All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens S02E06

>> NARRATOR: Rockets...

hurling space probes deep into

the cosmos.

Sound waves... compelling solid

objects to float in midair.

Laser beams... vaporizing

targets with pinpoint accuracy.

Are these stunning examples of

mankind's modern technology?

Or are they merely recent

incarnations of scientific

achievements that have roots

stretching back to the ancient

past?

>> JASON MARTELL: We have

several cultures who depict

modern technology being used

thousands of years ago.

>> PHILIP COPPENS: They were

working with technology that

could literally break the Earth

in two.

>> DAVID CHILDRESS: How could

they have had these advanced

weapons that we've only just

acquired ourselves today?

>> GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Something

in our past has been lost, and

we're looking for that answer.

>> 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 did mankind's cutting-edge

technology spring from our

imagination, or could it have

come from a source much farther

come from a source much farther
away?

away?

>> NARRATOR: In the early

morning hours of November 5,

2005, the luxury cruise ship

the Seabourn Spiritfound

itself under attack by pirates

in the waters off the coast

of Somalia.

But the Somali bandits were

successfully repelled by a

relatively new and formidable

defensive weapon: a Long Range

Acoustic Device or LRAD.

Manufactured by the LRAD

Corporation, this sonic device

can, when focused on a target,

produce a piercing sound that

can exceed 150 decibels-- enough

to cause temporary blindness,

nausea and permanent hearing

loss.

>> CHILDRESS: The U.S. Army used

sonic weapons in Iraq.

They're used in crowd control.

There are certain types of low

rumbles and signals that will

affect a person.

They make you feel sick.

>> NARRATOR: The LRAD is

currently used by law

enforcement, the military and

private security, and is

considered the ultimate in

sonic weaponry.

[high-pitched ringing]

But is the LRAD really a

21st-century invention?

Or is there evidence that

similar audio weapons existed

in ancient times?

Approximately 17 miles northeast

of Jerusalem lies the ancient

ruins of the city of Jericho.

Here, archaeologists have

uncovered evidence of

settlements dating back

to 9000 BC.

According to the Hebrew Bible,

Jericho is believed to be

where God spoke to Joshua,

the successor to Moses,

and instructed him to march

around the walled city once

every six days with seven

priests carrying rams' horns

and followed by the Ark of the

Covenant, the golden chest

containing the Ten Commandments.

Then, on the seventh day, under

orders by God, Joshua and the

Israelites marched around the

perimeter of the city one last

time.

[horns blowing]

But this time, they blew the

rams' horns.

The walls of Jericho fell...

The walls of Jericho fell...
and the city was sacked.

and the city was sacked.

>> DAVID WILCOCK: In the Old

Testament, you see very clear

descriptions in Joshua 6 about

the shofar, which is described

as a trumpet that was used in

the Battle of Jericho to

the Battle of Jericho to
actually bring the walls down.

actually bring the walls down.

>> NARRATOR: To religious

scholars, the collapse of

Jericho's walls was a miracle.

To most modern day scientists

and historians, the destruction

was most probably caused by

an earthquake.

But could it have been

something else?

Could the Israelites have

possessed advanced sound wave

technology?

If so, where did it come from?

>> JONATHAN YOUNG: In the

scriptures, we have a

fascinating story about the

fall of the walls of Jericho.

The armies were told to circle

the wall repeatedly, and then

finally blow their horns, and

down came the walls.

And we know there was a

powerful presence.

The Ark of the Covenant, this

mysterious, sacred item, was

with them at all times, which,

of course, was part of the event

and part of the fall of the

walls of Jericho.

>> CHILDRESS: The idea that

some kind of sonic weapon was

used to destroy these huge,

thick, ancient walls to allow

the Israelites to basically

take over that city is a

fascinating one.

So what kind of technology were

they using?

It sounds utterly fantastic to

us that they could have had some

kind of advanced alien

technology.

It's clearly what they're

describing.

>> TUDOR PARFITT: There is

little doubt that the Ark of

the Covenant was a weapon.

It was described as a weapon,

famously, when the Israelites

crossed over into Canaan and

they had to pass by Jericho.

And it could be that there was

some technology.

We do not know what that

technology was, but there was

clearly an association between

the Ark and the falling down of

the walls, and that's the reason

that the Ark was sent around

that the Ark was sent around
the periphery of the city.

the periphery of the city.

>> NARRATOR: According to many

ancient astronaut theorists,

Moses and the Israelites

acquired a supernatural source

of energy at Mount Sinai.

This powerful energy source was

later contained in the Ark of

the Covenant, and would have

provided the kind of power

necessary to amplify Joshua's

horns and make them into a

powerful sonic weapon.

>> WILCOCK: What's interesting

about the Battle of Jericho is

that this particular use of the

shofar clearly seems to be the

same thing that we're seeing

with particle beam technology,

death ray technology,

thunderbolt technology.

It very clearly seems that once

again we have an

extraterrestrial technology

that the ancient people had at

the ready that they could use

when needed for military

campaigns.

>> NARRATOR: But even if the

Israelites possessed some sort

of advanced extraterrestrial

technology, could the amplified

sound of rams' horns really

bring down stone walls?

According to scientist and

former astronaut Professor

Taylor Wang, recent research

into the field of physical

acoustics suggests it is a

distinct possibility.

>> TAYLOR WANG: Jericho's wall

breaking apart-- if you said it

has happened, caused by

acoustics, caused by sound...

well, the possibility has to be

somehow a resonance is built

in that wall.

It may not be the whole wall--

maybe some of the structure

material.

When that resonance happens,

amplitude gets large enough,

yes, it could destroy almost

anything, because what the

resonance does is store

an enormous amount of energy.

So you keep on, keep on feeding

it, eventually it shatters

everything.

>> MICHAEL DENNIN: When you want

to know how powerful sound is,

you have to realize that the

basic thing that sound is, is a

pressure wave, and it will come

down to the amount of energy you

put into your sound wave and

whether or not that particular

pressure wave you generate will

couple or impact the thing

couple or impact the thing
you're trying to destroy.

you're trying to destroy.

You can make it quite powerful,

'cause you can make a very high

amplitude, very large pressures

in the sound.

It might be at a frequency or

amplitude where we no longer

hear it as sound, but from a

physics point of view, it is

still sound because it's a

pressure wave in the air.

So it can get quite destructive,

if you put enough energy

into it.

You could also think of it as a

particle weapon because you're

moving air around, and you would

just need something to focus

the sound which we know

how to do.

So that would give you a

directed energy beam with sound.

>> NARRATOR: But if, as ancient

astronaut theorists suggest,

early civilizations had been

able to harness the power of

sound for destructive purposes,

could there be evidence that

such technology might also have

been used for a more

constructive purpose?

Might it help to explain the

existence of mammoth stone

structures whose construction

has baffled modern scientists

has baffled modern scientists
for centuries?

for centuries?

>> NARRATOR: Mycenae.

In the second millennium B.C.,

this ancient fortress city

dominated much of

southern Greece.

Here, fortifications were built

in a style known as

"cyclopean masonry,"

where huge limestone

boulders were fitted tightly

together without the use

together without the use
of mortar.

of mortar.

The term "cyclopean" refers to

the fact that-- according to

ancient myths-- these

Mycenaean fortifications were

thought to be the work of a

strong, one-eyed race of giants

known as the Cyclopes.

>> PHILIP COPPENS: When you look

at Mycenae in Greece, you're

confronted with an anomalous

civilization, really.

It is a city which people who

looked at it said, "Only the

Cyclops could have built this."

The Cyclops is, perhaps not by

coincidence, a mythical

creature.

So we really are confronted

with the fact that people are

saying mankind could not have

built this.

It has to have been something

above, or other than man, who

has constructed these walls.

And when you look at the fact

that tons and tons and tons of

stones have been used in a way

that really defies,

almost, gravity...

and I think that's why we have

to say that Mycenae is

definitely beyond human

capability of that specific

time and that specific period

time and that specific period
in Greek history.

in Greek history.

>> TSOUKALOS: In Mycenae, Greece

there is what's called the

"Treasury of Atreus."

And right in there, there is

one stone that has been hoisted

over the entrance of that

treasury, and it weighs an

estimated 250 tons.

It is perfect.

Just unbelievable.

Now, we would have difficulties

today moving that stuff around.

Now, I'm not saying that we

today cannot do it.

I'm not saying that, but if

we're struggling with our

modern technology, is it really

logical to suggest that our

ancestors did this with pivots,

and with little ropes, and with

wooden rollers?

>> MICHAEL BARA: You look at all

these ancient structures all

over the world: Mayan

structures, pyramids,

Greek temples.

You see all of these... these

blocks that are not only

enormous, it would be

impossible to move them around

with anything but even our best

technology today.

>> CHILDRESS: One of the great

enigmas of the megalithic

buildings around the world is

that in many cases they're

built with such large and heavy

granite or basalt stones.

Even giant cranes would barely

be useful to lift some of these

really large stones, such as

the stones at Baalbek in

Lebanon, where you have just

mind-bogglingly huge stones

that weigh, in some cases, over

a thousand tons.

>> NARRATOR: But just how could

ancient man have built such

colossal structures?

Were the stones really moved by

beings with superhuman strength?

Or might the builders have had

access to an advanced-- perhaps

alien-- technology?

For ancient astronaut

theorists, the key might be

found not by studying the

laws of physics, but by

exploring the interdisciplinary

science of acoustics and the

principle of acoustic

levitation.

>> THOMAS VALONE: Acoustic

levitation is another way that

alien civilizations may have

influenced our history.

And there is some evidence for

that, especially when you look

at some of the research that's

been done in acoustic

levitation here in laboratories.

levitation here in laboratories.
[steady, high-pitched tone]

[steady, high-pitched tone]

>> WANG: This system is a

acoustic positioning device, and

what happens inside, we create

an acoustic force field.

The force field is pushing

everything toward the center.

And the force field can rotate,

the force field can oscillate.

This ball is fairly light

material.

It's about ten grams, no more.

It's meant to be light.

But if you want to move the

very heavy object, a large

object, what you really have to

develop in conjunction with the

acoustic positioning device, is

antigravity device.

Because acoustic position

device, really meant to fine

tuning of the force field, but

the system must be force-free,

otherwise it won't be budged.

>> NARRATOR: But is it possible

that early builders had access

to the kind of acoustic

technology that would allow for

the transportation and careful

placement of mega-ton boulders

and stone blocks?

Ancient astronaut theorists

believe clues can be found in

the myths and tales of magic

handed down throughout time.

>> TSOUKALOS: There are many

ancient legends which suggest

that some of the monuments were

built with the help of acoustic

levitation.

What the local legend of

Stonehenge talks about is that

those big stones were

transported by way of

levitation by none other than

Merlin the wizard.

And he had a magical rod with

which he pointed at the stones,

and they would levitate and

position into place.

It's a very fascinating

story, because we know

that some of these stones

have been transported there

from as far away as 200 miles.

And ancient legends are a

bridge to finding what truly

happened in our past.

>> BARA: There are lots of

stories of stones being

levitated, all using the power

of sound.

It's interesting as

you read these stories of magic,

that you see that they have to

use the chanting.

They have to chant certain

spells, certain words.

Certain vibrational frequencies

seem to create certain effects

in the physical realm.

To me, it makes complete sense

that the use of a technology,

say, a magic wand of some kind,

say, a magic wand of some kind,
would be some sort of amplifier.

would be some sort of amplifier.

>> GEORGE NOORY: I mean, there's

no way that human beings, even

a hundred thousand of them,

could pull these things.

They've done experiments by

putting hands around blocks.

You can't get enough hands

in there.

You can't get 200,000 hands to

lift a block.

And once you roll it with all

these people, how do you

move it?

I think the technology had to

do with some kind of sound, and

they were able to just come up

with some antigravity, and just

move 'em into place.

>> NARRATOR: But did ancient

aliens, using antigravity and

sonic levitation technology,

help early humans build the

ancient wonders of the world?

>> WANG: Well, everything's

possible.

We have no way to rule in or

rule out aliens, because human

technology is very primitive

at this stage.

And you look at Earth-- has

only survived four billion

years, but there are planets

billions and billions of years

ahead of us.

Their technology and their

knowledge, it can be so far

ahead of us, we can't even

imagine.

>> NARRATOR: But if early

civilizations did possess the

ability to levitate large solid

objects, might they have also

possessed another even greater

ability?

Might they have also mastered

Might they have also mastered
the power of flight?

the power of flight?

>> NARRATOR: Flying saucers.

>> NARRATOR: Flying saucers.
UFOs.

UFOs.

Mainstream historians claim

sightings of these mysterious

craft are mostly a 20th-century

phenomenon.

But according to ancient

astronaut theorists,

unidentified flying objects

have been appearing in Earth's

have been appearing in Earth's
skies since the dawn of man.

skies since the dawn of man.

>> CHILDRESS: Depictions of

flying saucers and what seems

to be some kind of ancient

spacecraft go back to some of

the earliest cave paintings

that we know of.

Scientists date these cave

paintings back to 20, 30,000

B.C.

And these cave paintings are in

Russia, China, Africa, South

America and other areas.

And they appear to be some kind

And they appear to be some kind
of a spacecraft.

of a spacecraft.

>> WILCOCK: You can go back to

ancient Sumerian inscriptions

from Babylon, and you actually

see these discs with wings

around them and depictions of

people flying in them.

And you see the same thing in

Egypt where you see round discs

that have wings coming off them.

What you're dealing with is,

most likely, actually a flying

saucer that's being seen up in

saucer that's being seen up in
space.

space.

>> NARRATOR: Guatemala, Central

America.

According to most mainstream

scholars and archaeologists,

the earliest human settlements

in this region date back over

14,000 years.

Here can be found numerous

ancient artifacts, and among

them is this one: the figure of

a man lying inside what appears

to be the shell of a turtle.

>> TSOUKALOS: And when I asked

the local archaeologist there,

"What is this?" they said,

without the flinching of an eye,

"Well, this is, according to

legend, the giant flying turtles

which flew around in Guatemala."

The entire body is

aerodynamically fashioned.

The extremities are pressed in

an aerodynamic fashion against

the body of this turtle.

And if you look closely, it's

as if there's some modern day

fighter pilot glasses or

fighter pilot glasses or
goggles.

goggles.

This right here is from the

same culture, from the same

region where they created the

turtle in clay.

So they knew exactly what a

turtle looked like.

It looks like a snapping turtle.

And what we have here-- that is

everything but a turtle.

It's something else.

In their frame of reference,

they were able to use the

turtle as the best example of

what they might have seen that

what they might have seen that
the gods used to fly around in.

the gods used to fly around in.

>> NARRATOR: Halfway around the

world, in 329 B.C., the Greek

ruler Alexander the Great

planned the invasion of India.

But according to ancient texts,

his army was supposedly

thwarted by a strange attack

from the skies.

>> CHILDRESS: As Alexander's

army was getting ready to cross

the Indus and invade India,

suddenly in the sky appeared

these flying discs.

And they began dive-bombing at

the war elephants that were

part of Alexander's army.

And what these flying discs did

was cause stampedes within

Alexander's own war elephants,

who then ran amok throughout

his army, tearing up the camps

and everything.

And after that, Alexander's

generals met with him, and they

said, "No, we're not going into

India.

This is it.

We're gonna turn back."

And that was the end of that war

campaign.

>> NARRATOR: But whether in

ancient times or much more

recently, so-called flying

saucers are often described as

being unaffected by gravity or

the basic laws of physics.

>> STEVEN GREER: You know, I

know that people who have, who

have seen, uh, extraterrestrial

vehicles in modern times have

said, "How in the world could it

be doing that?"

For example, it's moving

through the sky, and it's going

20,000 miles per hour, and makes

a right-hand turn without

decelerating-- that isn't

possible using normal

aerodynamics.

>> CHILDRESS: When jets have

been scrambled after flying

saucers, the saucers are

described as suddenly turning

at right angles at super speeds

and just zipping off in what

seems like impossible aerobatic

maneuvers.

And this can be explained as

the kind of technology they're

using which is a gravity

control.

It's artificial gravity.

So when you're inside of a

gravitational field that you're

creating yourself around your

craft, the gravity of the Earth

craft, the gravity of the Earth
doesn't have a force on you.

doesn't have a force on you.

>> NARRATOR: But although

aircraft propulsion by means of

gravity manipulation is beyond

the limits of current

technology, many scientists

claim it is theoretically

claim it is theoretically
possible.

possible.

In Davis, California,

Canadian-born inventor Dr.

Paul Moller tests the

boundaries of real-life science

with a recreational flying

with a recreational flying
vehicle called the Neuera.

vehicle called the Neuera.

>> MOLLER: The Neuera is a very

>> MOLLER: The Neuera is a very
simple device to fly.

simple device to fly.

It has eight lifting ducted

fans, as we call them, each one

driven by its own engine.

One of the big advantages of

this kind of round shape is

that you end up with the

strength in the skin of the

vehicle itself, much like the

shell of a beetle.

And that gets you a very, very

strong design.

This-- air frames you see over

here next to this vehicle which

are similar to this, weigh only

75 pounds apiece, which is

incredible.

You get a complete airframe

that's capable of lifting 1,500

pounds with a 75-pound shell.

>> NARRATOR: But could the

inherent design strength of a

disc-shaped object be the key

to overcoming the forces of

gravity?

And does the prevalence of

flying saucer sightings suggest

a connection between

antigravity technology and

extraterrestrial visitations?

>> MOLLER: Gravity is one of

the most unknown forces in

physics today, and when we do

understand it, we'll be able to

find out a way to shield

ourselves from it or to

provide a device, a method,

electromagnetically, but with

some much greater knowledge

than we have today, where we

eliminate it within the

vehicles' operations.

>> NARRATOR: Although

antigravity devices in the

form of flying saucers may help

to explain how

extraterrestrials might have

been able to travel at

ultrahigh speeds, there is in

fact another means of

interplanetary transportation.

And it is one that humans, and

perhaps aliens, have been able

to use for centuries: the brute

to use for centuries: the brute
force of rockets.

force of rockets.

>> NARRATOR: Merritt Island,

Florida.

The Kennedy Space Center.

Six Earth astronauts sit atop

NASA's EndeavorSpace Shuttle

headed for orbit.

After countdown, three main

engines, together with two

solid rocket boosters, provide

the thrust to lift the orbiter

off the ground for its ascent.

>> And liftoff of Shuttle

>> And liftoff of Shuttle
Endeavor.

Endeavor.

>> TSOUKALOS: I urge everyone

to be part one day of a

rocket launch, because it is a

life-altering moment.

When you stand there, a few

miles away, you can still feel

the power as that rocket takes

off into space.

A grumbling in your stomach,

the vibrations, and you can

hear the noise.

And it's a truly magnificent

sight and awe-inspiring.

>> NARRATOR: But are manned

space flights really a recent

phenomenon?

Or could our ancient ancestors

have witnessed similar events?

>> NOORY: There is no doubt

that if we thoroughly

investigate this planet, they

will find that this planet may

have already been to the moon

way before we went to the moon

with a man in 1969.

>> TSOUKALOS: The interesting

thing is that we have the exact

same descriptions in ancient

texts and also in oral

traditions, where whenever

those quote, unquote "gods"

appeared, there was a lot of

smoke, a lot of fire, a lot of

noise, and the trembling of the

ground.

>> CHILDRESS: When rockets are

taking off, it's best to stand

back and get out of the way.

And that's a lot of what the

ancient legends are about, too.

When the gods came and went, it

may well have been just these

rockets or other aerospace

vehicles landing and taking off

and making a lot of smoke and

noise.

>> NARRATOR: But could early

man really have had knowledge

of rocket technology?

To make their case, ancient

astronaut theorists point to

numerous and consistent

descriptions of rockets found

throughout many cultures of the

ancient world.

>> GREER: When you're dealing

with this subject and you look

at the ancient literature, you

have to look at it through the

lens of how is it being

experienced by a civilization

with no foundation for

understanding the science, the

technology.

And so I think, in ancient

times, there were people who had

encounters.

However, I think the way they

might have been reported

would've been in metaphors, in

ways that would have made sense

to them.

>> CHILDRESS: In China, you have

these stories of dragons flying

through the air.

They make a lot of noise and

smoke comes out of them and

smoke comes out of them and
fire, just like a rocket.

fire, just like a rocket.

>> TSOUKALOS: The first emperor

of China descended in a fiery

dragon, with smoke and fire, and

whenever that dragon appeared,

the earth was quaking and

everyone was afraid and-and

threw themselves to the ground.

Now, of course it wasn't a

dragon in a biological nature,

a living being.

But it was a misinterpreted

But it was a misinterpreted
machine.

machine.

>> BARA: If you look at the

Greek gods, they were all

described as flying in on

chariots of fire.

Well, a chariot of fire, to me,

seems very clearly like it's

some sort of rocket, probably

burning its retros as it lands

somewhere in ancient Greece.

>> TSOUKALOS: In the Old

Testament, we can read about a

glowing furnace that descended

from the sky.

And sometimes this glowing

furnace is described as a

chariot of fire or as the glory

of the Lord.

So there are all these different

descriptions, which in the

ancient astronaut opinion

ancient astronaut opinion
describe ancient rocketry.

describe ancient rocketry.

>> NARRATOR: From 5000 to 2000

B.C., southern Mesopotamia was

home to the Sumerians, a highly

advanced civilization

considered to be among the

first astronomers.

Regarded as one of the oldest

written stories in history, The

Epic of Gilgameshtold of a

man's journey to the heavens to

meet the god Anu.

>> ERICH VON DANIKEN: The

Gilgamesh epic, which goes back

to the Sumerian, that's a piece

where the hero, Gilgamesh, flies

over the Earth.

And he describes how the Earth

looks from above. Fascinating.

An old story of the first

flight.

>> MARTELL: The most ancient

civilization that we have on

record, the Sumerian culture,

has left us evidence of what's

called a shem.

And this object looks very

similar to a modern-day space

capsule that we place on top of

a rocket.

And this shem is where priests

would go into the shem to

interact with the gods, or

anytime man was ascending or

descending into heaven.

So it's a very interesting term

used from a culture dating back

to 3800 B.C. and very clearly

matches the descriptions of a

modern-day rocket.

>> NARRATOR: Could early man

have actually possessed a

surprisingly sophisticated

understanding of what we now

understanding of what we now
call rocket propulsion?

call rocket propulsion?

In the first century A.D.,

nearly 2,000 years before the

industrial revolution, a Greek

mathematician and engineer

named Hero created a

steam-powered engine he called

an aeolipile.

>> CHILDRESS: One of the great

inventors of the ancient world

was the famous Hero of

Alexandria.

He invented all kinds of stuff.

He actually invented what we

would describe as a rocket-type

motor.

And really, something like this

is the beginnings of rocket

technology.

And we don't know where Hero got

many of his ideas, but it may

many of his ideas, but it may
well have come from aliens.

well have come from aliens.

>> NARRATOR: John Robert

Tindall, founder of Tindall

Vision Laboratories,

demonstrates a small-scale

replica of Hero's aeolipile.

>> TINDALL: Now, a conventional

steam engine that we think of

has pistons that get its power,

but aeolipile uses these

opposing jets, so it's creating

thrust.

And rather than a thrust in...

like, a rocket would use it in

a linear fashion,

this is causing a rotational

effect, and there's your steam

turbine, really, working off of

thrust.

Now this is operating much as

it did in the first century A.D.

This is generally considered to

be the first working steam

engine.

It works more like a turbine

than a classic steam engine

with pistons, but it's very

significant because it really

is taking-- whoa!-- a compressed

gas [chuckles] and turning it

into energy.

Wow!

Wow!
That has a lot of energy, steam.

That has a lot of energy, steam.

>> NARRATOR: The name for

Hero's steam rocket engine,

"aeolipile," translates to "the

ball of Aeolus."

In Greek mythology, Aeolus was

the god of the winds.

Is it possible that Hero drew

inspiration for his invention

from the stories of the gods,

such as those found in Homer's

The Odyssey?

Or might he have had help from

the gods themselves?

>> TSOUKALOS: Some have

suggested that it was alien

intervention, that aliens

taught him how to build this

machine.

However, I'm leaning more

towards the idea that he looked

at older texts from previous

generations and that the source

of the idea of how to build

this did come from

extraterrestrials, but from way

before he was alive, and he

just came across those texts.

>> NARRATOR: But do the

descriptions of rockets and

otherworldly devices found in

ancient texts and legends

provide evidence of

extraterrestrial encounters in

the distant past?

Perhaps the answer

will be discovered in an

unlikely place... in the hands

unlikely place... in the hands
of the U.S. military.

of the U.S. military.

>> NARRATOR: May 2010... off the

coast of California.

A powerful new weapon shoots

down unmanned aerial drones

during secret testing carried

out by the U.S. Navy.

Firing from a warship at a

distance of nearly two miles,

a ray of intense laser energy

burns through targets traveling

at speeds of more than 300

miles per hour.

But is it possible that such

so-called "death rays" could

have been used before?

Perhaps in ancient times?

>> GREER: I'm quite convinced

that there have been in the past

advanced civilizations on Earth

that did have such things as

the so-called death ray.

Whether it was used as a

weapon, or whether it was just

observed being used is a very,

very open question.

>> NARRATOR: In 214 B.C., Greeks

living in the Sicilian city of

Syracuse prepared for an attack

by a fleet of Roman warships.

Though outnumbered by a

superior military force,

ancient texts suggest that

Syracuse was well-defended by a

mysterious and powerful new

weapon.

>> CHILDRESS: Probably the most

famous ancient death ray was

the one that was built by the

Greek inventor Archimedes.

He was able to create this

giant mirror and parabolic disc,

and focus the sun's rays on the

fleet and set these ships

on fire.

So here we have what would be a

primitive kind of death ray

primitive kind of death ray
that really worked.

that really worked.

>> NARRATOR: But how could

Archimedes have conceived such

a formidable weapon?

One far in advance of any

known at the time?

Researchers suggest the

inventor may have drawn

inspiration from Greek myths

written nearly 600 years before

the Battle of Syracuse.

Myths that told the stories of

gods that brandished cosmic

weapons of incredible

destructive force.

>> WILCOCK If you look in the

Greek tradition they have a

very clear description of Zeus'

thunderbolt, which he was able

to point at people or at other

things that he wanted to

explode, hit the button, and

what they described as

lightning would come out and

create a fierce and terrible

explosion.

>> CHILDRESS: When these ancient

gods, like Zeus, were to come

down from the sky in this

flurry of thunder and

lightning, and then get out of

their spacecraft, they were

perceived as gods.

These ancient aliens had

fantastic technology available

to them, a technology that

would've seemed like magic to

our primitive ancestors.

So when these people came down

from the sky, and they had

advanced energy weapons, they

were like gods to our ancient

ancestors.

>> TSOUKALOS It doesn't matter

where you go, but the gods were

always able to create thunder,

create lightning in a

controlled way.

In ancient India we have the

gods holding the dorje

sometimes like this, and it

looks as if some type of a

directed energy beam comes

directly out of the front to

vanquish the enemy, to destroy

vanquish the enemy, to destroy
him, to incinerate him.

him, to incinerate him.

>> NARRATOR: But if death ray-

type weapons had been used in

ancient times, might there be

some sort of tangible proof?

Perhaps there is.

Here, scattered throughout

the Scottish countryside, can

be found numerous ancient ruins.

Many appear to have been forts

or other enclosures dating

back thousands of years.

Remarkably, they also appear to

have been subjected to fire and

heat so intense it practically

turned the stone structures

into glass.

It's a process more

scientifically known as

"vitrification."

>> WILCOCK: Here you have these

stone buildings in which an

analysis of the outside comes

to the conclusion that they

were heated to over a thousand

degrees Celsius in temperature.

Conventional fire could not

have reached this heat.

You needed a sustained burn at

a thousand degrees Celsius for a

long period of time.

Why is it that it's only these

forts that have this type of

charring where they're actually

glazed like pottery on

the outside?

Why is it that you don't see it

on the stones in the

surrounding area?

And even more interestingly, why

is it that so many of 'em are

concentrated into this one

little area in northern

Scotland?

I believe this is very clear

evidence of death rays

being used.

>> NARRATOR: According to Celtic

legend, there once was a god

named Lugh, also known as

"The Shining One," the sun god,

and the god of war.

Like the Greek god Zeus, Lugh

was said to wield a mighty

"magic spear" not unlike the

thunderbolts of his Greek

counterpart.

>> YOUNG: We have many stories

of divinities who were powerful

figures who had weapons that

seemed extraordinary for

their time.

One was the great Celtic

divinity Lugh, who had a spear

that could spit fire and

lightning and do great damage.

It was an extraordinary weapon.

We don't have a great deal of

detail about it, but it clearly

could dominate any situation

he got into.

>> TSOUKALOS: When battle was

near, Lugh would draw out his

spear, and it roared, and then

flashes of fire came out of it,

and it tore through the ranks of

the enemy.

Never tired of

Never tired of
killing and slaying.

killing and slaying.

It was one amazing weapon.

I mean, how else can we explain

all those numerous vitrified

forts where the surface of the

stone is as smooth as glass?

And these spots can only be

found in very concentrated

areas through northern Scotland.

>> NARRATOR: Is it possible that

what the Celtic legends are

describing as Lugh is, in fact,

an alien general or other kind

of extraterrestrial leader in

possession of a devastating

weapon?

>> TSOUKALOS: All these

descriptions of sophisticated

weaponry sounds almost like

science fiction.

But is it, really?

Because we have those weapons

today!

[loud buzzing]

And I think it is merely

a reinvention of history; that

all the stuff that we have

today has been around before,

and that our past is not

science fiction, but science

science fiction, but science
fact.

fact.

>> NARRATOR: Deadly laser

beams...

acoustic levitation...

antigravity.

Could these be technologies

that were witnessed

and even used by

ancient civilizations?

If so, were they conceived in

the minds of early man?

Or did they have different--

perhaps otherworldly-- origins?

Might unlocking the secrets of

these inventions be the key to

discovering our ancient past?

Or by rediscovering lost

technology, might we clear the

path to our own future and to

the limitless potential

the limitless potential
of the universe beyond?