Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Stories of immortality...

BARRY DOWNING: When he rose, it would be a body that would

never die again. NARRATOR: The dead rising

from their graves... TOK THOMPSON: You can say,

that to a certain extent zombies are real.

NARRATOR: And first person accounts of the afterlife...

WILLIAM HENRY: The ancient Egyptians had a very deep soul

technology. NARRATOR: Throughout history,

there are tales of miraculous resurrections.

But are there people who have really returned from the dead?

And if so, might they have had help from extraterrestrial

beings? DAVID CHILDRESS: If you want

to think of the technology that extraterrestrials might

have, they could have the ability to resurrect the dead,

if need be. 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 if so, might they hold the secret to resurrection?

NARRATOR: Phoenix, Arizona. 1991.

Singer songwriter Pam Reynolds is being rushed into surgery to

repair a bulging arterial wall in her brain stem that is about

to burst and kill her instantly. The surgical team of 20 decides

there is only one course of action: in order to save her

life, they must first end it. KIRSTEN FISHER: Pam Reynolds

had a massive, um, aneurysm ready to to essentially rupture

at any moment. And so, physicians needed to

reduce the pressure in those vessels so that they could work

on them. So they took her blood out of

her body and cooled it slowly, so re circulating.

What that does is it sort of tricks the body's cells into

slowing down their metabolism and not realizing that they're

lacking oxygen... which, of course, buys physicians and

emergency workers some time to go in and repair the the

person's body while they're in this sort of hyper cooled state

where they're essentially not, um, alive.

NARRATOR: For nearly an hour, Pam Reynolds lies on

the operating table with her heart stopped, no blood

pumping through her body, and no brainwave activity at all.

According to the traditional medical definition...

she is dead. Five hours later, when doctors

successfully finish their groundbreaking surgery, they

slowly pump warm blood back into Reynolds' body.

Her heart starts to beat again and her brainstem begins

responding to stimuli. But when she regains

consciousness, Reynolds tells a shocking story about a journey

she says she made into the afterlife.

She remembers mingling with deceased relatives and angelic

beings in a celestial netherworld... a transcendent

experience that ended only when doctors revived her.

FISHER: Pam Reynolds' case, and other cases of

resuscitation sort of call into question what it means to be

alive. We're sort of introducing new

technologies that blur, I think, a little more the distinction of

what does it mean to be dead. If you want to use the term

resurrection, I think it could be applied, in that case.

NARRATOR: Does the resurrection of Pam Reynolds

reveal evidence that human consciousness can exist beyond

death? If so, could this mean that

within each of us, there really is such a thing as an immortal

soul? And might it even be

identifiable by science? Two prestigious scientists have

developed a theory that describes exactly how

consciousness could continue to exist after the brain has ceased

to function. Oxford University's Roger

Penrose and Stuart Hameroff, from the University of Arizona,

believe that quantum particles in the brain and nervous system

could comprise what we call consciousness.

BOB FRISBEE: The theory is that there may actually be a

real physical structure in your brain.

They're called microtubules, and they're small enough that all

the weird quantum mechanical effects can occur.

These quantum mechanical effects may be what gives rise to

consciousness. But even after you die, that

information isn't lost. It still continues as a quantum

mechanical state, and that may be what is giving rise to

consciousness. NARRATOR: If Penrose and

Hameroff are correct and our consciousness can exist after

our physical body dies, does this explain why near death

experiences like Pam Reynolds' are reported by millions of

people around the world? HEATHER BERLIN: They have,

usually, a feeling of peacefulness, positive emotions.

They feel like they're leaving their body.

They sometimes see sort of a tunnel with a light at the end.

They sometimes feel one with the universe.

They sometimes see relatives who had passed away.

So it's a common universal experience that happens to

people who are either near or close to death, or even

technically dead. NARRATOR: Some physicians

believe near death experiences could be triggered by hypoxia...

a lack of oxygen in the brain that can cause visions.

But other researchers disagree. They point out that those who

have these experiences see events occurring around them

that are later confirmed to have happened.

And that their perceptions are not dulled in a way that would

be consistent with a dying brain.

Perhaps even more significant, a recent study found that the near

death experience was remarkably similar across the ancient

world. JONATHAN YOUNG: Professor

Gregory Shushan at Oxford University has found that

in some of the great early cultures... ancient Egypt, uh,

Mesopotamia, uh, Vedic India, pre Buddhist China,

pre Columbian Mesoamerica... that there are similar reports of

near death experience, that certain details keep cropping

up, that the person in this experience encounters beings of

light, even though the belief systems about death were

very different in these cultures.

This suggests that there might be something about the mystical

experience at death that is stronger than the cultural

stories that hold it. NARRATOR: But why are

accounts of near death experiences so similar across

so many different cultures? Ancient astronaut theorists

suggest that the answer may lie with the fact that these beings

of light encountered in many near death experiences are

remarkably similar to the descriptions of

extraterrestrials in alien abduction reports.

Could these two types of ethereal entities actually be

the same? WILLIAM HENRY: The common

ground is the tunnel of bright white light, and

beings wearing shiny garments or bright white garments of light

that either stand before that gateway or are actually in it.

And you have to wonder: is it possible that, in reality, the

afterlife is just another dimension or another plane of

existence that is inhabited, that's navigable and is

accessible not only by those in the afterlife realm but also by

living extraterrestrial beings. REV. BARRY DOWNING: I think

that both near death experiences and abduction experiences are

coordinated by the same higher reality.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that extraterrestrials hold the

secret behind resurrection? Ancient astronaut theorists say

yes, and claim further evidence can be found by exploring

resurrection stories from antiquity.

The Kingdom of Israel. The 9th century BC.

In the Hebrew Bible, Elijah is portrayed as a great prophet and

a powerful warrior who slaughters the followers of the

god Baal. Yet he is perhaps best known not

for putting people to death, but for bringing them back to life.

ROBERT CARGILL: In the Biblical book of 1 Kings,

Chapter 17, we actually have the story of the prophet Elijah who

takes a widow's son who had died and lays on him three times and

then prays to God. And the son comes back to life.

RABBI ARIEL BAR TZADOK: Was this a miracle from the hand

of God? Was there some kind of a

medical involvement here? There was some clear physical

intervention on behalf of Elijah.

That's all this text tells us. HENRY: But we know that

Elijah was a great mystic and esotericist.

He possessed a power cloak called his "pala garment," which

means "power garment." He ultimately ascended into the

heavens in a whirlwind, like a spacecraft, while wearing this.

So you have to ask, is there some kind of otherworldly or

even extraterrestrial technology that Elijah had access to?

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorists point out that similar

resurrections occur in religions around the world.

From the Hindu god Krishna to the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl.

They believe these gods may, in fact, have been extraterrestrial

beings sent to Earth on a mission.

HENRY: When you read the stories of the celestials or

extraterrestrials that came in the ancient past, they were

always delivering these forbidden teachings about

crossing that boundary into a beautiful and glorious realm.

And one of their purposes in coming here is to teach us how

to cross over that boundary. NARRATOR: Is it possible that

some ancient accounts of gods rising from the dead are not

actually divine events, but rather examples of

extraterrestrial technology? And if so, are there stories in

which ancient cultures regularly performed resurrections?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe astounding answers can

be found buried in the Sahara Desert.

NARRATOR: Low Earth Orbit. September 2007.

An experiment aboard a Russian Foton M 3 spaceship is trying to

determine how resurrection works in the natural world.

It contains dozens of microscopic animals called

tardigrades. FISHER: The tardigrades are a

class of organisms that we refer to as extremophiles, meaning

they can, um, withstand extreme stresses that would kill most

organisms. NARRATOR: On Earth,

tardigrades are almost impossible to kill.

They can survive temperatures far above

boiling and far below freezing by shedding almost all water

in their cells. HEATHER BERLIN: The

tardigrade is a really interesting creature, and it's

actually evolved to have this amazing ability to go into these

deep states of what you might call hibernation.

They're able to survive in really harsh conditions.

But there's still metabolism going on, just very, very slowed

down. NARRATOR: On this mission,

scientists want to see if they can survive long blasts of solar

radiation, so they're placed outside the capsule for 12 days.

They become inert, but are they actually dead?

FISHER: They were brought back to Earth, rehydrated.

We think they also have really good, very efficient, DNA repair

mechanisms, because they essentially come back to life,

often rather rapidly. Scientists do refer to that

as as a resurrection. NARRATOR: There's a curious

parallel to the tardigrade in the ancient world... a dead

creature that was preserved by removing all liquids while it

awaited resurrection. Egyptian mummies.

In preparation for the afterlife, the ancients removed

all blood, water and organs from a body they planned to

mummify. JOHN VAN AUKEN: In order to

preserve a body, you cannot leave organs in the body that

are going to rot the body. And the Egyptians learned that

very quickly. And they knew which organs had

to be removed, and that the blood had to be drained from the

body to preserve the body for potential resurrection.

NARRATOR: If the body was properly prepared, the Egyptians

believed its soul would start its long and arduous journey

into the afterlife. CARGILL: There were a lot

of rules. There was a lot of very specific

navigation, uh, that needed to take place in order to get your

soul from death into this this afterlife.

Sometimes these rules were so difficult that they would be

written down. And oftentimes, we find then

written on the insides of the tops of coffins.

HENRY: At Saqqara is where we find the pyramid texts, some of

the oldest religious texts in the world.

They're devoted to the concept of how to not only preserve the

human body, but to prepare the soul for journeying into the

stars. The ancient Egyptians made it

clear that they were in contact with extraterrestrial

civilizations. In particular, one god, Ptah,

came from Sirius. Now, Ptah is also the god the

ancient Egyptians said who crafted or fashioned the human

body. He is also the god of

technology. So, when you put all this

together, it sure sounds like Ptah taught the ancient

Egyptians how to resurrect the body and travel the cosmos.

NARRATOR: Is it possible, as ancient astronaut theorists

suggest, that the Egyptians' complex beliefs about

resurrection came from the extraterrestrial beings that

they believed had visited their civilization in the past?

JASON MARTELL: It's very possible that when we look at

the Egyptians performing their very intricate mummification

process, this is something that they might've witnessed.

Maybe they didn't fully understand the process of what

made it possible, but they would do their best to mimic it, and

that's exactly what we see with mummification.

NARRATOR: But if the Egyptians believed the soul

traveled through the cosmos, why did they make such an effort to

preserve the corpse? According to their texts, the

ancient Egyptians believed the soul was made up of five parts.

The two most important were the Ba...

and Ka. The Ba journeyed into the

afterlife while the Ka remained in the body.

CARGILL: The proper preparation of a corpse during

burial was essential to success in the afterlife.

That is, the Ka needed a properly prepared body in which

to dwell. And if that body, if that

vessel, isn't properly maintained, that person could

die a second death in the afterlife.

NARRATOR: Most scholars say the Egyptians believed

resurrection involved the soul being born again in the

afterlife, rather than being physically resurrected on Earth.

HENRY: The ultimate objective was for the Ba to

unite with its twin, our Ka, as they called it, and form

a third entity that they called the Akh... the shining one,

the shining being, that was then capable of traveling the stars

as a celestial being. So, this is suggesting that the

ancient Egyptians had a very deep soul technology or a way of

transforming the soul, certainly prying it out of the body,

uniting it with its twin self and creating a light being form.

NARRATOR: But could it be that the Egyptians believed that

the part of the soul that remained within the body could

be resurrected as well? Might this be why they went to

such great lengths to preserve the body?

Because they believed there would be a time when they would

be bodily resurrected here on Earth?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest further

evidence that this was knowledge taught to our ancestors by

otherworldly visitors can be found by examining stories from

the African rain forest... stories of real life zombies.

NARRATOR: The Kingdom of Kongo.

1482. Portuguese explorer Diogo Cao is

the first European to sail up the Congo River into the heart

of this ancient African nation. Despite the dense rain forest on

both sides of the river, Cao spends months exploring this

unknown land and meeting its inhabitants.

After he reports his discoveries back home, the king of

Portugal dispatches waves of missionaries to the region.

The goal is to convert tribesman from their ancient religion of

Vodun to Catholicism. TOK THOMPSON: You have to

remember, this isn't too long after the Crusades.

So, uh, Europe had already sort of went from right from the

Crusades into colonialism, and one of the big projects was not

just to get land and money and slaves, although that was it,

but also to gain souls, converts for the Catholic Church.

NARRATOR: Over the next century, European missionaries

have great success turning the Kingdom of Kongo into a Catholic

land. Their belief that a sky god

created the Earth and its inhabitants is changed to the

Catholic origin story. But the locals hold on to some

of their beliefs, including the concept, which is also held by

the ancient Egyptians, that people have more than one soul.

THOMPSON: We have what's called the big soul and the

little soul. And one of them is responsible

for what we normally think of as our personality, what makes you,

you, what makes me, me. But the other one is more of a

basic sort of soul that animates us, that gets the flesh moving.

HENRY: They speak of us as each having a lesser angel

and a greater angel. At the time of death, the lesser

angel stays with the body. It doesn't know what to do.

But the greater angel leaves the body.

NARRATOR: As missionaries convert much of the population

to Christianity, traditional bokors... or witch doctors... are

forced to perform some Vodun ceremonies in secret.

European missionaries hear astounding stories that these

witch doctors use ancient rituals and traditional

knowledge to raise the dead, creating automatons that are

later dubbed "zombies." THOMPSON: The idea of the

zombies is that they actually have only one of these two

souls. They've passed on, they've died

and they've been resurrected. But only with the soul that

animates us. So they're lacking in that

personality and in that personal feelings and things.

DAVID CHILDRESS: With zombie ism, it is then only

the physical body is is resurrected in a sense and the

personalities, that part of the soul, has completely

disappeared. NARRATOR: Could these stories

have been true? And if so, might this be proof

that both the Egyptians and the tribes of the Congo were correct

in their belief that our consciousness is divided into

separate parts? But how could witch doctors, who

lived hundreds of years ago, with no access to modern

technology have been able to breathe life into the dead,

reviving just the part of the soul responsible for animating

the flesh? Ancient astronaut theorists

point out that African myths suggest voodoo magic originated

with the sky gods and their emissaries to Earth, known

as Orishas or Loas. GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: The topic

of the Orishas is very interesting to me, because they

are looked upon as these divine messengers, messengers of

knowledge. And the stories are very clear

that the Orishas arrived from the sky.

And what I find interesting is that in many of the old carvings

that we can find... in wood, for example... they're depicted in...

sitting in these weird craft, that look like a craft, and that

they all seem to feature these elongated skulls.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that these African sky gods were

actually extraterrestrials that not only taught the natives the

secrets of the soul, but also showed them how to resurrect the

dead? And could this be the origin of

our modern day stories of zombies?

HENRY: Perhaps, through the centuries, these original

teachings of these celestial beings were lost.

Sorcerers and magicians in Africa and elsewhere began

mimicking or trying to copy what the originals had done and had

a limited degree of success. They were able to create

zombies. But the source is clear.

These teachings originally came from celestial beings.

ERICH VON DANIKEN: Maybe some of the extraterrestrials had an

accident, so the extraterrestrials helped him

like a doctor would do today and the natives watched it.

They couldn't understand what was going on in medicine and

they copied it. NARRATOR: Were African witch

doctors mimicking the technology of their sky gods when they

tried to bring the dead back to life?

And if so, are there stories in which both parts of the soul

have been successfully resurrected?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe further evidence can be

found by exploring ancient Hindu beliefs in which the conscious

self can be reborn in a new body.

NARRATOR: Delhi, India. 1930.

Four year old Shanti Devi tells her family that in a previous

life she was a woman named Lugdi Bai and that she had lived in

the nearby village of Mathura. At first, they dismiss the story

as a childhood fantasy. But she knows so much about this

other world that she eventually convinces them she's telling the

truth, and they journey to Lugdi Bai's former village.

CHILDRESS: She actually went to meet her previous husband in

her other life. He also, after talking to her,

believed that she was the reincarnation of his previous

wife, who had died in childbirth.

And then, eventually, Mahatma Ghandi got involved in this

whole story. Uh, he had an investigation made

and Ghandi himself said that he was satisfied that she was the

reincarnation of this other woman.

NARRATOR: Could Lugdi Bai have died and been reincarnated

as Shanti Devi? The Hindu faithful believe

reincarnation... a spiritual resurrection in which a soul is

reborn in a new body... happens to almost everyone after death.

DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: When the soul goes up and then it has to

be born into something else, in another life life form.

So then it it comes back to Earth in another living form.

So that is the idea of reincarnation.

HENRY: In Hindu and other traditions, the body is viewed

simply as a vessel for the soul, that's capable of reincarnating

into successive bodies, or successive lifetimes.

NARRATOR: If the concept that the part of our consciousness

that forms our personality, that makes us who we are, continues

to exist after the body has died, then might many of us have

lived past lives? And only a handful of people

like Shanti Devi are able to remember them?

Some believe that not only is reincarnation real, but that in

certain cases there has even been physical evidence to

support this. DAVID WILCOCK: When we

examine the reincarnation research, a consistent theme

emerges regarding the existence of birthmarks on someone's body.

What we've found is multiple cases of people who have bizarre

birthmarks who then accurately remember having been someone

else in another lifetime. In some of these cases, we can

confirm that their past life person died in a particular way,

and they come back with a birthmark corresponding to that

exact area. If they die by gunshot, we know

where the gunshot wound took place.

The person reincarnates, and they have a birthmark right

where the gunshot actually entered.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that a birthmark could be the

consciousness creating a physical manifestation of a

traumatic event that happened in a previous life?

Proponents of reincarnation say further evidence that our

consciousness can be resurrected in another body can be found in

the fact that reincarnation isn't just part of Eastern

religions like Hinduism and Buddhism.

It appears in most ancient religions worldwide.

CARGILL: Early Greek religion had a process, a belief, in

reincarnation. Plato writes about it in his

writings, that the soul would enter into the body, and then,

when you died, the soul would be reprocessed and then would enter

back into a body. MICHAEL CARTER: In the Bible,

Jesus says, "Who do you say that I am?"

"Some people say you're John the Baptist.

Some people say you're Elijah. Some people say you're

Jeremiah." Well, those people are all dead.

So what they're saying is, "You've come back as this person."

That's what reincarnation is about.

NARRATOR: In each of these

religions, the gods are the ones that educated people about

reincarnation. Is it possible that the ancients

misunderstood who had bestowed this knowledge on their

societies and that they were actually extraterrestrial beings

sharing their wisdom about the afterlife?

HENRY: Ultimately, when you trace back the the origins of

the stories of reincarnation, you're led to extraterrestrial

sources. This was a teaching that was

brought here, and represents the ultimate spiritual attainment on

Earth. WILCOCK: We have over 30

ancient cultures around the world independently contacted by

human looking messengers who give them a unified body of

spiritual knowledge, which usually describes reincarnation,

the transmigration of the soul from one physical incarnation to

the next, as a reality. NARRATOR: Could it be that

celestial beings have mastered the science of reincarnation to

the point where they treat death as just another form of life?

And if so, are these aliens helping nurture our

understanding of this otherworldly realm?

CHILDRESS: If resurrections are really a resurrection of the

spirit rather than the body, then it's possible that we would

have a technology to follow that spirit from one body to the

next. And you have to wonder if this

doesn't come from extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: Could extraterrestrials have the

ultimate answers to life, death and resurrection?

And if so, will humanity ever possess those secrets?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe some people may already

have them... without even knowing it.

NARRATOR: Northern Israel, approximately 33 AD.

According to the gospels of the New Testament of the Bible, in

the months before his death, Jesus leads three of his

apostles away from the village in which they're staying and

together, they journey to a nearby mountain.

DOWNING: The story here is that Jesus went up a high

mountain with Peter, James and John... his three closest

followers. While they were there, a glowing

object hovered over them. And Moses and Elijah were

reported to appear to him. While they were there, the body

of Jesus began to glow tremendously.

And when they were finished with this scene, they went down the

mountain and Jesus told the disciples not to tell anybody

about this until after his crucifixion and resurrection.

This says to me that maybe the body of Jesus went through some

type of transformation which changed his body so that when he

arose from the dead, it would be a body that would never die

again. NARRATOR: According to the

Bible, it was several months after this incident that Roman

authorities arrested Jesus and put him to death by crucifixion.

KATHLEEN McGOWAN COPPENS: We know, following the crucifixion

on Friday night, he is laid into a tomb.

On Sunday, when Mary Magdalene and the other women come to

anoint his body, the tomb is empty.

The stone has been rolled back and his burial cloths are all

that remain. NARRATOR: Although Jesus is

said to have ascended to a heavenly realm, it is written

that he ascended "bodily." This has led some ancient

astronaut theorists to form a different interpretation of the

scriptures, based also on events that occurred just after

the resurrection, that indicate it may have had extraterrestrial

origins. DOWNING: Matthew's gospel,

chapter 28 says that, "An angel of God descended from heaven,

rolled back the stone and sat upon it.

And his clothing glistened white."

And so we have a being reported to be there.

This means that powers from another world were involved in

the resurrection of Jesus. CARTER: People come to the

tomb. They find the tomb empty.

They're describing, in in a couple of the gospels, young men

with raiment that was shining. Much like extraterrestrial, uh,

encounters today, where we see beings of light.

And they say, "Well, why are you seeking the living among the

dead? Jesus is gone, just like he said

would happen." NARRATOR: Many Christians

believe this seminal resurrection in Western culture

signifies that humans can... and many eventually will... be raised

from the dead. But does it actually give

humanity clues about how to pierce the veil between life and

death? Some ancient astronaut theorists

say that further evidence that resurrection is possible can be

found in the modern day church service.

St. Patrick's Cathedral. New York City.

TIMOTHY DOLAN: Give us perseverance, and lead us to

salvation. NARRATOR: Cardinal Timothy

Dolan says Mass at one of America's most impressive

Catholic churches... and during the Eucharist, he consecrates

bread and wine. According to church doctrine, at

this moment, he is literally turning them into the body and

blood of Jesus Christ. Cardinal Dolan, or any other

priest who performs this ritual, is actually performing a

resurrection. CARGILL: The Catholic

doctrine of transubstantiation argues that this is a miracle.

The Eucharist is a miracle. When you partake of the bread

and the wine, that it miraculously transforms into the

actual body and blood of Jesus. YOUNG: We then ingest the

holy. We ingest Christ, incorporate...

play on word... that is, make part of our corpus, part of our

body, the divine, in this ritual form.

It is a powerful activity. NARRATOR: But how can bread

and wine be changed into flesh and blood?

According to the Catholic Church, it's a mystery that

humans cannot possibly unravel. But some believe that instead of

a physical transformation, Jesus is resurrected metaphysically

during the church service... that Jesus was, and still is, an

advanced being that can move from one dimension to another.

As evidence, they cite what Jesus told his followers about

the power of gathering in groups to invoke his name.

YOUNG: Christ said, "Where two or more are gathered in my

name, there I am also." Something happens and it happens

in ritual worship, collective worship.

Now, I'm not putting aside the power and value of private

spiritual practice, but there's something else that happens when

this is done collectively. HENRY: Is this a form of

resurrection as well, where they, in fact, then, in a way,

embody the Christ energy during the Mass?

So maybe this is the purpose of the Mass... is to create this

environment where they can transform their body into a

vehicle capable of manifesting or holding the Christ energy.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that worshippers around the world

actually resurrect an otherworldly being every time

they gather to pray? And if so, is this just a

resurrection of the spirit? Or could we eventually reanimate

the body so it can be reunited with the soul?

Ancient astronaut theorists believe stunning advances in

modern medicine might soon make this possible.

NARRATOR: Tubingen, Germany. 2013.

Scientists at the University of Tubingen report a landmark

event. They have sequenced and decoded

DNA that was extracted from five Egyptian mummy heads.

Somehow, the way the ancient Egyptians embalmed the bodies of

their dead allowed DNA to survive for thousands of years.

FISHER: One of the things that happens in mummification is

that they rapidly, uh, extract the water, and it's thought that

water actually is one of the major contributors to the

degradation of the DNA. So that rapid extraction of

water is believed to protect the mummy from DNA degradation.

NARRATOR: Researchers have not yet found a complete set of

genetic blueprints to the ancient Egyptian body.

But this material shows them that if they do find enough DNA,

they can, in theory, bring these people back to life... to

physically resurrect them. ROBERT BAUVAL: If we have

the physical remains of a corpse, it might be possible to

resurrect this corpse literally, to regenerate the DNA.

Now, the process would be extremely difficult, but the

technology is on its way, and that will be amazing.

I mean, we would... they would literally have achieved their

objective is to be resurrected again.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that scientists are finally starting

to unravel the secrets to resurrection?

And if so, can humanity eventually master this power so

we can bring bodies and souls back into the physical world

whenever we choose? Some ancient astronaut theorists

suggest that many religions describe the moment when humans

reach this stage of evolution. It's variously called the

Rapture, the Day of Judgment, End of Days, or the Apocalypse.

BAR TZADOK: According to the legends, all humanity is to

evolve into a higher form. The proper word would be

transformation, wherein which we will have achieved the purpose

for which we have come to Earth in the first place.

But that, in and of itself, is not the end of the road.

Then we evolve beyond that. This is referred to as the Great

Resurrection. TSOUKALOS: One thing is

crystal clear. In all of the ancient texts,

those gods promised to return. Not just in the Bible, but in

many of the ancient sacred texts.

NARRATOR: Could the End of Days that most religions foresee

actually be the time when humanity discovers the secret to

resurrection, allowing everyone to move between physical and

spiritual planes of existence? And if so, will this realm be

the place where we finally meet the extraterrestrials that

ancient astronaut theorists say visited Earth thousands of years

ago? HENRY: The idea of... of

resurrection or rebirth into a new realm of existence, a new

kingdom of heaven, was central to our interaction with the

celestials or extraterrestrial beings.

You can almost make the argument that that's why they came here...

was to teach us how to resurrect ourselves, our bodies,

to transform our bodies into a celestial form, a light body

form. WILCOCK: We find a direct

through line connecting extraterrestrials, angels and

the near death experience. There is a compelling suggestion

that at the End of Days, the veil between realities will be

parted and we will gain the capability of moving directly

between the world of the living and the world of the afterlife.

TSOUKALOS: And I don't think that is anything that we should

look upon with dread, but with joy, because it means we're not

alone and, you know, they're there with us.

NARRATOR: Might we really have souls that exist in a realm

that can be accessed by otherworldly beings?

And if so, could stories involving the second coming of

prophets, the reanimation of the dead, and the close encounters

of those on the brink of death, be evidence that

extraterrestrials hold the secret to resurrection?

Perhaps as we come to better understand our own mortality,

we, too will uncover the mysteries of the afterlife and

in the process, discover the truth about our alien origins.

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Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH

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