Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Ancient mystery schools

connected to otherworldly beings,

hidden orders

initiated through sacred rites and symbols...

...and secret societies

bound by oaths to an alien brotherhood.

For nearly two decades,

Ancient Aliens has traveled the globe

exploring towering megalithic structures,

mysterious artifacts

and stories of otherworldly beings

in a quest for evidence that might reveal the truth

of our extraterrestrial origins.

Not all stories of brotherhoods and secret codes

are found in ancient times.

We have a lot of this today.

NARRATOR: Now we take a look back

through the Ancient Aliens archives

to the show's very origins

to examine the evidence that we are not alone,

we have never been alone.

In the ancient world, we have many examples

of secret societies or brotherhoods

in which secret or sacred teachings

were shared, and it is often said

that these secret teachings were brought by

-otherworldly beings. -WILLIAM HENRY: Right,

like the ancient Egyptian mystery schools,

where select initiates learned

the wisdom of the gods.

The ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras

was taught at one of these schools.

Yeah, which is interesting,

because a lot of ancient architecture

contains mathematical patterns

as if there's some kind of

secret knowledge encoded in them.

We talked about this in a 2013 episode

of Ancient Aliens called "The Power of Three."

NARRATOR: Newgrange, Ireland.

The walls of this 5,000-year-old passage tomb

are decorated with mysterious designs

made up of three connected spirals.

Yunnan Province, China.

Three 1,100-year-old Buddhist temples

known as the Three Pagodas

form a triangle thought to protect the population

from natural disasters.

Ancient Greece.

According to myth, the destiny of gods and men

is controlled by all-powerful beings

known as the Three Fates.

Various cultures across the world

have long shared a belief that the number three

represents something sacred, mystical, even divine.

All human beings understand numbers,

all of us live in a physical universe

where things come in different numbers...

...and so, different cultures will highlight different numbers

as particularly important, ritualize them

and make them culturally important.

We see widespread use of the number three

in European traditions.

But also, we see it in selected traditions

around the world, too.

These number traditions can become

very, very powerful and connect cultures together.

NARRATOR: The unique reverence for the number three

dates back thousands of years

and can still be found today

in art, architecture,

mythology, literature,

science and religion.

But why?

What is it about this number that has continued

to hold such significance for mankind?

If you think of our lives,

we have a past, a present and a future.

Our story falls neatly into three.

Throughout folklore and mythology,

we find the number three.

Something about three is trying to get our attention,

trying to tell us something.

MICHAEL CARTER: The number three

comes up many, many times

in Judeo-Christian scriptures.

Jonah is in the belly of the whale for three days.

In Genesis, the waters are separated

from the earth after three days.

In the New Testament, Jesus in the tomb for three days.

There's just a special significance there.

KATHLEEN McGOWAN: We see the number three in sacred texts.

And why is that? Is there something within us

that is hardwired to understand

that three is a sacred number, and where does this come from?

NARRATOR: The Giza Plateau, Egypt.

Three great pyramids line the desert

just outside of Cairo.

Constructed more than 4,000 years ago,

this unique trio of monuments is arguably

the most recognizable in all the world.

The pyramids also employ the most magnificent use

of triangles in architecture.

JEFFREY MISHLOVE: You had in ancient Egypt what we might think of

as a Masonic tradition.

There were the builders themselves

who embodied the knowledge of geometry,

the knowledge of toolmaking,

and how to put buildings together,

and especially how to create buildings,

uh, that were themselves the vehicles

for initiating, or inducing, higher consciousness.

ROBERT SCHOCH: The Giza pyramids are very interesting

in that you have three major pyramids.

Their sides are triangles.

Think of the triangle,

the simplest, most perfect geometric form.

NICK POPE: The ancients were certainly intrigued

by geometry, indeed sacred geometry.

And certainly, a triangle

is one of those basic archetypal shapes

that perhaps is hardwired into the human consciousness,

and this may, uh, find, uh, expression

in monuments such as the pyramids.

MARIE JONES: You've got that progress towards perfection

towards the top of the triangle.

It's a very upward directed, higher directed shape,

and I think we kind of get that on a subconscious level.

MISHLOVE: So, there is a sense in which the-the number three

in the form of the triangle,

in the form of the apex of the pyramid,

represents a portal,

a gateway, into another realm.

You might say it's a realm of the gods.

NARRATOR: Do the three pyramids of Giza

really represent some sort of portal to a divine realm?

Perhaps more clues about the sacred nature

of the triangle can be found by examining the work

of one of the most celebrated mathematicians of all time.

Samos, Greece.

Sixth century BC.

Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras

introduces his famous theorem:

A squared plus B squared equals C squared.

The formula explains the mathematical relationship

between the three sides of right triangles,

and some believe it was originally based

on the design of the Egyptian pyramids.

MISHLOVE: Pythagoras lived 2,500 years ago.

It is said that he studied

with the great teachers of Egypt,

and he brought the wisdom of Egypt back to Greece.

That, in effect, was the birth of Greek philosophy.

RICHARD RADER: For Pythagoras and for a lot of ancient philosophers,

mathematics was a kind of more precise description

of the supernatural.

They're coming to terms with man's place on this Earth,

and one of the ways you do that is by measurements,

and measurements have to develop,

and when they develop,

they develop more complex mathematics.

And Pythagoras is one of the very early philosophers

to develop this stuff.

Pythagoras taught that everything

in the universe has a three-part structure.

And every problem in the universe

can be reduced diagrammatically to a triangle.

To Pythagoras and his followers,

the triangle represented ascension,

and the triangle itself and the number three

was the key to all the hidden mysteries.

CHILDRESS: In Carnac, France, there are thousands

of megalithic standing stones that are over 6,000 years old,

and many of them are

in the form of a right triangle,

or a Pythagorean triangle.

And they were built many thousands of years

before Pythagoras.

These same geometric relationships

of the right triangle have also been found

at Avebury and-and Stonehenge.

And you have to ask yourself:

Does the Pythagorean triangle represent

some kind of special extraterrestrial geometry?

A geometry of threes?

TSOUKALOS: The bottom line is that "A squared plus B squared

equals C squared" applies to the entire universe.

And so, for Pythagoras to come up with this,

of course, is extraordinary, but he was not the first.

PHILIP COPPENS: So, we know that Pythagoras

got this information from ancient Egypt.

And the ancient Egyptians themselves say

that this was knowledge from the gods.

So, what we have is a situation whereby

the ancient Egyptians got this information

from a nonhuman intelligence, from an extraterrestrial source,

preserved it in secret for thousands of years.

And Pythagoras is really the first one

to take it outside of Egypt

and basically begin to speak to the world about what it is,

what the ancient Egyptians knew about this divine information.

NARRATOR: Did Pythagoras really get his knowledge of geometry

and its profound connection to the universe

from an otherworldly source?

Pythagorean triangle may contain

wisdom that we still haven't understood

in terms of how physical, terrestrial geometry

connects to extraterrestrial domains

that may coexist with our own.

NARRATOR: Did extraterrestrial visitors provide early humans

with advanced mathematical information?

Information encoded into temples, monuments

and other sacred architecture?

Could that explain the repeating patterns

of numbers and shapes found across the world?

And if so, was this esoteric knowledge

preserved by secret brotherhoods through the ages?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

and believe further evidence can be found

in a mysterious manuscript

said to hold the secrets of alchemy.

NARRATOR: Cambridge University, England.

Here, in the library of this 800-year-old institution

are the research papers of Sir Isaac Newton.

One of the most influential scientists of the 17th century,

Newton introduced what became the basis

of all modern physics:

the three laws of motion.

MICHAEL DENNIN: One of the things I think we often forget

about people like Newton,

he was also very much into alchemy,

and he was very much a mystic himself.

In mystical circles and in alchemy,

three is considered a powerful number.

So, it was natural for people

to try and write things in threes

and break it down into threes,

and use that principle to communicate information.

TOK THOMPSON: Alchemy was a hope of early magicians, or chemists.

The idea was that maybe if they could just figure out

how to combine different materials together,

they could wind up with something precious.

There was a long-standing interest in it,

and a lot of the sort of early scientific developments

and even ideas of chemistry, uh, came from this practice.

NARRATOR: Included among Newton's writings on philosophy,

astronomy and mathematics

is a cryptic translation of an ancient document

that has fascinated alchemists for centuries...

...an Emerald Tablet.

Carved on green crystal,

the tablet is believed to be one of several that contained

not only information on the practice of alchemy

but the secrets of the universe.

But although it is referenced by Newton

and written about in numerous other ancient texts,

the existence of the so-called Emerald Tablets

is largely thought to be a myth.

SCHOCH: The Emerald Tablet, or tablets,

contained perhaps the most fundamental ancient wisdom.

The ancient wisdom of transmutation...

...the secrets of longevity...

...the secrets of the cosmos.

And there are many different legends

about this tablet or tablets.

Some people say that they were, uh,

found in the Great Pyramid thousands of years ago.

ANDREW COLLINS: The so-called Emerald Tablets

had the secrets of alchemy.

And alchemy itself wasn't just about the transmutation

of base matter into a pure state, into gold...

...but it was about the knowledge

of the secrets of the universe.

About how we ourselves could transform our self

and become at one with the universe as a whole.

The Emerald Tablets have a very interesting phrase:

"Three is the great mystery come from the great one."

It says that three is the great mystery

that unifies the universe.

It says that power, wisdom, awareness all arises

from this interplay of three.

COPPENS: What we're being confronted with in the Emerald Tablets

is basically this notion that if we take two substances,

we can make a third substance out of this.

Three as such is always the power of transformation.

It is the end result for the alchemist,

basically saying, "I took certain things

and I created something new,"

and that is represented by the third element.

The information was written down,

which basically detailed

that if anybody were to possess this knowledge,

he would become a master of life, a master over death.

An almost supernatural being who could do anything at will.

NARRATOR: Were early scientists like Isaac Newton

seeking extraterrestrial knowledge?

And was that knowledge based, in part,

on a unique power inherent in the number three?

Perhaps answers can be found by taking a closer look

at the man many believe

to be the author of the Emerald Tablets,

Hermes Trismegistus.

RADER: Starting in the fourth century BC,

a character develops called Hermes Trismegistus.

And his name just means "Hermes Thrice Great."

So, Hermes Trismegistus is the Hellenistic Egyptian version

of the Greek Hermes,

and he's associated with the Egyptian god Thoth.

And so, for that reason primarily,

he becomes associated with

the magical practices of theurgy,

which is doing the works of the gods,

influencing the world.

MISHLOVE: At some point, as the Greeks moved into Egypt

and the Romans moved into Egypt,

there was an endeavor to correlate

the Egyptian traditions with the Greek and Roman traditions.

And so, you had this connection between Thoth and Hermes.

And the idea in both cases is, this is the deity

that is the messenger,

or the link, between our human realm

and the higher realm of the gods.

SCHOCH: According to some legends,

he was a reincarnation of Thoth,

the ancient scribe of Egypt, the scribe of the gods.

He was an individual who brought knowledge,

who brought wisdom.

He was considered thrice-great.

Three times great.

Hermes descended from the sky

in what was considered to be

a flying ship.

And we have the exact same story in ancient Egypt with Thoth

also having descended from the sky.

And his whole premise was to teach the people

in scientific disciplines.

NARRATOR: Was Hermes Trismegistus

really the reincarnation of the Egyptian god Thoth?

And if so, did he serve as a messenger

between man and the gods,

as the ancient Greeks believed?

Or might he have been,

as ancient astronaut theorists contend,

an extraterrestrial being?

One who brought mankind the knowledge of the universe

in the form of Emerald Tablets?

WILCOCK: The Emerald Tablets are a fascinating body of knowledge.

It gives rise to the idea that many different systems-

whether we're dealing with physics systems

or systems of consciousness,

systems of philosophy, systems of religion-

will always be underlined

by this prevalence of the number three.

CHILDRESS: So, you have to ask yourself:

Is the Emerald Tablet

some kind of extraterrestrial knowledge

that's been handed down to us?

So, maybe the key to immortality

is written in the Emerald Tablet in a code of threes.

NARRATOR: Did extraterrestrial messengers

really give mankind the secrets of the universe,

as ancient astronaut theorists suggest?

And if so, was this sacred knowledge

deliberately hidden from the public,

shared only with a select few?

Perhaps further clues can be found

in the legend of a great king

initiated into the mysteries of the magi.

One of the most compelling examples of the sharing

of cosmic secrets is the story of King Antiochus,

who ruled the Middle East nearly 2,000 years ago.

He was a member of a secret society,

and he had incredibly advanced knowledge of astronomy.

Yeah, and it's said that he studied with the magi,

who were these priests who supposedly

could predict the future and had special powers.

TSOUKALOS: Right, and there's even a stone carving that shows him

shaking hands with the so-called gods.

I mean, it's as if we have a permanent record of him

making contact with otherworldly beings.

NARRATOR: Southeastern Turkey.

7,000 feet high atop a barren mountain

called Nemrut Dag lie the ruins

of the lost kingdom of Commagene.

Here, in 62 BC,

a mysterious royal sanctuary was built

by King Antiochus I.

Colossal statues were created of lions and eagles,

and Persian and Greek gods,

as well as two massive sculptures of the king himself.

ADRIAN GILBERT: Now, what Antiochus was trying to do

was to produce a synthesis,

a new version of the old religions.

And what he basically did was to take the Persian gods

and put them into Greek dress.

So, you've got a synthesis happening

of the Persian gods with their Greek equivalents.

DONALD SANDERS: The reason he built a colossal statue of himself among the gods

was, I guess, a presumption on his part

that he would indeed ascend to heaven

and eventually be among them.

NARRATOR: The conical peak was the highest point

in the kingdom of King Antiochus.

Measuring 150 feet high and 500 feet wide,

it is man-made with countless small limestone rocks

and was said to be the location of the king's royal tomb.

Researchers believe the memorial

was originally built as two large plazas.

The one on the east side was used to celebrate

the birthday of King Antiochus.

The one on the west side

was used to commemorate the day in 62 BC

when Antiochus became the leader of a secret society.

GILBERT: I think it's meant to symbolize Mount Olympus,

the home of the gods...

...'cause you've got the gods seated round it

and then you've got a peak above them.

I think this is all very symbolic.

It's a stage for carrying out

certain rituals and performances.

SANDERS: And he also shows himself in the relief stelae

shaking hands to all the gods, as if the gods

recognize him as one of their own

and are welcoming him into heaven.

NARRATOR: Mysteriously, both the site and the kingdom

were abandoned in the first century AD.

And so far, the king's legendary burial chamber

has never been found.

But another question still remains.

Just why did King Antiochus

build this mysterious and massive monumental sanctuary?

According to researchers, evidence found at Nemrut Dag

suggests the king had a profound interest in

and understanding of star sciences.

One example of the advanced knowledge of astronomy

that they had is actually the lion horoscope,

which gives us a very precise date.

We know that the position of the stars on the lion's body,

um, fits with the positions of stars of Leo

given in a book of Eratosthenes,

who was a Greek astronomer from Alexandria

who wrote a book about the stars.

NARRATOR: The arrangement of stars on the lion horoscope

represented the constellation of Leo

as seen in the sky in July 62 BC,

a configuration that wouldn't be visible again

for 25,000 years.

Further evidence of the exceptional knowledge

of the stars was found in a nearby shaft

that Antiochus built into the mountain.

GILBERT: The shaft runs into the mountainside there,

uh, at an angle of 35 degrees to the horizontal,

and it's about 150 meters long,

and there's nothing at the bottom.

NARRATOR: Computer analysis reveals that on two days of the year,

the Sun's rays would illuminate the bottom of the shaft...

...once when in line with the constellation of Leo

and once when in line with Orion.

GILBERT: Now, that is a very interesting point in the sky

because it's the path where the Sun

crosses over the Milky Way, our galaxy,

and that, to the ancient world, was known as a gate of heaven.

And there were two of these, one where they cross

in the north and the other where they cross in the south.

There were two gates to heaven.

So, we can understand that

that gateway would be where the soul of the king

is going back to heaven through heaven's gate.

NARRATOR: Given the fact that neither Antiochus's tomb

or remains have been found,

is it possible that the king actually journeyed to the stars

through a heavenly gate,

as ancient astronaut theorists contend?

During his life, researchers believe

Antiochus studied with a priestly sect

of eastern astrologers called the magi,

who were thought to be able to predict

and even manipulate events

based on their knowledge of the stars.

The magi were renowned priests from the far Near East

who had advanced astronomical knowledge.

And it's well-known that most of the astronomers

from the Near East,

specifically ancient Iraq- Sumer-

recorded series of events happening in the heavens

over hundreds of thousands of years.

This information was kept on stone tablets,

held very sacredly and only passed down to the high priests.

NARRATOR: According to the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament,

it was three of these magi who followed celestial signs

and stars to the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem.

A coincidence?

MARTELL: What's interesting about this story

is that the Star of Bethlehem

wasn't used as a navigation point.

It is clearly stated as it guided the wise men

to the place of Christ.

A star cannot guide someone.

It can only be used as a navigation point.

So, this brings up the idea that the star

was possibly a UFO.

Today, we think that the magi were magicians,

and that is actually why we have the word "magic" today.

But when I hear about magical powers,

that raises a flag,

because magic as such does not exist.

So, were these magi, in fact, in possession of some type

of an extraterrestrial technology?

Because according to the ancient texts,

it was the initiates of each culture

who were in touch with extraterrestrials,

and it was the initiates

who later became priests, or magi.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that Antiochus was, in fact, a magi,

one who learned celestial knowledge

from extraterrestrial sources?

If so, might the monumental sanctuary at Nemrut Dag

have been built as a place to contact star travelers?

The answer may have been found among the ruins of Nemrut Dag.

The head of Antiochus is placed on the statue

which is appropriate for Mercury, and that's because

Mercury is the planet of initiation for priests,

and he's one himself, so he models it on himself.

And people think this is him being boastful

sitting among the gods. It's not.

It's actually a code to say that he's one of the priests.

NARRATOR: Eventually annexed by the Romans

in the first century AD,

King Antiochus and his court

became scattered throughout the region.

But what became of their hidden knowledge?

Perhaps it was safeguarded in secrecy,

only to resurface centuries later

through a secret order known as the Knights Templar.

According to Hebrew tradition,

King Solomon was given a special signet ring

by the archangel Michael which had a mysterious symbol on it,

which seemed like some kind of ancient code.

TSOUKALOS: Right, and it is this ring

that allowed King Solomon to build his temple.

And later, the Knights Templar allegedly rediscovered

that ring, and guess what,

it apparently gave them special powers.

Yeah, and according to that legend,

the symbol on that ring was a keyhole shape,

which is fascinating, because the Templars built

a lot of their churches in the shape of a keyhole.

We discussed this in a 2020 episode

of Ancient Aliens called "The Galactic Keyhole."

NARRATOR: Jerusalem.

The tenth century BC.

King Solomon of the United Kingdom of Israel

begins construction on a great temple

to house the Ark of the Covenant.

According to the Hebrew Bible,

this sacred chest was built to carry the stone tablets

on which the Ten Commandments were written...

...and also facilitated direct communication with God.

There's an ancient legend,

recorded in, of all places, the Talmud...

...wherein which it is said that there were specific needs

for building Solomon's Temple

that no human being could provide.

HENRY: In the story, Solomon prays to God,

and instantly, the archangel Michael manifests,

as if out of thin air.

And Michael says that he's going to give Solomon

a power that has never before been seen on Earth

and never again shall be.

And he produces for him a golden ring

with a signet seal.

LAYNE LITTLE: This is known as the secret Seal of Solomon,

and it is a magical sign...

...which has that interesting shape like a keyhole.

COLLINS: This ring was used

to command a legion of 72 jinn.

These are fire spirits, uh, in Arabian tradition.

And once they were under his control,

he used them to build monuments,

including Solomon's Temple itself.

NARRATOR: According to the Talmud,

these otherworldly beings that Solomon was able

to rule with his divine keyhole-shaped seal

were led by a jinn named Ashmedai.

In constructing Solomon's Temple,

Ashmedai not only oversaw the building of the tabernacle

to hold the Ark of the Covenant

but also a number of underground hidden chambers.

TZADOK: Ashmedai brought with him an army

of his followers, who built those places of the temple

which no human being was allowed to even know existed.

So, these legends come down to us to this day

that this temple of Solomon,

the parts that were subterranean,

were not built by human hands

and, therefore, secret to this day to the human eye.

CHILDRESS: They built all kinds of tunnels and chambers.

And you have to wonder if it might have something to do

with this high technology that they put

into some very safe place for keeping the Ark.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the technology Solomon was given

to build his temple was hidden somewhere beneath it?

Solomon's Temple was destroyed

by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in 587 BC.

But nearly 1,700 years later, the site where it stood-

known today as Temple Mount- was excavated

by a group of warrior monks

called The Order of Solomon's Temple,

also known as the Knights Templar.

And many believe that they did not leave empty-handed.

(horse neighing)

The Knights Templars got a commission from the pope

to actually do excavations at Solomon's Temple.

And the story there goes

that the Templars actually discovered

a secret chamber beneath the temple.

NARRATOR: While it remains unknown

just what the Knights Templar may have uncovered,

researchers note

that they would go on to display incredible building prowess,

much like that of the jinn that legend credits

with building Solomon's Temple.

The Knights Templars had very advanced knowledge of geometry,

mathematics,

architecture and of working with stone.

Some of the early constructions

include the gothic cathedrals of Europe,

and they show remarkable technology.

The way they worked with stone,

the hidden geometry, the mathematics,

and the sort of spiritual dimensions

that these elements create are quite remarkable.

NARRATOR: Curiously, nearly every Templar church

was built in the shape of a keyhole when viewed from above.

But perhaps most notable of all is

that at a former Templar stronghold in France

called Rennes-Le-Ch�teau,

there is a statue of Ashmedai,

the king of the jinn that helped Solomon to build his temple.

TZADOK: Rumor has it

that the Templar Knights endeavored to communicate

with Ashmedai, the king of the shedim, the jinn,

who built the temple to serve Solomon.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Knights Templar came

into possession of secret, otherworldly knowledge?

Knowledge tracing not only back

to the time of the building of Solomon's Temple

but even to the time of the ancient pyramid builders?

Might this explain their drive

to construct structures encoded with hidden meanings?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and they suggest that even after the Templar brotherhood fell,

their Masonic tradition endured,

shaping the very foundations of the United States.

Not all stories of brotherhoods and secret codes

are found in ancient times.

We have a lot of this

-in the founding of the United States. -HENRY: Right.

And many of the Founding Fathers were Freemasons,

and many of the Masonic symbols

-come from ancient Greece and Egypt. -CHILDRESS: Yeah.

And you have to wonder if some of this ancient cosmic wisdom

wasn't involved in the formation of the United States.

NARRATOR: Fredericksburg, Virginia. 1752.

20-year-old George Washington is initiated

into a secret society, the Freemasons.

Among his fellow members are many other Founding Fathers,

like Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock and Paul Revere.

But what is Freemasonry?

What role did it play in the founding of the United States?

And what meanings lie behind their many mysterious symbols?

AKRAM ELIAS: There are a lot of theories

about the true origins of Freemasonry.

What we know for a fact is

that definitely with the Age of the Renaissance,

this is when people decided

to start studying ancient civilizations

and see was there any knowledge

in those civilizations that was lost.

NARRATOR: According to experts, the Freemasons believe

in the idea of acquiring knowledge

through largely scientific as well as spiritual means.

In the Age of Enlightenment,

this included examining the possibility

of extraterrestrial life.

ELIAS: Freemasonry was like a main vehicle,

if you want, that brought these ideas and principles

of the Enlightenment into the new world.

KOLTKO-RIVERA: You had the most prominent citizens

of the community becoming Freemasons

and then associating with one another.

They would be discussing the major issues of the day

and certainly the speculations about the plurality of worlds.

NARRATOR: Could the growing belief in the possibility

of extraterrestrial life

have influenced the Founding Fathers' vision for America?

In terms of the Declaration of Independence,

there were 56 signers.

Of those, nine were definitely Freemasons.

Concerning the signers of the Constitution,

there were 39 signers.

13 of them, a clear third, were Freemasons.

NARRATOR: But does the influence of Freemasonry

explain why Masonic values are woven into the principles

behind America's most important documents?

And could this also explain

how and why Masonic symbols can be found on

much of the nation's monuments and architecture?

ELIAS: In the design of Washington,

the language of symbols is very important,

and that's where we see connections with Freemasonry.

The original universal symbol of Freemasonry

is the square and compass.

The compass is the main tool of the individual.

You are at the point, and the idea in Freemasonry

is that the individual is sovereign.

You draw a circle using the compasses around you.

If you go beyond the perimeter,

that's when you start going into knowledge and light.

The square is considered a symbol of wisdom.

And the letter "G" stands for

the grand architect of the universe.

KOLTKO-RIVERA: The same people who were involved

in the development of Freemasonry

were very interested in Egypt.

They were inspired by the idea of ancient wisdom.

NARRATOR: Other Masonic symbols found in Washington, D.C.,

are eerily similar to the icons of ancient Egypt:

the Sphinx, the obelisk, the pyramid

and the All-Seeing Eye.

CHILDRESS: If you were to pull out a dollar bill right now

and look at it, you would see that on one side is a depiction

of the Great Pyramid of Egypt

with an All-Seeing Eye at its apex.

This is the Great Seal of the United States, and it's a...

it's an awesome, mystical symbol of...

of the eye of God watching us,

and also,

how ancient civilizations were divine in nature,

and that the Founding Fathers were to recreate that

here in the United States.

ELIAS: The idea is

we need a source of light

in order to help us become enlightened.

We cannot do it alone.

Now, that, to the Founding Fathers,

is whatever is out there that is keeping an eye.

And there is a belief

that this experiment did not just happen.

It was necessary

to help the human condition make a major leap.

It's like the alignment of the stars.

Providence was there watching and interacting.

NARRATOR: Why did this group of 18th century men,

who set out to build a nation

based on principles of logic and reason,

attach such importance to pre-Christian symbols

and ancient mysticism?

And who, or what,

did they believe was watching over them?

God... or something else?

According to ancient astronaut theorists,

the answer can be found

in an 1866 lithograph of George Washington

that resides in the Library of Congress.

CHILDRESS: There's a famous painting

of George Washington as a Freemason.

And over his right shoulder is an unusual scene

of Jacob's ladder ascending to heaven

and what seems to be

some kind of spaceship there in the sky.

NARRATOR: In the biblical story of Jacob from Genesis 28,

Jacob witnesses angels ascending

and descending a ladder from heaven.

But in this painting,

the ladder comes not from heaven

but out of a dark, round object emitting multicolored lights.

Although Jacob's ladder is a popular symbol of Freemasonry,

is it possible that this image is attempting

to depict something else?

Something of an extraterrestrial origin?

TSOUKALOS: According to the ancient astronaut ideas,

Jacob's ladder was nothing else but a ramp or a device

with which to reach the realm of the gods.

And the gods were extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: The square and compass.

The All-Seeing Eye.

Jacob's ladder.

What do all these symbols reveal about the true origins

of the United States of America?

Ancient astronaut theorists don't only point

to the presence of Masonic symbols

and pre-Christian influences as evidence

of the Founding Fathers' extraterrestrial connections.

They also find proof in the fact

that even the very layout of Washington, D.C.,

points to the stars.

You know, if you're looking for evidence

that Freemasonry inspired the Founding Fathers,

all you have to do is look

-at the layout of our nation's capital. -HENRY: Right.

Because when you look at Washington, D.C.,

from above, all you see

are Masonic codes and symbols.

And we're not talking about finding images

in the clouds or something.

This is 100% intentional.

Oh, absolutely. And let's not forget

that the Washington Monument is a giant,

Egyptian-inspired obelisk

that stands in the heart of the city.

NARRATOR: Alexandria, Virginia. 1791.

In a full Masonic ceremony on the edge of the Potomac River,

George Washington lays the first cornerstone

marking the southern boundary

for what will become the District of Columbia.

ELIAS: What happens in the laying of the cornerstone?

And Washington scattered corn.

You pour wine and pour oil.

Now, corn stands for prosperity,

oil stands for peace,

and wine stands for happiness.

STEVEN C. BULLOCK: You have Masons chanting

in response to it.

You have an oration afterwards,

in which artillery is fired during...

during the-the oration.

So it's an extraordinary kind of ceremony.

NARRATOR: According to scholars,

the nation's capital has been steeped

in ancient symbolism since its inception.

And ancient astronaut theorists point

to the city's tallest structure, the Washington Monument,

as proof that the American capital was built

with a deliberate eye to the stars.

Although construction began in 1848,

nearly 50 years after George Washington's death,

the Freemasons built the Egyptian-style monument

so that the constellation Pleiades would be visible

directly over the giant obelisk.

DERRICK PITTS: The Pleiades is a group of seven bright stars.

For the Egyptians, they would use these stars

as a way to figure out all sorts of, uh,

judgments that needed to be made in many different things.

TSOUKALOS: I find it fascinating that in the ancient world

in places of great power

and great influence, they built monuments

aligned with the Pleiades.

So the fact that we find the Washington Monument

also aligning with the Pleiades,

is that coincidence?

NARRATOR: In a city largely built to evoke ancient cities

like Athens and Rome,

is the dominant architectural structure

based on an icon of ancient Egypt?

It is the largest obelisk in the world, 555 feet high.

It draws the eye, and it draws the eye up.

We have to ask,

what did the Founding Fathers want us to see?

HENRY: The idea of the obelisk is that it's frozen sunlight.

They believe that the energy

of the god Ra literally came through

that antenna.

The same concept is shown here in Washington, D.C.,

with the obelisk sitting in the center of Washington,

or near the center of Washington,

bringing that energy in from the stars

and radiating it outward into the sacred precinct.

ELIAS: They have a reflecting pool.

Why? To reflect the obelisk.

Washington's Monument points to the heavens.

With the reflecting pool, it points below.

There is a direct correlation

between what happens here below and what's happening up there.

NARRATOR: For ancient astronaut theorists,

it's not just the placement of the Washington Monument

and the Capitol building that point to the stars

but the layout of the entire city,

which harkens back to ancient places,

like Egypt, Greece and Rome.

KOLTKO-RIVERA: Washington, D.C., is laid out

perfectly straight lines,

radiating from different little hubs around the city.

They converge on places like the Capitol building,

the White House.

It is a revelation of clarity

that highlights the cornerstones of American democracy.

HENRY: Washington, D.C., was conceived

from the very beginning as a sacred space.

In fact, it is a ten-by-ten square-mile diamond matrix

into which the Founding Fathers believed

they could pour all their enlightenment teachings

and bring them to life within its capitols

and its other buildings.

NARRATOR: Another Freemason, Pierre-Charles L'Enfant,

was selected by President Washington

to create a layout of the city

within the ten-mile diamond of the District of Columbia.

He began by aligning the corners of the square

with the four cardinal directions-

north, south, east and west.

ELIAS: It is not by coincidence.

There is a scientific, rational way

of developing the city of Washington

with geometric shapes-

circles, rectangles, triangles,

and this is to emphasize that this new form of government

was not going to rely on religion...

...but we're going to rely on reason and scientific discovery.

And the design of the city reflects that.

And there is absolutely no other capital city

in the world that was designed like this.

There is no question that the main triangle

at the heart of the city was very key

and connecting the Capitol to...

to the White House and then to the Washington Monument.

NARRATOR: Some historians believe that the triangle found

in the center of Washington, D.C.,

represents the Masonic symbol of the square and compass,

symbolizing the Founding Fathers' search

for enlightenment from above.

But ancient astronaut theorists

claim that beyond this triangle lies

an even more significant geometric shape,

the shape of a pentagram.

The interesting thing about Jefferson's influence

on the design of Washington, D.C.,

was the star.

With rows emanating in all directions from the star

that seemed to be a mirror of the heavens,

because Jefferson did believe that the heavens were inhabited,

and he wanted Washington, D.C., not just to be the capital

of the United States of America but the capital of the universe.

NARRATOR: George Washington and Thomas Jefferson

were both expert surveyors and mapmakers,

and were hands-on in the layout and design of the new capital.

BIRNES: George Washington and Thomas Jefferson,

who was an architect that built Monticello,

laid out Washington, D.C.,

with the expectation that somehow,

if there were extraterrestrials,

they would see the image of the star

at the center of the city and know this was a sign

that we respected extraterrestrial life.

NARRATOR: Did the design and placement

of the Washington Monument,

Capitol Hill and the National Mall

really reflect the Founding Fathers' belief

in extraterrestrial forces?

Perhaps the answer can be found by a close examination

of the Capitol building itself

and the strange connection

to other worlds that can be found inside.

NARRATOR: Washington, D.C. 1791.

Jenkins Hill.

Pierre L'Enfant declares this location

"a pedestal waiting for a monument."

For the next two years,

he works closely with George Washington

and Thomas Jefferson, designing the building

that will sit at the top of this hill

and house the United States Congress.

On September 18, 1793,

the day of the autumn equinox,

Washington lays the cornerstone for the Capitol building

and Jenkins Hill officially becomes Capitol Hill,

the heart of the new democracy.

The concept of the ancient

and sacred hill was deeply in the minds

of the Founding Fathers.

In Boston, we have high hills that were important.

We have Monticello being built on a hill.

We have Capitol Hill.

So the Founding Fathers clearly understood the importance

of the Temple Mount concept.

NARRATOR: But was the design and placement

of the Capitol building directly influenced

by Washington and Jefferson's reported contact

with alien beings?

Ancient astronaut theorists point to evidence

in the form of the statue

that still sits atop the Capitol dome,

placed there after the current dome was completed

in 1866.

HENRY: The Freedom Statue is a 19-and-a-half-foot-tall statue

of a goddess who actually is morphing into an eagle.

This is very important in ancient alien theory

because the ancient gods were portrayed as eagle-headed.

So it looks like Freedom is being referenced here

as a star being.

NARRATOR: Inside the dome,

directly in line with the Freedom Statue,

is an empty tomb that had been designed

to hold the remains of George Washington.

One floor above it is the crypt...

...then the Capitol Rotunda,

and soaring 180 feet above that is a painting of Washington,

looking very much like an ancient god.

PITTS: If one goes to the Capitol Rotunda

and looks at the artwork on the ceiling,

you see what's called the Apotheosis of Washington.

It's an enormous painting

that depicts Washington in a very interesting setting.

HENRY: The painting was completed

by Constantino Brumidi in 1865.

The word "apotheosis" is a Greek word

that means to deify, to raise from a man to a god man.

PITTS: You see him depicted as you would see a god depicted.

He sits in a... a setting of clouds

with what look like angels immediately surrounding him,

uh, with a big rainbow that runs right underneath his feet.

When we're in the Rotunda, the dome of the U.S. Capitol,

we are literally in a vortex of energy.

Domes are places where Heaven and Earth meet.

They literally are considered to be portals

or gateways to the stars.

NARRATOR: There is another depiction of Washington

that specifically represents him as a divine figure.

Congress authorized an incredible statue

of George Washington by Greenough,

in which he's depicted as Zeus, or Jupiter.

HENRY: The statue had several key features

that identified him as a man of peace

and a conductor of Heaven and Earth.

His sword is offered to the viewer of the statue,

indicating he's here in peace.

And then, on the sides of the statue,

you have a very important representation of the god Apollo

riding his sun chariot, or star chariot.

So the idea that we get from all of this is

that Washington is a cosmic being

who is riding through the heavens

on his own star chariot.

NARRATOR: Could the symbols, monuments

and alignments found throughout Washington, D.C.,

be evidence that the Founding Fathers

actually believed that otherworldly beings

were instrumental if the new American experiment

in government were to survive and prosper?

Was their interest in the stars

and their belief in the possibility

that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe

based on knowledge passed down

through secret societies and brotherhoods?

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest

that not only is this the case

but there is also compelling evidence

that initiation into this ancient, otherworldly tradition

continued well into the space age.

When you're talking about societies

with special knowledge,

it doesn't get much more exclusive

than the men and women who have traveled into space.

And what's interesting is that

NASA has very strong connections to Freemasonry.

Oh, absolutely. In fact, many of the people

in the early days of NASA

were Freemasons,

and it's also interesting to note

that the Project Apollo insignia

seemed to have been encoded with connections to ancient Egypt.

CHILDRESS: Yeah. I mean,

the belt stars of Orion are featured

right in the center of it,

which is where the Egyptian god Osiris came from.

We discussed this in a 2012 episode of Ancient Aliens

called "The NASA Connection."

NARRATOR: July 20, 1969.

ALDRIN: Contact light. Okay, engine stop.

CAPCOM: We copy you down, Eagle.

ARMSTRONG: Tranquility Base here.

The Eagle has landed.

NARRATOR: American astronauts Neil Armstrong

and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin

become the first humans to land on the Moon.

ARMSTRONG: That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

ALDRIN: We aliens

who happened to...

...go down the ladder on July 20, 1969,

were certainly part of a magnificent race

that was able to all of a sudden appear

in the Garden of Eden.

Landing on the Moon happened because of courage.

We had the courage. We were willing to take the risk.

We had a president who was behind us

and said, "You're gonna do it."

DAVID MORRISON: I look at those people from the Apollo era as heroes-

not just the astronauts that went

but the 100,000 people on the ground

that made it possible.

They worked on an exact plan.

They knew where they wanted to go.

They developed the technology.

And, by golly, they pulled it off.

It was a tremendous accomplishment,

perhaps the greatest scientific technical accomplishment

in human history.

ARMSTRONG: Houston, this is Tranquility. How do you read?

CAPCOM: Tranquility Base, this is Houston.

Loud and clear. How us?

NARRATOR: For more than two and a half hours,

Armstrong and Aldrin stood on the surface of the Moon.

Video transmissions showed the two astronauts

collecting rock samples,

taking photographs,

and planting an American flag in the lunar soil.

But what might these men have done away from the camera?

Could there have been another, perhaps top secret mission,

as ancient astronaut theorists believe?

CHILDRESS: When Apollo 11

first landed on the Moon,

there were certain sites that they were to look at.

And even as they orbited the Moon,

there were certain areas of the Moon

that they were to examine carefully and photograph.

And you have to ask yourself

if NASA already had certain parts of the Moon picked out.

And the reason they had picked out these areas

was because there was artificial structures on the Moon

and they knew it.

NARRATOR: According to NASA records,

the area of the Moon called the Sea of Tranquility

was chosen for the first lunar landing

based on its flat surface.

But some researchers suggest

this site was chosen because, on that date,

its coordinates lined up directly under Orion's Belt.

The way they picked the landing sites was that they first chose

the specific date, the specific latitude and longitude,

the specific time that they would land.

And then you have to work your way back from that

to create what's called the launch window.

The person who picked all of the Apollo landing dates

and landing times,

including the mission for Apollo 11,

was a man named Farouk El-Baz.

His father just happened to be an expert

on the ancient Egyptian stellar religion.

NARRATOR: According to ancient Egyptian beliefs,

ceremonies performed directly under Orion's Belt

produce a sacred alignment...

...one through which humans could communicate with Osiris.

BARA: To the ancient Egyptians,

that constellation actually was a literal living embodiment

of the great god Osiris.

Sirius was the same representation

of his wife, sister, and consort Isis.

Together, those two essentially ruled the skies,

and the life of the Egyptian people themselves

was dictated by the rotation, the movement,

and the placement of those two celestial objects

in the heavens.

Apollo 11 had landed at a specific date

and a specific time

where the three belt stars of Orion were on the horizon.

At that time, 33 minutes after landing...

...Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon,

a 33-degree Scottish Rite Freemason,

was in fact performing a ceremony

on board the lunar module with Neil Armstrong.

What they were doing was pouring wine into chalices,

breaking bread, and doing what essentially is called

a communion ceremony.

Now, the interesting thing about the communion ceremony

is that, although it's Catholic,

it actually has its origins

in a much deeper, farther back ritual,

which was an offering to the god Osiris himself.

So they are performing, essentially, an offering

to Osiris himself.

So I think that's why that they landed on the Moon

at that date and time.

COPPENS: Certain rituals have to be performed

at certain moments in time

whereby this link with this nonhuman intelligence

will happen.

The priestly class of our ancestors,

either through technology or through certain means,

really were very much the class which sought out contact

with this nonhuman intelligence.

And they were the ones who were trained to do this,

very much like the scientists of today,

which we have trained to be

the people who are going to go into outer space.

NARRATOR: Left behind on the Moon

were scientific instruments,

an American flag,

and a small plaque commemorating the Apollo 11 mission.

But there were other items left as well-

a bag containing a gold replica of an olive branch

and a silicon disk with recorded messages of peace and goodwill

from 73 world leaders.

Why were these symbolic messages sent up into space?

Who was NASA expecting to meet on the Moon?

LOGAN HAWKES: When we talk about the Apollo Moon missions,

there's some theory that suggests

that massive cities may exist on the dark side of the Moon,

cities that NASA was aware of...

...that the Moon missions were all about

and that artifacts from these ancient ruin sites

have been brought back to Earth.

Is it possible that it wasn't Moon rocks we were picking up

and bringing back as specimens

but perhaps alien technology?

If extraterrestrials were here on planet-

I'm sure they were here-

we should also find evidence on the Moon.

Because the Moon is the place for a stopover.

You have a mother spaceship.

You need some sort of refuel,

whatever this refuel is-

could be raw material,

could be stone, could be uranium,

could be whatever is-is in the surface of the Moon.

So it would make sense

that we find some indications on the Moon,

technological indications,

that somebody was here.

NARRATOR: Over the past several years,

officials with NASA's space program

have admitted to misplacing original recordings

of some Moon landings...

...and losing rocks collected from the lunar surface.

Could this be, as ancient astronaut theorists believe,

lost evidence of possible alien contact?

BARA: There are some people that think

that, with the Roswell crash,

that the U.S. government established communications

with extraterrestrial beings.

And there are other people who think

that we really don't have any direct contact

with extraterrestrial species.

My personal belief is that, at some point along the way,

NASA did have a direct pipeline to the E.T.s.

NARRATOR: But if NASA has possessed evidence

of extraterrestrial life,

as ancient astronaut theorists believe,

what are they hiding?

NARRATOR: Might NASA really have found evidence

of the existence of extraterrestrial life

on the Moon?

And if so, might insiders within the organization

know more about otherworldly involvement with Earth

than they are willing to reveal?

Perhaps further proof can be found

by examining NASA's Masonic origins.

NARRATOR: July 29, 1958.

Responding to the successful launch

of the Soviet space satellite Sputnik,

President Dwight Eisenhower signs

the National Aeronautics and Space Act,

officially establishing NASA.

MORRISON: NASA was formed in 1958

partly out of a previously existing government agency

called NACA...

...that just dealt with aeronautics

and then with the early space program

that was being developed by the Army and the Air Force.

EDGAR MITCHELL: NASA was established to take the United States into space

and to be a contender in the new direction

that humanity was moving

of exploring space and out into our solar system.

NARRATOR: The president and Congress established NASA

as part of the Department of Defense.

The official reason was to prevent

the Soviets from stealing U.S. technology.

But some believe the real motive for this classification

was not to hide information from the Soviets

but to hide it from the American public.

A lot of people have the idea

that NASA's a civilian science agency, and it's not.

It says right there in the act of Congress that created it-

anything that they discover is subject to classification

and being kept secret and being kept from the American people.

The Brookings Report,

which was commissioned by NASA

right after NASA itself was created,

essentially was commissioned for the purpose of deciding

what NASA should do

if in fact they made some sort of extraterrestrial contact.

If they either found artifacts on the Moon or on Mars

or if they had direct contact with a superior intelligence,

what they should do.

And the Brookings Report says very specifically,

number one, don't tell anybody.

If you tell anybody,

it will shatter the fabric of our civilization.

It will destroy us.

NARRATOR: Some researchers believe

the evidence of NASA's hidden agenda can be found

in the close ties between its founding scientists

and secret societies.

These secret societies had at their core

essentially a belief that they were directly descended

from these great gods of ancient Egypt-

Isis, Osiris, and Horus.

And they considered these gods

to be truly the source of their bloodline

but also that these gods themselves came from space.

At the very top, you had the Freemasons.

You had James Webb, who was the director of NASA.

You had a man named Kenneth Kleinknecht,

who was the head of the Mercury program,

the Apollo program, the Gemini program.

He was a 33rd-degree Scottish Rite Freemason.

Below them, you had the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,

or-or followers of Aleister Crowley.

People like Jack Parsons out at JPL were all put together,

and so they all ended up under the very same roof

with the very same agenda and the very same belief system.

We see this practice

of passing knowledge down through a secret society

go back all the way to the days of the Illuminati...

...who believed that a select few of the elite

were smart enough,

were capable of handling this secret knowledge

but not the population at large.

So the question remains,

has this knowledge been passed down

through secret societies for generations?

And this may predate

the secret societies that we know about in modern times

all the way back to the days of the pharaohs.

NARRATOR: Like the ancient Egyptians,

could NASA's founding fathers have shared the belief

that humans descended from extraterrestrial beings?

What did the members of these secret societies know

about space travel?

And how did the ancient past influence their work?

Those who suspect these NASA officials

operated a hidden agenda

point to the repeated use of the number 33,

an extremely important symbolic figure in secret societies.

BARA: If you look at the very first landing strip at Cape Canaveral,

where we would be landing aircraft

and eventually bringing the space shuttle back,

it was Runway 33.

If you look at the launch pad at White Sands, New Mexico,

the only launch pad is launch pad number 33.

So it seems to permeate throughout NASA,

this number 33 over and over again.

And the fact that it's connected to Freemasonry

makes you kind of wonder

if maybe there was some other deeper symbolism working.

CAPCOM: Houston, you are go for landing. Over.

ALDRIN: 700 feet, 21 down, 33 degrees.

NARRATOR: Researchers believe the connection

to ancient Egyptian beliefs

can also be found in the emblem of NASA's Apollo space program.

They claim that the large "A" in the star field

stands not for the Greek god Apollo

but for Asar,

the Egyptian god more commonly known as Osiris.

This is indicated by the cluster of three stars

in the center of the "A,"

which represent the stars of Orion's Belt.

CHILDRESS: You have to wonder if stars like Orion and Sirius

are very important to NASA,

because this is where

the ancient traditions, including Egyptian,

have said that the space gods came from.

This is our origins.

NARRATOR: Similarly, researchers point out

that the symbol on the Mercury mission patches

is nearly identical to a major icon of ancient Egypt.

BARA: If you look at the mission patches,

the symbol for Mercury is really similar to the Egyptian ankh,

and it's kind of ironic

that you have this sort of Egyptian symbolism

in what's supposed to be a representation

of Mercury the messenger. It's supposed to be

a Greek mythology rather than an Egyptian mythology.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that, like ancient astronaut theorists,

NASA scientists believe extraterrestrials visited Earth

in the distant past?

Could their ties to ancient brotherhoods

explain why Egyptian and Greek motifs appear so prominently

in the agency's designs?

And if so, perhaps the use of ancient symbols

may expose the presence of other initiates among us.

One ancient code that everyone is familiar with

is that of the All-Seeing Eye

because it's printed on every dollar bill.

But that symbol dates back

-all the way to ancient Egypt. -HENRY: Right.

And it's thought to represent an intelligence

that is watching over us.

Some even associate it with the biblical figures

called the Watchers,

who came down from heaven

-to Earth. -CHILDRESS: Yeah.

And you have to ask yourself,

is the dollar bill encoded with some kind of ancient symbol

that's about alien visitations?

NARRATOR: The Netherlands.

March 24, 2014.

58 world leaders gather at the World Forum in The Hague

for the third biannual Nuclear Security Summit.

In the center of the room

is a giant spinning hologram of a pyramid

with three smaller upside-down pyramids inside it.

This symbol, which is also worn as a pin by the delegates,

is the summit's official logo.

But there are some who claim it represents something else-

the All-Seeing Eye of the Illuminati.

Conspiracy theorists suggest

that this centuries-old secret society

is alive and well in the 21st century,

as evidenced by symbols flashed by celebrities,

industry moguls,

and even heads of state.

The modern-day Illuminati

was organized by Adam Weishaupt in Germany.

And he formulated plans

so that his group could infiltrate

all the key powers of society-

the political sphere, the banking sphere,

the media sphere- back in the late 1700s.

When we're talking about the Illuminati today,

we're talking about,

essentially, the most powerful secret society.

(shouting)

These are the people

that pull the strings from behind the scenes.

NARRATOR: Is this just paranoia?

Or might the Illuminati still be around today,

embedded in the highest levels of society?

And if so,

what is their agenda?

Some say the answer can be found

with a much older secret society,

which may have been the precursor to the Illuminati,

the Knights Templar.

This band of warrior monks was formed in 1118 AD

to protect pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem during the Crusades.

But many claim that their true purpose was

to find lost religious relics hidden at the Temple Mount.

And during their time in Jerusalem,

they rose from relative obscurity

to being the most powerful order of the Crusades.

So far-reaching was their influence

that it became widely rumored they were in league with demons.

YOUNG: Jacques de Molay,

the leading figure in the history of the Knights Templar,

was brought up on charges of treason and heresy

for something like devil worship.

Somehow worshipping the dark side.

This was the charge brought against not only De Molay

but the Knights Templars in general.

NARRATOR: Is it possible the Knights Templar really were in contact

with otherworldly entities they encountered at the Temple Mount?

And if so, just what were these so-called demons?

TZADOK: We are taught that these shedim,

demons, in many ways they're like human beings.

And in many ways they're like the angels.

Some are evil.

Many are good.

Rumor has it that the Templar Knights

endeavored to communicate with these spiritual entities.

McGOWAN: This concept of demons

is very different from the way we think of demons today.

Essentially, what a demon was was an otherworldly being.

A being that was not of this earth,

potentially an extraterrestrial being,

with the word "extraterrestrial" meaning "not of this earth."

NARRATOR: Could the Templars really have been influenced

by aliens that they misinterpreted

as spiritual beings?

Some ancient astronaut theorists say

that the Knights Templar were in contact

with the same extraterrestrials

that were known in biblical times as the Watchers.

And as evidence, they point

to one of the Templars' most prominent symbols,

the same symbol that some say was virtually present

at the Nuclear Security Summit,

the All-Seeing Eye.

This symbol, which is sometimes just an eye

but often an eye within a pyramid,

was used by the ancient Egyptians,

the Knights Templar,

the Rosicrucians,

the Freemasons,

the Illuminati,

and is even incorporated

into the Great Seal of the United States.

It is a symbol that is most commonly interpreted to mean

that someone or something is watching us.

The Eye of Providence symbolizes

the idea of an omniscient intelligent universe

that is overseeing all of the affairs

that we have here on Earth.

MARTELL: For many, the Eye of Providence was a symbol

that God was watching over us.

But others believed that it had a much deeper meaning

and actually extended well beyond many other cultures.

Possibly even connected to extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: Could the symbol of the All-Seeing Eye

be secretly telling us

that the Watchers are still here on Earth,

working behind the scenes in secret societies

and even the top levels of government?

These secret societies represent

a truly significant through line in human history.

I mean, from the time of King Antiochus to Solomon,

the Freemasons, all the way up to the Founding Fathers

to NASA,

there's been a continuous line

linking humanity with otherworldly intelligences.

CHILDRESS: Yeah. You know, these, uh,

secret societies and brotherhoods

that were so popular in ancient times

and right up to modern times have almost disappeared.

It's like we don't really need

these ancient brotherhoods anymore

because we've moved past all that.

Yeah, the knowledge is now an open secret.

But is it?

Because, clearly,

there are encoded messages having to do with our history.

And while we seem to recognize these codes,

the mainstream is not yet accepting

of these so-called facts.

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