All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens S01E03

[music playing]

NARRATOR: For centuries,
mankind believed that life only

existed here on Earth.

But today, many scientists
agree that we are not alone.

MICHAEL CREMO: Practically
every human civilization that

has ever existed tells us we
are not alone in the cosmos.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: A long, long
time ago, extraterrestrials

came here, and through a
targeted mutation of our genes,

we became human.

DAVID CHILDRESS:
We have, in theory,

a worldwide civilization
that has extraterrestrials

interacting with it
and human beings,

as we are today, who are
possibly the genetic breeding

of these aliens.

If we're being visited,
they've probably always

been here.

NARRATOR: Millions of
people around the world

believe we have been
visited in the past

by extraterrestrial beings.

But what if it were true?

Did ancient aliens really
help to shape our history?

And if so, why did they
come here, and just

what was their mission?

[music playing]

On July 20, 1969,
the Apollo 11 mission

reached its destination, and
two men, Neil Armstrong and Buzz

Aldrin, actually
walked on the moon.

CONTROLLER 1: They've
got the flag up now.

You can see the stars
and stripes [inaudible]..

CONTROLLER 2: Beautiful.

Just beautiful.

NARRATOR: It was the
first time in history

that beings left their home
and traveled through space

to an alien planet, or was it?

Were we really the first
creatures in the universe

capable of traveling
to another world?

Given the vastness
of the universe

and the billions of years that
it took to create our galaxy,

is it so hard to imagine
that such a thing might have

happened before, perhaps
thousands of times

and over the course
of millions of years?

BILL BIRNES: The ancient alien
astronaut theory presupposes

that thousands and
thousands of years ago,

even before recorded history,
Earth was visited by astronauts

from another world.

NARRATOR: But if
alien beings did,

in fact, travel to Earth, why?

Did they come to explore, to
plunder, to study, to hunt,

or to breed?

When Armstrong and
Aldrin explored

their incredible surroundings,
they found the moon

a barren landscape.

It seemed to offer little more
than a lifeless oasis of rocks

and dust.

But in 1986, further testing
determined that the lunar

landscape actually contains
a high amount of helium 3,

an extremely powerful,
non-polluting,

non-radioactive fuel source.

Experts estimate that a
single space shuttle filled

with this material could
satisfy all the energy

needs in the United
States for an entire year.

Think of it--
armadas of spaceships

mining the moon and other
planets for natural resources.

Could this help
explain why Earth

might have served as a
destination for travelers

from other worlds?

BILL BIRNES: We go out
there with robot mining

crews and eventually
human mining crews,

mine those planets,
extract the ore,

ships would come, they take
the ore, and bring them back.

Well, if we would do it, why
wouldn't extraterrestrials?

NARRATOR: But if alien
excavators did come to Earth,

perhaps thousands of years ago,
wouldn't there be evidence?

Here, in what is
now known as Iraq,

lies what is commonly
regarded by historians

and archaeologists as the
cradle of civilization.

Between 3500 and 1900 BC, the
fertile area between the Tigris

and Euphrates Rivers was the
home of the Sumerian people.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: The Sumerians
were one of the first cultures

that built actual cities with
streets and a street grid,

like almost like New York
City, where you have, you know,

a square street grid.

They invented cobblestones.

They had a sewage system.

They were taught in agriculture.

NARRATOR: The
Sumerians also invented

the first known writing system
by using cuneiform script

on clay tablets.

In the 19th century,
archaeologists exploring

the ancient ruins of Nineveh
discovered 22,000 of these clay

tablets.

When they were later
translated, the texts

described many stories
similar to those found

in the Judeo-Christian Bible.

ARTHUR HORN: Virtually every
story that's in Genesis--

the flood story,
Adam and Eve story--

they all have precedence
with the ancient Sumerians.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In 1976,
author, Zecharia Sitchin,

published his own translations
of the Sumerian texts

in a series of books called
"The Earth Chronicles."

According to Sitchin,
the clay tablets

describe an alien race
known as the Anunnaki, who

came to Earth to mine gold.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Zecharia
Sitchin has essentially

suggested that the reason why we
were visited in the remote past

is because the ancient
astronauts' home planet needed

gold for their atmosphere
and that their gold content

in the atmosphere was depleting.

So they came to Earth
in order to mine gold

and bring it back to
their home planet.

NARRATOR: But why gold?

What are the unique properties
of this precious metal that

might make it important
and worth traveling

through the galaxy for?

MICHAEL DENNIN: I think
for extraterrestrials,

gold would be an
important resource,

just like it is for us.

If it's at all like our
society, one of the major things

it's going to be built
on is electricity.

And gold really is one
of the top conductors

in its malleability and its
ability to make it into wires,

use it in really small
forms as nanoparticles

is going to make it an
incredible technological

resource for any sort
of lifeforms that

reach that level of dealing
with electricity and technology

as we do.

One of the exciting
directions is possibly

as an energy source
through properties

called thermoelectric effects,
where it can take heat and turn

it directly into electricity.

This would be, obviously, a
very nice, clean energy source.

NARRATOR: With its capacity to
create energy and conduct heat,

some scientists
believe gold may also

be an invaluable asset in the
construction of spaceships.

MICHAEL DENNIN: Gold actually
reflects infrared light.

Infrared is basically
light that's not quite red,

and so you don't see it, but
we interact with it as heat.

The radiation will interact
with your molecules

and make them vibrate faster,
and you'll feel that as heat.

So it makes a great heat
shield, partly because it's

so malleable, you can
make it very thin,

it's easy to work with,
and it has great properties

for reflecting and
heat protection.

DAVID CHILDRESS: The only metal
that really lasts is gold.

Gold is indestructible.

All gold from ancient
times still exists today.

GEORGE NOORY: If
you look at the--

Zecharia Sitchin's theories
that ETs came down from another

planet in our solar system,
which is on a 3,600-year

elliptical orbit, that they
were running out of minerals,

and gold specifically, that
they somehow needed to line

their atmosphere with.

ERICH VON DANIKEN: This
extraterrestrial stage

is to first measure our planet,
and they have the instrument

to find out where on this
planet do we find raw material.

GEORGE NOORY: Through
their incredible equipment,

they find a planet
that has this.

It's got gold.

So they decide, we're
going to go there,

and we're going to mine.

So they sent some
expeditions to planet Earth.

All of a sudden, they get here,
and the factions begin to say,

well, there's a
lot of gold here,

but we're not digging it out.

What are we going to do?

We need workers.

ARTHUR HORN: The story that
came down to the Sumerians

is that the Anunnaki were
mining gold on the Earth.

And the run of the
mill workers complained

that this is really hard
work and we're tired.

We don't want to
do this anymore.

And so they had a big council.

They'd [inaudible] a primitive
worker called an Adamu.

So they look at what
is on this planet,

and that is Homo
erectus, and they say,

well, they're not
very intelligent,

and they're not going
to listen to us.

So we're going to
genetically alter them.

ARTHUR HORN: The
Anunnaki created humans

as a slave species.

NARRATOR: According
to Zecharia Sitchin,

the Adamu were the
first modern humans.

They were created by the
Anunnaki 450,000 years ago,

when they genetically
mixed their DNA

with that of prehistoric man.

ERICH VON DANIKEN: They
took one cell of one

of this ancestor of us.

They changed the cell by
an artificial mutation.

They changed the DNA code
what our genetics are doing

every day.

It's carved in their stone.

This is not something made up.

This is part of the
Sumerian history.

ARTHUR HORN: They believe that
the gods came down and created

them, and they were
their slave species.

They knew that, and they didn't
have any philosophical beliefs

about the purpose
of man or anything.

GEORGE NOORY: If you believe
Sitchin's theory that mankind

was created by ETs for slave
labor, all of a sudden,

it makes sense.

And then when you look at
the biblical terms of what

may have happened--

Adam and Eve-- sure, they may
have been two individuals back

a long time ago at
the beginning of time.

But perhaps Adam and Eve were
the first of the genetically

created human beings.

NARRATOR: Closer comparisons
between the Hebrew Bible

and the Sumerian texts
reveal many similarities

not only in their stories,
but also in their language.

"Adam" is Hebrew for man.

Adamu is what the Sumerians
refer to as First Man,

the Anunnaki slaves.

But do the Sumerian
tablets actually

describe an alien race, a
race that conducted mining

operations on a global scale?

[music playing]

Thousands of miles away,
on the African continent,

ruins of ancient gold mines
have recently been discovered.

The largest concentration can
be found in South Africa, where

some excavations,
according to scientists,

date back some 150,000 years.

GEORGE NOORY: We're in areas
that have an abundance of gold

right now, so it's very possible
that they could have mined it.

Now the big question
is, how do we

know they weren't human
beings that simply did that?

Why the ET theory?

NARRATOR: In many
languages in Africa,

the native word for
"star" means bringer

of knowledge or enlightenment.

Some African cultures believe
that extraterrestrial beings

have been visiting the Earth
for tens of thousands of years.

Zulu legends speak of a time
when visitors from the stars

came to excavate gold and
other natural resources.

These mines were worked by
artificially produced flesh

and blood slaves created
by the first people.

DAVID CHILDRESS: Some ancient
mines in southern Africa

are thought to be 100,000
years old or older.

If humans weren't doing that
mining 100,000 years ago

and making metals,
then we would have

to assume it'd be
extraterrestrials dong it.

NARRATOR: Alien slave mines,
genetically engineered humans?

To believers of ancient
astronauts theory,

these notions are not farfetched
fantasies or fairy tales,

but facts.

And they point to additional
evidence of alien mining a half

a world away on the
American continents.

Peru has long been known
as the Land of Gold.

In ancient times, Incan rulers
adorned themselves with it.

And when the Spanish explorers
arrived in the 16th century,

they sent shiploads of their
plunder back home to Spain.

Gold was largely
a valuable commodity

because of being rare and
easy to make jewelry, coinage.

And you're looking at
like the ancient Incas.

Those people are using
gold as a status symbol.

Many cultures thought it
came directly from the gods.

People thought gold was so pure,
so wonderful, it must heal.

And they would actually
occasionally ingest pure gold.

Certainly, we're
discovering more and more,

as we get better at
archaeology and as we

can look into these
things, applications

that people have used.

For instance, there is some
evidence that ancient people

had very primitive batteries.

And this would be a place in
which gold would be very useful

because of its
electrical properties

and its conductivity.

NARRATOR: It should not
be surprising, then,

to find archaeological
evidence of ancient gold mines.

But some sites have recently
been discovered that date back

some 50,000 years.

All throughout
areas in Peru, you

see remnants of what could have
been ancient mining operations.

It's there.

They go down, in some cases,
thousands of feet deep.

MICHAEL DENNIN: Gold turns out
to be surprisingly easy to mine

for, even though
it's relatively rare.

There's a lot of common
techniques ancient people used,

and some of them were used
well into recent times.

A lot of it involves
using water often

to change the properties
of the rock around it--

a lot of heating and freezing,
and the gold will come loose.

NARRATOR: In addition to gold,
other ancient sites in Peru

provide evidence that they
were once mined for quartz,

hematite, and red ocher.

MICHAEL DENNIN: They're
used for different things.

Quartz is incredibly common.

It's basically silicon dioxide.

It's kind of like glass.

It's a great mineral.

It's hard, but it can be
formed into pretty sculptures.

You can make quartz statues.

You could probably even use it
for money before you discovered

minerals and gold.

Hematite and ocher are much more
valuable because of their iron

oxide.

And particularly ocher is
important as a pigment,

so as soon as you're going
to start having painting,

cave drawings even, or
any sort of artwork,

you need to make colors.

And making color
can be a challenge.

And ocher is a great
source of that.

NARRATOR: Also located in Peru
are the world famous Nazca

lines.

While the origins of
these ancient geoglyphs

remain a mystery, the area in
which the lines are located

suggests that a major
excavation took place there,

perhaps hundreds
of centuries ago.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: At
Nazca, entire mountaintops

have been removed.

I mean this all requires
machining, and I'm not talking,

you know, a little
wheelbarrow and a pick.

I'm talking sophisticated
machinery, because we, today,

would also need sophisticated
machinery in order

to achieve such feats.

NARRATOR: Could
the vast flat plain

located in the Nazca desert be
evidence of a gigantic mining

operation, one that took place
hundreds of thousands of years

ago?

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Whoever
comes here in a spaceship,

Nazca would be like
a beacon, as in,

come here, because the moment
you come to Nazca, you're sort

of confronted with a cliff
notes to planet Earth,

where you have all
sorts of raw materials

that exist in that
one particular spot

in very, very
abundant quantities.

GEORGE NOORY: I think the Nazca
lines aren't evidence of search

for gold, but they're
evidence of some communication

with possibly ETs
or gods from above.

NARRATOR: But despite
the controversy,

one thing is certain.

The plane and the lines
that scar the surrounding

countryside are not
natural formations.

But while scientists and ancient
astronaut theorists remain

divided about who or what
created the Nazca lines,

they are in agreement
about one thing.

The so-called Band of Holes,
located in the Pisco Valley,

is a complete mystery.

In the mountains of Peru, we
have what's commonly referred

to as the Band of Holes.

And it's this band of holes
that were carved or dug

into the mountainside.

ROBERT SCHOCH: It's a bunch
of little, shallow holes

dug into the ground, and it's
had all kinds of explanations.

Some people say it
was just pot hunters,

you know, looting,
looking for burials.

Some people think it looks
like some kind of machine

was running over the territory.

Some people think it was some
kind of systematic mining

operation.

ERICH VON DANIKEN: They need
raw material-- bead, gold, bead,

silver bead, uranium, whatever.

They need something.

And they sent something
down like a shuttle.

It can be a robot.

No extraterrestrials on board.

And this robot just crosses
over the surfaces and collects

and measures raw material
and disappears again.

NARRATOR: The holes run
about three feet apart

and measure six to seven
feet in depth and number

in the thousands.

MICHAEL DENNIN: Often, we see
regular structures like that,

and we assume either a
person or intelligent life

had to make it.

But there's lots of
examples in nature

where the natural processes
lead to large scale what we call

pattern formation.

And you see it on a
small scale in animals.

You look at leopards and zebras.

Leopards have spots.

Zebras have stripes.

Surprisingly, on a
geological scale,

some of the same processes that
give you spots on a leopard

could give you indentations
in the ground and raised areas

that would look like holes.

It would take a long time
over geological scales,

but we've had a long
time, and that might

be what they're left over from.

NARRATOR: Mainstream
archaeologists

suggest the holes were
used to store grain,

but ancient astronaut
theorists reject that notion.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
It's a mystery,

because who in their right
mind would go ahead and dig all

these holes?

For what?

The other intriguing aspect
about the Band of Holes

is that you can only
see it from the air.

When you stand down there, all
you see is a couple of holes

dug into the ground, and it
doesn't really mean much.

But if you're up
in the air, there

is this long band with
these individual holes

that you can see.

And you can conceivably create
some type of message that

can only be seen from the air.

NARRATOR: But if ancient
aliens came to Earth searching

for gold, why did they leave?

More gold still
exists here, as do

many other valuable minerals.

Could it be that ancient mining
operations were just the means

to another possibly greater end?

Or, perhaps, the real
alien mission on earth

was to hunt the greatest
prey in the universe--

man.

Alamosa, Colorado,
September 7, 1967.

When a three-year-old horse
named Snippy went missing,

her owners grew concerned
and went out looking for her.

Their search yielded a gruesome
and mysterious discovery.

Snippy's body had been
mutilated almost surgically.

An examination of the carcass
showed that his skin and flesh

had been neatly cut.

Her heart and brain
had been removed,

and a formaldehyde-like odor
emitted from the remains.

An autopsy also revealed
that her spinal fluid

had been removed.

The events of Snippy's
death stunned the community

and remain shrouded in
mystery, even to this day.

Since the mutilation, an
estimated 50,000 similar events

have been reported around the
world, most of them involving

cattle.

It was not until about
the middle of the 1970s

that cattle mutilations
really entered into ufology.

Farmers would come out and
find some prized livestock that

was alive and healthy
the day before.

Then it was just suddenly dead.

It looked like it had been
cut up in a rather odd way.

Certain parts of the body
looked like they were cut out

in ways that seemed
to be almost surgical.

NARRATOR: Television producer
and UFO investigator,

Linda Howe, has been tracking
the mystery of animal

mutilation for over 30 years.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE:
I began trying

to get to the bottom
of what was happening

to all of these animals.

There were horses, cows,
other domestic animals found

with the same pattern
of bloodless excisions.

The law enforcement called
them animal mutilations.

266-some Polaroids from so
many cases, and the first thing

I felt was anger.

And then I felt nervous,
and then I felt afraid.

I sat across from sheriffs
who told me, Linda, we're

not dealing with predators,
disease, and satanic cults.

We're dealing with
creatures from outer space.

There are several explanations
for why aliens would want

to experiment on cows.

One is that they're just
looking for food, one

that they're looking for
some kind of information

about vertebrate organisms.

Another one is that
they're looking

for some kind of genetic
material for some reason.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE: The
closest answer I've ever gotten

was from a man who had had very
upfront and close and personal

observations of non-humans in
his work for the government.

He told me-- he said, the
best answer I can give you,

Linda, is it's a
genetic harvest.

But once you have sent a
genetic harvest from Earth,

there's even a bigger question.

Why a genetic
harvest from Earth?

What is being made with this
genetic harvest, to what end?

NARRATOR: The answer
to these questions

might be found in
our ancient past,

in the bizarre, almost
Frankenstein-like experiments

that were practiced by
early civilizations.

We have ancient
descriptions from Egypt,

where it says specifically
that the gods created

these chimeras, mixed
beings, or hybrids.

We find paintings where you
have a human body with a cut

off head and a red tube coming
out of it, and next to it,

you have just the
head of some animal.

And in the next picture,
because they're like--

they look like
comic strips almost.

And in the next picture,
you see the same human body

with the animal head
attached to the human neck.

NARRATOR: Incredibly, examples
of strange human-animal hybrid

beings date back to a time
even older than ancient Egypt.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: According
to mainstream archaeology,

ancient Sumeria is the earliest
civilization of humankind.

And the interesting
part is the fact

that their earliest writings
are filled with references

of these bizarre beings that
descended from the sky called

the Anunnaki.

Anunnaki means, those who
from the heavens came.

NARRATOR: But is there
any physical evidence

of these human-animal hybrids?

If so, wouldn't we have
found skeletal remains?

The answer may have been
found in Saqqara, Egypt,

home to that country's
oldest pyramid.

In 1851, French scholar and
Egyptologist, Auguste Mariette,

explored a deep tomb dedicated
to the sacred Apis bull.

Inside were two sealed
and intact sarcophagi,

but when Mariette opened
them, what they contained

was shocking.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: They
opened the sarcophagus,

and they didn't find a bull.

Instead, they found this black
mass of what's called bitumen,

a type of asphalt. And
inside this stinking mass,

they found the bone fragments
of seven different types

of animals crushed up.

According to the accompanying
texts, some type of monsters

existed during the
time of the Egyptians.

And so who knows whether or
not the priests instructed

the people to destroy these
beings, to rip them apart,

to crush their bones, and put
them inside this stinking mass,

and put them underneath
a lid in the sarcophagus

weighing 80 tons?

I mean all-- in all of Egypt,
we can find mummified remains

of every single animal.

But we find these sarcophagi
that contain these crushed up

bones.

Doesn't that mean the
ancient Egyptians did not

want for those creatures to
ever return after their death?

NARRATOR: Of course, mainstream
scientists and archaeologists

believe ancient Greek and
Egyptian stories of animal

and human hybrids are
just fanciful products

of the imagination.

But are they?

PHILIP COPPENS: There is this
period in pre-dynastic Egypt

where these demigods ruled.

We have not found human remains.

We do not know who
they were, but we

do have scientific evidence that
at least the ancient Egyptians

believed firmly that they ruled.

As to whether they are just
human beings like you or I,

or whether they come
from somewhere else,

or whether they are a hybrid
being, we have no idea.

NARRATOR: What if ancient
civilizations possessed

the advanced scientific
knowledge of our own modern day

scientists?

What if they, too, had unlocked
the mysteries of DNA, cloning,

and gene splicing?

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Why
is this so fascinating?

Well, because if you look at
this from a genetics aspect,

we're in the process
right now, today,

of being able to recreate
creatures like that?

I mean this is Frankenstein.

This is science fiction
stuff, yet in ancient Egypt,

we have the exact
same descriptions,

the exact same depictions of
some very bizarre hybridization

program, which took place
thousands of years ago.

BILL BIRNES: They are mixing
alien, animals, and human DNA

not just for 10
years or 20 years,

but for thousands and
thousands of years.

And that's why there are
so many alien abductions,

and that's why each generation
is psychically more advanced

than the next, until we get
to the complete union of two

cultures, the ultimate hybrid.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE: I
think the answer clearly

is, we're not alone
in this universe,

and we have non-human
intelligences interacting

with this planet for reasons
that are still unknown to most

of us.

It leaves you feeling
a little nervous.

NARRATOR: If alien
beings came here,

as some suggest, to perform
strange mutation experiments

on animals, could they have
done the same on humans?

And if so, why?

[music playing]

Life on Earth comes in
a tremendous diversity

of shapes and sizes.

It can be found from the
depths of the deepest oceans

to the peaks of the
highest mountains.

But the vast array of
lifeforms we see today

is only a small portion of
what has existed on this planet

during its millions
of years of history.

In fact, scientists estimate
that 97% of all the species

that have ever lived on
Earth are now extinct.

MICHAEL CREMO: Most
scientists today

will tell us that there have
been six major extinction

events that have occurred during
the history of life on Earth.

The most recent of
these extinction events

was the one that occurred
65 million years ago

and wiped out the dinosaurs.

NARRATOR:
Paleontologists attribute

these mass extinctions
to natural causes,

such as meteor strikes, floods,
and dropping sea levels.

But another theory suggests
that these extinctions were not

caused by nature,
but by alien beings.

ARTHUR HORN: In the
ancient Sumerian texts,

they can control weather.

They can cause droughts.

And they did this to humans.

They are capable of producing
their own disasters.

NARRATOR: But were
now extinct life forms

actually exterminated in order
to make way for other perhaps

more docile or
desirable species?

Was the intent to clear the way
for colonization or invasion?

And if so, what
sort of technology

would be needed to effect
such a widespread change?

BILL BIRNES: Some theories say
that we have that technology

now called scalar technology.

We heat up to high
electrical impulses

a certain spot on the water,
and that creates a hurricane.

And by making a
path with that beam,

you can track the hurricane.

Now if we can do that--
and this is hypothetical--

if we can do that, why
can't an alien culture

say, let's create an
ice age on planet Earth?

It will kill off the dinosaurs
but pave the way for aliens

to implant human
beings on planet Earth.

NARRATOR: Did alien beings
come to Earth in order to stay?

Might they, as some
believe, have seeded it

with their own
genetic offspring?

If so, where is the proof?

Some ancient astronaut
theorists point

to myths that describe gods
coming down from the heavens

in order to mate with humans.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Ancient
texts talk about the fact

that whoever visited the
Earth in the remote past,

these gods thought that Earth
women were quite beautiful.

So in many occasions
we find stories

where those visitors essentially
mated with Earth women.

It was misinterpreted,
misunderstood as something

divine that came here.

They were flesh and
blood extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: Native
American folklore

refers to those beings who
came down from the heavens

to breed with Earth
women as Star People.

NANCY RED STAR: The Star People
are extraterrestrial people.

They are not from this--

this Earth.

They visit.

They are star ancestors.

THOMAS BULLARD: There's a
great deal of interaction

between them, like some of the
American Indian star husband

tales, where some woman's
sleeping outside at night,

looks up at a star, and
thinks it's very beautiful

and would like to go there, and
then winds up finding herself

in the morning being pulled
up into heaven and meeting

with a supernatural being who
was associated with that star

and becoming the bride
of the star husband.

NARRATOR: According to
Native American mythology,

the brides of these alien beings
would become pregnant and give

birth to star children.

They would be raised
by the Native mother

until the age of six, when they
went to live with their star

father.

Similar stories of
intimate encounters

between celestial
beings and humans

can be found in ancient Hebrew
and Judeo-Christian testaments,

often referred to
as the pseudepigraph

or what many refer
to as the Apocrypha.

ROBERT CARGILL: There
are lots of instances

in the Pseudepigrapha-- these
are the books that didn't make

it into the Bible--

where people are
visited by beings

that aren't from this Earth.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Before
the Bible became the Bible

of today, there were many
additional books that

used to be a part of the Bible.

They were removed in what was
called the Council of Nicaea,

because those books contained
too much information,

dangerous knowledge.

ROBERT CARGILL: Genesis 6
talks about these watchers that

are kind of angels that
came down from heaven

and had sex with the
women of the Earth.

ERICH VON DANIKEN:
These strangers

had sex with beautiful
young girls on our planet.

How can angels have sex?

This is impossible.

You know, a point--
in our view, angels

were something spiritual,
not something with a body

and has a feeling of sex.

But they had sex.

Our prehistoric ancestors
could not understand,

and they believe that
these extraterrestrials are

some kind of gods.

JONATHAN YOUNG: The
conception of the Christ--

an angel comes to the Holy
Mother, to the Virgin Mary,

tells her that she's going to
be blessed by God with a child.

And then, essentially, she
finds herself pregnant.

BARRY DOWNING: There is an
angelic reality [inaudible]

in the New Testament, whether
be it the birth of Jesus

or his Resurrection.

We've got the possibility of
other powers of another world

being involved from the
beginning to the end.

THOMAS BULLARD: The more literal
version is the idea that Jesus

is strictly alien, which,
of course, in a sense,

he is, as, you know, even if
you take him as the Son of God,

then, obviously, he
is not of this Earth.

GEORGE NOORY: I tend to believe
that Jesus was a very spiritual

human being who
understood a lot of things

that we're beginning
to learn today.

But it's also very possible
that he might have been

an extraterrestrial, who
came down to teach us things

that define intelligence is very
real in some form or fashion.

NARRATOR: Tales of
gods mating with humans

are prevalent in everything
from Greek and Roman mythology

to Native American legends.

In China, at the end of
the fifth century, BC,

the country was divided
into seven states,

each ruled by powerful warlords
who battled for territory

and power.

It was during this turbulent
era when the legendary story

of Huangdi first appeared.

JONATHAN YOUNG: A great god
took the form of a dragon

and came down to a hilltop
where the young maiden was out

gathering fruit.

And as this great dragon
came near, the sky darkened.

It was like a storm.

She was terrified,
and she passed out.

When she came awake again,
the sun had come out again,

and the dragon was gone,
and she was pregnant.

NARRATOR: Much like the
story of the Virgin Mary

and Jesus, the story of Huangdi
told of an earthling woman who

would give birth to him,
the legendary first emperor

of China, who ushered in
a time of great change.

ARTHUR HORN: Gods
deliberately bred with humans

so that they could produce--

they could get a race that
they could trust and control

a little bit better.

DAVID CHILDRESS: In my
mind, legends and myths

are based on something real.

While they've been mythified
and distorted and exaggerated

in many cases, but there's,
in my mind, some core of truth

here.

NARRATOR: Another prevalent
theme in ancient texts, myths,

and religions is that of
a cataclysm of some kind.

Usually, these come in the
form of an intense flood, fire,

or other devastating
catastrophe.

In the Hebrew
Bible, for example,

God punishes mankind for their
decadence and sinful ways.

He sends punishment in the
form of a great flood, which

destroys nearly all living
things on the planet,

except for Noah, his
family, and the animals

rescued aboard his ark.

Similar stories can be found
in numerous ancient texts.

THOMAS BULLARD: Many of
the mythical tales of most

civilizations include
some kind of idea

that there are gods that
came to Earth at some point.

[thunder]

One interpretation has been that
these are literal descriptions

of visitors from space, not
gods, but some creatures

with advanced technology that
came to Earth in times past

and either created mankind,
brought culture to the Earth,

brought civilization, and
then, for some reason,

departed, usually under some
kind of breach between mankind

and the gods.

NARRATOR: Take the case
of the once thriving

Mesoamerican cultures of
the Aztecs and the Mayans.

By the year 1500 AD, they
had all but vanished.

But why?

Was there a natural
disaster of some kind,

or is there another, more
otherworldly explanation?

DAVID CHILDRESS: At
some point, it all

crashed in a
cataclysmic disaster,

and the world, as they
knew it, came to an end.

And tidal waves washed
across continents.

Areas of the planet
went under water.

And the megalithic building
that was going on then too

also completely stopped.

And it's what we see
at certain areas,

like in Peru, where
giant blocks of granite

have been quarried and partially
moved to where they were going.

But then it all came to
a sudden, complete halt.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: For
nearly 3,000 years,

the Mayan civilization
thrived in Central America.

Among their many
accomplishments,

the ancient Maya invented a
remarkably complex and accurate

calendar.

According to
scholars, the calendar

started on August 11, 3114 BC.

The first calendar cycle
ends about 5,000 years later,

on December 21, 2012.

But why?

Did the Mayans know something
about mankind's future,

something we have forgotten
or chosen to ignore?

DAVID CHILDRESS: There's a lot
of excitement being generated

now about the Mayan calendar
ending in the year 2012

and if there is such a cataclysm
or some massive Earth change

that's suddenly going to occur.

And so the idea that ancient
people, like the Mayans, say,

were somehow totally
in tune with this

and had knowledge of these kind
of vast cosmic cycles, which

apparently lead to
cataclysmic changes

on the Earth, that's the
kind of advanced knowledge

that we wouldn't
expect them to have.

And where would they get
that kind of knowledge?

You would think that would have
to come from extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: If we
accept the notion

that alien beings left
behind the Mayan calendar

as some type of ancient
advanced warning device,

might they have left other
astronomical instruments here

on Earth?

And if so, why was it
so important for ancient

civilizations to
track the stars?

The stars-- since the
beginning of time, man

has gazed in wonder
at the night sky.

Stars became the stuff of
legends, home of the gods,

and sometimes man's
final resting place.

It is no surprise,
then, that ancient man

built monuments dedicated
to these celestial wonders.

ROBERT SCHOCH: When we
look at ancient monuments

around the world, these
megalithic structures,

we find that many
of them are aligned

astronomically to the
sun, to planets, to stars.

Numerous examples can be listed.

Stonehenge is essentially
an ancient astronomical

observatory.

Yes, it may have been used
for ritualistic purposes.

It may have been used
for religious purposes.

But it's very clear
that it was also

used for astronomical
purposes, for observations.

SARA SEAGER: We're
not surprised,

whether it's Stonehenge,
pyramids, or perhaps the Nazca

lines, that ancient people
understood events that

were going to happen in the
sky and when they would repeat.

NARRATOR: But why was ancient
man so fixated on the sky?

And why did they construct
elaborate stone monuments

and temples in order to track
the movements of the stars?

Was it simply to help farmers
know when to plant their crops,

or might there have
been another, perhaps

more profound purpose?

Could they, as some believe,
have been constructed as a type

of extraterrestrial GPS system?

Nabta Playa, Egypt--

500 miles south of Cairo
in Egypt's Nubian desert

sits one of the oldest
astronomical sites

ever discovered.

In 1974, archaeologist,
Fred Wendorf,

almost passed it by before
noticing its small stone

artifacts and toppled rocks.

ROBERT BAUVAL: It's a
very intriguing site.

It's just strange stone
formations, circles,

stone alignments,
bizarre [inaudible]

lines with strange
rocks around them.

NARRATOR: Later
excavations put the date

of the astronomical device
at approximately 5000

BC, making it close to 1,000
years older than the remarkably

similar formation at Stonehenge.

ROBERT BAUVAL: Where the
[inaudible] stronger,

they realized that it was a
ceremonial site, very intensely

astronomical.

The intriguing
thing about the site

is that it shows that they were
tracking stars over thousands

of years.

And to track stars
over that period,

they must have been aware of
what we call procession, which

means they weren't
simply astronomers

or ancient astronomers.

They were very
sophisticated astronomers.

NARRATOR: Could the people who
built Nabta Playa 7,000 years

ago have possessed an advanced
understanding of physics

and astronomy, one that rivals
or, perhaps, surpasses our own?

And why were they
tracking Orion and Sirius?

In 1994, the mystery
of Nabta Playa

took on even
greater significance

when Robert Bauval announced
a surprising discovery

along Egypt's Giza plateau.

The Great Pyramid contained
four long interior shafts.

Bauval determined that they
were each precisely aligned

with specific stars in the sky.

ROBERT BAUVAL: The southern ones
aligned to the Belt of Orion

and Sirius, and the northern
ones aligned to the circumpolar

stars.

Again, this is very intriguing.

In terms of construction
[inaudible],, that's bullseye.

As an engineer, I know that it's
one thing building a pyramid,

but it's another thing
building a pyramid, that kind

of precision.

NARRATOR: Bauval also proved
that the three pyramids of Giza

were laid out in the precise
order and position of the three

stars of the Orion's
Belt constellation.

But what exactly
is the significance

of the shaft alignment
and the layout

of the pyramids themselves?

ROBERT BAUVAL: I mean we're
deciphering a message.

The question is
whether it is religious

or whether it is
a stellar message?

The fact is that what
we have on the ground

is an image of a
constellation that we know

now is the birthplace of stars.

Literally, stars are
being born in there,

and the Egyptians themselves
believed that the gods had

descended from the stars.

GEORGE NOORY: That could
be either a knowledge

of ancient astronomy,
or it could also

be a roadmap to where these
ETs may have come from.

NARRATOR: But why
were the ancients so

fixated on the Orion and
Sirius constellations?

Some believe the answer can
be found on the other side

of the world in North America.

Cholula, Mexico is home to the
largest pyramid in the world.

More than 3,000 years
old, it is estimated

that it took approximately
1,400 years to complete.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Even though
the Cholula pyramid doesn't

look like much because of
the overgrown vegetation,

it is, in fact, the world's
largest monument ever

constructed by human hands.

In fact, the volume of
the Cholula pyramid,

the whole pyramid complex,
is 4.45 million cubic meters.

The Great Pyramid in Egypt only
has 2.5 million cubic meters

in volume.

So the Great Pyramid at Giza
is way taller than the Cholula

pyramid, but volume-wise,
the Cholula pyramid

is by far the largest manmade
structure ever created

on planet Earth.

NARRATOR: Originally built by
the Olmecs in the third century

BC, the pyramid was later added
onto and used by the Toltecs

and the Aztecs as a
place of religious ritual

and human sacrifice.

But along with its
history of bloodshed,

an examination of
the pyramid reveals

that the ancient
cultures of the region

had a remarkable
understanding of astronomy.

MICHAEL CREMO: It's
interesting to consider

what the Aztec people
thought about its origins.

They did not think it was
built by humans, like us, which

is our theory today.

According to the
ancient Aztec tradition,

the Cholula pyramid was built
by a being they called a giant.

If you look at the
Aztec cosmology,

you'll see that these giant
beings were identified

with different
celestial objects.

The one, in particular,
that is said

to have built the Cholula
pyramid is identified

with the planet Venus.

NARRATOR: Both the Aztecs
and the ancient Egyptians

charted most of the planets
in the solar system thousands

of years before
European astronomers.

But why?

And even more
compelling is the fact

that the two cultures were
thousands of miles and half

a world apart.

DAVID CHILDRESS: Mainstream
archaeologists are telling us

that all these civilizations
around the world,

in the Americas, on
remote Pacific islands,

in Asia, in Africa, in Europe,
that they're all disconnected

with each other and that there
wasn't some contact with South

America and Egypt or any of
these ancient civilizations.

But really, it has to
be the other way around.

All of these ancient
civilizations

were connected in some way.

NARRATOR: But were these holy
sites, as ancient astronaut

proponents suggest, really
connected to each other?

And if so, why?

Are they evidence of
aliens coming to Earth?

MAN 1: Whoa, I'm getting a
series of lights right there.

I got it.
I got it.

I got it.

GEORGE NOORY: These reports that
we continue to get from people

of ET visitations and craft
clearly points out to me

that we're being visited,
and we have been visited.

MAN 1: There it is,
over to the left.

GEORGE NOORY: They may have
physically left the planet

in terms of a
civilization, but they're

continuing to come back and
monitor us for some reason.

MAN 2: Wow.

More appeared, bro.

CONTROLLER 1: Yeah.

NARRATOR: If aliens
are watching us today,

what are they waiting for?

Or as some claim, have they
already left messages for us

in plain view?

[music playing]

NARRATOR: 90 miles
west of London,

in the county of Wiltshire,
the English countryside

remains pretty much as it
has for thousands of years.

Small farms, stone walls,
and rolling green hills

provide inhabitants
with an environment

of peace and stability.

This historic region is
also home to a large number

of ancient sacred sites, many
built thousands of years ago.

It's an ancient sacred
landscape, where most of them

occur.

There are monuments
that you know about--

Stonehenge, Avebury,
Silbury Hill.

This is one small
area that seems

to be a manipulated landscape
that was done thousands

of years ago, where sacred
rituals have taken place.

NARRATOR: But in 1978,
Wiltshire's tranquil landscape

became the focus of
a controversy that

persists to this day.

ROBERT MOORE: Today, alongside
the tracks of farm machinery,

a new set of circles were found.

No human tracks lead
to the markings.

NARRATOR: There, carved in
fields of wheat, barley,

and rye, were elaborate
geometric patterns.

Even more curious was the fact
that much like the famed Nazca

lines of Peru, the designs
were only visible from the air.

SUZANNE TAYLOR: When you
see it for the first time,

you go, what in the world
is that doing there?

I mean, it's
obviously not natural.

THOMAS BULLARD: There have been
cases that have been traced

back for hundreds of years, the
so-called mowing devil, where

apparently some sort of
devil, supposedly, mowed

a field in a single night.

But they became recognized
as a phenomenon only when

these circles started appearing
in English wheat fields.

They were very simple
things at first.

And well-- but they kept
occurring year after year,

and each year, they seemed to
get a little more elaborate.

One of the early theories
was that there was some kind

of whirlwind that
was making them,

but as they became
more elaborate,

they also became associated
with paranormal activity,

particularly UFOs.

Some people said they saw
light in the field at night,

and some people began to
read that as a UFO presence.

ROBERT MOORE: This circle
in a Wiltshire field

is just one of 200 such
markings to have been discovered

in the last six weeks.

To farmers and scientists,
how they're formed

or by whom remains
a big mystery.

NARRATOR: Not
surprisingly, the region

became the focus
of intense interest

from UFO enthusiasts
and skeptics,

each offering
explanations as to who

or what was responsible for
this strange phenomenon.

But if, in fact, alien
beings from another planet

were responsible for
the crop circles,

why were they making
them in England?

Were they trying to contact us,
or were there clues embedded

in the designs?

And was the proximity
to Stonehenge

and other ancient sites of
any particular significance?

So you have the idea
of these Earth energies

and these ancient structures,
and then the crop circles

are appearing around them.

And many of the
crop circles appear

to be some kind of
signals, ancient riding.

SUZANNE TAYLOR: The crop circles
are calling us back to a time

before science and spirit got
separated, when we were whole,

we had a sense of wholeness.

And here, they're landing
near sacred sites that

are from an ancient time when
we did experience those things.

When I saw the
first photographs,

I was haunted, actually.

Are these extraterrestrials
doing this?

Are we dealing with
somebody who knows

how to bend space and time?

Our entire relationship with
the universe and quantum physics

and all of its complexities
has been pushed

hard by crop formations alone.

DAVID CHILDRESS:
Certainly, it is one theory

that extraterrestrials
are trying

to communicate in a big
way through popular media.

Crop circles do get in the
newspapers all over the world.

Perhaps that's what they want.

These are being
carefully designed.

They're not accidental,
both in terms of the shape

and where they land.

These aren't accidents.

There's a mind behind this
that's making these decisions.

Where is that mind?

What kind of body is it in?

NARRATOR: Scientists struggled
to find an explanation

for the phenomenon,
until in 1991,

two self-proclaimed British
pranksters, Doug Bower and Dave

Chorley, came forward and
proclaimed that they were

the ones responsible.

They showed how they
could make crop circles

in a single night using
some very simple tools,

and at the time,
people said, well,

that must be the
explanation for it.

NARRATOR: Nevertheless, some
researchers remained skeptical

that a single pair
of elderly men

could have created literally
hundreds of designs

in the dead of night with
little more than a few boards

and some rope.

SUZANNE TAYLOR: You know
what was very effective?

You still run into people--

crop circle?

Oh, forget about them.

Those two old guys made them.

Come on.

Don't be so naive.

They were done by those
two old guys years ago.

Why do you pay attention
to them anymore?

Very effective piece
of disinformation.

NARRATOR: During the years that
followed Bower and Chorley's

confession, crop
circles continued

to appear in the
English countryside

and at various locations
around the world.

Some were inarguably the
work of artists or jokesters,

but after studying soil samples
and grain dispersion patterns

in the disturbed
farmland, researchers

concluded that it would
be impossible for all

of these designs to be manmade.

SUZANNE TAYLOR: Well, in
what we would consider

to be a mysterious crop circle,
where we can't identify it

being made by people, the
lay is absolutely beautiful.

The lay of the crop-- it's
like a million carpet layers

came down and put these stalks
of green down right parallel

to one another.

It's just a gorgeous
thing to behold.

When the hoaxsters
make them, they

tend to be sloppy and messy,
because they're not-- they

haven't got that same force.

They're doing handmade
manipulation, which doesn't lay

them down quite as beautifully.

NARRATOR: In 1991, noted
biophysicist Dr. William

Levengood put forth a
startling new theory.

After spending 10 years studying
crop circle sites and samples,

he concluded that they were
created by a complex energy

system, which he called a
spinning plasma vortex, that

comes down from somewhere
high up in the atmosphere.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE:
Biophysicist Levengood

has now analyzed 350 some
samples from crop formations

in his career.

Now if Levengood were sitting
here with me, he would say,

all I can do is I can
take you from the ground,

I can take you
from the crops up.

But I can't tell you
what sets in motion

that spinning plasma
vortex in the first place.

It's still a huge mystery.

The anomalous things that
happen inside crop circles are,

in fact, one of the indications
that you're in a so-called

genuine circle, because, indeed,
the weirdest things happen.

Batteries fail,
brand new batteries.

People go in with cameras.

Cell phones don't work.

There have been people
who have started reading

all kinds of messages
into these crop circles,

that they have some kind
of digital significance,

that you can read the
kind of numerology,

and there'll be a
kind of message.

People are really reading
something into it.

SUZANNE TAYLOR: In terms of
who or what is delivering them,

we have no way to know that.

We only have science
fiction that tells

us what's coming to visit us.

So we have to just speculate
about where this might

be coming from.

We have to wait for whatever the
source is to introduce itself

to us.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE: Are we
dealing with time travelers?

Are we dealing with
spiritual forces

from some dimension
we don't understand?

Are we dealing with advanced
intelligences that are not

even in this galaxy, that
are from someplace else?

And is this a form
of communication?

The conversations keep getting
more and more complicated.

Crop circles are a contact.

We're being contacted.

Just because we don't have the
bodies to shake hands with,

we have the evidence that
the bodies have left us.

I'm absolutely convinced the
crop circles are evidence

of intelligent life.

There is intelligence bombarding
us, winking at us, waving.

NARRATOR: Are these
mysterious crop

circles messages or warnings?

Or might they have another,
perhaps more profound purpose?

Could they be futuristic
clues guiding us

to our ultimate destiny
or ancient symbols

paving the way for our
ultimate destruction?

[music playing]

Belize, Central
America-- in 1924,

British adventurer,
Frederick Mitchell-Hedges,

traveled here with
his daughter, Anna,

to explore the ruins of
the ancient Mayan city

of Lubaantun.

One afternoon, Anna climbed to
the top of a crumbling pyramid,

hoping to see the ocean.

BILL HOMANN: It was high
noon, and she was at the top.

And the way the sun came in,
the way the rocks had moved

on that, there was
just a small opening,

and the light from
the sun went through,

and they hit the
top of the skull.

And she ran down, and
she's all excited.

She said, there's someone
in there with a flashlight.

NARRATOR: Anna's father
and others in their party

were too large to fit inside the
small opening of the pyramid.

So they tied a rope around Anna
and lowered her into the hole.

When she came back up, Anna held
the top of a strange crystal

skull.

A second search
uncovered a matching jaw.

The two-piece skull weighed
11 pounds, 7 ounces,

and appeared to be carved from
a single piece of rock crystal.

PHILIP COPPENS: It's the
only crystal skull which

is almost perfectly humanoid.

It's the only crystal skull
which has a detachable jaw.

And when I say "almost
perfectly humanoid,"

the one thing which is missing
is the sutures on the cranium.

It has a perfect cranium.

So it almost suggests that even
though it's a human crystal

skull, those who were
carving it somehow

felt that this
creature was not born.

It somehow came into
this world perfectly.

NARRATOR: The skull's appearance
created an immediate sensation

among the local tribesmen.

BILL HOMANN: When
a Native saw it,

it was like their
god had returned.

They all started
crying and kissing

the earth and everything.

They were just so excited.

And Mitchell had just seen this.

He presented it to
the high priest,

and they put it in an altar.

And for 24 hours a
day, they burned flames

around the crystal skull.

NARRATOR: The Mayan elders
believed that in ancient times,

13 crystal skulls were buried in
secret places around the world.

Currently, it is claimed
that seven have been found.

Four are in private
collections, and one each

in the British Museum, the
Smithsonian, and the Quai

Branly Museum in Paris.

All have been the focus
of intense examination,

speculation, and even worship.

SHERRY WHITFIELD: A lot of
natives and a lot of people

working with crystal skulls
say that the high quartz

content in skulls and especially
the quartz skulls themselves,

is the highest frequency
or energy or vibration

possible on the physical plane.

And so a lot of Native people
kind of worshipped or took

care of these objects, because
they knew that they had or felt

that they had the highest energy
possible on the Earth plane.

NARRATOR: But what
are the exact origins

of these mysterious
crystal skulls?

Since their discovery,
scientific tests

have determined that the two
owned by the British Museum

and the Quai Branly were
not authentic pre-Columbian

artifacts.

Could it be that the
Mitchell-Hedges skull was also

a fake?

In the 1960s, it underwent
extensive testing

by art curator, Frank Dorland
and the Hewlett-Packard

Company.

BILL HOMANN: They used the most
advanced stuff that they had.

They could not find any marks
on it, except for around the jaw

and I think a little
bit around the eyes,

the only place they saw tool
marks using their techniques.

At the time, Hewlett Packard
found that the temperature

always stays about
the same temperature,

no matter if it's
in hot or cold,

and was carved against
the lines of the crystal.

If anybody tried to do that,
it would break into a thousand

pieces.

It's made out of a high
level of electronic crystal,

and they're not really sure
exactly where it came from.

PHILIP COPPENS: If you
listen to the academics,

crystal skulls are all
modern fabrications,

meaning somebody has gone
on there with a wheel

and has carved them as such.

And this is where the big
divide is between established

academics and alternative
researchers like myself, who

feel that the
academics are not using

all the available evidence
to draw their conclusions.

And in short, we believe
that the academics

are wrong in their conclusions.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Are these skulls
really ancient artifacts?

And if not, who or
what carved them?

DAVID CHILDRESS: Crystal skulls,
according to certain stories,

yes, they're alien artifacts.

Even some people think they're
made on another planet.

SHERRY WHITFIELD: I think
there are links between crystal

skulls and extraterrestrials,
not necessarily that they were

carved and created
by extraterrestrials,

and I've been told they
were created by humans.

But they were created
specifically to hold records

from alien civilizations.

NARRATOR: Could
there actually be

some type of coded information
stored inside these skulls?

And if there is, how
could it be retrieved?

SHERRY WHITFIELD:
There is a legend

that there were 13 skulls and
that when the 13 skulls come

together, then something
significant will change

in the world.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Legend
suggests that there are

12 additional worlds out there,
planets which are inhabited

by intelligent species.

Now, we belong to those
worlds or to those planets,

and our planet, Earth, is
called Planet of the Children.

They also suggest that these 13
crystal skulls that allegedly

exist on planet Earth
were each brought here

from one of those 12
planets, and the 13th skull

is the one that
apparently contains

all of the information of all
those 12 different worlds.

DAVID CHILDRESS: Within
each crystal skull,

information is stored,
and, in fact, IBM

has shown that, too, that quartz
crystal can store millions

of gigabytes of information.

And in fact, any quartz
crystal or a crystal skull

could hold much more information
than any computer we have now.

So when those crystal skulls
would be brought together,

they begin to interface
with each other.

And ultimately, a greater
knowledge and information

is condensed and brought to us.

And that's the legend
of the crystal skulls.

NARRATOR: But, as ancient
astronaut theorists maintain,

why would visiting aliens
have given the crystal skull

to the Maya?

To what purpose?

PHILIP COPPENS: The skull
is a very important motif

for the Mayans.

When you look around
in the Mayan monuments,

you see skulls carved
pretty much everywhere.

They use it for some of their
[inaudible] for calendars.

NARRATOR: And it is the Mayan
calendar that many people refer

to when discussing
the possibility

of a new Armageddon.

Are the skulls somehow
linked to this?

The current keeper of
the Mitchell Hedges skull

believes they are.

BILL HOMANN: You got 2012
just a few years away.

All these different things
are happening-- the wars,

et cetera.

And I think the skulls are
coming forward to do what they

were made to do.

NARRATOR: But are these skulls
the trigger that will begin

the dawn of a new era?

Or will they simply
be used as a tool

by some form of
extraterrestrial intelligence

to guide mankind to its
next stage of evolution?

If so, is this intelligence
waiting and watching

for the right moment?

And from where, exactly,
could it be watching us?

[music playing]

If extraterrestrial beings
do exist in the universe,

where are they?

That was the question
posed by Enrico Fermi, one

of the leading scientists
of the 20th century.

[explosion]

PAUL DAVIES: Shortly after
the Second World War,

the famous physicist, Enrico
Fermi, who was taking part

in the Manhattan Project
to build the atomic bomb,

was talking at Los
Alamos with some friends

about the reports
of flying saucers.

And Fermi suddenly
said, in relation

to extraterrestrial intelligent
beings, where are they?

And he was simply
making the point

that if there was a
civilization somewhere

in the galaxy, [inaudible]
risen, say, 100 million years

ago, then they had plenty
of time to have spread

across the galaxy.

JOHN BALL: Fermi
said, gee, if there's

all of these civilizations out
there on all of these planets

out there, where is everybody?

NARRATOR: The Fermi
paradox, as it became known,

was an attempt to explain the
lack of evidence of aliens,

despite the mathematical
probability of their existence.

ROBERT CARGILL: Up until
this point, to modern time,

no credible scholar,
no credible scientist

looks at any of the evidence
that ancient alien enthusiasts

put forth and say, yes, this
is evidence of ancient aliens.

No credible scholar does that.

MICHAEL CROWE: Moreover, the
whole SETI project, the search

for extraterrestrial
intelligence,

has been going on now
for nearly 50 years.

The fact that we have found
no radio telescope evidence

of extraterrestrials plays very
much into the Fermi paradox

in that it further indicates if
they're out there, why aren't

we hearing from them?

And we don't seem to
be hearing from them.

NARRATOR: But in the 1960s,
MIT astrophysicist, John Ball,

rebutted Fermi's hypothesis with
a controversial one of his own-

the Zoo Hypothesis.

The Zoo Hypothesis says that
we are in a zoo or a wilderness

area that they have
essentially left alone

and are going to leave
alone to allow us to develop

in our own way in our own right.

MICHAEL CROWE: Extraterrestrials
have detected us on Earth

but have chosen not to come
here, not to invade, but rather

to observe us as we
observe animals in the zoo.

They've thought, we'll do
a study of those earthlings

and see what sort
of people they are.

Now why would they do this?

Well, if, on the one hand,
we have nothing they want,

that's surely true.

And on the other hand, we aren't
able to interfere with whatever

they're doing, that's
also surely true.

They're out there
doing their own thing,

and they're not paying
any attention to us,

and we're not clever enough to
eavesdrop on whatever they're

doing.

That's the
predicament we're in.

We have something that is
looking down and monitoring us.

We are on the Petri dish, and
we can't get out far enough

to see what's behind those
eyes behind that microscope.

NARRATOR: If aliens are watching
us right now, where are they?

Some believe they are sitting
out in space in what are called

Lagrange points, named after
mathematician and astronomer,

Joseph Lagrange, who
discovered them in 1772.

There are five of these points
between the sun, the Earth,

and our moon.

SARA SEAGER: Lagrange points are
points between two bodies where

the forces balance equally.

Think of like a
seesaw, where you

have one really heavy person
and one really light person.

There's a kind of
balance point in there,

and that's what a
Lagrange point is.

PAUL DAVIES: Lagrange
points is where

we send some of
our own satellites,

and that's a point in space
where you can just sort of sit

there inert for millions
of years, if you had to,

without having to worry
about in-course corrections.

If you go anywhere else
in the solar system, then

in order to keep pace with
Earth as it orbits the sun,

you've got to continually
change your position.

SARA SEAGER: So people have
talked about Lagrange points

as a place where a spacecraft
might hide out, because you

don't have to do a lot
to stay in that spot.

It's sort of equally balanced,
and you just get carried along.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: If an
extraterrestrial race would

have ever visited
our solar system,

they could have placed a
probe in those specific points

in order to observe us, to
record us, what have you.

So I mean this is not something
that the ancient astronaut

theory has proposed.

This is, you know, university
professors, astrophysicists,

who have proposed this.

NARRATOR: Some argue that
another reason alien beings

have yet to reveal themselves is
because they don't yet consider

us worthy.

This forms the basis of John
Ball's Jungle Hypothesis.

JOHN BALL: The Jungle
Hypothesis just

means that if you have animals,
such as ants, that live

in the jungle, no matter
how many of them you have,

their chances of ever
having seen a human being

are very slim, not because
we're hiding or anything,

but we just don't have a
reason to go into the jungle

and step on anthills.

So the idea is that we are
probably related to advanced

extraterrestrial intelligence,
similar to an anthill might be

related to humans.

And the fact that
we've never seen

any extraterrestrial
intelligence

is just we don't have
anything they want.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE: We
could actually shake hands

with something that might
have been coming and going

on this planet for literally
thousands, perhaps millions

of years, and has kept a
distance during the last age

of man for reasons unknown,
and maybe is waiting for us

all to finally grow up.

MICHAEL CROWE: One thing that
can be said with a great deal

of confidence is that if the
contact is initiated by them,

they are going to be
not only superior to us,

but greatly superior to us.

They won't be just
beginners, like we are.

They will be far more
advanced than we are.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Both the
Jungle and Zoo Hypothesis

propose that alien beings
are watching us, but are,

for the time being,
keeping their distance.

But what if they're not?

What if the alien mission was
to integrate with our society

in a way that avoids detection?

If so, might they be
walking among us right now?

According to the ancient
astronaut theory,

aliens may have come to
Earth for many reasons--

to excavate, to breed, to
conquer, or simply, to explore.

MATTHEW DOWD: Certainly, we
want to go out and find out

about things we
don't know about.

We see the moon.

We want to go up to the moon and
find out more things about it.

We see Mars.

We want to go there.

We want to go to Jupiter.

We send out our probes.

So if aliens are
something like us,

then perhaps they have that
same kind of motivation.

They just want to go learn.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Just
like we exhibit curiosity,

there are other species out
there that have the same trait.

It would be very
egotistical to think

that we're the only
explorers in this galaxy.

I mean that would be
a very sad statement

to suggest we're the
only ones with a brain

and want to go out
there and explore.

NARRATOR: But while our
own journeys into space

have been brief and largely
exploratory, could other beings

traveling millions of
miles to Earth have stayed.

And if so, might they
still be among us?

DAVID CHILDRESS: Many
ancient astronaut theorists

think this all
happened in the past,

and the extraterrestrials came
here, did this, and did that,

and then they took off
back to their own planet.

But there's a lot of evidence to
show that extraterrestrials who

might have come here in the
past, they've never left.

They have bases somewhere on the
planet underneath the oceans,

inside mountains.

In South America, there
is very strong beliefs

that many refers come out
of lakes and underwater

and that Lake Titicaca and
other lakes in Peru and Bolivia

and other areas of
South America have

some kind of underground,
underwater alien base

associated with them.

If aliens were
coming to our planet,

there seems little doubt
that they would stop

at the moon on their way here.

The moon itself is kind
of the eye in the sky.

NASA says that the moon
is apparently hollow.

During the Apollo missions,
the command module

crashed into the moon, and
the moon rang like a bell

for hours.

There are craters on the moon,
which they cannot find bottom

to, and it's thought by
some researchers that these

bottomless craters are
entrances inside our moon.

The whole enigma of the moon
gets weirder and weirder

the more you know it.

Was the moon actually brought
here from another solar system

and put into orbit
around our planet?

Biologists say that
life on this planet

could never have occurred
without our moon.

And the reason for that
is that the moon creates

the tidal effect, and
without the effect of tides

and this rhythmic
motion on the oceans,

life would never have
begun on this planet.

In my mind, the
evidence is there

that the moon is a
gigantic spaceship in orbit

around our planet.

It's occupied by some
extraterrestrial race.

In many ways, it's much like
the George Lucas Death Star

concept in Star
Wars, where they're

building this artificial moon
that's capable with technology

of actually destroying a planet.

NARRATOR: But if alien
beings are using the moon

as some sort of satellite
for Earth observation, why?

What would be the purpose,
and where is the proof?

NANCY RED STAR: They would
like to see us evolve.

You know, they are great
masters, great avatars.

They are very high.

And so are we, and we need
to live up to our potential.

We really need to live up to
our potential for all people.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE: And
today, we are living still

as if we are alone in the
universe, while hundreds

and thousands of
people are seeing

unusual craft in the skies
as they did 5,000 years ago.

And so in a way, the idea
that the ancient aliens would

finally be coming
around full circle

all the way into
the 21st century

is trying to push open a
truth that governments have

suppressed in the 20th century.

It's really very ironic.

NARRATOR: There are many
diverse and conflicting theories

concerning the idea that alien
astronauts have been visiting

the earth for centuries.

But perhaps the proof lies in
the most obvious place of all--

right within ourselves.

ERICH VON DANIKEN:
Somewhere in our genes,

it is coded that
extraterrestrials were here

thousands of years ago.

And it takes a certain
time before this message is

open to us maybe in the brain.

GEORGE NOORY: I don't
believe extraterrestrials,

ETs, ancient astronaut
are the missing link.

I think what they
very well could

be, they may be the beginning of
the link, the link that helped

genetically alter human beings,
the link that jumpstarted

our civilization,
the way we are today.

It's very possible they
came down here and saw

some creature, and they
said, you know what?

We're going to jump start this.

It may take another 10
million years for this thing

to become smart and
intelligent, so they created us.

And we're smart and
intelligent now, aren't we?