All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S21E16

NARRATOR: Powerful gods
wielding advanced technology.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
Odin sat on a throne

with which he could see
everything.

NARRATOR: Strange creatures who
craft extraordinary weapons.

SCOTT MELLOR: Dwarves
were the ones that create

Odin's spear and Thor's hammer.

NARRATOR: And descriptions of
gateways through time and space.

NICK POPE: Bifrost might
be a sort of folkloric way

of explaining a wormhole.

NARRATOR: The ancient
Norse legends

read like modern
science fiction,

but could they be accounts
of extraterrestrial beings

who continue to visit
our planet even now?

WILLIAM HENRY: Contactees
today describe encounters

that precisely match
Nordic mythology.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In Northern
Europe lies a land

of dramatic fjords and dense
forests called Scandinavia.

By most modern interpretations,

Scandinavia includes the
countries of Denmark,

Norway, Sweden,

Finland, and Iceland.

And many centuries ago,
this rugged landscape

gave rise to a hearty
and mysterious people

called the Norse.

In the early Bronze Age,

there were a number of
Germanic peoples that came up

into this peninsula, the
Scandinavian Peninsula.

But they were meeting
completely different people

with a different culture and
a very different language.

Eventually, these groups
of people come together

and they become the Norse.

NARRATOR: For many years,

the Norse were a peaceful people

who scratched out an
existence as farmers,

fishermen, and hunters.

But that changed dramatically

in the 8th century AD
with the rise of the Vikings.

KARL SEIGFRIED: "Viking" is a
term for Scandinavian pirates

and raiders who made their mark
on world history

between the late 700s
and the early 1000s.

MELLOR: One thing we
have to understand

is the Vikings technically
is a profession.

It isn't the people
that were living there.

Scholars call the people that
were living there the Norse.

The Vikings were the ones
that went on raiding

and trading expeditions.

NARRATOR: Sailing on their
fearsome longships,

the Vikings terrorized Europe.

They could strike anywhere

and seemingly without warning.

The Viking longship, uh,
were excellent ships

for traveling the open oceans...

...but also up rivers
and far inland.

Nobody was really expecting
these guys.

People were unprotected.
Cities were unprotected.

Monasteries with vast amounts
of gold were unprotected.

And so when these raids
started happening,

everyone was caught by surprise.

The Vikings completely upset
the balance of power

throughout Europe.

NARRATOR: But despite
their reputation

as fierce conquerors,

the Vikings were also
skilled merchants,

and they set up trade routes

that reached every corner
of the map.

MELLOR: The Vikings
were going both east and west,

into France and down into Spain

and the Mediterranean
from that direction...

...and then east
into what would become Russia

and down into places
like Constantinople.

The long-term effects of the
Viking Age are manifold.

There are huge
linguistic influences

on languages like
English and French.

There's a massive political
influence in Eastern Europe,

where, for example,
Russia draws its name

from the name of a tribe
of Swedish Vikings

who invaded that part
of Eastern Europe.

We have the Byzantine emperor
guarded by Viking bodyguards.

We have Vikings in Baghdad
trading with Arab traders.

We have Vikings in the New World

exploring at least as far
as present-day Canada.

They reached all over the world.

NARRATOR: The Age of the
Vikings lasted just 300 years,

from the middle of the 8th
century until the 11th century.

But despite their
accomplishments,

much about the Norse
remains shrouded in mystery.

Unlike other cultures
at the time,

they did not keep
detailed written records

of their history.

Instead, they wrote brief
inscriptions with runes.

THOMPSON: Runes are

an early form of Viking writing.

They have been employed
largely in carving in stone,

so we see a lot of runestones.

But runes were kind of
cumbersome to write with,

and so things
tended to be short.

It's not like the written
literature that we get later.

NARRATOR: Much about Norse
history remained unknown

until roughly 300 years
after the Viking era.

We would know very, very little
if it weren't for two books

from 1200s Iceland called Edda.

The first book was written
by an Icelandic chief

named Snorri Sturluson.

And in the 1220s or so,

he wrote the Prose Edda

to protect the heritage
and the old stories.

Also in the 1200s in Iceland,

someone-- we don't know who--

wrote a book that we
call the Poetic Edda.

And this is just 30 or so
of those poems

about the pre-Christian gods
and the, uh,

pre-Christian Norse heroes

written down by someone
who wants to preserve them,

because many of these seem
to have been orally preserved

for centuries.

NARRATOR: The Eddas have
provided historians

with detailed accounts
of Viking conquests,

the lineages of kings,

and even religious practices.

They also introduced the world

to the Norse people's
rich mythological traditions,

featuring dwarves,

giants, elves,

and all sorts of
fantastical beasts.

But Norse mythology is dominated
by the gods known as the Aesir,

who hold domain over
certain aspects of existence.

The leader of this pantheon
is a one-eyed god named Odin.

SEIGFRIED: Odin is complex.

He's the god of war and death

but also of poetry and memory.

He inspires both the
frenzy of battle

and the frenzy of creativity.

MELLOR: One of the
most fun gods is Loki.

Some people think of him
as a trickster god,

and he's oftentimes trying
to deceive people.

And deception is a very
important component of warfare.

PAMELA JAYE SMITH: Freyr was
the Norse god of fertility.

And his sister Freya,
by the way,

was the love goddess.

THOMPSON: Thor is one
of the main deities

we see in Norse mythology.

He's the god of thunder,
the god of lightning.

One of his most elemental
symbols

that we see again and again
is his hammer.

Thor's hammer seemed to have
been used as a protector symbol.

People would wear it around
very often around their neck

on a necklace for protection.

NARRATOR: While today the
Norse gods are regarded

as simply characters in
ancient mythological tales,

to the Vikings,

they were very real.

The Norse gods were not apart
from the world--

they were a part of the world.

They were not simply praised
on Sunday mornings.

They were approached in ongoing
reciprocal relationships

maintained through
sacrificial rituals.

You give the gods something
for them to give you something.

So you sacrifice an animal,

hoping that the god
that you're sacrificing it to

will receive your gift
and say, "Ah, I favor him.

I want to give him something."

SEIGFRIED: The Viking
offered to Thor

and asked for fair weather
for his travels.

You don't sacrifice
horses, weapons,

and treasure you've won
in battle unless you believe

there are deities receiving
these sacrifices.

You don't raise altars
to goddesses

across the width of
the world you travel

unless you believe in building
a reciprocal relationship

with those goddesses.

This is clearly backed
by archaeological finds,

sacrificial sites,
burial sites, and so on.

MELLOR: The Scandinavians
undoubtedly thought

that the gods would
have been real.

They would not have necessarily
thought of them as metaphor.

NARRATOR: While mainstream
scholars suggest

the Scandinavians' strong belief
in the existence of their gods

was simply a matter of faith,

ancient astronaut theorists ask

if these powerful beings
might have truly existed.

And if so, could they
have assisted the Vikings

in becoming one of the world's
most sophisticated explorers

and warriors?

Perhaps further clues can be
found by examining descriptions

of the Norse gods'
incredible technology.

NARRATOR: Most of what is
known about Norse mythology

comes from the 13th century
texts called the Eddas.

But they recount a history

that begins many
centuries earlier.

And according to the Eddas,

the first ruler of the area
now known as Denmark

was a son of the god Odin
named Skjöldr.

For ancient astronaut theorists,

this is particularly intriguing
because it lines up

with numerous other traditions
around the world.

This is almost identical to what
we find in ancient Egypt.

You have this golden age

in which the gods
walked on the earth,

which the gods ruled.

And then, ultimately,

in Egypt, the pharaoh becomes

the representative
of the gods themselves,

just as Emperor Jimmu
became the representative

of Amaterasu in Japan

and also Huangdi,

the legendary first emperor
of China, the Yellow Emperor,

who was said to sail into
the stars and back to Earth.

What's fascinating
is that this idea occurs

in ancient cultures
around the world.

NARRATOR: Another similarity
that Norse mythology shares

with other traditions
across the planet

is the idea that the gods
come from another world.

HENRY: In Norse mythology, the
universe is divided into nine worlds.

It's the realm of the gods,

the realm of men, the
realm of the giants,

the dwarves, the elves,
and so forth.

NARRATOR: The Norse gods
inhabited the realm of Asgard

and came to Earth,
known as Midgard,

traveling across a rainbow
bridge called Bifrost.

But descriptions of Bifrost

do not portray any
kind of structure

like a traditional bridge.

"Bifrost" means
"shimmering road,"

and the Edda tells us
that it's the rainbow

raised by the gods to connect
the heavens and the earth.

CRAWFORD: Bifrost is
a burning bridge.

The red that is the top layer
of the rainbow's color

is supposed to be the fire.

I'm only aware of stories
in which supernatural beings

cross Bifrost.

And some of them can't.

The fire somehow burns them but
doesn't seem to burn the gods.

NARRATOR: Bifrost is also known as
"the trembling or quivering way,"

suggesting that it is
constantly moving.

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

it's possible that the
old Norse stories

were attempting to
describe a wormhole

connecting Earth
to a distant planet.

A wormhole is a shortcut
across the universe.

And it's actually a
structure predicted

by the theory of
general relativity.

So there's science behind it.

TSOUKALOS: The Scandinavians
wrote that through Bifrost

these celestial beings
descended from the sky.

In the ancient astronaut
opinion,

it almost seems like some type
of a portal technology,

because it was
instantaneous travel

to the so-called realm
of the gods.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the Norse
gods were in fact extraterrestrials

that traveled to Earth through
some kind of space-time portal?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest further evidence

to support this incredible
notion can be found

by examining elements
from the Norse stories

that sound like descriptions
of high technology.

TSOUKALOS: Norse mythology

is filled with a concept
that I refer to

as misunderstood technology.

In Norse mythology,
we have stories of Odin,

the highest god, for example,

with his eight-legged horse
Sleipnir

that was a celestial horse
that flew across the sky,

leaving behind a trail of fire.

We all know that horses
do not have eight legs.

And we also know that horses
do not fly across the sky,

leaving behind a fiery trail.

So why do we have these stories?

The pantheon of gods were
advanced space travelers

that our ancestors
witnessed and thought,

"Wow, they have to be gods

because they just descended
from the sky."

NARRATOR: Odin, the god of the
dead and the god of warfare,

interacted often with humans
in the Norse stories.

It is also written that,

from his magical throne
called Hlidskjalf,

he could observe
all nine realms.

MELLOR: Hlidskjalf sits at
the top of this great tree

called Yggdrasil,

and Odin can look down
on all of creation

and see what's happening.

HENRY: He could see everything.

He could hear everything
as well.

It makes you wonder
if this magic watchtower

is an advanced alien technology.

NARRATOR: Another prominent figure
in Norse mythology was Freyr,

the god of fertility.

Freyr possessed
the most incredible ship

in all of the nine realms.

Freyr had an interesting device.

It was a ship.

And this ship was so big

that you could put all
of the Norse deities in it

and all their weapons

and then you could fold it up,

sort of like origami.

And Freyr could put it
in his pocket.

HENRY: To us, when we
hear a story like this,

it automatically conjures images

of advanced nanotechnology

or perhaps a material science

where they had an ability
to create a lightweight material

that could be folded
into smaller dimensions

and then could be unfolded
into a much larger dimension.

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut
theorists suggest

that descriptions of the weapons
wielded by the gods

also sound like
advanced technology.

HENRY: Odin has Gungnir,
the spear of heaven,

that is also, uh, exemplary
of what we would think of

as modern technology today.

When he would throw this spear,
it would automatically hit

whatever target he threw it at.

And when we think
about that today,

it sounds identical to some kind
of, like, heat-seeking missile

or some guided precision
weapon...

...that has these
incredible capabilities.

CRAWFORD: Thor's hammer Mjolnir
has a variety of special powers.

It can be thrown and will
always come back to Thor.

He can shrink it down to the
size of an ordinary amulet

so he can wear it
around his neck.

And, uh, it can also break
anything that it hits.

NARRATOR: Curiously, Thor
could only use his hammer

while wearing a
special metal glove.

MARTELL: It's really
interesting to note

that all these ancient stories
around the Norse,

these magical imbued objects,

weapons and such,

they're very similar to things
that we can reference today.

To me, it sounds like this is
misunderstood technology.

Ancient people
were viewing things,

and they didn't have
a technological lens

for reference.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the Norse gods

were not fictional creations

but were instead visitors
from another planet?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes

and suggest there may even be
evidence that these beings

had a hand in the success
of the Vikings.

NARRATOR: Here, in an
ancient glacial valley,

stands a 5,000-year-old
megalithic structure

known as the Dwarfie Stane.

According to the locals,

the Vikings who
invaded this region

claimed the inner chamber
served as the home of a dwarf.

For the Norse people,

the dwarves were
not fictional creations

but real entities who
inhabited a hidden realm

beneath the earth.

According to the Eddas,

these diminutive beings
were created by the gods

to craft weapons and technology.

CRAWFORD: The Old
Norse term "dvergr,"

translated by its English
cognate "dwarf,"

refers to a kind of supernatural
being much lower than the gods

that interacts both
with them and with us.

Their main function in the sagas
is to make stuff,

whether for the gods
or for human beings.

THOMPSON: The dwarves are
an interesting figure

in Norse mythology.

They're not gods, uh,
but they're not people.

And they show up as being
very powerful, very magical.

And so the gods are constantly
interacting with the dwarves.

And a lot of the power
of the Norse gods

is derived from the dwarves.

They're the ones that have
an extraordinary ability

to create things.

Dwarves were described
as being the best smiths.

When the gods need
to have things created,

they go to the dwarves.

These were the creators of
these most important elements

of the Norse Viking world.

Things like Freyr's ship

and Odin's spear

and Thor's hammer.

NARRATOR: The dwarves were also
credited as being master sword makers.

But the swords they forged
were not just for the gods--

they were also made for humans.

And they were said to possess
extraordinary properties.

CRAWFORD: The dwarves

imbue their creations with magic

and make stuff for human beings.

For example, there's
human heroes

who have magical swords
of different varieties.

The most important story
of the heroes

is the story of Sigurd
the dragonslayer.

Sigurd has a magic sword.

NARRATOR: According
to the story,

a dwarf forges Sigurd
a sword so sharp

it can cut through the
impenetrable scales of a dragon.

Other sagas describe weapons
that were powerful enough

to even kill the gods.

There's the magic sword Tyrfing,

which can only be drawn
and put back into its scabbard

if it draws blood
in the meantime.

So you can't put it back
in its scabbard

unless you've killed someone.

NARRATOR: While tales of the dwarves
being skilled weapons makers

are considered by historians
to be purely mythological...

...what can't be disputed

is that the Vikings
possessed swords far superior

to any others that were made
during their time.

While clearing his field
of rocks,

a farmer stumbles upon
a remarkably well-preserved

Viking sword half
buried in the soil.

The weapon is given
to archaeologists

who determine it is more
than a thousand years old

and discover that the blade

contains a mysterious
inscription.

X-ray imaging reveals

that the sword is inscribed
with the name Ulfberht.

RIC FURRER: The Ulfberht swords
were made between about 800

and 1000 AD.

So, right solid in the
high Viking period,

when they were trading
and raiding.

NARRATOR: The recently
unearthed weapon

is one of approximately
170 swords

that bear the mark "Ulfberht."

But just how these blades
were created

continues to mystify
researchers.

I've analyzed 40 or 50
Ulfberht swords.

And many of them
still have a sharp edge.

The chemistry's
completely different

to any other weapons
found in medieval Europe.

These Ulfberht swords
were made of a very hard steel

and would be vastly superior
to any other weapon in combat.

FURRER: The Ulfberhts
were special

because of the manufacturing
techniques that went into them.

Some of them were made
from a crucible steel,

which could have
both flexible properties

and edge hardness
in a single item.

NARRATOR: Perhaps most baffling

is that, to create
the Ulfberht swords,

Norse blacksmiths would have had
to heat their forges

to over 3,000 degrees
Fahrenheit.

But historians and
archaeologists suggest

that humans didn't develop
the ability

to achieve such an extreme heat
until the Industrial Revolution,

nearly 800 years
after the Viking Age.

So just who could have created
these extraordinary weapons?

Could it be that
the Norse stories

of dwarves forging
incredible swords

were not merely mythology?

When you think about this,

you-you have to at least be open
to the possibility...

...that the swords
of the Norse Vikings

were created by these dwarves

who were masters at this
advanced technology.

When you talk with people
who live in Norway

and Sweden and Iceland,

over 60% of the people
in a survey have claimed

that they believe in
these beings.

FURRER: With the
Ulfberht blades,

we still don't know
who made them.

We don't know exact techniques
of how they were made.

Some were incredibly advanced
in their techniques.

Quite beautiful.

Hard to produce even today
in a modern shop.

WILLIAMS: We don't know why
the word "Ulfberht" was used.

It was assumed,

without any evidence, that
it was a swordsmith's name.

But it may have been simply
the name of somebody

whom the smith met or killed.

They may have thought
it was something sacred.

We don't know.

FURRER: What does
"Ulfberht" mean?

It's probably not a person.

It was probably a word of power.

"Ulf" means "wolf,"

and "berht" is an adjective
meaning "bright."

So it might be "bright wolf."

Until we find some documented
evidence of manufacture,

we may never know
the exact construction

or the exact raw material
that these were made from.

And that adds to the mystery
of these blades.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that
the dwarves of Norse mythology

were real beings

and that they helped the Vikings

to craft their
incredible swords?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining another technology

that the Vikings were said to
have received from the dwarves.

A highly sophisticated
navigation device

that was long believed
to be mythological

until one was discovered
at the bottom of the ocean.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Over a period
of three months,

Scandinavian archaeologists
Gabriel Gustafson

and Haakon Shetelig excavate

a remarkably well-preserved
Viking ship.

Built from oak in the
early ninth century AD,

the vessel is an extraordinary
piece of engineering.

MELLOR: One of the things
that the Vikings had

was a ship that was
a technological marvel

for the time.

They could go up
and down rivers,

they could go across oceans
without flipping over

as much as previous ships
had done.

And this meant that
they had the ability

to get into areas

that other people at the time
could not get into.

THOMPSON: The Vikings' skill
was really sort of unmatched

by any other group at this time

in terms of the craftsmanship
of their boats.

And these boats
were very flexible,

the way that they were made
to flex with the waves,

rather than break apart.

So they often referred to them
as the sea snakes,

because they could sort of
snake through the waves.

NARRATOR: The unique
design of Viking longships

made it possible
to sail at speeds

approaching 28 miles per hour.

No other vessels could travel
as fast until 1852,

more than 1,000 years
after the first Viking ships

took to the high seas.

But what many researchers
find even more impressive

and more difficult to explain

is the Vikings' incredible
navigation skills.

When talking about the Vikings,
you're faced with a mystery,

and the mystery is that
how did the Vikings navigate?

For all we know,
they had no compass.

The compass was
a Chinese invention,

and without a compass,
how could they navigate?

"Well, the stars," you say,
but if you've ever been there,

to the northern, uh, Atlantic,
you realize how cloudy it is.

On a cloudy day, there's no sun,
there's no stars,

and yet, they were able
to navigate the North Seas

with tremendous accuracy.

And the question is

how did they do it?

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorists
believe clues might be found

by taking a closer look
at the Viking Sagas.

According to legend, the
dwarves provided humans

with a special stone
that enabled them

to navigate with great accuracy.

McMAHON: In the Norse Sagas,

we get mention of something
called the sólarsteinn,

the sunstone,

and this is a kind of
translucent mineral

that's oblong-shaped and had
special magical powers.

And it's something
that the captain

of a Viking warship

would hold up to the cloudy sky,

and through it, would be able
to see where the Sun was,

and that was essential
to navigation.

THOMPSON: These crystals
were considered to be magic,

and it's been long rumored
that the sunstone

may have been a major part
of the navigational abilities,

giving them an edge that other
people at the time did not have.

NARRATOR: Was the Viking sunstone
simply a creation of Norse mythology?

Or might it have really existed?

Underwater archaeologists
are exploring

a 16th-century
sunken English warship

when they come upon
an unusual crystal

carved into a nearly
perfect rectangle.

Researchers are shocked
when tests reveal

that the object was
carved from a chunk

of Icelandic calcite,

and they suspect they have found

one of the fabled
Viking sunstones.

Calcite has a property
that if light comes into it,

it splits the light in half.

On a cloudy day, if you look
at a calcite crystal,

you see not one image
but two images,

each one polarized
slightly differently,

and as you scan the sky,

the intensity
of these two changes,

depending upon where
the Sun is located.

But when you lock on to the Sun,

the two images
are equally bright.

Bingo, that's where
the Sun is located.

And that's how the Vikings
could do it without a compass.

They simply pointed it
toward the Sun

until the two images
matched in intensity.

NARRATOR: For archaeologists,
almost as exciting

as the discovery
of a Viking sunstone

was the fact that it was
found on a 16th-century ship.

McMAHON: What that shows
us is that 500 years

after the disappearance
of the Vikings,

their technology
was still being used.

This was still
cutting-edge technology.

NARRATOR: Might the sunstone
provide physical evidence

that the tales of
Norse mythology

are not entirely fiction,

but could be based
on real events?

And if so, might
otherworldly beings,

like the dwarves and gods
described in the Viking Sagas,

have shared knowledge

with the ancient people
of Scandinavia?

For ancient astronaut theorists,
the answer is a resounding yes.

Throughout Norse mythology,
they really have an abundance

of these magical,
imbued objects,

but if the Norse people
had the ability to use a crystal

as some type of
astronomical beacon

to actually know
where the Sun was,

this is some advanced
science, and perhaps,

someone taught the Norse
people to understand

the principles of using
such a technology.

NARRATOR: From the technological
marvel known as the sunstone

to the highly advanced
Viking swords

and mythology that reads
like modern science fiction,

ancient astronaut theorists
suggest

there is abundant evidence
that the Norse people

had encounters with
otherworldly beings.

But perhaps the most
intriguing evidence of all

can be found by
closely examining

the ritual
of the Viking funeral.

NARRATOR: Dinah
Beach, Australia,

July 12, 2025.

At a modern-day yacht club

more than 7,000 miles
from Scandinavia,

a ceremony is held to recreate
one of the most important

and iconic Norse rituals:
the Viking funeral.

In the days of the Vikings,
the body of the deceased

would be floated out to sea
aboard a ship...

...then a flaming arrow launched
to set it ablaze.

TSOUKALOS: There's a whole
symbology behind those rituals.

And this is interesting
because the whole idea

of burning the dead

is the smoke rises
so that their essence

could reach the
realm of the gods.

That is the legend behind it.

But you have to ask yourself
the question,

what's the origin for that?

What was the realm of the gods?

Was it just a spiritual place,
something ethereal?

The ancient astronaut theory
suggests, "Hold on a minute,

maybe they actually meant
a physical place."

NARRATOR: The Viking funeral was
symbolic of a journey to Asgard,

the realm of the gods.

But according to the
old Norse stories,

the actual journey happened
on the battlefield,

and it was carried out
by the Valkyries,

who are described as mortal
women with divine powers.

SMITH: In Norse mythology,
you have Valkyries,

who are warrior princesses
who ride winged horses.

And they fly over
the battlefields,

and they pick up the
bravest of the warriors--

particularly as they're
just about to die

or if they have died--

and they carry up
their spirits to Valhalla,

which is the palace for fallen
warriors and the feasting hall.

McMAHON: The Vikings didn't fear
death, because when they died,

they went to Valhalla, and
there, Odin would provide them

with a banquet every night.

They could eat and drink
as much as they want.

NARRATOR: In the Norse tales,

Valhalla is portrayed
as a great hall in Asgard

where Odin,
the ruler of the gods,

welcomes fallen warriors.

The hall is described
as a physical place

made of gleaming metal,

held up by spear shafts
and roofed by shields.

And as far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

it's possible that Valhalla was
not some mythical paradise,

but something far more profound.

TSOUKALOS: According to the
ancient astronaut theory,

"Valhalla" could be
another name for,

maybe, an orbiting space station
or something like that.

The reason why
I'm saying this is

because whenever we have
a description of Valhalla,

it is an incredible description
of a place that has attributes

that I refer to as
misunderstood technology.

Various descriptions of
Valhalla give it the reference

of being some type
of a large metallic ship.

Add to the fact that Valhalla
is described as a place

that they actually journeyed to,

maybe this is some type
of a description

of them traveling to this
in a ship,

and since they put their dead
in ships and set them afire,

maybe this is actually
a reference of them

traveling to Valhalla in
a ship that has flames

coming out of it,

going into space.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the
old Norse tales of Valhalla

were describing some kind
of craft or space station

that was orbiting the Earth?

And might the Viking funeral
ceremony have been designed

to mimic the fire and smoke

produced by a rocket ship
blasting off into space?

Curiously, the Norse were
not the only ancient culture

to incorporate ships
into their funerary rites.

DAVID CHILDRESS: In
Norse mythology,

you have this concept of
taking some kind of transport

into the otherworld.

This is something
that has been around

for thousands of years,

and appears around the world.

It's in Africa,

it's in South America,

it's in China.

With Egyptian funeral rites,
oftentimes there would be

a funeral boat, was
associated with it.

And these boats themselves

would be analogies of the
spaceships, in fact,

that would take them
over the sky.

TSOUKALOS: The fact
that, around the world,

you find the exact
same references

in ancient myths and legends,

to me, is not a coincidence,

but on the contrary,
it relays that true origin

was a worldwide visitation

by visiting extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that modern reenactments

of the Viking funeral
unknowingly commemorate

otherworldly contact
in the distant past?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer is a resounding yes.

And they suggest
there is evidence

that Scandinavia may be
experiencing alien activity

even today.

NARRATOR: Just before dawn,

an incredible spiral of light

appears in the night sky.

It swirls in place
for ten minutes

and is witnessed hundreds
of miles away in Sweden.

NICK POPE: The Norwegian
spiral anomaly

captured the imagination
of the world.

Theories included that
it was something to do

with the northern lights,

that it was the malfunctioning
of a Russian ballistic missile.

Other people had
more exotic theories.

RICHARD DOLAN: It looked
just awe-inspiring.

It really, truly did.

So, naturally, there was
a lot of questioning,

wondering, like, what is it?

Is this a UFO th--
related thing or is it not?

POPE: Some people said this
is the opening of a wormhole.

Something's come through.

NARRATOR: The Norwegian
spiral anomaly

made headlines around the world.

And it was only the latest

in a number of extraordinary
mass UFO sightings

that have occurred over
the area of Scandinavia.

Since the 1930s,

residents of the small mountain
village of Hessdalen, Norway,

have been reporting strange
lights of various colors

that appear at night

and sometimes
even during the day.

NARRATOR: The reports
continued for decades.

And in 1983,

Norwegian electrical engineer
Erling Strand

started a research project
to investigate the phenomena.

NARRATOR: In addition to
the Hessdalen Lights,

in 1946, thousands of people
in Sweden, Norway and Denmark

witnessed what were referred to
as the "ghost rockets,"

which are some of the earliest
UFO sightings on record.

NARRATOR: For ancient
astronaut theorists,

these sensational UFO events

beg the question:

is it possible that
alien entities

witnessed by the Vikings
are still present

in this region today?

POPE: Scandinavia is
undoubtedly a UFO hot spot.

And we have interesting
accounts from Norse folklore.

And of course, there are
many, many people who say

that mythology is just
the way that our ancestors

described real things
that happened to them,

but just made them
into these Sagas,

as a way of keeping
the story alive,

and telling it to
successive generations.

CHILDRESS: You have to wonder
if the Norwegian spiral anomaly

has to do with these
Nordic gods...

...and coming and going
out of this place

for many thousands of years.

And it could be that
these Norse gods,

as extraterrestrials,
are still here.

NARRATOR: Could it be that
otherworldly visitors

encountered by the Norse
people centuries ago

are behind the many
strange sightings

reported over Scandinavia today?

And do the ancient tales
of these gods

still resonate because
they are part

of humankind's true history?

Perhaps one day soon,
characters like Thor and Odin,

long relegated to the
realm of mythology,

will introduce themselves
to humanity once again

as our alien ancestors.

CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY
A+E NETWORKS