Based on the findings
from numerous excavations,

the Money Pit contains a series
of oak platforms

starting at a depth often feet

and recurring
every ten feet thereafter,

going at least 200 feet down.

In between these platforms
are slabs of flagstone--

not indigenous to the island--
and layers of puddle clay.

Efforts to reach the bottom
of the pit

have proven so dangerous,

six people have died
in the attempt.

(Peter Fiebag speaking German)

(translated): Its underground
is covered with canals--

flooding canals that lead
seawater into the system.

Each time there seemed
to be progress,

underground floods in the canals

would make further searches
impossible.

So, this is what we know:

many centuries ago,
someone constructed

a giant hydraulic system
under this island.

It couldn't have been pirates.

It had to be someone
with great expertise

for architecture and hydraulics.

TSOUKALOS:
We still haven't been able

to access whatever is down there

because of the incredible
flooding system.

These treasure hunters

poured red paint
into one of these shafts,

and not only did it come out
on one side of the island,

but also on the other side.

Up to three shafts
have been discovered.

I mean, it's ingenious.

NARRATOR:
But who-- or what--

constructed this elaborately
booby-trapped pit?

And, perhaps more importantly,

what-- if anything--
lies hidden at the bottom?

Some have speculated
that it might be

the crown jewels of England,
pirate treasure, Viking hoards

and even the original
manuscripts of Shakespeare.

But perhaps the most audacious
theory of all

is that the Money Pit
is the hiding place

for one of the most sacred
objects in the world.

There is a possibility

that the Ark of the Covenant,
with its contents,

has been hidden on Oak Island.

NARRATOR:
The Ark of the Covenant?

The most sacred object
in all of Judeo-Christianity?

The gold chest that is supposed
to contain the tablets

on which the Hebrew God
wrote the Ten Commandments?

Why would this religious relic
be placed at the bottom

of an elaborately
booby-trapped pit

in northeastern Canada?

Ancient astronaut theorists
believe the Ark

may have been hidden
because of the powers it held--

powers from out of this world.

TSOUKALOS: According to the
ancient astronaut hypothesis,

the Ark of the Covenant housed
an extraterrestrial device

which was given
to the Israelites

during their 40-year wandering
through the desert.

GRAHAM HANCOCK: When you go back
to the biblical descriptions,

it becomes a weapon.

It rises up into the air.

It rushes towards the enemies
of Israel.

When the Philistines
briefly capture it, um,

they make the mistake of
opening it and filing past it.

Suddenly, thousands of people
start to die.

The biblical account
states quite clearly

that the cause of death
was cancerous tumors.

This is a very mysterious
and puzzling thing.

What kind of object could have

these almost machine like
attributes

and cause deaths that sound
like radiation sickness?

NARRATOR:
What powers the Ark held

is the subject
of wide speculation,

but an even bigger mystery
is what happened to the Ark

and where it might
be located today.

One legend says that it
was taken during the Crusades

by an elite band
of monk-like warriors

known as the Knights Templar.

HANCOCK: The cover story-- and
it feels like a cover story--

is that they were
to protect pilgrims

on the route between the coast
and Jerusalem in the Holy Land.

But they don't ever seem
to have done any of that.

Um, right soon after they
were founded,

they took possession
of the Temple Mount,

uh, in Jerusalem.

And, uh, for the best part
of 80 or 90 years,

they devoted themselves
to what looked like

an archaeological expedition
on the Temple Mount.

And I'm pretty certain
they were looking

for the Ark of the Covenant.

NARRATOR: The legend tells
of the Knights taking the Ark

to Scotland,
where they formed an alliance

with the powerful
Sinclair family.

Some historians believe

William Sinclair
may have taken the Ark

to Oak Island in Nova Scotia
in the 1400s

to protect it
from English invasion.

Here, Sinclair and his men
could have built

what might be the most
impenetrable vault ever made--

the notorious Money Pit.

But, if so,
where is the evidence?

(speaking German)

(translated): In the 1990s,
some scientists were able

to send cameras
down into one of the shafts.

There, they discovered
strange objects

that had a rounded,
tubular shape.

Their C-14 values were diverse,

and their radiometric age ranged
from very old to futuristic.

Now, that is basically
impossible.

However, there is some chance
that that effect

could be caused
by some kind of radioactivity.

That's why we suspect
that a nuclear reactor

may have been taken there
and hidden

inside this ingenious
hydraulic system...

...so that it
would be kept safe forever.

NARRATOR: What would it mean
if the Ark of the Covenant

really was discovered
at the bottom of the Money Pit?

Would it provide the proof
of alien intervention--

the very proof
that ancient astronaut theorists

have been waiting for?

TSOUKALOS:
If the Ark of the Covenant

is found at the bottom
of the Money Pit,

well... story's over.

NARRATOR:
Perhaps.

But an even greater question
persists: why?

Has mankind been helped

by the intervention
of beings from other worlds,

as ancient astronaut proponents
contend?

Or was there
a more ominous intention?

Could the Ark, if discovered,
be a sort of Pandora's box

that, once opened, would reveal
more about our origins

than we would ever want to know?

As the 20th century dawned,

the industrial revolution
suggested

that nothing conceived by man
could be impossible.

We could now ride
through the countryside

in horseless carriages...

(car horn honks)

(ship horn blows)

...sail the seas
in huge ocean liners...

fly through the sky in airships.

Even the idea of building
rockets and flying them

to the Moon, Mars and beyond
seemed well within our grasp.

It was the era of science
fiction writers like H.G. Wells

and inventors like Einstein,

Tesla, Edison and Ford.

In 1896,
there were widespread reports

of strange airships hovering
over various locations

in the American West.

Coincidence or consequence?

There were sightings
throughout history,

and of course,
there were a large number

of sightings
in the 19th century.

But it wasn't until 1896

that there were waves
of sightings.

Thousands of people in 1896
and 1897 in the United States

saw phantom airships, the origin
of which was never explained.

These reports were catalogued,
discussed in newspapers.

BIRNES: There were sightings
in 1896, 1897, 1898.

And, in fact, we kind of know

from newspaper reports
from the Southwest

that people were seeing craft
with wings.

And the Wright Brothers
didn't fly an airplane

until 1903,
so what were these craft?

Well, on the one hand,

people were flying balloons
in the 19th century.

So, balloons
were not high technology.

What was high technology
back then

was affixing a gasoline engine
to the gondola of a balloon.

BRAMLEY:
That whole airship mystery--

my guess is that some of those

were just dirigibles
that people were flying around.

On the other hand,
during that time,

we also find reports of objects

that moved really too quickly
to be dirigibles.

And some were maybe too shiny
really to be the types

of balloons that they
were making at that time.

BIRNES: The prevalence
of these balloons

powered by gasoline engines
flying around

in the late 1890s
in the turn of the century

probably opened up
people's minds

to the possibility
that there could be

literally unidentified
flying objects.

People began, to put it bluntly,
looking up.

So it could be said
that modern UFO history began

with these mysterious airships
of the 1890s.

PITTMAN:
It certainly seems possible,

if we believe
that the airship sightings

were sightings
of extraterrestrial spaceships,

that perhaps the aliens
were interested

in human activity at the time

because of the rapid increases
being made in technology.

BIRNES:
Some people have suggested

that aliens
have been interfering

with the lives of human beings
for thousands of years.

And because they
were always here

at significant points
in human history,

they introduced various kinds
of technologies

to spur development
along a certain line.

NARRATOR:
Could the same alien presence

that some believe had been
visiting the Earth for centuries

have been responsible
for inspiring

our great leap
into the modern age?

Or could the increased
close encounters with UFOs--

which would persist
through the next century--

be a sign that we were in danger
of going too far?

A very common idea
that we have today

is that,
as we develop technologically,

we're going to see an increase
in UFO phenomena--

that UFOs are basically
monitoring us.

Decades ago, we saw a lot
of UFO activity

around air bases,
around atomic bases

and also UFOs
following airplanes

and maybe following
our aircraft.

I would say that certainly,

as we keep developing,
we will continue to see

that monitoring aspect
to the UFOs.

Especially as we continue
going to space,

we're going to continue seeing
more UFO activity.

Whether it's for our benefit
or not, that's hard to say.

BIRNES:
Our history,

the history of human beings
on planet Earth--

whether we ourselves
are the aliens

seeded from another planet

or that the aliens created us,

as the stories
of the Anunnaki say--

regardless, it may be
that human beings

are being directed
toward a certain end.

NARRATOR: In the 20th century,
the inhabitants of planet Earth

were capable of blasting off
and touching the stars.

We were also capable
of harnessing the atom...

...and using it to inflict
the deadliest of devastations.

We would send satellites
into orbit,

land on the Moon and reach Mars.

But what would we find?

A barren, empty universe
of dead planets

or something else?

TSOUKALOS:
In the 1960s,

mainstream scientists were
already exploring the question

of whether or not we're alone
in the universe.

And there was only a handful
of scientists

who actually proposed the idea

that, yes, there are other
civilizations out there.

Now fast-forward 50 years.

You'd be very hard-pressed
to find any scientist today

saying that we're alone
in the universe.

HOWE:
What we're coming up to now

in the 21st century
is going to be a redefinition.

Our entire history
may have to be revised,

in the context of nonhuman
intelligences coming and going.

And what else is out there
in this incredible universe

of which we humans are a part?

NARRATOR: Perhaps the dawn
of the space age

was a signal to whatever--
or whoever-- was out there

that, after centuries
of writing on cave walls,

building temples
and mapping the skies,

the inhabitants of planet Earth
were at last ready.

Ready for their return.