Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Flying saucers.

STEVEN M. GREER: It's going 20,000 miles per hour.

It makes a right-hand turn without decelerating.

That isn't possible.

NARRATOR: Magic carpets.

DAVID CHILDRESS: There are traditions of King

Solomon having an airship.

NARRATOR: And fiery wheels descending from the heavens.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: What Ezekiel

described in his eyewitness report,

it was misunderstood technology.

NARRATOR: In ancient cultures throughout the world,

there are stories of strange sightings in the sky.

Are they simply fiction, or might they

be accounts of alien vehicles?

GRAHAM HANCOCK: You begin to have to ask yourself,

is something going on here?

Are we missing part of the story?

And honestly, I think we are.

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 we find evidence in ancient stories

of alien transports?

Saqqara, Egypt, located roughly 20 miles south of Cairo,

it is home to the world-famous step pyramid of King Djoser.

Dating back more than 4,000 years,

it is the oldest of Egypt's 97 pyramids.

Saqqara is also famous for being one

of Egypt's oldest burial grounds,

earning it the nickname City of the Dead.

It was here in 1891 that French archaeologists unearthed

an ancient tomb containing the burial

remains of Pa-di-Imen, an official

from the third century BC.

Among the various items discovered

was a small wooden model of what appeared to be a bird,

lying beside a papyrus bearing the inscription

"I want to fly."

The artifact was later sent to the Cairo museum

where authorities placed it alongside several other bird

figurines.

The model sat largely unnoticed until 1969,

when Egyptologist Dr. Khalil Messiha was examining the bird

collection and noticed that there

was something very different about the Saqqara Bird.

UWE APEL: It's interesting because on one hand clearly

it should look like a bird because it has eyes and has

a typical nose of a bird.

On the other hand, the wings are clearly not bird wings.

ALGUND EENBOOM: To the middle of the rim,

you see this wing a bit thicker.

In this region, the lift-up is the highest.

The whole thing becomes thinner to the end of the wings.

And those wings model down.

And this is a very modern aerodynamic design.

UWE APEL: Then the other point is

birds have no rudders because a bird

does not need rudder because of its aerodynamic architecture.

And so there is the idea that they are not representing birds

but flying machines or aircraft.

NARRATOR: Could the ancient Egyptians have

possessed the power of flight?

In 2006, aviation and aerodynamics expert Simon

Sanderson built a scale model of the Saqqara Bird,

five times larger than the original,

to test that possibility.

SIMON SANDERSON: We're running at a constant speed,

slowly increasing the angle of attack,

and then measuring the forces which it's producing.

That way, we can learn about its flight characteristics.

At 10 degrees, we're producing four times weight and lift.

So it actually would be flying now.

-MAN: Yeah. -SIMON SANDERSON: That's good.

ALGUND EENBOOM: Tests shows the Saqqara Bird

is a highly developed glider.

And this is a design we use today.

NARRATOR: During the Sanderson tests,

it was discovered that the only thing preventing the Saqqara

Bird from achieving flight was the lack

of a rear stabilizing rudder, or elevator,

needed to maintain balance.

Is it possible that the Saqqara Bird ever possessed

this critical component?

What is missing is something like an elevator.

But if you look at this feature here,

then we may interpret that something like an elevator

was connected here but was lost during the history.

NARRATOR: Computer models seem to confirm that the Saqqara

Bird is certainly airworthy.

But there is another problem to consider--

launching a glider.

Modern methods require the use of a tow plane that pulls

the glider into the air then releases it when

a proper altitude is reached.

So how might the ancient Egyptians

have launched the Saqqara Bird?

The scientifics of Egyptology told us

that such a bird could

be powered by catapults to fly.

And we had a high acceptance by Egyptian scientists.

NARRATOR: The idea of using a catapult does

have a contemporary parallel.

Many of today's glider enthusiasts

employ a bungee cord system to launch

their sail craft into the air.

But if the Saqqara Bird is capable of flight,

where would ancient Egyptians have acquired such technology?

ALGUND EENBOOM: I think that people in ancient times

were visited by beings coming not from this earth.

And they gave us culture and scientific technologies

to improve our life on Earth, coming from the primitive

to a higher-developed culture.

PHILIP COPPENS: It's a fact that our ancestors were more

intelligent and had more technological

superior capabilities than our history books

give them credit for.

GRAHAM HANCOCK: You begin to have to ask yourself,

are we missing part of the story?

And honestly, I think we are.

I think there has been a forgotten episode in human history.

And we're a species with amnesia.

We don't really remember who or what we are.

ROBERT BAUVAL: I haven't been convinced

that there is evidence that supports an ancient visitation.

But there is no reason why not.

And I think to shut oneself to that possibility is a mistake

mainly because there are so many anomalies

that we can't explain.

NARRATOR: Could the Saqqara bird really be a model

of an ancient flying machine?

And if so, might this be evidence that our ancestors

witnessed alien technology?

Perhaps further proof can be found

by examining a century-old Mexican ritual

called the Dance of the Flyers.

Veracruz, Mexico.

Five men in ceremonial dress ascend a 100-foot pole.

Once at the top, one of the men performs

a sacred dance while playing a flute and drum atop a platform.

The other four men launch themselves off.

It is a ritual known as La Danza de los Voladores,

or the Dance of the Flyers.

JONATHAN YOUNG: The ritual has the leader stand on the top

of the pole, tiny little platform,

and the four flyers wrap a cable round that pole

and then branch out and fly around in a pyramid shape

in perfect synchronous order.

It's a stunning and daring thing to do.

They are representing the birds.

They're representing the four cardinal directions.

They are representing the elements.

Heavily symbolic and mythic and is a powerful ritual.

NARRATOR: The Totanac people who practice this ceremony today

claim it is a dance that was invented

500 years ago as a plea to the gods to end a severe drought.

But could this ancient ritual have different, perhaps

otherworldly origins?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: What we have here with the Voladores is

100% living mythology,

something that describes and illustrates

in front of our living eye the descent of the gods

from a long time ago.

NARRATOR: According to ancient astronaut theorists,

the Voladores ritual is a re-enactment

of a close encounter with alien visitors in the distant past.

They believe extraterrestrials descended

upon the flat mountaintops of the Palpa region

in Peru around 500 AD, dropping from their aircraft,

and gliding down to Earth in spiraling circles.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: The Voladores ritual

was very technological as in, you

know, these beings descending from the sky,

and the circle signifying arrival of the gods.

Where does that flying or descending gods motif

originate?

Our ancestors saw something because why

would you hurl yourself from a 100 foot pole out of nothing?

To imitate a bird?

Birds are not that important.

Something very significant happened.

NARRATOR: Could an alien encounter

really be the inspiration for the Voladores ritual?

And could the Totonac people who created the ceremony really

have been trying to mimic the ancient gods power of flight?

As further evidence that early humans may have encountered

alien visitors equipped with the power of flight,

ancient astronaut theorists point

to various artifacts and statues depicting ancient gods.

One such example is the Mayan god Ah-Muzen-Cab, also

known as the Flying Bee God.

Another is the most prominent god

of early Mesoamerican culture, the winged deity Quetzalcoatl.

LOGAN HAWKES: The Mesoamericans believed in the plumed serpent,

or Quetzalcoatl, which came from the sky, bringing wisdom,

powered the wind, and also influenced

everything that happened in the daily life of the Mayans.

In fact, they looked to the sky for all their answers,

from everything as simple as when to plant

corn to when to go to war.

They believed all answers in the universe came from the sky

and tried to relate that to their daily lives.

WILLIAM HENRY: The ancient record

are loaded with fantastic examples

of the gods flying around. These are the ancient aliens.

And humans are being shown the ultimate capability

of these gods.

ERICH VON DANIKEN: In my eyes, because we

are the sons of the gods, we are the offsprings of the gods,

whatever humans can dream, whatever humans

think was once reality in the past

or will be reality in the future.

NARRATOR: July 31, 2003, the English Channel.

Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person

to cross this 22-mile wide body of water

in freefall using a specially made fiber wing.

But the Austrian daredevil is just one

of many who have used wing suits to simulate

flying by means of a freefall.

ED PAWLOWSKI: A wingsuit is basically a jumpsuit

that you put on under your rig.

And it's designed to actually make you

fly when you exit the plane.

The material inflates underneath your arms,

in between your legs, and creates

basically an airfoil that you glide on through the air.

It's an amazing feeling because you're actually

the pilot and the plane.

It is total freedom.

You feel as though you're flying.

Though you are falling, you're using

the air to maneuver your body.

And the wingsuit helps you cover a lot of ground

as you're descending.

Some people have been exceeding 2 to 1 glide ratio.

For example, 3 to 1 would mean for every foot

you descend you're traveling three feet forward.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: We got these flying guys that

have these wings attached to their backs,

and they hurl themselves out of planes.

And some even have rocket engines attached to them.

And so they essentially themselves become airplanes.

Now imagine showing that to someone from 100 years ago.

That person would be in complete awe of what they're witnessing,

not understanding that there is technology involved with this.

ERICH VON DANIKEN: Just using our own body we cannot fly.

We have no wings.

But of course, we have the fantasy

and we have the technology to develop wings that we can fly.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: The pursuit of flight

has been one of the most sought after quests

in all of mankind's history. Why?

Because with flight, you could reach, conceivably,

the realm of the gods.

NARRATOR: From the ancient Greek myth of Icarus, fashioning

wings of feathers and wax, to modern daredevils like Felix

Baumgartner, human beings have been

fascinated with and often frustrated

by their desire to fly.

But have birds really served as mankind's inspiration?

Or were they inspired by something else, perhaps

something extraterrestrial?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes and claim further proof can

be found by examining ancient China's

mysterious stories of dragons.

Celestial beams coming down to earth.

Gods descending from the sky.

Do similar accounts exist in other cultures and other

religions across the world?

And if so, what is the explanation?

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: We have to remind

ourselves that our ancestors were highly intelligent.

However, their technological frame of reference

was different than our technological frame of reference.

So they didn't have the vocabulary

with which to describe or with which to name

certain things that they saw.

So what did they do?

They used words that they were familiar with in their time.

And so they try to describe whatever

they witnessed to the best of their abilities

with their vocabulary.

NARRATOR: Ancient China also shared some of the same beliefs

that can be found in Egyptian, Native

American, and Dogon legends, that deities

arrived from the stars.

According to Chinese mythology dating back to 3000 BC,

when the God named Huangdi was born,

there was a radiance from the great star Qi.

Huangdi would later emerge from the belly

of a fire-breathing dragon to become China's first emperor.

JONATHAN YOUNG: The origins of the Han Chinese people

start with a story of a great god looking down with empathy.

Here were people in poverty in a beautiful, rich country--

and the landscape profound.

But the people were suffering.

He took pity and decided to come down.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Huangdi arrived on planet Earth

in a flying dragon.

He had the power of flight.

Huangdi could be anywhere within minutes.

And he usually accomplished this by hopping on his dragon

and flying somewhere.

Now this divine energy becomes human

and is a great leader, the Yellow Emperor, who

rules and unites the people.

And there is a period of great prosperity

until his work is done.

NARRATOR: Huangdi brought order to the chaos,

creating China's first empire.

He is seen as a cultural hero and is credited

with the invention of the compass,

acupuncture, and the standardization

of Chinese writing.

One of his greatest legacies is the Great Wall of China.

JONATHAN YOUNG: When the land is prosperous,

he decides it's time to go.

And the great yellow dragon comes back.

And he gets back into the belly of the dragon

and flies off for ever.

Now, were these dragons truly

dragons in a biological nature?

Or were they misinterpreted types of machines--

because as we all know dragons are

always correlated with spewing fire and a lot of smoke?

Whenever we see a modern rocket take off,

there's all this smoke.

And sometimes the smoke is yellow, and sometimes it's red.

So it's very bizarre how we have these correlations

between the ancient times and modern times today.

Mythology is the effort to grasp

what we can't grasp, to understand what is beyond us.

In the Eastern teachings, the dragons very often

carry people, sometimes on their back,

sometimes inside their bellies.

So if we think of them as a poet's effort

to explain a vehicle that was strange to them,

well, those sound like flying saucers.

So it might just be a problem of translation,

because after all, it's just a word.

It's trying to describe something

that's very difficult to grasp.

NARRATOR: Could Chinese tales of dragons

be based on ancient interpretations of rocket ships

descending to Earth?

And if so, could the legends of Huangdi,

like those of Quetzalcoatl and the Egyptians Saqqara Bird,

be evidence of alien visitations in the distant past?

Perhaps the answer can be found high on a mountaintop

known as the Throne of Solomon.

In the 21st century, modern transportation

and communication methods have connected

the world like never before.

Products or ideas, no matter where in the world

they may have originated, can spread to even

the most remote countries.

A hip-hop hit in Brooklyn might make it big in Tokyo

before it's even heard in Manhattan.

This cultural interconnection has transformed the globe.

But is it new?

Mainstream archaeologists believe ancient civilizations

such as those found in the remote Pacific Islands, Asia,

and South America developed independently from each other.

But ancient astronaut theorists contend that similarities

in building styles and beliefs found in these cultures

suggest that a worldwide trade route may have

connected them to each other.

DAVID CHILDRESS: But just like we have airports today

around the world, in ancient times with the Vimanas,

there would have been hangars for the craft,

airports for them to land.

And those airports would have been

situated in strategic places around the world.

And that's exactly what we see in remote places.

NARRATOR: Legends of air travel are also

found in ancient Africa and the Middle East.

According to the "Kebra Nagast," a holy book of the Ethiopians

written sometime before the second century AD,

the Queen of Sheba was once given a gift of a flying carpet

by King Solomon of Israel.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: The "Kebra Nagast"

is one of the most important texts you've never heard of.

The "Kebra Nagast" means the "Book of Kings,"

and it is the most sacred book of the Ethiopians.

In it, King Solomon, it's described,

he had access to some type of flying machine.

And in that part of the world, the term flying carpet

was always used very liberally.

My question is-- did they really mean actual flying carpets,

or was it another term with which to describe

some type of a flying machine?

DAVID CHILDRESS: This was the original "Chariots of the Gods"

that Erich Von Daniken talked about.

The flying magic carpets of the "Arabian Nights" stories.

There are traditions in the Middle East of King Solomon

having this airship and flying to different places

in the Middle East, certain mountains which are known

as the Mountains of Solomon.

These may have been certain airports or landing

areas for these Vimanas.

Nicholas Roerich, famous Russian-American explorer,

who traveled all through Central Asia and Tibet in the 1920s,

he too claimed that Tibetans had traditions

of King Solomon flying to Tibet in this aircraft.

NARRATOR: The "Kebra Nagast" also

describes how King Solomon used his flying airship

to make maps of the world.

But could these have any relation to other ancient maps

some believe may have been made by extraterrestrials?

GRAHAM HANCOCK: Some of these maps

show the world not as it looks today

but as it looked during the last Ice Age.

And this is really hard to explain.

Everybody's heard of the Piri Reis map,

but they've perhaps not heard of the Orontiusu Finaeus

map or the Mercator maps that show Antarctica

in great detail hundreds of years

before Antarctica was even discovered.

NARRATOR: One of the most referenced

stories of ancient aircraft is found in a surprising place--

the Bible.

In the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet

describes a flying chariot containing wheels within wheels

and powered by angels.

Although Bible historians suggest Ezekiel was speaking

symbolically about the terrifying enemies facing

Israel, could this be another example

of an alien visitation and proof that prehistoric aircraft existed?

JONATHAN YOUNG: In the story of Ezekiel's throne-chariot,

this flying vehicle that doesn't seem

to have any means of propulsion, if we thought of the word angel

as representing something like celestial energy,

it sounds much more like a spacecraft

then because some of the angels are going back and forth.

Well, that sounds like flames.

That sounds like propulsion.

So they're wheel like.

Well, those sound like flying saucers.

Our ancestors weren't idiots.

Ezekiel saw something that was so frightening to him

that he fell to his knees.

Then out of the glory of God came this

being in these bright clothes that looked like metal

and told Ezekiel, all right, man, we brought you here.

We want you to measure this monument, this building.

And Ezekiel asks, well, why should I do this?

And the being says, that's why we brought you here.

And then you have 40 pages in the second part of the Book

of Ezekiel with measurement after measurement

after measurement of this gigantic building

in which, by the way, the glory of the Lord landed.

NARRATOR: In the early 1970s, NASA scientist Josef Blumrich

set out to disprove the theory that what Ezekiel

witnessed was a spaceship.

Josef Blumrich is your proverbial rocket scientist.

He worked on the moon project for NASA.

And from the mind of a rocket engineer,

started to look at what was written in the first part

of the Book of Ezekiel.

And after many months of research,

Josef Blumrich came to the conclusion

that what Ezekiel described

in his eyewitness report,

it was indeed a type of spacecraft.

NARRATOR: Josef Blumrich would go on to write

"The Spaceships of Ezekiel."

Several years later, a German structural engineer

named Hans Herbert Bayer sketched out a blueprint

of the second section of the Book of Ezekiel,

where Ezekiel is told to construct an open-top building

to house the flying chariot.

Ezekiel's spaceship fit exactly into the temple

that Hans Herbert Bayer recreated.

So what we have here is a proof by indication.

Here we have a NASA engineer and a structural engineer.

They didn't know of each other's work.

And both pieces fit together like a puzzle.

In any court of law, that's evidence that would hold up.

GRAHAM HANCOCK: I think that scientists feel

uncomfortable with the notion of the lost civilization

precisely because the evidence for it is so ambiguous.

It's not so in your face that it's immediately obvious.

And you know, the result is that science

has not welcomed this idea.

It'll take much more evidence before it's widely accepted.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: The god that I believe in doesn't need

a vehicle in which to move around from point A

to point B. Whatever was described in the Old Testament

wasn't God.

It was a misunderstood flesh and blood extraterrestrial

whom our ancestors misinterpreted as being

divine and supernatural.

And why?

Because of misunderstood technology.

And that is the underlying thread

that applies to all of the ancient astronaut theory.

NARRATOR: But while ancient texts

provide tantalizing clues to our past, physical evidence

paints an even clearer picture.

But will modern science finally prove

the ancient astronaut theory?

ROBERT H. FRISBEE: Did the ancient civilizations of Earth

have access to advanced technology?

Well, it seems like they had something going on.

NARRATOR: Could ancient stories depicting flying carpets, fiery

chariots, and even dragons really

be evidence of an otherworldly presence

here on Earth in the distant past?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

and claim that further proof of alien craft traversing

our skies can be found with the countless reports

of flying saucers.

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.

GIORGIO A. 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 goggles.

This right here is from the same culture,

from the same region where they created a 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 the gods used

to fly around in.

NARRATOR: Halfway around the world

in 329 BC, 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.

DAVID CHILDRESS: As Alexander's army was getting ready to cross

the Indus and invade India, suddenly,

in the sky appeared these flying disks.

And they began dive-bombing at the war elephants that

were part of Alexander's army.

And what these flying disks 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 going to 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 M. GREER: You know, I know that people who have seen

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.

DAVID 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 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 possible.

In Davis, California, inventor Dr. Paul Moller

tests the boundaries of real-life science

with a recreational flying vehicle called the Neuera.

PAUL S. MOLLER: The Neuera is very 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 airframes you see over here next to this vehicle, which

are similar to this, weigh only 75 pounds

apiece, which is incredible.

You got 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 disk-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?

PAUL S. 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 vehicle's operations.

NARRATOR: Are flying saucers more than just the product

of overactive imaginations?

Might ancient cultures that wrote of fire-breathing dragons

and angels descending from the heavens

have been witnessing earlier versions

of these alien spacecraft?

Or could there be another explanation?

Perhaps the ultimate answer can be

found in the American Southwest with a mythological beast

called the Thunderbird.

Elizabeth Lake, Southern California.

This high desert body of water sits at the junction

of the tectonic plates that form the powerful San Andreas Fault.

The Mexicans who colonized

California in the 1700s called it Laguna

del Diablo, Lake of the Devil.

And it was said that the devil's own pet would

come into this world through a portal

at the bottom of the lake.

Local legend says that at the bottom

is actually an entrance to the underworld.

They call it the Lake of the Devil.

And it's said that in the middle of the 18th century,

from up until about 1880 onwards,

something was happening there which frightened locals.

JOHN WHALEN: Some of the rich landowners built ranches there.

These ranchers claim to have been harassed and tormented

by some sort of monstrous beast that

would come out of the water and steal cattle and menace

the locals.

NARRATOR: The ranchers who claimed

to have witnessed this beast called it the Thunderbird.

And their description of it was nearly

identical to that of the giant bird witnessed by cowboys

in Tombstone in 1890.

JOHN WHALEN: Eventually, one of the landowners

got it in his head that he was going to hunt this creature

down and sell it to the circus.

So according to the story, this rancher

was able to actually fire a few shots

at this creature, which seemed to be bulletproof and metallic.

The bullets bounced off.

And after that encounter, the bird flew east never

to be seen again in California.

NARRATOR: Could this so-called Thunderbird

really have been the same creature that cowboys

shot at in Tombstone?

And why was it referred to by locals as the Devil's pet?

Standing Elk: They didn't have the vocabulary we have today.

So when things happened that they couldn't explain,

it was called the Devils Tower.

It was called the Devil's Lake.

It was called the Devil's this or the Devil's that.

PHILIP COPPENS: Take it away from legend

and you might find that this was a portal to another dimension,

which locals knew about and might have something

to do with the fact that this mysterious entity was present

at that very specific location.

NARRATOR: If a portal to another dimension or another part

of the universe does lie at the bottom of Elizabeth Lake,

might it also be possible that the Thunderbird

was not really a creature at all but something

even more incredible?

JONATHAN YOUNG: A Thunderbird was enormous.

It made enormous noises.

So the thunder part of it could sound like a jet engine.

NICK REDFERN: Its eyes was able to literally

pierce and emanate fire.

We have this large flying winged creature

which gives off a thunderous sound

and lights fly from its eyes.

That to me suggests that we could be dealing

with some sort of craft.

ERICH VON DANIKEN: Native Indians in North America,

they know of course the bird.

But now something differently arrived--

an object which could fly, which is bigger than the eagle

but at the same time makes tremendous noise.

So you have the creation of the Thunderbird.

Even when the airplanes first started going out

up in the sky here in the Southwest,

they referred them to as metal birds.

As a matter of fact, when the first fixed-wing craft landed

in Zuni, the Indians over there actually went out there

and worshipped the airplane.

It makes me think of a concept called cultural tracking, which

is the idea that UFOs can mask themselves

to appear as almost anything.

You go back to ancient China, and they

talk about the flying dragons.

You go back to the ancient Egyptians,

they talk about flying boats.

You go to the Roman times, and they're

talking about flying shields.

Perhaps that was just their interpretation,

or perhaps that's what they actually saw.

NARRATOR: Have alien spacecraft really

been darting across our skies for thousands of years?

And could stories of thunderbirds, dragons,

and flying chariots be not mere legends but the proof

we have been looking for?

Perhaps, when our own technology allows us to venture further

into space, we will be given the final answer

that aliens and mankind share a common origin

and perhaps a common destiny.