All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens S01E04

[music playing]

NARRATOR: President
Thomas Jefferson,

Christopher Columbus,
crusaders in the Middle Ages--

what do they have in common?

They either experienced or
believed in the possibility

of alien encounters.

BILL BIRNES: And the
fact is there have been

so many descriptions
by various chroniclers

talking about a strange cloud
in the sky that glowed red.

C. SCOTT LITTLETON: Columbus,
on his first voyage,

he noted in the log a glowing
object rise out of the water

and head off into
the atmosphere.

NARRATOR: Could alien
beings have been responsible

for biblical floods,
medieval plagues, and even

ancient nuclear attacks?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
Visitations

occurred since before recorded
history all the way to today.

NARRATOR: Millions of
people around the world

believe we have been
visited in the past

by extraterrestrial beings.

What if it were true?

Did ancient aliens really
help to shape our history?

And what if these
visitations didn't

only occur thousands of years
ago but much more recently?

Might there be evidence of
real life close encounters?

Alamogordo, New Mexico.

White Sands Proving Ground.

July 16, 1945.

Early in the morning, a
number of US military officers

and scientists gathered to
watch a powerful new weapon

being tested.

Some believe the device
will be a complete failure.

Others think it might destroy
the entire state of New Mexico.

As a precaution,
viewing stations

are placed from 10 to 20
miles away from the test site.

At precisely 5:29
and 45 seconds,

the first atomic
bomb is detonated.

MAN: 3, 2, 1, fire.

[explosion]

NARRATOR: The blast emits a
fireball over 600 feet wide

and produces an explosion
equal to 20,000 tons of TNT.

The mushroom cloud reaches
over seven miles in height,

and the reverberations can be
felt nearly 100 miles away.

The world had a new
weapon, one so terrifying

it left even its creator--

Dr. Robert Oppenheimer--
shocked and shaken.

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER:
A few people laughed.

A few people cried.

Most people were silent.

NARRATOR: For the first
time in its history,

the Earth had been
assaulted by a made

weapon of incredible power.

But what if it had
all happened before?

What if an explosion
of even greater

force and
destructiveness had long

ago shaped the Earth's history?

Some people have suggested on
the basis of a number of lines

of evidence that
there may have been

atomic warfare, atomic
bombs, atomic explosions,

in the very distant past.

NARRATOR: Atomic warfare
among ancient civilizations

may sound like something out
of a science fiction novel.

But descriptions of
similar deadly occurrences

can be found in
the very same text

Dr. Oppenheimer quoted after
the New Mexico atomic test.

ROBERT OPPENHEIMER: I remembered
the line from the Hindu

scripture-- the Bhagavad Gita.

"Now I am become death,
the destroyer of worlds."

NARRATOR: Part of an ancient
Hindu scripture known

as the Mahabharata,
the Bhagavad Gita

was written sometime between
the fifth and second century BC.

This massive 100,000
text contains stories

about the ancient
empire of Ramah,

which it is said existed
over 12,000 years ago,

or roughly 5,000 years
before the earliest recorded

civilization in Mesopotamia.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: If you
read the ancient Indian epics,

they read like modern
day science fiction.

Yet they're thousands of years
old with references not only

of flying chariots
and of these gods that

had these incredible
technological capabilities

but incredible weapons that
they used in those epic battles.

NANCY RED STAR: They had what
was called a Brahma weapon.

There were many people that were
singed and burned and melted

by the Brahma weapon.

NARRATOR: Ancient
astronaut theorists

believe the Brahma weapon
was an early nuclear device

because the descriptions
of its deadly aftereffects

are eerily similar to
the effects of exposure

to intense radiation.

It is a theory
largely discounted

by conventional science.

There is no evidence
that a nuclear bomb

was described in the
Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita.

It describes a battle.

In battles, there are
explosions-- big explosions.

It's one thing about
suggesting that, you know,

battles have explosions.

But that's not really
what we're looking at.

You've got to look
at the whole picture.

One reference that
we have for example

speaks of these
explosions that were

brighter than a thousand suns.

And when these blasts
occurred, the suns

were twirling in the air.

Trees went up in
flames, and there

was just this mass destruction.

After those blasts,
people who survive

started to lose their hair,
and nails started to fall out.

I mean, right there we have a
concise reference to radiation

poisoning-- nuclear fallout.

And those texts are
thousands of years old.

NARRATOR: But if the
Mahabharata is based on fact,

wouldn't archaeologists
have uncovered physical

or radiological evidence?

According to ancient astronaut
theorists, they have--

the Indus Valley,
southern Pakistan.

In 1922, an officer with an
Indian archaeological survey

group discovered the
ruins of an ancient city

known as Mohenjo-Daro.

According to mainstream
archaeologists, the city--

whose name means
"mound of the dead"--

had flourished between
2600 and 1900 BC.

However, scientists in
Pakistan have suggested

Mohenjo-Daro is much older.

Mainstream archaeologists
believe the city was abandoned

as a result of climatic
changes or possibly

a decrease in trade.

But when the ruins
of Mohenjo-Daro

were discovered in the
1920s, 44 skeletons

were found lying face down in
the street, many holding hands.

Their faces and body positioning
suggested they suffered

a sudden, violent death.

PHILIP COPPENS: You have a
culture of people who literally

were lying dead in the street.

Archaeologists have
found human remains,

and something big has
happened to these people.

NARRATOR: What, in
fact, did happen

to the people of Mohenjo-Daro?

Why is there evidence
that wild animals avoided

scavenging their remains?

And why, even after
thousands of years,

had their bones not decayed?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: In
certain areas of that site,

you find increased
levels of radiation.

And radiation exists
all over the place.

When all of a sudden
you have higher levels

of radiation in certain
areas of the world,

the question arises, why?

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that Mohenjo-Daro

was one of the cities mentioned
in the Bhagavad Gita--

a City that suffered
the equivalent

of a sudden atomic attack?

In his 1979 book "Atomic
Destruction in 2000

BC," British researcher
David Davenport

claimed to have found a 50-yard
wide epicenter at Mohenjo-Daro

where everything
appeared to have

been fused through a
transformative process known

as vitrification.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
Vitrification

is a process in which
regular type stone

gets molten into a magma state.

And then it hardens again.

But once the stone is hardened
again, it feels like glass.

At Mohenjo-Daro we find
evidence of vitrification, which

could have only been
achieved if the material was

exposed to extreme heat
by some type of a blast.

When British and Indian
and Pakistani archaeologists

began doing excavations
in the Sindh Desert

on the borders of
India and Pakistan

in the late 1940s
and early 1950s, what

they found in these cities--

Mohenjo-Daro,
Harappa, Kot Diji--

was archaeological
evidence to show

there were apparently
atomic weapons,

only it happened
in ancient times.

There's other evidence
in parts of Africa

and the Middle East
where it would seem

to be like some sort of atomic
explosion had taken place there

and had turned the
desert sand into glass.

And that's exactly what happened
at Alamogordo in New Mexico

when they detonated the first
atom bomb in the desert.

NARRATOR: Could the strange
ruins found in the Indus Valley

really contain evidence of
an ancient atomic explosion?

If so, where did these
powerful weapons come from?

Who was using them and why?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: In the
ancient Indian texts themselves

it says--

and I quote-- "at one
point, three giant cities

were orbiting the Earth."

And those giant cities were
often described as being made

of gleaming metal and iron.

And at one point,
those three cities

went to war with each other.

And it's described how the gods
threw weapons at each other,

destroying those cities
that all went up in flames.

And fire came raining
down onto Earth.

So when you read those
passages, the question

I ask is, what is it that our
ancestors try to describe here?

And I think that it was
some type of a technology

that was witnessed.

Yet our ancestors-- while
being highly intelligent--

didn't understand
the nuts and bolts

aspects behind that technology.

And so they created
something divine out of it,

something supernatural.

Yet it never was divine.

It never was supernatural.

NARRATOR: If, in
fact, the Mahabharata

is describing
historical events, might

we also find similar accounts
in other ancient writings?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

we need look no further than
in the pages of the Holy Bible.

According to one of
the stories contained

in the book of Genesis,
angels were sent by God

to destroy the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah

because of the sins
of their inhabitants.

Only a righteous man named
Lot, along with his family,

was to be spared.

But while making their escape,
Lot's wife ignores the angels

warning not to look back and
upon gazing at the horror

and devastation is turned
into a pillar of salt.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: When you
are at a nuclear testing range

and you witness a
nuclear blast, you're

told to look away and not to
look straight into the blast.

And here we have a
similar description

in an ancient biblical text
where instructions were given.

Whatever you do, don't look
back because you will die.

And sure enough, it
happened to Lot's wife.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the
story of Sodom and Gomorrah

is really a description
of a nuclear explosion

similar to the one described
in the Hindu's Mahabharata?

Do the stories of the
Mahabharata and the Bible

represent actual
historical events?

For ancient astronaut theorists,
the answer is a resounding yes.

And they believe the
so-called angels who brought

forth the devastation
were, in fact,

beings from another planet--

alien visitors armed
with advanced weaponry.

September 2000.

The Black Sea, Turkey.

Marine archaeologist
Robert Ballard and his team

of underwater
scientists discover

what appears to be
a farmhouse some 330

feet below the surface.

Estimates suggest the
submerged dwelling to be

approximately 7,500 years old.

Ballard and other scholars
speculated that rising ocean

levels could have caused the
Mediterranean Sea to burst

through a natural dam,
creating a flood so great it

drowned an estimated
58,000 square miles

under 500 feet of water.

But more than finding the
ruins of an ancient dwelling,

had Ballard actually
discovered proof

that the biblical story of Noah
and the Great Flood was true?

And those villages, of course,
weren't built underwater.

So Ballard concluded that
the Black Sea, as we know it,

was only created some
8,000, 9,000 years ago.

And that is exactly
what we're talking about

with Noah's ark and the
flood, the same area

where all that happened.

And in fact, mainstream
archaeologists

know that in the
Mediterranean there are

over 200 known sunken cities.

Those cities, too, were somehow
flooded at the same time

the Black Sea was flooded.

NARRATOR: Also written
in the book of Genesis,

the story of Noah tells how God
saw that the wickedness of man

was great and decided to
destroy all of creation.

Only Noah, his family, and
the animals aboard the ark

were allowed to survive
and repopulate the planet.

But is this the whole story?

Was Noah selected
only for his virtue?

Or was there another reason he
was chosen to save the planet?

Ancient astronaut
theorists believe the Bible

doesn't tell the whole story.

In the late 1940s
and early 1950s,

a series of ancient texts
known as the Dead Sea Scrolls

were discovered in a
cave located in what

is now Israel's West Bank.

Among the ancient writings
are various stories not

found in the traditional
Hebrew Bible.

One such story tells of Noah and
his strange, miraculous birth.

ERICH VON DANIKEN: One
of the Dead Sea Scrolls

is called the Lamech Scroll.

What is Lamech?

Lamech was a shepherd.

And one day, Lamech--

his woman was pregnant.

And he said to her,
this is impossible.

I was not here for months.

But his woman-- with
the name Bath-Enosh--

swears no one touched me.

But Lamech doesn't believe
his wife Bath-Enosh,

and he goes to his father,
which was Methuselah.

And Methuselah says to
Lamech, I can't help you.

I don't understand it.

I believe your woman--

Bath-Enosh-- that nobody
touched her, and I believe you.

So what shall I do?

So Methuselah goes
to his father,

the grandfather now of Lamech.

His name is Enoch.

Now Enoch tells to Methuselah
that the guardians of the sky

have made an artificial
insemination into the womb

of Bath-Enosh, the wife, and
he should accept this child

because this child
would be the father

of a new human generation.

And in the Bible, this is Noah.

NARRATOR: What if, as ancient
astronaut theorists believe,

the story of Lamech is
true and the guardians

of the sky described in the
story are, in fact, aliens?

Does this mean that
Noah was the product

of an artificial insemination,
a genetic experiment

performed by extraterrestrials?

If so, what was the reason
for the Great Flood?

L.A. MARZULLI: Well, the
reason for the flood--

and we need to understand this--
it tells us is that Noah was

pure in all of his generations.

What does that mean?

You know, why would
the account, you know,

specify pure in all
his generations?

NARRATOR: According
to the Bible,

God sent the flood
because of man's

wickedness and corruption.

But ancient astronaut
theorists believe

the flood was actually a
means of ridding the earth

of biological imperfections.

By using Noah and
his family, they

could repopulate the planet with
a genetically superior species.

ERICH VON DANIKEN: Part
of this human society

is, again, genetically
backward closer to the animal.

What can we do?

These humans were spread
out over the planet.

So they said, we have to kill
them all by a Great Flood.

And then we have
to restart again.

NARRATOR: Another familiar
element in the story of Noah

involves the collection of
animals brought aboard the ark.

In the Bible, God commanded Noah
to collect two of every kind

of living creature--

animal, bird, and insect.

But many biblical
scholars and theologians

agree that such a task would
have been both physically

and biologically impossible.

Could there be another more
scientific explanation?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
The story of Noah's ark

is pretty implausible,
if you think about it?

You have two animals
of each creature

on planet Earth on a boat.

Not only would the boat
have to be huge, but how

are you going to collect
every animal on the planet

and put it on that ship?

So could it be possible
that Noah's ark was

once again
misunderstood technology

and Noah's ark was a DNA bank?

JONATHAN YOUNG:
Could it be a story?

Could it be technology somehow
gathering up all living things

as in a DNA bank of some kind?

It fits together.

Hard to imagine how that
would happen so far back,

but if it did happen, it would
need to be told as a story.

And the story of a boat works.

DAVID CHILDRESS: Perhaps this is
really an extraterrestrial DNA

bank as well.

The extraterrestrials need
plants and animals and minerals

on this planet, too.

Just like when we go
to Mars or something,

we'll be using what we
can use on that planet.

So extraterrestrials coming here
would want to do that as well.

And if they knew that
some cataclysm was coming,

they, too, would want to
preserve certain kinds

of animals and plant
life and create

what we think of as Noah's ark.

NARRATOR: Alien DNA bank?

Is there any evidence that
such a thing is even possible?

In 2008, on the Arctic
island of Svalbard

a vault was built to store the
seeds of hundreds of thousands

of plants in the event
of a global catastrophe.

Elsewhere, similar efforts are
reportedly underway to store

animal and human DNA as well.

Cutting edge science or merely
history repeating itself?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
The Frozen Ark Project

is a program that was
initiated by the London

Natural History Museum.

What they've done
is they started

to store DNA of endangered
species for future generations

for preservation.

And as of today, over 1,000
species have been preserved

in small little vials.

And so the question
arises, could it

be possible that Noah's
ark wasn't necessarily

a boat made out of wood?

But what if Noah's ark was some
type of a DNA storage facility

that was used in
order to preserve all

the species on planet Earth?

If each species can be held
in a tiny vial like this,

then it all becomes
a very logical.

And once again, we have to
look at it from a perspective--

what did our ancestors
try to describe?

What did they witness?

NARRATOR: Aliens artificially
inseminating in humans,

ancient DNA banks--

could such ideas really help
our understanding of the Bible?

And is it possible
that extraterrestrials

have influenced the
development of mankind?

There are many who claim
that the proof can be found

in some astonishing places.

For those who believe that close
encounters with alien beings

have helped shaped
Earth's history,

it is important to remember that
it isn't only ancient history

that has been so influenced.

There have been literally
hundreds of credible accounts

of strange creatures,
UFO sightings,

and otherworldly phenomena
that took place, even

in the so-called Dark Ages.

BILL BIRNES: There have been
sightings all over the world

throughout the Middle Ages.

There are stories going
from Scotland to England

to Italy to the Crusades.

Remember, the Crusades took
place over hundreds of years.

And at certain points in
the battle-- in some cases

over Turkey, in some
cases over Jerusalem--

there are images captured in
writing by various chroniclers

talking about a strange
cloud in the sky

that glowed red, a
strange image coming

out of a cloud in the sky.

Why would we say this is a UFO?

Because traditionally UFOs
masks themselves by forming

a cloud around themselves.

And it's a cloud that's
going through the sky.

That's their invisibility cloak.

NARRATOR: In his 13th
century historical work

titled "Otio Imperialia,"
Gervase of Tilbury

wrote about an aerial
craft over the city

of Bristol England, which caught
an anchor in a church steeple.

BILL BIRNES: Uses
specifically the term anchor.

But we don't know what
kind of anchor that is.

But a creature, a man,
climbs out of this craft

and tries to free the
anchor from the steeple.

And all the people in the
village start stoning him,

thinking he's some
sort of evil demon.

NARRATOR: But for ancient
astronaut theorists,

evidence of an alien presence
during the Middle Ages

isn't only found in literature.

All throughout
the Middle Ages,

there are some
magnificent paintings.

And in certain areas
of the painting,

there are what looks
like to be UFOs.

They're always
floating up in the sky,

usually above the Virgin Mary
or above Jesus on the crucifix.

Or somewhere, we
have sceneries that

depict what looks like UFOs.

One very interesting
painting is where

Jesus sits up in the clouds
with quote, unquote, "God."

And they're holding
on to the antenna

of what looks like Sputnik.

And theologians say
what is depicted here

is nothing else but the Earth.

But why would Earth have two
antennae sticking out of it?

And why would it be round?

Because the mainstream
viewpoint at the time

was that the Earth was flat.

C. SCOTT LITTLETON: Here are
pictures of the crucifixion

dated around 1350 from Kosovo.

Here are presumably
vehicles with people

driving them in attendance
at the crucifixion.

Could this be a crude attempt on
the part of the artist drawing

on a tradition--
obviously, he wasn't

there-- drawing on a tradition?

Could he be
reflecting a folklore?

Possibly.

BETTY ANN BROWN: The
people of the Middle Ages

depicted devils and angels
frequently in their art.

They did not depict
what we today

consider aliens, specifically.

But angels are
heavenly creatures

that come from outside of
our sphere, aren't they?

NARRATOR: Did the
medieval artists

include strange
creatures and flying

spacecraft in their
paintings because they

had seen them in real life?

Or were they trying to
communicate their belief

that the miraculous events
of the New Testament

had otherworldly origins?

The most famous painting that,
without any doubt in my mind,

depicts a UFO with its laser
beam was made by Crivelli

in 1486--

The Annunciation to Mary.

In medieval art, in the
Annunciation, when Mary is told

that she will have a child
but she will still be a virgin

and the angels tell her
this, over Mary's head

is a space capsule.

But what's a UFO or a space
capsule doing over Mary?

Maybe the artist saw it, and
he's putting it in the painting

to bring together his
own vision of a UFO,

the Annunciation from the Bible,
and the mystery of salvation

that there could
be a virgin birth.

NARRATOR: According to
ancient astronaut theorists,

the UFO-shaped objects
found in medieval paintings

aren't the only evidence of an
alien presence during the era.

In his book, "The Gods of
Eden" author William Bramley

cites private journals
and other publications

throughout Europe, which contain
accounts of cigar-shaped flying

objects emitting noxious mists.

The first reports of this
kind began during the mid-14th

century, closely
corresponding to the outbreak

of the worst health
epidemic in human history--

the Black Plague.

GEORGE NOORY: The
Black Plague back

in the 1300s many
have said was caused

by a virus from a rodent
bitten by fleas, this disease

that wiped out 75-plus
million people on the planet

at the time.

But there's another
theory by a fellow

by the name of William Bramley
who says that the Black

Plague was created
by ETs, that they

wanted to eradicate human beings
for whatever horrible reason.

WILLIAM BRAMLEY:
We know that plague

can be spread by rodents.

But there weren't that
many rodent infestations

being reported
back then, at least

not enough to account for all
of the breakouts that we had.

So what you find
in the literature

from that time are
numerous reports

of bright lights moving
through the sky, emitting gas

or what they call mists.

And we find them in China.

You find them in Europe.

There are similar reports
from the Justinian

plague from earlier in history
and even later plagues--

the cholera epidemics-- You find
similar stories of mists that

are the cause of the plague.

We have weapons like
that-- biological warfare.

As for the motive as
to why this happened,

I can only kind of
scratch my head.

Because in the UFO
phenomena, we see

certain consistent patterns.

But we don't always
understand the motive.

NARRATOR: Italian
historian Matteo Villani,

who both chronicled
the Black Death

and died from it in
the 14th century,

wrote of pestilential
fogs reported

by travelers from Asia.

He even wrote that
people were convinced

they could actually
see the plague

coming through the streets.

But what some ancient
astronaut believers

find to be even stronger
evidence of alien involvement

are the numerous reports
of mysterious black-cloaked

creatures who would appear
on the outskirts of villages

just before plague broke out.

Contemporary accounts describe
them as having terrifying faces

and waving long,
scythe-like objects

dispensing noxious mists.

It's the image we know
today as the Grim Reaper.

WILLIAM BRAMLEY:
These figures in black

would appear, usually on
the outskirts of a town.

They were carrying
these long devices

that looked like scythes.

These figures in
black would just

start sweeping in the
fields as though they

were cutting down the wheat.

Then immediately there would
be an outbreak of the plague.

NARRATOR: Although ancient
astronaut theorists are divided

on Bramley's proposal
that aliens were

behind the plague,
his research--

like the artwork of the time--

has led to one
important conclusion.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
What is evident

is the fact that
visitations occurred

since before recorded
history all the way to today.

It's not like ancient
astronauts only

happened thousands of years
ago and then all of a sudden

we have Roswell.

The fact alone that these
visitations have been

going on for all of this time--

thousands of years--
that's sensational.

NARRATOR: Flying
cylinders spreading

plague from the sky,
black-clad aliens

looking to destroy humans--

but even if possible, why?

And if true, wouldn't
there continue

to be evidence of
even more close

encounters,
encounters that would

take place much closer to home?

When Columbus and his
men first set foot

in what, to the Europeans,
was "the new world,"

the indigenous people had never
encountered anyone like them.

Their skin was pale.

They wore strange
clothes made of bright,

often shiny materials.

They arrived in massive shifts
and had powerful weapons.

To the natives,
the visitors were

truly aliens from a
strange faraway world,

powerful beings who
might just as well have

been sent from the heavens.

CHRIS PITTMAN: Columbus
wrote in his journal

that the inhabitants eagerly
came out to see their ships

and asked them if they
had come from the heavens.

And despite the fact
that Columbus and his men

indicated, no, we didn't
come from the heavens,

they called out to the
people still on the shore,

come out and see the people
who have come from the heavens.

Certainly, it seems
interesting to wonder

why it is that, instead
of thinking that possibly

they came from some
other part of the sea,

that they'd come from the sky.

NARRATOR: But there
is more to the story.

Less well known is that
Columbus had an alien encounter

of his own, one
reported in his log

just days before he reached
the shores of the new world.

At about 10 PM on the
11th of October 1492,

the anxious explorer was on
the deck of the Santa Maria

when he saw a light glimmering
at a great distance.

Columbus wrote, "The admiral
standing on the quarter deck

saw a light.

Calling to Pero
Gutierrez, he told him

he saw a light and
bid him look that way,

which he did and saw it.

The admiral again
perceived it once or twice,

appearing like the light of a
wax candle, moving up and down.

Summoning another
member of the crew,

the two watched as
the light vanished

and reappeared repeatedly."

BILL BIRNES: Seeing
lights in the water

isn't really an anomaly.

We all know that certain
kinds of underwater life

give off lights.

But this light actually
traveled along with the ship.

Columbus noted in the
long a glowing object

rise out of the water and
head off into the atmosphere.

NARRATOR: What did Columbus see?

A phosphorescent sea creature?

An hallucination?

Or was it something
more, something from out

of this world?

What did Columbus's men see?

What they saw was
a luminous object

that, upon breaking the
water's surface, became a UFO.

NARRATOR: To UFO researchers
like Bill Birnes, Columbus's

sighting is significant,
not only because of when

it occurred, but also because
the object was spotted coming

out of the sea, ruling out the
possibility that what he saw

was a comet or a shooting star.

C. SCOTT LITTLETON:
What's intriguing

is that this was in what we
call today the Bermuda Triangle.

The Bermuda Triangle--
that area particularly

off of Bimini and the Bahamas--

may, in fact, be--

and I'm way out on a limb here--

colony headquarters
underneath that.

Your UFO goes down
into the water and then

into a subterranean.

What better position
would be to monitor

South America, middle America,
Egypt, than the Caribbean?

CHRIS PITTMAN:
Many people believe

that it's possible that
UFOs could have established

bases on the sea floor.

To some extent, it's
true that we know more

about the moon or some
parts of outer space

than we do about the deepest
parts of our own oceans.

This event is
extremely important

because it is the world's
first recorded event that

illustrate the appearance
of UFO as object

emerging from the water.

NARRATOR: If Columbus's
sighting was so extraordinary,

why do we only find
record of it in his log?

Some believe another
account of this event

exists in the official records
of the Spanish Inquisition.

UFO researcher
Maximilien de Lafayette

claims that Columbus's shipmate
Pedro Gutierrez reported him

to the Inquisition
after hearing Columbus

describe the lights in
the sky as resembling

the Jewish menorah.

MAXIMILLIEN DE LAFAYETTE:
When they went back to Spain,

Gutierrez went directly to
the infamous Inquisition.

This is the Catholic
organization

created by the
Vatican to persecute

and kill the infidels.

The infidels means the Jews,
the Muslim, and Christian

who are not Catholic.

The Inquisition called him
for explanation, deposition.

Did you see that
you saw menorah?

Why did you say menorah?

Oh, so you are a Jew?

He said, I'm not a Jew.

In the deposition,
which is lengthy,

you'll find more details--

meticulous details of what
Columbus saw above the water.

The file of the Inquisition is
in the vault of the Vatican.

And good luck if you can go to
the secret file of the Vatican

and try to dig for a document
as explosive as this one.

NARRATOR: Secret
files of the Spanish

Inquisition, UFOs
and alien sightings

in the time of Columbus--

far-fetched perhaps, but to
proponents of ancient astronaut

theory, these precolonial
close encounters are

considered commonplace events.

For them, it offers additional
proof that we are not alone.

ALEX CHIONETTI: They
have several sightings

of what we would call UFOs today
along the discovery of America

and during the
conquest of America.

Columbus was not the only one.

Also on the trip of Magellan--

Fernando Magellan discovered
the Strait could circumnavigate

the world after Columbus.

He had all the sightings.

NARRATOR: Seafarers
often encounter

strange lights,
both in the sky and

below the surface of the ocean.

Skeptics argue that Columbus's
sighting-- like many others--

was simply a natural phenomenon.

WILLIAM BRAMLEY: At night,
there are all kinds of things--

for example, bolides.

Bolides are these
very large comets.

And they're spectacular.

It's just like this enormous
bright light with a trail

that just arcs through the sky.

But we can tell the difference.

When you have a meteor
like that or a bolide,

the characteristics are
very different than the ones

of genuine UFOs.

CHRIS PITTMAN: As far
back as the 19th century,

people have
speculated about what

that light could have been.

Explanation's have centered
around the possibility

that it could have been a
light or a torch being carried

by an island inhabitant.

They were, in fact,
more than 35 miles away

from any land, in which
it makes that impossible.

The other possibility is that
it was a meteor traveling very

close to the horizon and
that the movement of the ship

is actually what
made the light appear

to be moving up and down.

NARRATOR: But what if
conventional science is wrong

and the ancient astronaut
theorists are correct?

What if Columbus, Magellan,
and the early explorers

really did see evidence of
extraterrestrial creatures

visiting our planet?

What does this say
about our past,

our history, and our future?

Germany.

April 14, 1561.

At dawn, the
citizens of Nuremberg

awoke to what was described
in a local news flyer

as a very frightful spectacle.

Various strange
objects were spotted

in the sky engaged
in what appeared

to be an aerial battle.

Could they have been
witnessing a close encounter?

BILL BIRNES: They see
this incredible sight

as the sun is coming up.

They see what they describe as
cigar-shaped objects, circles

in the air, and crosses--

flying crosses.

And suddenly, these shapes
begin emitting other shapes.

CHRIS PITTMAN: The spheres and
discs were seen for a long time

as they apparently were
fighting in some kind

of a battle over the city.

In fact, the battle
was so evident

that the people in Nuremberg
were actually able to perceive

which side was winning.

Some of the objects were
seen to crash into the ground

and disappear in a
cloud of smoke or steam.

Other objects were seen
to fly off and disappear

in the direction of the sun.

BILL BIRNES: This
entire event becomes

memorialized in a broadsheet.

Now a broadsheet
in the 16th century

was literally a newspaper.

And that broadsheet exists
today in Zurich, Switzerland.

CHRIS PITTMAN: The Zurich
Central Library, to this day,

retains a copy not only
of the famous woodcut that

shows the 1561
sighting over Nuremberg

but also a 1566 woodcut
showing a sighting

from that year that was quite
similar in Basel, Switzerland.

What's fascinating is
it's a very similar event.

People saw a bunch of
circles in the air--

in fact, a proliferation
of circles in the air.

They didn't
necessarily interpret

that as a battle in the air.

But they did interpret it as
some kind of heavenly sign.

NARRATOR: The broadsheets
that were distributed

both in Nuremberg and in
Basel five years later

advised people to
repent for their sins

and interpreted these
extraordinary events

as signs from God.

MAXIMILLIEN DE LAFAYETTE: In old
time, everything paranormal--

extra, extra, hyphen, ordinary--

belongs to realm of
divinity, of God.

God's doing this.

God is punishing us.

God is blessing us.

Go, repent.

Go to church.

CHRIS PITTMAN: It's interesting
to read the Nuremberg

description because
it is written with

religious iconography in mind.

They talk about crosses seen
in the sky on the previous day

during that sighting.

Now what we might think of
as a fuselage with wings

might have appeared
as a cross to people

who saw religious
symbolism constantly

in their everyday life.

It's difficult to
imagine how these things

might have appeared.

But it's certainly possible
that, if these were

to appear in the sky
today, we would describe

them quite differently.

NARRATOR: Could the
people of Nuremberg

have actually witnessed a battle
between warring alien factions,

an event eerily
similar to the one

written about in the Bhagavad
Gita over 3,000 years earlier?

And if not, what
else would explain

the vivid accounts
of luminous globes

and blood red crosses
appearing in the sky?

Throughout the Middle Ages,
visions of strange happenings

were often attributed to
God or to the supernatural.

But moving into what is known
as the early modern period

of the 17th century,
people began

to look more and
more towards science

and the stars for answers.

And with the invention of the
refracting telescope in 1608,

there would be more eyes trained
on the stars than ever before.

Ironically, the first
report of a UFO witnessed

through this new device
came from colonial America's

best known Puritan minister--

Cotton Mather.

BILL BIRNES: There was
an incredible sighting

that the very famous New England
preacher Cotton Mather had.

Cotton Mather said that he was
looking through a telescope

at the moon.

And in the telescope,
he saw a flying light

over the surface of the moon.

Well, how did this get recorded?

By none other than NASA.

And people can
find it themselves.

Go to the NASA Report on lunar
anomalies over 500 years,

and they will find Cotton
Mather's sighting of a UFO

over the surface of the moon.

CHRIS PITTMAN: There
are a vast number

of natural atmospheric
phenomena that

can appear as bright
lights in the night sky.

Certainly, meteors
are a possibility.

Even certain kinds of
terrestrial phenomena

do materialize as
glowing balls of light

that-- seen from a distance--
may appear to be a star.

And it's incredibly difficult
to judge the distance of a point

source of light in the night.

So he may have thought that it
was on the surface of the moon

or hundreds of miles away, when,
in reality, it could have been

quite close to where he was.

NARRATOR: Though it is uncertain
what Cotton Mather saw,

ancient astronaut theorists
find it significant

that a prominent religious
figure would report such

a sighting not as
a vision from God

but as an astronomical event.

They see it as a sign not only
of the sighting's authenticity

but that views on
the possibility

of extraterrestrial life
were starting to shift, even

within the Christian church.

BILL BIRNES: Cotton
Mather was known as a fire

and brimstone preacher.

But there's a rational part
of Cotton Mather as well.

Because this was
the very beginning--

the dawn of the
Industrial Revolution.

And in this context, people
were thinking about science.

They were thinking
about machines

and really thinking about, could
there be something in space?

NARRATOR: All those sightings
like Cotton Mather's

were still rare in the 1700s.

The increasing
interest in astronomy

sparked a new debate over
a centuries old theory

called the plurality of worlds--

the idea that life
might exist elsewhere

throughout the universe.

MICHAEL J. CROWE: By the
end of the 18th century,

the majority of people--

at least of educated people--

were convinced that all
throughout the solar system

there was intelligent life on
Jupiter, on Mars, on Saturn.

All of them had
extraterrestrials.

Very possibly the moon would
have intelligent beings on it.

I once did a tally of
the leading intellectuals

in the 18th century.

Over half of them included
ideas of extraterrestrial life

in their publications.

NARRATOR: The premier 18th
century astronomer William

Herschel also supported
the theory that life

existed on other planets.

So did Thomas Paine,
one of America's

founding fathers, along
with many religious leaders

of the time.

MICHAEL J. CROWE:
Preachers were preaching

about extraterrestrials as
a proof of God's goodness.

That's the idea that if there
is a good and benelovent God,

he would populate all the
planets, all the stars.

NARRATOR: Though there was
open debate about the existence

of extraterrestrial
life in the 1700s,

the discussion did not
often extend to the idea

of aliens visiting Earth.

But in 1731, a
series of sightings

occurred across Europe that were
so compelling the possibility

could no longer be ignored.

In modern UFO sightings,
the communications about UFOs

are instant.

It's on the internet.

It's on YouTube.

But what about some
of these 18th century

or Renaissance sightings?

Here's something incredible.

In 1731 over Kilkenny,
Ireland, there

was a sighting of
a luminous object

coming out of a red cloud.

That same sighting is
reported in the span

of a week over the
rest of Europe,

particularly over Romania
in Eastern Europe.

Now here are two
countries that are not

communicating with each other.

Newspapers don't
go back and forth.

They don't speak
the same language.

There's no radio and
there's no television.

Yet a UFO was spotted
traveling from the Irish sea,

across Europe, all the
way to Eastern Europe

and towards Asia, and is
spotted in different places

as it goes--

independent observations
that don't cross pollinate.

NARRATOR: Could these
nearly identical reports

of a strange object
passing through the sky

be mere coincidence?

And if it was an alien
craft, is it possible

that earlier sightings
simply weren't

reported because they were
interpreted as signs from God?

In colonial America, the idea
that aliens were visiting Earth

was gaining ground.

And in the 1800s, this
controversial theory

would even make its
way to the White House.

The United States officially
declared its independence

from Great Britain in 1776.

And just 14 years later,
a report of the first UFO

sighting in American history
appeared in the newly published

journals of John Winthrop,
the second governor of

the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

His journals,
which are now known

as "A History of New England--

1630 to 1649, are
still considered

the preeminent record for that
period in American history.

When the journals were finally
published in 1790 over 140

years after
Winthrop's death, they

were found to
contain an alarming

account of a possible
close encounter

over Boston's Muddy River.

CHRIS PITTMAN: One
night in March of 1639,

James Everell, who was described
as being sober and discreet

man, and two of his companions
boarded a little boat

in the Muddy River of Boston.

As they paddled along the river,
they saw a great bright light

that hovered in the sky.

As they watched, the
light flared up and then

contracted into
what they described

as the figure of a swine.

It's difficult to
imagine anybody

seriously reporting a sighting
of a glowing, flying pig.

Looking at the sighting, one
can't help but wonder if they

were struggling to
describe an oval-shaped

fuselage and four short--

what we might now call--
landing struts or landing

gear in a way that made
sense in the 17th century.

NARRATOR: Winthrop's
account states

that the object moved
swift as an arrow,

jetting back and forth
as well as up and down

for two to three hours.

And when it finally disappeared,
the three passengers

in the boat who
had been drifting

downstream the entire
time were astonished

to find themselves
back at the point

where they began their trip.

CHRIS PITTMAN: What Winthrop
describes in his journal

is really difficult to explain.

Certainly, it seems hard to
fathom that for two or three

hours three men
in a boat watched

a bright light moving
around in the sky

over the city of Boston.

And it seems almost
inconceivable

that their boat could have been
drawn back against the tide

without them noticing it.

These type of strange and
inexplicable phenomena

are now associated
with the phenomena

that's called alien abduction.

LINDA MOULTON HOWE: And as
the abduction cases evolved,

you heard people say all of a
sudden everything around them

was slowing way, way down.

And they associate
the slowing way,

way down with whatever
this event is that we call

the human abduction syndrome.

NARRATOR: Could this
event at Muddy River

be not only North
America's first documented

UFO sighting but also the first
account of an alien abduction?

Those who believe the account
in Winthrop's journals

was an actual alien encounter
point to the last line

of his report, which states,
"other credible persons saw

the same light."

By the time Winthrop's
history was published in 1790,

the debate over the possibility
of extraterrestrial life

was more heated
than ever before.

In fact, the question of whether
life existed on other planets

had become so hotly
contested it caused one

of America's founding fathers--

Thomas Paine-- to be
unofficially exiled to Europe.

Thomas Paine enters
the extraterrestrial life

debate in a very dramatic way.

It's an Englishman but
famous American patriot.

1793-- Thomas Paine
publishes a book

called "The Age of reason."

And in "The Age of
Reason," he makes

one of the most vigorous attacks
on Christianity ever made.

The bottom line
on it is, he says,

you must believe in
extraterrestrials,

if you know any
modern astronomy.

The idea of God made the
entire universe going

from planet to planet
redeeming people

is just impossible to believe.

That creates a sensation.

Thousands of copies
of the book were sold.

NARRATOR: In December
of 1793, Thomas Paine

was arrested in
France as a result

of supporting a political party
that was no longer in power.

When the American ambassador
refused to speak on his behalf,

Paine believed that George
Washington had abandoned him

because of his
writings supporting

the idea of
extraterrestrial life

and refuting traditional
Christianity.

In 1802, he was
invited back to America

by the third President--

Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson, an intellectual,
was considered a genius

by many in his time, both
for his skill as a statesman

and his scientific aptitude.

And some believe he
was also a proponent--

like his contemporaries Ben
Franklin and John Adams--

in the concept of the
plurality of worlds.

CHRIS PITTMAN: The concept
of a plurality of worlds

was a very widely accepted
concept in the 18th century.

People like John
Adams and Thomas Paine

didn't view extraterrestrial
life as a possibility

but rather as a matter of fact
that everybody knew to be true.

The new rationality
in science changed

the way that these founding
fathers talked about religion.

1825-- Thomas Jefferson
is hiring faculty

for the University of Virginia.

And John Adams writes to
him and gives him advice

on how to do that hiring.

He says, do not hire
any European professors.

If you hire a
European professor,

they are liable to
believe in Christianity.

And that is a very
dangerous doctrine that we

should stay far away from.

CHRIS PITTMAN: Other
founding fathers also agreed

with this view, which included
belief in the existence of life

on other planets.

Benjamin Franklin
wondered if there

were different
gods for every sun

that harbored intelligent life.

Many of them felt it was
clear that there were

intelligent beings
and conceivably

through the whole universe and
that the notion that God came

to this planet as a person
who was spit on and persecuted

simply was ridiculous.

And they rejected that
long-held traditional belief,

which was a very radical
thing at the time.

NARRATOR: America's
founding fathers

defending the concept
of extraterrestrial life

against Christianity?

A revolutionary idea to be
certain but perhaps not so

revolutionary to the
country's earliest

inhabitants, who long
before claimed to have

met visitors from the sky.

In northwestern New Mexico
lies a vast concentration

of ancient ruins, known
today as Chaco Canyon.

Built from sandstone blocks and
timber between 900 and 1150 AD,

the 15 major complexes
of Chaco Canyon

contained four-story structures
with hundreds of rooms

that required thousands
of man hours to construct.

Until the 19th century,
they were the largest

buildings in North America.

Chaco Canyon was
a center of activity

for a lot of different
Indian tribes, Pueblo tribes.

Archaeologists, anthropologists
have a lot of theories

about what that was.

But what I have
studied and what I

can tell by just
some of the chants

from our own tribe and
other Pueblo tribes

is that this would have been
a big center of activity

for technological
spiritual activities.

There's a lot of places on
there that has direct bearings

up into the universe.

NARRATOR: When
archaeologists first

excavated these
ruins in 1896, they

marveled at their
architectural precision.

But even more astonishing
was the fact that many

of these ancient structures--

like those found in Egypt,
England, and South America--

suggested the inhabitants
had a sophisticated knowledge

of astronomy.

A number of devices designed
for tracking solar events

were found.

And at Fajada Butte, which sits
at the entrance of the canyon,

three giant slabs of
rock are positioned

near two spiral petroglyphs
etched on a cliff wall.

During the solstice
and the equinox,

these rocks catch
the sun in such a way

as to shine daggers of
light on different areas

of the petroglyphs.

But why would early Native
Americans spend so much time

building the structures
at Chaco Canyon

along such precise
astronomical alignments?

And why build them in such a
desolate area of the country?

PHILIP COPPENS: It
is one of those sites

which has been posing
so many questions

and which science is only
slowly beginning to explain.

But really, there
are more questions

than answers at this moment
in time about Chaco Canyon.

NARRATOR: In his 2006 book "The
Orion Zone" archaeostronomer

Gary David proposed that the
geographical layout of Hopi

ruins in the American
Southwest precisely

mirrors the star patterns of
a number of constellations.

PHILIP COPPENS: When you look
at where the ancestral Puebloan

major ceremonial sites
are actually located,

Gary David has identified
that, when you just map these,

you actually find that
they depict constellations.

Specifically, Orion
is very important.

NARRATOR: Orion's Belt points to
the brightest star in the sky--

Sirius.

If one looks at the Hopi mesas
as the stars of Orion's Belt,

they also point to an
important location--

Chaco Canyon.

But why Orion?

And could it be
merely a coincidence

that this constellation
pattern has been found

at other important
sites around the world

and always with
the belt pointing

toward a place of significance?

Ancient astronaut theorists have
discovered the constellation

of Orion lining
up with the Mayan

complexes along the street
of the dead in Mexico City.

And here, Orion's Belt points
to Cholula, the largest

pyramid in the world.

They also find it at the
Giza pyramids in Egypt,

with the Belt pointing
toward the city

of Heliopolis, a place of
worship for ancient Egyptians.

PHILIP COPPENS:
One thing we know

about Orion's belt is that
this is a theme which is

recurring in Mayan mythology.

It's also actually a
theme which is occurring

in Egyptian mythology.

Orion's Belt and
the stars around it

was seen as the
heart of creation.

It is where everything began.

And it's probably
not coincidental

that the Hopi see the
place where they are living

as the heart of the world.

BILL BIRNES: These
are ancient people.

All they had to go
by were the stars.

And so they believed--

as astrologists believe today--

that the stars have
certain powers over what

goes on on planet Earth.

NARRATOR: According
to their legends,

the Hopi believe there were
three worlds that preceded

the one we are in today.

Each of those worlds was wiped
out when guardians of the sky

called to the creator to tell
him that his finest creation--

humans-- were no longer
living according to his plan.

And they called to him
by setting off a warning

through the Earth's
axis, a vibration

strong enough to shift
the balance of the planet.

Is it possible the
structures at Chaco Canyon

were built along precise
celestial alignments

so that the Hopi could
predict the periods of Earth's

devastation and renewal?

Could the guardians
of the sky have

led them here so
they could monitor

the position of the sun?

Why in the world people
settled at that location

wasn't something that
they did on their own.

There's no running water there.

There was no reason
to live there.

There's no good soil.

They did that because
their guardian

told them to live there.

NARRATOR: During the times
of the summer and winter

solstices, as well as the
spring and fall equinoxes,

the people at Chaco Canyon
could gauge the Earth's

balance by watching the
path of the sun daggers

at Fajada Butte.

If the dagger's did not
pierce the petroglyphs

at the same points
as the previous year,

they would know that the
Earth was out of balance.

And since the Earth
fell out of balance

at the end of the
previous three worlds,

this could mean the end
was coming once again.

Scientists from NASA
determined the earthquake

that hit Chile on
February 27, 2010

shifted the Earth's
axis by 3 inches.

Would the ancestral Pueblo
people have seen this as a sign

from the guardians above?

THOMAS O. MILLS: What-- do you
think that's going to show up

at Chaco Canyon on that
dagger stick that comes down

at the time of the solstice?

Do you think the Indians
were watching that?

NANCY RED STAR: It's what
the Hopi call koyaanisqatsi.

We are living in
koyaanisqatsi right now.

We are living in a life
that's out of balance.

NARRATOR: Could
these Native American

legends be more than just myth?

Is it possible that
these stories--

along with the
ancient texts of India

and the stories of the Bible--

are all describing
alien visitations?

For ancient astronaut
theorists, the answer is yes.

And the proof may lie on
a small uninhabited island

in Nova Scotia, Canada.

In 1795, three Nova
Scotia farm boys

set out to explore nearby
Oak Island after witnessing

strange green lights
coming from its shore

in the middle of the night.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: As
they came to the island,

they saw that there
was one little,

you know, pit that they
thought, well, this is very odd.

So they started to dig
in that particular spot.

They came across different
platforms made out of wood,

especially out of oak.

And the deeper they dug,
they also came across a match

made of coconut fiber.

And they came across
a stone slab that

had very bizarre writing on it.

The one thing is crystal clear.

Canada does not have
any coconut trees.

So the mat made
of coconut fiber--

where did it come from?

That's a very
intriguing question,

how all these different
levels were made.

NARRATOR: The initial excavation
stopped at a depth of 30 feet.

But since that time, over a
dozen professional excavations

have been attempted
and funded by everyone

from actors John Wayne and Errol
Flynn to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Mining
and excavation companies

have dug multiple shafts
surrounding the whole Money Pit

with the hopes of
achieving or reaching

whatever is buried down there.

They've even tried
to dig in sideways.

And even that didn't work.

NARRATOR: Based on the findings
from numerous excavations,

the Money Pit contains a
series of oak platforms,

starting at a depth of
10 feet and recurring

every 10 feet thereafter,
going at least 200 feet down.

In between these platforms
are slabs of flagstone

not indigenous to the island
and layers of puddle clay.

Efforts to reach the
bottom of the pit

have proven so
dangerous, six people

have died in the attempt.

PETER FIEBAG:
[non-english speech]

INTERPRETER: It's
underground is covered

with canals,
flooding canals that

lead seawater into the system.

PETER FIEBAG:
[non-english speech]

INTERPRETER: Each time
there seemed to be progress,

underground floods in
the canals would make

further searches impossible.

So this is what we know.

Many centuries ago, someone
constructed a giant hydraulic

system under this island.

It couldn't have been pirates.

It had to be someone with great
expertise for architecture

and hydraulics.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: We still
haven't been able to access

whatever is down there because
of the incredible flooding

system.

These treasure hunters
poured red paint

into one of these
shafts and not only did

it come out on one
side of the island

but also on the other side.

Up to three shafts
have been discovered.

I mean, it's ingenious.

NARRATOR: But who or
what constructed this

elaborately booby trapped pit?

And perhaps more importantly,
what, if anything,

lies hidden at the bottom?

Some have speculated that
it might be the Crown Jewels

of England, pirate
treasure, Viking hordes,

and even the original
manuscripts of Shakespeare.

But perhaps the most
audacious theory of all

is that the Money
Pit is the hiding

place for one of the most
sacred objects in the world.

There is a
possibility that the Ark

of the Covenant
with its contents

has been hidden on Oak Island.

NARRATOR: The Ark
of the Covenant?

The most sacred object in
all of Judeo-Christianity?

The gold chest that
is supposed to contain

the tablets on which the Hebrew
God wrote the Ten Commandments?

Why would this religious
relic be placed

at the bottom of an
elaborately booby trapped

pit in northeastern Canada?

Ancient astronaut
theorists believe

the Ark may have been hidden
because of the powers it held,

powers from out of this world.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: According
to the ancient astronaut

hypothesis, the
Ark of the Covenant

housed an extraterrestrial
device which

was given to the Israelites
during their 40-year wandering

through the desert.

GRAHAM HANCOCK: When you go back
to the biblical descriptions,

it becomes a weapon.

It rises up into the air.

It rushes towards the
enemies of Israel.

When the Philistines
briefly capture it,

they make the mistake of
opening it and filing past it.

Suddenly, thousands of
people start to die.

The biblical account states
quite clearly that the cause

of death was cancerous tumors.

This is a very mysterious
and puzzling thing.

What kind of object could
have these almost machine

like attributes and
cause deaths that

sound like radiation sickness?

NARRATOR: What
powers the arc held

is the subject of
wide speculation.

But an even bigger mystery
is what happened to the Ark

and where it might
be located today?

One legend says that it was
taken during the Crusades

by an elite band of
monk-like warriors

known as the Knights Templar.

GRAHAM HANCOCK:
The cover story--

and it feels like
a cover story--

is that they were
to protect pilgrims

on the route between
the coast and Jerusalem

and the Holy Land.

But they don't ever seem
to have done any of that.

Right soon after
they were founded,

they took possession of the
Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

And for the best part
of 80 or 90 years,

they devoted themselves
to what looked

like an archaeological
expedition on the Temple Mount.

And I'm pretty certain
they were looking

for the Ark of the Covenant.

NARRATOR: The legend tells
of the Knights taking the Ark

to Scotland, where they
formed an alliance with

the powerful Sinclair family.

Some historians believe William
Sinclair may have taken the Ark

to Oak Island in Nova
Scotia in the 1400s

to protect it from
English invasion.

Here, Sinclair and
his men could have

built what might be the most
impenetrable vault ever made--

the notorious Money Pit.

But if so, where
is the evidence?

PETER FIEBAG:
[non-english speech]

INTERPRETER: In the
1990s, some scientists

were able to send cameras
down into one of the shafts.

There they discovered
strange objects that

had a rounded tubular shape.

Their C14 values were diverse,
and their radiometric age

ranged from very
old to futuristic.

Now that is
basically impossible.

However, there is some
chance that that effect

could be caused by some
kind of radioactivity.

That's why we suspect that a
nuclear reactor may have been

taken there and
hidden inside this

ingenious hydraulic
system, so that it

would be kept safe forever.

NARRATOR: What would it mean
if the Ark of the Covenant

really was discovered at
the bottom of the Money Pit?

Would it provide the proof
of alien intervention,

the very proof that
ancient astronaut theorists

have been waiting for?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: If
the Ark of the Covenant

is found at the bottom of the
Money Pit, well, story's over.

NARRATOR: Perhaps.

But an even greater
question persists--

why?

Has mankind been helped by
the intervention of beings

from other worlds, as ancient
astronaut proponents contend?

Or was there a more
ominous intention?

Could the Ark, if discovered,
be a sort of Pandora's box

that, once opened, would
reveal more about our origins

than we would ever want to know?

As the 20th century dawned,
the Industrial Revolution

suggested that nothing conceived
by man could be impossible.

We could now ride
through the countryside

in horseless carriages--

[honking]

--sail the seas in
huge ocean liners,

fly through the sky in airships.

[engine whirring]

Even the idea of building
rockets and flying

them to the moon,
Mars, and beyond

seemed well within our grasp.

[explosion]

It was the era of science
fiction writers like HG Wells

and inventors like Einstein,
Tesla, Edison, and Ford.

In 1896, there were
widespread reports

of strange airships hovering
over various locations

in the American West.

Coincidence or consequence?

There were sightings
throughout history.

And of course, there were
a large number of sightings

in the 19th century.

But it wasn't until 1896 that
there were waves of sightings.

Thousands of people in 1896
and 1897 in the United States

saw phantom airships, the origin
of which was never explained.

These reports were cataloged,
discussed in newspapers.

BILL BIRNES: There were
sightings in 1896, 1897, 1898.

And in fact, we kind
of know from newspaper

reports from the
Southwest that people

were seeing craft with wings.

And the Wright brothers didn't
fly an airplane until 1903.

So what were these craft?

Well, on the one hand,
people were flying

balloons in the 19th century.

So balloons were
not high technology.

What was high
technology back then

was affixing a gasoline engine
to the gondola of a balloon.

WILLIAM BRAMLEY: That
whole airship mystery--

my guess is that some of
those were just dirigibles

that people were flying around.

On the other hand,
during that time,

we also find reports of
objects that moved really

too quickly to be dirigibles.

And some were maybe
too shiny really

to be the types of balloons that
they were making at that time.

BILL BIRNES: The prevalence
of these balloons powered

by gasoline engines
flying around

in the late 1890s and
the turn of the century

probably opened up people's
minds to the possibility

that there could be literally
unidentified flying objects.

People began-- to
put it bluntly--

looking up.

So it could be said
that modern UFO

history began with these
mysterious airships

of the 1890s.

CHRIS PITTMAN: It
certainly seems possible--

if we believe that
the airship sightings

were sightings of
extraterrestrial spaceships--

that perhaps the aliens were
interested in human activity

at the time because
of the rapid increases

being made in technology.

BILL BIRNES: Some people have
suggested that aliens have been

interfering with the
lives of human beings

for thousands of years.

And because they were always
here at significant points

in human history,
they introduced

various kinds of technologies
to spur development

along a certain line.

NARRATOR: Could the same alien
presence that some believe

had been visiting the
Earth for centuries have

been responsible for
inspiring our great leap

into the modern age?

Or could the increased close
encounters with UFOs which

would persist through the
next century be a sign

that we were in danger
of going too far?

A very common idea
that we have today

is that, as we develop
technologically,

we're going to see an
increase in UFO phenomena,

that UFOs are basically
monitoring us.

Decades ago, we saw a lot of
UFO activity around air bases,

around atomic bases, and also
UFOs following airplanes and

maybe following our aircraft.

I would say that
certainly as we keep

developing we will continue
to see that monitoring

aspect to the UFOs.

Especially as we
continue going to space,

we're going to continue
seeing more UFO activity.

Whether it's for our benefit
or not, that's hard to say.

BILL BIRNES: Our history--
the history of human

beings on planet Earth--

whether we ourselves
are the aliens seeded

from another planet or
whether the aliens created us

as the stories of
the Anunnaki say,

regardless, it may be that
human beings are being

directed toward a certain end.

NARRATOR: In the 20th century,
the inhabitants of planet Earth

were capable of blasting
off and touching the stars.

We were also capable of
harnessing the atom--

[explosion]

--and using it to inflict the
deadliest of devastations.

We would send satellites
into orbit, land on the moon,

and reach Mars.

But what would we find?

A barren empty universe of
dead planets or something else?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
In the 1960s,

mainstream scientists
were already

exploring the question
of whether or not

we're alone in the universe.

And there was only a
handful of scientists

who actually proposed the
idea that, yes, there are

other civilizations out there.

Now fast forward 50 years,
you'd be very hard pressed

to find any scientist
today saying that we're

alone in the universe.

What we're coming up to
now in the 21st century

is going to be a redefinition.

Our entire history
may have to be

revised in the context of
non-human intelligences

coming and going.

And what else is out there in
this incredible universe of

which we, humans, are a part?

NARRATOR: Perhaps the
dawn of the space age

was a signal to
whatever or whoever

was out there that after
centuries of writing

on cave walls, building
temples, and mapping the skies,

the inhabitants of planet
Earth were at last ready--

ready for their return.