Original subtitles

[William Shatner] An ancient custom where ancestors

participate in the party.

A holy pilgrimage that delivers disciples

into a field of bones.

And a sacred prayer designed to exorcise

evil spirits.

Religious ceremonies, rites of passage

and even daily routines

all include some type of ritual practice.

Like the ancient rite of animal sacrifice,

symbolic actions can often lead people

to believe they've connected with the supernatural.

Can a swami in India

use meditation and prayer to achieve immortality?

Do magical spells give a ninja superhuman abilities?

And could occult ceremonies

summon spirits that offer dark powers?

Well, that is what we'll try and find out.

? ?

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

On this large island in the Indian Ocean,

some 250 miles off the eastern coast of Africa,

the indigenous Malagasy people gather every few years

for a multigenerational celebration

known as Famadihana.

But this party is not a typical family get-together,

because the Malagasy don't just invite their living relatives

to this reunion- they also invite

the dead ones.

[Dominic Steavu] Famadihana, or "the turning of the bones,"

is a ritual that is performed

usually once every five to seven years,

in which the family or the relatives of

a deceased person will get together

from all over and celebrate the life of the deceased.

They exhume the body, they carefully lay it out,

they clean it, and then change the death shrouds,

on the basis of this idea

that the living can intervene on behalf of the dead

to improve their lot

or their level of comfort in the afterlife.

One part of the celebration also involves

basically shouldering the bones of the deceased

and the turning of the bones will take place,

sometimes dancing with them.

(calling out)

[Steavu] Usually the ceremony concludes

when they re-entomb the remains of the deceased.

But they're not cutting off the memory of this person

from their lives. They will

keep them present in their lives, until the next time

they see them, which is, periodically,

every five to seven years.

And this is a way to really

reinforce the connection between the living and the dead.

[Jonathan Young] People will come to honor

the lost ancestors, to be sure,

but also to work on coming to terms with death

that hovers around our lives.

Some cultures deal with it more directly than others.

And the value of this tradition

is that it's a different way of thinking

about how death ends a life,

but it does not end a relationship.

So it is lovely even though it's a little eerie.

It reminds us

the dead aren't entirely gone.

[Shatner] Bones-

our bodies contain 206 of them,

and each one has been meticulously studied

and catalogued by scientists.

And yet, for some reason,

the sight of our skeletal remains still sparks

morbid fascination and mystery.

But why is that?

[Young] The skeleton represents death

and the danger of death and our mortality.

This symbol

is so universal that it shows up

in different geographical locations,

in areas that have different religions.

It also is a kind of warning: "Danger here,"

if there's a dangerous location,

or a poison, something, "Don't drink this."

And then, of course, it was on

the flag of the pirates, the Jolly Roger-

a very quick symbolic representation

that "Deal with us and you're dealing with death."

[Tok Thompson] Certainly, skeleton's

an easy symbol

that can be reused in many, many cultures.

The skeleton is spooky. It's scary.

On the other hand, how we interact with actual skeletons

is enormously different.

Skeletons are never mundane.

They are always important- a truly sacred object.

Globally speaking,

one theme that you will see throughout all civilizations

is this idea that

people should have a proper funeral

or whatever funerary rite.

And that without that

process of leaving one's body, going into the spirit world

might be somehow disturbed.

[Young] There are many belief systems that suggest

the soul is attached to the body,

particularly the bones, and that as long as bones exist,

some trace presence of soul,

the soul of the person that lived in that body,

will still remain with the bones.

[Shatner] Could it be true that our souls

really remain in our bones after we die?

While that idea may sound far-fetched,

there are some people around the world who believe it's true.

In fact, it's often thought that our souls

lie within the most recognizable part of the human body:

the skull.

[Sarah Lacy] People really

latch on to skulls as being the most important bone

that gets left behind.

Many cultures assume that thought

and consciousness exists in the skull,

And it's quite common, then, to also assume

that the soul resides

within that part of the body and to assume

that it stays there in the skull after death.

[Andrew Collins] In the past, many different cultures believed

that skulls were incredibly important

because they were seen as points of contact

with the ancestors.

By holding them, um,

by connecting in mind with them,

you could actually communicate with your departed.

So they were often decorated,

plaster was put around them.

They were given cowrie shell eyes.

And it was believed that these would act

as points of communication

with whoever they represented

on Earth when they were still alive.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

Each year, on November 8th,

the indigenous Aymara people gather for an ancient custom-

a colorful procession

known as Dia de las �atitas,

or "the Festival of Skulls."

[Steavu] The Aymara indigenous people of Bolivia and Peru

keep skulls in shrines in the home.

They keep them in places of honor

in the household and

make regular offerings to them.

The skulls are thought to bring harmony to the family.

They're thought to protect people from illness and death.

And they also ask them for advice.

They ask them for support or for help.

And once a year, they will take out the skull

and parade them in this festival.

[Paul Koudounaris] You'll get

20, 30,000 people down in the cemetery.

It's really quite a spectacle, 'cause you'll get people

bringing five or more skulls

down in big boxes, and they dress them up.

If it's cold in the morning, they'll put on a hat.

They'll put sunglasses on them.

And there are certain offerings that are pretty typical-

cigarettes, alcohol,

little bits of money, coca leaves, things like that.

You know, it's kind of a thank you to make sure

the dead will continue to assist the living.

[Steavu] These skulls are perceived as a kind of portal

between the realm of the living and the dead-

a site where the spirit of the deceased can manifest.

And it's through these skulls that the living

can communicate with the dead,

as if they are living and as if they are

present, there and then,

in those skulls.

There's something about the way that the skulls are presented

that you feel like these individuals are being venerated.

We're a species that communicates

with our face, so it shouldn't surprise us

that we really fixate on the skull as being

a way to honor and communicate with those ancestors.

[Shatner] Ritual exhumations,

elaborate shrines

and cemetery celebrations-

while these customs may seem strange,

they offer an extended connection to loved ones

well beyond their time on Earth.

But there's another practice

with an entirely different purpose-

one where it is believed holy habits

can help to transcend death itself.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

This ancient city,

overlooking the sacred Ganges River,

is one of the holiest in the Hindu religion.

For thousands of years,

worshippers have come to this site

to perform meditation and prayer.

In ancient times, Hindu holy men, known as swamis,

were said to have used these rituals to attain eternal life.

[Sarvapriyananda] In the yoga sutras,

there's a whole chapter called "Vibhuti Pada,"

where Patanjali explains how,

by certain meditative practices,

one can get these powers

to extend the lifespan of a particular body.

[Hussain] In India, you have a long history

of holy people, swamis,

who've been able to figure out how the world works,

how their body works, how the universe works,

and are able to live very, very long periods of time.

You have Devraha Baba, who died in 1990,

and was believed to be 250 years old.

Swami Trailanga, who died in 1887,

believed to be, you know, 280 years old.

[Sarvapriyananda] If you would ask

most Indians about long-lived yogis and swamis,

one of the names that will almost inevitably come up

is that of Trailanga Swami.

And he was observed by not only many Indians in Banaras,

but also by the British authorities there

in the late 19th century.

So a lot of what he said and taught and did

has been documented and recorded by many witnesses.

They testify to his extraordinary long life.

[Shatner] For many, it may be hard to believe

that daily prayer and meditation

can provide age-defying powers,

but Hindu mystics aren't the only examples

of people who are believed to have used the power of faith

to live for hundreds of years.

If we look at the Bible, we have these great stories

of holy people who've lived tremendous amounts of time.

The Bible says Methuselah lives for 969 years.

Noah lives for 950 years.

Adam lives for 930 years.

So these are tremendous

lifespans of people living,

according to the biblical text, of almost 1,000 years.

[Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzabok] Many in modern times question,

"Is this to be taken literally?"

"Did people really live that long?"

And the answer from tradition is,

yes, they did.

This is nothing new.

This has very ancient foundations.

Very well-documented in the biblical traditions,

but equally well known in traditions around the world.

Regardless of the culture,

there is many legends about the Taoist immortals

or about the Tibetan immortals, as there are

amongst the Hebraic immortals.

There's this idea that because these people

are literally directly communicating with the divine,

with God, are they given other instructions?

Are they given other secrets?

Are they given other kinds of hints that allow them to

live much longer lives than we live?

[Shatner] Is it really possible that those

with a deeper spiritual connection to the divine

age more slowly

and can potentially develop the power to live hundreds of years?

Perhaps the answer can be found by examining a Hindu swami

who has performed meditation and prayer

every morning, without fail,

for over a hundred years.

At 125 years old, Swami Sivananda

practices a strict daily regimen of meditation and exercise,

which he credits as the reason for his incredible longevity.

The practice is a sacred Hindu ritual

known as pranayama.

[Sarvapriyananda] When such an advanced spiritual practitioner

sits in meditation,

what they are actually doing is,

obviously, quietening the body, making it absolutely still.

Then they are quietening the breath.

It means slowing it down,

even to the point of actually stopping, sometimes.

It's one of the teachings in Vedanta

that, by certain meditative practices,

the lifespan of the swami or the monk

is extended by the will of God,

so that the person

can remain as a sort of continuous living blessing

to those around him.

[Lori Rubenstein Fazzio] From a modern medical perspective,

pranayama has many different physiological benefits.

There was actually a study done that looked at things such as

life purpose, ability to find peace within

and connection to something greater than us.

And when people score higher on these spiritual health scales,

it's actually correlated with greater health outcomes

and longevity.

And one of the fascinating things about swamis

or any yogi who's extremely practiced

is that they reduce their metabolism by 64%.

So, basically,

they're using 64% less energy

to have basic body functions.

[Shatner] Does the simple act of slowing down the mind and body

through prayer or meditative practice-

such as pranayama-

have the power to increase our lifespans?

And if so, is it possible that, by mastering these practices,

we could all live into our hundreds,

just like Hindu swamis?

[Sarvapriyananda] There definitely are capacities

of the mind

which we are not aware of and which we are not using.

And it's a matter of practice and discovering these abilities

and manifesting them.

[Shatner] Perhaps the devotion to a dedicated practice

allows us to tap into certain abilities

that might seem impossible-

like in the case of an ancient warrior code,

whose rites and rituals

were said to create supernatural powers.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

This town is home to the Igaryu Museum

that houses over 400 artifacts and deadly weapons

once used by the most iconic assassins

in all of history-

the ninja.

[Steavu] The ninja were master assassins.

Their name translates to "hidden ones"

or "the concealed ones."

Traditionally, in Japan,

they were referred to as shinobi.

They emerged in Japan probably around the 14th or 15th century

during a period of prolonged civil war

between various daimyos or local regional lords

vying for supremacy.

The skill set of ninjas was mainly assassination

as well as espionage, infiltration, subterfuge.

The ninja arts or ninjutsu was seen by the samurai

as completely dishonorable, but

the ninja had no qualms about this,

and their main focus was

achieving their objective no matter what.

[Shatner] The ninja- or shinobi-

made their mark on history from the 12th to the 17th century.

Today, the ninja are long gone,

but, remarkably,

there's still one shinobi left in Japan.

His name is Jinichi Kawakami.

[speaking Japanese]

[translated] I come from a family that has passed down

what is known as the shinobi's techniques of the Koga region.

In the old family tradition,

parents, grandfather

and even grandmother passed down these teachings

to their children and grandchildren,

and I learned it the same way.

Teaching starts around age six.

As muscles and bones develop,

we gradually progress to more intense training

and endurance exercises that require great patience.

Shinobis are often associated with assassins.

A shinobi is someone who does things

that are not visible to the public,

It involves techniques related to military espionage, strategy

and surprise attacks.

[Shatner] While ninjas are often thought of as assassins,

they functioned primarily as spies,

trained in the arts of stealth and deception.

Their mastery of weapons made them

the most feared special operatives in feudal Japan.

[Steavu] Ninjas were famous

for disguising themselves as priests,

sometimes even as maidens, as laborers

and as merchants blending in with the general population.

And then they could strike at the opportune moment

to hit their target.

Their weapons, too, were unsuspicious.

The traditional ninja sword is considerably shorter

than the samurai sword, which they could carry

with them very easily, hide them if necessary.

They could take a household item

or tools used in agriculture

so they would not attract attention

if they were walking down the streets with them.

And then turn it into a deadly weapon.

[translated] As for methods, the most common approach

was to injure someone using conventional weapons.

Then there are techniques

such as administering poison through the bloodstream.

They were extremely skilled at using gunpowder.

There are various techniques,

such as mixing flammable substances with water,

creating explosions...

...and even mixing substances to produce poisonous gases.

[Shatner] While the ninja were very real, to this day,

there is still very little we know about them because

their deadly techniques were passed down

in secret.

[Cummins] There were different families

that supported ninjutsu,

and these families trained in these arts.

But nobody knew what went on inside their training.

These secrets were passed down from father to son,

from uncle to nephew and inside of secret schools.

And they had to write blood oaths

to say they wouldn't pass them on.

It was only later that these documents started to be written.

So we don't have many documents for the ninja,

but what we do know

is that once a ninja had targeted you,

there was very little chance of survival.

[Jinichi Kawakami speaking Japanese]

[translated] It was extremely rare to keep records,

as they were confidential, and the techniques themselves

could not be disclosed to others.

There was a risk involved,

and keeping them secret was essential for survival,

as revealing them to enemies would increase the danger.

Therefore, a culture of secrecy naturally developed.

[speaking Japanese]

[Shatner] While the ninja may have hidden

their history, training and techniques,

there may be an even greater secret yet to be revealed.

Because, according to Japanese folklore,

it is said that the ninjas were imbued

with supernatural powers.

[Cummins] The ninja really, really engaged

with the dark arts of magic.

What they would do

is build up their spells,

get their ingredients, and then, before their mission,

create something that would allow them to see in the dark.

They would be wearing talismans,

magical hairpins that they would put in their hair,

to help them with the art of invisibility.

They believed they could bring the power

of the moon down to enclose them in black clouds.

And in this way, they believed,

they could get in and kill their target.

(man groans)

They believed this and the people

around them believed this.

[Steavu] This image of the ninja as being endowed

with supernatural skills was, historically,

not seen to be a kind of legend or lore.

It was actually believed by the populace.

And as a result, they were terrified of them.

So, because of the lack of records surrounding the ninja,

it's a great mystery

to what extent we even understand ninjas

and the full extent of their abilities

and to what extent their abilities might have been

somehow divine or supernatural.

This massive

part that is unknown about them

could be a lot more than what we ever imagined.

Is it possible that the ritual practice of casting spells

and carrying talismans enhanced the unique abilities of a ninja?

While we may never know if these skilled assassins

had supernatural powers,

it seems the people of Japan believed they did.

But what happens when a ceremonial tradition

goes terribly wrong,

like in the case of a dangerous pilgrimage

that left behind

hundreds of human bones?

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

High atop the Himalayan mountains

sits a small body of water called Roopkund Lake.

For most of the year, the lake's waters are frozen.

But during the summer months,

as the snow and ice slowly melt away,

a bizarre spectacle is revealed.

[Pryor] Roopkund Lake is a place high up in the

Himalayan mountains, in the northern part of India.

It's close to the second highest mountain in India.

And it is mostly unremarkable,

other than the fact that we have thousands of human bones

scattered around the shores of this lake.

And that really is something which is exceptional.

Now, these bones have been known about for a very long time.

The site is visited by locals and by tourists

and backpackers who have interacted with the bones.

[Lacy] As people have come by,

people have picked the bones up.

They've stacked them into piles.

And in many cases, walked off with them.

So this location

is an interesting example of

how humans interact with bones.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions.

Did all those individuals die there,

or were they taken there from somewhere else?

Is it possible that in the past there were ceremonies

about disposing of bodies in this location

that have been lost to time?

[Pryor] We know that we have the remains

from something like 600 to 800 human individuals.

These bones are from adults,

and for many years there was a common assumption

that all of these individuals

had all died as a result of one catastrophic event.

[Thompson] Most mass graves that we see

around the world are the results of one event-

a mass slaughter, a mass catastrophe.

In the case of Roopkund Lake, you see something different.

Looking at the bones, people have been able to figure out

that there are several different population groups

that are located in this lake,

separated by hundreds, possibly even 1,000 years.

So it clearly was not one event.

Clearly, there was a series of events

around this lake that led to people being here.

[Shatner] Experts have had trouble

explaining why so many groups of people

journeyed to this lake at different times

over the course of centuries and died.

It's a fascinating story.

And recently, the collection of bones

has become even more mysterious.

In 2019, scientists from Harvard University

conducted a DNA study

and found that some of the people

who died at this lake came from far away.

Very far away.

[Thompson] Most people are from South Asia,

but one significant population group seems to have been

from Greece.

Specifically, from the island of Crete.

So one big question is What was a bunch of

people from the island of Crete

doing up in northern India even to begin with?

Let alone how they ended up at the bottom of Roopkund Lake.

[Pryor] The only thing which really makes any kind of sense

is the idea that they were on a pilgrimage

through the mountains.

Now, this is documented and known in recent times.

There is a pilgrimage

which is made by people following the Hindu faith

who will travel through these mountains.

[Shatner] Is it possible the bones in Roopkund Lake

are the remains of unlucky travelers

on pilgrimage through the Himalayas?

And if so,

what caused their demise?

Some experts believe a clue may be found in a local legend

involving a Hindu goddess named Nanda Devi.

[Steavu] Nanda Devi is a mountain goddess that oversees

the second tallest mountain in India.

There are shrines built to her throughout the mountain.

So there's this legend of a king and queen

and their many attendants making their way up the mountain

to one of these shrines.

They were being boisterous and festive

as they approached the shrine.

And Nanda Devi was insulted by this.

She felt that they weren't

respectful enough of this sacred space.

So, out of anger, she called on these iron balls

to rain from the sky onto the king and queen

and their entire party.

Now, this is believed to be the explanation for

at least some of the human remains

that were found at the bottom of this lake on the mountain.

Many of them died from blunt force trauma to the skull.

[Thompson] This is an area without a lot of tree cover,

without a lot of shelter. It's also

an area that is known for intense hailstorms.

Hailstorms with hail as big as your fist.

And you can imagine, if you're out in a caravan,

a pilgrimage, and all of a sudden...

...this massive hail comes down in this area,

that could take out people regularly

over a thousand years' time period.

It's plausible.

But what's also clear is that when people

started seeing all these skeletons together,

all sorts of stories were developed

as to who these people were and why they were.

And I think this reminds us

that if people see something anomalous,

you seek an explanation.

And if you see a whole bunch of skeletons in one place,

people are gonna try to explain it.

[Shatner] Was the Lake of Bones

the intentional wrath of a vengeful mountain god

or the unfortunate outcome of a challenging ritual procession?

While some spiritual practices can be dangerous at times,

there is one mysterious rite

that is said to summon...

evil incarnate.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

Thousands of Christians are gathered in St. Peter's Square

to watch Pope Francis perform Sunday mass.

As he greets the crowd,

the Pope lays his hands on the forehead

of a man who is thought to be possessed

and recites a prayer.

A video of the incident went viral

and left many viewers to conclude

that they had just witnessed the Pope

performing an exorcism.

[Gallagher] Pope Francis,

believes in evil spirits.

He believes in Satan.

He believes in

the possibility of possession and the need for exorcists.

He's quite traditional in that respect.

People are sometimes surprised to learn

that the Catholic Church is very rigorous about

discerning or diagnosing cases of possession.

That, in fact, there are very strict criteria

which clearly have to be present to distinguish

the case from a psychiatric or a medical disorder.

Exorcisms appear in the oldest writings that we have.

From the ancient Near East,

from India, from China.

So, exorcism is literally as old as recorded history.

There's many different forms of exorcism

all over the world and in different religions, and most

have various types of objects that are used

to drive away unwanted spirits.

Holy relics, crosses, holy water

and even exorcism itself

are what the Catholic Church calls sacramentals.

So the church's view is that these are

symbolic expressions of the authority of the church.

And so, even though they are, in a sense, symbolic,

at the same time, they have real power...

...and can help a priest

to display the authority of the church

and drive away demons.

Exorcism is common in almost all forms of Christianity.

Around the time of the Protestant Reformation,

exorcism could be done through many ways.

So if you had a demon, you could go to a priest

and they would have local prayers

that they would perform over you.

They might burn candles and so on.

Protestants said, "This is not in the Bible.

What Catholics are doing isn't real Christianity."

And the Catholic Church responded

by making an official book of rituals,

which is the Rituale Romanum.

And that has the form of exorcism that we see today.

[Shatner] If Satan and his army of demons

are really waging a war against humanity,

then exorcists are on the front lines.

[Rossetti] It's important to realize

that an exorcism is not magic.

We don't do magic. It's

a prayer, essentially.

It's the church's prayer to God and Jesus

to cast out the demons.

And so we invoke that authority as his disciples

to cast out the demons.

And then we use the church's prayer,

called the Rite of Exorcism.

We use holy objects like rosary beads, holy water,

crucifixes, any holy object.

Satan can't stand it.

When the person is manifesting a demonic presence,

the first thing that happens is

you've got this incredible evil look.

As a matter of fact, they'll look at me and they'll say,

"You stupid priest."

If you've ever really looked into the eyes of evil,

you won't forget it.

And then different things happen

which are physically not explainable.

A 110-pound young woman

throwing three big guys around the room.

So we've had some of those sorts of things.

A couple teams in the country

have had people levitate. We-we haven't.

So, things do happen like that.

[Shatner] Levitation? It's one thing to believe

that Satan can take control of a person's mind

or even attack their body,

but floating

in midair?

Is such an extraordinary phenomenon even possible?

About 35, you know, salt-of-the-earth people

have told me they have witnessed,

during a possession, a levitation.

It's widely believed, in these circles,

one of the paranormal things that demons can exhibit

is getting their possessed victim to levitate.

A lot of people

challenge what I say,

and they say, "Well, okay, you believe in levitation,

which is against the laws of science."

Of course it's against the laws of normal science.

I understand that, you know?

I'm not saying I don't believe in gravity.

What I'm saying is there are spiritual forces,

including dark forces,

that can violate the normal laws of nature.

[Shatner] To some, the stories about the power of exorcism

may seem far-fetched.

But on the other hand,

this practice of banishing evil has offered spiritual relief

to people from all walks of life.

[Rossetti] In most

of the cases that we have,

the people are very psychologically balanced.

We have professional people. We have lawyers.

We have military people.

Satan tempts everyone.

He's a great psychologist.

He knows you. He tries to manipulate you.

We usually heal on both tracks at the same time.

We heal on the spiritual level.

We also heal on the psychological level.

Many times, we find that the demonic

feeds off the internal wounds-

the angers, the unforgiveness, the hurts.

So when you start healing some of those inner wounds,

they have less to feed off and grab on to.

[Shatner] World War II spanned six years,

inflicted upwards of 80 million casualties

and shaped our modern world.

But what most people don't realize is that remnants

of the ideology that gave rise to this monumental conflict

can still be seen today in a remote town in Western Germany.

Near the small village of Wewelsburg

stands an ominous castle

that was home to the strange beliefs

and occult practices of Nazi Germany.

This 400-year-old stronghold

is sometimes called the Nazi Temple of Doom.

[Lynn Picknett] Wewelsburg Castle

was Heinrich Himmler's headquarters.

It was, to him, a temple

for his particular brand of black magic, if you like.

And they had their unholy ceremonies there.

It was the center of the most devilish,

genuinely satanic operation the world has ever seen.

[Christopher Hale] Heinrich Himmler was in charge

of what was called the Schutzstaffel- the SS.

Himmler was very concerned with rituals

and strange occult ideas.

And he invited members of the officer class of the SS

to meetings at Wewelsburg.

So everything was meticulously designed

to reinforce the elite nature of the SS.

[Sidney Kirkpatrick] In the dungeon area,

they had an eternal flame burning

and crypts containing Nazi military heroes.

And it's presumed

that all kinds of what would be considered pagan rituals

were conducted.

Among other things, there was a round table

like King Arthur's court,

where SS officers could all sit in a big circle

for their discussions and meetings.

[Hale] What they were discussing

was plans for mass murder, really.

I think, from very early on,

Himmler realized that the mission

of the SS would be diabolic.

And it would be about death.

That the only way to purify Germany

was through the death of millions of people

who threatened its existence.

[Richard B. Spence] You can visit it today,

and you can still see the 12-armed Black Sun emblem

that Heinrich Himmler had inlaid in the floor

at considerable cost.

And the point of ritual magic

is to bend reality to your desires.

Well, just imagine what the Nazis wanted-

a world controlled by Nazis.

So everything they're doing there is this attempt

to manifest that reality.

[Shatner] Not only did Himmler and the SS

perform dark rituals at Wewelsburg Castle,

they also sent expeditions to the far reaches of Tibet

and Antarctica, in search of relics said

to possess mystical properties.

And while this fascination with the occult is certainly bizarre,

some historians believe it embodies

the Nazi's relentless quest for absolute power.

[Picknett] When we talk about

the Nazi obsession with the occult,

I mean, it sounds crazy.

And indeed, it probably is.

The real roots of Nazi occultism

was a great desire to dominate the entire Earth.

So, to establish some kind of mystical contact

and, obviously, get a bit of that power

was a sensible idea, from their perspective.

And all of this was tied together

in the ceremonies and the rituals

of Wewelsburg Castle.

[Lacy] Rituals around the world really vary.

It has to do with belief systems of different cultures.

But one thing that connects all of these practices

is creating a ceremony that's spiritually advantageous.

[Young] It's one of the things that human beings

have in common.

Ritual embodies very real and important ideas and emotions.

And that can be important in terms of faith.

It can be important in terms of healing.

And it's real, that is,

in the sense that there's something happening.

Human beings are encountering something more than themselves.

It is bigger than our understanding.

It's disturbing to think of the Nazis

conducting unholy ceremonies

in their so-called Temple of Doom.

And while the occult is filled with spells

and incantations of a dark nature,

there are endless examples of social customs

and symbolic actions that mark a milestone moment,

honor the dead,

even attempt to rid the world of evil.

Whether it's a religious tradition,

cultural celebration or daily routine,

the mystery of why ritual practices

are such a powerful part of the human experience remains...

unexplained.

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