Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Giant volcanic rock walls

rise up from the sea.

BRUCE FENTON: We consider the sheer scale

of the Nan Madol construction site-- it's mind-boggling.

NARRATOR: Just how were these massive structures built, and why?

Ancient astronaut theorists Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress embark on an incredible journey

to these remote ruins in search of answers.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Wow. Look at this.

DAVID CHILDRESS: 250 million tons

of basalt just piled up and into artificial islands.

NARRATOR: Will they solve the mystery of

one of the world's most baffling sites?

ROSS CONKLIN: We should be getting close to the wall.

CHILDRESS: So as soon as you get close to those stones, it disconnects.

That's so strange.

CHILDRESS The more you know,

the more mysterious it gets.

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: The Pacific Ocean.

January 1836.

The British cutter Lambton arrives at the shores

of the Micronesian island of Pohnpei.

It is one of the first European expeditions

to reach this remote landmass,

which is located roughly 2,500 miles northeast of Australia.

The ship's surgeon, identified only as Dr. Campbell,

writes about a megalithic site

that stands off Pohnpei's southeastern shore.

He speculates that the massive structures

are as old as the Egyptian pyramids,

and must have been the work of great men.

It is one of the earliest accounts

of what will later be known as Nan Madol.

Nan Madol is this amazing construction.

It's-it's a full-on city.

When pilots during World War II would fly over

that part of the Pacific, they would look out their windows,

and they would see what essentially was described

as the Venice of the Pacific.

So that became one of its nicknames.

NARRATOR: Today, much of Nan Madol is hidden beneath dense vegetation,

making it appear as though the edge of Pohnpei

extends further out into the ocean.

But in reality, it is an 11-square-mile complex

consisting of more than 100 man-made islets

standing atop a submerged coral reef.

Archaeologists estimate that to construct the site,

the builders used 250 million tons of basalt,

a black rock that forms when basaltic lava from a volcano

cools and becomes solid.

Some of the basalt logs and blocks weigh upwards of 50 tons.

Nan Madol is this mysterious island in the middle of nowhere.

You have at least 600 miles in every direction

where there is absolutely nothing.

And so, to find this incredible megalithic structure there,

you have to wonder why that place existed

in the first place.

When we consider the sheer scale

of the Nan Madol construction site, it's mind-boggling.

Why would they need this scale of construction

on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere?

It is a complete mystery

who exactly constructed it and when.

NARRATOR: Historians have attributed the megalithic construction

to the Saudeleur Dynasty.

The empire ruled over Nan Madol for approximately 500 years,

from 1100 to 1628 AD.

But speculation that they were the builders of Nan Madol

has been the subject of controversy,

as many believe that an accurate dating of the structures

is virtually impossible to determine.

It's difficult, really, to put dates on Nan Madol.

Currently, mainstream archaeologists are

giving the city a date of about 1100 AD,

and they're coming up with that date by dating

some of the coral rubble that's there.

What I think of there is that this is the date

of the last repair work on this amazing city

and that the city itself

was actually built much earlier than that.

The thing is they left no records.

They left no literature, no history, no art,

nothing that says that they had these advanced technologies

or concepts like mathematics

that would enable them to build such an archeological wonder.

So, it leaves this great mystery

of who actually constructed Nan Madol and why.

NARRATOR: A team of scientists, backed by the U. S. Department

of State Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation,

completes a six-month project to conduct the first lidar survey

of this World Heritage Site.

Lidar utilizes laser wave pulses to create a 3-D representation

of an area and allows unprecedented access

to otherwise impenetrable locations.

This recent lidar survey at Temwen Island and Nan Madol

indicates that there was

a specially designed irrigation system

that could support people

on this relatively small island adjacent to Pohnpei.

And then Nan Madol is built there, too.

So, who then would have built

such a sophisticated irrigation system,

which no one knew about until this recent lidar survey?

And it doesn't seem that the-the so-called builders,

the Saudeleurs, were the builders of this.

NARRATOR: While the study continues to credit the construction

of Nan Madol to the Saudeleurs,

many researchers suggest that the oral history

of the people of Pohnpei contradicts this notion.

This recent lidar survey is sensational

because the big mystery about Nan Madol was always:

Where did the people get their food from or their water?

And according to the local population,

it had to be boated in.

But if you now look at this new lidar survey,

which suggests that there is an artificial irrigation system

on Temwen, well, they could've collected the water right there,

and this leads me to think that the Saudeleurs

appropriated whatever was at Temwen Island and Nan Madol.

NARRATOR: Does the lidar survey prove that the conventional theories

crediting the Saudeleurs as the creators of Nan Madol are wrong?

But if so, who built Nan Madol, and why?

Intrigued by the results of the recent lidar survey,

ancient astronaut theorists Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress embark on a journey

to the remote island of Pohnpei.

They are hoping to find evidence that could shed new light

on what has become a centuries-old mystery.

-Here we are. -This is exciting.

NARRATOR: This expedition is the first for Giorgio,

but David's fifth visit to the megalithic site.

-All right. Hello. -Good morning. -Hi, Gus. This is our guide.

-How are you, Gus? Good to see you. -Welcome to Pohnpei.

NARRATOR: At Mangrove Bay on the island's north shore,

Giorgio and David meet up with Micronesia's

National Historic Preservation Officer, Gus Kohler.

-So, ready to go? Okay. -Yeah. Let's get going, yeah.

NARRATOR: From here, they will travel by boat to Nan Madol.

TSOUKALOS: Nan Madol is one of the last

ancient mysteries that I have yet to see,

and it's been 30 years since I've wanted to come here.

And I cannot wait to see what awaits us.

And what better guide than David Childress?

CHILDRESS: Nan Madol is the eighth wonder of the world.

It's one of the most amazing megalithic sites

that I've ever seen.

But it's very little known.

The archeologists who come here...

-What do they say? -Yeah, what-- they--

How do they say it was made, Nan Madol?

Every-Everyone has their own theory.

-Sure. -Their own different theory. -Yeah.

If you imagine, if you carry it, uh, you know,

it's-it's a very uneven terrain.

You've got mountains, you've got valleys,

-you've got water. -It's very rugged.

-Very rugged. -Very rugged.

And then the-the question

of putting it or having it hung underneath a boat...

-It's incredible. -I mean, w-we've tried to carry lots, small ones on rafts,

tried to imitate how-- it's just impossible.

-They can't do it? -Really? So you have actually tried...

We've tried. We've experimented.

To do it the way that mainstream archeology suggests

and it didn't quite work.

Uh, not with the rafts that we had.

NARRATOR: According to mainstream scholars,

bamboo rafts transported the blocks used

in the construction of Nan Madol.

But Gus Kohler does not agree.

As far as he's concerned,

this method has repeatedly been tested and has failed,

even when the smallest of basalt columns are used.

One of the most recent attempts

was made for a television documentary in 1995.

After several attempts, they were unable to demonstrate

how this would be done,

even with smaller blocks weighing only one ton.

NARRATOR: After a 90-minute boat ride,

David and Giorgio get their first look

at the massive basalt walls of Nan Madol.

CHILDRESS: All right, so here we go.

Here's the massive sea wall here.

But it's just huge.

Look at these giant stones. (stammers)

How they're piled up here.

-But it-it's just, it's huge. -TSOUKALOS: Incredible.

CHILDRESS: It's just 250 million tons

of basalt just piled up and into giant walls

and artificial islands.

It-it boggles the mind.

It's-it's so incredible.

I mean, some of these blocks are just massive, massive.

CHILDRESS: Yeah, huge.

TSOUKALOS: The first time I laid eyes

on Nan Madol, I thought it was prehistoric.

This place potentially is thousands of years older

than what mainstream archeology suggests.

CHILDRESS: Nan Madol astounds you when you see it,

but most archeologists really don't want

to open this Pandora's box

of what is there on this island,

because it's not easily explained

by mainstream archeology.

NARRATOR: Rufino Mauricio,

the Director of the Federal States

of Micronesia Office of National Archives,

is among many who believe that the secret

to Nan Madol's origins may not be a terrestrial one.

MAURICIO: The existence of Nan Madol itself

continues to puzzle people

because it welcomes all kinds of possibilities,

including possibilities of people from the outer space...

NARRATOR: People from outer space?

It is a question that Giorgio

and David are determined to answer.

And as the first step in their investigation,

they are eager to make a closer examination of the site

and investigate the details of its baffling construction.

CHILDRESS: So here we're just on the edge

-of Temwen Island. -TSOUKALOS: Amazing.

NARRATOR: After docking on Pohnpei's Temwen Island,

ancient astronaut theorists Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress

are now approaching the ancient ruins

of Nan Madol by land.

With them is Micronesia's

National Historic Preservation Officer, Gus Kohler.

Okay, we're gonna make a left up there.

A left up here? Okay.

CHILDRESS: This is it, huh? Okay.

-KOHLER: This is it. -TSOUKALOS: Yes.

NARRATOR: To get an expert opinion on the construction

of this staggering megalithic complex...

-Yeah, let's do it. -KOHLER: Follow me.

They have enlisted UCLA Professor

of Structural Engineering Dr. Henry Burton.

HENRY BURTON: I'm a structural engineer,

so I think about how to design things to make sure

that they move through structures

in a way that they're... that they're stable.

Are you okay back there?

BURTON: So, my role is to bring a modern perspective

on the structures that we're seeing here in Micronesia.

TSOUKALOS: Wow. Look at this.

-KOHLER: Amazing, huh? -BURTON: That's amazing.

-I mean, look at some of those... -BURTON: I know.

-But, I mean... -Look at that one. -BURTON: Look at that guy.

CHILDRESS: So, here's this huge wall here

full of prismatic basalt.

How would you build that, then, today?

Well, you'll-- You'd certainly need cranes,

I can tell you that.

Um, even for some of these smaller blocks,

you're talking about on the order of tens of tons.

CHILDRESS: So, how would you build this

if you didn't have any cranes?

Well, that I can't... I can't, um...

Yeah, I can't think of any way

that you'd be able to build this.

TSOUKALOS: Because one would argue,

perhaps, this was done with some sort of scaffolding,

but wouldn't you need really strong trees?

And they don't really have strong trees here

to build that type of scaffolding.

Yeah. It's a mystery to me.

I can't imagine how it could be built without cranes.

So, Gus, uh, what is your tradition

of how they built these walls?

And that is, distance-wise, how long? How far?

20 miles? Okay.

Just imagine moving that boulder right there.

How many people would it take to move that?

What kind of a boat

would you have that you could put that boulder on?

Well, I mean, you'd-you'd be talking about a barge, right?

So, um, there are barges

that hold up to, uh, hundreds of tons.

They have hundreds of tons in terms of-of capacity,

so that's what you're talking about.

You're talking about basically shipping barges.

-Giant shipping barge. -BURTON: Yes.

-Like what we have today. -Yes.

TSOUKALOS: The idea that people actually dragged these things

across a rugged terrain or on rafts,

it's absolutely preposterous in my opinion.

The bottom line is that it is an impossibility

to move 250 million tons of basalt

from one side of the island to the other

without modern technology, without modern machinery.

NARRATOR: As a heavy rain suddenly sets in,

the team makes its way through the ancient site

and towards a remarkable feature in one of the basalt walls.

TSOUKALOS: So, the weather here changes every 30 seconds.

(chuckles)

NARRATOR: For structural engineer Henry Burton,

just as impressive as the size

of the stones used to construct Nan Madol

is the engineering knowledge the ancient builders must have had.

BURTON: So, what's interesting about this is if you look

at the doorway in any modern building

and you open up the walls,

you'll find a beam directly over the doorway.

And why this type of beam is important is because

it supports all of the load that's above it.

It's called a lintel.

Right? So, that's actually a-a structural element

that's used in design.

This is interesting because

this is actually in bending, right?

It's subtle, but this is actually

a bending action that you're seeing here,

and it becomes a little bit

more interesting when you have to do the design.

Wh-What type of mathematics or physics is involved here?

Well, there are several things you have to think about.

So, first, you'd have to think about

the load that's being placed on this.

Right? Then you would have to consider

the structural mechanics, so you'd have to consider

the cross-sectional properties of this thing.

You would have to consider the material properties.

Now, if we're talking about

sort of what governs the bending shape

of this thing, then there's some actual calculus involved

in-in understanding that.

TSOUKALOS: Dr. Burton said

that in order to calculate these stress levels,

he would need advanced mathematics such as calculus.

And that is a pretty tall order, because even archaeologists

would have to admit that calculus

did not exist in the 1100 AD.

Calculus, for all intents and purposes,

was not invented until the 17th century AD.

(birds squawking)

So, gentleman, we're gonna cross.

All right, let's do it.

NARRATOR: Although no inscriptions of any kind exist

on the stone structures,

in 1907, excavations were performed

in areas believed to be ceremonial temples and tombs.

KOHLER: So, this is the central part

of Nandauwas, the ceremonial center.

TSOUKALOS: This is unreal.

Right up front, you'll see a tomb.

CHILDRESS: Isn't this great?

This is just something else, isn't it?

TSOUKALOS: Wow.

This is extraordinary.

TSOUKALOS: And then this was,

uh, some type of a tomb at some point?

Okay.

CHILDRESS: But they're not really sure

that it was a tomb, are they? Do they...

TSOUKALOS: And-and what did they discover?

Did they discover bones?

And then later,

some of the excavated material from here

was put on a ship, and that ship sank

in the Marshall Islands, and everything was lost.

So, the excavator died and the ship sank.

So is this similar to, like, the curse of the pharaohs?

Because also in ancient Egypt, they were saying

that if you excavate something,

you'll have a curse and you die.

-And some people have died. -Well...

NARRATOR: Although Pohnpei is home to 34,000 people,

Nan Madol is completely uninhabited

and has been for centuries.

Among the reasons is that the native islanders believe

this ancient site is cursed.

HENRY: There's all kinds

of taboos about visiting this place,

like it's got ghosts there.

CHILDRESS: The local islanders believe

that the city of Nan Madol is cursed, and they believe

that if they spend the night there, they'll die.

The islanders say that at night,

there are lights that move around in the city.

NARRATOR: An unexplainable death

after the opening of a sacred tomb?

-(thunder rumbles) -All evidence

gathered from the site mysteriously lost at sea?

Could Nan Madol be home to something that mankind

is not yet meant to discover?

Man, oh, man.

Wait, look how tall that is.

NARRATOR: While visiting the ancient site of Nan Madol,

ancient astronaut theorists Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress,

along with their guide, Gus Kohler,

and structural engineer Dr. Henry Burton,

have traveled to the site of Nandauwas,

the royal mortuary said to belong

to Nan Madol's original builders.

This is supposed to be the biggest stone here at Nandauwas.

This cornerstone right here?

To this day, it's... it's supposed to be

the biggest of all the stones here.

Henry, do you think you can calculate the weight of this?

Yeah, we can certainly estimate it.

Um, I have a measuring tape-- we can estimate

the volume, and we know the density,

so that can give us the mass.

All right, let's do that.

BURTON: Yeah, so this is about four meters.

All right, here's, uh, the far... corner here.

NARRATOR: Using the dimensions and the density

of one of the basalt stone blocks,

-Dr. Burton calculates its weight. -TSOUKALOS: 250.

-Two meters, 50. -All right, so based on the measurements,

we are looking at a weight of about 54 tons.

-54 tons? -Yeah, so 50 tons, give or take. -Wow.

And you have one, two, three, four

of those monoliths essentially stacked on top of each other

at a height of 40 feet?

CHILDRESS: So, Gus,

what is then the oral history

of moving this stone on the island?

Well, according to the legends,

uh, the stones were flown up there.

NARRATOR: For generations,

the people of Pohnpei have told the story

that Nan Madol was constructed by strange visitors

through a process of levitation.

It is this legend

that has suggested to ancient astronaut theorists

that Nan Madol is not only an ancient megalithic structure,

it is also an extraterrestrial one.

We have in the oral traditions

a story about two brothers...

NARRATOR: According to legend,

the twin sorcerers who created Nan Madol

were of giant proportions,

much like the legends of Easter Island,

-where it is said -(rumbling)

that giants magically floated

the stone moai statues into place.

Similar stories involving levitation

are associated with numerous other megalithic sites...

like Stonehenge in England,

the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt,

the Uxmal pyramid in the Yucatan peninsula,

and Puma Punku in Bolivia.

There are other stories around the world

that say the exact same thing:

How gigantic stones were moved into place

as if by magic.

And you have to ask yourself: Is there a connection?

Did all of our ancestors receive the same knowledge

from extraterrestrials?

And the answer to that is a resounding yes.

Okay.

CHILDRESS: Yeah, they don't know-- I think

they don't know where it came from.

-TSOUKALOS: Aha. -But it's not from here, right?

CHILDRESS: So, yeah, 60% of the stones,

they don't know where they came from.

That's incredible, that the 60% is essentially

still a mystery, yes?

Huh.

NARRATOR: For decades, mainstream archaeologists

had been frustrated by their failure to identify the source

for much of the basalt used in the construction of Nan Madol.

But recently, a growing number of scientists

have become convinced that it came

from a volcanic outcropping

located 25 miles northeast of Nan Madol

called Pwisehn Malek.

The unusual formation extends over 400 feet into the air,

and incredibly, the rock used to construct Nan Madol

appears to have been extracted

from the least accessible part of the mountain:

The very top.

But how?

According to the oral history of Pohnpei,

the basalt was taken by what the natives referred to

as a "giant bird."

There's one story that says that at some point

there were these giant roosters

that lived on top of that mountain,

and this rooster took these basalt blocks

and flew them over to Nan Madol.

Now, monster roosters do not exist,

so my mind always goes to misunderstood technology,

machines that were provided by the extraterrestrials.

CHILDRESS: I believe that the islanders are correct

when they say all those stones were flown through the air,

because I can't see how it was done in any other way.

NARRATOR: As far as ancient astronaut theorists

are concerned, the local legends,

along with hard evidence

that basalt appears to have been excavated

from the top of Pwisehn Malek, add credence to the idea

that advanced alien technology was used in the construction

of Nan Madol.

And to help prove their theory, Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress, along with structural engineer

Dr. Henry Burton, travel 25 miles across the island

to visit the nearest basalt quarry.

TSOUKALOS: Man, look at this.

-BURTON: Wow. -What a quarry, huh?

So how does one free the basalt from-from this wall?

Yeah, no, it would, it would certainly require

some specialized tools,

some type of excavator, some type of drill tip.

Once you start taking rocks off,

depending on how much room you have to drive things up,

um, depending on the size of the blocks,

you might need a crane to sort of move things around.

You would need some type of machinery

to be able to do that today.

How did people from at least a thousand years ago

remove these blocks

from this quarry?

CHILDRESS: They had to somehow pry

these columns out of the cliff

and, you know, remove them so that they would be, yeah,

-stand-alone piece of prismatic basalt... -Yeah.

And then, and then move it, millions of tons of it.

I would think that, yeah, there was very much

a special survey done of this island,

looking for material that could be used to build.

-TSOUKALOS: Right. -And I would say

that an aerial survey would accomplish all of that.

Yes, yes. Or any type of, you know,

advanced, uh, radar technology that, in my opinion,

existed with the extraterrestrials at the time.

NARRATOR: For Giorgio and David,

the more they learn about Nan Madol,

from the weight of the basalt columns

to the distance they had to be transported

to the tools that would be needed to quarry the rock,

the more difficult it becomes to explain

how all of this could have been accomplished

without the help of advanced extraterrestrial technology.

Nevertheless, according to the oral history of Pohnpei,

the most compelling evidence cannot be found

by examining the megalithic structures themselves,

but what lies beneath them.

NARRATOR: In search of further clues

to help solve the mystery of Nan Madol,

David Childress and Giorgio Tsoukalos

meet up once again with historical preservation officer

Gus Kohler.

-You guys ready for a trip? -All right. Yes.

NARRATOR: Gus has provided access

to underwater drones so they can get an additional perspective

on the ruins of Nan Madol.

With their drone operator, Ross Conklin,

David and Giorgio head out towards an area

where it has been reported that there are a number

of incredible structures that lie hidden under the water,

structures that some believe are part

of an incredibly ancient submerged city

called Kanamwayso.

And it's deep under the water. Uh, it's-it's another city.

It's different than Nan Madol.

It's a second city.

Could it be that the coral reef itself is...

is that city, and the corals grown over it?

NARRATOR: After a short trip across the shoreline,

the team arrives at their destination.

So, when you were scuba diving here about 30 years ago,

you saw basalt columns encrusted in coral.

CHILDRESS: That's what we think.

We-we think they're basalt column.

-We-we don't know. -So wouldn't that

correlate with an extreme age, if you have columns, you know,

-encrusted in-in... in coral? -It would have been, I mean--

It's about 80 feet deep or so, and it would mean that

the ocean levels were 80 feet lower than they are today

-whenever they built that. -Right. And that would mean

that we're talking 12,000 years ago, at least.

-Like, the last ice age, yeah. -Right.

So, yeah, that the city would be

12,000 years old or older.

NARRATOR: 12,000 years old?

Is it possible that extraterrestrials

were not only responsible for constructing

the incredible Nan Madol complex,

but also an earlier structure that is now beneath the water,

and that they are still accessing to this day?

(thunder crashing)

In many ancient texts,

there can be found accounts of a great flood

wiping out a previous civilization of humans,

such as in the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh,

the Egyptian Edu Creation texts,

the Vedic texts of India,

and the Bible's Book of Genesis.

Today, more and more scientific evidence is emerging

to suggest that such a cataclysm may actually have happened

around the end of the last ice age,

12,000 years ago,

when sea levels were 400 feet lower.

Is it possible that Nan Madol was built that long ago

by a now forgotten pre-flood civilization?

NEWMAN: The builders in Nan Madol were a very advanced civilization.

So whether these people originated on the island,

or as tradition states-- they came from other areas...

It may have been an inheritance from the lost city

that was actually underwater that Nan Madol was built upon.

NARRATOR: The team prepares to launch an underwater drone.

This will be the first time that the ruins

have ever been explored in this way.

All right, so, Gus, I'm gonna ask you for a hand

with this cable, just to wrangle it.

GUS: Okay.

Watch mode. Boom.

All right, so you just kind of drop it.

CHILDRESS: Yeah. There it is.

-All right. -CONKLIN: And...

CONKLIN: All right, now we're moving.

TSOUKALOS: Cool.

A little bit of an image.

TSOUKALOS: Ooh. Yeah, look at that.

CONKLIN: Open ocean, open ocean.

We should be getting close to the wall.

-Wow, cool. -So let me drop down.

-And there we start to see the wall again. -Mm-hmm.

CONKLIN: Now, disconnected there for a second...

-(beeps) -...and connected.

NARRATOR: Curiously, the image being relayed by the drone

continues to cut out every time it starts to get close

to what appears to be an underwater wall

of basalt columns.

-It keeps disconnecting. -Aha.

NARRATOR: The drone Ross is using tested perfectly just one day earlier,

and in an area that was also rich in basalt,

so he is genuinely baffled as to why it is now malfunctioning.

I think what we should do is reel this one back in.

I have another underwater drone.

We'll give that one a try

and we'll just go straight to that wall.

KOHLER: Okay, fingers crossed.

NARRATOR: While exploring a vast underwater complex

submerged beneath the ancient ruins of Nan Madol,

ancient astronaut theorists Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress, along with historic preservation officer

Gus Kohler and drone operator Ross Conklin,

have just experienced a mysterious setback.

The submersible drone they deployed

suddenly stopped working.

Fortunately, Ross came prepared with a backup.

CONKLIN: All right,

so I'm heading right for that corner over there.

Okay.

(beeping)

-Okay. Disconnected. -Yeah.

CONKLIN: Okay, disconnected. Wow.

CHILDRESS: So as soon as you get close to those stones...

-CONKLIN: Unbelievable. Yeah. -...it disconnects.

CONKLIN: So I'm just right below the surface,

and as soon as I try and drop...

TSOUKALOS: This is now our second one now.

CHILDRESS: Yeah, now it's doing it to both.

That's so strange.

NARRATOR: Curiously,

the second drone has also malfunctioned.

Could the stone materials have something to do with it?

TSOUKALOS: Both underwater drones worked

on the north side of the island the day before.

And then we came to the area of Nan Madol,

and outside, only a few feet away from Nan Madol,

those machines no longer worked.

It's as if something or someone

was interfering with the devices.

So it's very strange to think that maybe somehow

those basalt blocks have been magnetized.

And if that is the case, what were they exposed to

that they are now apparently magnetized,

as some people have suggested?

CHILDRESS: People see lights in this city.

At night, they see lights moving around, and it--

and that may be because the whole city's magnetic

and it's some kind of electromagnetic,

-you know, phenomenon that's coming... -Phenomenon. Yeah.

-...from the rocks themselves. -Right.

NARRATOR: Oceanic basalt like that found at Nan Madol

is ferromagnetic,

meaning that, when exposed to a magnetic charge,

it becomes magnetically charged itself.

MICHAEL DENNIN: Rocks really have

three basic effects on magnetic fields.

They either have no effect,

so the magnetic field stays kind of straight.

They can effectively repel magnetic fields or attract them.

Volcanic rock enhances the magnetic field.

CHILDRESS: The natives say

that the stones all flew across the island.

And if that was the case,

then some magnetic energy

was put onto the stones,

levitated them, they put them into place

and that energy is still there in a residual manner.

And that is why the drones wouldn't work there,

because there's still this energy that was used

to levitate the stones.

If they flew these stones through the air,

if they're using some antigravity technology,

they would then be magnetized.

TSOUKALOS: Clearly, it has something to do with the structure.

It's highly unlikely that two pieces of equipment

are malfunctioning all at the same time.

NARRATOR: If the legend of Nan Madol is true

and it was constructed by otherworldly visitors

using levitation technology, what was it built for?

TSOUKALOS: Why would anybody have

to create artificial land or islands back in the day?

Especially with a sizeable island

-right here. -Right here.

But think of Venice in Italy.

It's a port city. It has canals.

It's very much for boats.

To me, it's a giant naval base here

for huge ships,

and those-those ships were coming out

of Southeast Asia into the vast Pacific,

and they would meet here.

And then they would go on to other islands

and then to Mexico and to Colombia and Peru.

But then, also,

-it's airships and high technology. -Right.

CHILDRESS: I don't think that naval traffic and airship traffic

are necessarily, uh, exclusive of each other.

And it would seem that, you know,

it's a combination of both.

They were using it as a stepping-stone,

going out to other Pacific islands,

where other megaliths and pyramids and things were built.

NARRATOR: Was Nan Madol a port

for an advanced pre-flood civilization?

As far as David Childress is concerned,

it was not only a port

but one with an extraordinary origin.

And he believes the most important evidence

to support his theory can be found

by examining the basalt stone used

to build the massive complex.

NARRATOR: For more than three decades,

ancient astronaut theorist David Childress

has been studying Nan Madol.

Over the years,

he has entertained dozens of theories

as to how it was constructed and why.

Based on what he has learned over the course

of his latest investigation,

he is now more convinced than ever

that it was built either by

or with the help from extraterrestrial visitors.

He is also convinced

that the complex was built with basalt rock

because of its electromagnetic properties,

properties that would make it possible

to levitate the large megaton stones into place.

Nan Madol is built out of millions

and millions of tons of basalt,

which is magnetic.

And perhaps this is something

that extraterrestrials can manipulate,

use for themselves.

Even it could possibly help power

their spaceships and things.

Nan Madol for sure had to have been built

when the worldwide water levels

were much, much lower.

And that, according to science,

was between 11,000 and 20,000 years ago.

So, right there,

we have physical evidence of a site that,

in my opinion, was built in prehistory.

NEWMAN: When you find evidence deep under the water

that potentially goes back tens of thousands of years

in a very important part of the Pacific,

it does raise the question:

Is there a much earlier epoch to Nan Madol than people realize?

The incredible site of Nan Madol looks like it was part

of a great culture that existed throughout

the Pacific and probably beyond.

We find evidence of similar construction at Gunung Padang,

which potentially goes back 20,000 years.

We find similar basalt columns

at Olmec sites in ancient Mexico.

And these builders may have been influencing,

uh, the pyramid constructions in ancient Mexico.

All these are indicators

of an ancient lost civilization in the Pacific.

TSOUKALOS: There's no doubt in my mind

that the engineering knowledge for Nan Madol

came from the extraterrestrials.

I have seen megalithic structures around the world,

but this one is one of the few that absolutely defies logic.

I would categorize Nan Madol in the same category

like the Great Pyramid of Egypt

and also Puma Punku.

And you have to ask yourself, is there a connection?

And the answer to that is a resounding yes.

NARRATOR: Do the incredible megalithic constructions at Nan Madol

provide evidence that mankind

has only begun to scratch the surface

of an alien presence on planet Earth,

one that dates back tens of thousands of years?

As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned,

the answer is a profound yes

and they are also convinced that further investigations

will not only prove

that extraterrestrials have revealed themselves to humanity

at different times throughout history

but that we are about to be visited

by these same alien visitors again.

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