All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens Origins s01e12 Alien Messengers.eng

NARRATOR: Otherworldly
messengers imparting wisdom

to ancient civilizations.

Strange visitations

that altered
the course of history.

And extraordinary minds inspired

by an intelligence
of cosmic proportions.

For nearly two decades,

Ancient Aliens
has traveled the globe,

exploring towering
megalithic structures,

mysterious artifacts

and stories
of otherworldly beings

in a quest for evidence
that might reveal the truth

of our extraterrestrial origins.

But what's even more intriguing
is the fact

that the original Hebrew word
for "angel"

means "messenger."

NARRATOR:
Now we take a look back

through
the Ancient Aliens archives

to the show's very origins

to examine the evidence
that we are not alone.

We have never been alone.

? ?

When you look at the entire
history of human civilization,

at every turn
and in every culture,

you find stories
of people speaking

with what are
essentially otherworldly beings.

And we have stories from
the Bible and ancient mythology

and from the Middle Ages,

with tales of fairy folk
and little people

and things like that.

And then, of course, today,
we have reports

of encounters
with extraterrestrials.

HENRY:
Right.

It's really clear that,

from the very beginning,
humans have made contact

with beings not of this world.

So are we being guided
in some way?

We asked this question
on Ancient Aliens

way back in season two

in an episode
called "Alien Contact."

NARRATOR: Rendlesham Forest.

Suffolk County, England.

80 miles northeast of London.

During the Cold War,

more than 12,000 American
officers and enlisted men

were stationed
at two air force bases

on the forest's northern
and southern edges,

R.A.F. Bentwaters

and R.A.F. Woodbridge.

Shortly after midnight
on December 26, 1980,

military radar detected
an unidentified flying object.

And there were civilian reports

of strange flickering lights
in the sky.

? ?

Within minutes,
military policemen,

including Staff Sergeant
James Penniston

and Airman First Class
John Burroughs,

were sent into the woods
to investigate.

What they encountered

was something
the experienced servicemen

had never seen before.

PENNISTON:
By the dissipating light,

I started seeing a, uh,

a silhouette of a,
uh, triangular craft.

It was, uh, completely black
in, uh, color,

except for these occasional, uh,
bits of blue and orange light

and yellow light
running through it.

There was blue lights.

There was, like,
a orange spear above it.

There was a white light that
would come out underneath it,

and then there was,
like, a misty orange haze.

NARRATOR:
In his report,

Sergeant Penniston described
the strange craft's dimensions

as roughly six and a half feet
tall with nine-foot sides.

He also noted unusual markings--

raised symbols similar
to Egyptian hieroglyphs.

PENNISTON:
I was expecting to find, uh, I don't know,

"USAF," something like that.

And what I find is glyphs,

uh, pictorial glyphs,
uh, making no sense at all.

Then I was running my hand
over the side of the craft.

It was very warm to touch.

NARRATOR:
Upon touching the craft,

the 26-year-old serviceman
claimed

he received a strange
and powerful vision.

PENNISTON:
It's ones and zeros and ones and ones, and...

it just makes no sense.

Take my hands off it,
it stopped.

And then, um...

Then there was
a bright flash of light.

BURROUGHS:
And then, at that point,

whatever it was appeared
to take-- go up in the air

and take off and go back
towards the coast.

And we didn't have
any more contact.

NARRATOR: Penniston
and Burroughs were ordered

by the deputy base commander
to treat the alleged sighting

as if it had never happened.

Still, after three decades,

James Penniston remains haunted
by his strange vision.

So much so
that he felt compelled

to keep a written record of it.

A record he kept locked away
for nearly 30 years.

It's like-like someone
was holding a picture up, okay,

of this zeros and ones and...

I-I could see it
in my mind's eye, okay?

So I recorded those,
one after another.

What do they mean? I don't know.

(indistinct echoing male voice)

NARRATOR:
Could the strange numbers from James Penniston's vision

be some type
of extraterrestrial code?

If so, Penniston would not
be the first to claim

to have received messages
from otherworldly visitors.

In fact, history
is filled with accounts

of people compelled into action
by contact

with what they claim
to be an extraterrestrial,

divine or supernatural being.

Abraham,

Mohammed,

and St. Paul are described
as having been inspired

by visits from God.

Moses,

Confucius,

and the legendary
Cambodian figure Preah Pisnukar

are said to have met
strange visitors

who passed along moral codes
and philosophies.

WILLIE E. DYE:
God chose them because of their integrity,

because of their faith.

Men that were, uh, leaders
that God had chosen

to put in certain positions.

People respected those leaders,

and people knew
that they were people of God.

According to the ancient
astronaut hypothesis,

visions are not divine at all.

They were, in fact,
visits by extraterrestrials

where our ancestors thought
it was a vision,

but it never was.

The person
didn't quite comprehend

that he or she was visited by...

flesh-and-blood
extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR:
Perhaps the best known example

of a man receiving
specific instructions

from an extraterrestrial source

can be found
in the story of Moses.

According to the biblical
Book of Exodus,

Moses first encountered God
in the form of a burning bush.

It was here
that he was given his mission:

to deliver the Hebrew people
out of slavery in Egypt

and into the Promised Land.

Later, at Mount Sinai,

after he had safely brought
the Jews into the desert,

he was handed
the Ten Commandments

as laws given to man
directly by God.

Eventually, these moral codes

were the foundation
of a whole worldwide religion.

NARRATOR:
But to ancient astronaut theorists,

the story of Moses
may be interpreted

as not only a divine
but also an alien encounter.

According to the Old Testament,

Moses went up on Mount Sinai
to meet with "God."

And I quote, "And they saw
the God of Israel.

"And there was under His feet,
as it were,

"a paved work of sapphire stone,

and it was like the very heavens
in its radiating clarity."

And my question is,
does something like this exist

or was it some sort of
a misunderstood metallic ramp?

But it gets even better.

Moses actually describes
Earth seen from outer space.

The quote is,

"Thereupon I saw
the whole round of the Earth,

"at once the depth of the Earth

and the vast altitudes
of the heavens."

I mean, here he describes
Earth as being round.

At the time,
that should've not been known,

according to
mainstream scientists.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that Moses was inspired by a force

not only from the heavens

but from another world?

PHILIP COPPENS:
What we're confronted with here are

human beings encountering
nonhuman intelligences.

These are encounters
with something otherworldly

yet physical.

? ?

NARRATOR: Persepolis, Iran.

Here, 30 miles northeast
of the city of Shiraz,

lay the ruins
of an ancient capital.

Built by the Persian conqueror
Darius

more than 2,000 years ago,

Persepolis was once
a mighty city that legend says

was protected by a powerful god
named Ahura Mazda.

And etched in stone
atop the crumbling remains

of a building
called the Tripylon

is a depiction
of this ancient god

seated inside a winged disk.

Ahura Mazda was central

to the ancient Persian
religion Zoroastrianism

and the experiences
of a prophet named Zarathustra

who lived 2,600 years ago.

Zarathustra was the founder
of a religion.

He was in the area near Persia,

of modern day Persia or Iran.

And he had a visitor,
Ahura Mazda, a divine encounter

that led to the major form of
monotheism in the entire area.

It preceded the Egyptian
form of monotheism

and way beyond the Hebrew
and then Christian forms.

NARRATOR:
According to ancient Zoroastrian texts called the Avesta,

Zarathustra's first meeting
with Ahura Mazda

occurred at the top
of a mountain

that was shrouded in clouds

and bathed in an eerie light.

YOUNG:
Zarathustra carries this idea that there is this one true god.

It is literally
the god of truth.

And truth is a great
central principle

in the Zoroastrian worldview.

Right and wrong,
good and evil, black and white,

a very strong contrast

and you are to identify with
the good and search the truth.

NARRATOR:
Some researchers believe these divine prophecies provide proof

that the prophet Zarathustra
was following commands

from an extraterrestrial being--

one who perhaps came to Earth

to sow the seeds of what
is now known as civilization.

COPPENS:
When we look at Zarathustra encountering Ahura Mazda,

what we're confronted with here
are human beings

who are encountering
nonhuman intelligences.

These are indicative
of physical encounters.

These are encounters
with something,

which is otherworldly,
yet physical.

TSOUKALOS:
We have to ask ourselves,

were they just a figment
of our ancestors' imagination

or did they exist?

COPPENS:
These are extraterrestrial or alien entities

who come here and provide

some kind of information
exchange and guidance program

between cultures and entities

who are willing
to help that culture.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible, as ancient astronaut theorists believe,

that extraterrestrials contacted
prophets in the distant past

in order to guide
the development

of human civilization?

And if so, might there be
more clues found

in the historical accounts
of what is perhaps

the most intriguing character
in all of ancient Greece?

On the flanks
of this 8,000-foot peak

lie the ruins
of a marble sanctuary

that was once home to one of
history's most famous prophets,

a temple priestess
known as the Oracle of Delphi.

RICHARD RADER:
The Oracle of Delphi is the most famous oracle

from the ancient world.

There was a temple there

dedicated to the god Apollo.

Apollo is the central god
for prophecy.

And a temple was established
for Apollo in Delphi,

and that became the seat
of the actual oracle

where people would visit.

ROBERT SCHOCH:
The Oracle of Delphi was located in the Temple of Apollo,

which would've been,
at the time,

the major building structure.

This was the central point.

So the oracle was all-important.

Everything else was there

because of the oracle
in the complex.

NARRATOR:
Also known as Pythia,

the oracle
could be found sitting

on a tall three-legged seat

over an opening in the earth,

where vapors
rising from the ground

would put her into a trance.

CHILDRESS:
The Oracle of Delphi would basically channel

the god Apollo.

Apollo was really the god
of civilization.

He was the god of light.
He was the god of prophecy.

And she would become Apollo.

RADER:
You can imagine how it is when something supernatural

or superhuman
comes into a human body.

It of course creates
a fugue state, essentially.

It creates a weird trance.

Nowadays, we have movies about
possessions and stuff like that.

It's kind of like that.
It's not necessarily demonic.

But any time the supernatural
becomes housed

within something natural
like a human body,

it is inevitably going to be
causing some kind of trance,

some kind of fugue state
or something.

NARRATOR:
For more than a thousand years,

the oracle and her numerous
successors dispensed advice

to everyone from emperors
and generals

to poets and politicians.

Prophecy was central
to the Greek worldview

and the affairs of state,
the planning of battles.

Any important decisions
would be taken to the oracle

to be considered,

to get some kind of guidance
from beyond ordinary knowing.

RADER:
You can come and ask about giving birth to a child.

You can come and ask about crops
that you want to plant.

You can come and ask
about joining the army.

You can come and ask

about undertaking
a military expedition.

The priestess is there
to be the liaison.

And, in fact, when people come
to the oracle and ask questions,

they specifically ask
the priestess,

and she's the one who channels
the answer from Apollo

back down to the human beings.

NARRATOR:
But just what or whom was the reason

for the oracle's bizarre
trancelike state?

One in which, according to
contemporary accounts,

she could accurately predict
everything from the Trojan War

and the eventual decline
of Greek power

to the slaughter of the famed
300 Spartans at Thermopylae.

(clamoring)

Mainstream researchers say

it was most likely due to her
inhalation of intoxicating fumes

from various gases seeping out
of Mount Parnassus.

But might she, in fact,
have been in contact

with an extraterrestrial being?

One whom the ancient Greeks
knew as Apollo?

The idea that Apollo was
possibly some extraterrestrial

makes sense,
because they want us to develop.

They want us
to have civilization.

They want us to have technology

and to be like them.

We've always been
their pet project, so to speak,

meaning that they helped us
become who we are today.

NARRATOR:
Were ancient so-called gods like Ahura Mazda and Apollo

really part of an advanced race
of celestial beings?

Aliens who used human agents
known as prophets

to instruct and steer the course
of human civilization?

DAVID WILCOCK:
The Bible is the most documented account

of extraterrestrial contact.

TSOUKALOS:
"Angel" is

a mistranslation.

The correct translation
is "messenger."

? ?

When we talk about angels,

we think of the Bible.

But, you know, there are reports
of encounters with angels

with cultures and people
all over the world.

And it's not just thousands
of years ago,

but people are reporting this
even today.

TSOUKALOS:
Yeah, and these beings

are almost always described

as having descended
from the sky.

But what's even more intriguing
is the fact

that the original Hebrew word
for "angel"

-means "messenger."
-HENRY: Right.

And that's almost always what
they're doing--

-delivering messages.
-Right.

Now the question is, who
exactly are these messengers?

NARRATOR:
Angels.

According to a Nielsen survey
taken in 2010,

nearly 70% of Americans
believe in their existence.

But what are they?

Winged visitors from God,
as depicted in the Bible?

Smiling cherubs who peer down
at us from billowing clouds?

Or something much, much more?

The concept of angels
is obviously very widespread,

uh, and certainly in
American culture.

And you find it
in Latin culture,

Greek culture,

Babylonian culture.

COPPENS:
When we think of angels,

we immediately think
to the Bible.

But when you go
onto the Internet,

when you read books,
you will find that people

have visitations of angels
every single day.

NARRATOR:
In the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis,

angels first appear
as divine beings sent to Earth

as messengers of God.

FULCO:
They wanted to have God

interacting with human beings,

but it seemed somewhat
undignified to have God,

uh, directly operating,

and so he sent messengers.

TSOUKALOS:
The word "angel" is a mistranslation.

In Hebrew, the word for "angel"
is "malach."

However, the correct translation
is not "angel" at all,

but it is, in fact, "messenger."

In Greek, the word "angelos"
is not "angel."

It is "intermediary,"
"middleman."

And so what do we have
in these stories?

We have these intermediaries,

these messengers
bringing information from "God."

BILL BIRNES:
By definition,

angels are otherworldly.

Angels are extraterrestrial.

They're not from this planet.

So, really, by definition,
E.T.s and angels are the same.

Now, our modern conception
of E.T.s have changed.

But go back thousands
and thousands of years

when angels lived among
our biblical ancestors.

They didn't call them E.T.s,
they called them angels,

but they knew they were
not of this world,

not of this planet.

NARRATOR:
But could some of these so-called "messengers of God"

have served another function?

One not so benevolent or benign?

According to the Book of Enoch,
the so-called lost biblical text

that was rediscovered
among the Dead Sea Scrolls

in the late 1940s,

the first angels to arrive
on Earth were the fallen angels.

BIRNES:
It was on Mount Hermon

that angels came down
from the heavens--

fallen angels--
to inhabit Earth.

They were trying
to assume power.

And because of that,
they were cast out from heaven

and cast down to Earth.

Now, to me,

this sounds more
of a mutiny story,

where extraterrestrials
arrived here

and there was a type of rift,

and so they split
into two different factions.

And the faction that split off

is what today is referred to
as the fallen angels.

GEORGE NOORY:
Enoch was a believer in angels,

fallen angels, visitations,

but everything he put
in his scriptures

seemed to imply, to me,

extraterrestrial visitation.

From craft that he saw

to mountainsides
that they would land,

to them taking him around
and telling him things.

NARRATOR:
Both in the Book of Enoch and in the Hebrew Bible,

the fallen angels act
in direct opposition

to God's will
by interbreeding with humans.

In, uh, Genesis 6,

it talks about
the-the sons of gods--

"gods," plural--

mating with
the daughters of men.

And there was a certain
evil connotation to it.

ERICH VON D�NIKEN:
How can angels have sex?

Enoch describes of it.

Some of the extraterrestrials
stood on Earth,

They had sex
with some of our girls.

That is what is written down
in Enoch.

It's not my invention.

Enoch never calls them gods.

He calls them "guardian
of the skies" or "watchmen."

NARRATOR:
According to ancient texts,

the fallen angels
not only physically mated

with the women of Earth,
they produced offspring:

the Nephilim, a race of giants,
similar to those portrayed

in the story
of David and Goliath.

But if, as many ancient
astronaut theorists believe,

fallen angels
were really extraterrestrials

that first arrived
in the Middle East,

wouldn't they have also
appeared elsewhere in the world?

For proof, researchers point
to thousands of carvings

and other depictions
of winged guardians,

strange creatures

and other half-man
and half-beasts

that commonly appear
on ancient walls and artifacts.

There is such an enormous amount
of evidence to suggest

that angels are not something
which Christianity invented,

but that they were somehow
physically present

in all civilizations.

MICHAEL CARTER:
Ancient cultures that depicted the gods

as winged creatures
are the Sumerians,

the Babylonians,

certainly, the Egyptians.

All of these civilizations

had symbols where there was--

there may have been
a winged disc,

or-or there may have been,
what we would call today,

probably, a UFO.

I believe they were
just letting us know

that these beings flew.

THOMAS BULLARD:
In the Middle East, in particular,

there were depictions of
supernatural beings with wings.

The demons of Mesopotamia...

...Pazuzu, which had
the head of a lion

and the body of the human
and the wings of a locust.

They were, primarily,
soldiers of the higher gods,

servants of the higher gods.

The higher gods, they depended
on these messengers.

They would run back and forth
and gather information.

DAVID WILCOCK:
The bible may be

the most thoroughly
documented account

of extraterrestrial contact

ever in written history
here on Earth.

We just simply have not learned

how to interpret
and how to identify

the clear and obvious evidence

that the seraphim, the cherubim,

the archangels, the angels,

all of these different
hierarchies of beings

described in the Old
and the New Testament

literally do refer
to visitors who come here.

VON D�NIKEN:
Use the word "extraterrestrials" instead of the word of "angel."

Use a word of, uh,
"leader of extraterrestrials"

instead of "archangel."

If you change a few words
in the old texts--

a few keywords--

you change the sense
of the old texts.

NARRATOR:
But if, as ancient astronaut theorists maintain,

angels are not
ethereal winged beings

but actually
flesh-and-blood creatures

visiting us from other planets,
why are they here?

And if they are messengers,

just who or what
do they represent?

TSOUKALOS:
Some say they were deliberately sent here

to watch over man.

LINDA HOWE:
Where did they come from?

And if we're dealing

with one or more intelligences,

maybe they have
different agendas.

? ?

NARRATOR: Mount Sodom, Israel.

A pillar of rock salt
known as Lot's wife

overlooks the southwestern part
of the Dead Sea,

near the presumed location
of the Biblical cities

of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In both the Hebrew
Book of Genesis

and the Islamic Quran,

angels traveled to this spot
to warn Abraham's nephew Lot

that God was about to unleash
terror upon the world.

And the angel
finally says to Lot,

"If you don't come now
with your family,"

two girls and the wife,
"I cannot help you anymore."

It looks as if
a countdown was working

which could not
be stopped anymore,

if even the angel
cannot stop it.

? ?

TSOUKALOS:
Sure enough, they walk away

and there is this mayhem
and destruction.

His wife turns around and
she turns into a pillar of salt.

Since the ancient
astronaut theory

proposes that angels
were nothing else

but misinterpreted flesh-
and-blood extraterrestrials,

this means
that extraterrestrials

did side with certain people.

Were angels--
or extraterrestrials--

interfering
with human development?

NARRATOR:
But if angels saved Lot and his family

from the wrath of God,
is this proof that angels

are more than just
otherworldly messengers?

Might they be more
actively engaged

in helping
their human counterparts?

Even to the extent that
they might still be affecting

the outcome of human history?

Once again,
ancient astronaut theorists

look to the Book of Enoch
for their answer,

and claim to have found evidence
in its references

to a race of fallen angels
known as watchers.

TSOUKALOS:
There is much debate

amongst religious scholars
about the fallen angels.

? ?

Some say they were deliberately
sent here to watch over man.

And in the Book of Enoch
specifically,

we have 20 watchers
which are sort of in charge

of all the other angels
that are in Enoch's presence.

You have the commanders
and the officers

and the lieutenants.

And those 20
deliberately teach Enoch

in various disciplines,

such as meteorology, astronomy,

how to make better swords.

Now, would something like this
really happen

in the kingdom of God?

I think the answer is clear.

HOWE:
Where did they come from?

What do they want?

And if we're dealing
with one or more intelligences

that, maybe they have
different agendas,

but maybe there is
something out there

that has been an ally

to evolving hominids
and we're the latest model.

NARRATOR:
In the Bible, angels often appear to humans

as physical entities
that can be seen,

heard and even touched.

But today, many people believe
angels are present

whether they can
see them or not.

According to a 2008 survey

by Baylor University's Institute
for Studies of Religion,

55% of all
American adults believe

a guardian angel protects them.

The popularity
of guardian angels

in, uh, modern culture,
I think has to do with the idea

that we want some kind
of supernatural protection

in a world where we don't really
feel very safe oftentimes.

NARRATOR:
The Islamic faith teaches

that every human being has
not one but two guardian angels,

one for each shoulder.

These celestial beings
are called "writing angels"

because they write down
the good deeds and the bad deeds

in each person's life.

The first so-called
guardian angel

to appear
in Judeo-Christian texts

is the Angel Raphael who was
featured in the Book of Tobit,

written sometime
between the eighth

and second century BC.

FATHER FULCO: Tobit is off
on a very difficult mission.

He's gonna go to Persia
to find a wife,

and he runs into all sorts
of problems on the way.

So God sends the angel Raphael.

And now we have the angel not
just as a messenger from God,

he becomes a guardian angel,
he becomes a special protector.

VON D�NIKEN:
The idea of guardian angel,

is it just because we wish it,

we believe it,
that somebody's protecting us?

Or does it come from the past?

Has it to do maybe something
with extraterrestrials?

In the sense

that some extraterrestrials
said to some human,

"We protect you.
Don't be afraid."

NARRATOR:
Other biblical stories

include accounts of angels
wielding extraordinary powers.

Angels who are not
just guardians

but who intervene
in human affairs.

WILCOCK:
We're dealing with a directing force

of intelligent beings,

who may even be our progenitors.

TSOUKALOS:
Extraterrestrials have helped us

to survive to this day.

? ?

When we talk about stories

of contact
with otherworldly beings,

whether they're angels
or gods or something else,

they're very often
not just relaying messages,

they're giving instructions.

Right, we see this a lot

when some angel or deity

gives instructions, you know,

on how build something.

Or of a cataclysmic event

such as the Great Flood,
for instance.

Right, and this
essentially supports

the ancient astronaut theory

and the idea that, ultimately,

the extraterrestrials want us
to succeed and survive.

We covered this way back
in season two of Ancient Aliens.

NARRATOR: If-- as ancient
astronaut theorists believe--

extraterrestrial beings
have been contacting us

throughout the centuries,

then what are they
trying to tell us?

WILCOCK:
It appears again and again

that here on Earth
we're dealing with something

that could be called
the hidden directorate.

A directing force
of intelligent beings

who may even be our progenitors

and have been
working with humanity

ever since we began
evolving on this planet...

...and will intervene
at key points

to try to nudge our development
in a certain direction.

TSOUKALOS:
Why were some of our ancestors told

to construct a building...

...or to build an ark?

Personally, I think

to ensure mankind's survival.

There are stories
of malevolent gods,

of malevolent extraterrestrials.

But by and large, the stories
that we have from ancient times,

the gods were actually
very benevolent.

And these extraterrestrials
have helped us

throughout the millennia

to survive to this day.

NARRATOR:
One of the oldest and most widespread stories

of divine or unearthly
intervention in human events

can be found
in the many great flood myths.

There are flood myths
all over the world,

not just in the Bible.

You can find them
all throughout South America.

You can find them
in Native American traditions.

You can find them
in the Celtic traditions,

the legend of the Ragnarok,
the deluge.

It's in Asia.

Native Africans
have flood myths.

So the story of Noah
is not an isolated event

that only happens in the Bible.

It's part of a bigger story.

NARRATOR:
Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

In the 16th century,

one of the first westerners
to see this elaborate temple,

Portuguese monk
Ant�nio da Madalena,

described it as
"an extraordinary construction

as like no other building
in the world."

With each side
measuring nearly a mile long,

Angkor Wat remains the planet's
largest religious structure.

Although mainstream
archeologists believe

Angkor Wat was built
in the 12th century

by King Suryavarman II

as a state temple
and capital city,

Cambodian legends maintain

it was built
as far back as 600 BC

by Preah Pisnokar,

the offspring
of a commoner father

and a mother who came
from the heavens.

When grown, Preah was said
to be abducted up

into a flying palace by a group
of otherworldly beings

led by the god Indra.

TSOUKALOS:
The message Preah received was

to be a leader
for his people and a teacher.

He was taught
all these different things

when he was up
at Indra's heaven,

this flying palace
up in the sky.

When he came back to Earth,
after this long education,

Preah was basically
the chosen one

to teach his people

in the ways of the world
and the universe.

NARRATOR:
Six thousand miles northwest of Angkor Wat,

a 15th century French girl
also reportedly received

a divine inspiration:
to lead men in war.

Orl�ans, France.

In 1429, the city was
besieged by the English

during the Hundred Years' War.

The survival
of the French military

and government appeared doomed.

Then, 17-year-old
Joan of Arc traveled

to Ch�teau Chinon,

where she persuaded
the local leaders

that the Saints Michael,
Catherine and Margaret

had visited her and told her
that her presence in Orl�ans

would inspire the French army
to break the siege.

YOUNG:
The Joan of Arc story is a fabulous tale of a vision

really affecting history
in a practical and concrete way.

France was in bad trouble.

This sensitive soul
and very young girl

has the vision of saints
that come to her,

and tell her to lead an army
and free a city.

She does so.

She also has some prophecy
from these visitations

that she is able to end
the siege of a major city

and make major contributions
to history,

all because these saints
came to her in a vision.

NARRATOR:
While Joan served primarily as a military figurehead,

she also designed
new artillery tactics

and repeatedly outsmarted

the more experienced
English commanders.

But did her mysterious visions
actually come from heaven?

Or might the French teenager
have received,

as ancient astronaut
theorists suggest,

a type of advanced
extraterrestrial knowledge?

WILCOCK:
If this is in fact what was happening,

then it would lead one
to conclude

that the hidden
directorate decided

that the way
the world would turn out,

if this battle had not been won
in favor of the French,

would have been an extremely
negative outcome for humanity.

So, Joan of Arc
was then contacted

by a luminous
extraterrestrial being

that could have imparted
that information to Joan of Arc

to give her the confidence
that ultimately led

her military campaign
to victory.

NARRATOR:
If extraterrestrial beings have inspired

and affected human events,
then is it really,

as some suggest,
to help improve humanity?

Ancient astronaut theorists say
yes, and as further evidence,

point to strange events
that coincided with the founding

of the United States.

CHILDRESS:
Washington would meet occasionally

with these mysterious people

that he called "green skins."

CHRIS PITTMAN:
It's during these crucial times in human history

that aliens would be interested
in interacting with us.

? ?

To me, one of the most
fascinating stories

of E.T. contact

has to do with
the Founding Fathers.

We have multiple accounts
of George Washington

encountering strange
celestial beings.

Yeah, and again,
this really makes you think

there's an agenda
behind these visitations,

like we're being steered
in a certain direction.

And, you know, it's documented

that some of
the Founding Fathers believed

in extraterrestrial life.

So, there's a sense
that, you know, they thought

that there was some
otherworldly force

that wanted them to succeed.

NARRATOR:
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania,

winter, 1777.

It is the height of
the American Revolutionary War.

After several bloody battles
against superior British forces,

George Washington's army
is in tatters.

STEVEN BULLOCK:
Valley Forge is the winter encampment

of the Continental Army,
the army which is set up

by the nation
to fight the Revolution.

The British have taken
Philadelphia.

Washington decides
he is gonna headquarter

some 12,000 troops
right outside of Philadelphia.

DONALD GRINDE:
This is the darkest time of the American Revolution,

when people thought
that the United States

was really not going to win.

BULLOCK:
Washington is trying to figure out what he's going to do,

and trying to keep
the army together.

There's-there's
very little money,

there's almost no supplies.

They often don't have shoes.

Lots of stories of things like,
uh, bloody footprints

in the snow.

NARRATOR:
So severe were the conditions

that Washington wrote,
"Unless some great

"and capital change
suddenly takes place,

this army must inevitably
starve, dissolve, or disperse."

But ultimately,
Washington's will to remain

at Valley Forge
forced the British to retreat

and proved to be
a turning point in the war.

What was it that sustained
Washington in these dark hours?

Some believe it was
a strange vision he received

during a moment of prayer.

In a moment of absolute misery,

he went off
into the woods to pray.

And there in the forest
he had this magnificent vision

of a creature garbed in white.

And this creature--
call it an extraterrestrial,

call it a heavenly spirit,

but it was
an otherworldly presence--

laid out for Washington
the victory

that the Continental Army
would have

in the Revolutionary War
against the British,

and laid out the history

of the new United States
of America.

TSOUKALOS: He sees a map
of the United States

and raindrops onto this map,

and cities are popping up

throughout the entire country.

A model of how the United States

would look 100 or 200 years

in the future.

BIRNES:
How do we know this?

We know this because an aide
to General Washington,

lived to be over 100 years old,

told this story to a newspaper

of our first general
having an alien encounter.

NARRATOR:
Could George Washington really have had

an extraterrestrial visitation
at Valley Forge?

Or was this just a story
he told to build up morale?

Ancient astronaut theorists

claim to have also
uncovered evidence

that throughout
the Revolutionary War,

George Washington himself

may have unknowingly
come in direct contact

with extraterrestrials.

One of the strangest stories
about George Washington,

uh, which allegedly comes from,

uh, diaries that he kept...

...that Washington
would meet occasionally

with these mysterious people
that he called "green skins."

Washington sees
a green glowing ball

hovering in the tree line,

and out of this, Washington
sees these small figures.

What were they?

Were they, as Washington
thought they might have been,

small Native Americans
in war paint?

One theory is that these
were extraterrestrials

observing
this cataclysmic event.

George Washington's vision
at Valley Forge

during the Revolutionary War

is just one example
of a great many stories

that we have about
miraculous visions

and apparitions during
times of war and bloodshed.

MAN:
Fire!

Fire!

PITTMAN:
Some people believe that it's during

these crucial times
in human history that perhaps

aliens would be most interested
in interacting with us.

NARRATOR:
Did George Washington really encounter

green-skinned visitors

and witness glowing orbs
at Valley Forge?

And, if so, might there be
additional evidence

of alien encounters
with other Founding Fathers?

April 5, 1800.

The city of Baton Rouge,
Louisiana.

Astronomer William Dunbar

reports to then Vice President
Thomas Jefferson

that he witnessed
a bright glowing light

the size of a large house

hovering 200 yards aboveground.

DERRICK PITTS:
It was quite bright,

radiated a tremendous
amount of heat

and crashed not so far away.

It destroyed that whole area
where it crashed.

However, given the supposed
size and speed

with which the object
was moving,

it didn't seem
to create a crater

of a size that would've
been appropriate

for an object like that.

PITTMAN:
The details of the sighting report

make it impossible that
it could have been a meteor.

It wasn't moving fast enough
to be a meteor.

It was something unexplained,
something very unusual.

And Jefferson took
this report very seriously.

He passed this report on

as he would pass on
any other account

of a scientific discovery
or a natural observation.

BIRNES:
Jefferson was so impressed by the account

that Jefferson, vice president

of the United States,
presented this

to the American
Philosophical Society.

PITTS:
So, who was this American Philosophical Society anyway?

Well, it was founded
by Benjamin Franklin

in Philadelphia,
and it really was

the intellectual cognoscenti
of America at that time.

So, here we have some
of the greatest thinkers

here in the United States,
all pooled together in one group

that could write, uh,
research papers,

write, uh, philosophical papers,

examine all sorts of phenomena
from a scientific point of view.

PITTMAN:
It's no coincidence

that Thomas Jefferson
and Benjamin Franklin

both believed
in extraterrestrial life.

They were men of science,

they were astronomers
who studied weather patterns.

And their belief
in extraterrestrials

was part of their
scientific view

of the world
and of the universe.

BIRNES:
For Thomas Jefferson

to report a UFO sighting,
still remains

the highest public official
ever to make a report

of a UFO in American history.

NARRATOR:
George Washington's close encounter

with an otherworldly being,

Thomas Jefferson
reporting a UFO sighting.

Could these incidents suggest

that the Founding Fathers
not only believed

in the existence
of extraterrestrials

but actually encountered them?

According to ancient
astronaut theorists,

similar otherworldly influences

spurred the expansion into
America's Western Frontier.

TOK THOMPSON:
In Mormonism, various angels and various spiritual beings

live on different planets.

LOGAN HAWKES:
Moroni claimed to be from the Pleiades star cluster.

So their Church may have
originated not of this world,

but of another world.

? ?

You know, a lot of people
may not know this,

but the Mormon Church
was founded

after an otherworldly
visitation.

Yeah, that's right.
Joseph Smith claimed

that he was instructed
by a glowing being named Moroni,

and what's interesting
is the Mormons believe

there's life on other planets.

So, what that means
is that that information

was ultimately
coming from this visitor.

Yeah, and so, you have to ask,

was Moroni a spiritual being,
or something else?

We covered this in 2011
in an episode called

"Aliens and the Old West."

NARRATOR:
Palmyra, New York,

September 21, 1823.

In the upstairs bedroom
of a log cabin,

just south of this small,
rural village,

17-year-old Joseph Smith
had a vision of someone

or something not of this world.

It was late at night,
it was dark,

and the room filled with
a very, very bright light.

And this personage
was floating in midair...

...his feet were off the ground,

and he identified himself
as Moroni.

After talking with Joseph Smith

for, for a while,
the Moroni seemed

to ascend into the air,

completely leaving
the room again dark.

The next morning also,
Moroni came back to...

to Joseph Smith to show him
the hidden golden book,

which is what we know
as the Book of Mormon today.

NARRATOR:
According to the Book of Mormon,

Moroni identified himself
to Joseph Smith

as a man who lived in America

in the late fourth
and early fifth centuries.

But America was not
Moroni's home.

He claimed to have
much more distant origins.

HAWKES: Moroni claimed to be
from the Pleiades star cluster.

So a Church today,

nine million members strong,

believe that their church
may have originated,

not of this world
but of another world.

NARRATOR:
According to Joseph Smith,

not only did Moroni claim
to be from another planet,

he also directed him
to dig up the golden plates

from the Hill Cumorah,

which scholars believe
is a reference

to an ancient
Native American mound,

much like the Serpent Mound.

We have since found out

that in burial mounds
and other effigy mounds

across the Native American
region

we have such plates.

These writing tablets
have been found.

And not just in North America
but also in South America.

This entity tells Joseph Smith

to go on a physical search
for an object,

which we know could have been
an archaeological finding.

NARRATOR:
But if Moroni was a spiritual or metaphysical being,

why would he give
Joseph Smith physical objects

with which
to translate the plates?

According to ancient
astronaut theorists,

Moroni may, in fact,

have been a star being,

an extraterrestrial
whose mission was

to pass down to Smith
and his followers

the advanced knowledge
of the mound builders.

In Mormonism, actually,
a lot of their theology

is directly related to this

idea of God and various angels

and various spiritual beings
live on different planets.

NARRATOR:
Joseph Smith felt

such a strong connection
to the Native Americans,

that he believed
they could help guide him

to a new holy land,
which he called the New Zion.

Although Smith died in 1844,

the victim of mob violence,

his successor, Brigham Young,
ultimately led the Mormons

further west to Utah.

In 1849,
when the Mormons arrived

in the area of Parowan Gap,

local Ute leader, Chief Walkara,

told them they had entered
"God's own house"

and showed them proof
in the form of petroglyphs

dating back thousands of years.

TSOUKALOS:
All throughout Utah, petroglyphs depict

hunters with bows and arrows
going after buffalo,

very ordinary,

daily life occurrences.

But there are also
some other depictions,

which are very odd.

And they look like spaceships.

They look
like beings with halos.

They look like beings
with antenna on their heads,

or beings that wear
some type of a suit.

For all intents and purposes,

they look like
depictions of spacemen.

NARRATOR:
Great Falls, Montana.

October 19, 1865.

Sixth months
after the assassination

of President Abraham Lincoln...

(gunshot)

...a fur trapper reports
what might be

the first documented
UFO crash in the Old West.

In 1865, the Missouri Democrat

reported that a trapper, um,

saw a light traveling
through the sky at night.

It flew over his camp,
broke apart

and crashed in the forest
some miles away.

The next day he tracked it down,

found a large stone imbedded
in the side of a mountain.

It was hollow,
it was cracked open,

he claimed there were
chambers inside of it

and there were
hieroglyphic markings on it.

And there was also
some mysterious liquid

spilled around the area.

But the newspaper,
you know, went so far

as to suggest that these were

meteoric conveyances of aliens
from Mercury or Uranus.

So the whole idea
of UFO crashes was

explored in the 19th century,

almost a hundred years
before Roswell.

NARRATOR:
But what makes this story even more intriguing

to ancient astronaut theorists

is the location of the sighting,
along the upper Missouri River.

This is the home
of the Blackfoot Indians,

a tribe whose ancient legends
include strange tales

of star beings visiting
the region from other worlds.

The Blackfoot have very profound
legends and myths relating

to beings,
which quite clearly are said

to have come down from

some kind of sky world to Earth
and in these sky vehicles.

And the way
that they are described,

these can be modern ideas
of flying saucers or UFOs.

NARRATOR:
Could the object that the Montana fur trapper

claimed to have found
really have been

one of the alien crafts
described in Blackfoot legends?

And might the markings
have been the same

as what Joseph Smith found
on the golden plates?

To some Native Americans,

like Chief Standing Elk
of the Yankton Dakota tribe,

star beings are still
very much amongst us,

and they are still
making contact with humans.

A lot of our relatives
that come from the stars,

they speak
on a telepathic level.

And there were some
that came to me

and showed me a bar
with symbols on there.

They talked to me
and I understood them

very, very well.

This is a replica
of one of the bars

that was in one
of the light ships.

And they represent
universal laws.

And they're guarded
by the star people.

So these are universal laws.

NARRATOR:
If the star ancestors of Native American tribes are,

in fact,
advanced extraterrestrials,

as ancient astronaut
theorists propose,

have they remained
in contact with humanity

throughout the ages?

And do they target
select individuals

for telepathic communication?

Perhaps further clues can be
found by examining the account

of a genius mathematician
who claimed he was visited

by an otherworldly being.

YOUNG:
The visitations lead

to a new possibility,
a new plan for humanity.

WILCOCK:
All of the science came to him

directly from this goddess,

who appeared to him in dreams.

? ?

You know, it's fascinating
how a single individual can have

such a huge influence
on human history.

Great thinkers
like Leonardo da Vinci,

Plato, Einstein,

the list goes on and on.

And in many cases,

there's a story
of contact or communication

with a higher intelligence
that influenced them.

Well, this is exactly what
my Greek ancestors referred to

when they talked about,
for example, the Muses,

who were these goddesses
that were known

to impart knowledge,

but also were great
inspiration for literature,

inventions,
and scientific discoveries.

Yeah, and you know, even
in modern times we have people

like Steve Jobs who said
they got information

while in meditation.

So you have to ask yourself

whether these people were
getting information

from extraterrestrials.

(indistinct singing)

NARRATOR:
Billions of people around the world

consider holy books
like the Bible

and the Quran to be
the word of God.

Hundreds of millions of Hindus
view the Mahabharata

as a guide
to spiritual enlightenment

handed down by the god
Lord Krishna himself.

Each of these holy books
contains religious principles

in the form of philosophies,
parables and moral codes.

YOUNG:
Messages from beyond our ordinary knowledge

seem to come
in a variety of forms:

a visitation, a dream,

sometimes an object, a tablet,
a golden plate, a book.

And so, it helps.

A book is an ordinary object
we are familiar with,

and yet, if it's seen
as divinely inspired,

we can take it as more
than an ordinary book.

TSOUKALOS:
The great majority of mankind today regards the Bible,

the Torah, and the Quran
as the word of God.

But is it possible
that these books were

nothing else but guiding books

of how we should
conduct our lives?

And that these
moral codes were, in fact,

given to us by extraterrestrials

whom our ancestors
thought were gods?

I don't think the Mahabharata
is a work of fiction.

It's an actual history.

And the history
given in the Mahabharata

includes not only actions
of human beings on Earth,

it also includes actions
of extraterrestrials

on other planets
and on this Earth,

in interaction
with human beings here.

NARRATOR:
Cultures all over the world

believe deities
and other nonhuman entities

frequently communicated
through intermediaries

known as prophets.

In the Koran,
it's written that God

has sent over 100,000 prophets
throughout history.

Many Native American cultures

believed gods spoke to them
through shamans,

much like the oracles
of ancient Greece.

An oracle is a person, but
a person in some divine state,

an altered state of some kind,

who is able to hear
the voices of the gods

and then translate it
into accessible human language.

NARRATOR:
But could the same phenomenon

apply to Judeo-Christian
religious texts?

Might biblical stories
of angels and miracles

actually be misinterpretations

of ancient alien contact
or inspiration?

YOUNG:
The visitations or apparitions come to give some gift

to open the mind,
to lead to a new perception,

to lead to a new possibility.

Either a new artistic, uh,
take on something,

or a new plan for humanity.

Often, we are trapped
in some kind of thinking

that needs to break
beyond its known limits,

but we're caught,
we are unable to see,

to get
a transcendent perspective.

And that is what
the visitation makes possible.

NARRATOR:
If that is true,

there might be additional
evidence of alien contact

by examining breakthroughs
in the fields of astronomy,

archaeology and physics.

Or perhaps what is arguably

the most universal
of all languages, mathematics.

Cambridge University, England.

February 1913.

Mathematics professor
Godfrey H. Hardy

receives a letter containing

complex mathematical theorems
and formulas

from 26-year-old
Srinivasa Ramanujan of India.

The distinguished scholar
is stunned by what he reads.

Hardy looks at these theorems
and says,

"My God, we've never
seen anything like this.

"This is mathematics
of the highest order.

"It's so convoluted and complex

"that nobody could've come up
with this by their imagination,

there has to be something here."

NARRATOR:
An acknowledged genius

and mathematical prodigy
since childhood,

Ramanujan was devoutly religious

and often claimed
his breakthroughs

were communicated to him
in his dreams

by the Hindu goddess Namagiri.

In the decades since,

his theorems
have proved to be invaluable

to those working
in cutting-edge fields

like string theory.

WILCOCK:
All of the science that we need

to eventually be able to create
portals, star gate travel,

hyperdimensional
access mechanisms,

levitation, teleportation,

it all needs
a mathematical foundation.

And the closest
that we have right now

is the Ramaianen equations
that we've been able

to decipher so far,

which came to him
directly from this goddess,

who appeared to him in dreams.

? ?

NARRATOR:
Could Ramanujan have been telepathically receiving

important information
that might enable humans

to build a portal or stargate

to other dimensions
or alien worlds?

And if so, was this insight

imparted
by an extraterrestrial being?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer
is a resounding "yes."

And they suggest Ramanujan

is just one
of many great thinkers

who have received knowledge...

from an otherworldly source.

COPPENS:
We have pockets of people

who have received tremendous
amounts of information.

YOUNG:
We don't know if they're, in fact,

receiving communication from
some divine or powerful source.

? ?

NARRATOR:
Stockholm, Sweden. 1921.

The Royal Swedish Academy
of Sciences

awards Albert Einstein
with the Nobel Prize in Science

for his
groundbreaking contributions

to theoretical physics.

But what separated Einstein
from his contemporaries?

How did
the 42-year-old physicist

achieve such a seemingly perfect
blueprint of the universe?

We see that across time and
space we have pockets of people

who have received tremendous
amounts of information,

which really have propelled
civilization along.

Obviously the question then is,
do they have special brains

or is this just something
which happens

by concentrating
on the right thing

to access this information?

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that Albert Einstein's practice

of thought experiments

allowed his
genetically advanced brain

to receive messages
from a metaphysical realm,

as ancient astronaut theorists
believe?

If so, could there be evidence

of other geniuses
across human history

whose greatest breakthroughs
materialized

through altered states
of consciousness?

Athens, Greece.

Outside the Academy of Athens
sits a statue of a war hero,

and the founding father
of Western philosophy:

Socrates.

? ?

Socrates' contemporaries
describe the philosopher

as being strange in many ways,

including spending hours
each day

consumed by his own thoughts.

One of the most
stunning examples

of Socrates' daydreaming
actually happens

while on campaign as a soldier
at the siege of Potidaea.

Socrates was caught in the grip
of a thought or an idea.

And he remained fixed
and thinking silently

for an hour, for another hour,
for another hour.

He displayed
an extraordinary endurance

that his peers
may have found, uh, odd

and suspicious and puzzling.

COPPENS:
We often think that a genius is eccentric,

but I think
some of their eccentricity

comes from the fact
that they really are

in touch with other realities.

In the case of Socrates,

he said that he
was able to access a demon.

(growling and hissing)

Now, a demon for Socrates
is not some evil creature.

But the ancient Greeks
had this subcategory of gods

who really were
talking to human beings,

explaining the mysteries
of life to us,

explaining why we were here.

NARRATOR:
Is Socrates' so-called demon

evidence that the founder
of Western philosophy

was mentally unstable?

Or could Socrates' demon
be proof

that he was in contact with
an extraterrestrial intelligence

that was sending him messages

from a distant realm
in the cosmos?

I think it's too easy
just to say that, yeah,

Socrates was nuts
or that he was schizophrenic,

or that he was hearing voices.

The demon
is some kind of messenger

or some kind of bridge
between him

and the realm
of the metaphysical

that he is trying to attain.

NARRATOR:
Did Socrates' practice of deep meditation

connect him to an
extraterrestrial intelligence,

as some ancient astronaut
theorists contend?

If so, could there be other
geniuses with similar claims

that they received information
from a higher realm

while in a trance-like state?

DOC BARHAM: In the case
of Leonardo Da Vinci,

in his writings he describes

laying down on a bed in his room
and taking a candle

and placing the candle
at the foot of the bed.

And he would lie down on the bed

and look at the flickering
of the flame on the ceiling

and it would put him
into a very, very deep state

in which
he would be able to imagine

and come up with new ideas.

YOUNG:
Puccini said that his great opera, Madame Butterfly,

was from God,
that he wrote it down

but it came directly
from a divine source.

William Blake,
whose entire opus, uh,

his writing and painting,
was based on,

uh, repeated
angelic visitations.

Brahms said that his music came
from something beyond himself.

We don't know if they're,
in fact, receiving communication

from some divine
or powerful, uh, source

beyond their own skin,
or if they may be in touch

with their own unconscious
or deeper wisdom

that they're
not customarily hearing from.

NARRATOR:
In the 1900s, Serbian-born inventor Nikola Tesla

pioneered
modern electrical engineering

and was the driving force behind
today's wireless technology.

(electricity crackling)

In his writings,
Tesla describes his method

of approaching
a complex engineering problem.

BARHAM:
Nikola Tesla was someone who wrote extensively

about using very, very
powerful visualizations.

In fact, he said
that he was able

to visualize a motor,

and then actually run
research and development, R&D,

on the motor in his mind

so that he could tell
where there might be,

for example, mistakes or flaws.

And he would be able to do
almost all of that in his mind

in these altered states
of consciousness.

COPPENS:
Nikola Tesla is a person

who believed in the existence
of extraterrestrial beings.

He is a person
who really believes

that he can communicate
with other galaxies.

NARRATOR:
Perhaps the greatest piece of evidence

that Tesla believed
he was in communication

with otherworldly beings

can be found in a letter he sent

to the American Red Cross
in December of 1900.

In the letter, he writes,
"We have a message

"from another world,
unknown and remote.

"It reads: 'one,

two, three.'"

COPPENS:
Tesla was a genius with certain eccentricities.

Everything he did was in threes.

And it is interesting, I think,

because this is a level
of symbolism.

When we realize
that so many of our ancestors,

whenever they are talking about
communication with the divine

and how the divine downloaded
this information to them,

we see this rich layer
of symbolism there as well.

NARRATOR:
Can it only be coincidence

that many of the greatest minds
in human history

claim to have
received information

from an otherworldly source?

Or could it be possible
that Socrates,

Nikola Tesla,
Srinivasa Ramanujan

as well as other geniuses
in human history

were using altered states
of consciousness

to access an alien realm?

According to ancient
astronaut theorists,

telepathy is just one
of the many mysterious ways

extraterrestrials
continue to relay messages

to humanity.

COPPENS:
The best way of communicating

with an alien civilization
is the binary code.

WILCOCK:
The incident could've been them coming back,

finding a person
who had the right tuning

to receive the message.

? ?

You know, it's interesting
to look at all these stories

of alien messengers essentially
shaping human history,

but the even bigger question is,
where does any of this lead to?

Because I think we all agree

that this is still
going on today.

CHILDRESS:
Yes, and all three of us

know people who claim

that they've had contact
with extraterrestrials.

So, if this is really happening,

you would think that there's
some important reason behind it.

HENRY:
Oh, definitely.

One of the most fascinating
modern stories of someone

who's claimed
to receive alien messages

comes from the famous
Rendlesham Forest incident

which we first covered
way back in season two.

NARRATOR:
October 2010.

For nearly 30 years
after their alleged encounter

with an unidentified aircraft
in England's Rendlesham Forest,

retired military airmen
James Penniston

and John Burroughs
rarely spoke to each other

about the incident.

Yet both men remained haunted
by their experience.

(chuckles):
That was a life-changing event

that happened out there.

You know, and the-the problem
with life-changing events?

They affect you for your life.

BURROUGHS:
I want to know what it was.

I think there's people out there

in our government
have a better idea,

and they could tell us what
went on, what happened to us,

but I don't know how
to tell you for sure what--

what it was
and where it came from.

NARRATOR:
Shortly after his reported encounter,

James Penniston had felt
compelled to write down

the long and complex numerical
sequence of ones and zeros

he claimed he saw
when he touched the spacecraft.

But were they really
just random numbers?

I was getting this,
not from memory,

but this mental picture
of these codes written out.

This binary-type code.

So, I tried to suppress it,

but I-I just had this urge
to put these down.

COPPENS:
We now realize that the best way

of communicating
with an ancient civilization

is the binary code.

If we know this, then obviously,

anybody else in the universe
will know this as well.

And when we know
that our ancestors,

either on their own or with
some help from strangers,

knew this as well,

then we realize that, really,
the binary code is the best,

if not the only means,
of alien communication.

NARRATOR:
For three decades,

Penniston kept the mysterious
numerical sequence hidden

between the covers
of his Air Force notebook.

There they remained,
unexamined and undeciphered.

PENNISTON:
I was scared to death.

I was sitting there going,

"Okay, there's something wrong
with you Jim, you're not right.

"You're not thinking straight.

"This stuff is so bizarre.
You can't tell anybody this.

"They'll take your gun
away from you.

They'll kick you out."

All those things
were in jeopardy.

That's what I was
thinking about at that moment,

that if I start telling anybody

exactly what I was thinking,
that would be the end of it.

The refusal of the call
is probably an experience

all thoughtful people have.

That is, there is some project,
some task, some mission.

But we waver, we doubt ourselves

and don't immediately respond
to our destiny.

This is not a good thing.

NARRATOR:
After eventually leaving the Air Force

and returning
to the United States...

...Penniston found
he was being haunted

by persistent dreams,

both about his experience
in the forest...

...and the meaning
of the mysterious

numerical message he received.

PENNISTON:
What do they mean? I don't know.

I've never had them analyzed
or anything like that.

I mean, we were out there
doing our jobs

with a situation
that we'd never handled before.

(keyboard clicking)

NARRATOR:
In October 2010,

Penniston entrusted
his six handwritten pages

of ones and zeros
to a computer programmer.

He hoped the apparently
random series of numbers

could be translated

into something
resembling a readable message.

Could someone write out
six pages of binary?

Well, probably not.

Um, they would need some help,
or they would have to be

some kind of savant
or super-calculator.

I started transcribing it
into my computer

to see what I might find.

I thought, "It's not gonna
come out to anything."

And then, something
that appeared to be

a real message
regarding aliens emerged.

NARRATOR:
To his astonishment,

after plugging the numbers
into a computer,

a fragmentary sentence emerged.

It stated...

..."exploration of humanity

continuous
for planetary advance."

Another portion of the message

revealed what appeared to be
navigational coordinates.

Could this now decoded
series of numbers

actually be the evidence
the human race

has been searching for?

Proof that we are not alone?

CISKE:
"Exploration of humanity,"

is that for good or for evil?

"Planetary advancement,"

is that advancing
the human race,

as many have theorized,

or is that the advancement
of some armada

coming to conquer Earth?

NARRATOR:
As for the navigational coordinates,

amazingly, they point
to the geographic location

of a mysterious sunken island

known in Celtic legend
as Hy-Brasil.

It was said to be the home
of a civilization

thousands of years
ahead of its time.

It is also occasionally referred
to as "the other Atlantis."

WILCOCK:
Hy-Brasil was believed to be

a mysterious land
in which the people living there

had a high degree
of civilization.

They used sound technology

and vibrational
healing technology.

They were highly ethical,
highly moral people,

and they considered everyone
over in Europe to be barbarians,

and they did not want
to mix with them at all.

They enjoyed the isolation
and the seclusion.

NARRATOR:
But if the strange binary message

in Penniston's notebook

lists the coordinates
of Hy-Brasil,

what does it mean?

WILCOCK:
They may be ancient astronauts

and the Rendlesham
Forest incident

could've been them coming back,

finding a person who was ready
to receive the message

who had the right tuning
to receive the message.

To let us know that the people
we call the Hy-Brasilians

are still out there
and they want us

to be ready to accept
in the future

some sort of open congress
and communication

between our world and theirs.

NARRATOR:
Does the phrase "exploration of humanity

continuous
for planetary advance,"

and the strange
geographic coordinates

that point to a lost island
really provide evidence

that we are being visited
and perhaps studied

by visitors from another world?

It's now very clear that the one
constant in human history

has been contact with celestial
or extraterrestrial beings.

And we're, I think, in agreement

that they're not here
to help break us down,

they're here to help us
break through.

They're here to take us

to higher levels
of-of evolution.

CHILDRESS:
Yeah, they can teach us

to do things, but ultimately,

they can't do them for us.

We have to do it.

They want us
to do things for ourselves.

TSOUKALOS:
Right, and ultimately,

the idea may be
that we, too, one day,

will go out there
to spread information,

science and knowledge.

And hopefully, we'll be able
to join this intergalactic club.

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