All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S06E20.Alien.Transports.720p.HDTV.x264-DHD.eng

Narrator: Flying saucers.

STEVEN GREER: It's going 20,000
miles per hour and makes

a right hand turn
without decelerating.

That isn't possible.

Narrator: Magic carpets.

DAVID CHILDRESS: There are
traditions of King Solomon

having an airship.

Narrator: And fiery wheels

descending from the heavens.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
What Ezekiel described
in his eyewitness report it was

it was misunderstood technology.

Narrator: In ancient cultures

throughout the world, there are
stories of strange sight in the sky.

Are they simply fiction?

Or might they be accounts
of alien vehicles?

GRAHAM HANCOCK:
You begin to have to ask yourself

is something going on here?

Are we missing part of the story?

And honestly, I think we are.

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 we find

evidence in ancient stories
of alien transports?

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Narrator: Saqqara, Egypt.
Located roughly 20 miles south

of Cairo, it is home to the
world famous step pyramid of King Djoser.

Dating back more than 4,000 years,

it is the oldest of Egypt's 97 pyramids.

Saqqara is also famous for being
one of Egypt's oldest burial

grounds, earning it the
nickname "city of the dead."

It was here, in 1891, that
French archeologists unearthed

an ancient tomb containing the
burial remains of Pa-di-Imen, an

official from the
third century B.C.

Among the various items
discovered was a small, wooden

model of what appeared to be a
bird lying beside a papyrus

bearing the inscription,
"I want to fly."

The artifact was later sent
to the Cairo museum, where

authorities placed it alongside
several other bird figurines.

The model sat largely unnoticed
until 1969, when Egyptologist

Dr. Khalil Messiha was examining
the bird collection and noticed

that there was something very
different about the Saqqara

Bird. DR. UWE APEL: It's, uh,

interesting, because on one
hand, clearly, it should look

like a bird because it has eyes,
and has a typical nose of a

bird. Uh, on the other
hand, the wings

are clearly not bird wings. DR.
ALGUND EENBOOM: To the

middle of the rump you'll see
this wing a bit thicker.

In this region, the
lift up is the highest.

The whole thing becomes thinner
to the, um, end of the wings,

and those wings
are modeled down.

And this is a very modern
aerodynamic design.

APEL: Then the other point is
birds have no rudders, because a

bird does not need a rudder
because of its aerodynamic

architecture. And so
there is the idea they

are not representing birds, but
flying machines, or aircraft.

Narrator: Could the ancient
Egyptians have possessed the

power of flight? In
2006, aviation and

aerodynamics expert Simon
Sanderson built a scale model

of the Saqqara Bird-- five times
larger than the original-- to

test that possibility.
SIMON SANDERSON: We're

running at a constant speed,
slowly increasing the angle of

attack and then measuring the
forces which it's producing,

that way we can learn about
its flight characteristics.

At ten degrees, we're producing
four times weight and lift.

Yeah. SANDERSON:
So it actually

would be flying now. Yeah.

SANDERSON: That's good.
EENBOOM: Tests show the

Saqqara Bird is a highly
developed glider.

And this is a design
we use today.

Narrator: During the
Sanderson tests, it was

discovered that the only thing
preventing the Saqqara Bird from

achieving flight was the lack
of a rear stabilizing rudder or

elevator needed to
maintain balance.

Is it possible that the Saqqara
Bird ever possessed this

critical component? APEL:
What is missing is

something like an elevator. But
if you look at this feature

here, and we may interpret that
something like an elevator was

connected here, but was
lost during history.

Narrator: Computer models seem
to confirm that the Saqqara

Bird is certainly airworthy. But
there is another problem to

consider: launching a glider.
Modern methods require the use

of a tow plane that pulls the
glider into the air, then

releases it when a proper
altitude is reached.

So how might the ancient
Egyptians have launched the

Saqqara Bird? EENBOOM:
The Scientifics of

Egyptology told us that such a
bird could be powered off by

catapults to fly. And we
had high acceptance by

Egyptian scientists. Narrator:
The idea of using a

catapult does have a
contemporary parallel.

Many of today's glider
enthusiasts employ a bungee cord

system to launch their
sail craft into the air.

But if the Saqqara Bird is
capable of flight, where would

ancient Egyptians have
acquired such technology?

EENBOOM: I think that people in
ancient times were visited by

beings coming not from this
earth and they gave us culture

and scientific technologies to
improve our life on Earth coming

from the primitive to a
higher developed culture.

PHILIP COPPENS: It's a fact
that our ancestors were more

intelligent and had more
technological superiority

capabilities than our history
books give them credit for.

HANCOCK: You begin to have to
ask yourself, are we missing

part of the story? And
honestly, I think we are.

I think there has been a
forgotten episode in human

history and, uh, we're a
species with amnesia.

We don't really remember
who or what we are.

ROBERT BAUVAL: I haven't been
convinced that there is evidence

that supports an
ancient visitation.

But there is no reason why not.
And I think to shut oneself to

that possibility is a mistake.
Mainly because there are so many

anomalies that we can't explain.
Narrator: Could the Saqqara

Bird really be a model of
an ancient flying machine?

And if so, might this be
evidence that our ancestors

witnessed alien technology?
Perhaps further proof can be

found by examining a
centuries-old Mexican ritual

called the Dance of the Flyers.
Narrator: Veracruz, Mexico.

Five men in ceremonial dress
ascend a 100-foot pole.

Once at the top, one of the men
performs a sacred dance while

playing a flute and
drum atop a platform.

The other four men
launch themselves off.

It is a ritual known as la
Danza de los Voladores, or

"the Dance of the Flyers."
JONATHAN YOUNG: The ritual

has the leader stand on the top
of the pole-- a tiny little

platform-- and the four flyers
wrap a cable around that pole

and then branch out and fly
around in a pyramid shape in

perfect synchronous order. It's
a stunning and daring thing

to do. And they are
representing the

birds, they are representing the
four cardinal directions, they

are representing the elements,
heavily symbolic and mythic,

and it is a powerful ritual.
Narrator: The Totanac people

who practice this ceremony today
claim it is a dance that was

invented 500 years ago as a plea
to the gods to end a severe

drought. But could
this ancient ritual

have different-- perhaps
otherworldly-- origins?

TSOUKALOS: What we have here
with the Voladores is 100%

living mythology. Something
that describes and

illustrates-- in front of our
living eye-- the descent of the

gods from a long time ago.
Narrator: According to

ancient astronaut theorists,
the Voladores ritual is a

reenactment of a close encounter
with alien visitors in the

distant past. They believe
extraterrestrials

descended upon the flat
mountaintops of the Palpa region

in Peru around 500 A.D.,
dropping from their aircraft and

gliding down to earth
in spiraling circles.

TSOUKALOS: The Voladores
ritual was very technological,

as in, you know, these beings
descending from the sky and the

circle signifying
arrival of the gods.

Where does that flying or
descending gods motif originate?

Our ancestors saw something.
Because why would you hurl

yourself from a 100-foot pole
out of nothing to imitate a

bird? Birds are not
that important.

Something very
significant happened.

Narrator: Could an alien
encounter really be the

inspiration for the
Voladores ritual?

And could the Totanac people who
created the ceremony really

have been trying to mimic the
ancient gods' power of flight?

As further evidence that early
humans may have encountered

alien visitors equipped with
the power of flight, ancient

astronaut theorists point to
various artifacts and statues

depicting ancient gods. One
such example is the Mayan

god, Ah-Muzen-Cab, also known
as the flying Bee God.

Another is the most prominent
god of early Mesoamerican

culture, the winged
deity Quetzalcoatl.

LOGAN HAWKES: The
Mesoamericans believed in the

plumed serpent, or Quetzalcoatl,
which, ah, came from the sky,

bringing wisdom, uh, powered
the wind and also influenced

everything that happened in
the daily life of the Mayans.

In fact, they looked to the sky
for all their answers, uh, from

everything as simple as when
to plant corn to when to go to

war. Uh, they believed
all answers in

the universe came from the sky
and trying to relate that to

their daily lives. WILLIAM
HENRY: The ancient

record are loaded with fantastic
examples of the gods flying

around. These are
the ancient aliens,

and humans are being shown the
ultimate capability of these

gods. ERICH VON DANIKEN: In my

eyes, because we are the sons of
the gods, we are the offsprings

of the gods, whatever humans can
dream, whatever humans think,

was once reality in the past or
will be reality in the future.

Narrator: July 31, 2003.
The English Channel.

Felix Baumgartner becomes the
first person to cross this

22-mile wide body of water in
freefall using a specially made

fiber wing. But the
Austrian daredevil is

just one of many who have used
wing suits to simulate flying by

means of a free fall. ED
PAWLOWSKI: A wing suit is

basically a jumpsuit that you
put on under your rig and it's

designed to actually make you
fly when you exit the plane.

Uh, the material inflates
underneath your arms, in between

your legs, and creates,
basically, an airfoil that you

glide on through the air. It's
an amazing feeling because

you're actually the
pilot and the plane.

It is total freedom. You
feel as though you're

flying. Though you
are falling, you're

using the air to
maneuver your body.

And the wing suit helps you
cover a lot of ground as you're

descending. Some people
have been exceeding

two-to-one glide ratio. For
example, three-to-one would

mean, for every foot you
descend, you're traveling three

feet forward.
TSOUKALOS: We got these

flying guys that have these
wings attached to their backs,

and they hurl themselves out
of planes, and some even have

rocket engines attached to them.
And so, they essentially

themselves become airplanes.
Now imagine showing that to

someone from 100 years ago. That
person would be in complete

awe of what they're witnessing,
not understanding that there is

technology involved with this.
VON DANIKEN: Just using our

own body, we cannot fly.
We have no wings.

But, of course, we have the
fantasy, and we have the

technology to develop
wings that we can fly.

TSOUKALOS: The pursuit of
flight has been one of the most

sought after quests in all
of mankind's history.

Why? Because, with
flight, you could

reach, conceivably, the
realm of the gods.

Narrator: From the ancient Greek
myth of Icarus fashioning

wings of feathers and wax, to
modern daredevils like Felix

Baumgartner, human beings have
been fascinated with, and often

frustrated by, their
desire to fly.

But have birds really served
as mankind's inspiration?

Or were they inspired
by something else?

Perhaps something
extraterrestrial?

Ancient astronaut theorists say
"yes", and claim further proof

can be found in Ancient China's
mysterious stories of dragons.

Narrator: Celestial beings
coming down to earth.

Gods descending from the sky.
Do similar accounts exist in

other cultures and other
religions across the world?

And if so, what is
the explanation?

TSOUKALOS: We have to remind
ourselves that our ancestors

were highly intelligent.
However, their technological

frame of reference was different
than our technological frame of

reference. So, they
didn't have the

vocabulary with which to
describe, or with which to name

certain things that they saw.
So, what did they do?

They used words that they were
familiar with in their time.

And so, they tried to describe
whatever they witnessed to the

best of their abilities
with their vocabulary.

Narrator: Ancient China also
shared some of the same beliefs

that can be found in Egyptian,
Native American and Dogon

legends-- that deities
arrived from the stars.

According to Chinese mythology
dating back to 3,000 B.C., when

the god named Huang Di was born,
there was "a radiance from the

great star Chi." Huang Di
would later emerge from

the belly of a fire-breathing
dragon to become China's first

emperor. YOUNG: The
origins of the Han

Chinese people start with a
story of a great god looking

down with empathy. Here
were people in poverty, in

a beautiful, rich country,
the landscape profound.

But the people were suffering.
He took pity, and decided to

come down. TSOUKALOS:
Huang Di arrived

on planet Earth in
a flying dragon.

He had the power of flight.
Huang Di could be anywhere

within minutes. And he
usually accomplished this

by hopping on his dragon
and flying somewhere.

YOUNG: Now this divine energy
becomes human, and is a great

leader, the yellow emperor who
rules and unites the people, and

there is a period of great
prosperity until his work is

done. Narrator:
Huang Di brought

order to the chaos, creating
China's first empire.

He is seen as a cultural hero,
and is credited with the

invention of the compass,
acupuncture and the

standardization of
Chinese writing.

One of his greatest legacies
is the Great Wall of China.

YOUNG: When the land is
prosperous, he decides it's time

to go, and the great yellow
dragon comes back, and he gets

back into the belly of the
dragon and flies off forever.

TSOUKALOS: Now, were these
dragons truly dragons in a

biological nature? Or
were they misinterpreted

types of machines? Because,
as we all know, dragons

are always correlated with
spewing fire and a lot of smoke.

Whenever we see a modern rocket
take off, there is all this

smoke, and sometimes the smoke
is yellow, and sometimes it's

red. So, it's very
bizarre how we

have these correlations between
the ancient times and modern

times today. YOUNG:
Mythology is the

effort to grasp what we can't
grasp, to understand what is

beyond us. In the
Eastern teachings, the

dragons very often carry people,
sometimes on their back,

sometimes inside their bellies.
So, if we think of them as a

poet's effort to explain a
vehicle that was strange to

them, well, those sound
like flying saucers.

So, it might just be a problem
of translation, because after

all, it's just a word.
It's trying to describe

something that's very
difficult to grasp.

Narrator: Could Chinese tales
of dragons be based on ancient

interpretations of rocket
ships descending to Earth?

And, if so, could the legends
of Huang Di-- like those of

Quetzalcoatl and the Egyptian
Saqqara Bird-- be evidence of

alien visitations in
the distant past?

Perhaps the answer can be found
high on a mountaintop known as

the "Throne of Solomon."

Narrator: In the 21st century,

modern transportation
and communication methods have

connected the world
like never before.

Products or ideas, no matter
where in the world they may have

originated, can spread to even
the most remote countries.

A hip-hop hit in Brooklyn might
make it big in Tokyo before it's

even heard in Manhattan. This
cultural interconnection

has transformed the
globe, but is it new?

Mainstream archaeologists
believe ancient civilizations,

such as those found in the
remote Pacific Islands, Asia,

and South America, developed
independently from each other.

But ancient astronaut theorists
contend that similarities in

building styles and beliefs
found in these cultures suggest

that a worldwide trade route may
have connected them to each

other. CHILDRESS:
But just like we

have airports today, around the
world, in ancient times, with

the Vimanas, there would have
been hangars for the craft,

airports for them to land. And
those airports would have

been situated in strategic
places around the world.

And that's exactly what
we see in remote places.

Narrator: Legends of air travel
are also found in ancient

Africa and the Middle East.
According to The Kebra Nagast, a

holy book of the Ethiopians,
written sometime before the

second century A.D., the Queen
of Sheba was once given a gift

of a flying carpet by
King Solomon of Israel.

TSOUKALOS: The Kebra Nagast
is one of the most important

texts you've never heard of.
The Kebra Nagast means "The

Book of Kings." And it
is the most sacred book

of the Ethiopians. In
it, King Solomon, it's

described-- he had access to
some type of a flying machine.

And in that part of the world,
the term "flying carpet" was

always used very liberally. My
question is, did they really

mean actual flying carpets?
Or was it another term with

which to describe some
type of a flying machine?

CHILDRESS: This was the
original chariots of the gods

that Erich von Daniken talked
about, the flying magic carpets

of the Arabian Nights stories.
There are traditions in the

Middle East of King Solomon
having this airship, and flying

to different places in the
Middle East-- certain mountains,

which are known as the
Mountains of Solomon.

These may have been certain
airports, or landing areas, for

these Vimanas. Nicolas
Roerich, famous

Russian-American explorer, who
travelled all through Central

Asia and Tibet in the 1920s--
he, too, claimed that Tibetans

had traditions of King Solomon
flying to Tibet in this

aircraft. Narrator:
The Kebra Nagast

also describes how King Solomon
used his flying airship to make

maps of the world. But
could these have any

relation to other ancient maps
some believe may have been made

by extraterrestrials?
HANCOCK: Some of these maps

show the world, not as it looks
today, but as it looked during

the last Ice Age. And
this is really hard to

explain. Everybody's
heard of the Piri

Reis map, but they've, perhaps,
not heard of the Orontius

Finnaeus map, or the Mercator
maps, that show Antarctica in

great detail, hundreds of years
before Antarctica was even

discovered. Narrator:
One of the most

referenced stories of ancient
aircraft is found in a

surprising place-- the Bible.
In the Book of Ezekiel, the

prophet describes a flying
chariot containing wheels within

wheels and powered by angels.
Although Bible historians

suggest Ezekiel was speaking
symbolically about the

terrifying enemies facing
Israel, could this be another

example of an alien visitation,
and proof that prehistoric

aircraft existed?
YOUNG: In the story of

Ezekiel's throne chariot-- this
flying vehicle that doesn't seem

to have any means of
propulsion-- if we thought of

the word "angel" as representing
something like celestial energy,

it sounds much more like a
spacecraft then, because some of

the angels are going
back and forth.

Well, that sounds like flames.
That sounds like propulsion.

Some of them are wheel-like.
Well, those sound like flying

saucers. TSOUKALOS:
Our ancestors

weren't idiots. Ezekiel
saw something that was

so frightening to him,
that he fell to his knees.

Then, out of the glory of God,
came this being in these bright

clothes that looked like metal,
and told Ezekiel, "All right,

man, we brought you here.
We want you to measure this

monument, this building." And
Ezekiel asks, "Well, why

should I do this?" And the
being says, "That's why

we brought you here." And
then, you have 40 pages, in

the second part of the Book of
Ezekiel, with measurement after

measurement after measurement
of this gigantic building in

which, by the way, the
glory of the Lord landed.

Narrator: In the early 1970s,
NASA scientist Josef Blumrich

set out to disprove the theory
that what Ezekiel witnessed was

a spaceship. TSOUKALOS:
Josef Blumrich is

your proverbial
rocket scientist.

He worked on the moon project for
NASA, and from the mind of a

rocket engineer, started to look
at what was written in the first

part of the Book of Ezekiel, and
after many months of research,

Josef Blumrich came to the
conclusion that what Ezekiel

described in his eyewitness
report-- it was indeed a type of

spacecraft. Narrator:
Josef Blumrich

would go on to write The
Spaceships of Ezekiel.

Several years later, a German
structural engineer named Hans

Herbert Beier sketched out a
blueprint of the second section

of the Book of Ezekiel, where
Ezekiel is told to construct an

open-topped building to
house the flying chariot.

TSOUKALOS: Ezekiel's spaceship
fit exactly into the

temple that Hans Herbert
Beier recreated.

So what we have here is
a proof by indication.

Here we have a NASA engineer and
a structural engineer, they

didn't know of each other's work
and both pieces fit together

like a puzzle. In any
court of law, that's

evidence that would hold up.
HANCOCK: I think that

scientists feel uncomfortable
with the notion of the lost

civilization precisely because
the evidence for it is so

ambiguous. It's not
so in-your-face that

it's immediately obvious. Uh,
and, you know, the result is

that science has not
welcomed this idea.

It'll take much more evidence
before it's widely accepted.

TSOUKALOS: The God that I
believe in doesn't need a

vehicle in which to move around
from point "A" to point "B."

Whatever was described in the
Old Testament wasn't God.

It was a misunderstood
flesh-and-blood extraterrestrial

whom our ancestors
misinterpreted as being divine

and supernatural. And why?

Because of misunderstood
technology.

And that is the underlying
thread that applies to all of

the ancient astronaut theory.
Narrator: But while ancient

texts provide tantalizing clues
to our past, physical evidence

paints an even clearer picture.
But will modern science finally

prove the ancient
astronaut theory?

ROBERT FRISBEE: Did the ancient
civilizations of Earth

have access to
advanced technology?

Well, it seems like they
had something going on.

Narrator: Could ancient
stories depicting flying

carpets, fiery chariots and even
dragons really be evidence of an

otherworldly presence here on
Earth in the distant past?

Ancient astronaut theorists say
yes and claim that further proof

of alien craft traversing our
skies can be found with the

countless reports
of flying saucers.

Narrator: Guatemala,
Central America.

According to most mainstream
scholars and archaeologists, the

earliest human settlements in
this region date back over

14,000 years. Here can
be found numerous

ancient artifacts, and among
them is this one, the figure of

a man lying inside what appears
to be the shell of a turtle.

TSOUKALOS: And when I asked the
local archaeologist there,

"What is this?" They said
without the flinching

of an eye, "Well this is,
according to legend, the giant

flying turtles which flew
around in Guatemala."

The entire body is
aerodynamically fashioned.

The extremities are pressed in
an aerodynamic fashion against

the body of this turtle. And
if you look closely, it's as

if there's some modern day
fighter pilot glasses or

goggles. This right
here is from the same

culture, from the same region
where they created the turtle in

clay. So they knew
exactly what a

turtle looked like. It looks
like a snapping turtle.

And what we have here, that
is everything but a turtle.

It's something else. In
their frame of reference,

they were able to use the turtle
as the best example of what they

might've seen that the gods
used to fly around in.

Narrator: Halfway around the
world, in 329 B.C., the Greek

ruler Alexander the Great
planned the invasion of India.

But according to ancient texts,
his army was supposedly thwarted

by a strange attack
from the skies.

CHILDRESS: As Alexander's army
was getting ready to cross

the Indus and invade India,
suddenly in the sky appeared

these flying discs. And
they began dive-bombing at

the war elephants that were
part of Alexander's army.

And what these flying discs did
was cause stampedes within

Alexander's own war elephants,
who then ran amok throughout his

army, uh, tearing up the
camps and everything.

And after that, Alexander's
generals met with him and they

said, "No, we're not
going into India.

This-this is it. We're
gonna turn back."

And that was the end
of that war campaign.

Narrator: But whether in
ancient times or much more

recently, so-called flying
saucers are often described as

being unaffected by gravity
or the basic laws of physics.

GREER: You know, I know that
people who have... who have

seen, uh, extraterrestrial
vehicles in modern times have

said, "How in the world
could it be doing that?"

For example, it's moving through
the sky and it's going 20,000

miles per hour and makes a
right-hand turn without

decelerating. That isn't
possible using normal

aerodynamics. CHILDRESS:
When jets have

been scrambled after flying
saucers, the saucers are

described as suddenly turning at
right angles at super speeds and

just zipping off in what seems
like impossible aerobatic

maneuvers. And this can
be explained as the

kind of technology they're
using, which is an... a gravity

control. It's
artificial gravity.

So when you're inside of a-a
gravitational field that you're

creating yourself around your
craft, the gravity of the Earth

doesn't have a force on you.
Narrator: But although

aircraft propulsion by means of
gravity manipulation is beyond

the limits of current
technology, many scientists

claim it is
theoretically possible.

(whirring) In Davis,
California, inventor

Dr. Paul Moller tests the
boundaries of real-life science

with a recreational flying
vehicle called the Neuera.

PAUL MOLLER: The Neuera is a
very simple device to fly.

It has eight lifting ducted
fans, as we call them, each one

driven by its own engine. One
of the big advantages of-of

this kind of round shape is that
you end up with the strength in

the skin of the vehicle itself,
much like the shell of a beetle.

And that gets you a very,
very strong design.

This airframes you see over here
next to this vehicle, which are

similar to this, weigh only
75 pounds apiece, which is

incredible. You get
a complete airframe

that's capable of lifting 1,500
pounds with a 75-pound shell.

Narrator: But could the
inherent design strength of a

disc-shaped object be the key
to overcoming the forces of

gravity? And does
the prevalence of

flying saucer sightings suggest a
connection between antigravity

technology and
extraterrestrial visitations?

MOLLER: Gravity is one of the
most unknown forces in physics

today. And when we
do understand it,

we'll be able to find out a way
to shield ourselves from it or

to provide a device, a method,
electromagnetically but with

some much greater knowledge
than we have today, where we

eliminate it within the
vehicle's operations.

Narrator: Are flying saucers
more than just the product of

overactive imaginations?
Might ancient cultures that

wrote of fire-breathing dragons
and angels descending from the

heavens have been witnessing
earlier versions of these alien

spacecraft? Or could
there be another

explanation? Perhaps the
ultimate answer can

be found in the American
Southwest with a mythological

beast called the thunderbird.
(bird screeching)

Narrator: Elizabeth Lake,
Southern California.

This high desert body of water
sits at the junction of the

tectonic plates that form the
powerful San Andreas Fault.

The Mexicans who colonized
California in the 1700s called

it Laguna del Diablo,
Lake of the Devil.

And it was said that the Devil's
own pet would come into this

world through a portal at
the bottom of the lake.

COPPENS: Local legend says
that at the bottom is actually

an entrance to the underworld.
They call it the Lake of the

Devil. And it is
said that in the

middle of the 18th century, from
up until about 1880 onwards,

something was happening there
which frightened locals.

JOHN WHALEN: Some of the rich
landowners built ranches there.

These ranchers claimed to have
been harassed and tormented by

some sort of a monstrous beast
that would come out of the water

and steal cattle and
menace the locals.

Narrator: The ranchers who
claimed to have witnessed this

beast called it the thunderbird,
and their description of it was

nearly identical to that of the
giant bird witnessed by cowboys

in Tombstone in 1890.
WHALEN: Eventually, one of

the landowners, uh, got it in
his head that he was going to

hunt this creature down and
sell it to the circus.

So according to the story, this
rancher was able to actually

fire a few shots at this
creature, which seemed to be

bulletproof and metallic. The
bullets bounced off, and

after that, uh, encounter, the
bird flew east never to be seen

again in California.
Narrator: Could this

so-called thunderbird really
have been the same creature that

cowboys shot at in Tombstone?
And why was it referred to by

locals as the Devil's Pet?
STANDING ELK: They didn't

have the vocabulary we have
today, so when things happened

that they couldn't explain, it
was called the Devil's Tower, it

was called the Devil's Lake, it
was called the Devil's This or

the Devil's That. COPPENS:
Take it away from

legend and you might find that
this was a portal to another

dimension which the locals knew
about and might have something

to do with the fact that this
mysterious entity was present at

that very specific location.
Narrator: If a portal to

another dimension or another
part of the universe does lie at

the bottom of Elizabeth Lake,
might it also be possible that

the thunderbird was not really a
creature at all but something

even more incredible?
YOUNG: A thunderbird was

enormous. It made
enormous noises.

So the thunder part of it, uh,
could sound like a jet engine.

NICK REDFERN: Its eyes were
able to literally pierce and

emanate fire. We have
this large flying winged

creature which gives off a
thunderous sound and lights

fly from its eyes. That,
to me, says, yes, we could

be dealing with
some sort of craft.

(chanting) VON DANIKEN:
Native Indians

in North America, they
know, of course, the bird.

But now something differently
arrived, an object which could

fly, which is bigger than the
eagle but, at the same time,

makes tremendous noise. So
you have the creation of the

thunderbird. CLIFFORD
MAHOOTY: Even when

the airplanes first started
going up in the sky here in

the Southwest, they referred
them to as metal birds.

As a matter of fact, when the
first fixed-wing craft landed in

Zuni, the Indians over there
actually went out there and

worshipped the airplane. JIM
MARRS: It makes me think

of a concept called cultural
tracking, which is the idea that

UFOs can mask themselves to
appear as almost anything.

You go back to ancient China
and they talk about the flying

dragons. You go
back to the ancient

Egyptians, they talk
about flying boats.

You go to the Roman times, and
they're talking about flying

shields. Perhaps
that was just their

interpretation, or perhaps
that's what they actually saw.

Narrator: Have alien
spacecraft really been darting

across our skies for
thousands of years?

And could stories of
thunderbirds, dragons and flying

chariots be not mere legends but
the proof we have been looking

for? Perhaps when
our own technology

allows us to venture further
into space will we be given the

final answer, that aliens and
mankind share a common origin

and perhaps a common destiny.

Captioning sponsored by
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Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH
access.wgbh.org

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