Original subtitles

WILLIAM SHATNER: Massive stone heads

with mysterious magnetic properties.

A miraculous staircase,

designed by a divine architect.

And a subterranean chamber

where ancient priests could speak...

with the dead.

Since the dawn of civilization,

mankind has built countless structures

for a myriad of different purposes.

But there are some that--

for one reason or another--

are considered to be special,

and may be imbued with mystical powers.

For instance, can a formation of standing stones

really harness the energy of the Earth?

Or can a magnificent cathedral

actually bring people in touch with God?

Well, that's what we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

Here, sitting atop a grassy clearing

in the English countryside,

about 80 miles west of the city of Plymouth,

is a set of three monoliths

that stand out from the natural landscape.

In the language of ancient Britain,

the site was named Mên-an-Tol,

which translates to

the Stone of the Hole.

RONALD HUTTON: There's nothing else on Earth quite like the Mên-an-Tol.

It consists of a big, round stone

with a big, round hole in the middle of it.

It's a couple of feet across.

You can crawl through it quite comfortably.

And there's a straight stone on either side.

It's highly visible in the landscape

and bafflingly mysterious.

SHATNER: Archaeologists believe that Mên-an-Tol

was constructed around the year 2000 BC.

It is also thought that there were once

additional monoliths that encircled the center stone,

which have been lost to time.

There's something very melodramatic

about the Mên-an-Tol.

There has to be a reason

why ancient people had put up a big stone

with a big hole in it.

And the real thing to do with a stone with a hole

is crawl through it.

So, there must be a good reason for that.

Local folklore says

that crawling through the center of the Mên-an-Tol

is really good for you.

Diseased children can get better,

especially if they've got rickets.

And if you put a couple of brass pins

on the top of the holed stone,

the way in which they fall off

can predict your future.

HUGH NEWMAN: When it comes to Mên-an-Tol in Cornwall,

we have to question what is going on here.

Is this really a magical place?

Is it just ancient traditions?

Or is there some reality

to the power of these ancient stones?

SHATNER: Mên-an-Tol is just one

of approximately 1,300 ancient monoliths

that are scattered throughout the British Isles.

It may sound outlandish to think

that Mên-an-Tol and other standing stone sites

can have a mystical effect on people, but...

who can say for sure that they don't?

Because even after centuries of study,

these remarkable structures

remain shrouded in mystery.

HUTTON: Stonehenge gets all the fame and the recognition,

but there are thousands and thousands

of other prehistoric monuments that are worth attention

up and down the British Isles.

For example, Avebury is absolutely stunning

because it's a very big place.

What you're looking at there

is an enormous bank with a ditch inside it,

and inside this enormous circular enclosure

was originally a hundred stones in a circle.

And inside this enormous circle of stones

are the remnants of two other enormous stone circles.

I mean, the place is so big

that about half of the village

was built inside it.

It was an entire community.

ANDREW COLLINS: The largest standing stone in Britain

is known as the Rudston Monolith.

It's around 25 to 26 feet in height,

but there is just as much of it under the ground,

creating this huge, great monolith

almost 60 feet in length.

The significant thing about this

is that the type of stone

that it's made from can only be sourced

about 30 miles to the north.

That meant that it was dragged

in some way to its position

in the village of Rudston.

And we have to ask ourselves,

is there a greater purpose behind all of this?

And if so, what is that greater purpose?

ED BARNHART: In the UK, right now, we have thousands of known monuments,

but there were probably thousands more originally.

We do know that the people who built the megaliths

in the UK were early farmers.

They were from 4000 to about 2000 BCE.

But we really don't know what language they spoke,

we don't really know how they socially organized themselves

or their politics.

So, it's still very much a question

exactly why they built them.

SHATNER: Why would pre-historic people go to the trouble

of erecting heavy standing stones that weighed,

in some cases, as much as 40 tons?

Well, one theory suggests that these monoliths

served as a connection to a higher plane of existence.

In many cases, these standing stones

seem to be orientated towards celestial events...

...such as the rising and setting of the Sun

at the equinoxes and the solstices.

And so, these monoliths are very clearly

a reflection of this belief

of contact with higher forces

that would have taken place through the ceremonies

and the rituals that would go on once, maybe twice a year.

SHATNER: Were these monolithic sites built for ceremonial purposes?

It's an intriguing theory,

and some researchers suggest

that England's standing stones

were also connected to each other.

Because, as it turns out, many of these monoliths

appear to be geographically aligned

on what are commonly referred to as ley lines.

Ley lines or leys were first visualized

by a thinker and visionary

called Alfred Watkins in the 1920s.

He wrote a book called The Old Straight Track,

which said that a whole range of prehistoric monuments

are connected by extremely long lines,

even corridors, that stretch across

the length and breadth of Britain.

SHATNER: Alfred Watkins theorized

that the straight lines

which connect Britain's monoliths

were ancient trade routes.

But some researchers disagree,

and claim that the massive stones

were placed along ley lines

to serve a more energetic purpose.

COLLINS: It would seem that the whole long lines of monuments

are connected with

the geomagnetic fields of the Earth...

and that the peoples of Britain

created these stone circles and standing stones

to enhance this natural energy of the landscape.

SHATNER: Is it possible that ancient people,

who did not even have written language,

figured out how to use monoliths

to harness the energy of the Earth?

And if so, for what purpose?

If pre-historic people

believed that there were

currents of Earth energy, then pre-historic monuments

may have been put where they were in the landscape

because they would have amplified prayers,

invocations, chants, drumming, singing,

and that would have considerably enhanced ceremonies.

It's going to create a very impressive effect

for religious purposes.

(intense drumming)

SHATNER: Although numerous intriguing theories have been put forward,

ultimately, no one has been able to explain

the purpose, placement, and construction

of Britain's remarkable monoliths.

There's a lot of things we don't know

about these megalithic structures.

We really don't know how they did it,

why they did it.

These are important questions

and we have certain hints,

but most of it is still pretty much a mystery.

What we can say is that there was a unified effort

around building these monoliths.

And that they are certainly cornerstone and symbolic

of ancient Britain's culture.

SHATNER: Archeologist Matthew Stirling

is excavating an ancient site

once occupied by the Olmec people...

...a lost Mesoamerican civilization

dating as far back as 1200 BC.

As Stirling's team unearths and catalogs numerous artifacts,

they notice a number of unusually large,

rounded boulders buried nearby.

What emerges from the ground are, quite literally,

some of the largest archaeological finds

of the 20th century.

Over the next several decades,

17 colossal heads

carved from solid basalt

were ultimately discovered in the area--

the largest measuring a staggering 11 feet tall

and weighing 50 tons.

When you walk up to these imposing,

you know, stone monuments,

you see these things are huge,

with these just amazing lifelike features.

It would have taken thousands of people

to drag these stones through the rainforest,

through mud and swamps

onto the tops of their sites.

SHATNER: But perhaps what's most striking about

these giant heads is not their size,

or how they were brought to the middle of the jungle,

but rather, who they seem to be depicting.

The colossal heads have an African appearance,

but also, equally, they've been seen to have

a Polynesian appearance as well.

Is it possible that the Olmec

were the result of trans-Pacific,

or even trans-Atlantic migrations

of peoples from other continents?

SHATNER: Although mainstream historians dismiss the notion

that the Olmec originated in Asia or Africa,

the appearance of the Olmec heads

suggests that it is possible.

But not only do we not know

where the Olmec came from,

we also don't know where they went.

One of the real frustrations

to archeologists who study the Olmec

is that we don't have a single Olmec skeleton

that we can look at and analyze.

For over a thousand years,

the Olmec were the culture in the middle of Mesoamerica.

But then they faded away.

And why, exactly, they stopped

is something we're not sure of.

SHATNER: The Olmec disappeared so completely,

all that's left of them are scattered remains.

Some sculptures and figurines.

Which means if we're to answer

the riddle of the Olmec's disappearance,

there's only one place to look:

those huge, imposing stone heads,

staring back at us through time

with their odd, Sphinx-like gazes.

One of the most remarkable discoveries,

uh, in connection with the art of the Olmec

is the presence of magnetism.

In a number of different statues,

when a compass is brought up to them,

the needles move.

Archeologists in the late 1960s and early 1970s

used magnetometers to find many

of the most remarkable colossal heads.

The Olmec heads probably gave off magnetic signatures

because they're made of basalt,

a dense volcanic rock

that becomes magnetic as it cools.

So, by making the heads of basalt

that came from the volcano itself,

that same energy

was inherited by those colossal heads.

What all of this suggests

is the Olmec went out and deliberately chose rocks

that had this magnetic effect.

SHATNER: Magnetic stones?

If the Olmec were harnessing magnetism,

what were they using it for?

There are many theories about how the Olmecs

may have used magnetism.

One interesting speculation

is whether they could've moved some of the large stones

using magnetic levitation.

It's very simple to get magnets

to either attract or repel each other

if their poles are opposing.

It's difficult to imagine

even using modern moving technology

to move very large stones, yet they were moved.

SHATNER: Levitation? It's a fascinating theory,

although one that's hard to prove.

Not unlike another theory

that suggests that the Olmec may have been using

the magnetic properties in their giant stone heads

for healing purposes.

Colossal head 10 from San Lorenzo,

uh, has what appears to be

these little multiperforated beads

all over all the head in his headdress.

In a recent excavation,

the lead archeologists found thousands,

144,000 of these little magnetic cubes

and they could have been then strung together in mats

and possibly, in this case, the headdress.

And it's leading some archeologists to say,

"Well, what about the magnetic qualities

that might've been used in possible healing?"

We know the importance of magnets

used in certain therapies

and did the Olmec, did they already discover

the important health benefits of magnetic therapy?

SHATNER: If the Olmec leaders were using the power of magnetism

for some type of healing,

it may have had the opposite effect.

Magnetic fields can be healing or harmful.

In some cases, people who have been exposed

to very strong magnetic fields have lapsed into comas,

had seizures.

Some people have even died

after being exposed to very strong magnetic fields.

COLLINS: So, could the presence of magnetism

in the art objects that were fashioned by the Olmecs

have had something to do

with why they deliberately buried

many of their statues and figurines?

We do not have any definitive answers.

But what we do know

is that the Olmec culture dissolved.

It disappeared, almost into oblivion.

SHATERN: Investigative journalist and radio host

David Whitehead travels to the Loretto Chapel

in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

DAVID WHITEHEAD: I'm here to investigate a really mysterious structure,

the famous Loretto staircase.

We don't know who built it.

We don't understand the physics behind it.

And we don't even have a good indication

as to what it's made of.

(door creaking)

Oh, wow.

This place is beautiful.

SHATNER: Meeting with David is chapel curator Richard Lindsley.

WHITEHEAD: So, this is it.

RICHARD LINDSLEY: Absolutely.

Our miraculous staircase.

I've heard so much about it.

I've read so many theories about it.

And it's amazing to actually be here to see it.

SHATNER: In 1873, the Sisters of Loretto

commissioned the construction of the chapel

for their new girls' school.

Officially consecrated five years later,

the Loretto Chapel is a triumph of Gothic Revival design

with its high spires, soaring buttresses,

and enormous stained-glass windows.

But as construction was nearing completion,

the project's architect suddenly died

before he could build what was considered

the most ambitious part of the job:

the staircase leading up to the choir loft.

The mystery of the staircase actually begins

with this mysterious carpenter.

The sisters asked the local carpenters to build one.

But they failed. They didn't know how to do it.

The sisters, they decided to turn to prayer

and said a nine-day novena asking St. Joseph,

the patron of carpenters,

to help them with their problem.

At the last day of their prayer,

it's said that a knock came at these doors.

This elderly man was standing there with a donkey by his side.

And he told the sister that he had come

to build their staircase.

Was it St. Joseph like the sisters believed?

Some pious people think it was an angel.

But he was very reclusive

and insisted upon working inside

this chapel by himself,

never allowing anyone to see him

work on the staircase.

Throughout the Christian and Catholic world,

we have a tremendous amount of these stories

of miraculous, uh, help from saints,

and just a part of the Catholic belief system

you can pray to saints and they're supposed to try to help.

So, it's a built-in part of the package,

this idea of an intercessory,

closer to people and yet closer to God.

After three months,

the sisters came into the chapel

and the man was gone.

And when they could not find him

to even pay him for his labor,

they went to the only lumberyard in town

and asked them how much they owed for the materials.

And the lumberyard told the sisters

that the man never got any materials from them at all.

So, what material is this staircase made of?

I gave a core sample of the wood

from the inner stringer to a US Naval scientist.

And he determined right away

that it was a form of Picea Spruce.

WHITEHEAD: Is this from of spruce local to Santa Fe?

LINDSLEY: The wood in this staircase did not match up

with any other Picea Spruce known to science.

This wood does not match up with any other

quite like it on Earth.

The staircase at Loretto Chapel is amazing.

It's a double spiral system.

There's no glue, there's no nails,

there's no screws.

It's put together in a way

that how it's just sitting on itself

is holding it together.

WHITEHEAD: So, Richard, an interesting thing

about this design is the double helix.

LINDSLEY: Mm-hmm.

WHITEHEAD: The double helix or the double spiral

is that it's an incredibly unique design.

LINDSLEY: Well, we had a world-renowned physicist

come visit us and he was convinced

that the double-helix design

was integral to its inner strength.

-Mind if I go up? -Please, be my guest.

This is a very special privilege.

I definitely feel very privileged.

I've waited for this moment for so long.

(creaking)

Oh, wow. Yeah, it's a unique feeling

just right on that first step.

I almost feel like a vibration.

Feeling like I'm floating,

like there's nothing underneath my feet.

It's truly a remarkable feeling.

Now, how many stairs have we got here?

LINDSLEY: There are 33 steps to the staircase.

Which reminded the sisters of our Lord

because he lived 33 years.

WHITEHEAD: Well, I find it very interesting

that here we are in this chapel in Santa Fe

and we're seeing the motif of the sacred number 33

and this number is important to the Templars.

SHATNER: 33 steps?

One of the most sacred numbers

to the fraternal order of builders

known as Freemasons, who, in turn,

are thought to be the spiritual descendants

of the Knights Templar.

Could this number of steps

really provide an important clue

as to who built the stairway, and how?

So, the number 33

is a sacred number in Templarism.

So, they would have encoded that number,

whether it be in staircases

or artwork in the stained-glass windows,

or even the mathematical dimensions

of some of these structures.

To the Templars, they don't just see a staircase

or a stained-glass window or a layout of a church design.

They see an esoteric number, the number of a master builder,

the manifestation of the divine on Earth,

and it's very deeply rooted in the entire Templar tradition.

STEVE BURROWS: I think the quality of construction and detailing

show that somebody who did it was highly skilled

and they must have learned that.

So, the person who built that staircase

apprenticed with somebody, they learned some things.

They applied those things later in Santa Fe.

So, there's no doubt they could have been working with a Mason.

Uh, but they were way too skilled

to have been the first time they did something like that.

The construction of this staircase

defies all conventional construction practices.

Any kind of rational, conventional explanation.

Where did the materials come from?

Who built it?

It seems like we just have more questions than we do answers.

-Yes. -But we do know that it's a mystery

and hopefully one day we'll be able to solve it.

Is the stairway of the Loretto Chapel

merely the work of a gifted builder?

Or was its construction a miracle

performed by the hand of God?

Perhaps further clues

about the power of religious structures

can be found by exploring the mystical nature

of one of the most famous cathedrals in the world.

SHATNER: For centuries, many have remarked

on the strange power that Notre-Dame--

the historic cathedral that sits at the center of Paris--

has on people.

But what exactly is this power?

And could it actually be the presence of God?

DELL UPTON: What's extraordinary to me

is that you've got a building

that has been there for almost 1,000 years,

in one form or another.

And even though it's important

from an architectural historian's point of view

in various ways,

it also has this life in popular culture

which many buildings don't.

Its role in the public view

has to do with its subsequent reputation.

AMIR HUSSAIN: You walk into Notre-Dame,

and all of a sudden you realize

the one human being is very small.

And you're literally humbled by this.

And almost falling to the ground because

it's such an impressive sort of structure there.

YOUNG: The light coming through the windows,

especially the rose windows,

has an effect on our consciousness.

This is something beyond words.

This is the power of ritual and aesthetics

to touch us on a spiritual level.

It can't entirely be explained.

PICKNETT: It's like there is a presence there.

People go silent,

you know, talking in whispers.

And you say, "Well, of course they would be,

it's a Christian cathedral."

So, that's what Christians take from it.

It reinforces their belief.

But millions upon millions of visitors have felt it,

whether they have any religion or not.

SHATNER: In 1163 AD, Bishop Maurice de Sully

authorized the construction of Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The bishop wanted the majesty and splendor

of Notre-Dame to show France's devotion to God.

The massive building took over 180 years to complete

and features a 115-foot-high roof,

and two towers that stand 223 feet tall.

The value system of a collective

is reflected in the shrines and monuments they build.

Notre-Dame was the tallest building in Paris

for a very long time.

The common people on the street would look up

and see the cathedral towering above

all other human activity.

That was the message.

1,000 years ago, when architects were building

bigger and bigger stone cathedrals,

the problem was sometimes they would collapse.

So, before they had steel,

they had to use stone with weight on the outside

called the flying buttress to support the roof.

That's the reason why Notre- Dame,

built 1,000 years ago,

can have thin walls and stained glass.

BURROWS: Notre-Dame's builders wanted to inspire awe

when people came and looked at the cathedral.

So, how did they do that?

One of the main tricks is to allow light

into the space so that you get this huge sense of height.

You don't see the massive walls,

and the building seems to be floating on air.

SHATNER: Historians and architects have also suggested

that the power of Notre-Dame may come,

not just from how it looks,

but also how it sounds.

HUSSAIN: So, one of the amazing things about Notre-Dame Cathedral

is the sound, the acoustical properties,

and the acoustics in there are just marvelous.

(echoing singing)

And that affects us.

It physically, literally affects us.

And our heart beats in a different kind of way,

you know, we can feel it in our bodies.

BURROWS: The great acoustics of Notre-Dame Cathedral

came from practice and understanding geometry.

So, the people who did that,

they understood that if you emit noise,

say, singing at one location,

through the shape of the ceiling,

you can bounce that noise down to another location,

like a congregation inside the cathedral.

SHATNER: The medieval builders of Notre-Dame

clearly understood how to create

a spiritual or holy experience in the cathedral.

And a recent catastrophic event

proves the immense power this 1,000-year-old sacred structure

continues to hold.

(sirens wailing)

A fire breaks out at Notre-Dame.

400 firefighters launch a valiant effort

to fight the blaze,

using water pumped directly from the Seine River.

Parisians watch in horror

as the flames and smoke

envelop the upper reaches of the cathedral

and its 315-foot-tall spire...

...collapses.

COLLINS: A fire began in its timber roof

that spread quickly, causing the collapse of its spire

and hundreds of tons of lead melted

and poured down into the interior of the structure.

And as much as a tragedy as this actually was,

the response to it across the globe was remarkable.

SHATNER: The reaction to the disastrous fire

transcended national borders and faiths.

In only two days, people around the world

contributed nearly a billion dollars

to rebuild and restore this beloved landmark.

YOUNG: The outpouring of donations from within France

and from all over the world tells us what a cathedral means.

It's not just a tourist spot.

If you enter a cathedral, something happens to you.

People know they felt something,

they're attached to that building.

HUSSAIN: So, when you had the fire in Notre-Dame Cathedral

and the rebuilding of that,

that was extraordinary.

The rebuilding of Notre-Dame Cathedral

shows the attachment that people have

to the divine is infinite,

and I think there's a power there.

(bell tolls)

SHATNER: While excavating an area for a new housing development

just off the eastern coast of this tiny Mediterranean island,

construction workers encounter something unexpected--

and quite unusual--

beneath their work site:

A prehistoric structure

hewn from solid limestone,

dating back more than 5,000 years.

Upon further inspection,

archaeologists soon realize

that what the unwitting workers have unearthed

isn't merely a lost underground temple

or ancient sanctuary,

but a massive subterranean necropolis.

The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni.

The Malta Hypogeum is an architectural wonder

of the ancient world.

It was carved using primarily stone and bone tools

by an ancient population that lived on Malta

thousands of years ago.

So, it's actually older than the pyramids of Egypt

or Stonehenge.

Hypogeum is basically a word

that comes from the Greek terms for cavity or space underground.

It extends on three different stories

about seven point some meters below ground.

It covers an area of about 5,400 square feet.

Malta's Hypogeum is, you know,

one of those great examples

of beautiful geometry underground.

So, the geometry isn't by accident.

It was done by somebody who knows what they were doing.

And it looks to me like, you know,

this was done for a purpose.

SHATNER: A purpose?

Although no one knows for certain

who originally built the Malta Hypogeum, or why,

the bones of more than 7,000 souls

line its intricate labyrinth of corridors and alcoves.

So, according to logic,

it is exactly what it appears to be:

an ancient burial site.

But logic alone

may not be at play, here.

There is a very intriguing room in the Hypogeum,

which is in the middle level, that is called the Oracle Room.

And this Oracle Room is basically a resonance chamber.

And it's designed, so it would seem,

to amplify any acoustic sound waves.

So, even by whispering, for example,

the design of the room amplifies this

and-and makes it into a very loud baritone sound.

SHATNER: In 2014, while conducting a series of experiments

in an attempt to understand the design elements

behind the Hypogeum's unusual acoustics,

scientists discovered an unexpected--

and hair-raising-- phenomenon.

KREISBERG: We set up microphones and we used recording devices

that were very sensitive,

and we carried out experiments

using the human voice

in that 110 to 112 hertz range.

So, these are very low, guttural, bass sounds,

and they reverberate in a very strong way within these temples.

(bass-heavy humming)

(humming continues)

(humming continues)

ENEIX: It's extraordinary.

It's like being inside of a bell.

Those vibrations are felt inside your body.

You feel it in your tissue. You feel it in your bones.

It can raise the hair off the back of your neck.

Imagine going there to this dark

and spooky underground place 5,000 years ago

with this weird, eerie sound going on around you

a-and knowing that there are bones and...

The whole thing is creepy now.

PAUL DEVEREUX: Clearly was, some sort of ritual activity went on there.

There is a niche in the Oracle Room,

that if you spoke into it,

it could resonate throughout the whole structure.

And so, some thought it was significant

that a priest might've intoned into it

and a voice, that his booming voice,

would go through the whole Hypogeum.

Uh, like a god.

SHATNER: The voice of a god?

Those who have visited the Malta Hypogeum

describe it as feeling like a descent...

into the underworld.

As a result, some experts believe

this subterranean nightmare

was intentionally constructed

to enable its visitors to speak

with the dead.

STEAVU: Overtone chanting is a common practice

in many cultures in East Asia,

and North Asia and South Asia as well.

You do have this strong connection between chanting

and communication with the divine

or with the deceased.

And I believe at the Hypogeum,

we may have a similar situation

in which there seems to have been

an active ritual function

of not only placing the deceased or remains there,

but where people would attempt

to establish communication with the dead.

So, it stands to reason that potentially

people could attain a different level of consciousness,

in which they would be susceptible to have experiences

with people who had passed away.

SHATNER: Was the Malta Hypogeum designed to be

not just a subterranean necropolis

but also a place where the living

could connect with the deceased?

Perhaps further investigation of this mysterious site

will one day reveal the answer.

But there's a structure located in Mexico

that reportedly possessed an even more dramatic

kind of mystical power.

It's a 160-ton statue

that was built to honor

a god of thunder and lightning.

(thunder crashes)

SHATNER: Crowds gather as workers prepare to transport

one of the largest monolithic statues in the world.

23 feet tall and weighing 160 tons,

the massive idol dates back over 1,000 years.

And although workers are extremely careful

with their preparations as they load it

onto the trucks that will carry it,

there is palpable tension in the air.

Because this is no ordinary statue,

but one of the mighty Aztec god Tlaloc.

The Aztec religious system had a vast number of gods.

There were water gods and goddesses,

there were sky gods and goddesses,

fire divinities and earth divinities.

One particularly important sacred god was Tlaloc,

a fertility divinity associated with weather,

and thunder and lightning,

so it is feared but it is also greatly revered

because life comes from this,

the life-giving waters of the rain come from Tlaloc.

SHATNER: More than 25,000 people

eagerly wait into the night to welcome Tlaloc

to his new home in Mexico City

after his long journey.

But as the trucks carrying the hulking statue

finally arrive, the crowd isn't expecting

what would arrive along with him.

COLLINS: As this statue was erected...

(thunder crashes)

...suddenly the heavens opened up

and for several days

there was intense rain and thunderstorms.

(thunder crashes)

Now, this was done in the summer months

when, in theory, there should be very little rain at all.

This was so uncharacteristic of this time of year.

SHATNER: Rain, during the dry season?

Most people would see such an occurrence

as nothing more than a coincidence.

But some believe the rain was actually a good omen

sent by Tlaloc in response

to the warm welcome he received

from the Mexican people.

THOMPSON: Certainly a lot of people believe that these events--

for example, the downpour following

the arrival of Tlaloc-- are connected.

And perhaps they're connected because of the divine force,

or perhaps it's actually the believer's belief

and their faith that is helping to shape these events.

(thunder crashes)

So, certainly faith is powerful.

They're coming in contact with the divine, perhaps.

The fact is that it doesn't really matter,

because it's about belief.

If people believe strongly enough

in an object, that can create a reality.

Was the torrential downpour

that took place in Mexico

just a coincidence?

Or was there a more mysterious force at play?

Well, I guess the answer depends on whether you believe

that a massive stone statue can possess extraordinary powers.

In any case, it's clear that there are

mystical structures around the globe

which hold secrets,

whether they're etched in stone or carved in wood,

that will remain UnXplained.

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