All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens SP s01e02 Aliens and Strange Creatures.eng

NARRATOR:
Life-forms on Earth that defy evolution...

ANDREW COLLINS:
The ancients were aware that the octopus is truly

alien to this planet.

NARRATOR:
Strange animalistic deities revered by our ancestors.

WILLIAM HENRY:
In all these cultures, we have beings manifesting

in these animal forms.

NARRATOR:
And elusive beasts hiding on the outskirts of civilization.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE:
The Sasquatch disappears in a flash of light.

What in the world
are we dealing with?

NARRATOR:
Accounts of powerful entities

with animal-like features can
be found all around the world.

Could it be that humans
are just one species

in a vast extraterrestrial
animal kingdom?

GEORGE NOORY:
There are all kinds of creatures with

intelligence in this universe.

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.

In one of the strangest
alien abduction cases on record,

eight different people
report being taken

onto an extraterrestrial
spacecraft.

Even stranger is the fact
that the same eight people were

allegedly abducted again
three days later.

Derrel Sims, a former

U.S. intelligence operative,
is the first to investigate

these separate cases
as a single event.

SIMS:
All these people came back with the same identical information.

Exact same story, same location,
same entity, same everything.

I was just absolutely amazed

at the clarity
of their information.

All these people
were kept separate

and apart from each other.

No one had any knowledge
of any mass abduction.

NARRATOR:
Each of the self-described abductees

reported being
taken aboard a small craft

that transported them
to a much larger spaceship.

And once inside,
they encountered

other abductees
that were not human.

They were all led out
through this massive hallway.

It looked like a museum.

They seem to have collected

species, animals, people,
all kinds of things.

This room that
they found themselves in

that was straight
out of a science fiction movie

with these glass tubes
and glass cases.

And according to
their eyewitness reports,

in these glass cases

they saw creatures
that they had never

seen before, but also
creatures from planet Earth.

NARRATOR:
From the start of the modern UFO age,

researchers have gathered
compelling accounts

of alien experimentations
on human beings.

But is it possible
that homo sapiens

are not the only species

with a connection
to extraterrestrials?

And might further clues
be found by examining

significant flaws
in the theory of evolution?

In 1859,
biologist Charles Darwin

introduced the world
to the theory of evolution

with his book
On the Origin of Species.

In it, he proposed that gradual,
multi-generational changes,

occurring
due to natural selection,

had resulted in the modification
of all existing species.

While scientists agree
that this process does, in fact,

take place to some extent,
in recent years, evidence has

been presented that suggests
evolution alone cannot account

for all of the species present
in the animal kingdom.

There�s one species of dog,

but look at it from
Chihuahuas to Saint Bernards

to bulldogs,
everything in between.

And all that has happened
in less than

a few thousand years. I mean,
this is crazy. This is like

going from this generalized
wolf-like creature

into this huge variety of dogs.

JOHN BRANDENBURG:
There are fossils of giraffes with short necks,

and then we have the present.

And there�s
no intermediate form.

If you suddenly give
a giraffe a much longer

neck than it had before,

a lot of things have to change.

Its blood pressure regulation
has to change.

It�s got to have
a different heart.

It�s gonna be eating
different things

with a long neck.

All of that software for
the animal has to be rewritten.

And you�re telling me
this all happens overnight?

NARRATOR:
Ancient astronaut theorists propose that if some or

possibly all of the life-forms
on Earth cannot be explained

as the product of natural
selection or evolution,

it may, in fact, offer proof

of not only intelligent design
but also what

they believe to be
extraterrestrial intervention.

And they say
the overwhelming evidence

can be found
by examining the practices

of ancient cultures
all over the world.

Manchester, England.

September, 2015.

Researchers from the
University of Manchester

use the latest medical
imaging technology

to reveal the first look inside

more than 800 mummies
from ancient Egypt.

The deceased are not humans,

but crocodiles, cats,

baboons, birds,

and numerous other species,

painstakingly preserved
for thousands of years.

When we think of
mummies we tend to think

of people being mummified,
but we actually find out

is that Egyptians also mummified
a tremendous amount

of cats, dogs, alligators.

All sorts of things were being
mummified in ancient Egypt.

NARRATOR:
The mummification of animals was so pervasive

that in 2015, archaeologists
discovered that a catacomb

underneath a temple
dedicated to Anubis,

the canine god of the dead,

held a staggering
eight million dog mummies.

The dogs were thought
to have a direct connection

with Anubis,
the lord of the underworld.

That was
the jackal-headed god,

so when a dog died it,
could carry a message.

NARRATOR:
It is believed that as many as 70 million animals

were mummified
at sites like this

throughout Egypt,
which is roughly the same

as the number of human mummies
that have been found.

70 million is just the ones
that have been found, right?

Some presumably have
gotten lost, have decomposed.

So the fact
that there�s that many

means that this practice
was widespread,

and also that it continued
over a long period of time.

This went on for the whole
two to 3,000 years

of ancient Egyptian
civilization.

NARRATOR:
But why did the ancient Egyptians mummify their animals?

In Saqqara,
you see thousands of birds

mummified right next to
each other, thousands of them.

The reason that huge amount of
animals were mummified in Egypt

was because they believed
those animals were sacred.

They are the equivalent to

lighting a candle
when you go to a church.

You bring a mummified animal
that the god would employ.

Historians believe that
the reason for this is that

Egyptian people
originally were animist.

In other words, they saw
the entire universe

around them as filled with life.

And they attributed deity,
divinity to

the animals in their universe.

NARRATOR:
But it wasn�t just in ancient Egypt

where animals
were so highly revered.

Similar practices
of animal worship can be found

among the ancient Sumerians,

the Maya and Aztec
of Mesoamerica,

and the Australian aborigines,
just to name a few.

If cultures all across the world
revered animals

as having a connection with gods
that came down from the sky,

could this be evidence
that certain Earthly creatures

possess a link to
extraterrestrial entities?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes, and suggest that

some of the planet�s non-human
life-forms may even be directly

related to mankind�s
ancient alien ancestors.

[music playing]

NARRATOR:
Luxor, Egypt.

Within the Mortuary Temple
of Hatshepsut,

one of the few female pharaohs
of ancient Egypt,

is a carving
of the bull god Apis,

depicted with a solar disk
above his head.

Although he is little
known today among the pantheon

of Egyptian deities, historians
suggest Apis was

the very first god
to be worshipped in Egypt,

emerging around 3,000 BC.

He was considered to
be the creator of humanity.

Animals were so important
in ancient Egypt that

one of the creation myths

starts with a bull.

The bull that comes out of
nowhere, the bull that comes out

of the sky, that appears in
the middle of the endless ocean

is the one
that creates humanity.

That bull is the father
of all humanity.

In many, many mythic traditions
it is an animal

or sometimes the council
of animals that creates people.

And different cultures
have different

animals that played
very, very formative roles.

Sometimes this is a particular
ancestor to humankind.

Sometimes it�s an ancestor
to a particular tribe

or a group of people.

We find this very commonly
in the northwest coast,

Native American groups,
where you�d have different clans

that would have
different lineages

sacredly founded
by different animals.

The wolf clan,
the bear clan, the frog clan.

And you can
even see this reflected

in their totem poles
of those groups.

NARRATOR:
Many ancient cultures throughout the world

not only had stories that
humans were created by animals

but also depicted their gods
with animal features.

YOUNG:
Ganesh, the Indian Hindu god,

the one with the head
of an elephant,

could intervene and solve
problems for the faithful.

The monkey god Hanuman
was a bit of a trickster,

but he could be seen
interacting with human beings,

walking among us.

In Aboriginal stories
from Australia,

the creator of the universe
was a rainbow serpent.

Many of the animal gods
were described

as descending from the sky.

The Egyptians believed in Thoth,
a god with a head of an ibis

who taught science,
philosophy and magic.

Khepri had the head of a scarab
and played a major role

in the creation of the world.

ROMANY:
Most of the gods were depicted with the animal head

and a human body because

ancient Egyptians knew
that the head had the wisdom.

NARRATOR:
If the ancient stories of flying monkeys

and animal-headed gods

are literal accounts
of what our ancestors witnessed,

as ancient astronaut
theorists suggest,

is this evidence
that humankind was created

by otherworldly beings that
are genetically connected

to animals that still
roam the Earth today?

Or did the extraterrestrials
disguise themselves as animals

to appear more friendly
and acceptable to early humans?

HENRY:
We could be dealing with extraterrestrials.

Extraterrestrials who
chose to incarnate as cats

and dogs and other animals,
in order to guide humans

and also to disguise
their true form.

to manifest on Earth

in a form that would be perhaps
more palatable to humans.

Zeus is one of our most

well-known gods
from the Greek pantheon.

And we have Zeus transforming
himself into a bull,

which is part of the story
of how the people

of Europe were formed,
or Europa.

We have Zeus
transforming himself into

a swan, Zeus and Leda.

In the traditions
of West Africa, the Voudon

traditions, Papa Legba,
as he�s sometimes called,

very often appears
as a variety of animals.

In the Native American Pawnee
culture, the sky god,

the creator god,
the great spirit would never

come in direct form,
but use animal forms,

many different animals, as a way
to communicate with the humans.

NARRATOR:
In the Pawnee tradition, young men entering adulthood

would go out on vision quests.

They would isolate themselves
from the tribe,

perform ritual prayers,
and fast.

Through this process, they would
enter a trancelike state

in hopes of communicating
with these intelligent animals.

THOMPSON:
A bear might come up to you and say hi.

It might be a caterpillar,
it might be a squirrel.

But at some point
something interacted with you.

Some animal actually
interacted with you.

And that was held to be very,
very profound in terms of

your own identity, in terms
of your own spirituality.

So the idea is that
each animal, therefore,

is connected to their
own sort of animal spirit.

So that a singular caribou
is in part in touch with

this sort of larger
caribou spirit.

So, in terms
of the vision quest,

you might figure out
who your guardian spirit was.

NARRATOR:
Similarly, in India, the prophets known as Rishis

would describe animal encounters

after extensive meditation.

And in Mesoamerican
and Pueblan cultures,

shamans would use
powerful psychedelic plants

to not only communicate
with otherworldly creatures,

but in some cases transform
into the animals themselves.

In all these traditions,

the encounters
are taken very seriously.

These animal energies
are very real and tangible,

and the wisdom
is extremely valuable.

Some ancient astronaut theorists
propose that while

extraterrestrials may
disguise themselves as animals,

they may also have
a real physiological relation

to certain creatures on Earth.

HENRY:
One of the key figures written about

on the ancient
Sumerian tablets is Enki,

who they labelled the god
of smithcraft and alchemy,

and also suggest as a figure who
knew the secrets of human DNA.

For they credit him
with the transformation

or fashioning of the human body.
Very interestingly, Enki

is portrayed as a half-human,
half-serpent being.

He�s referred to as a serpentine
god, a reptilian being.

Stories of reptilians appear
in many different cultures.

In the Vedic culture, we
have the stories of the Nagas.

We have stories
of reptilians, of course,

in the Garden of Eden.

We have stories of reptilians
in the Mesoamerican cultures,

like the Incas and the Mayans.

Divine serpents
are unusually universal.

there are examples
from Mesopotamia,

from India, China, Japan

and in the Americas, both South
America and Central America.

SALLA:
Different cultures refer to reptilian beings as beings that

were helping humanity
acquire technologies

at a point in our evolution when
we were really starting out.

In early China, the founders
were considered to have been

semi-divine and in some cases
fully divine beings.

Very often they were

half snake and half human.

The ancient Egyptian god Sobek
is a crocodile-like deity

who is credited
by the ancient Egyptians

with creating the world.

In portrayals
at the temples dedicated to him,

he�s portrayed as a human
with the head of a crocodile

who emerged from
the original waters of creation

to create humanity.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that the many ancient stories of humans beings

created by serpent-like gods
are inspired by actual events?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes, and point to

archaeological evidence
that supports this very idea.

In 1923, British archaeologist
Sir Leonard Woolley

excavated one of the oldest
agricultural communities

in the world--
the Sumerian city of Ur--

where the ancient Sumer people
worshipped the serpent god Enki.

Among the remains, he discovered
some unusual clay artifacts,

some dating as far back
as 4000 BC.

One of the most amazing

discoveries were the figurines
that were uncovered.

They were these humanoid
figures with, for all intents

and purposes, heads of reptiles,
they look like snake people.

All theories abound as to
what these statues represent,

but to me they represent
possibly Sumerian gods.

The Anunnaki.

Enki, too, shows
these characteristics.

We have to wonder if this
isn�t a god that wasn�t

visiting just ancient Sumer

but other cultures
around the world as well.

NARRATOR:
Do the strange statues unearthed in the city of Ur

represent extraterrestrials

that came to Earth
in the distant past?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest that a similar
connection can be found

when examining
the ancient stories

of a race of insectoid beings

and their dwelling
deep underground.

NARRATOR:
Cambridge University, England. 2013.

Using a high-speed camera
with intense magnification,

Scientists from the department
of zoology record the movement

of a plant-hopping insect
called Issus.

Examining the footage,
they make a shocking discovery.

The movement of the Issus
is powered by mechanical gears.

It is the world�s
first evidence

of mechanical gearing
in a biological structure.

This natural cog mechanism
allows the Issus to make

powerful jumps, with
the gear teeth on the opposing

hind legs locking together like
those in the gear box of a car,

ensuring almost complete
synchronicity of leg movement.

But how did a biological entity
develop mechanisms

that appear man-made?

GENE KRITSKY:
Insects are essentially evolution�s tinker toy set.

Insects were the first
animal group

To evolve the ability to fly
on their own power.

Insects have an exoskeleton,

which is almost like
a living armor.

NARRATOR:
In terms of sheer numbers, insects are by far

the most dominant life-form on
Earth, and with over one million

different species, they also
remain the most mysterious.

KRITSKY:
Insects appeared on the Earth over 400 million years

before humans
appeared on the Earth.

They were incredibly successful,
well before

the age of the dinosaurs,
and a long time before humans.

About half of the living
creatures on the planet

belong to the group of insects.

They�ve really found ways
to inhabit just about

bout every ecological niche
in nature.

They have compound eyes,
which, in some cases, they can

see into the ranges that
humans cannot, like ultraviolet.

KRITSKY:
They have a very sophisticated sensory system

that makes them different
from what we can perceive.

For example, insects taste,

smell and feel with
the hairs on their body.

When they land on you,
they�re smelling you,

they�re tasting you,
they�re feeling you.

There are upwards of
a million species

of insects evolved so far.

So, we may think of ourselves
as being special,

but, in reality,
insects are the most successful

animal group
that�s ever evolved.

NARRATOR:
In the more than 400 million years that insects are believed

to have existed, no bug
has thrived more than the ant.

KRITSKY:
Ants are among the most successful animal groups

that we see
on the face of the Earth.

One out of every four
individual animals

on the face of the Earth
is an ant.

Ants are incredible insects,

and they�re highly evolved.

NARRATOR:
In size and appearance,

ants and humans
could not be more different.

But interestingly,
in many ways these tiny bugs are

more like us than any other
creature in the animal kingdom.

KRITSKY:
Ants have a social system where they have a division of labor.

You have a reproductive queen,

you have males that
will mate with the queen.

You have sub-reproductives
that can

leave the colony
and start new colonies.

Then you�ve got
a series of workers.

And then there are specialized
workers that are soldiers

that can actually protect the
colony if they�re under attack.

So, they�re rather intriguing

with regard to their behavior.

NARRATOR:
But how is it that the behavior of ants

mirrors that of humans
in so many ways?

Is it simply coincidence?

Or could ants and humans be more
closely related than we think?

Ancient Greece.

In both Homer�s Iliad
and Ovid�s Metamorphoses,

there is a group of warriors
known as the Myrmidon,

who are born
of mysterious origins.

According to the Ovid,
King Aeacus of Aegina pleads

with the god Zeus to repopulate
his plague-ravaged country.

That night,
he dreams that ants fall

from the branch of a tree
and turn into men.

He awakes the next morning

to find his dream has come true.

The story of the Myrmidons
is that they were ants

made into warriors.

They were said to have
fought with Achilles at Troy,

and they were very effective.

MIKE BARA:
The descriptions of the ant people are very, very accurate

in terms of the behavior
of the insect, the ant itself.

They were very loyal,
they moved together as one,

almost in a hive mentality.

KRITSKY:
The Myrmidons were thought to be the first to develop ships,

and to sail
under their own power.

This ability to be
organized like an army

comes from ants marching
in a nice, linear fashion.

The idea about
being the first to sail

comes from
the ant�s ability to raft.

Ants will get on the surface
tension of water and lock legs.

Other ants will climb on top
and this little mound of ants

will float around
on the surface of water.

In the case of the Myrmidons,
these were fierce warriors.

They were well trained, they
were organized, just like ants.

These descriptions are so
vivid and so accurate in terms

of the ants� behavior that
what Zeus seems to have done

is actually some sort of
genetic crossbreeding between

humans and insects in order to
create this army of ant people.

You�re dealing with
an extremely advanced technology

that really, really understands
how to use genetic manipulation

to create new species.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that the Myrmidons depicted

in the ancient Greek stories
were actually

some type of ant
and human hybrid,

manufactured by an alien being?

Ancient astronaut theorists
claim further evidence that ants

may have a connection
to extraterrestrials

can be found in stories
throughout numerous cultures.

In the Muslim holy book,
the Koran,

there is a story of ants
speaking like humans.

In parts of Africa,
ants are considered to be

the messengers of the gods.

And Native American tribes like
the Hopi and Zuni tell stories

of the ant people who
emerge from beneath the Earth.

The ant people is
a very interesting subject

when it comes to looking
at the Hopi belief system.

Ant people, number one,
are caretakers of the earth.

NARRATOR:
Unlike the Myrmidons of Greek mythology, the ant people

of the Native American stories
don�t just behave like ants,

they resemble them as well.

They have spindly arms,
they have antenna.

They have elongated skulls.

These are clearly a merging

of the human and the insect.

They are not simply
a fable or a parable.

TSOUKALOS:
If one explores the question

of insectoid alien life,

then my question is why not?

Because if life is pervasive
throughout the entire universe,

then that life comes in
all shape, size and color.

So, the idea that insectoid
aliens might exist

is very possible to me.

However, I think
the idea came from

our ancestors witnessing
physical features

that made them look like ants,

or could be
best described as ants.

WILCOCK:
If we look at the face of an ant,

we look at the head
of an ant,

we see large, buggy eyes,

widely spaced on the face,

and a large head.

So, this could be
an illustration of people

seeing beings like
what we now call the Greys,

and associating it
with something

that�s familiar to them.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that the ant people that appear

in Native American mythology
were really Grey aliens?

Or might they even be
human-insect hybrids

engineered
by otherworldly beings?

Perhaps the answer can be
found in the accounts of

those who claim
to have been victims

of alien abductions

by insect-like creatures.

[music playing]

NARRATOR:
The Kalahari Desert, South Africa.

The indigenous people
of this area, called the San,

represent one of the oldest
existing populations on Earth,

with a culture that dates back
approximately 80,000 years.

According to the origin story
of this ancient society,

the first humans were created
not by traditional gods

but by insects.

According to the San people,

the origin of humans
lies with the praying mantis.

There once was a bee
who was asked

by a praying mantis to carry him

across a raging river.

And the bee did so.

He carried
the praying mantis across

the river
and deposited him on a leaf.

But before leaving,
the exhausted bee left an egg

inside the praying mantis,
and that egg is

the source of all human beings.

NARRATOR:
But where did the San people get the idea

that humans were created
by a praying mantis?

Curiously, the San tradition
also holds that a praying mantis

gave early humans
the gifts of language and fire.

And one of their
most important gods, Cagn,

the creator of the world,
often took the form of a mantis.

The San people of South Africa
had a fascinating theology.

Their god was known as Cagn,
and Cagn was a trickster god.

He could shapeshift

and appear in a number
of different forms...

...but was very fond of
appearing as a praying mantis.

BARA:
Cagn has a lot of struggles on the planet Earth.

There were many
wars that were fought,

and eventually, he left
the Earth by means of

going up into the sky.

DAVID CHILDRESS:
Another interesting thing about Cagn

is that it�s said
that he created the Moon.

And the San people
do their planting because

of phases of the moon.

So, you�ve got to wonder,

is this praying mantis
extraterrestrial god

just some mythical figure

or is he really a representation

of some kind
of real praying mantis

insectoid alien
that�s come to Earth?

NARRATOR:
Could the prominence of the praying mantis

in San mythology suggest
that their ancestors

actually encountered such beings
in the distant past?

Although most anthropologists
regard these stories as fables,

some ancient astronaut theorists
find it curious

that the praying mantis is also

a recurring image
in reports of alien abduction.

Covina, California. 1963.

In this small farming town

on the outskirts of Los Angeles,

17-year-old Linda Porter
awakens

to find herself aboard
a strange craft.

From what she is able
to recall later under hypnosis,

a small creature that appeared
to be a Grey alien

led her towards
a light-filled room,

where she encountered another
type of being-- one much taller

and with the features
of a praying mantis.

O�BRIEN:
Very stand-alone, very odd case.

The fact that this occurred
in 1963 is very intriguing

because it�s before
the abduction phenomenon

became popularized.

There have been depictions
throughout various

abduction scenarios
that include the Grey aliens...

...and this larger,
tall "insectesoid" being,

very praying mantis-like.

NARRATOR:
Linda Porter claims that

throughout her teens and 20s,

she experienced numerous

other encounters
with these alien beings.

But it wasn�t until
the age of 45 that she

finally reached out
to investigative journalist

Linda Moulton Howe
to tell her story.

I received a letter,
carefully written,

from Linda Porter.

And this led up to her sending
me a whole lot of drawings.

NARRATOR:
These drawings appear in Linda Moulton Howe�s book

Glimpses of Other Realities.

One of the drawings
was of a praying mantis

about eight feet tall

in a room that was very odd,

had a cylindrical object
and sparkles of light.

O�BRIEN:
There have been quite a number of different

types of aliens seen,
allegedly, by contactees.

But the ones that are
really peculiar and very rare

are these very scary,
skinny, large,

basically intelligent insects
that have been reported.

People have drawn parallels
between the aliens that are

reported on board UFOs
and insects, particularly bees.

The Greys, for instance,
could be equated

in some way to the drone
or the worker bee.

The so-called
praying mantis-type

could be seen,
perhaps, as the queen bee--

larger than the others,
more intelligent.

They�re taller than a person,
eight or even nine feet tall.

And the Grey aliens
may handle the person

who�s being abducted,
but in the background,

there�s this praying mantis-type

that seems to be
calling the shots.

NARRATOR:
According to Porter, she is part of a larger experiment,

one in which these aliens
appear concerned with her soul.

HOWE:
She said whatever we humans are,

we have an animus, a soul

that is mysterious to them,

and they are trying to find out

where does the soul spirit go

at the moment of death,

and that the non-humans

were studying the recycling

of the souls
in and out of containers.

NICK REDFERN:
She talked about being shown three cylinders.

Contained in each cylinder
was a human being

in kind of, like, a state
of suspended animation.

HOWE:
Linda Porter came away from her

two or three decades
of interaction with these

non-humans,
including the, at first,

terrifying praying mantis,

that these are extraterrestrial,

biological entities

that have taken a deep interest
in the evolution

of life-forms here,

that they have manipulated DNA

in already-evolving primates,

that they have created a whole

series of different models.

NARRATOR:
Might the numerous accounts of mantis-like beings

reported by alleged
alien abduction victims,

along with the ancient San story
of a praying mantis god

be evidence
that an otherworldly race

of insectoids really does exist?

If so, perhaps such beings
are not limited only

to the creatures
that walk the Earth.

NARRATOR:
March 2018. A scientific paper

sparks a sensation in the press.

In it, a team of 33 scientists,

including
Dr. Chandra Wickramasinghe,

claim that octopuses possess
extraterrestrial DNA.

What we find in the octopus
genome is just almost uncanny.

It has something like
50,000 genes.

Compare that with the human,

which has something like
25,000 genes.

So, the octopus,
in many ways, appears

to be more complex
than the human.

Now, how did this complexity
manifest itself?

There�s ample evidence
to suggest

that it came from outside.

CHILDRESS:
As scientists study octopi, they�re amazed at

what they�re finding,
and they�re not seeing

a connection to some ancestor
of the octopi.

It�s like these creatures
were brought here,

in their entirety,
and put into our oceans.

KIRSTEN FISHER:
The octopus is a really fascinating organism.

The octopus� brain,
instead of just being centered

in its head like ours,
is actually distributed.

There are these brains
in their arms,

as well as the essential brain
in their head.

An octopus can certainly
manipulate its environment.

It builds its own homes
by piling rocks

and shells on top of it.

FISHER:
Octopuses are very adept at

camouflaging themselves
by changing their color to that

of their surroundings
really, really quickly.

I mean, almost it looks
instantaneous to us.

It can also manipulate its body

into different shapes
to imitate other animals.

NARRATOR:
Some scientists have speculated that, in the absence

of humans,
the animal best suited

to evolve into the dominant
species on the planet

is not another primate
but the octopus.

And there is one ability
in particular

that suggests the octopus
could one day rule the Earth:

it can edit
its own genetic code.

ILIFFE:
DNA, the double helix,

is like a zipper.

The zipper can be unzipped,

and then another molecule
is created

called RNA.

RNA transfers the information

from DNA to proteins.

So, the octopus have
the amazing ability to edit

their RNA, thus,
they can make new proteins.

NARRATOR:
Although this ability isn�t fully understood,

it suggests that the octopus

can rapidly adapt
to its environment

far faster than other creatures.

FISHER:
What RNA editing does is, essentially,

mediated by changes
in the environment,

usually temperature,
for example.

NARRATOR:
Camouflaging skin?

Tool use?

The ability to edit
its own genetic code?

Is it possible that this
extraordinary creature,

with three hearts
and nine brains,

is not from Earth?

Perhaps evidence can be found
by examining mythological

accounts from across
the ancient world.

All the way round the world,
there are traditions

to do with a creator god
in the form of an octopus.

For instance, in ancient Crete,

there are numerous

images and paintings
of an octopus

with bizarre large eyes.

In Ecuador,
at a place called "Mantas,"

were these bas-relief carvings

of this bizarre octopus deity.

We have to ask ourselves
is it possible that the ancients

were aware that

the octopus is truly alien
to this planet?

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that the octopus is related to a race

of extraterrestrials
that visited Earth

thousands of years ago?

Or did our ancestors
encounter intelligent creatures

that were the result
of alien experimentation?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

in the accounts
of elusive sea monsters

that mysteriously turn up
in multiple parts of the world.

Lake Champlain. July 5th, 1977.

While taking a drive along
the eastern shore just north

of St. Albans, Vermont,
Sandra and Anthony Mansi

pull over to let their
two children play in the lake.

As they begin to wade in,

Sandra notices
a disturbance in the water

and then something shocking.

And I�m watching out there,
and all of a sudden,

I could see turbulence.

Something broke
the surface of the water.

And it broke
the surface like this,

right here, in the back
of the head and the neck.

I went down,
and that�s when it turned

to look over its back,

and I snapped the photograph.

NARRATOR:
The photograph that Sandra Mansi took that day

is considered by many
to be definitive evidence

that Lake Champlain
is home to a monster.

Lake Champlain is named
for the French explorer

Samuel de Champlain,
and in 1609,

he claimed that he saw
a strange creature emerging

from the waters
while on an expedition.

This sighting was just
the first of hundreds,

and for many who believe
the stories are true,

Sandra Mansi�s photograph
is the ultimate proof

that Champ really exists.

In 1981, the famous photo

was submitted for authentication

to the Optical Sciences Center
at the University of Arizona.

The findings
from the optical college

in Arizona was that this
was an authentic photograph.

It was not tampered.
It was genuine.

NARRATOR:
Curiously, there have been sightings

of very similar creatures
reported all over the world,

like Cressie and Ogopogo
in Canada,

the Japanese sea monster Issie,

Mokele-mbembe sighted
off the west coast of Africa,

and the Loch Ness Monster
in Scotland.

KEN GERHARD:
One of the most compelling aspects of the mystery

is that descriptions
are very similar.

And we�re talking about
decades of sightings,

numbering in the thousands.

To me, this indicates that
we�re dealing with variations of

the exact same species here,
a breeding population worldwide.

NARRATOR:
Could the fact that stories of similar sea monsters

are told throughout the world

be evidence that these
strange creatures really exist?

And if so, just what are they?

According to
ancient astronaut theorists,

there is evidence
that they may have

extraterrestrial origins.

HENRY:
The story of the Loch Ness Monster

reminds me of a,
of a UFO sighting that happened

north of Nashville
back in the �90s.

A man hears the sound of rain
beating down on the roof,

and he goes outside, and
it�s a perfectly clear night.

And he looks up in the sky,
and he sees a giant UFO that�s

firing at a creature on his deck

that looks like, he calls it
the one-footed snorkel monster

because it looked like an
elephant�s trunk with one foot.

In his police report,
the man described

how the snorkel monster
spun itself into

a vortex or a ball of light
and disappeared.

One wonders if this is evidence
of a portal, that this

creature was opening up,

and, in fact, if this creature
and the Loch Ness Monster

are part of the same family
of creatures

that travel the world through
these portals or gateways.

NARRATOR:
Could sea creatures, like Champ and the Loch Ness Monster,

really be ultra-dimensional
entities that can travel through

portals allowing them
to elude capture?

Some ancient astronaut
theorists say yes,

and suggest that similar
accounts of creatures from other

dimensions can be found
in the formidable eyewitness

encounters with the mysterious
beast known as...

Bigfoot.

[music playing]

NARRATOR:
On the Menlung Glacier, at an altitude of

18,000 feet, British explorers

Eric Shipton and Michael Ward

came across a mile-long trail
of unusual footprints.

Not expecting to find humans
in this remote

corner of the mountain,
the climbers examined

the prints to determine
what made them.

To their surprise,
the footprints were in the shape

of a large, human-like foot,

one roughly twice
the normal size.

The footprints suggest that,
in fact,

we�re dealing
with a large primate.

One that shares with us the...
not only the habit

of walking on two legs,
but has some

superficial resemblance
in its foot to our footprints.

Uh, only much larger scale,
but differ from the other

great apes in the lack
of a divergent big toe,

suggesting they�re adapted
to a wholly

terrestrial environment,
living on the ground.

NARRATOR:
Photographs brought back from the expedition

launched a media sensation,

and marked the beginning
of the Bigfoot phenomena.

But where do these giant
footprints come from?

Could they be a hoax?

Or is there some
mysterious unknown creature

living in the remote wilderness?

Since the Mt. Everest discovery,
there have been numerous

sightings of large ape-like
creatures on every continent,

many clustered in
the Pacific Northwest area

of the United States,
including Mount Shasta

in Northern California.

In 1979, I was up on the side

of Mount Shasta,
on the foothills,

uh, trying to get to
the base of the mountain.

It was so dense and so tough.

As we�re standing there,
we heard this crashing sound.

Simultaneously,
we smelled this awful smell,

I mean, it was foul.

But what was horrifying
was whatever it was

was coming at us
through this impenetrable hedge.

And then we heard the most
blood-curdling combination

of an elephant, uh, trumpeting,

a lion roaring.

(creature roaring)

O�BRIEN:
And it was so loud it bounced off the foothills

two miles away.

That was probably
the most terrified I�ve

ever been in my life,
and-and the next thing I knew,

we were headed down the mountain
almost skidding off corners.

HOWE:
I had heard from sheriffs

about a rancher in Montana
who had gone out to go hunting.

Comes around a ridge,
has an eight-foot-tall,

reddish-brown, primate-looking,

long-haired creature
standing right in front of him.

Picks up a .30-06
and just fires.

And the creature disappeared
in a flash of light.

If the Sasquatch,

when a bullet is shot at it,

disappears in a flash of light,

then what in the world
are we dealing with?

And what do they want?

NARRATOR:
Could the sheriff�s description

of a being that disappeared
in a flash of light

be evidence of an encounter
with an interdimensional entity?

Although mainstream
scientists consider

the mysterious beast as no more
than a modern-day myth,

the number of
Bigfoot sightings reported

and photographed
continues to steadily increase.

Witnesses generally describe
the creatures as huge,

hairy, primate-like beings

that stand erect on two feet.

They have a human-like face
and large teeth.

According to
the recorded accounts,

the encounters often accompany
a high-pitched cry

or an intense sulfur-like smell.

They range in size
from, perhaps,

six feet to ten feet tall.

Coloration,
the most common description

is of a dark brown fur.

Their names vary from location,

uh, but you have, of course,
in America, Bigfoot,

otherwise known as Sasquatch
in the Pacific Northwest.

Down in Florida,
he�s known as the skunk ape.

Down in Australia,
we have the Yowie.

NARRATOR:
But if a Bigfoot creature really does exist,

how has it remained so elusive?

Researchers point out
that accounts of giant,

human-like beasts
date back thousands of years.

MAGLIOCCO:
Throughout ancient history,

we have a number of legends
about giants, about wild men,

about hairy beasts that live
at the edge of civilization.

These were humans,
you know, people, who were,

however, wild, they were hairy,

they didn�t wear clothes,
they lived in the woods,

and yet, in other ways,
they had special powers.

All cultures across the world,
whether it�s South America,

native American Indians, Europe,

Russia, China, Tibet,
Australia--

all these nations
have legends and tales

of giant, hairy, wild men.

Now, you know, people say,

"Well, legends
are just legends,"

but when you have cultures
and countries separated

by oceans all talking about
very similar things,

to me, this does suggest that,
in times past,

these things
were very, very prevalent

and widespread across the world.

NARRATOR:
Similar stories emerged much later

with Viking explorer
Leif Erikson,

who, in the tenth century A.D.,

wrote of "horrible, ugly,
hairy creatures with dark eyes."

Leif Erikson was familiar
with the different

types of tribes
of an indigenous people.

Now, he spoke
very specifically about

these large, hairy
creatures with dark eyes

and a very specific scent
that they had.

It stood out from all
the other cultures that they

interacted with on their travels
into the New World.

Could these
have been the Sasquatch

that we speak of today?
Very possibly.

NARRATOR:
Could all these similar accounts found

throughout history
and around the world

be proof that Bigfoot
is more than just myth?

And is there any evidence
that its origins lie

not on Earth but in the stars?

REDFERN:
There are a number of cases on record where

Bigfoot is being seen
in the same

precise timeframe as
UFO activities being reported.

For example,
there was a-a big wave of UFO

activity in Pennsylvania
in the early 1970s,

and people
were actually reporting

these large, shadowy, lumbering,

ape-like creatures
walking out of the woods.

In Texas, there�s a road known
locally as Ghost Light Road.

And it�s called Ghost Light Road

because people see
these weird balls of light

flying through the woods.

Coincidentally,
people also have reported

huge numbers of Bigfoot

sight reports in these
very same woods.

Bigfoot are intelligent,

they�re very, very secretive
and very, very hidden.

They�re able to skirt
around civilization.

Perhaps they do have some sort
of extra abilities

that allow them to do this,
and if so,

where did those abilities
come from?

We can�t factor out
that, possibly,

Bigfoot are somehow
a-an extraterrestrial species.

HOWE:
Back in 1980,

I get a letter from a man
up in Snohomish, Washington,

famous for the Sasquatch
or Bigfoot sightings...

...who said, "I was out
at my father�s place...

"...and I hear a sound
in the trees

as if wind has come in."

With the trees starting to move
comes this silver disc.

And then he sees a beam
that comes down to the ground.

In the beam is a tall,
shaggy, primate-looking--

he said it looked like
a gorilla--

comes down to the bottom,

and the tall creature walks by
as if he doesn�t exist.

NARRATOR:
If Bigfoot creatures are aligned with extraterrestrials,

as some ancient astronaut
theorists believe,

could these strange beings be
far more advanced than we think?

Perhaps further clues
can be found by examining

reported sightings
of other elusive creatures

and the mysterious men
who protect them.

[music playing]

NARRATOR:
February, 2013.

Analyzing data gathered by
NASA�s Kepler space telescope,

astronomers at
the Harvard-Smithsonian Center

for Astrophysics announce
that six percent of all

red dwarf stars have habitable,
Earth-like planets.

Because red dwarf stars
burn much longer than our sun,

the discovery
raises the possibility

that life on these planets
could be much older

and much different
than life on Earth.

The environment plays
a really pivotal role

in sort of the direction, um,
that organisms evolve,

and so you can imagine
that evolution played out

on a different planet

might follow the same types
of rules, but have completely

different end products, and so
it�d look completely different.

WARD:
Just go to any other star with planets around it.

Intelligence is going to happen
because of crises.

It�s going to happen
because you can only survive

with that intelligence,
but it could be from a reptile.

That we were reptile equivalent.
It could be from a quadruped.

It might be from
a mollusk-like creature.

The cause is probably
gonna be the same.

The end result, anatomically,
totally different.

HENRY:
There could be a myriad of different forms that intelligent

life takes
throughout the cosmos.

When we look
to the earthly record of

otherworldly beings
that have visited Earth,

they exhibit
different characteristics.

They have bird heads,
dog heads, reptilian-type forms.

It�s possible that these are
the forms that these beings take

on their home planet,
and they might even co-exist

with beings that are
even different from them.

Within the field
of ufology there are

multiple types
of aliens reported.

This includes winged humanoids,

like Mothman,
the Houston Batman.

It also includes
so-called insectoids, which,

as their names suggest,
they look like large insects.

And then we have the reptilians,
bipedal reptile-type creatures.

I think it�s highly possible
that they�ve adapted

and developed physically
in those fashions

in relation to the conditions
on their relative home planets.

I think there are all kinds
of creatures with

intelligence in this universe
that would shock us.

I think your environment
determines

what you�re going to end up
looking like, eventually.

I think after time,
that complexity of who you are

physically adapts
to what that planet is.

WILCOCK:
If you look at some of the Sumerian illustrations,

you see an avian bird head

on top of a very strong
human body.

You look on the Egyptian
paintings, and you have a human

with an elongated skull
and very green skin.

And there is
a one-to-one correlation

between modern sightings that
people are reporting,

both from abduction
contact experiences,

as well as what we hear from

insider testimony
and what we see

in the most ancient records
of contact with the gods.

It�s the same people.
They never really left.

NARRATOR:
Could there be a connection between the strange-looking gods

depicted by
ancient civilizations

and these present-day encounters
with extraterrestrials?

And might further clues be found
in the curious sightings

of an alleged otherworldly
creature known as the Mothman?

Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

November 15, 1966.

Two young couples
were driving down

a dark road outside of town.

As they passed by
an old building,

they were startled
by a frightening sight.

They claimed to have seen

a large, uh, winged creature,

Six to seven foot tall, gray
in color and two large red eyes.

They said this creature
flew over their car

and followed them
back into town.

That was the beginning
of the Mothman sightings.

NARRATOR:
The young couples� harrowing account was picked up

by the local press
and incited panic across town.

The legend
of the Mothman was born,

and dozens of encounters
with the winged monster

would be reported
over the next year.

There were over
a hundred reported sightings

to the local authorities.

You had some people who,
you know,

claimed to have seen it while
driving in their car, you had,

uh, other people seeing it
in their front yard.

NARRATOR:
For the people of Point Pleasant, the mystery

of the Mothman
persists to this day.

Where did this monster
come from?

Why did it suddenly appear
in this small town?

And perhaps most curious of all,
why were the first Mothman

sightings followed by a visit
from the men in black?

BARA:
Some people think he was a being from another world.

The supporting evidence of that
is the fact that multiple

witnesses who saw the Mothman
were actually intimidated

by what can now be described
as men in black.

Men in black typically are only
associated with UFO cases.

REDFERN:
People described men in black

as looking like cadavers.

They looked like
pale-faced zombies

dressed in black suits
with black fedoras.

DOLAN:
I interviewed Mothman witnesses who did

have men in black experiences.

This was 40 years
after the fact at the time,

and they were still clearly
traumatized by the event.

I had no reason to disbelieve
these people. None whatsoever.

NARRATOR:
One resident who claimed to have been visited

by the men in black
was Mary Hyre,

a local journalist who reported
on the Mothman sightings

for the Point Pleasant Register
and The Athens Messenger.

Mary Hyre was just
a normal, legitimate

journalist investigating your
average stories around town,

and then she was
suddenly plunged into

this issue
involving the Mothman.

NARRATOR:
Mary Hyre had begun investigating

the mysterious incidents
in and around Point Pleasant

with a New York-based UFO
researcher named John Keel.

REDFERN:
John Keel heard about the Mothman story

and decided,
"I�m gonna go up there,

I�m gonna see what�s going on."

And when he did so,
he hooked up with Mary Hyre.

And the two of them
sort of became

like the Mulder and Scully
of that era and secured

a great deal of information,
interviewed a lot of people.

NARRATOR:
These investigations would eventually lead to the popular

book and later Hollywood film
The Mothman Prophecies.

But not everyone was pleased
with the information Mary Hyre

and John Keel were gleaning from
the public about the Mothman.

Mary Hyre was visited
by men in black,

uh, who told her to stop
writing about the Mothman

and all these
strange encounters.

Stop writing about this.

You don�t want
to be involved in this.

This is a classic example

of the men in black not just
terrorizing and threatening

UFO witnesses,
but also journalists as well.

NARRATOR:
Was this just a case of the men in black

attempting to cover up
a potential alien encounter?

Or might the fact
that numerous witnesses

reported being visited

and threatened by these
mysterious characters

indicate that they
were protecting

an even bigger secret?

[music playing]

NARRATOR:
Eight miles north of Point Pleasant

is the McClintic
Wildlife Management Area,

a 3,600-acre wilderness
known to locals

as "the TNT area."

This former World War II
military installation

is believed by many to be
the home of the Mothman.

The reason it�s called
the TNT area is because they

manufactured explosives
and TNT for the war effort.

When the war ended in 1945,
the government basically just

deserted that area there.

That�s where the first
Mothman sighting took place.

And then
you had some people who,

you know,
claimed to have seen it

in the TNT area near some
of the vacant buildings.

NARRATOR:
Within days of the first Mothman sighting in 1966,

residents of Point Pleasant
were surprised

by another unexpected visitor

at the TNT area:
the U.S. military.

According to reports
from locals,

they had barricaded the site

and swiftly turned away
anyone who approached it.

While no explanation was

ever given for the military�s

sudden arrival,
some researchers believe that

the increased security was used
to conceal

an otherworldly hybrid
experiment gone awry.

And some claim that these types
of animal experiments on Earth

have been going on
for thousands of years.

Mosul, Iraq.

1845.

While excavating
the ancient ruins

of the Assyrian
capital city of Nimrud,

famed English archaeologist
Austen Henry Layard

unearths an amazing stone

covered with detailed carvings.

Dating to 825 B.C.,
the black limestone obelisk

commemorates the deeds
of King Shalmaneser III.

Curiously, depicted alongside

his military conquests
and various offerings

made to him are strange,
hybrid creatures.

The Black Obelisk of
Shalmaneser III is incredibly

fascinating because, as far
as hybrid beings are concerned,

what we have here
are creatures half-animal,

half-human,
some with a-a human head

with, then, an animal body.

And what�s so interesting
is the fact

that the artist was very clear
in depicting something,

and that is that some
of these creatures are held

with a rope and of one
even with a chain.

Now, did these creatures

actually walk around
here on Earth?

And, frankly,
I would not be surprised

if that�s what happened because

the basic tenet of the
ancient astronaut theory is

manipulation artificially
of genetic material.

NARRATOR:
Hybrid creatures abound in mythological traditions

all over the world,

and in many cases,
they are part-human.

The ancient Greeks
wrote about the centaur,

half-human, half-horse.

In Hindu mythology,
the naga are often depicted

as serpentine creatures
with human heads,

while the Egyptian god Horus has
a falcon head and a human body.

Even in the Koran, the flying
horse that was said to have

flown Muhammad from Mecca
to Jerusalem had a human face.

ERICH VON D�NIKEN:
By natural evolution,

hybrids can never have existed.

If hybrids existed,
then there must be

genetical design behind it.

Our ancestor,
in Egypt or elsewhere,

had no genetical designs,
but we had the hybrids.

You can prove it in
the literature,

you can prove it
in the sculptures,

which still exist worldwide,
especially in Egypt.

The question which remains is

if extraterrestrials have
made hybrids, why? What for?

NARRATOR:
Could the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

and countless other depictions
around the world

be a physical record
that hybrids have existed

throughout history?

And if so, is there an alien

hybridization project that

continues to be carried out
even today?

Perhaps further clues
can be found by examining

our own human experiments.

Moscow, the Soviet Union.

February 1954.

At the Institute of Experimental
Clinical Surgery,

organ transplantation pioneer

Vladimir Demikhov conducts
a potentially groundbreaking

and highly controversial
experiment.

He transplants a dog�s head
onto the torso of another dog,

using vascular connections
to the host dog�s heart.

The procedure is a success,

and over the next five years,

Demikhov performs
several more head transplants.

As far as these experiments
are concerned,

what they demonstrated
was that scientists

now had the potential
to quite literally play God.

By mixing animal DNA, creating,

if you like, sort of chimeras.

NARRATOR:
Looking back on Demikhov�s efforts

more than 50 years later,

they seem like the work
of a mad scientist.

But surgeons today
have gone even further.

In an attempt
to prolong human life,

they have begun merging animals

with humans.

In 2003, Chinese scientist
Hui Zhen Sheng

fused human cells
with rabbit eggs,

resulting in the first
human-animal hybrids

created through
genetic engineering.

In 2004, researchers
at Minnesota�s Mayo Clinic

created pigs with human blood
flowing through their bodies.

And in recent years,

some scientists
have even proposed

that, building upon
Vladimir Demikhov�s

experiments with dogs,

transplants of human heads
may soon become a reality.

But for ancient
astronaut theorists,

all of these animal-human
hybrid experiments

are nothing new.

In fact, they are eerily
reminiscent of the depictions

of hybrid creatures found on
numerous ancient carvings,

like those on the obelisk
of King Shalmaneser III,

that seem to show stitches
around the necks

of what appear to be
human-faced dogs.

I sometimes wonder
if what we�re doing now

was also done tens and tens
of thousands of years ago,

in different parts of the world,

and possibly that could�ve
led to the creation

of these multiple
different types of early humans.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that ancient depictions of hybrid creatures

provide evidence that
thousands of years ago,

extraterrestrials performed
genetic experiments

similar to those being conducted
by scientists today?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest it�s even possible

that alien hybrids
have existed on Earth

for thousands of years,

completely undetected.

[music playing]

Thousand Oaks, California.

May, 2017.

Ancient astronaut theorist
Giorgio Tsoukalos

visits the Ventura BioCenter

to examine one of Earth�s
most curious creatures:

the bombardier beetle.

This little bug
is a marvel of evolution

or, some say,
intelligent design.

- Peter, good to see you.
- Giorgio, nice to see you.

- How are you? And this is Tom.
- All right.

- Hi. Nice to meet you.
- Hello, Tom.

Pleasure. How�s it going?

Tom is our insect wrangler,

who�s gonna help us
set up a demonstration

on one of the coolest animals
on Earth, the bombardier beetle.

That�s fantastic,
because, about a year ago,

Erich von D�niken gave me
his latest manuscript

for his newest book.

And we all know that
there are these multiple

creatures that seem to defy
Darwinian evolution.

And one creature that
jumped out at me that

I hadn�t heard before
was this beetle right here.

WARD:
This beetle is fascinating from an evolutionary

point of view, in fact,

it�s been used by many people
to suggest that evolution

doesn�t work at all,
and the reason is

the enormous complexity
of this thing.

This animal
is a chemical warrior.

It�s able to shoot out
boiling-hot streams

of a really toxic liquid

that has the same sort of mix
as rocket fuel.

- TSOUKALOS: That�s amazing.
- WARD: And it can shoot

over 500 of these bursts
per second.

- Wow.
- WARD: But the process happens

so fast, it�s almost
in the blink of an eye.

So, we have a high-speed
camera over here

that can shoot
about 2,500 frames

per second,
and with that camera,

we can slow down this process,

and in seeing that process,

we can work out
the exact sequence of events.

So, let�s set this up with Tom
and watch this take place.

Let�s do it.

Okay, guys, so what I�ve got is

some, uh, non-toxic,
very mild adhesive,

and I�m just gonna touch it
to the beetle�s back,

and that will suspend him
in the air.

We�re gonna give him
a little bit

of stimulation
with these forceps.

Simulates the predator
and makes him feel defensive.

There it was.

NARRATOR:
While it is almost imperceptible to the naked eye,

with the high-speed camera,

the beetle can be seen
blasting rapid-fire streams

of deadly chemicals directed
at any would-be predator.

- TSOUKALOS: Oh, wow! How cool.
- WARD: There it goes!

- Projected it in that
particular direction. - Right.

You can actually see
the squirts,

the mist, the vapor.

The appendage which allows this
to happen can rotate.

It can move back and forth,
so it can shoot

this in lots
of different directions.

Yeah, this is really awesome.

NARRATOR:
Dr. Ward has set up a computer-generated model

of the bombardier beetle
to show Giorgio the incredible

process that is taking place
inside its body.

You�ve got the organs
that produce the chemicals,

and two separate
chemicals are being made.

We�ve got this hydroquinone,

which is actually a makeup
of the organics of the creature.

It�s part of his
external skeleton.

The second one
is a chemical called

hydrogen peroxide,
which is rocket fuel.

Now, if we combine these two
together in a chamber,

what we can do is build
this chemical material

that�s gonna get really hot
and blast out the back

of the bug.
So, one of the coolest things

about this whole system,
it�s got a one-way valve.

Once this chemical concoction

that�s getting really hot
starts reacting,

the last thing you want
is having it blast back

into the interior of your body,

so it can direct it,
squirts out this super-hot,

super-toxic material
into that predator�s face.

TSOUKALOS: And one has to wonder

what was
the evolutionary process

of this beetle
for that defense mechanism

to even exist?

WARD:
Yeah, that�s the critical question.

If evolution takes place
step-by-step,

what�s the intermediate?

How does this thing
not blow itself up

as it�s experimenting
through time?

How do you go from just
a garden-variety beetle

- to a super beetle like this?
- Mm-hmm.

TSOUKALOS:
One has to wonder

if this creature, perhaps,

was brought here
in its finished form

or at least the genetic material

for this creature came here
as a finished product.

NARRATOR:
Could the physiology of the bombardier beetle

be proof that there
are animals on this planet

of extraterrestrial design?

The gasses
that the beetle emits can

burn the skin of humans,
and if the mechanism it holds

within its body was constructed
on a larger scale,

it could be a very deadly
chemical weapon.

Is it possible
that aliens placed certain

creatures on this planet
so that humans can

learn from them
and recreate their abilities?

FISHER:
Throughout the animal kingdom, there are other

organisms that also have
tremendous abilities.

The dung beetle
is able to pull upwards

of 1,100 times its bodyweight.

The mantis shrimp,
they can see things like

polarized light, UV,

infrared light.

Squids and octopus

basically change
their-their body coloration

and the patterns and even
the texture of their skin

as they move across
different substrates,

which is just incredible.

NARRATOR:
Many advances in human technology

have been inspired
by the animal world,

an approach scientists
refer to as biomimicry.

Airplanes were designed
to imitate

the winged flight of birds.

Military camouflage evolved
out of observing the way squid,

octopuses,
and chameleons take on

the appearance
of their surroundings.

Sonar used in the navigation of
submarines and ships is a skill

taken from dolphins, whales,

and bats who emit sound waves

to locate
both prey and predators.

WARD:
We have stolen

so many attributes of animals

in the past
for our own technologies.

We�re taking on this worldview
of what an animal can do

and using technology
to rebuild it.

WILCOCK:
We�re taking clues from the natural world

in order to develop
technologies.

This may be part of a greater
hidden extraterrestrial

initiative, perhaps
for a seeding

of a technological
and human revolution

that we�re just starting
to see now.

NARRATOR:
Could extraterrestrial beings have intended for mankind

to study the other
animals of Earth

in order to advance
our technology,

as ancient astronaut
theorists suggest?

And if so,
is this the continuation

of an experiment that they have
been conducting with different

life-forms on the planet
for thousands of years?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest that

such experimentation
continues to this day,

but that it is now
being directed by humans.

NARRATOR:
Rapallo, Italy. 1988.

While studying marine life
off the coast of Italy,

German biology student
Christian Sommer

discovers
a microscopic species

with an incredible ability:

it never dies.

The animal, a jellyfish
called Turritopsis dohrnii,

repeatedly reverts back
to its earliest polyp state

and begins its life cycle
over and over again.

WILCOCK:
Now, there�s something strange going on here.

There�s something that
doesn�t appear to happen

in any other life-form
that we�ve ever identified

in the millions
and millions of different

creatures that live on Earth.

There is no theoretical limit
to how much

this creature is able
to recycle itself.

That completely defies
all known scientific laws

of biology as we now see them.

NARRATOR:
Scientists have nicknamed the species

the "immortal jellyfish,"
and are attempting to unlock

its biological secrets
in the hopes that they may hold

the key to increasing
the lifespan of humans.

But how did
such an incredible creature

come to exist
in the first place?

Ancient astronaut theorists
believe that extraterrestrials

may still be seeding
our planet with new life-forms

to help direct the path
of mankind�s evolution.

Is it also possible that
what we�re looking at is

a series of ETs that
might�ve been visiting Earth

for hundreds
of thousands of years

and have been
systematically dropping off

some of their favorite creatures
from other biological worlds

very similar to our own that
have certain special ingredients

so that once we reached
a certain level of technology,

we could adapt those qualities
into our own life?

NARRATOR:
Is humanity still under the influence of animals

introduced to Earth
by otherworldly beings?

Ancient astronaut
theorists say yes

and suggest that we
are beginning to become

like our alien ancestors,

playing a hand in
the evolution of life on Earth.

WARD:
One of the cutting edges of biology now is

we are taking human stem cells,
putting them

into embryos of animals,

and then hoping that it
becomes a human organ itself.

So, this is a lot
of experimentation.

We can take a DNA molecule
within an animal

and knock out specific genes.

We�ve been able to do that
for a while,

but now we�re able
to replace them

with specific genes
the very first time,

which is unleashing
lots of Frankenstein monsters.

Right now,
what we�ve seen the most

interesting and, to me, scary

example of this
comes from China,

where they have taken
a single gene,

inserted it into a beagle,
and caused that beagle

to have twice the musculature
than it otherwise would have.

These things
are like super beagles.

And that begs the question:
if you can do it to a beagle,

can you do it to a human?
Absolutely.

WILCOCK:
This could be the first step

of a revolution in biology

that leads to us starting
to have the type of abilities

that are commonly reported
in the ancient lore

of extraterrestrial gods
visiting Earth.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that mankind is beginning

to reach the level
of our alien ancestors,

as ancient astronaut
theorists propose?

Do they continue to assist us
in this process,

secretly introducing incredible
new life-forms on Earth?

If so, are strange
and unexplainable animals

found on our planet
connected to beings

beyond our world?

And might there be others
we have yet to discover?

Perhaps one day soon,

we will find that
incredible creatures

of myth and legend are not

the product
of the human imagination,

but immigrants to planet Earth

from alien worlds.

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