All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens Origins S01E06 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR:
Legendary weapons
of mass destruction.

Incredible technology
bestowed by otherworldly forces.

And modern military capabilities

that mirror the arsenal
of the gods.

For nearly two decades,

Ancient Aliens
has traveled the globe,

exploring towering
megalithic structures,

mysterious artifacts

and stories
of otherworldly beings

in a quest for evidence
that might reveal the truth

of our extraterrestrial origins.

People thousands of years ago

would have never known
about heat-seeking missiles

and stealth bombers.

NARRATOR:
Now we take a look back

through
the Ancient Aliens archives

to the show's very origins

to examine the evidence
that we are not alone.

We have never been alone.

♪ ♪

As we look back at our vast
Ancient Aliens library,

one of the things we talked
about in every episode

is technology. Because according
to the ancient astronaut theory,

the extraterrestrials

shared their technology
with our ancestors.

And with technology
comes weaponry.

-Right.
-And that means harnessing fire

to work with metals.

And before that, we were maybe
hitting each other with sticks

and stones or something.

But once we could harness fire

and work with metals, that meant

we could make swords.

And not only did
our ancestors say

that fire was a gift
from the gods but,

all around the globe, people
started to develop metallurgy

at about the same time.

How do you explain that?

They weren't supposed to be
in contact with one another.

We covered this
in a season three episode

called "Aliens
and Deadly Weapons."

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Earth.

4.5 billion years ago.

Molten hot magma spews
from beneath the ground.

Lightning cracks down
in bursts from the sky.

And rivers of lava
flow across the land.

Ever since the dawn of time,

our planet has been changing,

evolving,

and ripped apart
by the awesome forces of nature.

And it's the harnessing
of that nature

that has offered mankind
its most formidable challenge

and greatest accomplishment.

Mankind achieving
the ability to manipulate fire

is probably the most historical
event that ever happened.

When we achieved
the ability to master fire,

everything changed for mankind.

NARRATOR:
But how did our ancestors
learn to re-create

and harness this most volatile
and ultimately essential

of the Earth's elements?

Was it simply a part
of our intellectual evolution?

Or is it possible
that the knowledge came

from another,
more otherworldly origin?

When we look at fire,
we imagine this idea

that somehow our ancestors are
rubbing some sticks together.

But each culture always says

that fire is a gift
from the gods.

SOUTHWELL:
In Native American traditions,
quite often

its fire was stolen
from the world above.

In Maori legends, again,

we see the theft of fire
from the gods.

In the Greek legends,

it's Prometheus
stealing fire from the gods.

NARRATOR:
How is it
that such similar myths exist

about fire being given
to man by the gods?

According to
ancient astronaut theorists,

this eerie similarity may
actually be evidence that gods,

or perhaps
extraterrestrial beings,

really do exist.

And if so, it might also reveal

how mankind eventually used fire

to create deadlier
and more sophisticated weapons.

SOUTHWELL:
If we are talking about
ancient aliens having an impact,

where would we expect
to see that impact?

I would expect
to see it in metalworking.

And do we actually see
hard and fast evidence

of mankind making sudden
huge leaps in metalworking?

Yes, we do.

TSOUKALOS: We go
from attaching sharp stones

to the ends of sticks

and then, all of a sudden,

we have actual swords.

NARRATOR:
According to archaeologists,

the first human work
with metal weaponry

began in the Bronze Age,

beginning around 3300 BC
in the Near East.

Most of the swords at one time
were either copper or iron.

MICHAEL DENNIN:
If you think about it, the ages,
we started first with bronze,

nickel, softer things
that are easier to work with.

The reason we don't have iron
as our first example

is because it's
a much harder material.

You have to get much hotter fire
to be able to work with it,

and it's just a tougher material
to work with.

RAFAEL KOSCHE:
They were fighting, bashing
each other with these swords.

They wanted a tough sword,

which means
it was not always very sharp.

When these people were fighting,

when they're hacking
each other's heads and arms off,

they were ripping
each other's heads and arms off

with blunt pieces of metal.

(yelling)

NARRATOR:
Approximately 1,000 years

after the development of iron

came another,
even greater breakthrough.

The invention of steel.

IMBROGNO:
No one really knows when people
first started making steel.

Some say it only dates, uh,
1000 BC.

To make a steel sword in ancient
times was not an easy task.

You would have to get
high-quality iron.

And most of the time,
they could not get that iron

mined from the earth.

And meteorites were obtained,

which were pure iron,

which made
the best steel swords.

These were considered
magic swords.

And it was usually
a guarded secret,

and villages would have
one or two steel swords.

And there's tales about warlords
who had one purpose in mind.

To find all the steel swords
that were made...

...and take them for their army.

There's no doubt that cultures
that were able to obtain steel

usually became
masters of the world.

(yelling)

NARRATOR:
But where the forging of iron

requires a relatively
unsophisticated knowledge

of metallurgy,

the creation of steel

is a more complex
scientific process.

So who or what was responsible

for this incredible
evolutionary innovation?

IMBROGNO:
In the Book of Enoch,

we see some type of interaction

between celestial beings
and human beings.

What did they give us?

They gave us steel.

And the legend goes

not only from the Bible
and from Enoch

but it goes to Sumerian times,

where the gods had steel.

JONATHAN YOUNG:
The making of the sword
is a magical process.

Back in the time
before modern metallurgy,

the ability to take
natural material

and make a sword out of it was
considered the work of a wizard.

(speaking German, translated):
You mustn't look the village
blacksmith

in the eyes,

because people are frightened

of being killed by his gaze.

A blacksmith isn't allowed
to live in the village

because of his magical powers.

NARRATOR:
The notion of metalworking
being a dark and magical process

was so prevalent
in the ancient world

that, in Greek mythology,

even Zeus looked
upon his son Hephaestus,

the god of metallurgy,
with suspicion.

RICHARD RADER:
Hephaestus is responsible for
making armature for the gods.

But the real miracle
that he does

is for this shield for Achilles.

And it's got
the whole universe on it.

What's amazing about this thing

is that it's not just
a static shield.

It's alive.

This is not something
that a human being makes.

This is terrifying
and this is scary

and this thing will kill you,

just in its own kind of
metaphysical beauty.

And so he has this weird ability
to kind of endow metal

with a kind of life of its own.

So, Zeus is in fact
very suspicious of this guy

and just tries
to get rid of him.

So, Zeus picks him up
and slings him

and he just falls and falls
and falls and falls and falls

until he crash-lands
on the island of Lemnos.

There is a little city
on the island of Lemnos

called Hephaestia.

So there's a place that is named
specifically after Hephaestus.

NARRATOR:
3,000 years ago,

Hephaestia was one of the
most important cities in Greece.

And according to
the ancient stories,

Hephaestus actually lived here
among the people of Lemnos.

The Greeks worshipped
this divine blacksmith

and built monuments to him.

But could
this mythological being

have actually been present
in ancient Greece?

And if so,
might he have been not a god...

...but an ancient alien visitor?

RADER:
Greek mythology,
you conceive of gods

as kind of like human beings.

We have lots of literature
which deals with the whole range

of interactions that
human beings can have with gods.

It is very clearly stated

that the knowledge
for making swords

was given directly by the gods.

And those gods weren't figments
of our ancestors' imagination

but they were physical beings.

NARRATOR:
Is it really possible
that our ancestors' ability

to forge metals and make weapons

was aided
by extraterrestrial beings?

And might stories of swords
imbued with magical powers

be something more
than mere works of fiction?

Ancient astronaut theorists
believe the answer

can be found half a world away,

in Japan.

NARRATOR:
Japan, 700 AD.

Here, according to legend,

the swordsmith Amakuni
and his son Amakura

sealed themselves away
in their blacksmith shop

in an effort to forge
the perfect weapon.

For seven days and seven nights,

they prayed to the Shinto gods
to guide them.

Thirty-one days later,

they emerged
from their isolation

with a curved,
single-edged sword

resembling no blade
ever made before.

KOSCHE:
At that time,
the swords that they used

were these double-edged
Chinese design,

clunky, heavy, unwieldy swords.

And Amakuni
started reestablishing

and learning everything
that he knew about metallurgy.

And after about a month,

he finally emerged
from his forge,

and he had
this single-edged blade

with a curvature to it.

Every swordsmith in the area
ridiculed him,

everybody laughed at him,
they thought he was ridiculous,

they didn't know
what he was doing.

"That's not the way you do it."

Well, the next time the emperor
went off into battle...

(shouting)

...when he came back,
Amakuni stood on his front porch

and he started
counting the blades--

two, ten, 15, 20,
100, 200 blades--

none of them were broken.

And the emperor
praised him and said,

"You are the greatest
swordsmith ever."

Ever since then,
they have followed that design.

NARRATOR:
But what was the secret

behind Amakuni's
radical new design?

And what, or who,
inspired him to deviate

from the one that had been used
for more than a thousand years?

Was he simply ahead of his time?

Or could he really have
received otherworldly guidance

during the seven days and nights

he and his son prayed
to the Shinto gods?

KOSCHE:
The history
of the Japanese sword

is a long and varied history,

all the way back
to mythological beliefs

that Omikami the sun goddess,

gave her grandson a sword

when she sent him down
to rule over the Earth.

NARRATOR:
According to the beliefs
of the samurai,

higher beings called kami
began human life.

But in order for humans
to experience

the divine nature of the kami,

they must undergo
purification rituals,

which were always performed
when making a new blade.

KOSCHE:
Before you even begin,

you bathe yourself
and you put on clean clothes.

All your assistants
give prayers,

and they solicit the help
from the gods.

And, in fact,
there are swordsmiths

that will actually chant

as they're hammering
on the blade...

...because every hammer,
as it compacts the metal,

is also including
their chant into it.

NARRATOR:
Could the sword maker Amakuni
and his son Amakura

have actually come in contact
with the kami?

And might these Buddhist gods

have come not
from a spiritual realm

but from
an extraterrestrial one,

as ancient astronaut theorists
believe?

Might alien beings
have chosen Amakuni,

the greatest sword maker
of his time,

to hold the knowledge
of this new technology?

COPPENS:
When you give certain,
very powerful objects to people,

you need to have extremely
intelligent people to use them.

And so, what we find,
everywhere,

is that even if
the gods had given

the most extraordinary machine,

including fire or any other
piece of technology,

you would have to have
somebody able

to operate it,
a highly-trained human being.

NARRATOR:
Another example
of Amakuni's work--

the Kogarasu Maru blade,

the most legendary sword
in Japanese history--

resides in the Japanese
Imperial Collection.

But modern scholars
and scientists

have had difficulty
in figuring out the secret

to its amazing strength.

DENNIN:
The famous stories
are always, of course,

the Japanese steel
used for the samurai blades.

It's been very hard to reproduce
because some of these processes

can be incredibly sensitive
to the exact detail

of the temperature.

Some of its features
are just its flexibility

and the way they were able
to fold it over and over,

and its incredible strength
and its resistance to oxidation,

which is what you really need
to keep something sharp.

NARRATOR:
Could the fact
that modern sword makers

have been unable
to achieve the same quality

as Amakuni's blades
be further evidence

that he was trained by
a more advanced race of beings?

And might these ancient swords
have held some technology

we have yet to discover?

KOSCHE:
In Shingon Buddhism,

the sword has a life of its own.

It's not that the samurai
selects the blade.

Is the samurai,
more appropriately,

good enough for the blade?

Does the blade choose him?

NARRATOR:
Is the philosophy
of Shingon Buddhism--

that the blade
chooses its owner--

simply an example
of early humans' tendency

to project
spiritual consciousness

onto inanimate objects?

Or might ancient swordsmiths
like Amakuni

really have possessed
some otherworldly knowledge?

A knowledge that swords,
like other deadly weapons,

come not from man
but from a divine

or extraterrestrial origin?

According to legend,

one such sword may have existed
in 15th century France--

the sword of Joan of Arc.

KATHLEEN McGOWAN:
When Joan of Arc
was arrested and brought

to what we now know of
as her condemnation trial,

her inquisitors were determined

to get information
about her sword.

Her inquisitors were obsessed

with finding out
about her sword,

and that is because
Joan of Arc's sword

was reputed to have
legendary power, divine power.

Joan claimed that her voices,

her angelic voices,
led her to this sword.

COPPENS:
She's said to have found it,
as it was,

hidden behind an altar

dedicated to
Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois.

It is said that the sword itself
was forged

by the archangel Saint Michael.

And that whoever possessed it
was invincible.

McGOWAN:
And that was certainly true
when Joan wielded this sword,

carried it with her
into the battle of Orléans...

...which was the decisive battle
which allowed them

to put King Charles VII
on the throne of France.

NARRATOR:
Could Joan of Arc

really have been given
her invincible sword

by extraterrestrials

who had an interest
in the future of France?

Ancient astronaut theorists
believe such a thing

is not only possible but likely.

And they point
to the legendary story

of King Arthur
as evidence of their claim.

CHILDRESS:
King Arthur had two swords.

The sword in the stone,

that showed that he was
to be king, is one sword.

TSOUKALOS:
When I hear a story

about this magnificent sword

that's encased in this stone

with only the handle
sticking out,

and only King Arthur has
the capability to pull it out,

well, then I start thinking

about some type of
a biometric security system...

...where, today, we now have
guns

that can only be fired

if the handle recognizes
your fingerprint.

Is it possible
that the sword in the stone

was calibrated specifically

to King Arthur's biometrics?

I think yes.

I know it sounds crazy.

We're merely saying that what
today is being discovered

is a rediscovery
of what already took place

thousands of years ago.

NARRATOR:
According to the stories
of King Arthur,

the sword that he is said
to have pulled from the stone

was never used in battle.

His weapon was
the legendary Excalibur.

CHILDRESS:
The Excalibur sword came to him

from the Lady in the Lake,

where a hand came up
and handed him a magical sword.

And according
to the ancient chronicles,

this sword shone
with the light of 30 suns

and blinded his enemies.

FIEBAG
(speaking German, translated):
This sword of King Arthur

was said to have radiated
lightning and energy

when he fought against monsters.

So, we have swords
as magical objects,

but here, also, is the suspicion

that a misunderstood technology
could exist.

NARRATOR:
Although historians still
debate whether the stories

of King Arthur
have a basis in fact,

in 1998, archeologists found
a sixth century piece of slate

inscribed with his name

at his reputed birthplace,
Tintagel, England.

But if King Arthur
really existed,

might the legends of his
incredible swords also be true?

And if so, might that suggest

that extraterrestrial visitors
did, in fact,

provide humans with weapons
not of this world?

Perhaps the answer
can be found in ancient Rome,

and by examining
a legendary battle,

one involving a much-witnessed
phenomenon in the sky.

When we look at ancient stories
from around the world,

sometimes the gods
are teaching us humans

skills that they can use
to develop our own weapons.

Other times,
it's like they're giving us

their own alien weapons.

-Right.
-CHILDRESS: A great example
of this

is what
the ancient Romans called

-Greek fire.
-Mm-hmm.

Which they said
was given to us by angels.

-Right.
-And it's this intense fire

that would burn underwater.

TSOUKALOS:
Right, and even historians

say that this was
a real weapon at some point.

The problem is,
we can't figure out what it was

and also, we cannot replicate it

with modern technology.

NARRATOR:
Rome, October 27th, 312 AD.

At the Milvian Bridge
on the north side of the city,

deposed emperor Constantine

prepares to reclaim his throne
from Maxentius.

In the sky, he witnesses
what he will later describe

as a cross hovering above him.

He interprets this vision as
a sign from the Christian God.

(shouting)

The next day,

Constantine and his army

bear the image of the Chi-Rho
on their shields and flags,

one of the earliest cruciform
symbols used by Christians.

When they emerge victorious,

Christianity becomes
the official religion

of the Roman Empire,

and the world
is changed forever.

But was the cross-shaped object

Constantine claimed
to have seen in the sky

really a sign from God?

Or might it have been
some other extraordinary force?

BRAMLEY:
It looked like they were
in the shape of a cross,

but the shape of a cross could
have been airplane-type objects,

because the fuselage and
the wings will look like a cross

to somebody who's looking up.

And of course,
they had no concept

of these things back then.

There were other signs
and portents

that were seen
around the same time

that were described
as a crucifix in the sky.

If these were to appear
in the sky today,

we would describe them
quite differently.

TSOUKALOS:
Is it possible that Constantine,

instead of actually having seen
a cross floating in the sky,

actually saw a type

of an extraterrestrial craft?

Is it possible
that Constantine won

because the extraterrestrials
were siding with Constantine

and thus altering
mankind's history forever?

NARRATOR:
But according
to ancient astronaut theorists,

even stronger evidence exists
that Emperor Constantine

had a genuine alien encounter.

Shortly after
the Battle of Milvian Bridge,

he was said to have acquired
a powerful new weapon.

Known as Greek fire,

it was the most devastating
weapon of the time.

And it was said to have been
given to Constantine by angels.

IMBROGNO:
It was said to burn
so violently and so hot,

it was said that even
in the greatest of rainstorms,

the fire would not go out.

And when projected out to sea,
when it sunk into the water,

it would still burn
on the bottom of the ocean.

(speaking German, translated):
In one battle, Byzantium was
attacked

by 1,800 Persian ships.

Only 15 escaped.

All the others were destroyed
by the so-called Greek fire.

And Prince Igor, who attacked
Byzantium in the year 941 AD,

attacked with a fleet
of 1,000 ships.

Only ten ships made it home.

NARRATOR:
But perhaps even more astounding

than the incredible power
of Greek fire

is the fact that scientists

have not been able
to reproduce it,

even after 1,600 years.

Scientists have been
trying to identify

what Greek fire is
for decades, if not centuries.

Nobody has come up
with a satisfying answer.

The most logical answer

is that it might be,
somehow, petroleum,

because it is known that
petroleum continues to burn

when in contact with water.

I think it has to do
with phosphorus and magnesium,

because when they are
mixed in with water,

they tend to explode.

NARRATOR:
The formula for Greek fire

was not even known to most
of those who'd used the weapon,

as the delivery system required
multiple people to operate it.

What's interesting
about Greek Fire

is that it only worked

when all the different
components

worked together as one piece.

Each component was operated
by a different person,

so if somebody was captured,
they couldn't give away

the quote-unquote
"secret of Greek fire."

NARRATOR:
But what was
this mysterious weapon?

And more importantly,
where did it come from?

TSOUKALOS:
One story goes that Greek fire

was given to Constantine
by an angel.

Now, angels are supposed to be
these friendly creatures

that instill peace and love,

and all of a sudden, we have
this one quote-unquote "angel"

that gives one of the most
sophisticated weapons

in mankind's history
to Constantine?

Replace the word "angel"
with "extraterrestrial,"

and we have
a very different story.

NARRATOR:
Could Greek fire
really have been a type

of advanced alien technology
given to Constantine

to ensure the success
of the Roman Empire?

If so, wouldn't there
be evidence

of extraterrestrial influence
during other Earthly conflicts?

(speaking German, translated):
Hannibal, who crossed the Alps

and attacked Rome,

was said to have had
a chemical explosive.

We don't know where
the knowledge came from

in these cases,

but there could definitely
be a connection

to other weapons of the gods.

NARRATOR:
The explosive weapon
Hannibal allegedly used

against ancient Rome
in the third century BC

predated gunpowder
by over a thousand years.

And some believe even gunpowder
itself may have been a discovery

inspired by otherworldly beings
back in the ninth century.

Ironically,
this deadly invention

was discovered
by Chinese alchemists

attempting to create
an elixir of immortality.

Alchemy has a long history
in China.

And the alchemist Tze
had been seeking

elixir of immortality.

The medicine, for example,
to live forever.

So, they were experimenting
for many centuries,

and mixed all kind
of things and

it was not until
around the 850 Common Era,

and we have records to show

the disastrous impact
of this mixing.

NARRATOR:
Though the Chinese emperors

never achieved
this elixir for immortality,

they ended up with something
almost as valuable:

a weapon more powerful than
anything that had come before.

SUN:
The Chinese gunpowder technology

led to this important political
and this geographical changes

in China, in Vietnam,
in Southeast Asia.

It led to the-- even the rise
and the fall of dynasties.

NARRATOR:
But where did such
an incendiary ability come from?

Was the formula given to us
by extraterrestrials

or did somebody
discover it by accident?

No one really knows.

Gunpowder was made of charcoal,

which they burnt trees
and ground down the charcoal.

Sulfur, they would get
from volcanoes,

and sodium or potassium nitrate

is not readily available.

So how would they know
to get those nitrates

and mix them all together
in the right proportions?

NARRATOR:
Could the formula for gunpowder

really have
extraterrestrial origins?

And if deadly technologies
like gunpowder and Greek fire

really were handed down
to humans by an alien race, why?

Might they have been trying
to shape our future?

When you talk about aliens
giving knowledge to mankind,

you have to ask
how they would do that.

And one answer is

that they would chose
certain individuals

to give them knowledge

that would help advance mankind.

Right, and one
of the great examples

of a story like this
can be found in the Bible

with the story of Enoch,

who was taken up
in a fiery chariot

and then he was
imparted information

which he then later shared

-with humanity.
-HENRY: Yeah.

And then you have
the great inventors

like Leonardo da Vinci.

He said he received ideas

by staring
into a flickering candle.

Futuristic weapons

like machine guns and tanks.

We covered this
in a season two episode

called "Alien Devastations."

NARRATOR:
2005.

Florence, Italy.

Beyond a hidden staircase

in the Santissima
Annunziata convent,

researchers from Italy's
Military Geographical Institute

discover the secret workshop
of Leonardo da Vinci.

WILCOCK:
He was the true
archetypal Renaissance man.

Brilliant painter,
brilliant inventor,

brilliant poet,
ambidextrous, could write

with his left hand and his
right hand at the same time.

Wrote backwards
instead of forwards.

A very interesting guy.

NARRATOR:
Though da Vinci is renowned
for his public paintings

like the Mona Lisa
and The Last Supper,

ancient astronaut theorists
are more intrigued

by his private notebooks
that contain sketches

of futuristic
military technology,

including machine guns,

tanks, helicopters

and even submarines.

WILCOCK:
It clearly seems
that Leonardo da Vinci was

privy to a series of secrets
that had been handed down

for many,
many thousands of years.

Da Vinci may also have
actually been contacted

by humanlike extraterrestrials

who either
spoke to him in person

or perhaps telepathically

and inspired him to do
so many different things.

BRAMLEY:
We do know, for example,

that one of his inventions
was a circular car.

Looks kind of like a UFO.

Now, he's also
into inventing weapons.

And did that come
from the fact that

the UFO has demonstrated,

basically, some aggressiveness,

and did some of that maybe
in some way rub off on him?

WILCOCK:
Were they trying
to give him weapons

that could be used
to destroy life on Earth?

That could have been possible.

NARRATOR:
But if Leonardo da Vinci
did have knowledge

of advanced weaponry,

might he have learned of it
through observation and study?

Or was this knowledge
given to him by another,

perhaps extraterrestrial source?

TSOUKALOS:
There is this book
of prophecies,

which is a very rare book,

and in there are some type
of descriptions

that could indicate some type

of an extraterrestrial
visitation.

There are references
in which da Vinci himself says

that he's had these encounters,

these visions of God and angels.

And of course,

according to the ancient
astronaut hypothesis,

that wasn't God,
it wasn't angels.

They were extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible
that over the centuries,

extraterrestrials
have been partnering

with human collaborators?

Human beings entrusted

with the kind of advanced
scientific knowledge

that would allow mankind

to leap over centuries of normal
intellectual evolution?

To ancient astronaut theorists,

the fact that mankind had gone
from the horse and buggy

to the moon
in less than 100 years

makes such a notion

not only possible
but entirely probable.

In our development,
all of a sudden

we've made a quantum leap

where we were sitting in caves
munching on bananas

and the next thing we do
is we're building pyramids.

Virtually overnight.

And so that quantum leap
can be explained

with a direct extraterrestrial
intervention of our past.

And the visitors are the ones
who are revered as gods,

who seem to come
on flying shields

or silver boats

or any of the various
descriptions

of extraterrestrial technology

that you see
in these ancient legends.

And they consistently are
trying to cultivate humanity

in a direction that's
beneficial for everyone.

NARRATOR:
There are many who believe

extraterrestrial visitors
might have provided

intellectual inspiration
to men like Albert Einstein,

whose theories of relativity
opened the door

for the possibility
of future travels

through space and time.

J. Robert Oppenheimer,

whose research in the field
of theoretical physics

resulted in the development
of atomic weapons.

Wernher von Braun,
whose innovations

in advanced rocket technology

led to the modern-day
space program.

COPPENS:
When we look into the lives
and the motivations

as to Wernher von Braun
and to why he wanted

to take mankind
into outer space,

we're confronted with the fact

that he was absolutely convinced
that we had gone there before

or that an ancient civilization
had come from there to Earth.

These people were
motivated and, specifically,

they wanted to take us to space
because they were convinced

that somehow
they would find something

which would completely
change planet Earth.

NARRATOR:
Then there is Nikola Tesla,

whose experiments
with electricity

led to everything
from satellite technology

and robotics

to what some would term
a death ray.

DAVID SEREDA:
But the Tesla death ray,

Tesla said could annihilate an
army of 100,000 soldiers at once

and could melt
an aircraft engine

from 250 miles away.

When the FBI investigated
Tesla's murder,

they found documentation

that the Tesla death ray
was in development

at Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base in 1943.

Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base, 1943?

Where was the Roswell
flying saucer taken?

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

So, we have a connection
to that weapon.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible

that Nikola Tesla's
scientific achievements

could have been influenced
by alien intelligence?

Might other human geniuses
throughout time

have served as human gateways,

allowing extraterrestrials
to jump-start

our technological advances?

If the answer is yes, then
what are we being prepared for?

And might there be a connection
between mankind's intellectual

and scientific advancements

and the otherworldly
weapons of warfare

that existed
in our ancient past?

When talking about
the ancient accounts

of the weapons of the gods,

what stands out to me are
the numerous descriptions

of what sounds like the use
of atomic or nuclear weapons.

And we have the ancient
Vedic texts of India,

which talk about
the Brahma weapon

that could level entire cities.

And the evidence for this is

the massive explosion
at Mohenjo Daro,

which vitrified the brick walls
with intense heat.

Yeah, and it's also fascinating

that the creator
of the atom bomb,

Dr. Robert Oppenheimer,

is known to have studied
the ancient Vedic texts.

In fact, we covered this
in season one of Ancient Aliens.

NARRATOR:
Alamogordo, New Mexico.

White Sands proving ground.
July 16, 1945.

Early in the morning,

a number of U.S. military
officers and scientists gather

to watch a powerful
new weapon being tested.

Some believe the device
will be a complete failure.

Others think it might destroy
the entire State of New Mexico.

As a precaution,
viewing stations are placed

from ten to 20 miles away
from the test site.

At precisely
5:29 and 45 seconds,

the first atomic bomb
is detonated.

MAN:
Three, two, one,

fire.

The blast emits a fireball
over 600 feet wide

and produces an explosion
equal to 20,000 tons of TNT.

The mushroom cloud reaches
over seven miles in height

and the reverberations can be
felt nearly 100 miles away.

The world had a new weapon:

one so terrifying it left
even its creator,

Dr. Robert Oppenheimer,
shocked and shaken.

OPPENHEIMER:
Few people laughed.

Few people cried.

Most people were silent.

NARRATOR:
For the first time
in its history,

the Earth had been assaulted
by a man-made weapon

of incredible power.

But what if it had
all happened before?

What if an explosion

of even greater force
and destructiveness

had long ago shaped
the Earth's history?

Some people have suggested

on the basis of a number
of lines of evidence

that there may have been
atomic warfare, atomic bombs,

atomic explosions,
in the very distant past.

NARRATOR:
Atomic warfare
among ancient civilizations

may sound like something
out of a science fiction novel,

but descriptions
of similar deadly occurrences

can be found
in the very same text

Dr. Oppenheimer quoted after
the New Mexico atomic test.

OPPENHEIMER:
I remembered the line
from the Hindu scripture,

the Bhagavad Gita.

"Now I am become Death,
the destroyer of worlds."

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Part of an ancient
Hindu scripture

known as the Mahabharata,

the Bhagavad Gita
was written sometime

between the fifth
and second century BC.

This massive 100,000-verse text

contains stories about
the ancient empire of Rama,

which, it is said,
existed over 12,000 years ago

or roughly 5,000 years before

the earliest recorded
civilization in Mesopotamia.

TSOUKALOS:
If you read
the ancient Indian epics,

they read like modern-day
science fiction,

yet they're thousands
of years old

with references
not only of flying chariots

and of these gods that had

these incredible
technological capabilities,

but incredible weapons

that they used
in those epic battles.

NANCY RED STAR:
They had what was called
a Brahma weapon.

There were many people
that were singed and burned

and melted by the Brahma weapon.

NARRATOR:
Ancient astronaut theorists
believe

the Brahma weapon
was an early nuclear device

because the descriptions
of its deadly aftereffects

are eerily similar
to the effects

of exposure
to intense radiation.

It is a theory
largely discounted

by conventional science.

There is no evidence

that a nuclear bomb
was described

in the Mahabharata,
the Bhagavad Gita.

It describes a battle.

In battles,
there are explosions.

It's one thing about suggesting

that, you know,
battles have explosions.

But that's not really
what we're looking at.

You got to look
at the whole picture.

One reference
that we have, for example,

speaks of these explosions

that were brighter
than a thousand suns.

And when these blasts occurred,

the suns
were twirling in the air,

trees went up in flames

and there was just
this mass destruction.

After those blasts,
people who survive

start to lose their hair
and nails start to fall out.

I mean, right there,
we have a concise reference

to radiation poisoning,
nuclear fallout.

And those texts
are thousands of years old.

NARRATOR:
But if the Mahabharata
is based on fact,

wouldn't archaeologists
have uncovered

physical
or radiological evidence?

According to ancient astronaut
theorists, they have.

The Indus Valley,
Southern Pakistan.

In 1922,

an officer with an Indian
archeological survey group

discovered the ruins
of an ancient city

known as Mohenjo Daro.

According
to mainstream archeologists,

the city, whose name means
"mound of the dead,"

had flourished
between 2600 and 1900 BC.

However, scientists in Pakistan

have suggested
Mohenjo Daro is much older.

Mainstream archeologists
believe the city was abandoned

as a result of climatic changes,
or possibly a decrease in trade.

But when
the ruins of Mohenjo Daro

were discovered in the 1920s...

...44 skeletons were found
lying face down in the street,

many holding hands.

Their faces and body positioning

suggested they suffered
a sudden, violent death.

COPPENS:
You have a culture of people
who literally

were lying dead in the street.

Archaeologists have found
human remains.

And something big
has happened to these people.

NARRATOR:
What, in fact, did happen
to the people of Mohenjo Daro?

Why is there evidence
that wild animals

avoided
scavenging their remains?

And why,
even after thousands of years,

had their bones not decayed?

TSOUKALOS:
In certain areas of that site,

you find increased
levels of radiation.

And radiation exists
all over the place.

When, all of a sudden, you have
higher levels of radiation

in certain areas of the world,

the question arises: why?

NARRATOR:
Is it possible
that Mohenjo Daro

was one of the cities
mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita?

A city that
suffered the equivalent

of a sudden atomic attack?

In his 1979 book,

Atomic Destruction in 2000 BC,

British researcher
David Davenport

claimed to have found
a 50-yard-wide epicenter

at Mohenjo Daro
where everything appeared

to have been fused through
a transformative process

known as vitrification.

TSOUKALOS:
Vitrification is a process

in which regular type stone

gets molten into a magma state

and then it hardens again.

But once the stone
is hardened again,

it feels like glass.

At Mohenjo Daro, we find
evidence of vitrification,

which could have
only been achieved

if the material
was exposed to extreme heat

by some type of a blast.

NARRATOR:
Could the strange ruins
found in the Indus Valley

really contain evidence
of an ancient atomic explosion?

If so, where did these
powerful weapons come from?

Who was using them? And why?

I've written about the weapons

described
in the ancient Vedic texts

in many of my books.

And what amazes me
is that these descriptions

of these weapons
are very similar

to what our modern military
is using today.

Yeah, like heat-seeking missiles
and stealth bombers.

I mean, it goes without saying
that people

from thousand years ago

would have never
known about this

unless they witnessed some sort
of advanced civilization.

Right. So, you have to be
open to ask the question.

Were they describing
some kind of alien technology?

-It's pronounced
some "koind," William.
-HENRY: Oh, right.

Some "koind"
of alien technology.

That's the alien pronunciation.

(laughing)

NARRATOR: An unmanned
aerial vehicle

hurtles across the sky.

It travels at supersonic speeds,

spitting fire,

launching deadly missiles,

programmed to seek and destroy.

The effect is devastating,

high-tech warfare
at its most lethal.

But what could be a page

stolen from a U.S. military
black project

is actually
a description written down

over 2,500 years ago

in the sacred Hindu text

known as the Mahabharata.

COPPENS:
When it comes
to the ancient Indian accounts,

they're really
eyewitness testimony

of the gods fighting.

CHILDRESS:
When you read
the ancient Hindu epics,

they talk about
horrific weapons:

missiles and atomic weapons.

Massive laser weapons

that are melting
and devastating entire cities.

TSOUKALOS:
I refuse to think
that our ancestors

came up with these stories
out of thin air.

When writing was first invented,

they wrote down their history.

The first things
that were ever written down

were actual events.

NARRATOR:
How is it
that some of the earliest

written accounts of warfare

describe sophisticated weaponry

that humans wouldn't develop

for thousands of years?

For the answer,
ancient astronaut theorists

point to numerous descriptions
of deadly weapons

found throughout
the Mahabharata--

many strikingly similar to those
used by the military today.

One example
are the incendiary weapons

wielded by Vishnu,

which are specially equipped
to find their targets.

SHIMKADA:
Vishnu has a flying guided
missile, the Narayanastra.

And once it is launched,

it will destroy
everything that is moving.

So, you know,
according to the description,

it is a motion-detecting weapon,

which is pretty much
like our modern weaponry.

There is also a weapon
that is heat-seeking.

ROBERT DICKMAN:
Heat-seeking is a very effective
way of finding something.

You would fire a missile
from behind one aircraft

at an aircraft in front of you,

specifically targeted
against the hot engine.

And then you were able to move
off from behind the airplane

and the heat-seeker would still
be able to find the target.

I am aware

that there are forces of nature.

You've got thunder, lightning,

earthquakes.

But how would you go
from witnessing that

to a description
of heat-seeking missiles?

NARRATOR:
In addition to guided missiles,

the Mahabharata
is filled with accounts

of other sophisticated weapons
wielded by the gods.

In the Mahabharata,

46 different types
of weapon are described.

And each one has
a specific function.

The Pashupatastra is a weapon
that actually multiplies

into seven different arrows.

So then it hits seven different
targets at the same time.

Salwa is an anti-god.

He can make
his vehicle disappear.

So, we're talking about
a flying object that is stealth.

He also can put people
into sleep.

So we're perhaps
talking about nerve gas.

CHILDRESS:
They talk about weapons
that are so high tech

that it could only be
from extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR:
But of all the weapons
described in the Mahabharata,

perhaps the most deadly was
a device called the Brahmastra.

A weapon that the texts
warned was never to be used.

Brahmastra is described
as the ultimate weapon.

Once it is launched,

it will simply burn everything.

So it will incinerate
the entire universe.

We're talking
about a nuclear blast

100-fold magnitude
of the bomb that we have seen

or experienced in our own times.

So, never be used.

And yet, someone
was going to make

use of that Brahmastra.

So, that's the dilemma

that the books talks
about in the Mahabharata.

India now has a rocket program,

and one of their rockets
is called Shakti.

Shakti means "goddess energy."

This is also
another divine weapon.

Indians are now sort
of going back to their text

or their mythology
and they're reliving it

by their modern technology.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that alien beings
visiting the earth

thousands of years ago

dealt with the same issues
of nuclear annihilation

that humans
are dealing with today?

And might
the deadly weapons currently

being deployed
by the world's military

really be recreations of weapons
first used on Earth

by extraterrestrials
in the ancient past?

Perhaps.

But then it should
also be possible

to predict
mankind's military future

by searching through
still more ancient texts.

NARRATOR: Dwarka.

Northwest India, 1983.

Marine archeologist Dr. S.R. Rao

begins a ten-year underwater
exploration just off the coast

of this ancient fishing town.

And what he finds is stunning.

Starting at 20 feet
beneath the surface of the ocean

are sandstone walls,

cobblestone streets,

and further evidence
of what once was

a prosperous seaport.

At Dwarka,
what has been found so far

under the ocean
is incredibly tantalizing.

For instance,
there's this huge wall,

estimated about 580 meters long.

So, this is not insignificant.

And this would suggest
that this was

a sophisticated dwelling area.

NARRATOR:
Further underwater excavations

and geological evidence indicate

the ruins are part of a city
that suddenly became

submerged in 1443 BC.

The discovery of these ruins
is a major archeological find.

But for some,
even more significant

is where the ruins were found.

For centuries,
the modern-day city of Dwarka

was thought by many Hindus
to be the Dwarka described

in the Mahabharata
as the ancient kingdom

of the god Krishna.

According to the text,
during the Kurukshetra War,

a rival to Krishna, Lord Salwa,

attacked Dwarka
from a flying chariot,

raining down weapons
of mass destruction

that lit up the sky.

He actually flew over Dwarka

using his chariot,

and he started
bombarding the city of Dwarka,

throwing down
all kinds of weapons.

Finally, Krishna employs
his own incredible weapon

and blows the thing
out of the sky.

It says in the scripture

that Lord Salwa's
flying craft itself

comes smoldering out of the sky

and crashes to the earth.

This suggests
that there was machines

involved in the war,
machines that could fly.

Shortly after the great war,
Krishna is killed.

And the city--
this magnificent city

built on land that
came out of the sea--

sank back into the ocean again.

It only existed during the time
that Krishna lived there.

NARRATOR:
Most historians dismiss this
"war of the gods" as folklore.

But could these underwater ruins
be evidence

that the ancient Hindu texts
are based in actual history?

And it seems to confirm
the ancient myths,

the ancient legends.

They have a basis in reality.

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut
theorists suggest

further evidence can be found
at Mahabalipuram,

an ancient port city

located along India's
southeastern coast.

According to ancient stories,

six of seven pagodas
that once stood

at Mahabalipuram were lost

due to a great deluge
sent to destroy the city

by the Hindu god Indra.

Just as in the case of Dwarka,

historians and archeologists

dismissed the story
of the missing six temples

as myth.

But on December 26, 2004,

a massive tsunami
caused water levels

to temporarily drop,

exposing a number
of mysterious-looking formations

along the shoreline.

Upon closer inspection,
they were found

to be man-made structures.

And quite possibly the ruins

of the lost pagodas
of Mahabalipuram.

Archeologists went diving

into this area
and also found that there was,

basically, a sunken city there.

And so this would indicate
that the legends

are really correct
about this place.

That, in fact, it was destroyed
in some kind of a flood,

just as the legends said.

NARRATOR: If recent
archeological finds have proven

that the city of Krishna and the
Seven Pagodas of Mahabalipuram

really did exist,

then might that mean
that the stories

of these sites being attacked
from the sky are true as well?

Perhaps the answer can be found

by examining the many
ancient stone structures

of Mahabalipuram called rathas.

All over Mahabalipuram there are
these towerlike structures.

They're called rathas.

"Rathas" can be translated with

"sky city," "house of the gods"

or even "sky ship."

LAYNE LITTLE:
These are temples.

But, simultaneously,
they are seen as being

movable vehicles in which

the gods can come to Earth,

can come to the presence
of the worshippers.

You'll see that
there are all these little--

they're called kudo.

They're little windows
that are shaped like horseshoes.

And even in those
little windows, you'll see,

peering out,
the faces of the gods.

In many temples throughout India

you'll actually see
gigantic wheels

added as a motif
on the base of these temples

just to remind the worshippers
that these are moving chariots.

They were
the vimanas of the gods.

The stone structures
themselves are replicas

of the machines
that our ancestors witnessed.

NARRATOR:
Do the ruins off the coast
of Dwarka and Mahabalipuram,

along with the stone temples and
carvings found throughout India,

provide a physical record
of the advanced warfare

described in
the ancient Hindu texts?

And if so, were these wars

waged between opposing factions
of extraterrestrial beings?

Perhaps further clues
can be found by examining

the historical records
of ancient Mesopotamia.

One interesting thing
we see in ancient stories

is weather manipulation.

And we have stories of the gods
creating earthquakes

and tornados and great storms
that turn the tide of a battle.

TSOUKALOS:
And floods.

I mean, one of the most
famous ancient stories

of weather being used
as a weapon

has to be the account
of the great flood in the Bible.

And by the way,
there are some geologists

who now believe that
that was a historical event.

Right, and we talked about
weather manipulation

back in 2012 in
"Aliens and Mega-Disasters."

NARRATOR:
In 1996,

the United States Air Force
commissioned a secret study

called the 2025 Report.

In it, the military
examined the feasibility

of combat capabilities
and tactics in the year 2025.

One of the areas that was seen
as ripe for research,

exploitation and development
was the modification

of the weather
as a tool of warfare.

People might think the idea

that we can weaponize
the weather is something

just straight out
of science fiction,

the idea we could
pulverize whole nations

just by modifying
and exploiting the weather.

But this is a verifiable report

that is now
in the public domain.

So we do know that government
and military bodies

are significantly researching
weaponizing the weather.

Well, one of the big advantages
of using weather as a weapon

is that it's really difficult
to prove who attacked you.

The other thing is
that weather itself can cause

a heck of a lot of more damage
than weapons can.

You could have, for instance,
a powerful thunderstorm

that could go all the way
across the U.S.

And cause, basically,
nuclear-level destruction

all the way across a huge swath.

There have been
many attempts to control

the weather during warfare,

and one of the most
famous attempts was in Vietnam.

In which there was a real effort
to seed the clouds

over the Ho Chi Minh trail
and create torrential rains.

By flooding the North Vietnamese
and Viet Cong supply lines,

it would reduce their utility
and choke off supplies

to guerillas in the south.

So certainly, we've had
success in seeding clouds.

NARRATOR:
If the weather
can be manipulated

by the military
to produce powerful storms

and even catastrophes,

is this only
a recent innovation?

Or is there evidence
of the weaponized use

of weather in the ancient past?

Tales of a great flood
destroying the world

can be found
in the earliest myths

of many ancient cultures
across the globe.

Both the Hebrew Bible
and the Islamic Quran

describe an epic flood
in the tale of Noah's Ark.

God was unhappy with the people
for their sinful ways,

and as a kind of punishment

and, also,
an act of purification,

sent the great deluge.

Most living things

would die in this,
except for a few birds and fish.

But he told Noah
very specifically

how to build a craft
that could survive the storm.

WILSON:
Noah is to collect pairs

of the air-breathing animals
on Earth,

and he packs these animals
and his family into the Ark,

and then it rains
for 40 days and 40 nights

and floods the entire Earth,

and all air-breathing animals
and people are killed.

NARRATOR:
In ancient Mesopotamia,

a similar story
of a catastrophic flood

was chiseled into clay tablets
dating to 2000 BC.

Known as the Epic of Gilgamesh,

this early Sumerian poem
describes angry gods

that send a great flood
to destroy mankind

while allowing
only a chosen few to survive.

BRAMLEY:
The gods-- they'd
created humanity to perform

whatever labor
they were supposed to do,

but what happened was that,

according to the old
Mesopotamian stories,

human beings just started
causing too much trouble.

They became noisy,
they became rebellious,

and it was just time
to wipe them out.

And that's actually
what's reported

in those old creation stories.

NARRATOR:
But did such stories of
great floods engulfing the world

merely spring
from man's imagination?

Or were they real?

If so, might such devastation
have had an otherworldly origin,

as ancient astronaut theorists
believe?

REDFERN:
If the human race
in the early 21st century

is now weaponizing the weather,

why shouldn't aliens
from some faraway world

have already developed it?

If ancient aliens were able

to weaponize the weather,

then I don't think
we can rule out the idea

that, possibly, some
of these great ancient floods

may not have been
the work of gods

but could have been the work
of highly-advanced

technological aliens
actually seeking

to potentially obliterate
the human race.

GRAHAM HANCOCK:
There are more than a thousand
different flood myths

from cultures
all around the world.

And the tendency has been
for archaeologists to say

that that's simply
because people's fantasies

work in the same way.

But I honestly think there's
a much simpler explanation

for why the flood myth
is so universal.

I think it's a memory
of what happened

at the end of the Ice Age.

What's much more mysterious

is that, coupled with these
memories of global devastation,

there are also memories
of almost godlike beings

with incredible powers
and abilities

who were caught up
in that cataclysm.

The deluge stories
are really very interesting.

What they all say
is that the angels,

the gods, whatever
we want to call them today--

they basically
just got tired of humanity,

where there's a wanton
intention to wipe out

or thin out, the human race.

Right there,
we have a perfect example

that maybe the extraterrestrials

were unhappy with Homo sapiens,

and it is possible
that they then created

some type of a catastrophe,

some flood,
to eliminate mankind.

But it's also possible

that benevolent
extraterrestrials

warned us about
an impending catastrophe

so that not everyone
would be destroyed.

NARRATOR:
Could the mythic floods
of the ancient past

really have been the result
of extraterrestrial influence?

Or is it possible,

as some ancient astronaut
theorists contend,

that aliens may have actually
helped mankind survive?

When we talk about weapons,

we have to remember,
weapons can be used to attack,

but they can also
be used to defend.

So, when we carry a sword,
we also carry a shield.

Right, and the essence
of the ancient astronaut theory

is that the extraterrestrials
want us humans to thrive.

So, in my opinion,

these technologies
that were given to us

could be used both
for protection

and our benefit.

And, you know,
scientists have discovered

some bizarre things out in space

that are actually
protecting our planet.

And we talked about this
in an Ancient Aliens episode

from 2015.

LAUNCH CONTROL:
Five, four, three,

two, one.

Ignition sequence start
and liftoff.

NARRATOR:
Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station, Florida.

August 30, 2012.

NASA launches
two probes into space

in order to study
the Van Allen radiation belts

a pair of donut-shaped particle
zones that surround the Earth.

After two years
of collecting data,

NASA scientists discover
a surprising phenomenon:

the Van Allen belts are
operating as a protective dome,

shielding the Earth
from dangerous radiation.

Our planet is constantly
flooded with particles

from space that are charged

that, if they made it
through the atmosphere,

would actually be quite
damaging radiation to life.

But because of
the Van Allen belt

and the combination
of magnetic fields

and charged particles
already there,

incoming charged particles
are sent on curved paths

that safely protect the Earth
and we don't get hit by them.

The Van Allen radiation belt is

one of the most phenomenal
scientific phenomena

to be discovered
in recent times.

One of the things
that's so shocking about it

is that it's changing
and mutating

as if it's
intelligently directed.

The Van Allen belts may be
an advanced technology

that we still
don't really understand.

A technology
that actually is blocking

not just natural
cosmic particles

from the sun from coming in...

...but potentially
protecting the Earth

from extraterrestrial weapons

that might use some sort
of particle beam technology,

from ever being able
to make its way in here.

NARRATOR:
Were the Van Allen belts

designed
by extraterrestrial beings

to protect mankind from other
hostile alien factions?

Might there really be

an extraterrestrial
defense system

protecting the Earth
from attack?

Ancient astronaut
theorists say yes,

and suggest further evidence
that there is an alien faction

policing Earth's airspace
can be found

by examining
modern-day UFO crashes.

In 2005,

UFO researcher Ryan Wood
published a book

chronicling 74 instances
of strange objects

falling from the sky
dating back to 1897.

As proof that
these crashes took place,

he cites official documents,
eyewitness reports,

and even physical evidence.

PAUL HELLYER:
In Ryan Woods book
Majic Eyes Only,

he lists all of these crashes,

and I think that the U.S.
has been involved

in the retrieval
of the vast majority,

doesn't matter where they are.

We had one crash north
of Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada,

and our regular people that go

and investigate aerial crashes
went out there

and were greeted
with American troops

pointing guns at them.

And they contacted Ottawa

and were told, "Well,
let the Americans have it."

NOORY:
We've had some
great stories of crashes.

Roswell,
Cape Girardeau, Missouri,

they're all over the place.

And you say to yourself,

"How could they crash
when they have

that kind of technology?"

CHILDRESS:
You've got to wonder
how extraterrestrials,

with all of their
advanced super technology

would then just crash.

It would seem that

something else
is really going on here.

Perhaps we have
the extraterrestrials

themselves battling it out
over our skies.

Is it possible that even now,
warring factions

of extraterrestrial
so-called "gods" are,

in fact, duking it out
over what happens on Earth?

And wars that we see
in ancient texts,

like the Mahabharata
or the Bible

could be still playing out
in our skies as we speak.

NARRATOR:
Could we really be at the center

of an extraterrestrial conflict

that dates back
to before the dawn

of human civilization on Earth?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes, and suggest

that our survival
may be dependent

upon an ancient defense system

that has existed
for thousands of years

right beneath our feet.

NARRATOR:
Yakutia, Russia. 1854.

In a desolate region of Siberia

known as the Valley of Death...

...geographer
and natural scientist

Richard Karl Maak leads
a scientific expedition

of the Russian
Geographical Society

into the Vilyuy River basin.

In his journal, Maak writes
that he and his team encountered

several large
and mysterious metallic objects

embedded in the Earth

that the local hunters
referred to as "cauldrons."

Additional accounts
were reported

throughout the late 19th
and early 20th centuries.

According to descriptions,

these large metallic domes
that protrude from the ground

each measure between
20 and 30 feet in diameter.

Their existence
is also supported

by the legends
of the local Yakut people,

who say that over the years,

the cauldrons would
periodically open up and send

fireballs into the sky.

STONEHILL:
What happens is
that an object would fly out

from under the ground
and intercept

an incoming celestial body...

...be it a bolide,

a meteor, anything that can
really damage our planet.

It's like somebody put in

an automatic station
programmed to take out

a celestial body that can
cause us tremendous damage

and maybe to end life on Earth.

NARRATOR:
On June 30, 1908,

a fireball was seen
streaking across the sky

over the Tunguska River
in rural Siberia

followed by a massive explosion.

It was the same area

where these mysterious
sunken cauldrons

are said to be located.

Twenty years later,

when the Soviet military
examined the area,

they reported finding
flattened trees

for miles around the blast site,

but no crater.

STONEHILL:
A Soviet military officer
came up with an idea,

Aleksandr Kazantsev, in 1940s,

that this was an alien ship,

a UFO that came
into the atmosphere

of our planet and exploded.

Others took up this idea.

But where he came up with it,

it's very hard to say,

because secrecy
is all over Russia.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible
the cauldrons serve

as a type of antiaircraft weapon
against space-based threats?

It's possible that the Earth
has been equipped

with some sort
of hyper-advanced technology

that is actually
keeping us all safe.

And that whoever won these
ancient extraterrestrial wars--

who may in fact
be our progenitors--

put that there
so that their offspring

would be protected from whoever
their enemies had been

many thousands of years ago.

NARRATOR:
Some ancient astronaut
theorists suggest

that if there is
an extraterrestrial

conflict over humanity,

it may be due to the fact

that certain alien factions
consider humans a threat.

They propose that the point
mankind has reached today

is predicted
in the same Sanskrit texts

that documented
these ancient alien wars.

CHILDRESS:
The ancient Hindu texts tell us

that we are in the very last

of four stages of the planet.

And that stage
is called Kali Yuga.

And Kali Yuga
is a time of strife

and terrible activities,
and of evil.

And it may be
that the extraterrestrials

are really monitoring us

to see how we can handle
this very stressful period.

HELLYER:
There are conflicts
in the skies.

There are different species
with different agendas.

I'm sure that we are regarded
as a potential threat.

They would assume that
eventually we'll be traveling

around the cosmos

and it's something that must go
through their collective minds,

that these are warlike people

and consequently we're gonna
have to keep an eye on them.

Now, for the first time,

I think that the future
of the species

is at stake.

That's how deeply I feel.

There are lessons to be learned.

And we have to learn them now,

we have to learn them
very, very quickly.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible
that extraterrestrial beings

have been fighting
for control of planet Earth

for thousands of years?

And could the outcome
of this dispute

ultimately be determined,

not by the alien combatants
but by humans?

Perhaps we are on the verge

of reaching a defining moment
in our evolution,

a turning point that will lead

either to our ascension
or our extermination.

It seems like
our modern military is

just catching up
with these weapons

described in these
ancient texts.

And then, this whole idea

of what's happened in the past
is happening again.

So, we have these great wars
in ancient times.

And it's like we're
repeating history.

And it's as if we're not
learning from history at all.

And look at us,

we're doing the exact
same thing as 5,000 years ago.

And it may be that this is part
of an extraterrestrial test.

We're gonna give you
this technology.

Now we want to see
what you do with it.

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