All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S01E05.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-playWEB

>> NARRATOR: Space ships over
Los Angeles...

body snatchers controlling our
minds... E.T.'s making contact.

These and other alien‐based
scenarios have been the

plotlines of countless
science‐fiction movies and

television shows.
But what if extraterrestrial

beings came to Earth tomorrow?
Would they signal the birth of

a new age of peace and
prosperity, or trigger a war of

the worlds?

>> The day that it's announced
we're not alone is the day that

this planet changes forever.

>> The very structures of
government and the very

structures of religion will
crumble.

>> Everybody wants to meet
an alien.

But we have to start small.
We have to learn how to walk

before we can run.

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

been visited in the past by
extraterrestrial beings.

What if it were true?
Did ancient aliens really help

to shape our history?
And if so, what might happen...

when they return?

♪ ♪

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>> NARRATOR: Throughout human
history, man has gazed up at the

stars in awe and with wonder.
Our ancient ancestors charted

their movements, identified
constellations, and marked time

by creating celestial‐based
calendars.

The stars also became the source
of countless myths and legends.

Many of these describe visitors
coming down to Earth from

somewhere out there.
Others speak of entire

civilizations existing out in
the cosmos.

>> MICHAEL CREMO: The ancient
Sanskrit writings of India tell

us, for example, there are
400,000 human‐like species

scattered throughout the cosmos
in different planets, different

solar systems, even different
dimensions.

>> NARRATOR: But where are these
alien beings?

Did they come to Earth in the
past, as the Ancient Astronaut

theory suggests, and then leave?
If so, will they ever come back?

Today, scientists around the
world have stopped waiting

around and are taking steps to
find intelligent

extraterrestrial life.
Will technology finally be able

to prove what our ancient
ancestors believed thousands of

years ago?
In 1960, astronomer and

physicist Frank Drake set up an
unusual telescope in the hills

of West Virginia.
The strange device was made

from surplus World War II radar
equipment, but rather than

containing a traditional
optical lens, it housed a

directional radio antenna.

>> PAUL DAVIES: A few simple
calculations showed that radio

telescopes have the power to
transmit and receive across

literally interstellar distances.
We're talking many light‐years.

So Frank Drake turned a radio
telescope on a couple of nearby

stars and tuned in to see if he
could pick up a message from

the aliens.
So this was a sort of crazy

thing to do.

>> NARRATOR: Drake failed to
pick up any sounds that day, but

the science of radio astronomy
was born.

If we couldn't see aliens in
space, maybe we could hear them.

>> MICHAEL DENNIN: The things
we've focused on in the past for

searching for extraterrestrial
life is really passively trying

to discover signals on the basis
that if they were

technologically advanced, they
would have some form of

electricity like we do, and all
electricity generates radiation.

And it sends out the signals,
and hopefully we detect it.

>> NARRATOR: In 1961, Frank
Drake and a group of

astronomers, physicists and
biologists formed a privately

funded organization called SETI:
the Search for

Extra‐Terrestrial Intelligence.
Their goal was to focus massive

radio telescopes towards space
and listen.

Drake estimated the probability
that intelligent life existed

out in the universe in a
formula that became known as

the Drake Equation.

>> SARA SEAGER: The Drake
equation is like a bridge

between scientists and
non‐scientists, because it

explains what you would want to
know to give a number about how

common alien life could be.

>> JENNIFER HELDMAN: There are
multiple factors within the

Drake equation.
Like the fraction of stars that

could have planets; and the
fraction of those planets that

could be habitable; and the
fraction of those that might

have liquid water; and how many
could have evolved intelligent

life?
And then one important factor

is the lifetime of those
civilizations, and that is a big

unknown.
We only know of one‐‐ that's

ourselves.
And how long are we gonna be

around? That's to be determined.

>> NARRATOR: Using his equation,
Drake estimated that over one

hundred million advanced
civilizations could exist in

just the Milky Way galaxy.

>> BILL BIRNES: SETI presupposes
that if you've got an alien

civilization capable of
traveling that's developed

electronics, they have a
fingerprint.

That fingerprint is a
repetitive signal.

A repetitive signal will tell
them that it's not just noise,

junk frequencies out there, but
a real attempt at communicating,

maybe not with us, but with
each other.

>> NARRATOR: On August 15,
1977, astronomer Dr. Jerry Ehman

was working on a SETI project at
Ohio State University when he

recorded an intermittent signal
coming from the direction of the

constellation Sagittarius.
The signal lasted 72 seconds

before being lost.
Ehman believed that it was of

extraterrestrial origin.
But despite repeated searches

and increasingly larger
telescopes, the signal has

never again been detected.
But what if SETI intercepts a

transmission from another world?
What would happen next?

According to SETI's
Post‐Detection Protocols, once

an extraterrestrial radio signal
is confirmed, news of the event

should be kept secret until the
authorities have been notified.

The government will then decide
whether or not to try and make

contact.

>> DAVIES: I think all bets are
off. Because here's this message.

It could contain enormously
important information that

would transform our society and
maybe destabilize it.

What is it gonna mean for the
future of our civilization?

These are momentous questions.

>> NARRATOR: Today, SETI
continues to scan the vicinities

of nearby stars for
artificially produced signals

using several of the world's
largest telescopes.

In the next several years, when
it becomes fully operational,

SETI's new Allen Telescope
Array will allow for the

reconnaissance of up to a
million stars.

>> SEAGER: SETI has to search
a huge, huge area.

They'll tell you that now they
have searched the equivalent of,

like, a glass of water compared
to the entire ocean on Earth.

They have a long way to go.

>> NARRATOR: While SETI listens
passively to signals from outer

space, NASA has attempted to
contact alien life directly,

through messages sent aboard
its space probes.

>> DENNIN: It's a long shot,
but there's no reason, in my

mind, not to expect that life
evolved elsewhere.

What's harder to predict, or
try and understand, is how

likely is it that it happened
close enough that there'd be

someone we could actually
communicate with.

>> NARRATOR: In 1972, NASA
agreed to attach small plaques

onto the outside of its twin
Pioneer space probes, the first

human‐built objects destined to
leave our solar system.

NASA contacted Cornell
University professor, Dr.

Carl Sagan, to craft the message.

>> DENNIN: Carl Sagan was one of
the most active astronomers in

the search for life outside our
planet. He was a very prominent

scientist, he was an excellent
astronomer, and he really did a

lot to help us understand how
we might contact other life or

detect life elsewhere in the
universe.

>> NARRATOR: Sagan, along with
SETI founder Frank Drake,

designed a gold‐anodized
aluminum plaque, measuring

roughly six by nine inches, that
contained a collection of

symbolic images representing
humans and Earth.

>> AL HARRISON: The man and the
woman were nude, and the

gentleman was holding one arm up
like this in what was intended

to be a sign of, uh, a sign of
greeting.

>> NARRATOR: A schematic design
of the solar system was also

shown, with the planned
trajectory of the Pioneer

spacecraft marked on it, and a
diagram of 14 pulsar stars

around the sun made a chart that
might help someone work out

where the craft originated.

>> DENNIN: We tried to give
them an idea of where we're

located‐‐ and that's an
interesting problem, is to

figure out how you would tell
someone where you're located in

space, 'cause you don't know
where they're gonna find it.

And it was all in a very
stylistic design, but in an

attempt to hopefully
communicate at least some of

these ideas.

>> NARRATOR: Five years later,
in 1977, Dr. Sagan got a second

chance at designing an
interstellar message when NASA

agreed to attach another one to
the Voyager space probes.

This time, Sagan created a
record album made of

gold‐plated copper, along with
a series of basic instructions

in how to make it work.
Sagan estimated that the

metallic disc could survive in
space for at least a billion

years.

>> DENNIN: One of the challenges
with technology is trying to

figure out one that can do what
you want‐‐ so here you want to

encode audio, and even some
video images, but do it in a way

that almost any other
technologically advanced society

could figure out.
And the advantage of a record

player is, it's both mechanical
and electrical.

The grooves are obvious.
And so, they actually put on the

cover instructions on how to
play it.

>> NARRATOR: The recording
included a wide variety of

sounds‐‐ a baby's cry... wind...

surf and rain, animal noises,
as well as classical and

cultural music from around the
world.

One interesting song selection
was Chuck Berry's rock 'n roll

hit, "Johnny B. Goode."

>> DENNIN: Music is a good
choice 'cause almost anything

vibrates and makes sound.
So I would have bet that almost

any culture would develop music.
I believe it's Bach who gets the

most time on the record.
I don't know why they picked

that, to be honest, but he is
one of the more mathematical

composers, and that might have
been one of the reasons, because

math is a more universal
language.

>> NARRATOR: Sagan also included
a wide array of photographs of

well‐known man‐made structures
and greetings in 55 different

languages.

>> GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:: I think
the most important one is the

Sumerian language.
Now, why would they include

Sumerian on that record?
Well, according to the ancient

alien theory, ancient Sumeria is
the first place where we made

contact with an extraterrestrial
entity.

>> DENNIN: At this point, we
obviously haven't learned

anything yet about
extraterrestrial life, because

we haven't been contacted back.
But I think for our own

purposes, any time you try and
go and figure out how you want

to communicate something, it
pushes your boundaries and

understanding of communication
itself.

>> SEAGER: We all want to find
aliens.

Whether it's the planetary
scientists looking for signs of

life on another distant planet.
Whether it's the ancient alien

proponents who want to find
signs of life of aliens who

visited in the past.
And whether it's people today

who want to have experiences
with UFOs and aliens that have

visited them recently.
All of us are trying to do the

same thing.

>> NARRATOR: While the search
for extraterrestrial beings

continues, a new space‐based
telescope is hunting for

planets that may contain life.
Are there other earths out there?

And if so, how will we find them?

>> MISSION CONTROL: Ignition.
Lift off. Lift off...

>> NARRATOR: On March 6, 2009,
NASA launched a Delta II rocket

into space.
On board was a new telescope

named in honor of German
astronomer, Johannes Kepler.

The space‐based telescope was
designed specifically to

discover the existence of
Earth‐like planets located

outside our own solar system.
The Kepler search is focused on

a specific section of the Milky
Way known as Orion's Spur.

>> SEAGER: Kepler's job is to
answer the question, how common

are other Earths?
To do this, Kepler's looking at

one part of the sky for three‐
and‐a‐half years.

Imagine, like, keeping your eyes
open and staring at just one

part of the sky.

>> HELDMAN: And what they're
doing is they're looking at

stars. And then, as a planet goes
around that star, when the

planet gets in front of the
star, the starlight dims, just

a little bit, from our vantage
point, 'cause it is being

blocked by the planet.
And so, you look for that

dimming of those stars.
And then that's how you're able

to detect these planets.

>> NARRATOR: So far, the Kepler
telescope has confirmed the

existence of five planets
outside our own solar system.

NASA officials expect to find
several hundred more exoplanets

like these before their mission
is completed.

Once a planet has been located,
scientists must then determine

if it might contain water.

>> HELDMAN: We know from Earth
that all life on Earth requires

liquid water.

(croaking)

(birds singing)

So that is the approach that
we've been taking for looking

for life elsewhere in the
universe‐‐ follow the water.

And so, that is the step one.

(crackling)

(bubbling)

>> DAVIES: On Earth, wherever
we find liquid water, we find

life. And it's true.
Life on Earth can exist under

an extraordinary range of
conditions.

There are extreme organisms that
live in the scalding effluent

coming out of the Earth's crust
deep beneath the ocean.

There are other remarkable
organisms living in the waste

pools of nuclear reactors of
extreme radiation environments

and so on.
But the one thing that seems to

be absolutely necessary for life
as we know it is liquid water.

>> NARRATOR: To determine if a
planet contains water and

possibly life, scientists use
special telescopes to analyze

its atmosphere.

>> SEAGER: We look at the light
coming from the planet.

And we split that light up, like
a rainbow.

Now if you look at a rainbow in
the sky, and you look really,

really carefully, you will see
some dark lines.

You'll see some colors missing
from the rainbow.

And those colors are missing
because of absorption by gases

in Earth's atmosphere.
So effectively, we're getting a

rainbow from another planet, and
we're looking for dark lines

that tell us what kinds of gases
are in the atmosphere.

>> NARRATOR: To better
understand how life affects its

atmosphere, NASA scientists
study microbial mats at

California's Moss Landing
Wildlife Area.

>> BRAD BEBOUT: Microbial mats
are important to NASA for a

whole bunch of reasons.
The organisms that are in

microbial mats have been on
Earth just about longer than

any other kind of organism.
They make a number of things

which we call biomarkers which
are important in our search for

life on other planets.
So, there are textural

biomarkers, so when you pull up
a piece of microbial mat and

look at the surface‐‐ what does
that look like?

One of the things that we're
doing with these microbial mats

is, we're measuring the fluxes
of methane.

Methane is a gas that's
produced by certain kinds of

organisms that use the organic
matter that's in these mats.

And when that methane goes into
our atmosphere, it can be

detected by other missions, such
as terrestrial planet finder, is

one of NASA's concept missions
for looking for gases that arere

produced by life on exoplanets.

>> DENNIN: We can look for the
signature of oxygen or water on

a planet, and at least that
would give us an idea of

life‐forms like ourselves‐‐ ones
that are carbon‐based, and use

oxygen and carbon dioxide cycles.
Our atmosphere is not stable

without living organisms.
It would have evaporated away by

now.
And so, if you're looking out in

space, and you detect around a
star a signature of the

chemicals that we know exist for
life, that's very strong

evidence that life is there.
That doesn't help you know if

it's intelligent life, but it
does give you an evidence for

life.

>> NARRATOR: With a universe
literally full of possibilities,

planet hunters focus their
search on an area they call a

Goldilocks Zone.

>> SEAGER: The Goldilocks Zone
for planets is the place where

a planet is not too hot, not too
cold, but just the right

temperature for life.
Right now, we know of no planets

like Earth in a Goldilocks Zone.
One planet comes close.

It's called Gliese 581D.
But we're not entirely sure if

that planet is really in the
Goldilocks Zone or not.

>> DAVIES: In recent years, it's
been recognized that there's

more than one Goldilocks Zone.
For example, there could be

life inside icy planetesimals,
these like small planets or

large moons.
The moon of Jupiter, Europa, is

a very good example.
Europa is liquid beneath an ice

cap.
It's liquid underneath because

of tidal heating and friction
going on inside the planet.

So it could be that there is
life, microbial probably only,

deep down under the ice on
Europa.

>> HELDMAN: It's a very
challenging question‐‐ if there

is life elsewhere in our solar
system.

You have so many components
that have to come together.

We have to have an understanding
on the science.

We have to ask the right
questions.

I wish I had a tricorder that I
could just go and, like, point,

and it would say: life, or no
life, right?

But we don't have that.
So, we have to be smart, and we

have to be clever, and, we have
to develop instruments that can

actually address the questions
we're trying to answer.

>> SEAGER: It's inevitable.
There are so many planets out

there, it's inevitable that
we'll find one in the Goldilocks

Zone any day.

>> NARRATOR: But while the
Kepler telescope has only just

begun scanning the horizon, NASA
is already planning the next

step in its search for
extraterrestrial life: the 2014

launch of the James Webb Space
Telescope.

>> SEAGER: People always ask me,
"Do you expect to find an Earth

in your lifetime?"
And I say, "Yes, absolutely."

>> DAVIES: When I was a student,
there was almost nobody prepared

to argue that way.
The feeling back in the '60s

and '70s was that even if there
were other Earth‐like planets,

life is such an improbable freak
event that it would never ever

happen anywhere else.
Now the prevailing view is, yes,

the universe is teeming with
life.

>> SEAGER: Everybody wants to
meet an alien.

But we have to start small, we
have to learn how to walk

before we can run.

>> GEORGE NOORY: The fascinating
thing for me is that we're only

four‐and‐a‐half billion years
old in a universe that's close

to 14 billion years old.
What would happen with some of

these Earth‐like planets that
had a five‐ or ten‐billion‐year

head start on us?
Gosh, you can only imagine.

>> NARRATOR: But what if humans
are not the only intelligent

creatures searching for life in
the universe?

What if there are beings on
other planets conducting a

search of their own?
And what if, in their search,

they find us before we find them?
Some believe they already have.

>> NARRATOR: On October 30,
1938, radio listeners across the

United States sat stunned as a
series of news bulletins

described Martians invading
Earth.

>> MAN (over radio): Martian
cylinders are falling all over

the country. This is the end now.

>> NARRATOR: While the broadcast
sounded real, it was a fictional

production, directed and
narrated by Orson Welles.

Incredibly, many of those
listening believed it to be

true, and panicked.
Newspaper reports described

families fleeing their homes
for the mountains, while others

armed themselves with weapons
and prepared to fight off the

alien invaders.

>> LEVINSON: It was just
presented, maybe, with a brief

introduction saying it was not
really happening.

But from then on, it was
played as if it was really

happening.
Well, most people who heard

that thought that it was really
happening.

>> HARRISON: People became
upset.

Some of those literally headed
for the hills.

They drove places to try to, uh,
pick up other people, family

and friends.
They reported to the army for

duty.

>> NARRATOR: The response to
this fictional alien attack

resulted in many people
preparing for the worst.

But if the public's reaction to
a radio dramatization resulted

in a nationwide wave of terror,
what would happen if they really

came?

Los Angeles, California.
In the early months of 1942,

the city was on edge.
The recent surprise attack on

Pearl Harbor had propelled
America into World War II...

and the threat of a Japanese
invasion, by sea or by air,

kept the military on full alert.

>> CHRIS PITTMAN: Pearl Harbor
was a very recent memory for

people.
People were in high alert.

There was a great deal of
suspicion.

Japanese‐Americans were being
put in internment camps.

There were German U‐boats in
the Atlantic, Japanese

submarines in the Pacific, and
people were very fearful.

>> NARRATOR: In a well‐organized
defense operation, air‐raid

wardens and the coast guard were
monitoring the Pacific

shoreline as never before.

>> ALBERT METZ: The war had
started.

I was a 13‐year‐old kid, and
this one night, which was

February 1942, the sirens
started wailing in the middle

of the night.

(sirens wailing in distance)

Blackout.
And we'd had several blackouts

before this.

>> NARRATOR: On February 25,
between the hours of 3:12 and

4:15 a. m., the 37th Coast
Artillery Brigade in Los Angeles

fired off a barrage of
antiaircraft shells at an

unidentified flying object.

>> NEWSMAN: Watchers on the
rooftop of the Columbia

Broadcasting Building in the
heart of Hollywood could

plainly see the flashes of guns
and searchlights sweeping the

skies in a wide arc along the
coastal area.

>> SCOTT LITTLETON: I think what
woke me up initially was the

sound of antiaircraft guns.
I jumped out of bed, and my

parents were up.
My father was an air‐raid warden.

He figured, this has to be the
real thing. (chuckles)

>> DOROTHY MATICH: My mother was
telling my brother and I, "Get

under the bed, get under the
bed! Stay there!"

And, of course, we got out and
we peeked.

There was all this firing.
It was almost like a Fourth

of July.

>> METZ: I started hearing a
lot of loud explosions.

My brother and I looked out the
bedroom window, saw searchlights

twisting and turning in the sky.

>> NARRATOR: But what was the
strange UFO that the

searchlights were focused on?
Where had it come from? Japan?

Or somewhere from out of this
world? Could this incredible

photograph, published the
next morning in the Los Angeles

Times, provide the proof?
Could Ancient Astronaut

theorists have been right all
along?

>> LITTLETON: It was practically
overhead‐‐ and I mean overhead.

>> NARRATOR: Retired
anthropology professor C.

Scott Littleton, was nine years
old and growing up in Hermosa

Beach when he spotted the
strange object hovering right

over his house.

>> LITTLETON: We saw what my
mother always called a "silver

bug."
I'd characterize it today as a

lozenge, a long oval.
It was something I'll never,

ever forget.
It was caught in searchlight

beams, and antiaircraft shells
were exploding all around it.

It gradually went like this,

and then began to lose altitude
a little bit as it moved over

what had to have been Redondo
Beach.

We lost track of it, but the
banging continued.

And very quickly afterward, I
saw‐‐ we all saw‐‐ a flight of

planes following the track of
the object going overhead,

anywhere from three to five
interceptors, clearly

piston‐driven U. S. planes.
No one has ever admitted that

those planes were in the sky.
Our first thought immediately

was a Japanese observation plane.
Later, the Japanese records

definitively prove there were
no Japanese planes over

Southern California that night,
or indeed ever.

>> NARRATOR: After ruling out
the possibility that a Japanese

plane had invaded American
airspace, Secretary of the

Navy Frank Knox attributed the
incident to "war nerves."

But Secretary of War Henry
Stimson quickly refuted this

explanation, defensively
declaring that an actual

aircraft had been the target of
the assault.

To this day, no one seems to
know just what‐‐ or who‐‐ was

hovering over Los Angeles that
night.

Some claimed that the Los
Angeles air raid was nothing

more than an elaborate training
exercise, a show put on by the

military to keep citizens on
the ready in case of a real

attack. Others alleged that the
unidentified flying object was,

in fact, a barrage balloon that
had broken loose from its tether.

But even that explanation
doesn't seem credible to those

who witnessed the actual event.

>> LITTLETON: One place
where there were barrage

balloons that were anchored
above the aircraft plants in El

Segundo, Douglas North American.
It would have to have slipped

its tether, floated north up
to the Santa Monica Mountains,

and then back down this way.
Barrage balloons don't maneuver

like that.

>> NARRATOR: Regardless of the
controversy, one fact is

undisputed: an estimated 14,000
shells were fired at the

strange object, and shrapnel
rained from the sky for over an

hour.
But what were the guns aimed at?

Would the army really have put
civilian lives in danger for a

drill?

>> TOM HORSFALL: Major panic.
Six people got killed, uh, due

to car accidents and hit by
falling shrapnel in all.

>> LITTLETON: A friend of mine
said he witnessed a piece of

shrapnel go through his
neighbor's garage roof.

So, oh, yeah, there were some
damage from falling shrapnel.

>> MATICH: The next morning,
there was something in our

backyard my mother told me to
go roll up‐‐ it was, like, a

tarp or something.
And when I bent down... or

kneeled down in the grass, I cut
my knee, and I have my piece of

shrapnel.
I've kept it all these years.

There's my shrapnel, and it's
very sharp.

>> LITTLETON: By a process of
elimination, the most

efficient‐‐ and I say this as a
scholar‐‐ the most efficient

explanation is that it was what
we would call today a UFO‐‐

something not of this world,
something that belonged to

another technology.
If that's true, then this event

was one of the largest mass UFO
sightings in history.

Over a million people saw it.

>> NARRATOR: But whether it was
a UFO or not, the memories

remain vivid for those who saw
something in the sky that

night.
So vivid, in fact, that many of

them gather each year at Fort
MacArthur, in San Pedro,

California, to reenact this
mysterious event.

>> HORSFALL: The city went
crazy.

They thought it was we were
being attacked by Japanese

planes.
Some theories said weather

balloon.
Others said, you know, "Oh, I

saw a plane, I know I saw a
plane," and others say, "Nope,

no such plane."

>> MATICH: Back then it was a
scary thing.

I think to this day they don't
know what they were firing at.

If it was a weather balloon or
a flying saucer.

>> NARRATOR: But for those who
believe they saw an alien craft

that night, one important
question remains:

What happened to it?

>> LITTLETON: The rumor is that
it finally crashed in the water

and was recovered by navy divers.
So maybe it was wounded, and it

crashed, and this might explain
why the military was so quick to

react to Roswell five years
later.

Because they may already have
had at least some inkling of

what they would find there.

>> NARRATOR: Was Earth really
visited by an alien spacecraft

on the morning of February 25,
1942?

And could the global threats
posed by World War II have

provided a trigger?
Perhaps the idea is not as

farfetched as some would think.
Is it possible that alien

spacecraft could have been
mistaken for enemy fighter

planes in Adolf Hitler's Germany?

(thunder crashing)

>> NARRATOR: In his 1993 book,
The Gods of Eden, author

William Bramley theorized that
extraterrestrials played a part

in nearly every catastrophe in
human history, and have even

used war as a means to control
the growth of the human

population.
But while many are skeptical

about Bramley's claims, there is
one thing on which they agree‐‐

that the number of reported UFO
sightings always increases

during wartime.

>> BIRNES: In times of war, when
vast civilizations are in

conflict, and in conflict so
terrible that it seems as

though the civilizations will
wipe themselves out, suddenly

out of nowhere, UFOs appear.

>> NARRATOR: While skeptics and
military historians attribute

these alleged sightings to war
nerves or stress, those who

believe in UFOs find the number
of instances hard to dismiss.

(loud explosions)

When World War II broke out in
September of 1939, there were

numerous reports of unidentified
flying objects spotted over

Hitler's Germany.
Although the term UFO had not

yet been coined, the Allies
believed the bogeys, as they

were then known, were new
fighter planes being developed

by the Nazis.
But the first combat bomber

jets, the German Messerschmitt
ME‐262, weren't deployed by the

German Air Force until 1943.

>> PITTMAN: It certainly doesn't
escape notice just how advanced

the Nazi propulsion systems and
their aeronautics technology

really was.
They had the first operational

jet fighter to see combat.
They were building and

test‐flying aircraft that look
incredibly similar to UFOs that

are reported even today.
They had greatly advanced

rocket technology.
There have long been rumors

about Nazi projects to build
aircraft using UFO technology.

>> BIRNES: At the end of the
19th century, there was Aleister

Crowley, H. G. Wells, Bram
Stoker, who wrote Dracula, and

Jules Verne, who wrote From
Earth to the Moon.

They were in a society called
The Golden Dawn.

In that society, they actually
believed in the existence, not

only of UFOs, but
extraterrestrials.

That culture influenced Hitler
in the late 1920s, early into

the 1930s.
In looking for the origins of

the Aryan Race, they went all
the way to India and the Vedic

texts, which talk about UFOs.
So Hitler, in his own way, was a

UFO believer, and sought to
develop his own version of a

UFO, based on the Vedic texts.
To have a dramatic wunderwaffen,

a wonder weapon, that would end
the war.

>> NARRATOR: Although the Nazis
never developed this so‐called

wonder weapon, reports of
strange flying machines in

German airspace continued
throughout the war.

But just what was it that the
Allied pilots were reporting?

>> BIRNES: In the 1940s, as
waves of American bombers were

literally obliterating German
cities‐‐ Dresden, Hamburg,

Berlin‐‐ in these raids,
American fighter pilots saw

these balls of light coming at
their planes.

They didn't know what they were.
They thought they were German

secret weapons at first.
So they called them Foo Fighters.

The word feu in French is fire,
and these were balls of fire

coming out.
So, instead of Feu Fighters,

they were Foo Fighters.

>> PITTMAN: They were seen in
large numbers over Germany and

over Western Europe, where they
were described variously as

structured craft, or simply,
balls of light.

>> NOORY: It was so important at
the time that the military began

to notice it, and they began
to investigate these things.

There were hundreds of cases.
None seemed to be very harmful

to planes.
But they were all over the place.

>> NARRATOR: Curiously, when the
Foo Fighters appeared, Allied

aircraft would sometimes
experience mechanical failure.

And perhaps most mystifying of
all was that some pilots

reported flying right through
the UFOs, as if they had no

mass.

It was never discovered what the
Foo Fighters were or where they

came from, but the theory that
they were some sort of German

secret weapon was widely
accepted among Allied pilots at

the time.
But could the Third Reich have

possessed technology more
advanced than even our most

modern aircraft?
Some believe what the Nazis had

developed was an advanced
mechanism that scientists are

still working on today‐‐
mercury‐powered anti‐gravity

technology.

>> DAVID CHILDRESS: This
involves mercury being in a

closed system, like a glass bulb.
Once that mercury becomes

spinning in a gyroscopic manner
within a closed system, that

creates a lift.
It's electrified lift, it's also

a very bright light.
And in fact, many UFOs are

described as exactly that.
Towards the end of World War II,

the Germans started producing
massive amounts of mercury.

And in fact, a number of the
U‐boats that were later sunk‐‐

one was sunk near Singapore,
another in Norway‐‐ only a few

years ago, they actually found
it, and its entire cargo was

mercury.
What the few historians have

actually written about Foo
Fighters, which is still

apparently a secret today, is
they were a kind of mercury

plasma ball.
And the purpose of the Foo

Fighters was to make a
highly pulsed magnetic charge

and field around the bombers,
which would then cut out the

engines and interfere with the
electrical systems in the planes.

>> NARRATOR: Could Foo Fighters
really have been based on

extraterrestrial technology?
If so, where did the Germans

get it?
UFO theorists point to the

discovery of a flying saucer
that allegedly crashed in the

Black Forest, near Freiburg,
Germany, in 1936.

Some believe, German scientists
repaired the craft to test its

energy and propulsion systems,
and through reverse engineering,

were able to replicate some of
these so‐called alien

technologies.

>> L. A. MARZULLI: Did the Nazis
take this craft, and was there

some sort of a pact that
happened there?

Did the Nazis‐‐ did they
retrieve bodies?

It's hard to pin down how much
they had. Was there contact?

>> NOORY: There's always been
that theory‐‐ that they had a

captured craft, and that they
were reverse engineering it.

It's very possible.
They were truly way more

advanced than any culture at
the time.

Thank God for the American
know‐how, because we were

combating them with our own kind
of knowledge and technology, as

well.

>> BOB FRISBEE: After World War
II, there was an exercise

mounted by the Americans called
Operation Paperclip.

The Allies had been confronted
with all this amazing technology

from Germany.
The jet engines, airplanes, the

rocket engine airplanes, all
these amazing devices.

To give you an example of some
of the material that was

collected by Operation
Paperclip, right at the end of

the war, Von Braun and his team
had begun designing multistage

rockets capable of reaching the
United States.

They also had plans for a space
station, the classic circular

sci‐fi space station, and on
this, they had a huge sunlight

collector, a mirror that was
designed to focus sunlight down

on the Earth as a kind of death
ray.

There were all these wild ideas
coming out of that team that

turned it into a very valuable
coup for the United States.

Ultimately, it was Von Braun who
built the Saturn Five rocket

that took people to the moon.

>> NARRATOR: The story of the
World War II Foo Fighters, much

like that of the Battle of Los
Angeles, has been largely

forgotten or dismissed by
traditional historians.

But an event that happened just
two years after the war had even

the skeptics wondering.
What if aliens really did exist?

And could one of their craft
have crashed to Earth?

>> NARRATOR: Mainstream
archeologists have long rejected

the notion that extraterrestrial
beings had a hand in creating

the pyramids of Egypt.
Theologians and religious

scholars refute the idea that
stories of the Bible or the

Mahabharata could be describing
alien encounters.

And governments throughout
history have officially denied

reports that the Earth has been
visited by flying saucers.

But on July 8, 1947, a UFO
sighting was reported that even

the United States government had
trouble denying. Why?

Because this time, the report
was issued by the U. S. Army.

>> LINDA MOULTON HOWE: I'm
walking on the Foster Ranch

between Corona and Roswell, New
Mexico.

Not far from what is called
the debris field right over that

hill.
And that debris field refers to

headlines back in July of 1947
about a disc‐‐ one of those

mysterious UFOs‐‐ actually
crashing right out here.

(thunder crashing)

>> NARRATOR: One night in early
July, 1947, a major thunderstorm

rolled across New Mexico.

(thunder crashing)

The next morning, rancher Mac
Brazel went out to check on the

damage.

>> JULIE SHUSTER: Mac Brazel
went out to make sure everything

was where it was supposed to be.
And he came across this really

extensive area of debris, stuff
he had never seen before.

He brought it to the local
sheriff's office.

In 1947, Roswell was home to
Roswell Army Air Field.

The sheriff called the base,
the base sent Major Jesse

Marcel, and at that point, it
basically became a military site

as they gathered up every bit of
debris they could find.

>> NARRATOR: In their initial
report, army officials made a

vague claim of having started
the recovery of the debris

"sometime last week."
But why didn't the army report

their findings right away?
And why were they so ambiguous

about the timeline?

>> SHUSTER: One of the biggest
things we have is the newspaper

of July 8, 1947, where Colonel
Blanchard issued an order to

Lieutenant Walter Haught, who
was a public information

officer, saying basically, we
have in our possession a flying

saucer, it's being taken to Fort
Worth, to higher headquarters.

>> WILLIAM BRAMLEY: Roswell was
a real turning point for UFOlogy.

I think that was because the
military, for the first time,

admitted that they had a crashed
disc.

And because it was admitted at
the time, of course, it caused

a sensation.

>> SHUSTER: But then, July 9,
General Ramey issued a press

release saying, no, it was a
weather balloon.

And that started the
best‐documented UFO cover‐up

ever.

>> NARRATOR: Army officials
referred to the debris as being

part of a flying disc.
Internal memos even referenced

the crash site as having victims.
So why, less than 24 hours

later, did they suddenly decide
that what they had retrieved

was nothing more than a weather
balloon?

Although Blanchard and Ramey
stuck by the revised story,

Lieutenant Haught stood by the
contents of his initial report

his entire life.
And those who believe him think

modern technology may have
recently provided the

irrefutable evidence they have
been looking for.

>> SHUSTER: When Major Marcel
took the debris to Fort Worth,

and General Ramey spread it out
to give this press conference

that it was a weather balloon,
there was a picture taken, and

in his hand is a piece of paper.
It's a very little piece of

paper.
I mean, and this has been blown

up. And it is a memo.
There is a leading researcher

in the field who is pulling the
words out of this.

And they include things like
"team at Fort Worth,"

"forwarded victims of the
wreck," "pod or pan."

And so, every year that the
technology improves, General

Ramey may be the one to solve it.

>> MOULTON HOWE: Bob Wood, a
researcher in UFOs, had received

leaked documents in 1996, and
shared them with me and a few

others. This document called the
Interplanetary Phenomena Unit,

with a war department stamp

dated July 22nd, 1947.
"The most disturbing aspect of

this investigation was that
there were other bodies found

not far from landing zone one,
the Mac Brazel site between

Corona and Roswell that looked
as if they had been dissected

as you would a frog."
It does not define, were those

bodies human?
Were those bodies non‐human?

But suddenly, for me, this
electric jolt that came into

holding that document and
reading at the end of the '90s

what would explain finally that
our government knew that

extraterrestrial biological
entities from somewhere else in

the cosmos was interacting with
our planet for a very long time.

>> NARRATOR: Five years after
Roswell, the United States Air

Force coined the term
Unidentified Flying Object or

UFO.
In the decades since, thousands

of UFOs have been reported
photographed and videotaped all

over the world.

>> MAN: Oh, my God.

>> BILL BIRNES: Perhaps one of
the biggest, most revolutionary

pieces of technology to change
our view of UFOs and flying

saucers is the videocam.

>> Whoa, I'm getting a series
of lights right there.

I got it, I got it, I got it.

>> BIRNES: You only have to look
at what happened in Phoenix,

Arizona, in March of 1997, when
these huge flying boomerangs

went right across Phoenix, right
through the whole valley,

heading south to the Mexico
border. These were all caught on

cameras.
Network news caught these;

local news caught these.
You saw these on CNN; you saw

these on Larry King.

>> MAN: Oh, there it is, over to
the left.

>> BIRNES: And yes, people
called them flares‐‐ of course

they did.
But, the fact is, when you see

something with your own eyes...

>> MAN: Look, dude.
Pat, you got it?

>> PAT: I see it.

>> BIRNES: ...even if it's on a
video camera, suddenly your

perspective changes.

>> MAN: And that middle one is
moving quick.

It's only the beginning, you
guys.

>> BIRNES: So now, according to
recent polls‐‐ Gallup polls and

Roper polls‐‐ well over 50%
of Americans believe that

flying saucers exist, and close
to 50% believe that,

the government knows that
flying saucers exist, and that

the government is hiding that
fact.

>> NARRATOR: But why so many UFO
sightings after Roswell?

Is it a coincidence?
Or is the world's growing

belief in aliens providing
cover for those who might

previously have been too afraid
of ridicule to come forward?

Perhaps there is another reason.
Perhaps there are more

sightings because there is a
genuine increase in alien

visitations‐‐ ever since the
dawn of the Space Age.

>> BRAMLEY: There had been
plenty of stories of UFOs

and aliens, prior to that‐‐ a
lot of sightings.

They weren't as widely
reported, somewhat also because

World War II had been going on,
prior to that.

But because now we had a crash
and there was more room in the

newspaper, so to speak, I think
that really helped the subject

take off.

>> NARRATOR: If, as some suggest
aliens from other worlds truly

are among us and have done
their best to keep themselves

hidden for thousands of years‐‐
will they ever reveal their

presence?
More importantly, what happens

if they do?
And what if it is already

happening?

>> NARRATOR: In March 2010, a
mysterious pulsating light

floated over Cleveland, Ohio,
for 11 consecutive nights.

>> MAN: We're having a sighting
right now over the lake.

I'm going to say 270 degrees
south. There are two objects.

One is coming up from the left.
These are extremely close to

each other.
There's absolutely no way these

are planes.
Right now what's happening is

the initial object that came
out‐‐ it's sitting there, it's

hovering, it's getting
extremely bright.

It's illuminating different
colors.

And the second object appeared
from, I'm going to say the

top left of it.
And now it looks like it's

moving around it. Wow!
They just completely

just switched spots.
Oh, my God, this is beautiful!

It knows we're watching!
It knows we're watching!

>> NARRATOR: The Cleveland
sighting is one of thousands

reported each year.
And while many are proved to be

false alarms, others are not so
easily discredited.

>> Right below it.
A big bright white flash just

occurred.

>> NARRATOR: In 1991, Britain's
Ministry of Defense assigned

author and journalist, Nick
Pope, to track the hundreds of

sightings reported over
England, Scotland and Wales

every year.

>> NICK POPE: The Ministry of
Defence has been looking at the

UFO issue since the 1950s.
And the whole reason for

looking at these UFO sightings
is not necessarily because the

department corporately believes
in extraterrestrial visitation.

It's more to do with keeping a
watchful eye on any unusual

activity in British airspace.
Clearly if there's something

there that's a little bit out
of the ordinary, we want to

know about it.

My beliefs when I was given
this job were, I think, what on

earth have I let myself in for
here?

I had no particular knowledge
or interest in the UFO

phenomenon.
Certainly no belief in anything

unusual.
But the more I looked back

through the archive of old
files, and the more I began to

investigate the ones that were
being reported to me on a daily

basis, I began to change my
mind, and realized that some of

these UFO sightings couldn't be
explained in conventional terms.

>> MAN: It's definitely moving.

>> NARRATOR: Many of the most
intriguing cases Pope

researched involved eyewitness
reports from pilots, police and

military officers‐‐ while
others featured classified

radar, video or photographic
evidence.

>> NICK POPE: One case that was
a particular turning point for

me was the so‐called Cosford
Incident.

Now, Cosford is a military base
in the United Kingdom.

And on the particular night in
question, which was 30th of

March, 1993, there was a wave
of sightings over a period of

about six hours.
And there were many police and

military witnesses.
And two air force bases,

Cosford and Shawbury, were
directly overflown by a vast

triangular shaped craft.
Now, the meteorological officer

at one of these bases described
this to me as the size of a

jumbo jet hovering, or moving
very, very slowly, and then

accelerating away to the
horizon at incredible speed.

He said many times faster than
a military jet.

And this was a man with eight
years experience in the air

force.

>> CHRIS PITTMAN: This sighting
was thoroughly investigated

not only by private UFO
investigators, but also by the

British government, who were
unable to explain all of the

sightings reported during this
incident.

>> NARRATOR: Another intriguing
British UFO sighting took place

in December 1980.
U.S. Air Force personnel

stationed in Suffolk, England,
reported seeing a brilliantly

illuminated spaceship that
landed in Rendlesham Forest on

two consecutive nights.

>> POPE: What made this case
particularly unusual is that

this was not vague lights in
the sky.

This was a landed metallic
craft that some of the

witnesses claimed they got so
close to, they could actually

touch the side of it.
One witness saw strange symbols

on the hull, which he likened to
Egyptian hieroglyphs.

He made a sketch of this in his
police notebook and took some

photos, though he was
subsequently told they didn't

come out.
The Ministry of Defence looked

at this, and the Defence
intelligence staff assessed

radiation readings that had
been taken at the landing site

as being "significantly higher
than background."

And that's a direct quote from
the government's own assessment.

>> PITTMAN: The British
government generated a massive

file of information about this
sighting report.

But at this date, it's very
unlikely that the actual truth

about the sighting will ever be
known.

>> NARRATOR: But in spite of the
compelling eyewitness

testimony, the Ministry of
Defence soon declared the case

closed. 22 years later, when
the government declassified

files on the Rendlesham
incident, the evidence was

inconclusive.
But what stood out was the

credibility of the main
witnesses, who were trained

military personnel.

>> BIRNES: Obviously, as a UFO
hunter, I've met a lot of people

who've encountered UFOs.
Just flying on a plane for

example: You're on a plane, and
suddenly the pilot comes out of

the cockpit, and this has
happened on five separate

occasions.
And he'll say to me, "I saw a

UFO over Phoenix, I saw a UFO
over Texas, half my crew saw a

UFO. And you'll say to the pilot,
"Well, well, do you report it?"

And they say when the flight
controller says at the airport,

"Do you want to report a UFO
sighting," and then bursts out

laughing, what you say is, "No."
There are UFO sightings every

single day.
Real people with real sightings

of real UFOs.
It is very prevalent as more

and more people talk about it.
Something is going on.

>> POPE: In terms of the
government response to all

this, certainly in Britain, the
Ministry of Defence policy for

many years has been to try and
downplay this subject.

Not really in any great
sinister attempt to cover up

the truth about UFOs, whatever
that might be, but more out of

embarrassment.
There are things in our

airspace, we don't know what
they are, and that's not a good

place for the government and
the military to be.

>> NARRATOR: On December 1,
2009, the British Ministry of

Defence quietly terminated its
UFO project, citing that there

had been no credible evidence
that UFOs posed "a potential

threat to the United Kingdom."

>> POPE: There are a number of
aspects of this decision that

were particularly controversial.
Firstly, UFO sightings are at a

ten‐year high in the United
Kingdom. So, it seemed the most

inopportune moment to pull the
plug on 50 years of research

and investigation into the UFO
mystery.

The other point that made this
particularly controversial was

the way in which the decision
was announced.

There was no proactive
statement issued on this.

It simply said: The department
will not respond to any

inquiries on this subject and
will no longer investigate

sightings.

>> NARRATOR: One hurdle
confronting those in favor of

fully disclosing classified
information related to UFOs is

the fact that most mainstream
scientists believe that the

study of alien phenomena is
little more than just fringe

science.
It is this fear of dismissal or

ridicule that keeps many
scientists hidden in the shadows.

>> TED PETERS: Our best
scientists, who communicate with

one another, around the world,
have rules of protocol, which

include‐‐ they cannot appear to
be religious... (laughs), they

cannot believe in flying
saucers, and they certainly

shouldn't hang around with
anybody who believes in flying

saucers.

>> HARRISON: But it's all done,
you might say, behind closed

doors, because nobody really
wants to draw attention to it.

You know that they understand,
you know, that there is a

penalty associated with this
kind of research, and so

consequently, it's done, it's
done "invisibly."

>> ROBERT BAUVAL: To be
blockaded and stopped by

worries about peer reviews and
so forth, to me, is wrong.

We can speculate whether there
is life outside this planet.

We can speculate whether there
has been a contact with, with

other civilizations. Why not?

>> NARRATOR: But as more
scientists openly embrace the

probability that there is
intelligent life existing

elsewhere in the universe, will
the belief that alien beings are

visiting us also become more
accepted?

>> NARRATOR: What might be the
reaction today if

extraterrestrials were to
actually arrive on Earth, and

make themselves known to us?
Countless science fiction books

and films tend to portray
aliens coming either to warn us

or destroy us.

>> BIRNES: Since the 1960s,
people have been thinking

about: Well, what do we do?
Do we have a Day the Earth

Stood Still scenario, if aliens
come?

Do they warn us that our planet
is facing disaster?

Do they attack us, the way the
Martians did in War of the

Worlds?
Well, the answer is more

complicated than it seems.
It's not just somebody landing,

and saying, "Take me to your
leader."

>> TSOUKALOS: The general
consensus today is that if

extraterrestrials were to show
up tomorrow, they'd be hostile,

and they would want to enslave
us and, and battle us and, and

destroy us and all this crazy
stuff.

In my opinion, that won't be
the case because any

civilization that's mastered to
travel interstellar space would

be benevolent to a lesser
advanced society

technologically speaking.

>> DAVIES: A simple statistic
shows that if we make contact

with extraterrestrial
civilization, we are the new

kids on the block.
We're the ones who are at the

back of the queue when it comes
to intelligence.

So, they'll be teaching us stuff.
We won't have a great deal to

teach them.

>> JEFF PECKMAN: There are a
wide range of benefits that can

be derived from accepting that
we have neighbors in the galaxy

that are visiting us.
There are reports of medical

treatments that have been
performed for the benefit of

several people who have had
contact.

There are advanced energy
technologies.

Reports are that some of these
have been reverse‐engineered

already and are used in
military craft.

There are communications
technology.

So, really, any area of life
that we have could be

beneficially impacted by
acknowledging that there are

these other people out there
that they have information,

knowledge that they can share
with us that would benefit us.

>> HARRISON: It's going to
depend how the discovery

comes about. If, in fact, it's a
distant radio broadcast,

we might expect one thing.
If in fact, there's, uh,

some type of visitations that
fits in with beliefs about UFOs,

that might be something else.
But on the whole, I think

people are much more prepared
for, uh, shall we say "contact"?

>> NARRATOR: Many who believe
contact with extraterrestrials

is inevitable suggest
governments need to prepare

themselves.
It's a field of study known as

"exopolitics."

>> POPE: Exopolitics poses
the question: "What should our

response be to that situation
at a societal level?"

Not necessarily at a
governmental level, but

actually individuals‐‐ how can
we reach out with the hand

of friendship?

>> STEVEN GREER: Exopolitics has
really been a grassroots

movement of people concerned
about this issue and want

disclosure on the UFO subject,
and also want to help organize

people locally to get the
information out to their

governments and make this big
change happen.

>> NARRATOR: But if we reach out
in friendship, what guarantee do

we have that it will be
returned in kind?

Many scientists, including
famed theoretical physicist

Stephen Hawking, believe alien
beings could pose a threat and

suggest we do everything
possible to prevent contact.

>> BIRNES: If extraterrestrials,
or aliens, were aggressive, were

warlike, and they came here, is
it a case where resistance

is futile?
How do you wipe out life on

planet Earth?
That's easy‐‐ a plague.

Simple‐‐ no UFOs, no zorching
beams from the sky, no

explosions, no Empire State
Building collapsing,

none of that. We can do that.
Why can't aliens do that?

>> TSOUKALOS: To think that
we would be able to come up

with some type of a defense
mechanism or have defenses

against interstellar traveling
society is ludicrous.

>> NARRARARARARARARATOR: Whethee
as friend or foe, if

extraterrestrials did land
somewhere in the United States,

it's possible the aliens would
be greeted by government or

military personnel wearing
Hazmat suits and testing for

harmful pathogens and radiation.
Many conspiracy theorists

suspect the government's next
step would be to cover up

the visitation.
They cite as evidence a reputed

sighting that took place over
Washington, D. C. in 1952.

>> BIRNES: In full view of the
entire world, a squadron,

a formation of UFOs buzzed
Washington and fought our own

F‐93 jet fighters.
General Samford willingly and

deliberately‐‐ maybe on
instructions from Harry Truman,

who was president‐‐ lied to the
American people.

>> SAMFORD: We have received
and analyzed between one and

two thousand reports.
Of this great mass of reports,

we have been able, adequately,
to explain the great bulk

of them.

>> BIRNES: His own Captain
Ruppelt, in his own book on

flying saucers, says
Samford was lying.

We have the letter from the air
force to Dean Condon, saying

"Deep‐six UFOs."
So, have UFOs come to planet

Earth in full view, have
manifested themselves, have

shown themselves? Yes.
Did we see it? Yes.

Was there a protocol for
handling it? Yes.

That protocol was called "deny."

>> NARRATOR: But if an alien
visitation proved undeniable,

who might be chosen to then
speak to those inside the

spacecraft?
Who could best represent all

the nations and interests
of Earth?

>> SEAGER: If aliens do land
on Earth, I think we should

send our best world leaders who
are the most open‐minded

and reasonable, but who also
have the ability to defend

themselves against those aliens.

>> BIRNES: In my opinion,
that's one of the reasons we

have a United Nations.
Yes, it prevents wars and

delivers food, but on the other
hand, just imagine the Security

Council itself convening to
deal with aliens‐‐ an image

on a big screen at the
United Nations.

The answer is I think it all
happened back in the 1940s,

and that was one of the reasons
that Roosevelt and Eleanor

Roosevelt pushed so hard for
the formation of a United

Nations to replace the League
of Nations.

Somebody had to confront
the aliens.

>> LEVINSON: The notion that
our leaders‐‐ elected or

otherwise‐‐ should speak on our
behalf, I don't necessarily

think that makes sense.
There are a lot of people who

might have better ideas than
the people who are in government.

I'd like to see a profoundly
democratic‐‐ with a small d‐‐

unauthoritarian interaction
with aliens.

>> NARRATOR: Currently, there
are no known official protocols

in place for an alien visitation.
But there are those

who think that contact with
extraterrestrials is imminent,

and that our world leaders must
plan for the event now.

>> PECKMAN: We are not alone
in the universe.

We have friends and relatives
out there in the galaxies.

And we need to take on this
task, one way or the other, of

just getting the job done, and
getting to the point where we're

considering the practical
details of interacting with

these friends and neighbors
out there.

>> GREER: Who is responsible
for that relationship?

Well, the State Department isn't.
The United Nations isn't.

And I think this is a very big
problem. So where there needs to

be a diplomatic effort to make
contact with these interstellar

civilizations in such a way
that it puts wiser people in

charge of that.

>> POPE: Even if you don't
corporately believe in

extraterrestrials, if you think
the possibility of alien

visitation is vanishingly
small, the consequences if it

does happen are immense, and
therefore, it's prudent to have

something in place to deal
with it.

>> DENNIN: Personally, I think
it would be very, very exciting.

I mean, it would be just like
the first time, you know, the

explorers came from Europe to
the Americas and discovered a

whole new culture, and they had
to interact.

Hopefully, it won't work out as
some of the bad things that

occurred then, it would be a
more positive experience, and

maybe we've learned from that
and we can go forward.

>> NARRATOR: What would happen
after any potential

extraterrestrial contact is
open to much speculation.

But most people concede one
thing: The world as we know it

would change dramatically.

>> GREER: The result would
be that the fundamentalist

orthodox belief systems of
every organized religion on

Earth would collapse.
Meaning that it would really

bring into question the origins
of the human race, uh, the

genesis stories and a whole lot
of other issues.

>> BIRNES: The very structures
of government and the very

structures of religion
will crumble.

>> NARRATOR: But in 2008, a
stunning announcement was made

from a very surprising source.
Proof to some that miracles,

like aliens, do indeed exist.

>> NARRATOR: The Vatican, Rome.
This walled enclave has been

the center of power for the
Catholic Church since the

fifth century.
It's not only the Pope's

residence, but a place of
homage for one billion

Catholics, and represents
nearly 2,000 years of Christian

teaching and tradition.
But in 2008, the Vatican made an

announcement that some say
might threaten its own existence.

The Chief Astronomer of the
Vatican Observatory, Father

Gabriel Funes, acknowledged the
possibility alien life exists

on other planets.

>> NOORY: They basically
said that belief in planetary

life outside of Earth does not
negate one's belief in God.

Now, 500 years ago, if the
Vatican would have said that,

they would've burned everybody
on the stake.

>> WILLIAM FULCO: The present
Pope, Benedict, of course, has a

very scientific bent, and he
respects intellectual life in,

in a way that is, is quite
extraordinary.

He seemed quite open to
entertain the idea: What if

there is life on other planets?
It's certainly an interesting

question for a Christian to
approach it scientifically, and

challenges your belief of how
much of this you attribute

to God.

>> NARRATOR: Many wondered about
the church's motives and timing.

Why, after centuries of belief
in man as God's supreme

creation and the only
intelligent life in the

universe, did the Vatican make
an announcement that could turn

Christianity on its head?
Did they know something the

rest of us did not?

>> TSOUKALOS: This is
something that is completely

new in the history of the
church that the

extraterrestrial question is
not only addressed, but at the

same time, it's okay.
I mean, that is a major change

in opinion. A major change in the
status quo.

And I ask: Why?
Would it have huge ramifications?

Of course.
Does it change anything?

Of course.
But at the same time, would

that change religion or belief
in God? Not really.

>> POPE: Some people say,
well, the Catholic Church must

know something.
Maybe they're trying to get

ahead of the game here.
On the other hand, it may just

be that they're being very
clever and simply trying to

cover all the bases in case
there is some great

announcement or discovery about
alien life.

Because make no mistake about
it, if it is announced that

alien life has been discovered,
people are going to look to

their religious leaders for
some sort of guidance about

this, whether it's Christians,
Jews, Muslims, Hindus.

>> CHRIS CORBALLY: If
extraterrestrial life was found,

then the church would react
presumably as it does with any

data‐‐ see what there is.
I don't think there would be

any conflict in the way that we
look on our humanity.

What we would find is that God
creates intelligent life

in a variety of ways.
And I think what we would learn

from that is, we can't restrict
God to any one mode of making

intelligent life.

>> NARRATOR: The idea that
intelligent life exists

elsewhere in the universe has
been debated by religious

leaders, historians and
scientists, but not everyone

agrees how its proof would
affect human spirituality or

the many religious institutions.

>> PETERS: What would happen to
our interpretation of the Book

of Genesis?
Well, the Book of Genesis looks

at the universe from the point
of view of Earth.

We look at the sun, we look at
the moon, we look at the stars.

So, to realize that the Earth
is just one small, pale‐blue

dot in this immense universe,
I think it would only expand

our interpretation of Genesis.
I don't think it would change

it in any fundamental way.

>> FULCO: It's an interesting
question for Christianity in

general, since Christianity
would teach that salvation comes

through Jesus who was apparently
an earthling.

Um, what do you do if there are
people on Mars? Are they saved?

According to our viewpoint, I
don't know.

>> DAVIES: Christians have
always had this problem that if

there are aliens out there, are
they not to be saved?

It's not a problem for Jews.
It's certainly not a problem

for Buddhists or Hindus.
But Christians are in a

particular fix.
For a very simple reason that

Christianity alone among the
world's religions has an

incarnation.
What they mean by that is that

God became incarnate in the
form of Jesus Christ in order

to be the savior.
When you talk to Christians

they sort of say, oh, well,
there isn't a problem really

because, you know, we have
accommodated Galileo, we've

accommodated Darwin.
Why can't we accommodate E. T.?

Well, I think there is a big
difference.

>> PAUL LEVINSON: I think
science and religion have more

in common than perhaps the
popular perception suggests.

The one hand, we have science,
which deals with reason and fact.

On the other hand, we have
religion, which deals with faith.

Science is an evolving
proposition, and what we know

today will almost certainly be
reformed and maybe even

replaced at some point in the
future. So, to think that science

somehow provides the truth in
contrast to religion, I think

is a mistake.

>> NARRATOR: While scientists
and religious leaders may still

ponder the notion of aliens
visiting Earth, ancient

astronaut theorists claim that
the evidence exists in plain

sight around the world.
But if this theory was

accepted, would we have to
change our beliefs about our

knowledge, our history and the
very beginnings of human

civilization?

>> NARRATOR: For thousands of
years, humans have recorded

events that seem to suggest
other‐worldly beings came down

from the skies to visit Earth.
These ancient visitations

represent the foundations of
those who believe Earth was

visited in the past by advanced
beings from other planets.

These sightings are also said
to explain many mysteries

surrounding our past.

>> ERICH V. DANIKEN: The most
important was religion.

The Gods have descended to our
ancestors' time.

Now it enters into the holy
books. Into mythology.

Now, later, people try, the
reason the people try to

understand this, they make out
religions of it. But the core is,

extraterrestrials have come here.
That was the beginning of all

the big religions.

>> TSOUKALOS: There are two
main components why we are who

we are today as a species.
One, someone tampered with our

genetic make up and two,
technology.

Because all of a sudden, we
were doing and building things

that we would still have
difficulties recreating today.

And the ancient texts are very
clear that many of our

achievements in the past
happened due to a direct

intervention of
extraterrestrials that arrived

from the skies.

>> NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut
theorists also cite as evidence

the amazing similarities
between isolated cultures all

over the planet.
Why did different civilizations

build immense megalithic
structures to honor

other‐worldly beings?
Why do so many ancient texts

seem to reference men flying in
the sky? And why do the ancient

Egyptians, Hopi Indians and
the Dogon tribe of North Africa

all believe their ancestors
came from what we know as the

constellation Sirius?

>> TSOUKALOS If the
extraterrestrials wanted to

leave behind a message of where
they came from, then it would

serve them very well to build
those structures with a

reference to their location of
origin.

So, if we have connections to
the Sirius star system, well,

it would lend us to believe
that here we have a reference

of where they might come from.

>> NARRATOR: The question of
extraterrestrial life is as old

as civilization itself.
Ancient astronaut theorists, as

well as many noted scientists,
point to the immense size of

the universe and concede that
other beings must exist

somewhere else besides Earth.
But the question remains: Did

aliens visit us in the past?
And is it happening again?

>> PHILLIP COPPENS: The way we
look at history is very fragile.

Any discovery, which is made
somewhere, can change the way

we look upon history.
I think if we were to identify

that an alien presence has been
here on Earth in the past, I

think there are two very
important questions.

Did E. T. just come by and
visit, and then disappear?

Or did E. T. come, stay and
contribute to civilization?

I think the second one is far
more important, because it

shows us far more.
It actually rewrites mankind's

identity rather than just
whether or not, you know, some

extraterrestrial being came
here on a holiday and then

left without really leaving
something behind.

>> TSOUKALOS: In all of the
ancient texts, there is one

thing that is very clear, and
that is that these gods one day

will return.

>> NARRATOR: But short of an
alien spacecraft landing on the

White House lawn, ancient
astronaut theorists know there

will always be skeptics.

>> PECKMAN: People are always
looking for an ultimate proof

of the existence of
extraterrestrial intelligent

beings.
But I think a more useful and

honest question is: how much
and what kind of evidence would

be enough for you to believe
that they are out there?

That they have been visiting us?

>> GRAHAM HANCOCK: I believe
through the experiences that

shamans have been documenting
and reporting for tens of

thousands of years, that we are
in contact with entities and

beings that are not of this
Earth. But precisely what those

entities and beings are,
remains to be established.

>> CHRIS PITTMAN: There is
evidence that indicates that

it's possible that humans were
visited by extraterrestrials in

the distant past.
And if we are too quick to

discard that possibility, then
we might be shutting ourselves

out from something that might
be really fascinating and might

take us to a next level that we
can't even imagine.

>> DAVID CHILDRESS: It's very
possible that those

extraterrestrials who've
allegedly been coming here for

thousands of years, I mean, they
are us. They look like us.

And, in fact, that's part again
of the Bible in that the God,

or the Gods created us in their
image.

I mean, we are to be like them.
We are to look like them.

We are to have the technology
they have.

We're to go into space just
like they did.

>> ROBERT CARGILL: I think there
is life, simple life, bacterial

life, microbial life on other
planets.

I think we're going to find that.
And who knows?

Maybe one day we'll find some
other planet that's capable of

sustaining life that has
evolved people over a long

period of time that are also
looking up at the stars,

wondering: Is there anybody else
out there? Are we the only ones?

>> TSOUKALOS: We are a species
of explorers.

So, ultimately, we will come
across some other type of

intelligence.
And when that happens, if that

society,
technologically speaking, is

primitive, we'll become
ancient astronauts with that

culture.

>> HANCOCK: Human history
has become too much a matter of

dogma taught by professionals
in ivory towers as though it's

all fact.
Actually, much of human history

is up for grabs.
The further back you go, the

more that the history that's
taught in the schools and

universities begins to look
like some kind of fairy story.

>> BAUVAL: We have logic, we
have intuition, we have our

senses.
And to limit ourselves to the

scientific route is a mistake.
We can send people on the moon,

we can plan journeys to Mars,
we can make cell phones, but we

haven't explained the
fundamental questions that we

should be dealing with.
Where do we come from?

What are we supposed to do here?
And where are we going?

We really have not come with
the answers, and we know no

better than the ancients that
we're trying to explain.

>> TSOUKALOS: Exploring the
ancient astronaut theory is the

ultimate quest to find out
where did we come from?

How did it all begin?
And most importantly, who are we?

And the ancient astronaut
theory has the capability of

answering all those questions.
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