All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S18E17.The.Shining.Ones

For more than 3,000 years

Ireland has maintained

a connection to ancient magic

and a mystical realm.

We have two parallel worlds,

the human world
and the other world.

The rolling landscape

is believed
to possess hidden power.

It is said that

the mounds acted as these

doorways into other realities.

And within these earthen mounds

are said to be powerful beings

known as the Shining Ones.

They are somehow able

to manipulate
their surroundings,

and have the knowledge
of the universe.

Are these Irish
legends more than fanciful mythology?

And if so, could there be

an extraterrestrial connection?

The ancient
Irish were saying that these beings

came from the sky.

There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is
the promise of truth.

It demands
we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future
is right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

Ireland.

This lush, green island
in the North Atlantic

has a history of human activity
dating back

more than 33,000 years.

Numerous cultures
have called Ireland home,

from the early Beaker people

to the Celts and the Gaels,

and the island
has a rich tradition

of folklore that has spread
throughout the world.

But perhaps most notable
is that Ireland boasts

some of the oldest
structures on the planet.

Massive earthen mounds,

many of which date back

more than 5,000 years.

These mounds
are constructed. They're not natural hills.

These are
megalithic constructions,

um, involving, in the larger
sites, an enormous

amount of man hours and labor.

These would've been,
when they were made, just very,

very impressive sites.

These
mounds were an ancient earthwork

that had a tunnel
going through it

with stones on either side
and stones on top

and then covered with earth.

Ireland has a
tremendous amount of these mounds,

and these are
some of mankind's oldest

large structures in the world.

And they anchor
all of the land together.

Usually, if you visit one on top

of a hill, you go up,
you find one,

and you can do a line
of sight to the next one.

There was almost a network,
almost across

the entire island
of these sites.

The oldest
known writing in Ireland

dates to the 6th century A.D.,

more than 3,000 years
after the ancient mounds

are believed to have been built.

With no written record
about the mounds' construction,

archaeologists and historians
can only speculate

as to who made them
and for what purpose.

These things were
built to go inside, where, presumably,

very, very important rituals
took place.

We don't know,
but much later on,

these sites would've been
used for gatherings,

for rituals, and sort of
keeping the society together.

These were enormously
long-lived sites

of cultural importance.

It was enormously
long-lived societies

that used these as focal points.

30 miles north of Dublin

in County Meath is Ireland's

largest and oldest mound,
called Newgrange.

The ancient structure

consists of over
200,000 tons of stone

and has a passageway leading
to a central chamber

in which human bone fragments
have been found.

But archaeologists
say Newgrange also has

an undeniable connection
to the cosmos.

Spiral petroglyphs, thought
to symbolize the universe,

are found all around it,

and the passageway and chamber

form a cruciform shape
that researchers believe

is based on
the constellation Cygnus.

At the time Newgrange was built,

it was presumed to be
the largest structure that

mankind had
ever built in the world.

Now, one of the most interesting
things about Newgrange

is it's a celestial alignment.

This is still
very, very popular.

If you go at
the winter solstice,

you have the sun dagger that
it cuts tremendous distance

all the way in to brighten up
the inner chamber.

Newgrange is
unique among Ireland's mounds

in its sophistication,
and was clearly designed

for ritualistic activity.

But according
to ancient Irish texts,

the mounds serve a more profound
and mysterious purpose,

as the dwelling places
of otherworldly beings

traditionally called the sidhe.

The word
"sidhe," it can mean "the mounds"

and also

can mean "the other world people,

the people of the mounds."

In Irish tradition,

it's bad luck to use
the word "sidhe"

to directly refer to these
other world people.

So, there are many
different names.

We have the English word
fairy folk, also elves.

Stories of fairies, elves,

and even leprechauns are rooted

in the ancient folklore of what
the Irish called the sidhe.

But for many Irish people,

the sidhe are not merely
mythological figures.

Fairies and
leprechauns and all that sort of stuff,

like, too many people kind of

laugh and joke about it
at times,

but it's knowledge that'd been
passed down for

thousands and thousands
of years.

We have the terrestrial world

and the subterrestrial world,

the human world, and the
superhuman or other world.

These worlds exist in parallel.

Occasionally, however,
there is communication

between the two worlds.

The mounds are often referred to

as "fairy forts,"

as are stone circles
and tree clusters

that are considered
the property of the sidhe.

This strong cultural belief
that these features

are the domain
of otherworldly beings

has kept them intact
for thousands of years.

And the Irish say that,
when they are disturbed,

bad luck always follows.

Seán Quinn was
the wealthiest man in Ireland.

He lost everything
because he moved a fairy fort.

He damaged a fairy fort, and he
moved it to another place.

DeLorean car manufacturers,
they came to Belfast, and were

making the DeLorean car
up in Northern Ireland,

and they built the factory
on the site of a fairy fort.

And it all came crashing down,

and the local people would say,

"Well, you know,
what do you expect?"

Ask any Irish person,
"Would you damage a fairy fort?

What would happen if
you damaged a fairy tree?"

If you gave me ten million bucks

and a Cadillac and a helicopter

and a beautiful house on
Sunset Boulevard and said

all I had to do was
chop down a fairy tree,

I'd be handing that money
straight back to you.

I wouldn't do it. No one
I know would do it either.

So, do we believe in
the fairies in Ireland? We do.

While modern-day
representations of fairies

often depict benevolent,
spritely creatures,

traditional Irish notions
of fairies are much different.

They are considered powerful

and sometimes dangerous beings.

You don't want to mess
with the aos sí.

They're not cute,
cuddly little fairies like

we-we typically think of today.

But these are very
extraordinarily powerful people.

Wielders of supernatural powers.

The sidhe, or fairy folk,

are often referred to as
the Shining Ones,

but do accounts
of their luminous

appearance suggest
that they are divine beings?

According to the
ancient Irish stories,

while the fairies have
supernatural abilities,

they are not immortal gods.

The inhabitant of
the sidhe is not necessarily

immortal in the narrative.

Sometimes they're-they're
killed or-or meet with death,

but they never grow old.

And so, if they are
killed or die,

they do so while young.

They're other, uh,
but somewhat humanoid.

Sometimes they're small
and green, they abduct people,

they have, uh, either advanced
technology or ancient magic.

And in many ways
this fairy tradition, uh,

reminds me very much
of the UFO tradition

that we have
in the United States.

When it comes to these dwellings

of the fairy folk,
there's lots of talk about

otherworldly beings
emerging from the mounds.

And also people getting taken
into the mounds

and, like, disappearing.

You hear
stories of lights in the sky

or even lights in the forest
and the woods that you see.

So, could it be possible

that the fairy folk

is a description of

extraterrestrials
back in the day?

There is absolutely an argument

that can make that case.

In our
stories relating to the sidhe,

the fairies,
call them what you will,

all of our stories say that
they came from the sky world.

Is it possible
that modern beliefs of fairies

and elves are based on
real otherworldly beings

that the Irish people
encountered centuries ago

and that may still
inhabit the island today?

And if so,
why are they thought to

dwell within the ancient mounds?

According to legend,
the sidhe did not always

live within the Earth,

and their story begins
with a group of shining beings

who arrived in flying craft.

In Ireland, tales of
the sidhe, or fairy folk,

have been passed down orally
for more than 3,000 years,

and in the 11th century,
many of these stories were

documented in a text called
The Book of Invasions.

According to this medieval
account of Irish history

and lore,
thousands of years ago,

a godlike race of beings called

the Tuatha Dé Danann landed
on a mountaintop in Ireland.

Often referred to
as the Shining Ones,

they are
the ancestors of the sidhe.

All of our stories
relate back to the Tuatha Dé Danann.

For 3000 years, at least,
if not more before that, all of

the stories from mythology are
all related to Tuatha Dé Danann.

They were the Shining Ones.

There is a description
in the mythological material

in the early Irish literature

of the Tuatha Dé Danann

arriving in, uh, cloud ships,

arriving in dark clouds

and landing on a mountain.

There was a long poem about the arrival of

the Tuatha Dé Danann.
One of the lines says,

"The truth was not known
beneath the sky of stars,

whether they were
of heaven or of earth."

The Tuatha
Dé Danann are not human.

They're demigods.
And not immortal,

not infallible, um,
not like the gods of

monotheistic tradition of any
of the Abrahamic religions.

The Tuatha Dé
Danann were said to be luminous

beings of large stature
who wielded magical powers.

The Tuatha Dé Danann
had an arsenal of very

technological sounding weaponry.

Lugh of the Long Arm,
for example, possessed a spear

that, when he threw it,
he could give a voice command,

and it would automatically
hit whatever target.

Then he'd give
another voice command,

and the spear would
mysteriously return to him.

We have circles of light
that they used to

travel around Ireland upon.

We have another chieftain
named Nuada

who lost an arm in a battle
against the giants,

and they were able
to replace his arm.

The Tuatha
Dé Danann were said to have

a magical cauldron.

They had a cloak
of invisibility.

They had spears

that shot flames out.

The ancient astronaut theory

tries to look at ancient stories

in which magic happens

from a modern perspective
and determine

if that so-called magic

really was some type
of technology.

Then one has to wonder, where
did that technology come from?

Well, uh, there's only
one answer to this,

and that is extraterrestrials.

For ancient astronaut theorists,

another intriguing aspect

of these stories
is how similar they are

to accounts of sky gods found
in other ancient cultures.

The stories of...

Let's call them aliens...

Descending from clouds
on tops of mountains

are straight across the cultural
history of, uh, human beings.

Let's start with one
of the earliest ones.

The descent on Mount Hermon

in the Golan Heights.

That's where
the Nephilim came down.

Another,
in the descent of the Anunnaki,

they came from clouds.

We have other
stories in Tibet and other places

where these gods
are coming down,

and they land
on top of a mountain.

The gods of Olympus in Greece
is another example.

The stories
of the Tuatha Dé Danann

in these whirlwinds or clouds

is something that we find
in connection

with deities
in other parts of the world.

For instance,
across the Middle East,

there is the concept of djinn.

These are supernatural beings,

very often associated
with fire and light,

that can appear in whirlwinds

and manifest into physical form.

The fact
that we have countless stories

that are not just similar,
but identical,

leads me to think that

perhaps all these ancient
cultures were visited

by the same extraterrestrials.

According to
ancient astronaut theorists,

the tradition that is most
similar to the Tuatha Dé Danann

is that of the Anunnaki,

the sky gods described
by the Sumerians,

humankind's earliest
known civilization.

What
you've got with the Sumerians is

the beginnings
of-of civilization,

people living together, but also
the beginnings of writing.

You know, it's some
of the earliest written

texts that we have
are texts by these people.

These clay tablets are

5,000 years old
and more, and they

tell of the arrival of the gods,
the Anunnaki,

the pantheon of gods.
The chief was Anu.

This is the sky god
who came along

and created everything.

The term Anunnaki means

"those who from
the heavens came,"

and it refers to beings
descending from the sky,

imparting knowledge.

In the Irish stories,

the Tuatha Dé Danann
were also responsible

for imparting knowledge
to the ancient people.

Tuatha Dé Danann

were the masters
of all of the crafts,

masters of all of the arts,

and they introduced
the knowledge

in the ways of agriculture.

Tuatha Dé Danann would always
interact with the people.

It's the same as the Anunnaki.

Ancient
astronaut theorists suggest

the iconography
of the Sumerians and Irish

provides additional evidence

that they encountered
the same otherworldly beings.

Both depicted the gods
as being of giant stature

compared to humans,

both portrayed them in scenes
with hybrid or flying animals,

and both have images of the gods

with horns or antlers
emerging from their heads.

But perhaps
most intriguing of all

is that there appears to be
a linguistic connection

between the Anunnaki
and the Tuatha Dé Danann.

According to some accounts,

the Tuatha Dé Danann's
original name

was the Tuatha Danu.

"The Tribe of Anu," or Danu.

Linguists are
very intrigued by this

because this encodes
the name of Anu,

the high god of the Anunnaki,
for whom they are formed,

and it suggests that perhaps
the Tuatha Dé Danann

are the descendants
of the Anunnaki.

Could the striking
similarities that exist between the stories

of the Tuatha Dé Danann
and the Anunnaki

reveal that Ireland was visited
by the same otherworldly beings

that are described by humanity's
first known civilization

roughly 3,000 miles away?

But if so,

how are they connected
to Ireland's mound dwellers,

known as the sidhe,
or fairy folk?

Perhaps further clues
can be found by examining

mysterious ancient priests
called the druids.

Kent, England

1988.

During an excavation
of an Iron Age burial site,

archaeologists uncover
the skeleton of a man

who lived around
the third century BC

and who was wearing
a unique headdress.

Based on the design
of this bronze crown,

many researchers believe
these are the first remains

ever discovered of a druid.

According to Irish legend,

the druids were a class
of ancient Celtic priests

who were in close contact
with the Shining Ones,

the Tuatha Dé Danann.

The word for "druid" in Irish

is draíocht,
which literally means "magic."

So there is, uh,
an interconnection

between the Tuatha Dé Danann
and their magic

and the practice of druidry.

The Tuatha Dé Danann

were said to have been
the founders of druidism.

And the druids were said
to have all kinds

of special powers themselves.

And so, it would seem
that the Tuatha Dé Danann

had shown some of their
extraterrestrial technology

to the druids who then
were able to use it themselves.

The druidic religion originated

with the Tuatha Dé Danann,
but they were never allowed

to write down
any of the druidic knowledge.

It was taboo,

because it was so-called
sacred knowledge.

The druids
spent decades in training

to perform
their priestly functions.

These are members

of the inner circle,
as we're told.

The inner circle refers,
ultimately,

to the innermost knowledge
of the Tuatha Dé Danann,

the Shining Ones.

They know their secrets and
they can wield their technology.

Portrayals
of druids as mysterious,

shaman-like figures
with mystical powers

has led some scholars
to question

if they truly existed or were
purely mythological figures.

But according to the earliest
accounts of them,

the druids were an integral
part of Celtic society

throughout the British Isles.

There are certain
things we know about the druids,

but of course there's a lot
we don't know,

and this vacuum incited

a lot of romantic speculation
in the 19th century.

And so, we're still carrying
that baggage a little bit.

The swirling robes and so on.

But in Celtic society,
in Gaelic society,

the druids exercised authority
and played

an important role, uh,

in the life of the tribe
and the society.

The druids were the holders
of knowledge.

They held and perpetuated
the knowledge

which was important
to the survival of the tribe.

They held and perpetuated
judiciary knowledge

and things sacred and spiritual.

The druid
was a very special figure,

a priest, perhaps,
a historian, perhaps,

uh, a magician, uh, perhaps,

uh, and many, many things.

These were the learned people
of Celtic society.

They-they formed
a special class.

According to Caesar,
the druids in Gall

had to study 20 years
to become a druid.

And they had many, many roles
to play,

including acting as, uh, jurist
and judges, advisers to kings.

And so, druidism, and the magic
that they were able to employ,

um, is really a-a foundational
part of early Celtic society.

And druids
are not necessarily men.

Uh, we also have a lot
of accounts of female druidry.

And it does seem
to be associated heavily

with the Tuatha Dé Danann.

They didn't just
teach things like astronomy

and, you know,
harmony in nature,

they were working with geomancy,

the placement of ancient sites
across the landscape

called geodesy.

And also
working with Earth energies

and even plant medicines.

So they had a high understanding

of these different
arts and sciences.

The druids were
known to travel far and wide,

seeking out the knowledge
of other cultures.

But they were also said
to interact directly

with the Tuatha Dé Danann,

who shared the secrets of their
so-called magical abilities.

Pliny the Elder, who was
one of the most famous

of the Roman writers
and historians,

he claimed that at a full moon,

druids would meet at a mound,

and they would trace a design

that looked something
like a dragon

on top of the mound,

and this would summon
some sort of lightning

or some phenomenon
that happened in the sky.

I don't think he saw it himself.

He was taking what he knew

from Roman soldiers
that witnessed it.

But apparently,
it frightened a lot of them.

They saw lights in the sky
once the druids

did this dragon ritual,
as it became known.

So it would
seem that the druids knew

of the power
of certain special places.

And perhaps, this is something

that would summon
the Tuatha Dé Danann.

These shining people
who came from the sky.

One of the many magical powers

the druids were said to possess
was the ability

to levitate massive stones,
which they used

to construct some
of the megalithic structures

found throughout
the British Isles.

The most famous of the druids,

of course, was Merlin.

Merlin was said to have...

...created Stonehenge by taking

an existing stone circle
from Ireland

and bringing it to Salisbury
Plain in Southern England.

And there, using magic powers,

he was able to raise
the stones into position

in the manner
that we see them today.

What is interesting
is that the stones

that built Stonehenge
did come from a long way away.

About 135 miles
away in South Wales.

Somehow, they were moved
to central England,

and the ancients
believed it was Merlin

who was responsible for that.

There are stories that say

that some of those big,
gigantic blocks at Stonehenge

were levitated into place

through magical incantations.

Well, what magical incantations?

Because I don't think
that levitation

can happen just by words.

There has to be some type
of technology behind it.

The idea is that, basically,

this was extraterrestrial
knowledge imparted

by the Tuatha Dé Danann.

When the Romans
were here, they say that the druids

had this power
to build stone circles

of which there were thousands
throughout the British Isles.

Stonehenge, Avebury, Newgrange.

These places, we find
legends attached to the druids

that they were able to float
the stones through the air.

Is it possible

that a secret society
of Celtic priests

who lived more
than 2,000 years ago

had access
to otherworldly technology?

According
to the ancient accounts,

while the druids
were the disciples

of the Tuatha Dé Danann,

it would ultimately be a druid

who brought their reign
in Ireland to an end

and drove them underground.

County Kerry, 1700 B.C.

A fleet of ships arrives on
the southern shores of Ireland,

carrying invaders
from the south.

According to early
Irish accounts,

they are aided by a druid
named Amergin

in their conquest of Ireland.

Amergin was seeking revenge
for his great uncle,

who had been killed by the three
kings of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

These were the sons of Míl,

better known as the Milesians.

The Milesians came out
of the Mediterranean,

probably from Greece or Crete

or Anatolia, modern day Turkey.

And they arrived in Ireland,

and huge battles took place

between the Tuatha Dé Danann
and the Milesians.

Many stories have
been written about these battles,

but according to the most
trusted sources,

the Tuatha Dé Danann
agreed to a truce

to save their beloved Ireland.

They did not
come to the Earth to do warfare.

They came to heal the Earth
and to work with the Earth

and work with Mother Earth
and all of the good energies.

What was agreed upon that, um,
this country will be shared,

there was room enough
for everyone in this country.

And it was
agreed that the Milesians

would live on the ground,
on the earth itself,

but that the Tuatha Dé Danann
would go beneath the earth,

inside mounds of earth
that were known as sidhe.

These acted as these doorways

into a realm
where, forever after,

the Tuatha Dé Danann would live.

It's said that they
all turned sideways into the light

and just disappeared
underground.

The Milesians then took control

of the surface of Ireland.

Modern-day Irish people
are thought to be descendants

of the Milesians.

Legend states that after

the Tuatha Dé Danann
descended below ground,

a mysterious evolution
took place.

Once the Tuatha
went underground,

they evolved over many years

into something known
as the aos sí.

That's better known in later
mythology as the elfen folk.

Elves.

After the Tuatha Dé Danann

entered into the earthen mounds,
or sidhe,

they became beings

that could appear
in physical form

but could equally vanish.

Humans were able
to interact with them,

often when they would see
some kind of light

that would be emanating
from these earthen mounds.

They would go towards them.

And when they were able
to look into these lights,

they could see the Tuatha Dé
Danann, the sidhe, the fairies.

People would be able
to join them in this realm.

Reports of elves and fairies

and little people have been
around in Ireland

as long as people
have lived there.

People saw something.
They saw some types of beings.

People still see
these beings even today.

One location in Ireland

where sightings
of fairies are often reported

is at the Hill of Tara,

which is home to numerous
ancient mounds

as well as a monolith
called Lia Fáil.

Legend states that this monolith

was a gift
from the Shining Ones.

The Lia Fáil

means the "Stone of Destiny,"

and it refers
to a standing stone,

about five feet tall
in County Meath, Ireland.

In the legends of Lia Fáil,

we have the Tuatha Dé Danann

bringing the energy
of this stone

down with them
to this powerful place.

This place of extraordinary
energy and current

because it can interact
with the energy in the land.

The power of the land itself
is the reason

that the Danann come to this
location, the Hill of Tara.

It was said that when
the rightful king of Ireland

came in contact with Lia Fáil,

it would scream out to announce

that this was the rightful
king of all Ireland.

It would then imbue the king

with qualities of strength
and longevity and health,

in order that he might
reign over Ireland

for a very long time.

To this day, ceremonies
take place on the Hill of Tara.

The ancient
Irish associated this stone

with the elven folk
and the fairies,

and people continue
to see them today,

and probably,
we will continue to see them

in the future as well.

If otherworldly
beings called the Tuatha Dé Danann

truly existed
in ancient Ireland,

is it possible that
they are still present today,

now known as the sidhe,
or fairy folk,

who inhabit the thousands
of earthen mounds

found throughout the country?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest that they may occupy

a parallel dimension.

Today, organizations exist

throughout the world

that investigate
potential encounters

with extraterrestrials
visiting Earth.

But long before
these groups existed,

the people of the British Isles

were examining another
type of otherworldly phenomenon.

In the 1920s, something very
strange happened in Ireland.

There were suddenly
mass sightings of fairies.

So much so that a captain,
Quintin Craufurd,

formed what he called

the Society for
the Investigation of Fairies,

which was a very scientific
and serious approach

at collecting data
about these fairy sightings.

Like a modern UFO group today,

their mission was

to study elves,
figure elves out,

what they were doing there,
try to communicate with elves.

And they absolutely believed
that fairies and elves

were real and existed
throughout the British Isles.

People from all walks
of life contacted the organization

reporting encounters with beings
they believed were fairies.

Witnesses described fairies
leading them to buried relics,

walking through solid walls,

and even transforming
into orbs of light.

This society
did important research

up until World War II, when
their records were destroyed.

And then in 1949,
they began doing research again.

Hundreds of members joined
the society in the 1950s,

including Walt Disney.

Now, what's amazing about this
is that in order to become

a member of the society,
you had to declare

an absolute belief
in the existence of fairies.

And who other than Walt Disney
in the modern world

is more closely connected
to fairies?

The idea
that you would actually have

a very serious society
that was looking into fairies,

shows that in the British Isles
and in Ireland,

the whole concept of elven folk

and fairies and leprechauns

is very real
and continues to this day.

In 1969,

French astronomer Jacques Vallée

published a groundbreaking book
on unexplained phenomena

called Passport to Magonia

From Folklore to Flying Saucers.

In it, he proposed that
historical accounts of fairies

and other strange beings
could be the same phenomenon

that today is interpreted
as extraterrestrial.

Jacques did what I think is one
of the most important books

about the UFO phenomena,
trying to understand,

of all the things
in the sky and on the ground

through history that have either
been painted, photographed,

caught on radar,
what are they and why are they?

Every culture
speaks of the "others,"

whether it be the wee people,
the leprechauns,

or the fairies
or the angels or the demons.

Our brothers in Islam
know them very well,

and they're called the djinn.

And the one thing
that is taught about the djinn

is essentially,
they are energetic beings,

and their place of residence is
in the domains of inner earth.

And this leads us
to ask the question,

if the domains of inner earth

are actually physical
within this dimension

or possibly
in a parallel dimension.

According to Vallée,

the strange beings that humans
have reported encountering

for thousands of years may,
in fact, be inter dimensional.

Vallée believes that

from the time of the Big Bang,

if it created one universe,

why couldn't it create
a multitude of universes?

Might there be connections

between the different
universes where elements

from the other universe
cross into our universe,

and where elements of
our universe cross into theirs?

That would explain how people
coming upon the sidhe

might not just see an
underground civilization,

but they might see an
inter dimensional civilization.

Could it
be that sightings of fairies

and similar figures described
in other ancient traditions

are encounters with beings
that occupy parallel dimensions?

And if so,
are these the same beings

described today
as extraterrestrials?

There are possible parallels

between the sidhe
or fairies that seem

to be similar to UFO,
uh, accounts.

For example,
seeing strange lights.

Like what's known as,
in Irish and British tradition,

the will-o'-the-wisp.

Um, these fairy lights
that move,

uh, and lead people astray.

When you
get to the 20th century,

and where people were trying
to figure out human abductions,

you start hearing
from people saying,

"Well, they shape-shifted
in front of me.

"There were beams of light
that took us up and down.

"They can disappear, they
can go through windows, walls."

And those are the same verbs
and nouns that were being used

in the centuries before
in Ireland and other places

about fairies and so-called
pretend creatures.

There are stories
and personal experiences

similar to UFO accounts
that have been recorded,

of missing time
where somebody i-is taken

into the other world
by the fairies,

and, uh, thinks they've
been there for a few hours,

but it's been a few days
when they return.

Oftentimes, you hear stories

of missing time, of people
disappearing for weeks,

or losing their memory

for significant events,
and frankly,

that is similar to what you hear

from modern-day
UFO abduction stories.

Could it be that the
folklore of cultures all around the globe

is based on
an otherworldly presence

that people
have been encountering

since humankind's
earliest history?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and according to the Irish,
at least once a year,

the veil is lifted
between our realm and theirs.

The Hill of Uisneach, Ireland.

Located 60 miles
west of Dublin.

This site has been sacred
to the Irish for centuries.

Each year in early May,

locals gather
at this sacred site

to celebrate
the ancient festival of Beltane.

Dating back more
than 3,000 years,

Beltane and its famous bonfire

provide a link between
modern Christian Ireland

and its pagan Celtic past.

This festival is
the traditional start of summer.

The Celtic peoples
divided the year

into a dark half
and then a bright half,

marked at Beltane.

It was so important
that people understood

precise times of year
for agricultural reasons.

The people working the fields

didn't have
the knowledge of astronomy.

So the fire was a signal,
and they saw the fire.

From the highest point
on Uisneach,

20 counties are visible.

So once the main fire is lit
on Uisneach in a circle,

all of the hills around
light their fires,

and then it spreads and spreads
throughout the whole country.

And it happens instantly.

The fire is a signal
to all of the country

that now is the summertime.

But Beltane,

which is also celebrated
at other ancient sites

throughout Ireland, serves
another, more profound purpose.

Many Irish believe
that during this festival,

it is possible for humans
to peer inside the mounds

into an entirely
different reality.

There's a threshold or boundary

between worlds
that becomes thin.

And human beings can see
into the other world

or encounter otherworldly
beings, uh, more easily.

Beltane, or May Day,

is associated very strongly
with the sidhe,

the fairy people,
the Shining Ones.

Through festivals like Beltane,

the people of Ireland
maintain a strong connection

to the traditions of their past,

traditions of shining beings
who came down from the sky

and continue to live on
within the ancient mounds.

When I
was growing up in Ireland,

people, at least in the,
in the rural areas...

And Ireland
was very rural at the time...

Nobody would admit
to not believing in the fairies.

The existence of the fairy folk
was not questioned.

This idea that
Ireland has had this love affair

with leprechauns and fairy folk,

I would ask the question, "Well,

what is the underlying meaning
of this?"

Because stories
of fairy folk go back

at least 3,000 years in Ireland.

In the case
of the Tuatha Dé Danann,

it's even earlier.

It's possible
that what we have here

is one of the earliest examples
of ancient astronaut teachers.

I've reached
a certain age in my life now

that it's not about believing,

it's just that
this is the way it is now.

So, do we believe in fairies
and leprechauns in Ireland?

Absolutely, 100%.

Is it possible

that beneath the idyllic
rolling countryside of Ireland,

there are entrances
to a hidden realm

that has been inhabited
by otherworldly beings

for more than 3,000 years?

Could they be the descendants
of extraterrestrials

who were responsible for
the creation of the human race?

Perhaps the whimsical legends
of Ireland

are not so whimsical after all,

but contain profound truths

about an alien presence on Earth

that is still with us today.

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