All language subtitles for ancient.aliens.s14e18.Food of the Gods.720p.web.h264-tbs

NARRATOR: The fruit of a tree
that forever alters humanity.

DAVID CHILDRESS: This serpent being
offers them some special food to eat,

and suddenly we have
a fundamental change.

NARRATOR: A drink that
grants everlasting life.

JOSHUA CUTCHIN: This liquid
could convey immortality upon

those who consumed it.

NARRATOR:
And a nourishing substance

that rains down from the sky.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: This machine
was given to the Israelites

by extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR:
In every religious tradition,

there are foods believed
to possess extraordinary power,

and some that are even consumed

by the gods themselves.

The gods ate, the gods drank,

and this is what
kept them divine.

NARRATOR:
But is it possible that what

our ancestors described as gods

were, in fact, visitors
from another world?

And if so, might the food
of these gods

reveal a powerful link

to mankind's
extraterrestrial origins?

WILLIAM HENRY: These foods
were directly introduced into

the human experience
in order to awaken us

and to bring us closer
to the gods.

NARRATOR:
There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is
the promise of truth.

It demands
we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is
right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

NARRATOR: As humanity prepares
to travel to other worlds,

one of the biggest challenges
facing scientists

is how to provide sustenance

beyond that found
on planet Earth.

When we think of
the early pioneers, uh,

we think
of "living off the land."

You can't do that
in outer space.

There's no soil,
there's no oxygen,

there's very little
of the basic ingredients

that we take for granted
on the planet Earth.

So living in outer space

presents a whole new set
of challenges.

NARRATOR:
Currently, NASA researchers

are experimenting
with various possible solutions

to the problem of keeping humans
fed during long‐term missions.

BILL BIRNES:
For long expeditions in space,

there are really three things
we have to do.

One, either bring
our food with us,

wherever we go,
take the food, wagon train.

Two, terraform a planet,

or find a planet
where we can already grow food

that can sustain us.

Or three,

change our own metabolism,
so that we can exist

on a whole different kind
of food.

NARRATOR: But is it even
possible to sustain life

in the vacuum of space?

In recent years, biologists
have discovered organisms

on our planet that can thrive
in extreme conditions,

like those found in the deepest
depths of Earth's oceans.

KIRSTEN FISHER: The prevailing assumption
was that there wasn't much life

at the bottom of the ocean.

So this idea that,
um, the deep sea,

um, could actually contain life

was pretty phenomenal because
I think we had assumed that,

without light,
we couldn't have life.

So the existence
of whole ecosystems

that are supported
by chemical reactions

that don't need light

to generate biomolecules
and energy,

I think,
was really revolutionary.

NARRATOR: But could the key to
mankind's survival on other worlds

be found not in a laboratory

but by studying past accounts
of extraterrestrial encounters?

Eagle River, Wisconsin.

April 18, 1961.

Plumber Joe Simonton

is finishing his lunch
when he notices

a metallic saucer‐shaped craft

landing just outside
his kitchen window.

I raced out to see what it was,
and by that time

there was a hatchway opening up
in the top of it,

just like the trunk of your car,

and in there there stood
a little man‐‐

I'd say a little man
about five foot tall‐‐

holding up a jug, and
he motioned he wanted a drink,

he motioned for water,
so I walked up to him

to get this jug and, uh,
I looked at his eyes,

and they were so penetrating
that I had to look away.

NARRATOR: Simonton took the
container and filled it with water.

When he returned
to the flying saucer,

he noticed a second being

with what appeared to be
food‐like wafers.

SIMONTON: He didn't say a
word, he just reached forward

and he got a handful of 'em,
four of 'em,

and he handed down to me,
which I have one here yet.

NARRATOR: According to Simonton,
the two aliens promptly closed the hatch

and took off.

SIMONTON: Within, uh,
two or three seconds,

it was out of sight.

Well, there I stood
in the driveway,

wondering what the heck I'd saw,
what had happened.

And, uh, if that was their food,

God help them because I took
a bite of one of 'em

and it tasted like
a piece of cardboard.

NARRATOR: The case immediately
garnered the attention

of U. S. government agencies
looking into the UFO phenomenon,

including Project Blue Book

and its science advisor,
astronomer J. Allen Hynek.

CUTCHIN: Joe Simonton‐‐ this is
an interesting case because it has

a level of physical evidence
that we don't often see

with a lot of these cases.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE:
NICAP,

the National Investigations
Committee for Aerial Phenomena,

which was largely CIA
back in that period of time,

wants to investigate.

And J. Allen Hynek,
who was doing investigations

for the Air Force,
he wanted to investigate.

NARRATOR: Hynek obtained
samples of the wafers

and requested
a full analysis by the

U.S. Department of Health's
Food and Drug Laboratory.

The report stated
that the wafers consisted

of chemically modified
terrestrial plants,

including buckwheat,
soybeans, and bran.

But curiously,

not even the tiniest
trace amount of salt

was detected in the sample.

HOWE:
There was no salt at all

found in this analysis

by NICAP and J. Allen Hynek,
and it's puzzling.

MICHAEL DENNIN: One of the interesting
things about life on this planet

is it did start in the oceans,
and the ocean is salt water.

And so, fundamentally,
the water in our bodies,

in our cells, and in‐in
pretty much every living thing

has a certain amount
of salt concentration

and is ubiquitous everywhere.

NARRATOR:
According to scientists,

every cell of every
living organism on Earth

contains a trace amount
of sodium chloride, or salt.

So could
the complete lack of salt

in Joe Simonton's
so‐called "alien wafer"

really be proof that it came
from an extraterrestrial source?

We see in outer space

thousands of planets with
different kinds of chemistries,

so it's definitely possible that
you can have an entire planet

with very little salt on it.

BIRNES:
What if salt is as poisonous

to those aliens
as cyanide is to us?

That's what that alien contact
could presuppose,

that we've learned something
about what's poisonous to them.

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut
theorists suggest that support

for the Joe Simonton story
and the notion that salt

might be poisonous
to some extraterrestrials

that have visited Earth

can be found in ancient tales
from around the world,

in which salt is used
to ward off alien entities.

The salt connection
to the Simonton story

is‐is very interesting because
it connects to other mythologies

involving demonic beings
or fairy beings.

They say that if you pour salt
on the ground

in front of a fairy,
it has to stop automatically.

Or that you can throw salt
over your shoulder

and this will ward off
evil spirits.

The Shinto religion uses salt
as a protective mechanism.

So for salt to be lacking
in these pancakes

is‐is extraordinary

because it‐it links us
to these ancient stories

and it actually confirms
these ancient stories.

NARRATOR: But if the stories of
both the past and present are true

and these alien visitors
cannot consume salt,

how have they been able
to sustain themselves

in a place where salt
is abundant?

Ancient astronaut theorists
believe that the answer

to this one simple question
may reveal

both an alien agenda on Earth
and perhaps

even the purpose behind
the creation of humankind.

NARRATOR:
The 14th century BC.

According to the Hebrew Bible's
Book of Exodus,

the prophet Moses helps
the Jewish slaves to escape

the tyranny of the pharaoh,

leading them across the Red Sea
and into the Sinai Desert.

During the exodus phase,
you know,

you're wandering in the desert
for almost 40 years.

What do you eat?

Well, God provides
this substance,

this magical substance.

HENRY: Moses appealed to Yahweh,
the Old Testament God,

and Yahweh caused manna,
this food of the heavens,

to rain down
upon the Israelites.

NARRATOR: But according to
ancient astronaut theorists,

the story of the Israelites

receiving manna from heaven is
not a story about a magical food

being sent by almighty God,

but one of extraterrestrials
using their advanced technology

in order to prevent a group of
migrating humans from starving.

We assumed that we were
looking at gods in the past.

We didn't know we might be
looking at aliens.

(thunder cracks)

NARRATOR:
In 1978, linguist George Sassoon

and electrical engineer
Rodney Dale

released their book,
The Manna Machine.

In it, they propose that
the supplementary Hebrew texts

of the Zohar provide
surprisingly detailed

descriptions that point
to manna being supplied

by a mechanical device.

TSOUKALOS: We have a concise description
of it in the ancient Jewish texts

of the Zohar, where they
describe the transportable one

with the tanks.

Dale and Sassoon looked
at these stories,

and they came out with the idea
that this is not

a description of God at all;

it's a description of a machine.

The manna machine was this
tower‐like structure,

and it had these two giant tanks
and a dispenser.

Manna is the product
of that machine,

and it is based
on algae cultures.

This manna machine had to be
taken apart every Saturday.

And this was the one day that
the tribe did not have any food.

The basic proposition
by Dale and Sassoon

is that this machine was given
to the Israelites

by extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: Could it be
that extraterrestrials

provided technology to the
Israelites to sustain them

during their long journey
through the desert?

For the answer, ancient
astronaut theorists point

to passages describing a pillar
of cloud during the day

and a pillar of fire
guiding them at night.

CHILDRESS: They're following
a light that's guiding them

as they wander for 40 years
through these deserts

of‐of the Sinai
and Northern Saudi Arabia.

So you have to ask yourself,
is it possible

that this pillar of fire
is a UFO

that was working with Moses
to bring the Israelites

to the promised land?

NARRATOR: If extraterrestrials
provided the Israelites

with a food‐dispensing machine,

is it possible that
they had been using this,

or a similar technology,
to sustain themselves?

Perhaps the same technology
as the one that produced

the mysterious salt‐free wafer
that Joe Simonton claimed

was given to him by aliens
in 1961.

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer lies not
in the further study

of the so‐called manna machine,

but by looking
into other possible

extraterrestrial food sources.

I think there's a definite
connection to be drawn

between a lot
of the food preparation practice

that we see associated with
all sorts of major religions

and the modern UFO phenomena.

If we look back
into ancient religions,

one of the things that we find
time and again,

no matter which part
of the world it is,

is the issue of sacrifice
of animals.

Now, the big question is:
why was this being done?

Well, I think we could make
an interesting scenario if,

for example, the aliens required
specific food and liquid items.

HUSSAIN: There are all sorts of
religions that have food restrictions.

In the Jewish tradition
we have the word "kosher."

What is acceptable food?

In the Islamic tradition,
halal‐‐ exactly the same thing.

What food is allowed,
what food is acceptable?

And so, for example,
when you kill an animal,

you cut the throat,
you drain the blood.

You want as little blood there
as possible.

CUTCHIN: The handling
and management of blood

in kosher and halal practice
is especially important

because it is generally
considered reserved for God.

STRIEBER: I wouldn't be surprised
at all if blood did not play

a big role in their food.

And if people in the past
had seen them consuming blood,

it might have become that
higher beings had the right

to consume the blood,
not human beings.

NARRATOR:
Malheur National Forest.

Harney County, Oregon.

July 30, 2019.

A rancher discovers
the mutilated carcasses

of five of his prized bulls.

At a loss to explain the deaths,
authorities note that

the animals have been
entirely drained of blood.

This is in keeping
with many similar mutilations

reported around the world.

HOWE: Animals of every
type you can think of,

large and small, have been
bloodlessly mutilated.

Wild animals, deer, elk,
marmots, reindeer,

kangaroos, snakes, all found
bloodlessly mutilated.

BIRNES:
When cows are mutilated,

one of the things we notice
is that they're

completely drained of blood,
exsanguinated.

What could that possibly mean?

NARRATOR: According to FBI
statistics, the agency has documented

over 10,000 official reports
of similar animal mutilations

over the past half‐century.

Investigative journalist
Linda Moulton Howe began

researching cattle mutilations
in the late 1970s.

When I produced
A Strange Harvest,

about the animal mutilations,

all of it was
a brand‐new landscape for me

as an investigative reporter
and TV producer.

And it led me to people
who were saying

the perpetrators are
creatures from outer space.

And the whole issue of:
what are they?

Do they eat?
Do they drink?

Are they like us? What?

NARRATOR:
During her investigation,

Linda met with a woman from
the Las Cruces, New Mexico area

who claimed to have been
abducted from the scene

and taken aboard a craft.

Once inside the craft,

the woman encountered
extraterrestrial beings.

They led her to a large vat
containing dark liquid

with body parts floating in it.

They're all floating
in this round container,

and something puts in her head,
telepathically,

that it has something to do
with sustenance.

NARRATOR: Is there something
in both animal and human blood

that is necessary
in order to sustain the life

of extraterrestrials
visiting planet Earth?

And if so, could finding the
answer provide an important key,

not only in our understanding
of alien life

but in our search for a means
of survival on other worlds?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer might be found
by examining

the strange connection
between human blood...

and immortality.

NARRATOR:
For the ancient Greeks,

this was the home of the gods.

Gods that were very much
like humans,

except that they could
live forever,

courtesy of a mysterious drink
called ambrosia.

HUSSAIN: Ambrosia was literally
the food of immortality.

In the ancient world,
the gods ate, the gods drank.

And this is what
kept them divine.

This is what kept them
alive forever,

which is one of the crucial
differences between

the divine and the human.

NARRATOR: While ambrosia
was reserved for the gods,

the ancient Greek texts
also contain stories

of this divine food being shared
with select humans

and extending their life spans
indefinitely.

We might imagine that it is
some sort of a liquid

or, or paste or ointment

that has special properties.

By drinking it, you are
extending your life,

and if you drank this ambrosia
over many, many years,

you could have a certain sense
of immortality, in a way.

NARRATOR: Substances like
ambrosia can be found

in numerous ancient traditions.

In China there were stories
of the Peaches of Immortality.

The Norse spoke
of I unn's apples.

But as far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the ubiquity of this story
also provides further evidence

that ancient peoples
came into contact

with the same
otherworldly beings.

HENRY: Ancient astronaut
theorists look at the gods

as extraterrestrial beings,
as aliens.

If you're talking
about beings that are

traveling the stars
for generations,

they're going to need
some kind of sustenance

that will sustain them
during these voyages.

And that appears to be
what ambrosia was.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the
ancient stories about ambrosia

and similar elixirs
were actually descriptions

of a substance
that extraterrestrials used

to facilitate long voyages
through space?

And, if so, was it seen
as a source of immortality,

not only because of its ability
to prolong life

but also because it sustained
alien travelers

during thousands of years
in space?

Perhaps further clues
to the answers can be found

by examining the many accounts
of ancient people

living far longer than the
average life expectancy today.

HUSSAIN: The biblical life spans
are extraordinary.

So the Bible says that Adam
lived for 930 years,

that Noah lived for 950 years.

That Methuselah lived
for 969 years.

It seems like an odd concept,
but you have many records of‐‐

not just in the Bible
but all throughout history‐‐

all these other cultures
also talk about this, you know.

The Sumerian Kings List,

Chinese masters living to 300
years old into the 1700s.

Even ancient Philippine records
talk about these kings

that lived long lives.

It's found all around the world.

Some of the stories that we hear
about this drink, ambrosia,

connect to these journeys
to the celestial realm.

In fact, Enoch actually
describes that before

he was able to go
up to the heavens,

he is actually anointed,

and he says
it smelled like ambrosia.

But the question is,
was he really anointed?

What if ambrosia was something
that you had to take in

in order to prepare
for a journey to outer space,

and it gave you immortality?

NARRATOR: If ambrosia
was an alien substance

that could both extend life
and facilitate space travel,

just what was it?

Something that could
only be found

or concocted on alien worlds?

Or something that could
be found in abundance

right here on Earth?

Santa Clara, California.

June 2016.

Silicon Valley start‐up
Ambrosia LLC

obtains approval
to begin clinical trials

on an experimental treatment
to reverse aging.

Medical researchers
inject older test subjects

with blood plasma
from young donors

in an effort
to improve their health

and extend their life span.

Hundreds of patients
sign up to participate,

paying $8,000 for each liter
of blood plasma they receive.

The theory is,
whether it's true or not,

is that by infusing yourself

with the blood
of younger people,

you will gain a longer life,
because you won't have,

as the commercial used to say,
tired blood or old blood.

You're literally giving yourself
a new lease on life.

NARRATOR: Ancient Greek
texts connect ambrosia

with divine blood called ichor.

And the concept that blood

can impart immortality
is widespread,

found in legends of vampires

and even historical accounts
of human blood sacrifice.

Is it possible that blood,
and particularly human blood,

has life‐sustaining properties
far beyond

our current understanding?

REDFERN:
When it comes to the issue

of extraterrestrials and blood,
there's one scenario,

the idea that the aliens
may actually take blood.

Now, that's not completely
out of the question.

The main reason being

it contains iron,
proteins, nutrients.

In other words, it'd be
the classic important item

for aliens to dine upon.

But we cannot do that
without causing extreme damage,

possibly even death,
to ourselves.

That sort of suggests,
possibly, also,

that blood is an item of the
extraterrestrials and not of us.

NARRATOR: Does human blood
possess life‐sustaining properties

far beyond its function
inside the body?

And, if so, could the substance
known as ambrosia

be flowing through
the veins of every human?

As far as many ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer is yes,

and they suggest
that this profound notion

was first conveyed to humankind
more than 2,000 years ago

by a man named Jesus.

NARRATOR:
Vatican City.

2019.

Thousands of pilgrims bow their
heads as Pope Francis performs

the Liturgy of the Eucharist

and consecrates the offerings
of bread and wine.

According to Church historians,

the ceremony's roots lie
in the Last Supper Jesus shared

with his disciples

shortly before he sacrificed
his life on the cross.

As he passed the bread, Jesus
said, "Take this and eat it",

it is my body."

And as he passed the wine,
he said, "Drink this",

it is the blood
of the covenant."

And out of that moment at a meal
grew a great ritual, a ceremony,

a sacrament that is repeated
to this day

around the world
by millions of people.

NARRATOR:
In the Roman Catholic tradition,

during the Mass, the priest
is empowered by the prayers

that energize the bread
and the wine

such that they become
transformed,

or transubstantiated,

into the living presence
of the body

and the blood of Christ.

Transubstantiation is one
of the Catholic Church's

most exalted mysteries.

Catholics are encouraged
to believe

that through this miracle,
somehow these ordinary wafers

and ordinary wine

become the blood
and body of Jesus.

NARRATOR: Could this rite
of turning bread and wine

into the body and blood of Jesus

really have
otherworldly origins?

BIRNES:
Isn't it interesting

that we have numerous traditions
around the globe

telling us that blood is the
substance reserved for the gods?

Now we have to ask, is there
a connection between the ritual

of the Catholic Mass
and extraterrestrials?

Maybe it's possible,
by imbibing certain bloods,

the extraterrestrials
are actually able

to extend their life spans
to incredible degrees.

So, when Jesus talked about
the "blood of the covenant,"

just maybe Jesus was talking
in a symbolic fashion

when he talked about how wine
and bread sustains us

but something very, very
different sustained him.

That the wine that sustains us

is the parallel
of the blood for Jesus.

NARRATOR: If alien beings have been
coming to Earth for thousands of years,

is it possible that they have
evolved to a point

where they do not
physically consume food

in the way that humans do,
but are able to draw sustenance

from certain energetic
substances, like blood?

And does the ritual of Communion
provide a clue

as to how humankind must evolve

in order to become
like the gods?

When we think of food,
we immediately have that image

of a hamburger, french fries,

and there you are,
munching away.

But I'm a physicist.

We realize that
the essence of food is energy,

and energy can exist
in many, many forms.

So, think of widening
your possibilities.

Any time there's
a source of energy,

there's a possibility
of using it

for food for an alien species.

Myself, I think these things
are really possible,

and maybe there is
something there.

But at the same time,
the story of the Eucharist

being created in the Upper Room

is one of the most profound
and beautiful stories I know.

And I prefer to think of it
that way, personally.

NARRATOR: For centuries,
theologists have debated

the origin and meaning
of the Eucharist,

but it is not
an entirely unique ritual.

And ancient astronaut theorists
suggest that a similar ceremony

established in ancient India

provides further clues as to
the nature of alien sustenance.

Soma is this huge thing in the,
in the early Indian tradition,

the Rigveda.

The earliest Hindu texts
talk about this.

So soma is this drink that gives
the people who consume it,

you know, the powers of this god

or the thoughts of this god,
the abilities there.

VIEIRA: Soma was brought to
humans by Agni the fire god.

The same story you have with
the holy wine or the Eucharist.

And it's like somehow we are
being helped by‐by these beings

through these
different substances.

I find that really fascinating.

HENRY: They have a
saying in the Rigveda

that if you drink soma,

you see God
and you connect with God.

But they also said
it promoted immortality

and longevity as well.

CHILDRESS: Ancient people are
drinking this special drink of soma,

and they're drinking
the blood of the gods.

And so we look, too,
at the Catholic concept

of transubstantiation,

where the body
and the blood of Christ

are then in these‐these wafers
and‐and wine that we drink.

And you have to wonder if even
that is an, is an old relic

of the early soma rituals.

NARRATOR: Is there an
extraterrestrial inspiration

behind both the rites
of Communion

and the ancient rites of soma?

Were they intended to teach us
vital lessons about longevity,

and perhaps point the way
to our own future

as a spacefaring people?

And if so,
might there be other stories,

of other food substances humans
were given to eat or drink

that point to an alien agenda
for mankind?

NARRATOR: During an international
book tour for Communion,

his best‐selling account
of his own alien abduction,

author Whitley Strieber

receives a visit at his hotel
room from a mysterious being.

I had a 45‐minute
conversation with him.

Then he gave me a glass
of liquid to drink.

It was white

and I didn't want to drink it,

but he insisted that I do it.

Somehow or another, I did it.

It was extremely bitter,

and the next thing I knew,
I was waking up in the morning.

I thought maybe it's some kind
of alien potion,

but recently I did
some more research on it

and I found that it's,
it was in the past called

the milk of nepenthe.

It was first mentioned

in the poet Homer's writings,

then it was known
throughout the ancient world.

No one was really sure
what it is,

but the symptoms described are
just like what I experienced.

Nepenthe is something that makes
people forget, as it did me.

NARRATOR: Homer, the legendary
eighth century BC Greek poet,

mentions nepenthe
in his epic poem The Odyssey.

Plato writes about
a similar substance

in his Book X of The Republic.

The drink was said
to help humans

fall into profound amnesia

and forget the trauma of their
encounters with the gods,

encounters that today
we might call alien abductions.

STRIEBER: It was also given to
people who had gone to Mount Olympus

and been with the gods,

on their way down, so that they
would forget what they had seen

and they would not want
to commit suicide.

TSOUKALOS: In Greek mythology,
every time it was given to someone

they would forget
anything that happened to them

in the last 48 hours.

Now, what's interesting
is that modern‐day abductees

talk about the same thing.

So my question is: is it
possible that extraterrestrials

are giving substances to people

in order to forget
what has happened to them?

NARRATOR: If extraterrestrials
have been using some type of drink

to cloud the memories of humans
they come into contact with,

what is the purpose?

Is it simply to spare them the
trauma of an alien encounter?

Or could it be to hide the fact
that they are extracting blood?

Some ancient astronaut theorists
believe the answer can be found

by examining
the most important moment

of extraterrestrial intervention
in human history.

New York City, 1976.

After spending 30 years
deciphering

the Sumerian language,

researcher Zecharia Sitchin
publishes his book

The 12th Planet.

In it, he proposes

that a race of extraterrestrials
known as the Anunnaki

genetically modified ancient
primates in the distant past,

turning them into modern humans.

In his books, Zecharia Sitchin
dealt at length

with the Sumerian
creation stories,

the Atrahasis
and others that tell

of these beings, the Anunnaki,
putting their image on humanity.

That they genetically altered
a proto‐human

to create a new race of beings,
Homo sapien.

NARRATOR: According to
Sitchin's translation

of the Sumerian
cuneiform writings,

the Anunnaki produced the first
successful Homo sapiens

around 250,000 BC.

While scholars in the 1970s

dismissed Sitchin's theory,

in the 1980s anthropologists
traced the mitochondrial DNA

of all modern humans
to a common female ancestor

living in Africa
roughly 250,000 years ago.

Geneticists call her
Mitochondrial Eve.

TSOUKALOS: We were wise,
but now we're even wiser.

Just like that.

And geneticists, to this day,
cannot quite figure out,

well, what was that ping,
that‐that‐that change

that virtually happened
overnight?

So when you have
these weird examples

where stuff essentially
happens overnight,

I'm suggesting this was done
due to an artificial mutation.

NARRATOR: Researchers following
in Sitchin's footsteps

have noted a largely
overlooked aspect

of the Sumerian cylindrical seal
depicting the celebration

of the first successful
human experiment.

The scene features
a figure stirring a jar

and another holding
a flask directed

at their original creation.

Many associate the scene
with the biblical account

of the temptation
of Adam and Eve.

HENRY:
Adam and Eve,

before their encounter
with this bright snake,

this talking serpent,

who is equated with Enki
in the Sumerian tradition,

this genetic engineer
that came from another world

and altered our human DNA,

that before this event,
Adam and Eve pretty much lived

like primitive
or a primate‐type beings.

NARRATOR: Could the story of Adam
and Eve's transformation be a memory

of the moment
our genome was altered

by an extraterrestrial race,
as proposed by Sitchin?

And, if so, was that alteration
done by mechanical gene splicing

in a laboratory, as 21st century
technology might do it today?

Or could it have been
accomplished

in a far more sophisticated way,

by simply giving our ancestors

some highly advanced
alien substance,

designed to transform
primates into people?

CHILDRESS:
Here's the story of Adam and Eve

living, uh, sort of blissfully
in this Edenic garden

and just watching the sunset
and having sex

and not doing a whole lot.

And then suddenly this
serpent‐being comes to them

and offers them
some special food to eat.

And they completely change
into what we would call

modern people.

And here we have,
through the intake of food,

we have a fundamental change
and, in a sense,

an evolutionary leap

from primitive humans
to more modern humans

who are more aware of themselves
and their surroundings.

NARRATOR: Did extraterrestrials
alter life on Earth

to create sentient beings

and then use
amnesia‐inducing substances

in order to keep them
from knowing the facts

behind their alien origins?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes and suggest

that as humans begin to take
their next evolutionary step

into space,

the veil of ignorance will soon

be removed.

NARRATOR:
220 miles above the Earth.

Researchers on the
International Space Station

are currently testing
an advanced hydroponic system

to make food.

Utilizing artificial light and
a water‐based nutrient solution,

the microalgae contained
within the unit

takes in carbon dioxide
breathed out by the astronauts.

The process allows
the microalgae

to quickly multiply
and produces a continuous supply

of nourishment
on board the craft.

We breathe in oxygen
and we get out carbon dioxide,

but in a hydroponic farm,

you have plants
growing in liquid

and it takes in
the waste products

of human combustion and
expels oxygen as a consequence.

That would give you
a self‐sustaining ecosystem

to maintain the human body.

NASA is experimenting
with hydroponic machines

that enable
the astronauts to grow

a kind of microbiological algae

that is reminiscent of the manna
from the Old Testament.

Could it be that's
our own manna machine?

NARRATOR: As manned missions
to Mars are within our grasp,

logistical obstacles,
like how to sustain the crew,

must first be overcome.

Could the solution be found not
only by altering the substances

we bring with us into space,

but by altering ourselves?

We can conceive of entirely new
kinds of life‐forms

based on energy.

So food is the energy
that fuels us,

but it's
a real possibility that,

as we start to explore
outer space,

we may have to genetically
modify ourselves

to alter our diet
so that we ingest

different forms of energy.

When we look back at these
unusual foods of the gods,

you have to wonder
if that is not a direction

that we have been meant
to go in,

to become a spacefaring race
ourselves.

So everything has come
full circle here

from ancient times
and these unusual foods

of the gods
to what we're doing today.

REDFERN: I think this
entire phenomenon of aliens,

of food, of mysterious drinks
is one of the most important

when it comes to us
engaging with them.

And it may well be the case
that that is the primary way

in which we can actually have

some sort of communion
with them.

NARRATOR: As we evolve
into a spacefaring species,

will the concept
and function of food

take on a new meaning
for humanity?

Perhaps the intriguing evidence
of how aliens may have survived

on Earth will provide
a road map to our own future.

It will open up
new possibilities

and new ways
to sustain ourselves

for much longer time spans.

It will allow us to venture
deeper into space,

colonize new worlds,

and create new versions
of ourselves

as we continue to follow
in the footsteps

of our alien ancestors.