All language subtitles for In Search Of s02e08 The End of the World

For thousands of years, mankind has been
speculating about the end of the world.

No matter the source, whether it's
ancient religious texts or modern

theory, there's one thing the experts
all agree on.

It's not just a possibility.

It's a fact.

The end is coming.

As early as 2800 BC, the Assyrian people
began predicting doomsday.

The Vikings called it Ragnarok, and in
the Bible's book of Revelation, it's

Armageddon. But even if you strip away
the fire and brimstone, there's still no

escape.

Observers and experimenters from Sir
Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking have

that life as we know it is doomed.

But when will it happen? How will it
happen? And is there anything we can do

delay the inevitable?

Tonight, we search for answers in two
ancient once thriving civilizations that

mysteriously vanished.

And for the first time ever, we reveal
the final doomsday prophecy of the

famed Nostradamus.

which may tell us the exact month and
year that we could face the end of the

world.

The search begins now.

When asked about the end of the world,
Albert Einstein famously said, wait and

see. He didn't know how, but he knew it
was bound to happen.

Since then, scientists have predicted
that everything from artificial

intelligence to nuclear war would be our
undoing.

Hollywood has dreamed up viruses,
unstoppable alien invasions, and dozens

versions of the zombie apocalypse.

But if you're looking for a doomsday
prophecy, that may actually come true.

There is one man who literally wrote the
book on the subject.

Michel de Nostredame, also known as
Nostradamus.

In 1555, the French astrologer published
a collection of 942 four -line poems,

simply named The Prophecies.

It's been in circulation ever since,
becoming the second best -selling book

all time after the Bible.

So why did his writings become so
famous?

Because many believe they have the power
to predict the future, and even the end

of the world.

Despite his long association with
Doomsday, Nostradamus' poems actually

mention of the world coming to an end.

He wrote about it only once, in a secret
prophecy that was meant for an audience

of one, his favorite son, Caesar.

In this little -known letter,
Nostradamus doesn't write in verse, but

uses plain language as any father would.

to warn his son of what he thought would
be the end of the world.

He called it the universal
conflagration.

And it's clear from his words that he
was truly afraid.

Nostradamus write, You must see now, my
son, that I find by my calculation that

the sword of death is approaching us.

He describes a multi -stage catastrophe
of epic proportion, including economic

upheaval and a broken treaty that leads
to a massive battle between forces he

mysteriously names the East and the
West.

Nostradamus closes with precisely how he
thought the world would end.

It will come in the shape of pestilence,
war more horrible than has been known

in three lifetimes.

and famine.

The prophecy doesn't specify when this
might happen.

But perhaps there is a way to better
understand his warning.

Because believe it or not, for some
societies, the end of the world has

before.

Over 4 ,000 miles southeast of Hawaii,

and a five -hour flight from Santiago,
Chile, lies a remote paradise called

Nui, commonly referred to as Easter
Island.

But despite its idyllic climate and
isolation, Rapa Nui was the site of one

history's most mysterious Armageddons.

Astroarchaeologist Edmundo Edwards has
been living and working on Easter Island

for over 50 years.

and is still trying to piece together
what happened one thousand years ago.

When you come here and you see all these
incredible monuments and you see all

these villages around the island, you
would imagine that they lived an idyllic

life. But as we start to uncover the
past, we learn that it was not that way.

Their civilization began with a stunning
feat of navigation, a mission with just

50 people on two outrigger canoes set
out from the Gambier Islands 1 ,600

away, landing on Easter Island around 1
,000 AD.

The Polynesians found themselves in a
private, lush utopia.

In addition to ample sources of food,
Easter Island had plenty of fresh water

from a massive crater lake.

The island's millions of large palm
trees could provide materials for houses

fishing boats.

Once they arrived to this beautiful
place, this fantastic beach, they

settle here. And this is where
everything started.

This is the first place to be settled,
and from here they spread to the whole

island.

By the time two generations had passed,
the Easter Islanders were thriving, and

they had grown to a population of 10
,000 strong.

They were so advanced that they
accomplished one of history's most

feats of construction.

They built over 900 massive Moai
statues, made to commemorate their

transporting them to hundreds of altars
across the island.

These statues can weigh over 160 tons
and stand as high as 50 feet.

Archaeologists are still unsure how the
islanders were able to craft these

gigantic masterpieces, let alone move
them upwards of 10 miles over rugged

terrain.

Here we are in the quarries of Rano
Raraku.

This is the place where they carved most
of the statues of the island, where the

carvers used to live, and where people
would come and commission statues.

Chiefs from all around the island hired
the stone carvers of Rano Raraku.

Thousands of artisans worked here,
sculpting larger and larger moai as

society continued to thrive.

Two hundred more years passed.

And the Rapa Nui civilization boomed to
a population of 26 ,000.

Their isolation ensured complete safety
from outside forces.

But despite their large numbers and
seclusion, Easter Island society was

to completely collapse.

So we have all these forests, we have
all the development.

All these people working, all these
chiefs building altars all around the

island, and suddenly everything just
stops.

The reasons why it stops, we don't know
exactly.

It is a mystery.

But something occurred here on the
island that made everybody stop.

If we can find clues to uncover why the
civilization ended here on Easter

Island,

It could bring us one step closer to
understanding how our own world might

day meet its end.

These statues were abandoned.

The quarries were abandoned. In some
cases, they had a fast, huge statue that

was practically finished.

That must have been years and years of
work.

Why did this happen?

It happened because their world began
crumbling around them.

starting with their precious water
supply.

Without

fresh

water, the island's plants began to
wither.

Through deforestation and drought, the
palm trees that once numbered in the

millions went completely extinct.

To avoid starvation, the people began
eating Polynesian rats.

Eventually, even that food source ran
out.

Just as Nostradamus had supposedly
predicted, the clock was ticking on the

Easter Island civilizations.

But things would soon get a whole lot
worse.

Facing the end of their world, the Rapa
Nui were about to do...

the unthinkable.

The end of the world has been
contemplated and feared by mankind since

beginning.

Famed astrologer Nostradamus predicts it
will come in the form of famine,

drought, pestilence, and a great war
between the East and West.

But could it really happen to us?

Well, for the secluded paradise of
Easter Island, it already has.

After 500 years of development, the
island's 26 ,000 residents had managed

carve over 900 massive Moai statues.

But then, around the year 1500, the
islanders began to run out of water and

food.

They tried to sustain themselves on a
diet of Polynesian rats.

And when those ran out, they turned to
an even more unthinkable diet.

I excavated one of the altars here in
1960, and there was a

skeleton inside, but it had its head,
its arms, its legs were missing.

I mean, there was a cannibal beast that
was there. You could see it.

The islanders eventually resorted to
setting up human meat markets, where

were divided up for consumption.

Here we have the petroglyph. On the
petroglyph, you have all these little

That supposedly was a tally of the
people that were killed and brought

And then the warriors would collect in
the afternoon and take home and cook

and eat.

There are hundreds of dots in this
petroglyph, maybe even thousands, each

representing a horrifying act of
cannibalism.

And if starvation wasn't enough,
something even worse happened.

On this secluded island, which had been
completely safe from outside attackers,

a brutal war broke out.

The tribes from the east side of Rapa
Nui, went to war with the West over the

limited resources still available on the
island.

When Europeans arrived in the 1700s, the
island was deforested and less than 2

,000 people remained.

A once successful civilization had been
completely snuffed out.

The story of the Rapa Nui has clear
parallels to the predictions of

He wrote to his son of forces from the
east bringing war, famine, drought,

disease, and pestilence.

All of these same factors contributed to
the end of the Rapa Nui civilization.

Could Nostradamus actually have foretold
their fate?

According to his believers, it wouldn't
be the first time.

For instance, in one poem he writes, The
blood of the just will be lacking in

London, burnt up in the fire of 66.

Incredibly, the great fire of London
took place in 1666, just as predicted.

Another poem says, A man named de Gaulle
is a three -time leader.

Italy and the waters of Venice will
tremble. He will be renowned above all

monarchs. Somehow, despite hundreds of
years between them, Nostradamus

the success of French Prime Minister
Charles de Gaulle, a three -time leader

fought against Italy during World War
II.

And perhaps most eerily, this poem.

From the depths of the west of Europe, a
young child will be born of poor

people. He who by his tongue will seduce
a great troop.

When the child of Germany observes
nothing, the greater part of the

will be against Hister.

Nostradamus was slightly wrong on the
name, but the Hister of this poem

perfectly matches the story of Adolf
Hitler.

Is it possible that Nostradamus had the
psychic ability to see the future?

Actually, he took a much more scientific
approach.

Nostradamus combined three methods to
make his predictions.

He studied ancient religious prophecies,
historic events, and the movements of

the stars and planets.

In other words, he looked to the past to
see the future.

And it worked, because history is known
to repeat itself.

Does that mean the end of our world will
come in a similar way?

Are we doomed to the same fate as the
Rapa Nui?

According to Nostradamus, history proves
that we are.

Because the same prophecies that
destroyed the Rapa Nui also marked the

one of the greatest civilizations the
world has ever known.

When contemplating the end of the world,

Religion and science both agree on one
thing.

It's inevitable.

Soon, we'll explore the final doomsday
prophecy of the famed Nostradamus, which

could reveal precisely when our world
might end.

But if you still don't believe in the
end of the world, you should know it's

happened at least twice before to other
civilizations.

once to the private utopia of Easter
Island, and once to a much more

sizable population.

These are images of the Mayan Empire,
one of the most advanced civilizations

Earth, which spanned over 125 ,000
square miles across Central

America.

They had expert knowledge of
mathematics, engineering, and astronomy.

They constructed a complex network of
large cities, each with populations of

to 100 ,000 people.

In many ways, their development was just
as impressive as ancient Greece or the

Roman Empire.

And then suddenly, around 900 AD, their
world ended.

the Maya abandoned their great cities
and the empire collapsed.

To this day, no one knows exactly why it
happened.

Anthropologist Fito Alvarado from the
National Autonomous University of

is convinced that the answers to the
Mayan Armageddon lie in the ancient city

Copan. Until the 5th century AD, Copan
used to be a farming village.

very modest and simple lifestyle.

And it's upon the arrival of the
individual called K 'inich Yash Kukmo

Copan starts to transform into a massive
kingdom.

King Yash Kukmo arrived in Copan in 426
A .D.

Thanks to his military, political, and
agricultural skills, Copan's population

exploded.

And as Copan flourished, So did the rest
of the Maya civilization.

The Maya were the most advanced people
in the pre -Hispanic Americas.

They grasped the mathematical concept of
zero, which experts consider to be the

first step toward advanced calculations.

With those abilities, they created the
most accurate calendar that existed at

the time, more accurate than anywhere
else on Earth.

Once they could predict the seasons, the
Maya were able to develop an incredibly

productive agriculture capable of
sustaining several million inhabitants.

The city of Copan enjoyed 12 generations
of prosperity.

The question is, how could such a robust
civilization so quickly and

mysteriously come to an end?

It all started with the arrival of
Copan's 13th king, Ubac Will.

also known as 18 Rapid.

And as we're about to see, his kingdom's
downfall not only echoes Nostradamus'

prediction, but it might also have
serious implications for what could one

happen to us.

One of the world's leading experts on
Copan downfall is Dr. Jorge Ramos.

He has been leading the excavations here
for over 10 years.

We're walking through the last major
monument commissioned by 18 Rabbit, the

third ruler of Copan.

In the year 737, 18 Rabbit commissioned
a massive ball court to be built in the

center of Copan, the second largest in
the empire, tantamount to the Roman

Colosseum.

But just 113 days after the ball court
was completed, a devastating tragedy

struck Copan, an account of which can be
found nearby, hiding in plain sight.

This may look like just a staircase, but
in fact it's much more.

But most important thing here is that
the text is not much for the people,

for the God.

Since Mayan written texts, books, and
scrolls have all been destroyed over

the 2 ,000 glyphs on this staircase form
one of the most complete histories of

the empire that still exists today.

Hidden within these stone carvings is a
crucial clue to the Mayan downfall.

It's the only time that they mention the
death of the king.

You can see a figure lay down with the
legs crossed.

That's the image of 18 Rabbit. And on
the side, you have the captions where he

mentioned that he died.

And while kings may come and go, the
brutal death of 18 Rabbit may have been

tipping point for an entire civilization
to collapse.

Within months, the powerful Maya would
be starving, suffering, and dying

by precisely the same methods
Nostradamus predicted.

For their empire, the end of the world
was coming faster than they ever could

have imagined.

The Ancient Mayan City's Date of Copan

was once the centerpiece of a massive
and thriving civilization.

But following the reign of their king,
known as 18 Rabbit, it all came crashing

down.

Only one inscription at Copan mentions
the king's death, but it doesn't

how it happened or why.

Fortunately, a nearby site may have the
answers.

For me, studying Copán, it was very
revealing because he helped me to

the elements of the collapse of the Maya
as a society.

And all of these clues are leading to
Kiriguá.

Just across the border in present -day
Guatemala lies the Mayan town of

a small settlement which had a
population of only 2 ,000 people at its

Kirigoua was a tributary city of Copan.

In other words, all of its political
decisions were governed by its much

neighbor to the southeast.

This is Kawakiskai, king of Kirigoua. He
was enthroned by the Copan king, Aten

Rabbit, in the year 726 AD.

All of these monuments that we are
seeing are basically bragging about this

great achievement in the life of the
king.

And those monuments reveal the true tale
of what happened to Copan's king, 18

Rabbit.

This is the clearest hieroglyphic
inscription that refers to the death of

Rabbit.

This is chalk that literally means
beheading.

kidnapped his former mentor, held him
captive for three days,

and then had him brutally decapitated.

From here, readers of Nostradamus will
hear a very familiar tale.

The murder of 18 Rabbit led to a large
-scale war between the Eastern and

Western Maya kingdoms.

That war combined with a massive drought
turned their once thriving agriculture

to ruins and just like what happened in
easter island famine

pestilence and disease soon follow in
copan we have

we have been able to recover a large
sample of human remains in which

bioarcheologists can can trade
signatures of disease, and of course you

signatures of malnutrition in the bones.
So we can tell that these people were

lacking of food. They were lacking of
not only proteins, but the main element

the diet that they used to have.

In the end, no corner of the empire was
spared from the devastation.

This phenomenon was caused by
overpopulation that brought different

the environment.

We were lacking of resources.

That brought disease and also wars
between the Maya centers.

Within just two generations, the
sprawling classic Maya civilization was

tell a brutal tale of an ancient
Armageddon.

But could they also have something to
say about our own time?

The Maya had the most accurate and
advanced calendar.

They were capable to refer to events far
back in the past, but also to make

predictions of the future.

One of the most famous future
predictions of the Maya is hidden at the

this monument.

It could be easily missed by the
untrained eye, but in fact, it sets up a

crucial theory about the end of the
world.

This hieroglyphic inscription refers to
the completion of a 400 -year cycle in

the Mayan calendar, the completion of
the 13 Khatun.

Amongst thousands of Mayan texts that
have been discovered, these five small

hieroglyphics are unique.

Nowhere else in the entire empire does
this passage appear.

And yet, it could be the single most
important message the Maya left in the

aftermath of their destruction.

We've now seen two thriving
civilizations that collapsed in the same

Nostradamus predicted.

For both the Maya and the Rapa Nui, the
end of the world came suddenly due to

war from the east, drought, famine, and
disease.

At this point, the question may not be
if this will happen again, but when.

The Mayan calendar at Curagua may
provide some clues.

The Maya broke down their long -count
calendar into five measurements of time.

They used dots to represent one and
lines to represent five. A shell image

represents zero.

So according to the Maya, their society
started at a date of 13 baktuns, zero

katoons, zero toons, zero weanels, and
zero kins.

That date, at the exact completion of 13
baktuns, restarted their calendar and

began a new cycle.

The clock was now ticking on a new era,
the era of humans on earth.

And at the end of 13 more Bhaktuns, the
cycle will start again.

In other words, the Maya didn't just
pinpoint the beginning of the world.

They may have provided the tools to
calculate precisely when it will come to

end.

Tonight, armed with Nostradamus' final
doomsday prophecy,

The search is on for the precise moment
our world might come to an end.

Fortunately, a recently unearthed Mayan
calendar may provide some additional

clues.

The calendar at Kirigoua reveals that
the Maya believed time was cyclical and

that it would reset every 13 baktuns, a
period that in our calendar is exactly 1

,872 ,000 days long.

When does that new era begin?

Well, actually, it already has.

On a date you may have heard of.

December 21st, 2012.

Doomsday predictors worldwide thought
2012 might have marked the end of days.

But the ancient Maya felt differently.

They didn't imagine the end of an era to
mean Armageddon.

They thought there was an era before
this cycle.

And there would be another afterward.

Maya always seen the completion of a
time cycle with a very positive note.

it's the beginning of a new era, a new
start.

And that would have been a big
celebration.

And of course, the world didn't end in
2012.

But according to Nostradamus, the new
era still might be significant.

We've seen Nostradamus' predictions of
how the world will end in his secret

letter to his son.

But that letter also provides more
crucial information, his roadmap of the

events leading up to doomsday.

He specifically states that a new era
will begin just before the end of the

world.

Following this, he writes, there will
have fallen from the sky a great

of fire and burning stones.

From this moment, before 177 years,
three months and 11 days have passed.

By pestilence, long famine, and wars,
the world will be so diminished.

Could the Mayan new era, so recently
begun, have also started a ticking clock

towards Armageddon?

If so, we should look for Nostradamus'
next sign.

burning stones falling from the sky.

This is the Chelyabinsk event, a meteor
that violently exploded over Russia less

than two months after the Mayan cycle
reset in December 2012.

The timing of this fiery meteor is
uncanny.

And according to scientists at Pasadena,
California's Planetary Society, another

much bigger threat could be on its way.

In 1980, Carl Sagan, Louis Friedman, and
Bruce Murray founded the

Planetary Society to empower the public
to advance space science and

exploration.

Their efforts continue today under the
leadership of CEO Bill Nye.

One of the group's key initiatives
Planetary Defense, led by Chief

Bruce Betts.

So asteroid defense, sometimes called
planetary defense, is protecting the

from impact from asteroids or comets.

And if we don't do something, they will
hit the Earth again, 100 % probability.

Anyone who's watched a meteor shower
knows that many asteroids simply burn up

the atmosphere with no effect.

But they actually get close enough to
cause damage with surprising frequency.

About once every five years, an asteroid
with as much kinetic energy as an

atomic bomb reaches our planet.

It's a trend that shows no signs of
stopping.

There are thought to be about a million
near -Earth asteroids capable of causing

significant damage if they impacted the
Earth.

And we've only found about 20 ,000 of
them.

Any near -Earth object less than 100
meters long is incredibly difficult for

scientists to detect.

But even objects of that size can be
devastating.

In 2013, there was an impact of a
roughly 18 to 20 meter diameter asteroid

we did not see coming over Chelyabinsk,
Russia.

The explosion from this relatively small
meteor injured 1 ,500 people, and the

shock waves from the impact damaged 7
,200 buildings in six cities.

Impacts like these suggest that our
planetary defenses may need significant

improvement.

Here we've got the asteroid belt. This
is all known asteroids, with yellow

the asteroid belt, not dangerous to
Earth, and blue, dangerous to Earth.

So it's critical to find more of the
asteroids that are potential threats to

Earth. We can't know if we're in danger
if we haven't found them and figured out

what their orbits are.

The Planetary Society is working
alongside NASA and several universities

increase our knowledge of dangerous
asteroids and save the planet from

devastation.

One of their most promising projects is
called OSIRIS -REx.

As part of this project, a probe has
been landed on the near -Earth asteroid

Bennu.

The team hopes to learn more about
Bennu's orbit and composition to better

determine how to intercept and destroy
any asteroid that could become a threat.

By the end of the OSIRIS -REx main
mission, it will make a major

both to asteroid science, to history of
the solar system, and to asteroid

defense.

Currently, Bennu itself isn't a threat.

It has a very stable orbit revolving
around the Sun every 1 .2 years.

But that stability may not last much
longer.

Bennu will do a close flyby of Earth in
2135, and the Earth's gravity will

change the orbit of Bennu.

After this upcoming close encounter with
the Earth, scientists can only guess

where the asteroid will head.

But if their projections are correct, we
might end up directly in the line of

fire for a potentially world -ending
event.

The famed Nostradamus predicts that the
end of the world will commence with a

great rain of fiery rocks from the sky.

And as it turns out, scientists might
agree.

The Planetary Society is currently
tracking 20 ,000 dangerous asteroids

orbits could approach our planet.

One in particular, the 500 -meter -wide
Bennu, may soon be on a collision course

with Earth.

Bennu is recognized as a potentially
hazardous asteroid, a category of

that are a subset of the near -Earth
asteroid population that are both big,

over 140 meters,

come particularly close to Earth in
their orbit.

For the next 100 years or so, Bennu's
orbit will remain stable.

But in the year 2135 it will pass quite
close to Earth.

Our gravity will change its course,
making its new path unpredictable and

potentially deadly.

Bennu has one of the highest
probabilities of any asteroid that we

impact Earth. It's about 1 in 2 ,700
that it would impact sometime late in

22nd century.

In other words, once Bennu's course is
altered, we'll be twice as likely to die

from the asteroid's impact than from a
simple traffic accident.

If Bennu strikes, scientists have
calculated that it could happen between

years 2175 and 2196.

This is a comparison of the 20 -meter
Chelyabinsk impactor with the more than

500 -meter Bennu, which obviously would
be enormously more destructive.

An asteroid of Bennu's size would
release 80 ,000 times more energy than

Hiroshima atomic bomb left.

resulting in a major catastrophic event.

A 500 -meter asteroid like Bennu with an
Earth impact would cause a level of

destruction that's really unprecedented
in human history, creating a true global

disaster.

Before that happens, scientists are
racing to develop methods to protect the

Earth from asteroid Bennu.

and others like it that are yet to be
discovered.

If you have a lot of lead time, you may
be able to use what they call the

kinetic impactor. This is basically you
slam a spacecraft into the asteroid and

push it, change its orbit.

Another option is nuclear option, which
obviously has some major political

issues about it, but you can use nuclear
weapons to either deflect or disrupt.

But while ideas are taking shape, the
technology isn't ready yet.

And with Bennu bearing down, we may have
precious little time remaining.

The more I've learned about the issue,
the more serious I realize it is.

It's got a 100 % probability of
something really damaging hitting the

Sometimes it's hard to get people to
take it seriously because it doesn't

every day. It doesn't even happen every
year.

but it will happen.

If asteroid Bennu ends up on a crash
course for our planet, the timing of it

a very surprising correlation with the
predictions of both the Maya and

Nostradamus.

What if December 2012 marked the
beginning of the new era as foretold by

Nostradamus?

His calculations place the end of the
world 177 years, 3 months, and 11 days

afterward.

That would be April of the year 2190,
directly within the 21 -year window that

asteroid Bennu could impact the Earth.

Is it possible that Nostradamus
identified the exact timeline in which

will end?

We don't know if Bennu will collide with
our planet.

We also don't know if the start of
Nostradamus' new era coincides with the

new era in 2012.

What we do know is that Nostradamus used
an intensive study of the past to

predict the future.

And time and time again, great
civilizations were undone by the same

wrote about.

War, disease, pestilence, drought, and
famine.

The Rapa Nui thought that they were safe
in their isolation, happily crafting

their monuments, oblivious to the many
factors that caused their demise until

was too late.

The Maya controlled a vast territory
with technology so advanced that they

thought that they could see the future.

And yet, like so many before and since,
their world still came to an end.

What does the future have in store for
us?

Could 2190 be our last year on Earth?

As Albert Einstein said, all we can do
is wait and see.

The search continues.