All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S01E04.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-playWEB

>> NARRATOR: President Thomas
Jefferson...

Christopher Columbus...

Crusaders in the Middle Ages...
What did they have in common?

They either experienced
or believed in the possibility

of alien encounters.

>> BILL BIRNES: And the fact is
there have been so many

descriptions by various
chroniclers talking about

a strange cloud in the sky that
glowed red.

>> C. SCOTT LITTLETON: Columbus,
on his first voyage, he noted

in the log, a glowing object
rise out of the water and

head off into the atmosphere.

>> NARRATOR: Could alien beings
have been responsible for

biblical floods, medieval
plagues, and even ancient

nuclear attacks?

>> GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
Visitations occurred since

before recorded history all the
way to today.

>> NARRATOR: Millions of people
around the world believe we have

been visited in the past by
extraterrestrial beings.

What if it were true?
Did ancient aliens really help

to shape our history?
And what if these visitations

didn't only occur thousands
of years ago, but much more

recently? Might there be evidence
of real‐life close encounters?

Captioning sponsored by
A&E TELEVISION NETWORKS

>> 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.

>> Three, two, one...

Fire!

>> NARRATOR: 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.

>> J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER: A few
people laughed.

A few people cried.
Most people were silent.

>> NARRATOR: For the first time
in its history, the Earth had

been assaulted by a manmade
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?

>> ROBERT SCHOCH: 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 B. C.

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 are 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.

>> ROBERT CARGILL: 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,

big explosions.

>> TSOUKALOS: It's one thing
about suggesting that, you know,

battles have explosions, but
that's not really what we're

looking at.
You've 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 B. C.
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.

>> PHILLIP 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 B. C.,
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.

>> DAVID CHILDRESS: When British
and Indian and Pakistani

archeologists began doing
excavations in the Sian Desert,

on the borders of India and
Pakistan, in the late 1940s and

early 1950s, what they found in
these cities‐‐ Mohenjo‐Daro,

Harrapa, Kot Diji‐‐ was
archeological evidence to show

there were apparently atomic
weapons.

Only it happened in ancient
times.

There's other evidence in parts
of Africa and the Middle East,

where it would seem to be like
some sort of atomic explosion

had taken place there, and had
turned the desert sand

into glass.
And that's exactly what happened

at Alamogordo, in New Mexico,
when they detonated the first

atom bomb in the desert.

>> 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?

>> TSOUKALOS: In the ancient
Indian texts themselves it says,

and I quote, "At one point,
three giant cities were orbiting

the Earth."
And those giant cities were

often described as being made
of gleaming metal and iron.

And at one point, those three
cities went to war with each

other.
And it's described how the gods

threw weapons at each other,
destroying those cities,

they all went up in flames
and fire came raining down onto

Earth. So, when you read those

passages, the question ask is:
What is it that our ancestors

tried to describe here?
And I think that it was some

type of a technology that was
witnessed, yet our ancestors,

while being highly intelligent,
didn't understand the nuts and

bolts aspects behind that
technology.

And so they created something
divine out of it, something

supernatural, yet it never was
divine.

It never was supernatural.

>> NARRATOR: If, in fact,
The Mahabharata is describing

historical events, might we
also find similar accounts

in other ancient writings?
As far as ancient astronaut

theorists are concerned, we
need look no further than in the

pages of the Holy Bible.

>> NARRATOR: According to one
of the stories contained in the

book of Genesis, angels were
sent by God to destroy the

cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
because of the sins of their

inhabitants.
Only a righteous man named Lot,

along with his family, was to
be spared.

But while making their escape,
Lot's wife ignores the angels'

warning not to look back, and
upon gazing at the horror and

devastation, is turned into
a pillar of salt.

>> TSOUKALOS: When you are at
a nuclear testing range and you

witness a nuclear blast, you're
told to look away and not to

look straight into the blast.
And here we have a similar

description in ancient biblical
text where instructions were

given, "Whatever you do, don't
look back because you will die."

And sure enough, it happened
to Lot's wife.

>> NARRATOR: Could it be that
the story of Sodom and Gomorrah

is really a description of a
nuclear explosion, similar

to the one described in the
Hindus' Mahabharata?

Do the stories of
The Mahabharata and the Bible

represent actual historical
events?

For ancient astronaut theorists,
the answer is a resounding

"yes."
And they believe the so‐called

"angels" who brought forth the
devastation were, in fact,

beings from another planet‐‐
alien visitors armed with

advanced weaponry.
September, 2000.

The Black Sea, Turkey.
Marine archaeologist Robert

Ballard and his team of
underwater scientists discover

what appears to be a farmhouse
some 330 feet below the surface.

Estimates suggest the submerged
dwelling to be approximately

7,500 years old.
Ballard and other scholars

speculated that rising ocean
levels could have caused the

Mediterranean Sea to burst
through a natural dam, creating

a flood so great it drowned
an estimated 58,000 square miles

under 500 feet of water.
But more than finding the ruins

of an ancient dwelling, had
Ballard actually discovered

proof that the biblical story
of Noah and the great flood was

true?

>> CHILDRESS: Those villages,
of course, weren't built

underwater.
So Ballard concluded that the

Black Sea, as we know it, was
only created some eight, 9,000

years ago.
That is exactly what we're

talking about with Noah's Ark
and the flood, the same area

where all that happened.
And in fact, mainstream

archeologists know that in the
Mediterranean there are over

200 known sunken cities.
Those cities, too, were somehow

flooded the same time that the
Black Sea was flooded.

>> NARRATOR: Also written in the
book of Genesis, the story of

Noah tells how God "saw that
the wickedness of man was

great," and decided to destroy
all of creation.

Only Noah, his family, and the
animals aboard the ark were

allowed to survive and
repopulate the planet.

But is this the whole story?
Was Noah selected only for his

virtue?
Or was there another reason he

was chosen to save the planet?
Ancient astronaut theorists

believe the Bible doesn't tell
the whole story.

In the late 1940s and early
1950s, a series of ancient

texts known as the Dead Sea
Scrolls were discovered in a

cave located in what is now
Israel's West Bank.

Among the ancient writings are
various stories not found in

the traditional Hebrew Bible.
One such story tells of Noah

and his strange, miraculous
birth.

>> ERICH VON DANIKEN: One of the
Dead Sea Scrolls is called

"The Lamech Scroll."
What is Lamech?

Lamech was a shepherd.
And one day, Lamech, his woman

was pregnant.
And he said to her, "This is

impossible.
I was not here for months."

But his woman with the name
Bathenosh swears, "No one

touched me."
But Lamech doesn't believe his

wife, Bathenosh, and he goes to
his father, which was Methuselah.

And Methuselah says to Lamech,
"I can't help you.

I don't understand this.
I believe your woman, Bathenosh,

"that nobody touched her, and I
believe you. What shall I do?"

So Methuselah goes to his
father, the grandfather now of

Lamech. His name is Enoch.
Now Enoch tells to Methuselah

that the guardians of the sky
have made an artificial

insemination into the womb
of Bathenosh, the wife.

And he should accept this child,
because this child will be

the father of a new human
generation.

And in the Bible, this is Noah.

>> NARRATOR: What if, as ancient
astronaut theorists believe,

the story of Lamech is true and
the guardians of the sky

described in the story are, in
fact, aliens?

Does this mean that Noah was
the product of an artificial

insemination, a genetic
experiment performed by

extraterrestrials?
If so, what was the reason for

the great flood?

>> L. A. MARZULLI: Well, the
reason for the flood, and we

need to understand this.
What it tells us is that

Noah was pure in all of his
generations. What does that mean?

You know, why would the account,
you know, specify "pure in all

his generations"?

>> NARRATOR: According to the
Bible, God sent the flood

because of man's wickedness and
corruption.

But ancient astronaut theorists
believe the flood was actually

a means of ridding the Earth of
biological imperfections.

By using Noah and his family,
they could repopulate the

planet with a genetically
superior species.

>> VON DANIKEN: Part of this
human society is, again,

genetically backward, closer
to the animal. What can we do?

These humans were spread out
over the planet.

So they said, "We have to kill
them all by a great flood, and

then we have to restart again."

>> NARRATOR: Another familiar
element in the story of Noah

involves the collection of
animals brought aboard the ark.

In the Bible, God commanded
Noah to collect two of every

kind of living creature‐‐
animal, bird and insect.

But many biblical scholars and
theologians agree that such

a task would have been both
physically and biologically

impossible.
Could there be another more

scientific explanation?

>> TSOUKALOS: The story of
Noah's Ark is pretty

implausible, if you think
about it.

You have two animals of each
creature on planet Earth on a

boat.
Not only would the boat have to

be huge, but how are you going
to collect every animal on the

planet and put it on that ship?
So, could it be possible that

Noah's Ark was once again
misunderstood technology, and

Noah's Ark was a DNA bank?

>> JONATHAN YOUNG: Could it be
a story?

Could it be technology somehow
gathering up all living things

as in a DNA bank of some kind?
It fits together.

Hard to imagine, uh, how that
would happen so far back, but

if it did happen, it would need
to be told as a story, and the

story of a boat works.

>> CHILDRESS: Perhaps this is
really an extraterrestrial DNA

bank as well.
The extraterrestrials need

plants and animals and minerals
on this planet, too.

Just like when we go to Mars
or something, we'll be using

what we can use on that planet.
So, extraterrestrials coming

here would want to do that
as well.

And if they knew that some
cataclysm was coming, they, too,

would want to preserve certain
kinds of animals and plant life,

and create, you know, what we
think of as Noah's Ark.

>> NARRATOR: An alien DNA bank?
Is there any evidence that such

a thing is even possible?
In 2008, on the Arctic island

of Svalbard, a vault was built
to store the seeds of hundreds

of thousands of plants in the
event of a global catastrophe.

Elsewhere, similar efforts are
reportedly underway to store

animal and human DNA as well.
Cutting‐edge science or merely

history repeating itself?

>> TSOUKALOS: The Frozen Ark
Project is a program that was

initiated by the London Natural
History Museum.

What they've done is they
started to store DNA of

endangered species for future
generations, for preservation.

And, as of today, over a
thousand species have been

preserved in small little vials.
So, the question arises,

could it be possible that
Noah's Ark wasn't necessarily a

boat made out of wood, but what
if Noah's Ark was some type of a

DNA storage facility that was
used in order to preserve all

the species on planet Earth?
If each species can be held

in a tiny vile like this, then
it all becomes very logical.

And, once again, we have to look
at it from a perspective, "What

did our ancestors try to
describe?

What did they witness?"

>> NARRATOR: Aliens artificially
inseminating humans...

Ancient DNA banks...
Could such ideas really help our

understanding of the Bible?
And is it possible that

extraterrestrials have
influenced the development of

mankind?
There are many who claim that

the proof can be found in some
astonishing places.

>> NARRATOR: For those who
believe that close encounters

with alien beings have helped
shape Earth's history, it is

important to remember that it
isn't only ancient history that

has been so influenced.
There have been literally

hundreds of credible accounts
of strange creatures, UFO

sightings and otherworldly
phenomena that took place, even

in the so‐called Dark Ages.

>> BIRNES: There have been
sightings all over the world

throughout the Middle Ages.
There are stories going from

Scotland to England to Italy to
the Crusades.

Remember the Crusades took place
over hundreds of years.

And at certain points in the
battle, in some cases over

Turkey, in some cases over
Jerusalem, there are images

captured in writing by various
chroniclers talking about

"a strange cloud in the sky
that glowed red.

A strange image coming out of a
cloud in the sky."

Why would we say this is a UFO?
Because, traditionally, UFOs

mask themselves by forming
a cloud around themselves.

And it's a cloud that's going
through the sky‐‐ that's their

invisibility cloak.

>> NARRATOR: In his 13th century
historical work titled Otto

Imperialia, Gervase of Tilbury
wrote about an aerial craft

over the city of Bristol,
England, which caught an anchor

in a church steeple.

>> BIRNES: He uses specifically
the term "anchor."

Now, we don't know what kind of
anchor that is.

But a creature, a man, climbs
out of this craft and tries

to free the anchor from
the steeple.

And all the people in the
village start stoning him,

thinking he's some sort of evil
demon.

>> NARRATOR: But for ancient
astronaut theorists, evidence

of an alien presence during the
Middle Ages isn't only found in

literature.

>> TSOUKALOS: All throughout the
Middle Ages, there are some

magnificent paintings...
...and in certain areas of the

painting, there are what looks
like to be UFOs.

They're always floating up in
the sky‐‐ usually above the

Virgin Mary or above Jesus on
the crucifix‐‐ or somewhere we

have sceneries that depict what

looks like UFOs.
One very interesting painting is

where Jesus sits up in the
clouds with quote, unquote

"God," and they're holding onto
the antennae of what looks like

Sputnik; and theologians say
what is depicted here is nothing

else but the Earth.
But why would Earth have two

antennae sticking out of it?
And why would it be round?

Because the mainstream viewpoint
at the time was that the Earth

was flat.

>> LITTLETON: Here are pictures
of the crucifixion dated around

1350 from Kosovo.

Here are, presumably, vehicles
with people driving them in

attendance at the crucifixion.
Could this be a crude‐‐

an attempt on the part of the
artist drawing on a tradition‐‐

obviously, he wasn't there‐‐
drawing on a tradition?

Could he be reflecting the
folklore? Possibly.

>> BETTY ANN BROWN: The people
of the Middle Ages depicted

devils and angels frequently,
in their art.

They did not depict what we
today consider aliens,

specifically.
But angels are heavenly

creatures that come from outside
of our sphere, aren't they?

>> NARRATOR: Did the medieval
artists include strange

creatures and flying spacecraft
in their paintings because they

had seen them in real life?
Or were they trying to

communicate their belief that
the miraculous events of the

New Testament had otherworldly
origins?

>> MAXIMILLIEN DE LAFAYETTE: The
most famous painting that

resolved any doubt in my mind
depict a UFO with its laser

beam, was made by Crivelli in

1486‐‐ The Annunciation to Mary.

>> BIRNES: In medieval art, in
The Annunciation, when Mary is

told that she will have a child,
but she will still be a virgin,

and the angels tell her this,
over Mary's head is a space

capsule.
But what's a UFO, or a space

capsule, doing over Mary?
Maybe the artist saw it and he's

putting it in the painting to
bring together his own vision of

a UFO, the annunciation from the
Bible, and the mystery of

salvation that there could be
a virgin birth.

>> NARRATOR: According to
ancient astronaut theorists,

the UFO‐shaped objects found in
medieval paintings aren't the

only evidence of an alien
presence during the era.

In his book, The Gods of Eden,
author William Bramley cites

private journals and other
publications throughout

Europe which contain accounts
of cigar‐shaped flying objects

emitting noxious mists.
The first reports of this kind

began during the mid‐14th
century, closely corresponding

to the outbreak of the worst
health epidemic in human

history‐‐ the Black Plague.

>> GEORGE NOORY: The Black
Plague, back in the 1300s, many

have said was caused by a virus
from a rodent‐‐ bitten by fleas.

This disease that wiped out
75‐plus million people on the

planet at the time.
But there's another theory by

a fellow by the name of William
Bramley who says that the Black

Plague was created by ETs, that
they wanted to eradicate human

beings, for whatever horrible
reason.

>> WILLIAM BRAMLEY: We know that
plague can be spread by rodents.

But there weren't that many
rodent infestations being

reported back then, at least not
enough to account for all of the

breakouts that we had.
So what you find in the

literature from that time are
numerous reports of bright

lights moving through the sky,
emitting gas, or what they call

"mists."
And we find them in China, you

find them in Europe.
There are similar reports

from the Justinian plague from
earlier in history, and even

later plagues, the cholera
epidemics.

You find similar stories of
mists that are the cause of the

Plague.
We have weapons like that‐‐

biological warfare.
As for the motive as to why

this happened, I can only kind
of scratch my head, because in

the UFO phenomena, we see
certain consistent patterns, but

we don't always understand the
motive.

>> NARRATOR: Italian historian
Matteo Villani, who both

chronicled the Black Death and
died from it in the 14th

century, wrote of pestilential
fogs reported by travelers from

Asia.
He even wrote that people were

convinced they could actually
see the plague coming through

the streets.
But what some ancient astronaut

believers find to be even
stronger evidence of alien

involvement, are the numerous
reports of mysterious

black‐cloaked creatures who
would appear on the outskirts

of villages just before plague
broke out.

Contemporary accounts describe
them as having "terrifying

faces" and "waving long,
scythe‐like objects dispensing

noxious mists."
It's the image we know today as

the Grim Reaper.

>> BRAMLEY: These figures in
black would appear usually on

the outskirts of a town.
They were carrying these long

devices that looks like scythes.
These figures in black would

start sweeping in the fields as
though they were cutting down

the wheat.
Then immediately there would

be an outbreak of the plague.

>> NARRATOR: Although ancient
astronaut theorists are divided

on Bramley's proposal that
aliens were behind the plague,

his research, like the artwork
of the time, has led to one

important conclusion.

>> TSOUKALOS: What is evidenced
is the fact that visitations

occurred since before recorded
history all the way to today.

It's not like ancient astronauts
only happened thousands of years

ago, and then all of a sudden we
have Roswell.

The fact alone, that these
visitations have been going on

for all this time, thousands of
years, that's sensational.

>> NARRATOR: Flying cylinders
spreading plague from the sky?

Black‐clad aliens looking to
destroy humans?

But even if possible, why?
And, if true, wouldn't there

continue to be evidence of even
more close encounters‐‐

encounters that would take
place much closer to home?

>> NARRATOR: When Columbus and
his men first set foot in what

to the Europeans was the "New
World," the indigenous people

had never encountered anyone
like them. Their skin was pale.

They wore strange clothes made
of bright, often shiny materials.

They arrived in massive ships
and had powerful weapons.

To the natives, the visitors
were truly aliens from a

strange, faraway world‐‐
powerful beings who might just

as well have been sent from
the heavens.

>> CHRIS PITTMAN: Columbus
wrote in his journal that the

inhabitants eagerly came out
to see their ships, and asked

them if they had come from
the heavens.

And despite the fact that
Columbus and his men indicated,

"No, we didn't come from the
heavens," they called out to

the people still on the shore,
"Come out and see the people

who've come from the heavens."
Certainly, it seems interesting

to wonder why it is that
instead of thinking that

possibly they came from some
other part of the sea, that

they'd come from the sky.

>> NARRATOR: But there is more
to the story.

Less well‐known is that
Columbus had an alien encounter

of his own, one reported in
his log just days before he

reached the shores of the
New World.

At about 10:00 p. m. on the 11th
of October, 1492, the anxious

explorer was on the deck of the
Santa Maria when he saw a

"light glimmering at a great
distance."

Columbus wrote, "The admiral,
standing on the quarterdeck

saw a light.
Calling to Pedro Gutierrez, he

told him he saw a light, and
bid him look that way, which he

did and saw it.
The admiral again perceived it

once or twice, appearing like
the light of a wax candle

moving up and down."
Summoning another member of the

crew, the two watched as the
light vanished and reappeared

repeatedly.

>> BIRNES: Seeing lights in the
water isn't really an anomaly.

We all know that certain kinds
of underwater life give off

lights. But this light actually
traveled along with the ship.

>> LITTLETON: Columbus noted in
the log a glowing object rise

out of the water, and head off
into the atmosphere.

>> NARRATOR: What did Columbus
see?

A phosphorescent sea creature?
An hallucination?

Or was it something more?
Something from out of this world?

>> BIRNES: What did Columbus'
men see?

What they saw was a luminous
object, that upon breaking

the water's surface, became
a UFO.

>> NARRATOR: To UFO researchers
like Bill Birnes, Columbus'

sighting is significant, not
only because of when it

occurred, but also because
the object was spotted coming

out of the sea, ruling out the
possibility that what he saw

was a comet or a shooting star.

>> LITTLETON: What's intriguing
is that this was in what we call

today the Bermuda Triangle.
The Bermuda Triangle, that

area, particularly off of
Bimini, the Bahamas, may in

fact be‐‐ and I'm way out on a
limb here‐‐ Colony headquarters

underneath that.
Your UFO goes down into the

water and then into a
subterranean.

What better position would be
to monitor South America,

Middle America, Egypt than the
Caribbean?

>> PITTMAN: Many people believe
that it's possible that UFOs

could have established bases on
the seafloor.

To some extent, it's true
that we know more about the

Moon or some parts of outer
space than we do about the

deepest parts of our own oceans.

>> LAFAYETTE: This event is
extremely important because

it is the world's first
recorded event that illustrate

the appearance of UFO as object
emerging from the water.

>> NARRATOR: If Columbus'
sighting was so extraordinary,

why do we only find record of it
in his log?

Some believe another account of
this event exists in the

official records of the Spanish
Inquisition.

UFO researcher Maximillien de
Lafayette claims that

Columbus' shipmate, Pedro
Gutierrez, reported him to the

Inquisition after hearing
Columbus describe the lights in

the sky as resembling the
Jewish menorah.

>> LAFAYETTE: When they went
back to Spain, Gutierrez

went directly to the
infamous Inquisition.

This is the Catholic
organization created by the

Vatican to persecute and
kill the infidels.

The infidels means the Jews,
the Muslims and Christians who

are not Catholic.
The Inquisition called him

for explanation, deposition.
"Did you say that you saw

menorah? Why did you say menorah?
Oh, so you are a Jew."

He said, "I'm not a Jew."
In the deposition, which is

lengthy, you find more details,
meticulous details of what

Columbus saw above the water.

The file of the Inquisition
is in the vault of the Vatican.

And good luck if you can go
to the secret file of the

Vatican and try to dig for
document as explosive as this

one.

>> NARRATOR: Secret files of
the Spanish Inquisition?

UFOs and alien sightings in the
time of Columbus?

Farfetched, perhaps.
But to proponents of ancient

astronaut theory, these
precolonial close encounters

are considered commonplace
events.

For them, it offers additional
proof that we are not alone.

>> ALEX CHIONETTI: They have
several sightings of what

we would call UFOs today
along the discovery of

America, during the conquest
of America.

Columbus was not the only one.
Also on the trip of Magellan.

Fernando de Magellan, the
discoverer of the Strait,

who circumnavigate the world
after Columbus.

He have also sightings.

>> NARRATOR: Seafarers often
encounter strange lights both

in the sky and below the
surface of the ocean.

Skeptics argue that Columbus'
sighting, like many others, was

simply a natural phenomenon.

>> BRAMLEY: At night, there are
all kinds of things, for

example bolides.
Bolides are these very large

comets, and they're spectacular.
It's just like this enormous

bright light with a trail that
just arcs through the sky.

But we can tell the difference.
When you have a meteor like

that or a bolide, the
characteristics are very

different than the ones of
genuine UFOs.

>> PITTMAN: As far back as the
19th century, people have

speculated about what that
light could've been.

Explanations have centered
around the possibility that it

could've been a light or a
torch being carried by an

island inhabitant.
They were in fact more than

35 miles away from any land,
which makes that impossible.

The other possibility is
that it was a meteor traveling

very close to the horizon,
and that the movement

of the ship is actually what
made the light appear to be

moving up and down.

>> NARRATOR: But what if
conventional science is wrong

and the ancient astronaut
theorists are correct?

What if Columbus, Magellan and
the early explorers really did

see evidence of
extraterrestrial creatures

visiting our planet?
What does this say about

our past? Our history?
And our future?

>> NARRATOR: Germany, April
14, 1561.

At dawn, the citizens of
Nuremberg awoke to what was

described in a local news flier
as "a very frightful spectacle."

Various strange objects were
spotted in the sky...

engaged in what appeared to be
an aerial battle.

Could they have been witnessing
a close encounter?

>> BIRNES: They see this
incredible sight as the sun is

coming up.
They see what they describe as

cigar‐shaped objects, circles
in the air, and crosses;

flying crosses.
And suddenly, these shapes

begin emitting other shapes.

>> PITTMAN: The spheres and
discs were seen for a long

time, as they apparently
were fighting in some kind of a

battle over the city.
In fact, the battle was so

evident that the people in
Nuremberg were actually able to

perceive which side was winning.
Some of the objects were

seen to crash into the ground
and disappear in a cloud of

smoke or steam.
Other objects were seen to

fly off and disappear in the
direction of the sun.

>> BIRNES: This entire event
becomes memorialized in

a broadsheet.
Now a broadsheet in the 16th

century was literally a
newspaper.

And that broadsheet exists
today in Zurich, Switzerland.

>> PITTMAN: The Zurich Central
Library to this day retains a

copy not only of the famous
woodcut that shows the 1561

sighting over Nuremberg, but
also a 1566 woodcut showing a

sighting from that year that
was quite similar in Basel,

Switzerland.

>> BIRNES: What's fascinating is
it's a very similar event.

People saw a bunch of circles
in the air.

In fact, a proliferation of
circles in the air.

They didn't necessarily
interpret that as a battle in

the air, but they did interpret
it as some kind of heavenly sign.

>> NARRATOR: The broadsheets
that were distributed both in

Nuremberg and in Basel five
years later, advised people to

"repent for their sins" and
interpreted these extraordinary

events as signs from God.

>> LAFAYETTE: In old time,
everything paranormal,

extra, extra‐‐ hyphen‐‐
ordinary belongs the realm of

divinity, of Gods.
"God's doing this!

God is punishing us!
God is blessing us! Go repent!

Go to church!"

>> PITTMAN: It's interesting to
read the Nuremberg description

because it is written with
religious iconography in mind.

They talk about crosses seen in
the sky on the previous day

during that sighting.
Now what we might think of as

a fuselage with wings, might've
appeared as a cross to people

who saw religious symbolism
constantly in their everyday

life. It's difficult to imagine
how these things might have

appeared, but it's certainly
possible that if these were to

appear in the sky today, we
would describe them quite

differently.

>> NARRATOR: Could the people of
Nuremberg have actually

witnessed a battle between
warring alien factions; an

event eerily similar to the one
written about in the Bhagavad

Gita over 3,000 years earlier?
And if not, what else would

explain the vivid accounts of
luminous globes and blood‐red

crosses appearing in the sky?

Throughout the Middle Ages,
visions of strange happenings

were often attributed to God
or to the supernatural.

But moving into what is known
as the early modern period of

the 17th century, people began
to look more and more toward

science and the stars for
answers.

And with the invention of the
refracting telescope in 1608,

there would be more eyes
trained on the stars than ever

before.
Ironically, the first report of

a UFO witnessed through this
new device came from colonial

America's best‐known Puritan
minister, Cotton Mather.

>> BIRNES: There was an
incredible sighting that the

very famous New England preacher
Cotton Mather had.

Cotton Mather said that he was
looking through a telescope at

the Moon, and in the telescope
he saw a flying light over the

surface of the moon.
Well, how did this get recorded?

By none other than NASA.
And people can find it

themselves.
Go to the NASA report on

lunar anomalies over 500 years,
and they will find Cotton

Mather's sighting of a UFO
over the surface of the Moon.

>> PITTMAN: There are a vast
number of natural atmospheric

phenomena that can appear as
bright lights in the night sky.

Certainly, uh, meteors are
a possibility.

Even certain kinds of
terrestrial phenomena do

materialize as glowing balls of
light that, seen from a

distance, may appear to be
a star.

And it's incredibly difficult
to judge the distance of a

point source of light in
the night.

So he may have thought that it
was on the surface of the Moon,

or‐or hundreds of miles away,
when in reality, it could've

been quite close to where he was.

>> NARRATOR: Though it is
uncertain what Cotton Mather

saw, ancient astronaut theorists
find it significant that a

prominent religious figure would
report such a sighting not as a

vision from God, but as an
astronomical event.

They see it as a sign, not only
of the sighting's authenticity,

but that views on the
possibility of extraterrestrial

life were starting to shift,
even within the Christian church.

>> BIRNES: Cotton Mather was
known as a fire and brimstone

preacher.
But there's a rational part of

Cotton Mather as well...
because this was the very

beginning; the dawn of the
industrial revolution.

And in this context, people were
thinking about science, they

were thinking about machines,
and really thinking about, could

there be something in space?

>> NARRATOR: Although sightings
like Cotton Mather's were still

rare in the 1700s, the
increasing interest in

astronomy sparked a new debate
over a centuries‐old theory

called "the plurality of
worlds;" the idea that life

might exist elsewhere
throughout the universe.

>> MICHAEL CROWE: By the end of
the 18th century, the majority

of people, at least of educated
people, were convinced that all

throughout the solar system
there was intelligent life:

on Jupiter, on Mars, on Saturn.
All of them had

extraterrestrials.
Very possibly the Moon

would have intelligent
beings on it.

I once did a tally of the
leading intellectuals in the

18th century; over half of them
included ideas of

extraterrestrial life in their
publications.

>> NARRATOR: The premier 18th‐
century astronomer William

Herschel also supported the
theory that life existed on

other planets.
So did Thomas Paine, one of

America's Founding Fathers,
along with many religious

leaders of the time.

>> CROWE: Preachers were
preaching about

extraterrestrials as a proof
of God's goodness.

That's the idea that if
there is a good and beneficent

God, he would populate all the
planets, all the stars.

>> NARRATOR: Though there was
open debate about the existence

of extraterrestrial life in the
1700s, the discussion did not

often extend to the idea of
aliens visiting Earth.

But in 1731, a series of
sightings occurred across

Europe that were so compelling,
the possibility could no longer

be ignored.

>> BIRNES: In modern UFO
sightings, the communications

about UFOs are instant;
it's on the Internet,

it's on YouTube.
But what about some of these

18th‐century or Renaissance
sightings?

Here's something incredible.
In 1731 over Kilkenny,

Ireland, there was a sighting of
a luminous object coming out

of a red cloud.
That same sighting is

reported in the span of a week
over the rest of Europe,

particularly over Romania in
Eastern Europe.

Now, here are two countries
that are not communicating with

each other.
Newspapers don't go back and

forth, they don't speak the
same language, there's no

radio and there's no television.
Yet a UFO was spotted traveling

from the Irish Sea, across
Europe all the way to Eastern

Europe and towards Asia, and
is spotted in different places

as it goes.
Independent observations

that don't cross‐pollinate.

>> NARRATOR: Could these nearly
identical reports of a strange

object passing through the sky
be mere coincidence?

And if it was an alien craft,
is it possible that earlier

sightings simply weren't
reported because they were

interpreted as signs from God?
In colonial America, the idea

that aliens were visiting Earth
was gaining ground.

And in the 1800s, this
controversial theory would even

make its way to the White House.

(multiple explosions)

>> NARRATOR: The United States
officially declared its

independence from Great Britain
in 1776...

and just 14 years later,
a report of the first UFO

sighting in American history
appeared in the newly published

journals of John Winthrop, the
second governor of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony.
His journals, which are now

known as "A History of New
England, 1630‐1649," are still

considered the preeminent record
for that period in American

history. When the journals were
finally published in 1790, over

140 years after Winthrop's
death, they were found to

contain an alarming account of a
possible close encounter over

Boston's Muddy River.

>> PITTMAN: One night in March
of 1639, James Everall, who is

described as being a "sober and
discreet man," and two of his

companions, boarded a little
boat in the Muddy River

of Boston.
As they paddled along the

river, they saw a great bright
light that hovered in the sky.

As they watched, the light
flared up and then contracted

into what they described as the
figure of a swine.

It's difficult to imagine
anybody seriously reporting a

sighting of a glowing, flying
pig. Looking at the sighting, one

can't help but wonder if they
were struggling to describe an

oval‐shaped fuselage and four
short, what we might now call

landing struts or landing gear,
in a way that made sense in the

17th century.

>> NARRATOR: Winthrop's account
states that the object moved

swift as an arrow, jetting
back and forth as well as

up and down for two to three
hours. And when it finally

disappeared, the three
passengers in the boat, who had

been drifting downstream the
entire time, were astonished to

find themselves back at the
point where they began

their trip.

>> PITTMAN: What Winthrop
describes in his journal is

really difficult to explain.
Certainly, it seems hard to

fathom that, for two or three
hours, three men in a boat

watched a bright light moving
around in the sky over the city

of Boston. And it seems almost
inconceivable that their boat

could've been drawn back
against the tide without their

noticing it.
These type of strange and

inexplicable phenomenon are now
associated with the phenomena

that's called "alien abduction."

>> LINDA HOWE: As abduction
cases evolved, you heard people

say all of a sudden everything
around them was slowing way,

way down.

And they associate the slowing
way, way down with whatever

this event is that we call the
"human abduction syndrome."

>> NARRATOR: Could this event at
Muddy River be not only North

America's first documented UFO
sighting, but also the first

account of an alien abduction?
Those who believe the account

in Winthrop's journals was an
actual alien encounter point to

the last line of his report
which states, "other credible

persons saw the same light."
By the time Winthrop's history

was published in 1790, the
debate over the possibility of

extraterrestrial life was more
heated than ever before.

In fact, the question of
whether life existed on other

planets had become so hotly
contested, it caused one of

America's Founding Fathers,
Thomas Paine, to be

unofficially exiled to Europe.

>> CROWE: Thomas Paine enters
the extraterrestrial life

debate in a very dramatic way.
He was an Englishman, but

famous American patriot.
1793: Thomas Paine publishes a

book called The Age of Reason.
And in The Age of Reason, he

makes one of the most vigorous
attacks on Christianity ever

made.
The bottom line on it is, he

says, you must believe in
extraterrestrials if you

know any modern astronomy.
The idea of God made the

entire universe going from
planet to planet redeeming

people is just impossible
to believe.

(angry shouting)

That creates a sensation.
Thousands of copies of the

book were sold.

>> NARRATOR: In December of
1793, Thomas Paine was arrested

in France as a result of
supporting a political party

that was no longer in power.
When the American ambassador

refused to speak on his behalf,
Paine believed that George

Washington had abandoned him
because of his writings

supporting the idea of
extraterrestrial life and

refuting traditional
Christianity.

In 1802, he was invited back to
America by the third president,

Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson, an intellectual, was

considered a genius by many in
his time, both for his skill

as a statesman and his
scientific aptitude.

And some believe he was also a
proponent, like his

contemporaries Ben Franklin and
John Adams, in the concept of

the plurality of worlds.

>> PITTMAN: The concept of a
plurality of worlds was a very

widely accepted concept in the
18th century.

People like John Adams and
Thomas Paine didn't view

extraterrestrial life as a
possibility but rather as

matter of fact that everybody
knew to be true.

The new rationality in
science changed the way that

these Founding Fathers talked
about religion.

>> CROWE: 1825: Thomas Jefferson
is hiring faculty for the

University of Virginia.
And John Adams writes to him

and gives him advice on how to
do that hiring.

He says, "Do not hire any
European professors.

If you hire a European
professor, they are liable to

believe in Christianity, and
that is a very dangerous

doctrine that we should stay
far away from."

>> PITTMAN: Other Founding
Fathers also agreed with this

view, which included a belief
in the existence of life on

other planets.
Benjamin Franklin wondered if

there were different gods for
every sun that harbored

intelligent life.
Many of them felt it was clear

that there were intelligent
beings conceivably through

the whole universe, and that
the notion that God came

to this planet as a person
who was spit on and persecuted,

simply was ridiculous.
And they rejected that long‐

held traditional belief, which
was a very radical thing

at the time.

>> NARRATOR: America's Founding
Fathers defending the concept

of extraterrestrial life
against Christianity?

A revolutionary idea
to be certain...

but perhaps not so
revolutionary to the country's

earliest inhabitants, who long
before claimed to have met

visitors from the sky.

>> NARRATOR: In northwestern
New Mexico lies a vast

concentration of ancient ruins
known today as Chaco Canyon.

Built from sandstone blocks and
timber between 900 and 1150

A.D., the 15 major complexes of
Chaco Canyon contained

four‐story structures with
hundreds of rooms that required

thousands of man‐hours to
construct.

Until the 19th century,
they were the largest buildings

in North America.

>> CLIFFORD MAHOOTY: Chaco
Canyon was a center of activity

for a lot of different Indian
tribes, Pueblo tribes.

Archeologists, anthropologists
have a lot of theories about

what that was.
But what I have studied and

what I can tell by just some of
the chants from our own tribe,

and other Pueblo tribes, is
that this would've been a

big center of activity for
technological‐spiritual

activities.
There's a lot of places on there

that has direct bearings up
into the universe.

>> NARRATOR: When archeologists
first excavated these ruins in

1896, they marveled at their
architectural precision.

But even more astonishing was
the fact that many of these

ancient structures‐‐ like those
found in Egypt, England and

South America‐‐ suggested the
inhabitants had a sophisticated

knowledge of astronomy.
A number of devices designed

for tracking solar events
were found.

And at Fajada Butte, which sits
at the entrance of the canyon,

three giant slabs of rock are
positioned near two spiral

petroglyphs etched on
a cliff wall.

During the solstice and the
equinox, these rocks catch the

sun in such a way as to shine
daggers of light on different

areas of the petroglyphs.
But why would early Native

Americans spend so much time
building the structures at

Chaco Canyon along such precise
astronomical alignments?

And why build them in such a
desolate area of the country?

>> COPPENS: It is one of those
sites which has been posing so

many questions, and which
science is only slowly

beginning to explain.
But really, there are more

questions than answers at this
moment in time about

Chaco Canyon.

>> NARRATOR: In his 2006 book
The Orion Zone,

archaeo‐astronomer Gary David
proposed that the geographical

layout of Hopi ruins in the
American Southwest precisely

mirrors the star patterns of a
number of constellations.

>> COPPENS: When you look at
where the ancestral Pueblan

major ceremonial sites are
actually located, Gary David

has identified that when you
just map these, you actually

find that they depict
constellations, specifically,

Orion is very important.

>> NARRATOR: Orion's Belt points
to the brightest star in the

sky‐‐ Sirius.
If one looks at the Hopi mesas

as the stars of Orion's Belt,
they also point to an important

location‐‐ Chaco Canyon.
But why Orion?

And could it be merely a
coincidence that this

constellation pattern has been
found at other important sites

around the world, and always
with the belt pointing

towards a place of significance?
Ancient astronaut theorists

have discovered the
constellation of Orion lining

up with the Mayan complexes
along The Street of the Dead in

Mexico City.
And here, Orion's Belt points

to Cholula, the largest pyramid
in the world.

They also find it at the Giza
Pyramids in Egypt, with the

belt pointing toward the city
of Heliopolis; a place of

worship for ancient Egyptians.

>> COPPENS: The one thing we
know about Orion's Belt is that

this is a theme which is
recurring in Mayan mythology.

It's also actually a theme
which is occurring in Egyptian

mythology.
Orion's Belt, and the stars

around it, were seen as the
heart of creation; it is where

everything began.
And it's probably not

coincidental that the Hopis
see the place where they are

living as the heart of the world.

>> BIRNES: These are ancient
people.

All they had to go by were the
stars. And so, they believed‐‐ as

astrologists believe today‐‐
that the stars have certain

powers over what goes on on
planet Earth.

>> NARRATOR: According to their
legends, the Hopi believe there

were three worlds that preceded
the one we are in today.

Each of those worlds was wiped
out when guardians of the sky

called to the Creator to tell
him that his finest creation,

humans, were no longer living
according to his plan.

And they called to him by
setting off a warning through

the Earth's axis, a vibration
strong enough to shift the

balance of the planet.
Is it possible the structures

at Chaco Canyon were built along
precise celestial alignments so

that the Hopi could predict the
periods of Earth's devastation

and renewal?
Could the guardians of the sky

have led them here so they could
monitor the position of the sun?

>> THOMAS O. MILLS: Why in the
world people settled at that

location wasn't... wasn't
something that they did on their

own.
There's no running water there.

There was no reason to live
there. There's no good soil.

They did that because their
guardian told them to live there.

>> NARRATOR: During the times of
the summer and winter solstices,

as well as the spring and fall
equinoxes, the people at Chaco

Canyon could gauge the Earth's
balance by watching the path of

the sun daggers at Fajada Butte.
If the daggers did not pierce

the petroglyphs at the same
points as the previous year,

they would know that the Earth
was out of balance.

And since the Earth fell out of
balance at the end of the

previous three worlds, this
could mean the end was coming

once again.

(deep, rumbling boom)

Scientists from NASA determined
the earthquake that hit Chile

on February 27, 2010 shifted
the Earth's axis by three inches.

Would the ancestral Pueblo
people have seen this as a sign

from the guardians above?

>> MILLS: Well, do you think
that's going to show up at Chaco

Canyon on that dagger stick that
comes down at the time of the

solstice?
Do you think the Indians were

watching that?

>> NANCY RED STAR: It's what the
Hopi call koyaanisqatsi.

We are living in koyaanisqatsi
right now.

We are living in a life that's
out of balance.

>> NARRATOR: Could these Native
American legends be more than

just myth?
Is it possible that these

stories, along with the ancient
texts of India and the stories

of the Bible, are all describing
alien visitations?

For ancient astronaut theorists,
the answer is yes, and the proof

may lie on a small, uninhabited
island in Nova Scotia, Canada.

>> NARRATOR: In 1795, three Nova
Scotia farm boys set out to

explore nearby Oak Island after
witnessing strange green lights

coming from its shore in the
middle of the night.

>> TSOUKALOS: As they came to
the island, they saw that there

was one little, you know, pit
that they thought, "Well, this

is very odd," so they started
to dig in that particular spot.

They came across different
platforms made out of wood,

especially out of oak, and the
deeper they dug, they also came

across a mat made of coconut
fiber, and they came across a

stone slab that had very bizarre
writing on it.

One thing is crystal clear:
Canada does not have any

coconut trees, so the mat made
of coconut fiber‐‐ where did it

come from?
That's a very intriguing

question‐‐ how all these
different levels were made.

>> NARRATOR: The initial
excavation stopped at a depth of

30 feet.
But since that time, over a

dozen professional excavations
have been attempted and funded

by everyone from actors
John Wayne and Errol Flynn to

Franklin D. Roosevelt.

>> TSOUKALOS: Mining and
excavation companies have dug

multiple shafts surrounding the
whole Money Pit with the hopes

of achieving or reaching
whatever is buried down there.

They've even tried to dig in
sideways, and even that didn't

work.

>> NARRATOR: Based on the
findings from numerous

excavations, the Money Pit
contains a series of oak

platforms starting at a depth of
ten feet and recurring every ten

feet thereafter, going at least
200 feet down.

In between these platforms are
slabs of flagstone‐‐ not

indigenous to the island‐‐ and
layers of puddle clay.

Efforts to reach the bottom of
the pit have proven so

dangerous, six people have died
in the attempt.

(Peter Fiebag speaking German)

>> PETER FIEBAG (translated):
Its underground is covered with

canals‐‐ flooding canals that
lead seawater into the system.

Each time there seemed to be a
progress, underground floods in

the canals would make further
searches impossible.

So, this is what we know: many
centuries ago, someone

constructed a giant hydraulic
system under this island.

It couldn't have been pirates.
It had to be someone with great

expertise for architecture and
hydraulics.

>> TSOUKALOS: We still haven't
been able to access whatever is

down there because of the
incredible flooding system.

These treasure hunters poured
red paint into one of these

shafts, and not only did it come
out on one side of the island,

but also on the other side.
Up to three shafts have been

discovered.
I mean, it's ingenious.

>> NARRATOR: But who‐‐ or what‐‐
constructed this elaborately

booby‐trapped pit?
And, perhaps more importantly,

what‐‐ if anything‐‐ lies hidden
at the bottom?

Some have speculated that it
might be the crown jewels of

England, pirate treasure, Viking
hoards and even the original

manuscripts of Shakespeare.
But perhaps the most audacious

theory of all is that the Money
Pit is the hiding place for one

of the most sacred objects in
the world.

>> TSOUKALOS: There is a
possibility that the Ark of the

Covenant, with its contents, has
been hidden on Oak Island.

>> NARRATOR: The Ark of the
Covenant?

The most sacred object in all of
Judeo‐Christianity?

The gold chest that is supposed
to contain the tablets on which

the Hebrew God wrote the Ten
Commandments?

Why would this religious relic
be placed at the bottom of an

elaborately booby‐trapped pit
in Northeastern Canada?

Ancient astronaut theorists
believe the Ark may have been

hidden because of the powers it
held‐‐ powers from out of this

world.

>> TSOUKALOS: According to the
ancient astronaut hypothesis,

the Ark of the Covenant housed
an extraterrestrial device which

was given to the Israelites
during their 40‐year wandering

through the desert.

>> GRAHAM HANCOCK: When you go
back to the biblical

descriptions, it becomes a
weapon. It rises up into the air.

It rushes towards the enemies
of Israel.

When the Philistines briefly
capture it, um, they make the

mistake of opening it and filing
past it.

Suddenly, thousands of people
start to die.

The biblical account states
quite clearly that the cause of

death was cancerous tumors.
This is a very mysterious and

puzzling thing.
What kind of object could have

these almost machinelike
attributes and cause deaths that

sound like radiation sickness?

>> NARRATOR: What powers the Ark
held is the subject of wide

speculation, but an even bigger
mystery is what happened to the

Ark and where it might be
located today.

One legend says that it was
taken during the Crusades by an

elite band of monk‐like warriors
known as the Knights Templar.

>> HANCOCK: The cover story‐‐
and it feels like a cover

story‐‐ is that they were to
protect pilgrims on the route

between the coast and Jerusalem
in the Holy Land.

But they don't ever seem to have
done any of that.

Um, right soon after they were
founded, they took possession

of the Temple Mount, uh, in
Jerusalem.

And, uh, for the best part of 80
or 90 years, they devoted

themselves to what looked like
an archaeological expedition on

the Temple Mount.
And I'm pretty certain they were

looking for the Ark of the
Covenant.

>> NARRATOR: The legend tells of
the Knights taking the Ark to

Scotland, where they formed an
alliance with the powerful

Sinclair family.
Some historians believe William

Sinclair may have taken the Ark
to Oak Island in Nova Scotia in

the 1400s to protect it from
English invasion.

Here, Sinclair and his men could
have built what might be the

most impenetrable vault ever
made‐‐ the notorious Money Pit.

But, if so, where is the
evidence?

(speaking German)

>> FIEBAG (translated): In the
1990s, some scientists were able

to send cameras down into one of
the shafts.

There, they discovered strange
objects that had a rounded,

tubular shape.
Their C‐14 values were diverse

and their radiometric age
ranged from very old to

futuristic.
Now, that is basically

impossible.
However, there is some chance

that that effect could be
caused by some kind of

radioactivity.
That's why we suspect that a

nuclear reactor may have been
taken there and hidden inside

this ingenious hydraulic
system... ...so that it would be

kept safe forever.

>> NARRATOR: What would it mean
if the Ark of the Covenant

really was discovered at the
bottom of the Money Pit?

Would it provide the proof of
alien intervention‐‐ the very

proof that ancient astronaut
theorists have been waiting for?

>> TSOUKALOS: If the Ark of the
Covenant is found at the bottom

of the Money Pit, well...
story's over.

>> NARRATOR: Perhaps.
But an even greater question

persists: why?
Has mankind been helped by the

intervention of beings from
other worlds, as ancient

astronaut proponents contend?
Or was there a more ominous

intention?
Could the Ark, if discovered,

be a sort of Pandora's box
that, once opened, would reveal

more about our origins than we
would ever want to know?

>> NARRATOR: As the 20th
century dawned, the industrial

revolution suggested that
nothing conceived by man could

be impossible.
We could now ride through the

countryside in horseless
carriages...

(car horn honks)

(shop horn blows)

...sail the seas in huge ocean
liners...

fly through the sky in airships.
Even the idea of building

rockets and flying them to the
Moon, Mars and beyond seemed

well within our grasp.
It was the era of science

fiction writers like H. G. Wells
and inventors like Einstein,

Tesla, Edison and Ford.

In 1896, there were widespread
reports of strange airships

hovering over various locations
in the American West.

Coincidence or consequence?

>> PITTMAN: There were
sightings throughout history,

and of course, there were a
large number of sightings in

the 19th century.
But it wasn't until 1896 that

there were waves of sightings.
Thousands of people in 1896 and

1897 in the United States saw
phantom airships, the origin of

which was never explained.
These reports were catalogued,

discussed in newspapers.

>> BIRNES: There were sightings
in 1896, 1897, 1898.

And in fact, we kind of know,
from newspaper reports from the

Southwest, that people were
seeing craft with wings.

And the Wright Brothers didn't
fly an airplane until 1903.

So what were these craft?
Well, on the one hand, people

were flying balloons in the
19th century.

So balloons were not high
technology.

What was high technology back
then was affixing a gasoline

engine to the gondola of a
balloon.

>> BRAMLEY: That whole airship
mystery‐‐ my guess is that some

of those were just dirigibles
that people were flying around.

On the other hand, during that
time, we also find reports of

objects that moved really too
quickly to be dirigibles.

And some were maybe too shiny
really to be the types of

balloons that they were making
at that time.

>> BIRNES: The prevalence of
these balloons powered by

gasoline engines flying around
in the late 1890s in the turn

of the century probably opened
up people's minds to the

possibility that there could be
literally unidentified flying

objects. People began, to put it
bluntly, looking up.

So it could be said that modern
UFO history began with these

mysterious airships of the 1890s.

>> PITTMAN: It certainly seems
possible, if we believe that

the airship sightings were
sightings of extraterrestrial

spaceships, that perhaps the
aliens were interested in human

activity at the time because of
the rapid increases being made

in technology.

>> BIRNES: Some people have
suggested that aliens have been

interfering with the lives of
human beings for thousands of

years.
And because they were always

here at significant points in
human history, they introduced

various kinds of technologies
to spur development along a

certain line.

>> NARRATOR: Could the same
alien presence that some

believe had been visiting the
Earth for centuries have been

responsible for inspiring our
great leap into the modern age?

Or could the increased close
encounters with UFOs‐‐ which

would persist through the next
century‐‐ be a sign that we

were in danger of going too far?

>> BRAMLEY: A very common idea
that we have today is that, as

we develop technologically,
we're going to see an increase

in UFO phenomena‐‐ that UFOs are
basically monitoring us.

Decades ago, we saw a lot of
UFO activity around air bases,

around atomic bases and also
UFOs following airplanes and

maybe following our aircraft.
I would say that certainly, as

we keep developing, we will
continue to see that monitoring

aspect to the UFOs.
Especially as we continue going

to space, we're going to
continue seeing more UFO

activity.
Whether it's for our benefit

or not, that's hard to say.

>> BIRNES: Our history, the
history of human beings on

planet Earth‐‐ whether we
ourselves are the aliens seeded

from another planet or that
the aliens created us, as the

stories of the Anunnaki say‐‐
regardless, it may be that human

beings are being directed
toward a certain end.

>> NARRATOR: In the 20th
century, the inhabitants of

planet Earth were capable of
blasting off and touching the

stars. We were also capable of

harnessing the atom...

>> Fire.

>> NARRATOR: ...and using it to
inflict the deadliest of

devastations.
We would send satellites into

orbit, land on the Moon and
reach Mars.

But what would we find?
A barren, empty universe of

dead planets or something else?

>> TSOUKALOS: In the 1960s,
mainstream scientists were

already exploring the question
of whether or not we're alone

in the universe.
And there was only a handful of

scientists who actually
proposed the idea that, yes,

there are other civilizations
out there.

Now fast‐forward 50 years.
You'd be very hard‐pressed to

find any scientist today saying
that we're alone in the universe.

>> HOWE: What we're coming up
to now, in the 21st century, is

going to be a redefinition.
Our entire history may have to

be revised, in the context of
nonhuman intelligences coming

and going.
And what else is out there in

this incredible universe of
which we humans are a part?

>> NARRATOR: Perhaps the dawn
of the space age was a signal

to whatever or whoever was out
there that, after centuries of

writing on cave walls, building
temples and mapping the skies,

the inhabitants of planet Earth
were at last ready.

Ready for their return.