Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Unexplained sightings.

The first responders on the scene reported a UFO.

NARRATOR: Miraculous appearances.

Inside the tilma was a Virgin Mother.

NARRATOR: And visions that changed the world.

This extraordinary sign from the heavens

becomes one of the crucial turning

points in human history.

NARRATOR: Stories of strange encounters

accompany many of history's major events.

Is it merely coincidence?

Or might it be evidence of extraterrestrial intervention?

It appears that there is an ongoing plan in place,

a hidden hand in history that is manipulating events

for a certain given outcome.

NARRATOR: Millions of people around the world

believe we have been visited in the past

by extraterrestrial beings.

What if it were true?

Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history?

And if so, might mankind's greatest moments have been

influenced by alien encounters?

Japan, March 11, 2011.

Emanating 43 miles off the eastern coast of the Oshika Peninsula.

One of the largest earthquakes in recorded history,

a magnitude 9.0, shakes the earth.

The massive movement of two tectonic plates

instantly moves the entire Japanese mainland some eight

feet, ripping down buildings, setting fires,

and killing thousands of people.

But the worst is yet to come.

The earthquake also triggers enormous tsunamis.

Waves as high as 130 feet begin smashing ashore

with devastating consequences.

GREGORY BEIRICH: One wave in particular

struck the Fukushima Daiichi Power Generating Plant

and overwhelmed the safety systems, which caused the plant

to enter a critical phase and release radioactive

material into the atmosphere and into the water.

NARRATOR: With the nuclear power plant's reactors melting down

and radiation seeping into the atmosphere,

the authorities evacuate the region.

The only people who remain are employees,

who struggle for days to prevent a larger catastrophe

from occurring.

But according to eyewitnesses on the scene,

these workers were not alone.

There were UFO sightings reported

in some significant numbers in that area in the weeks

and the days leading up to the earthquake and tsunami,

and there were a number of UFO sightings reported

in the immediate area directly afterward.

WILLIAM HENRY: And this would suggest the possibility

that extraterrestrials were involved in stabilizing

that situation.

Because had that Fukushima plant melted down,

it would have made a large swath of Asia uninhabitable

for a very long time.

DAVID CHILDRESS: Is it possible that extraterrestrials became

aware of this meltdown and they did something

to lessen the impact of this disaster,

and ultimately save mankind from what could have been a much

worst cataclysm?

NARRATOR: Could extraterrestrials really

have been present at the Fukushima meltdown?

And might they have helped to prevent it from being an even

more catastrophic disaster?

Ancient astronaut theorists point out

that similar accounts of strange objects seen in the sky

were also reported 25 years earlier during the meltdown

at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.

DAVID CHILDRESS: A number of witnesses

reported that there were UFOs hovering around the power station,

and that even beams of light

were coming down from these UFOs and doing something

to the nuclear power plants and keeping them

from having a much worse meltdown than-- than they did have.

CHRIS PITTMAN: Some have speculated that the UFOs that

were seen during the crisis may have been perhaps protecting

us, trying to stave off a horrifying nuclear explosion.

Or if not protecting us, at least protecting our world.

NARRATOR: Was it simply good fortune

that the nuclear accidents at Fukushima

and Chernobyl weren't far more deadly?

Or is it possible that the UFOs eyewitnesses

spotted were responsible for averting these catastrophes

when humans were powerless to do so?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe these encounters

weren't random occurrences, but part

of an extraterrestrial agenda that has been in place on earth

for thousands of years.

It appears that there is an ongoing plan in place,

a hidden hand in history that is manipulating events,

that we are interacting with an alien civilization

and that we are experiencing the fruits of what they are

offering us because our history is being intelligently

guided and directed to steer us towards a particular outcome.

NARRATOR: But if alleged alien encounters really are evidence

that extraterrestrials are intervening in human affairs,

what is their purpose?

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest the answer can be found

by looking back at the very earliest

alien encounters ever recorded.

Mount Sinai, the 15th century BC.

According to the Bible's Book of Exodus,

it was on the peak of this holy mountain

that Moses met with God.

But ancient astronaut theorists believe Moses's encounter

may have been with a different kind of otherworldly entity.

There's an interesting legend passed down from temple times

itself that when Moses ascended to Mount Sinai

to speak with God, a cloud came down from Heaven

and told Moses, "Come into the cloud to ascend to God."

The door opened in the cloud, and Moses walked in.

And it closed behind him, and he ascended.

ERICH VON DANIKEN: The Lord descends with smoke, fire,

loud noise, trembling, and so on.

All religions speak about the same thing,

or they use different names and the stories change.

But the basic stories are always the same.

Somebody descended with loud noise, smoke, fire.

The humans could not understand what it was.

They misinterpret it and believe it

that this was God or the gods.

It's just a misinterpretation.

I am absolutely sure, there's no doubt,

that we were visited by beings from outer space.

NARRATOR: According to ancient astronaut theorists,

such accounts of unearthly encounters

can be found in every major religion,

including Islam, where the angel Gabriel, also known as Jibril,

was said to be the intermediary between the prophet Muhammad

and the Muslim god Allah.

Jibril normally would come and dispense wisdom to Muhammad

inside this cave that he was dwelling in.

But on two occasions, Muhammad did not

meet Jibril in the cave in person.

Muhammad went outside the cave, and it was at this time

that something absolutely fantastic happened.

What did Muhammad see when he went outside the cave?

The records show that there was a magnificent shining

object there in front of him.

It was said to have 600 wings, and it was

burning as if it was on fire.

What do we know of in modern times that could add up

to a sighting like that?

It's obvious, a craft that would be hovering there in front

of him giving off brilliant white light

that he interpreted as fire.

And when he went out and saw this magnificent shining

object, the same wisdom that he was getting from Jibril

was imparted to him, though he could not see any being.

He only could see this object.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that many of the stories of gods

and angels descending from the heavens are not actually

divine events, but extraterrestrial visitations?

And if so, are they purposely guiding our future?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe further evidence can be

found by examining a famous vision so important,

it changed the course of human history.

Rome, Oct 27, 312 AD.

Just north of the city, the emperor Constantine

leads his troops toward the Milvian Bridge

and a decisive battle with Maxentius

to reclaim his throne.

At stake is control over the western part of the vast Roman Empire.

According to an account from the historian Eusebius,

on the eve of the battle, Constantine

looks up into the sky and sees what

he believes is a divine vision.

Constantine and his followers saw in the sky

what their chroniclers say was a huge white

fiery cross.

Now, his followers didn't know what to make of it,

but Constantine decided that this was the Christian cross.

Constantine feels after viewing this extraordinary sign

from the heavens, this lighted cross in the sky,

that he will go forth the next day

and he will conquer the Roman Empire,

and this is exactly what he does.

This vision becomes one of the crucial turning points

in human history.

NARRATOR: After winning the brutal battle of Milvian

Bridge, Constantine consolidates his power

and begins a campaign of religious tolerance

across the empire, and he himself converts

to Christianity.

But what exactly did Constantine see

in the sky that ended up changing the course

of Western civilization?

Was it a divine vision, or something else?

Don't we all see crosses up in the sky when we look at planes?

Because you have lights on the sides and at the front.

And if you have a little bit of light shining on it,

sometimes they look like crosses.

So we have to ask ourselves, is it possible that this was

absolutely no Christian symbol at all,

but that it was adapted over time after something that

was witnessed up in the sky?

NARRATOR: Is it possible that extraterrestrials

were responsible for Constantine's vision?

Ancient astronaut theorists say one compelling piece

of evidence that aliens have tried to manipulate mankind

through religious visions still exists today.

Mexico City, December 1531.

According to an account called the "Nican Mopohva"

published in the Aztec language of Nahuatl,

a peasant named Juan Diego was walking in the countryside

when he heard a beautiful voice singing on the other side of a hill.

Diego climbed the hill and saw an angelic vision,

a woman in white garments that shone like the sun.

And she said to him, "Juan Diego, I am the Virgin Mary,

and I am asking you to build a sanctuary for me

here on this hill."

Well, Juan Diego fell to his knees in awe,

and he said, "Great lady, I will do as you desire."

NARRATOR: But according to the story,

Juan Diego couldn't convince the local bishop that he had

actually seen the Virgin Mary.

So he went back to the hill, where he again saw the vision.

SABINA MAGLIOCCO: He says, "Lady, please, give me

a sign, because nobody believes me when I tell them

that I have seen You."

And she says, "Juan Diego, take off your cloak."

And he does, he takes off his cloak,

and she fills his cloak with roses.

BRETT PETERSON: He took the roses to the bishop,

and the bishop fell down on his knees

because it wasn't the roses as to why he believed the story

from Diego, but inside the tilma was a painting of the Virgin Mother.

And the bishop believed, and they built the church

on that hill.

NARRATOR: This cloak still exists today.

And despite its frail fabric, it has reportedly

remained in pristine condition despite the cruel ravages of time.

Right now, you can go to the church and see the tilma

hanging there, and it has not degraded over the 400-plus

years that they've had it.

It's been through a fire.

It's been through an explosion where purportedly an iron cross

was twisted from the explosion, but the tilma right next

to the cross was still fine.

NARRATOR: Could the sacred image on the cloak really

be evidence of a visitation by the Virgin Mary?

Or might it have a different otherworldly explanation?

In addition to the tilma inexplicably

enduring for hundreds of years, those who have studied it

have found other unexplainable qualities.

Most bizarre of all are the eyes of the image,

approximately 7 to 8 millimeters wide.

What we see inside those eyes is a highly enigmatic mystery

because it appears that there are characters

in the eyes, the faces of the people

who were there at the time that the tilma was unveiled

by Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531.

NARRATOR: But if Our Lady of Guadalupe

really does have otherworldly origins, did it

come from a heavenly realm or somewhere else?

Not only do ancient astronaut theorists

believe Juan Diego's vision was an extraterrestrial encounter,

but even some members of the church

claim that it was something other

than a religious experience.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is definitely a heavenly visitor.

In my opinion, though, what her story

said disagrees with what the Bible says.

In fact, she said she would protect the people that worship

at the church.

What that does is really deify Mary,

when the Bible is very clear that only God can protect those

that serve Him.

And so any otherworldly being that demands worship

or respect, it cannot be a-- an angel from God.

Juan Diego may have witnessed not just an apparition,

but an actual live extraterrestrial appearing

through some sort of advanced technology

whose mission was to impart spiritual faith

and a thirst for the divine.

NARRATOR: Could it be that some of history's most significant

religious visions have actually been produced by alien beings

carrying out a secret mission?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and believe further proof

that extraterrestrials have been guiding our future can be found

in the story of a mysterious magician

that may have helped propel humanity into the modern age.

The English Channel, 1588.

King Philip II of Spain has dispatched an enormous armada

of ships to invade England.

They are reportedly filled with more than 20,000 soldiers

and scores of medieval torture devices.

According to some historians, Philip, a devout Catholic,

wants to bring the brutal Spanish Inquisition to England

to punish Queen Elizabeth I and her subjects

for leaving the Catholic Church.

SABINA MAGLIOCCO: Philip was a Catholic,

and England had been turned Protestant

by Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, when he broke

with the Catholic Church in order to marry Elizabeth's

mother, Anne Boleyn.

So to Philip, the English were sinners,

and their ways needed to be reformed.

So he sent a great armada, a great fleet of over 130 ships.

There had never been anything like it before.

England didn't have a lot of money,

and a lot of their vessels were not even official government vessels.

They were whatever merchant seamen and sailors could cobble together.

NARRATOR: The Spanish Armada seemed invincible

and the British severely overmatched.

But when the two forces finally met,

superior English tactics and strategy

forced the Armada to retreat.

But the number of Spanish ships was so overwhelming

that the English couldn't score a decisive victory

until a freak storm struck.

The English ships were more maneuverable

than the Spanish ships.

In order to counter this, the Spanish cut their anchors.

They figured, well, let's get rid of some

of this dead weight, so to speak.

But when the winds hit, they had no way to find a mooring,

and then therefore the winds blew their ships

all over the place, including into the coast.

They lost roughly half their fleet due to the weather.

KATHLEEN MCGOWAN COPPENS: From the point of view

of the English people, this extraordinary storm that

destroys the Spanish Armada is a miracle,

destroying the might of Spain when mankind cannot do it.

NARRATOR: The English believe this miraculous storm was

the work of God.

But some ancient astronaut theorists

claim there is evidence that suggests it may have actually

been the work of otherworldly beings.

Their first clue comes from one of Queen Elizabeth's closest

advisors, a mysterious man named John Dee.

John Dee was the court astrologer, mathematician,

philosopher, medical doctor at the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

He was an extraordinarily learned man for his time.

GREGORY BEIRICH: He dealt with magic and potions

and what we might call "spells" to try to effect change.

John Dee was a hermetic thinker.

Hermetic thinkers believed that there was a contemporary

of Moses by the name of Hermes Trismegistus who

lived in Egypt.

And just as God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses,

God revealed to Hermes the secret knowledge of how nature

worked, and that with the proper mindset and proper tools,

that one could uncover essentially what God was

thinking by reading the world.

NARRATOR: According to legend, John Dee

used this knowledge of the natural and supernatural worlds

to predict the storm that would ultimately

thwart the Spanish Armada.

GREGORY BEIRICH: The story goes that John Dee told

Queen Elizabeth not to worry because the storm would destroy

the Spanish fleet.

And then when it happened, it confirmed

his knowledge of the world and what lay beneath it.

NARRATOR: But if John Dee really did

make such a prophecy, what was the source?

Was it something divine?

Or is it possible, as ancient astronaut theorists contend,

that this mysterious man was using hermetic wisdom

to establish communication with extraterrestrial beings?

JASON MARTELL: John Dee was very interested in the occult

and seemed to spend a lot of time

harnessing or finding a way to communicate to life forms

beyond this earth.

We really don't understand the influence

over John Dee as to how he was able to interpret

such accurate information.

It's very possible that John Dee was receiving his information

from an outside source that was possibly an extraterrestrial.

NARRATOR: But if John Dee's pursuit of hermetic wisdom

gave him insights into the alien agenda on Earth,

what did he find?

And why would extraterrestrials want

to sink the Spanish Armada?

It is possible that these extraterrestrials had

a vested interest in preserving the monarchy of Queen Elizabeth,

in seeing that the monarchy was not overthrown,

and they repelled any such invading forces in order

to make sure that this carefully constructed power structure was

kept fully intact.

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorists

suggest extraterrestrials were not acting to favor Protestants

over Catholics, but may have wanted to preserve

the great cultural and scientific developments that

would occur in England in the coming centuries.

GRAHAM PHILLIPS: What happened in England

after Queen Elizabeth's time

was nothing less than miraculous.

We had the Scientific Revolution.

We had people like Isaac Newton, and we

had other great scientists develop what eventually became

the Industrial Revolution, steam trains, electricity,

and the modern world.

NARRATOR: The period that followed also

gave rise to champions of the scientific method,

like Francis Bacon and John Locke,

and led to an age of exploration that would give rise

to a greater investment in the still fledgling new land of America.

If the Spanish had succeeded in conquering England,

they would have brought the Inquisition with them

and a period of darkness and-- and torture.

And likely, the Industrial Revolution never

would have happened.

NARRATOR: Might some otherworldly entity really

have intervened in the Spanish invasion,

sending a storm to destroy their ships

and ensure the future of England?

And if so, is this a sign that aliens really do

have an interest in our future?

Perhaps the answer can be found by examining the vision that

inspired one of the world's newest religions.

Manchester, New York, September 21, 1823.

As he settles into bed, a 17-year-old farmhand

named Joseph Smith begins to say his prayers.

Suddenly without warning, an overpowering light

envelops his room, and a robed figure appears.

According to Smith's account, "Not only

was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was

glorious beyond description."

Speaking from the center of the light,

the angel, whose name is Moroni, sent Smith on a quest

for several sacred texts hidden near a local tree.

GREGORY BEIRICH: Upon locating the tree,

Joseph dug and indeed found the texts,

but they recorded a language which he could not read.

A second visitation from Moroni told Joseph Smith

where he could find what we might

call a device of some kind that would allow him to read the text.

Joseph Smith was given this translating stone,

the Urim and the Thummin, with which he was able to not only

write down this text,

but also to-- to be able to translate IT.

GREGORY BEIRICH: He then translated the texts

into English, which become the Book of Mormon.

And it depicts, among other things,

that after Jesus ascended into Heaven, he came to the Americas

and ministered to the native peoples here

to convert them to His way of life, and that at some point

the texts that become the Book of Mormon

are deposited here so that Joseph Smith could find them.

NARRATOR: Seven years later, Smith publishes these texts

as part of the Book of Mormon, establishing the Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a denomination

with more than 15 million followers today.

Many religions worldwide have been founded

with the help of angels.

Whether they are representatives of Christian, Muslim,

or Buddhist gods, these apparitions

are thought to be a way that gods intervene on Earth

with humans.

SABINA MAGLIOCCO: Angels, when they appear

in religious legends and in myths,

generally are messengers between the heavenly realm

and the human realm.

BRETT PETERSON: Throughout the Bible,

we have stories of angels and demons appearing to mankind.

In fact, Paul says that you--

"Be careful how you entertain strangers because some of you

entertain angels unaware."

The Bible is very clear that angels can take on human form

and appear in the likeness of man.

NARRATOR: But ancient astronaut theorists

suggest that sometimes these heavenly visions

and apparitions may not actually be angels sent

by an omniscient god.

And curiously, the so-called angel

that led Joseph Smith to the sacred texts that would become

the Book of Mormon did not profess

to have heavenly origins, but claimed

to be from another part of the universe.

DAVID WILCOCK: Now, Moroni did not say that he was an angel.

He said that at one time he had lived on Earth,

but that now he came from the Pleiades star cluster,

and he said there were many others like him.

When we look at the background of the Book of Mormon,

we see some very interesting parallels

to what could be an extraterrestrial tale.

This angel Moroni that appears to Joseph Smith

seems to be more than just chance.

It's very possible that Joseph Smith was interacting

with a type of extraterrestrial.

DAVID WILCOCK: These extraterrestrials

may be giving these messages to world leaders

and to prophets and seers and mystics

to let us know that we are the product

of an extraterrestrial interbreeding

and in ongoing contact with these other people who were not

born on Earth.

And we have lost touch with that history

only because we refuse to believe the truth that

is recorded in our historical books

and see what's right in front of our faces

even now with the encounters that are happening

in the modern world.

NARRATOR: But if an extraterrestrial being really

did inspire Joseph Smith to found the Mormon Church, why?

Joseph Smith's encounter ultimately

led the Mormons to migrate west to establish a new holy land

in Utah, which has led some to speculate that aliens once

again were guiding the course of humanity.

Moroni let Joseph Smith know that he would be the prophet,

and he would lead his people to the new Jerusalem.

DAVID WILCOCK: Mormonism is another example potentially

of an extraterrestrial influence steering

the course of our humanity and helping

steer the outcome of historical events here on Earth.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that Joseph Smith, the founder

of the Mormon religion, was guided

by an extraterrestrial being?

And if so, was this alien encounter

another attempt to guide us into a more enlightened age?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and believe further evidence can be found by examining

a dream that helped defeat one of the 20th century's most

diabolical dictators.

Olympia, Greece.

This valley on the Peloponnese Peninsula,

once filled with temples, altars, and statues,

is where the ancient Greeks came to pay tribute to their gods.

Near the temple to Zeus, the king of the gods,

was a sanctuary dedicated to the Moirai, the only beings

that Zeus was said to fear.

These mythical figures were believed to control destiny.

English speakers call them "the Fates."

In ancient times, fate and human destiny

were thought to be in the hands of the gods.

There was much less this idea that we're

in charge of our own destiny and that we make our own lives

through choices and decisions and action.

The idea was that human destiny was in someone else's hands.

It was in the hands of the Fates.

There were three supernatural creatures--

Clotho, who spun the thread of life; Lachesis, who wove it;

and Atropos, who cut the thread at the moment of death.

In the ancient times, gods and goddesses

were thought to be able to influence people's destiny

and that they were constantly interfering in human affairs.

They were constantly messing with humans.

They could make humans do all kinds of things.

They could disguise themselves.

They could trick humans.

They could persuade humans.

And yet, that final moment of destiny

was still in the hands of the Fates.

NARRATOR: Other ancient cultures had similar beliefs.

The Egyptians personified fate as the god Shai,

who is said to control the actions of humans,

while the Vedic texts of ancient India

talked about a universal order called Rta.

There was a similar legend in ancient Mesopotamia,

and it was of the Mamitu, who was a goat-headed goddess who

lived with the Anunnaki in the realms of the sky.

The Mamitu was also in charge of our fate.

So you have to wonder, was the Mamitu and these other gods

of fate some kind of extraterrestrials that

were controlling our lives?

NARRATOR: Is it possible, as some ancient astronaut

theorists suggest, that the gods who were said to control

our fate were actually members of an advanced alien civilization?

And if so, how were they able to interfere in people's lives

undetected?

Some ancient astronaut theorists suggest that extraterrestrials

not only communicate with us through visions

and physical encounters, but even through our dreams.

New York City, spring 1940.

At the Bell Laboratory Complex in Manhattan,

a young engineer named David Parkinson is using a device

called a potentiometer to track the varying electrical

voltages that course through a telephone when people use it.

Parkinson's work with potentiometers

seems unimportant compared to the big news of the day.

NEWCASTER The Nazis have

begun their shattering blitz on Britain.

NARRATOR: The Nazis have conquered most of Europe,

forcing the Allies to flee the continent in a ragtag flotilla

of civilian boats after the Battle of Dunkirk.

KATHLEEN MCGOWAN COPPENS: The Nazis were almost undefeatable

at this time in the war, and there was a tremendous despair

and fear amongst the Allied forces.

And the story goes that David Parkinson had a dream one

night, and in the dream,

he was standing beside a certain type of gun.

And that gun was hitting every Nazi plane

with absolute accuracy.

NARRATOR: Parkinson's dream gave him a brilliant idea.

He could use the same technology that tracked electrical charges

flowing through a telephone to track enemy airplanes flying

through the sky.

And in the dream, he was able to see the technology that

was created to make this gun so accurate.

And it is said that when he awoke, he went back to the labs

and he ultimately created the technology that

was necessary to shoot down Nazi aircraft.

NARRATOR: Parkinson's dream inspired

him to create the M9 electrical gun director, which allowed

Allied antiaircraft guns to hit moving targets

like the dangerous V-1 rocket with incredible accuracy.

But how could such an advanced weapon

be completely realized in a single dream?

The weird part about it is, this guy was a scientist,

but he knew nothing about aeronautics.

Because David Parkinson had no background in aerodynamics,

his contemporaries, other scientists, and the military

were literally taking him not seriously at all.

But he insisted, and he even spent a lot of his own time

creating prototypes which eventually were found to work.

Throughout human history, there

are amazing stories of how mankind has been inspired

through their dreams and through their visions.

I think we have to ask ourselves,

what is the source of this inspiration?

Where do these dreams and visions come from?

Is it possible that we are being communicated

with by otherworldly beings?

NARRATOR: Could extraterrestrials really

be using dreams to convey ideas and information

to the human race?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and claim the proof

that dream manipulation is a real possibility can be found

in the human brain.

Throughout history, many of mankind's greatest thinkers

have been inspired by their dreams.

Scientist James Watson claimed the double helix structure

of DNA came to him through his dream of a spiral staircase.

Friedrich august Kekule discovered the chemical

structure of benzene when he had a dream of a group of snakes

swallowing their tails.

Srinivas Ramanujan, whose mathematic principles are still

being used by quantum physicists today,

said that he obtained these mathematic theorems in dreams

implanted in his mind by the Hindu goddess Namagiri.

DAVID WILCOCK: We are seeing an ongoing pattern of dreams being

used to communicate information.

But this is a widespread phenomenon.

It's been going on for many thousands of years,

and it continues right straight through to the present day.

NARRATOR: Is it really possible that extraterrestrial beings

could actually manipulate our dreams?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes.

And as evidence, they point out that modern science is already

starting to understand how to interpret and manipulate dreams.

Moran Cerf is a neuroscientist who studies human brainwaves.

In one of his experiments, he shows pictures to test subjects

while they're awake and analyzes how their brains process the images.

So each of those little squares

here corresponds to a cell in Matt's brain.

So right now, Matt has 128 electrodes in his brain.

They come from all varied parts of his brain,

right, left, and so on.

All of those wires go into this computer, and what we see here

are the activities of those little cells in his brain.

So if I pick cell number 36, I double-click

on that, what you see here is the activity inside his brain.

This is like a microphone sitting next to one cell in his brain.

NARRATOR: Dr. Cerf can determine which cells stores the memory

of a particular picture, like movie star Cary Grant,

by analyzing which cell reacted when he showed it to his test subject.

Once he's figured this out for dozens of cells,

Dr. Cerf waits for his patients to go to sleep

and then watches for signs that they're

dreaming about the images he has shown them.

In a very basic way, he can see his patients' dreams.

But in the future, Dr. Cerf may actually

be able to dictate our dreams by stimulating the set of cells

that store our memories about a person or event.

If I re-mapped the entire sequence,

if I know all the, say, one million cells that encode Cary

Grant in your brain and know exactly what they are,

and I activate all of them, I stimulate all of them,

then we believe you are going to actually see Cary Grant.

NARRATOR: If aliens really have been coming to Earth

for thousands of years, could they

be using similar technology to manipulate our dreams?

Is it possible that the extraterrestrials don't want

to directly interfere in our society,

but to guide us from behind the scenes?

And even though they have to push us along

in certain directions, we need to have the feeling that we're

doing it, even if it does include

some extraterrestrial guidance?

WILLIAM HENRY: But they continue to communicate with humans

through dreams and visions and other methods

of indirect communication in order for them

to provide guidance, but also to provide this guidance

in a hands-off way.

DAVID WILCOCK: Is it possible that they withdrew

from our reality because we had to modernize?

It could be that the purpose of this

was to give us the opportunity to follow them without being pushed.

And if they forced it upon us, we would simply worship them

as gods and we would have learned nothing.

But by doing it ourselves, we form our own path,

we actually make our own ascension experience,

and we become much more like them in the process.

NARRATOR: Has life on Earth been influenced by alien encounters

for thousands of years?

Are divine visions, prophetic dreams,

and modern-day UFO sightings all signs

that we are being manipulated by a more advanced race of beings?

Could it be that these encounters are not

meant for them to get to know us,

but for us to get to know them?

And if so, what are they guiding us towards?

Perhaps we are getting closer to our ultimate destination,

and when we reach it, we will once again be reunited

with our alien ancestors.