1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,240 NARRATOR: Legends of ant men. 2 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:04,140 SCIENTIST: They have antennae. 3 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,440 They have elongated skulls. 4 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:10,200 NARRATOR: Beetles buried with Egyptian mummies. 5 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,380 GENE KRITSKY: The scarab was critical for the Resurrection. 6 00:00:14,020 --> 00:00:17,220 NARRATOR: And swarms of locusts targeting humans. 7 00:00:17,460 --> 00:00:19,180 MIKE BARA: It's almost as if the locusts 8 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:21,240 themselves were programmed. 9 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:23,380 NARRATOR: In cultures throughout the world, 10 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,380 insects have been worshipped, feared, 11 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,260 and even thought of as gods. 12 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:31,160 But might these strange creatures 13 00:00:31,300 --> 00:00:34,400 that have inhabited earth for hundreds of millions of years 14 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,180 provide a link to extraterrestrial beings? 15 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,480 DAVID CHILDRESS: The idea that insect aliens are coming here 16 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,200 to this planet, interacting with humans, 17 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,300 may well be based on something real. 18 00:00:49,220 --> 00:00:51,320 NARRATOR: Millions of people around the world 19 00:00:51,380 --> 00:00:54,020 believe we have been visited in the past 20 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,220 by extraterrestrial beings. 21 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:59,080 What if it were true? 22 00:01:00,100 --> 00:01:04,120 Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history? 23 00:01:05,180 --> 00:01:10,300 And if so, is there a connection between aliens and insects? 24 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:45,440 The Nile Delta-- 25 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:47,000 Egypt. 26 00:01:48,180 --> 00:01:52,160 A small, centimeters-wide trail is cut in the desert floor 27 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,300 by the rolling cocoon of a dung beetle. 28 00:01:58,220 --> 00:02:02,280 This strange looking 2 inch long insect, also called a scarab, 29 00:02:03,020 --> 00:02:05,300 uses the dung as both a source of nourishment 30 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:08,100 and a place for storing its eggs. 31 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,060 It will roll the ball in a straight line, 32 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,060 despite all obstacles, and is the only insect on Earth 33 00:02:15,220 --> 00:02:17,280 known to navigate by following the light 34 00:02:17,340 --> 00:02:19,360 of the Milky Way galaxy. 35 00:02:21,340 --> 00:02:25,480 Biologists just made this discovery in 2013. 36 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,200 But 5,000 years ago, with presumably no knowledge 37 00:02:31,260 --> 00:02:33,480 of its unique connection to the stars, 38 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:38,080 the ancient Egyptians held the scarab as a sacred symbol 39 00:02:38,180 --> 00:02:40,400 representing a link to the gods. 40 00:02:45,140 --> 00:02:46,440 JONATHAN YOUNG: Interesting that a great civilization 41 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,320 could pay so much attention to a little bug. 42 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,380 But it appears constantly throughout the Egyptian temples 43 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,480 and the hieroglyphics as a very frequent image. 44 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:01,080 NARRATOR: At the temple of Karnak, overlooking 45 00:03:01,140 --> 00:03:03,380 the sacred lake where the pharaohs received 46 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:07,080 their coronation, a giant scarab beetle 47 00:03:07,140 --> 00:03:11,040 stands watch representing the Egyptian God Khepri. 48 00:03:14,220 --> 00:03:17,100 GENE KRITSKY: The Egyptians saw the sun moving across the sky 49 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:18,380 during the day. 50 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:20,340 Also around the desert sands, you'd see 51 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:22,460 beetles moving balls of dung. 52 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,040 And so the Egyptians thought that the force that 53 00:03:26,100 --> 00:03:30,320 moved the sun across the sky was a giant scarab beetle God 54 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:32,100 Khepri. 55 00:03:34,300 --> 00:03:36,060 And they believe that the sun was 56 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,480 what is known as the eye of Ra, which was Ra's chariot 57 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:42,240 or his flying machine. 58 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:45,260 And the thing that moved it, they believe, 59 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,320 was this scarab-headed god, Khepri. 60 00:03:48,460 --> 00:03:52,320 And the scarab represented Khepri-- 61 00:03:52,460 --> 00:03:56,460 the pilot, if you like, of Ra's sun ship or barge. 62 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,360 It was basically a pilot to the gods. 63 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:03,300 NARRATOR: But could there be another explanation 64 00:04:03,420 --> 00:04:07,320 for why the Egyptians regarded Khepri as a pilot? 65 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,000 Ancient astronaut theorists suggest that the representation 66 00:04:13,060 --> 00:04:15,340 of Khepri as a scarab, and sometimes 67 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:20,400 as a human with a scarab head may have been inspired 68 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,240 by actual contact the Egyptians had with an otherworldly being. 69 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:32,360 GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: One has to wonder whether or not 70 00:04:32,420 --> 00:04:36,280 these beings actually existed, because the ancient Egyptians 71 00:04:36,340 --> 00:04:41,040 were incredibly proud in carving their history 72 00:04:41,140 --> 00:04:43,280 into countless of walls. 73 00:04:44,340 --> 00:04:48,040 And according to the ancient astronaut theory, 74 00:04:48,100 --> 00:04:50,460 we all came about through a deliberate 75 00:04:51,020 --> 00:04:53,160 mutation of our genes. 76 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,220 And so it is entirely possible, in my opinion, 77 00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:59,260 that some of those creatures that we see depicted 78 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,320 in reliefs and in carvings might have 79 00:05:02,380 --> 00:05:05,180 actually existed in the past. 80 00:05:09,140 --> 00:05:11,460 NARRATOR: Is it possible the ancient Egyptians 81 00:05:12,020 --> 00:05:14,200 could have encountered alien beings that 82 00:05:14,260 --> 00:05:16,340 had an insect-like appearance? 83 00:05:18,140 --> 00:05:21,160 Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, 84 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:25,260 and as further evidence, point to the fact 85 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,060 that the Egyptians' obsession with the scarab 86 00:05:28,380 --> 00:05:31,440 also extended to their funerary rituals. 87 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:43,320 The Valley of the Kings, Egypt, November 1922. 88 00:05:44,340 --> 00:05:47,200 Archeologist Howard Carter discovers 89 00:05:47,260 --> 00:05:49,400 the tomb of King Tutankhamen. 90 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,020 Among the treasure trove of artifacts found inside 91 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:57,120 is the young pharaoh's breastplate, which features 92 00:05:57,180 --> 00:05:59,360 a scarab as the centerpiece. 93 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:05,300 The scarab is made of a yellow silica glass stone procured 94 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,080 from the Sahara, originally formed 95 00:06:08,140 --> 00:06:11,140 28 million years ago when the sand was 96 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:13,260 superheated by a comet strike. 97 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,140 But why would the ancient Egyptians place a scarab-- 98 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,420 and one sculpted from material produced by a cosmic event-- 99 00:06:23,140 --> 00:06:26,120 at the center of their pharaoh's funerary breastplate? 100 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,480 Curiously, scarabs always played an integral role 101 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:34,380 in the Egyptians' mummification process, 102 00:06:35,020 --> 00:06:38,000 often included during the wrapping of the body. 103 00:06:40,100 --> 00:06:42,020 SABINA MAGLIOCCO: In between those wrappings, 104 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:44,160 the Egyptians put a number of charms 105 00:06:44,260 --> 00:06:46,380 which served not just a preservation function 106 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:48,440 but a magical function. 107 00:06:49,300 --> 00:06:50,440 GENE KRITSKY: There was a heart scarab, 108 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:52,380 which was placed on the body. 109 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:54,480 We also find other scarabs sometimes knitted 110 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,280 into the linen of the deceased. 111 00:06:58,300 --> 00:07:01,380 The scarab was thought to be critical for the Resurrection 112 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,040 because of its power and the necessity for it to be present 113 00:07:05,100 --> 00:07:07,100 when the sun rose in the morning. 114 00:07:09,140 --> 00:07:12,420 The idea was is that the soul or even the body of the person 115 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,380 that had departed was carried by scarab beetles 116 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,220 along the path to the next life, to the next dimension. 117 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:20,380 It's almost as if the scarab beetle 118 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:22,000 was some kind of device-- 119 00:07:22,060 --> 00:07:24,420 not an insect, but a device that actually allows 120 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,260 travel from one place to another. 121 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,180 Where did the Egyptians get the idea 122 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:33,380 of resurrection and this idea that we 123 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:36,320 could be reborn as star beings? 124 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:41,180 It seems as if they were given this idea by Khepri. 125 00:07:45,260 --> 00:07:48,020 NARRATOR: Could the inclusion of scarab-shaped objects 126 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:50,280 in the mummification process have 127 00:07:50,340 --> 00:07:53,000 been inspired by an actual encounter 128 00:07:53,060 --> 00:07:55,120 with the scarab god Khepri? 129 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,460 To some ancient astronaut theorists, 130 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:02,140 it's not just the presence of scarabs that suggest 131 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,140 the Egyptians made a connection between insects 132 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,080 and the afterlife. 133 00:08:09,180 --> 00:08:12,200 They say the mummification process also mimics 134 00:08:12,260 --> 00:08:14,460 insect metamorphosis itself. 135 00:08:17,100 --> 00:08:19,240 MIKE BARA: The similarities between mummification 136 00:08:19,300 --> 00:08:21,380 and the cocooning process that a caterpillar 137 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,380 goes through before it becomes a moth 138 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:25,200 are really quite incredible. 139 00:08:25,340 --> 00:08:28,260 I think what the Egyptians were trying to do is actually cocoon 140 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,280 the human being so that when he emerged into the next life 141 00:08:31,340 --> 00:08:34,080 at the next level up, he would be transformed 142 00:08:34,140 --> 00:08:36,400 into something greater, more powerful, 143 00:08:36,460 --> 00:08:38,420 and epically more beautiful. 144 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:45,160 DAVID WILCOCK: This does mimic in nature what we would see 145 00:08:45,220 --> 00:08:49,220 with a pupa or a chrysalis in which the caterpillar actually 146 00:08:49,340 --> 00:08:51,380 creates a hard outer shell around itself 147 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,040 and the material of the caterpillar's body 148 00:08:54,100 --> 00:08:56,420 actually turns into a broth before it 149 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:00,020 reconstitutes into what ultimately 150 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,100 emerges as a butterfly. 151 00:09:05,340 --> 00:09:07,460 NARRATOR: While most people associate metamorphosis 152 00:09:08,060 --> 00:09:11,020 with a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, 153 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:16,340 beetles like the scarab undergo a complete metamorphosis, as well. 154 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:20,380 The hatched larva inside the ball of dung 155 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:24,000 emerges fully developed and capable of flight. 156 00:09:25,100 --> 00:09:27,120 To the ancient Egyptians, it seemed 157 00:09:27,180 --> 00:09:29,340 the sacred scarab had miraculously 158 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,040 regenerated inside its cocoon. 159 00:09:33,220 --> 00:09:35,400 The actual scarab beetle in ancient Egyptian 160 00:09:35,460 --> 00:09:38,180 was called something that means, 161 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,140 "he that comes from nowhere," which is basically 162 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,060 what the name Khepri means. 163 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,480 He comes from nowhere. He can make himself exist. 164 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:52,460 NARRATOR: Much like the scarab emerging from its cocoon, 165 00:09:53,140 --> 00:09:55,400 the Egyptians believed a mummified body could 166 00:09:55,460 --> 00:09:58,460 rise from its sarcophagus as a transformed beam 167 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,160 and live once again. 168 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:03,380 SABINA MAGLIOCCO: Part of the soul 169 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,120 was inexorably attached to the body. 170 00:10:06,220 --> 00:10:07,440 So in order for that part of the soul 171 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,000 to live on in the afterlife, the body 172 00:10:10,060 --> 00:10:13,200 had to be preserved as closely as possible to the way 173 00:10:13,260 --> 00:10:15,360 that it had existed in life. 174 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:19,040 GENE KRITSKY: The idea of the Egyptian soul 175 00:10:19,100 --> 00:10:20,400 is so alien from our own that it's 176 00:10:20,460 --> 00:10:22,280 difficult to put parallels on. 177 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:24,380 For example, the Egyptians' concept of the soul 178 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:25,280 had five parts. 179 00:10:25,340 --> 00:10:26,440 and the 180 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:27,480 are two in particular. 181 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:30,220 And part of their mythology was that the must 182 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:33,220 return to the body, enter the body, so that the body 183 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:35,060 can rise and live again. 184 00:10:40,180 --> 00:10:43,080 It's possible that the mummification process 185 00:10:43,260 --> 00:10:47,200 was some kind of replication of this process 186 00:10:47,260 --> 00:10:49,340 that the extraterrestrials went through, 187 00:10:50,020 --> 00:10:53,460 and even the possibility that the mummies themselves 188 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:57,140 were going into some kind of larval stage 189 00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:59,480 and suspended animation where they would emerge 190 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:02,300 eventually into some kind of new body 191 00:11:02,460 --> 00:11:04,280 like the extraterrestrials did. 192 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:10,220 NARRATOR: While the scarab dominates Egyptian symbolism, 193 00:11:10,380 --> 00:11:13,060 another beetle common to this part of the world, 194 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,280 the buprestid beetle, has a direct tie to the Egyptians' 195 00:11:16,340 --> 00:11:18,140 most important God-- 196 00:11:18,220 --> 00:11:19,320 Osiris. 197 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:23,020 GENE KRITSKY: Buprestid beetles, when bothered by a predator, 198 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,380 actually tuck their legs up and lie perfectly still. 199 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:27,320 And the way they hold their limbs is very 200 00:11:27,380 --> 00:11:29,380 similar to the way Osiris would be represented 201 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:31,440 in some tomb paintings. 202 00:11:32,260 --> 00:11:34,280 Well, it turns out the buprestid beetle 203 00:11:34,340 --> 00:11:36,140 is found in the tamarisk wood. 204 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:38,060 And that is the wood that comes from a tree that 205 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:39,380 was part of the Osiris legend. 206 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,040 It actually becomes the Djed Pillar. 207 00:11:44,340 --> 00:11:49,220 And when Isis split this pillar, she found Osiris inside. 208 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:51,120 And it's a beautiful beetle inside. 209 00:11:51,180 --> 00:11:54,200 And so it's quite possible that this beetle 210 00:11:54,260 --> 00:11:57,280 may have a relationship to the mummification process. 211 00:12:01,420 --> 00:12:04,220 NARRATOR: But does the ancient Egyptian worship of a beetle 212 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:09,040 really suggest an encounter with insect-like extraterrestrials? 213 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,280 Could they be mimicking misunderstood technology? 214 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,360 Or might there be another explanation? 215 00:12:18,140 --> 00:12:20,280 Perhaps further clues can be found 216 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:24,280 in the numerous ancient stories of ant people. 217 00:12:32,220 --> 00:12:37,100 Cambridge University, England, 2013-- 218 00:12:39,020 --> 00:12:42,160 using a high speed camera with intense magnification, 219 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,000 scientists from the Department of Zoology 220 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:47,420 record the movement of a plant-hopping insect 221 00:12:47,980 --> 00:12:49,300 called issus. 222 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:55,080 Examining the footage, they make a shocking discovery. 223 00:12:56,140 --> 00:13:00,000 The movement of the issus is powered by mechanical gears. 224 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:05,120 It is the world's first evidence of mechanical gearing 225 00:13:05,220 --> 00:13:07,300 in a biological structure. 226 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,320 This natural cog mechanism allows the issus 227 00:13:11,380 --> 00:13:14,220 to make powerful jumps with the gear teeth 228 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,360 on the opposing hind legs locking together like those 229 00:13:17,420 --> 00:13:21,360 in the gearbox of a car, ensuring almost complete 230 00:13:21,420 --> 00:13:24,040 synchronicity of leg movement. 231 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,240 But how did a biological entity develop 232 00:13:28,300 --> 00:13:31,120 mechanisms that appear manmade? 233 00:13:33,180 --> 00:13:34,360 GENE KRITSKY: Insects are essentially 234 00:13:34,420 --> 00:13:36,360 evolution's tinkertoy set. 235 00:13:37,140 --> 00:13:40,100 Insects were the first animal group to evolve the ability 236 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,180 to fly on their own power. 237 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:46,360 Insects have an exoskeleton which 238 00:13:46,420 --> 00:13:49,040 is almost like a living armor. 239 00:13:50,340 --> 00:13:52,120 NARRATOR: In terms of sheer numbers, 240 00:13:52,260 --> 00:13:56,140 insects are by far the most dominant life form on Earth. 241 00:13:57,040 --> 00:13:59,300 And with over 1 million different species, 242 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:02,120 they also remain the most mysterious. 243 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:04,460 GENE KRITSKY: Insects appeared on the Earth 244 00:14:05,060 --> 00:14:08,120 over 400 million years before humans appeared on the Earth. 245 00:14:09,260 --> 00:14:11,280 They were incredibly successful well 246 00:14:11,380 --> 00:14:14,400 before the age of the dinosaurs and a long time before humans. 247 00:14:15,100 --> 00:14:18,000 IAN RECCHIO: About half of the living creatures on the planet 248 00:14:18,060 --> 00:14:19,360 belong to the group of insects. 249 00:14:19,420 --> 00:14:21,380 They've really found ways to inhabit just 250 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,420 about every ecological niche in nature. 251 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:28,320 They have compound eyes, which in some cases, 252 00:14:28,380 --> 00:14:31,260 they can see into the ranges that humans cannot, 253 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:33,100 like ultraviolet. 254 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:35,220 GENE KRITSKY: They have a very sophisticated 255 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:37,180 sensory system that makes them different from what 256 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:38,120 we can perceive. 257 00:14:38,180 --> 00:14:41,420 For example, insects taste, smell, and feel with the hairs 258 00:14:41,980 --> 00:14:43,020 on their body. 259 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,100 When they land on you, they're smelling you. 260 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:46,980 They're tasting you. They're feeling you. 261 00:14:47,340 --> 00:14:50,120 There are upwards of a million species 262 00:14:50,180 --> 00:14:51,340 of insects involved so far. 263 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:53,360 So we may think of ourselves as being special, 264 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:57,060 but in reality, insects are the most successful animal 265 00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:58,420 group that's ever evolved. 266 00:15:02,180 --> 00:15:05,000 NARRATOR: In the more than 400 million years that insects 267 00:15:05,060 --> 00:15:07,300 are believed to have existed, no bug 268 00:15:07,380 --> 00:15:09,360 has thrived more than the ant. 269 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,080 GENE KRITSKY: Ants are among the most successful animal groups 270 00:15:12,140 --> 00:15:14,140 that we see on the face of the Earth. 271 00:15:15,300 --> 00:15:17,440 One out of every four individual animals on the face 272 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:19,020 of the earth is an ant. 273 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:21,120 Ants are incredible insects. 274 00:15:21,260 --> 00:15:23,100 And they're highly evolved. 275 00:15:23,420 --> 00:15:25,200 NARRATOR: In size and appearance, 276 00:15:25,260 --> 00:15:28,280 ants and humans could not be more different. 277 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,240 But interestingly, in many ways, these tiny bugs 278 00:15:33,380 --> 00:15:37,340 are more like us than any other creature in the animal kingdom. 279 00:15:39,340 --> 00:15:42,100 GENE KRITSKY: Ants have a social system where 280 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:44,000 they have a division of labor. 281 00:15:44,180 --> 00:15:46,020 You have a reproductive queen. 282 00:15:46,140 --> 00:15:49,140 You have males that will mate with the queen. 283 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:53,180 You have sub reproductives that can leave the colony 284 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:55,060 and start new colonies. 285 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:56,360 Then you've got a series of workers. 286 00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:58,200 And then there are specialized workers. 287 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:01,140 They're soldiers that can actually protect the colony 288 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:02,280 if they're under attack. 289 00:16:02,980 --> 00:16:07,080 So they're rather intriguing with regard to their behavior. 290 00:16:08,140 --> 00:16:10,300 NARRATOR: But how is it that the behavior of ants 291 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,380 mirrors that of humans in so many ways? 292 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:19,140 Is it simply coincidence, or could ants and humans be more 293 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,300 closely related than we think? 294 00:16:24,380 --> 00:16:26,160 Ancient Greece. 295 00:16:27,260 --> 00:16:30,360 In both Homer's "Iliad" and Ovid's "Metamorphosis," 296 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,280 there was a group of warriors known as the Myrmidon, who 297 00:16:34,340 --> 00:16:36,420 are born of mysterious origins. 298 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:40,460 According to the "Ovid," King Aeacus 299 00:16:41,020 --> 00:16:44,120 of Aegina pleads with the god Zeus to repopulate 300 00:16:44,180 --> 00:16:46,180 his plague-ravaged country. 301 00:16:46,980 --> 00:16:50,380 That night, he dreams that ants fall from the branch of a tree 302 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,000 and turn into men. 303 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:58,060 He awakes the next morning to find his dream has come true. 304 00:16:59,140 --> 00:17:00,360 JONATHAN YOUNG: The story of the Myrmidons 305 00:17:00,420 --> 00:17:03,260 is that they were ants made into warriors. 306 00:17:03,420 --> 00:17:07,380 They were said to have fought with Achilles at Troy. 307 00:17:08,140 --> 00:17:10,180 And they were very effective. 308 00:17:11,460 --> 00:17:13,220 MIKE BARA: The descriptions of the ant people 309 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:16,160 are very, very accurate in terms of the behavior 310 00:17:16,220 --> 00:17:18,420 of the insect the ant itself. 311 00:17:19,300 --> 00:17:20,460 They were very loyal. 312 00:17:21,060 --> 00:17:24,160 They moved together as one, almost at a hive mentality. 313 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:27,200 GENE KRITSKY: The Myrmidons were thought 314 00:17:27,260 --> 00:17:30,120 to be the first to develop ships and to sail 315 00:17:30,220 --> 00:17:31,400 under their own power. 316 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,000 This ability to be organized like an army 317 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,140 comes from the ants marching in a nice, linear fashion. 318 00:17:39,140 --> 00:17:40,460 The idea about being the first to sail 319 00:17:41,020 --> 00:17:42,360 comes from the ants' ability to raft. 320 00:17:43,100 --> 00:17:45,460 Ants will get on the surface tension of water and lock legs. 321 00:17:46,060 --> 00:17:47,240 Other ants will climb on top. 322 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:49,120 And this little mound of ants will float 323 00:17:49,180 --> 00:17:51,020 around on the surface of water. 324 00:17:53,340 --> 00:17:56,460 In the case of the Myrmidons, these were fierce warriors. 325 00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:58,060 They were well-trained. 326 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:00,400 They were organized, just like ants. 327 00:18:04,220 --> 00:18:07,020 MIKE BARA: These descriptions are so vivid and so accurate 328 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:10,120 in terms of the ants' behavior that what Zeus seems to have 329 00:18:10,180 --> 00:18:13,180 done is actually some sort of genetic crossbreeding 330 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,400 between humans and insects in order to create 331 00:18:16,460 --> 00:18:18,340 this army of ant people. 332 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,160 You're dealing with an extremely advanced technology 333 00:18:21,220 --> 00:18:24,360 that really, really understands how to use genetic manipulation 334 00:18:24,420 --> 00:18:26,180 to create new species. 335 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,080 NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Myrmidons depicted 336 00:18:32,140 --> 00:18:34,360 in the ancient Greek stories were actually 337 00:18:34,420 --> 00:18:37,120 some type of ant and human hybrid 338 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,200 manufactured by an alien being? 339 00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:43,360 Ancient astronaut theorists claim 340 00:18:43,420 --> 00:18:45,320 further evidence that ants may have 341 00:18:45,380 --> 00:18:47,260 a connection to extraterrestrials 342 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:51,240 can be found in stories throughout numerous cultures. 343 00:18:52,140 --> 00:18:54,260 In the Muslim holy book, the Quran, 344 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:58,020 there is a story of ants speaking like humans. 345 00:18:59,180 --> 00:19:02,180 In parts of Africa, ants are considered to be 346 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,180 the messengers of the gods. 347 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:09,420 And Native American tribes like the Hopi and Zuni 348 00:19:10,140 --> 00:19:12,240 tell stories of the ant people who 349 00:19:12,300 --> 00:19:14,340 emerge from beneath the earth. 350 00:19:15,100 --> 00:19:16,080 CHRISTOPHER O'BRIEN: The ant people 351 00:19:16,140 --> 00:19:19,300 is a very interesting subject when it comes to looking 352 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:21,340 at the Hopi belief system. 353 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,280 The ant people, number one, are caretakers of the Earth. 354 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:30,040 NARRATOR: Unlike the Myrmidons of Greek mythology, 355 00:19:30,140 --> 00:19:32,440 the ant people of the Native American stories 356 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,300 don't just behave like ants. 357 00:19:35,380 --> 00:19:37,460 They resemble them, as well. 358 00:19:38,020 --> 00:19:40,060 GARY DAVID: They have spindly arms. 359 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:41,460 They have antenna. 360 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,000 They have elongated skulls. 361 00:19:45,380 --> 00:19:51,140 These are clearly a merging of the human and the insect. 362 00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:58,040 They are not simply a fable or a parable. 363 00:20:01,420 --> 00:20:02,420 GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: If one explores 364 00:20:02,980 --> 00:20:06,240 the question of insectoid alien life, 365 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,360 then my question is, why not? 366 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:14,200 Because if life is pervasive throughout the entire universe, 367 00:20:14,380 --> 00:20:18,380 then that life comes in all shape, size, and color. 368 00:20:19,100 --> 00:20:24,200 So the idea that insectoid aliens might exist 369 00:20:24,340 --> 00:20:26,400 is very possible to me. 370 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:31,980 However, I think the idea came from our ancestors 371 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:36,080 witnessing physical features that made them look like ants 372 00:20:36,360 --> 00:20:39,040 or could be best described as ants. 373 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:41,340 DAVID WILCOCK: You look at the face of an ant, 374 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:43,180 we look at the head of an ant, 375 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:48,360 we see large, buggy eyes widely spaced 376 00:20:48,420 --> 00:20:50,380 on the face and a large head. 377 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:55,120 So this could be an illustration of people seeing beings 378 00:20:55,180 --> 00:20:58,080 like what we now call the greys and associating it 379 00:20:58,140 --> 00:21:00,300 with something that's familiar to them. 380 00:21:03,340 --> 00:21:06,000 NARRATOR: Is it possible that the ant people that appear 381 00:21:06,060 --> 00:21:08,340 in both Greek and Native American mythology 382 00:21:08,980 --> 00:21:11,080 were really gray aliens? 383 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,340 Or might they even be human insect hybrids engineered 384 00:21:16,420 --> 00:21:18,980 by otherworldly beings? 385 00:21:20,220 --> 00:21:23,260 Perhaps the answer can be found in the accounts 386 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:28,180 of those who claim to have been victims of alien abductions. 387 00:21:35,340 --> 00:21:37,240 The Kalahari Desert-- 388 00:21:37,340 --> 00:21:39,000 South Africa. 389 00:21:41,020 --> 00:21:42,400 The indigenous people of this area 390 00:21:43,020 --> 00:21:47,080 called the San represent one of the oldest existing populations 391 00:21:47,180 --> 00:21:50,440 on Earth with a culture that dates back 392 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:53,240 approximately 80,000 years. 393 00:21:54,300 --> 00:21:57,260 According to the origin story of this ancient society, 394 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,120 the first humans were created not by traditional gods, 395 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,040 but by insects. 396 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:07,420 According to the San people, the origin of humans 397 00:22:07,980 --> 00:22:10,380 lies with the praying mantis. 398 00:22:11,220 --> 00:22:15,240 There once was a bee who was asked by a praying mantis 399 00:22:15,300 --> 00:22:18,460 to carry him across a raging river. 400 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:21,220 And the bee did so. 401 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,300 He carried the praying mantis across the river 402 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:26,180 and deposited him on a leaf. 403 00:22:27,020 --> 00:22:31,000 But before leaving, the exhausted bee left an egg 404 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:32,400 inside the praying mantis. 405 00:22:32,460 --> 00:22:36,200 And that egg is the source of all human beings. 406 00:22:40,300 --> 00:22:41,440 NARRATOR: But where did the San people 407 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,100 get the idea that humans were created by a praying mantis? 408 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,020 Curiously, the San tradition also 409 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:53,400 holds that a praying mantis gave early humans 410 00:22:53,460 --> 00:22:56,160 the gifts of language and fire. 411 00:22:58,140 --> 00:23:00,100 And one of their most important gods, 412 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,420 IKaggen, the creator of the world, 413 00:23:02,980 --> 00:23:05,160 often took the form of a mantis. 414 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:10,160 These San people of South Africa 415 00:23:10,220 --> 00:23:12,160 had a fascinating theology. 416 00:23:12,220 --> 00:23:14,140 Their God was known as IKaggen. 417 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:16,060 And IKaggen was a trickster God. 418 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:20,380 He could shape shift and appear in a number of different forms, 419 00:23:23,100 --> 00:23:26,140 but was very fond of appearing as a praying mantis. 420 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,040 MIKE BARA: IKaggen had a lot of struggles on the planet Earth. 421 00:23:31,100 --> 00:23:32,320 There were many wars that were fought. 422 00:23:32,380 --> 00:23:34,360 And eventually, he left the Earth by means 423 00:23:34,420 --> 00:23:37,240 of going up into the sky. 424 00:23:43,340 --> 00:23:45,420 DAVID CHILDRESS: Another interesting thing about IKaggen 425 00:23:46,140 --> 00:23:48,460 is that it's said that he created the moon. 426 00:23:50,340 --> 00:23:52,980 And the San people do their planting 427 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,040 because of phases of the moon. 428 00:23:55,400 --> 00:24:00,240 So you've got to wonder, is this praying mantis extraterrestrial 429 00:24:00,300 --> 00:24:02,360 God just some mythical figure? 430 00:24:02,980 --> 00:24:06,420 Or is he really a representation of some kind 431 00:24:06,980 --> 00:24:12,380 of real praying mantis insectoid alien that's come to Earth? 432 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,040 NARRATOR: Could the prominence of the praying mantis in San 433 00:24:18,100 --> 00:24:20,460 mythology suggest that their ancestors 434 00:24:21,020 --> 00:24:24,220 actually encountered such beings in the distant past? 435 00:24:26,020 --> 00:24:29,200 Although most anthropologists regard these stories as fables, 436 00:24:29,420 --> 00:24:32,060 some ancient astronaut theorists find 437 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:34,220 it curious that the praying mantis 438 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:38,420 is also a recurring image in reports of alien abduction? 439 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:48,060 Covina, California-- 1963. 440 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:53,000 In this small farming town on the outskirts of Los Angeles, 441 00:24:53,300 --> 00:24:56,320 17-year-old Linda Porter awakens to find 442 00:24:56,380 --> 00:24:58,460 herself aboard a strange craft. 443 00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:05,320 From what she is able to recall later under hypnosis, 444 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,280 a small creature that appeared to be a grey alien led her 445 00:25:09,340 --> 00:25:13,000 towards a light-filled room where she encountered another 446 00:25:13,060 --> 00:25:17,220 type of being, one much taller and with the features 447 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:19,320 of a praying mantis. 448 00:25:23,460 --> 00:25:27,160 CHRISTOPHER O'BRIEN: A very standalone, very odd case. 449 00:25:27,220 --> 00:25:29,980 The fact that this occurred in 1963 450 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,380 is very intriguing because it's before the abduction 451 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:34,360 phenomenon became popularized. 452 00:25:35,100 --> 00:25:36,120 JASON MARTELL: There have been depictions 453 00:25:36,180 --> 00:25:38,240 throughout various abduction scenarios 454 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:42,400 that include the gray aliens and this larger, 455 00:25:42,460 --> 00:25:45,080 tall, insectisoid being-- 456 00:25:46,100 --> 00:25:48,020 very praying-mantis-like. 457 00:25:50,340 --> 00:25:53,000 NARRATOR: Linda Porter claims that throughout her teens 458 00:25:53,060 --> 00:25:56,200 and 20s, she experienced numerous other encounters 459 00:25:56,260 --> 00:25:58,200 with these alien beings. 460 00:26:02,380 --> 00:26:04,420 But it wasn't until the age of 45 461 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:08,040 that she finally reached out to investigative journalist Linda 462 00:26:08,100 --> 00:26:10,420 Moulton Howe to tell her story. 463 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:17,040 I received a letter carefully written from Linda Porter. 464 00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:21,460 This led up to her sending me a whole lot of drawings. 465 00:26:22,420 --> 00:26:25,360 NARRATOR: These drawings appear in Linda Moulton Howe's book, 466 00:26:25,420 --> 00:26:28,220 "Glimpses of Other Realities." 467 00:26:29,100 --> 00:26:30,200 LINDA MOULTON HOWE: One of the drawings 468 00:26:30,260 --> 00:26:36,160 was of a praying mantis about eight feet tall in a room 469 00:26:36,220 --> 00:26:40,220 that was very odd, had a cylindrical object 470 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:42,420 and sparkles of light. 471 00:26:45,460 --> 00:26:47,200 AUTHOR: There have been quite a number 472 00:26:47,260 --> 00:26:52,060 of different types of aliens seen, allegedly by contactees. 473 00:26:52,460 --> 00:26:55,360 But the ones that are really peculiar and very rare 474 00:26:55,420 --> 00:27:00,360 are these very scary, skinny, large, basically 475 00:27:00,420 --> 00:27:03,360 intelligent insects that have been reported. 476 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,140 People have drawn parallels between the aliens 477 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:12,100 that are reported on board UFOs and insects, particularly bees. 478 00:27:12,420 --> 00:27:16,200 The grays, for instance, could be equated in some way 479 00:27:16,260 --> 00:27:19,260 to the drone or the worker bee. 480 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:22,380 The so-called praying mantis type could be 481 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,260 seen perhaps as the queen bee-- 482 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,980 larger than the others, more intelligent. 483 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:30,280 They're taller than a person-- 484 00:27:30,340 --> 00:27:33,040 eight or even nine feet tall. 485 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:37,020 And the gray aliens may handle the person 486 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:38,300 who's being abducted. 487 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:42,200 But in the background, there's this praying mantis type that 488 00:27:42,260 --> 00:27:44,360 seems to be calling the shots. 489 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,000 NARRATOR: According to Porter, she 490 00:27:54,060 --> 00:27:57,280 is part of a larger experiment, one in which 491 00:27:57,340 --> 00:28:00,300 these aliens appear concerned with her soul. 492 00:28:00,980 --> 00:28:03,460 LINDA MOULTON HOWE: She said, whatever we humans are, 493 00:28:04,340 --> 00:28:09,360 we have an animus, a soul, that is mysterious to them. 494 00:28:10,340 --> 00:28:15,340 And they are trying to find out, where does the soul spirit go 495 00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:18,100 at the moment of death? 496 00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:22,220 And that the non-humans were studying 497 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:26,320 the recycling of the souls in and out of containers. 498 00:28:30,340 --> 00:28:33,280 NICK REDFERN: She talked about being shown three cylinders. 499 00:28:33,420 --> 00:28:36,000 Contained in each cylinder was a human being 500 00:28:36,060 --> 00:28:39,140 in kind of like a state of suspended animation. 501 00:28:45,420 --> 00:28:47,340 NARRATOR: Numerous alleged alien abduction 502 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:51,220 victims have reported seeing these cocoon-like containers. 503 00:28:52,380 --> 00:28:54,980 But if these accounts are real, might 504 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:58,300 there be another explanation behind this technology? 505 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:03,180 Could it be, as some ancient astronaut theorists contend, 506 00:29:03,460 --> 00:29:07,420 that aliens are performing genetic experimentation? 507 00:29:10,060 --> 00:29:13,360 LINDA MOULTON HOWE: Linda Porter came away from her two or three 508 00:29:13,420 --> 00:29:16,200 decades of interaction with these non-humans, 509 00:29:16,260 --> 00:29:20,080 including the at first terrifying praying mantis, 510 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:26,300 that these are extraterrestrial biological entities that have 511 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:30,360 taken a deep interest in the evolution of life forms 512 00:29:30,420 --> 00:29:35,020 here, that they have manipulated DNA 513 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,320 in already-evolving primates, that they 514 00:29:38,380 --> 00:29:42,360 have created a whole series of different models. 515 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:49,080 Might the numerous accounts of mantis-like beings 516 00:29:49,380 --> 00:29:52,980 reported by alleged alien abduction victims 517 00:29:53,260 --> 00:29:56,320 along with the ancient San story of a praying mantis 518 00:29:56,380 --> 00:30:01,320 God, the evidence that an otherworldly race of insectoids 519 00:30:01,380 --> 00:30:03,280 really does exist. 520 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,280 And if so, could they be conducting 521 00:30:06,340 --> 00:30:10,340 genetic experiments with humans to make us more like them? 522 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,360 Ancient astronaut theorists say further clues revealing 523 00:30:15,420 --> 00:30:18,980 the connection between insects and aliens 524 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,300 can be found in the Holy Bible. 525 00:30:30,420 --> 00:30:34,340 Pi-Ramesses Egypt-- the 15th century BC. 526 00:30:36,100 --> 00:30:39,040 Most archeologists believe this ancient city 527 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:42,240 to be the site of the 10 plagues as described 528 00:30:42,300 --> 00:30:44,260 in the Bible's Book of Exodus. 529 00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:48,060 According to the scripture, God brought these plagues 530 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:50,420 upon Egypt when the Pharaoh refused to release 531 00:30:50,980 --> 00:30:53,020 the Israelites from slavery. 532 00:30:53,180 --> 00:30:55,240 Three of them involved insects. 533 00:30:57,220 --> 00:31:01,180 The third was a plague of gnats, which came up from the ground 534 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:04,100 and infested both man and animal. 535 00:31:05,260 --> 00:31:09,360 The fourth was flies that attacked only the Egyptians, 536 00:31:10,060 --> 00:31:12,160 sparing the Israelites. 537 00:31:13,260 --> 00:31:16,300 And the eighth was a plague of locusts. 538 00:31:18,060 --> 00:31:21,440 Locusts are grasshoppers that have had an unusual change 539 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,260 in their biology and behavior. 540 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:27,180 Start to move in the same direction. 541 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:28,460 They will land, eat. 542 00:31:29,020 --> 00:31:31,080 Other locusts flying over, they will land and eat 543 00:31:31,140 --> 00:31:35,060 and so on and so on, wiping out all the vegetation in a given 544 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:37,360 area and destroying all the crops 545 00:31:37,420 --> 00:31:39,260 that people might have planted. 546 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,080 And for every one million locusts, 547 00:31:43,140 --> 00:31:45,040 they can eat a ton of food. 548 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:50,380 NARRATOR: But an even more incredible story of locusts 549 00:31:51,060 --> 00:31:55,020 can be found in the Bible's New Testament book of Revelation. 550 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,280 Rising from deep pits within the Earth, 551 00:31:58,460 --> 00:32:02,360 these locusts form waves of scorpion-tailed warhorses 552 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,320 protected by iron breastplates. 553 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,440 And unlike the locusts from the Book of Exodus, 554 00:32:09,020 --> 00:32:11,300 the target isn't the crops. 555 00:32:12,380 --> 00:32:16,000 The locusts themselves actually didn't eat any crops. 556 00:32:16,060 --> 00:32:18,260 They didn't clear any fields. They only attacked people. 557 00:32:18,380 --> 00:32:22,340 And they only ate up and devoured and damaged people. 558 00:32:23,020 --> 00:32:26,340 It's almost as if the locusts themselves were programmed. 559 00:32:26,980 --> 00:32:29,060 JASON MARTELL: The locusts that appear out of the smoke 560 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,460 have some type of ability to sting people 561 00:32:32,020 --> 00:32:34,220 with a scorpion-like sting. 562 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:37,160 Now, locusts are known not to have any type 563 00:32:37,220 --> 00:32:38,460 of way of harming people. 564 00:32:39,020 --> 00:32:41,180 So these locusts were special in origin. 565 00:32:42,220 --> 00:32:43,340 WILLIAM HENRY: These locusts only 566 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:47,040 sought out humans who did not have the seal of God 567 00:32:47,100 --> 00:32:48,280 on their foreheads. 568 00:32:48,980 --> 00:32:51,440 And it makes you wonder if these locusts are, in fact, some kind 569 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:56,020 of an advanced extraterrestrial technology that was sent 570 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:58,420 to seek specific human beings. 571 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:01,260 NARRATOR: Is it possible that what 572 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:03,360 is described in the book of Revelation 573 00:33:03,420 --> 00:33:06,460 is not the plant eating locusts we have today 574 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:09,300 but some type of advanced weaponry 575 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:12,340 wielded by an extraterrestrial being? 576 00:33:14,140 --> 00:33:16,440 Now, if an extraterrestrial was fighting a war, 577 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,980 a weapon that you could use would be mechanical devices 578 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,180 that basically were like little nanotechnology that 579 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,160 would attack certain very specific targets. 580 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:31,460 There are, in fact, such weapons in use today. 581 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,040 NARRATOR: DARPA headquarters, Arlington, Virginia. 582 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,040 This is the military's visionary toy shop 583 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:42,320 where the blueprints for the weaponry of tomorrow 584 00:33:42,380 --> 00:33:43,420 are drawn. 585 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:49,980 Here stealth technology and GPS were conceived. 586 00:33:50,380 --> 00:33:55,100 Now according to sources, a new arms race is underway-- 587 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,180 one focused not on the biggest weapons, but the smallest. 588 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,000 Insects are one of the most amazingly designed creatures 589 00:34:03,060 --> 00:34:04,420 that exist on planet Earth. 590 00:34:05,020 --> 00:34:06,160 I mean, they're extraordinary. 591 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:09,420 It's no surprise that the United States military 592 00:34:09,980 --> 00:34:11,420 is interested in insects. 593 00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:14,420 It's absolutely logical. 594 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:19,420 Why not send a small insect or a crawling beetle 595 00:34:20,300 --> 00:34:23,260 into a war zone or into a place to gather intelligence? 596 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,380 That's exactly what we see happening now. 597 00:34:27,260 --> 00:34:30,080 NARRATOR: At DARPA, scientists have been experimenting 598 00:34:30,140 --> 00:34:32,240 with electronically modifying beetles 599 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:35,160 so they can actually manipulate their flight. 600 00:34:37,140 --> 00:34:39,320 Threading thin wires into the base of the beetles' 601 00:34:39,380 --> 00:34:42,040 optic lobes, they can control the region 602 00:34:42,100 --> 00:34:45,360 of the brain that makes the beetle start and stop flying. 603 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,300 With another pair of wires in the wing muscles, 604 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,420 they can also make the beetle veer to the right 605 00:34:51,980 --> 00:34:54,360 or to the left by remote control. 606 00:34:55,180 --> 00:34:58,040 And scientists working with nanotechnology 607 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,060 are not only looking for ways to control insects, 608 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:03,400 but to actually recreate them. 609 00:35:04,340 --> 00:35:07,460 Thomas Vaneck at Physical Sciences, Inc 610 00:35:08,100 --> 00:35:12,220 is currently developing flying robots based on insects. 611 00:35:12,460 --> 00:35:15,400 THOMAS VANECK: Instant Eye is a very small aerial robot 612 00:35:15,460 --> 00:35:17,360 about the size of a pie plate. 613 00:35:17,420 --> 00:35:20,360 It's relatively simple, yet it can do amazing things. 614 00:35:20,420 --> 00:35:22,440 Just about any insect you can imagine 615 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:24,360 is being studied by somebody. 616 00:35:25,020 --> 00:35:28,280 NARRATOR: Hornets, dragonflies, mosquitoes-- 617 00:35:28,980 --> 00:35:32,140 all are said to be potential models for the next generation 618 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:34,300 of biomimetic weapons-- 619 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:38,020 robots that could one day be indistinguishable 620 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:39,440 from actual insects. 621 00:35:41,100 --> 00:35:44,180 Right now, probably the smallest insect-inspired robot 622 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:45,360 that we can make is about the size 623 00:35:45,420 --> 00:35:48,160 of a hummingbird from the technologies 624 00:35:48,220 --> 00:35:49,400 that are available to us today. 625 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,120 The driving force there is energy storage, 626 00:35:53,180 --> 00:35:55,140 because we just don't have a battery 627 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:56,360 that stores enough energy. 628 00:35:56,420 --> 00:35:58,240 We're going to figure it out. 629 00:35:58,380 --> 00:36:01,240 I can easily envision that you're going to have a robot 630 00:36:01,300 --> 00:36:03,300 the size of a fruit fly. 631 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:05,140 CHRISTOPHER O'BRIEN: And if it landed on the wall 632 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,040 in some terrorist's house, he probably wouldn't know. 633 00:36:08,100 --> 00:36:11,440 And were able to fit so much into such a small space now. 634 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:13,360 Keep the weight down. 635 00:36:13,460 --> 00:36:16,120 We can give it wings and the average person 636 00:36:16,180 --> 00:36:18,400 would just try to swat it away. 637 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:21,340 In the not-too-distant future, you're going 638 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,000 to sit there and go, wow. What a beautiful insect. 639 00:36:24,060 --> 00:36:26,120 Maybe it's not an insect at all. 640 00:36:27,260 --> 00:36:30,300 NARRATOR: But if we can produce insect drones today, 641 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:34,400 is it possible that the biblical stories of locusts sent by God 642 00:36:35,180 --> 00:36:39,160 are really accounts of alien technology in the ancient past? 643 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:42,440 And could this be the reason why insects are feared 644 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,420 by humans even to this day? 645 00:36:47,340 --> 00:36:49,280 Some ancient astronaut theorists believe 646 00:36:49,420 --> 00:36:52,320 such an incredible notion is possible, 647 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:57,200 and for proof, point to a mysterious area in Nevada 648 00:36:57,340 --> 00:37:01,100 simply known as Area 51. 649 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,360 Kingman, Arizona-- May 1953. 650 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:17,280 At the height of the Cold War an unidentified object reportedly 651 00:37:17,340 --> 00:37:19,380 crashed in the desert sands. 652 00:37:24,140 --> 00:37:26,420 What remained was allegedly sent to America's 653 00:37:26,980 --> 00:37:28,420 most top secret facility-- 654 00:37:30,300 --> 00:37:32,020 Area 51. 655 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,980 But it wasn't until 45 years later in 1998 656 00:37:39,340 --> 00:37:43,420 that a retired military engineer named Bill Uhouse came forward 657 00:37:43,980 --> 00:37:46,060 to make a stunning claim. 658 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:48,340 The military didn't just have the 659 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,380 extraterrestrial technology. 660 00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:53,220 They had an actual living alien. 661 00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:00,980 DAVID CHILDRESS: Uhouse claimed that he worked 662 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:03,320 at a secret laboratory, supposedly 663 00:38:03,380 --> 00:38:07,320 in the Papoose mountains of Area 51 in Nevada 664 00:38:07,380 --> 00:38:11,200 and that since 1953, the American government 665 00:38:11,260 --> 00:38:15,940 had an insectoid alien that was working with them. 666 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:17,420 His name was J-Rod. 667 00:38:19,420 --> 00:38:25,020 J-Rod supposedly assisted the military in understanding 668 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:29,940 and duplicating the incredible power systems and futuristic 669 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:35,020 technology that was combined and created for the Kingman craft. 670 00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:41,020 NARRATOR: Shortly after Bill Uhouse broke the story, 671 00:38:41,140 --> 00:38:45,200 microbiologist Dan Burisch came forward to confirm his claim. 672 00:38:46,140 --> 00:38:49,180 But according to Dan Burisch, J-Rod claimed 673 00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:50,420 that he was not an alien. 674 00:38:51,140 --> 00:38:54,420 What he revealed was something even more shocking. 675 00:38:55,320 --> 00:39:01,320 This insectoid alien J-Rod said that he had actually come 676 00:39:01,380 --> 00:39:07,200 from our future and that at some time 677 00:39:07,260 --> 00:39:10,320 in the near future to us, there is 678 00:39:10,380 --> 00:39:12,420 a catastrophe on this planet. 679 00:39:15,060 --> 00:39:20,100 And much of mankind is destroyed, 680 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:27,020 and that mankind splits into two different species. 681 00:39:27,940 --> 00:39:32,200 And one of these species goes and lives underground. 682 00:39:33,420 --> 00:39:39,020 And while underground, they develop these insectoid traits, 683 00:39:42,100 --> 00:39:47,140 which is exactly what the Hopi and Zuni and even Navajo 684 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:51,120 legends say, that during the transition period 685 00:39:51,180 --> 00:39:53,340 between the third and the fourth worlds, 686 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:57,980 this above world of today was not habitable 687 00:39:58,100 --> 00:40:01,080 and they had to go underground and live 688 00:40:01,140 --> 00:40:04,180 for some time with what they called the Ant People. 689 00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:07,080 And you have to wonder if perhaps 690 00:40:07,140 --> 00:40:13,000 J-Rod is actually an insectoid human being 691 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:15,040 from our own future. 692 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:20,220 NARRATOR: Could the accounts of J-Rod 693 00:40:20,300 --> 00:40:23,100 confirm that the Hopi stories of ant people 694 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:25,320 were more than just mythology? 695 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:29,180 And if the so-called insectoids really do exist, 696 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:32,120 is it possible that they are not aliens 697 00:40:32,220 --> 00:40:34,360 but humans from the future? 698 00:40:37,060 --> 00:40:40,260 Aliens appear to be a part of our human evolution 699 00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:42,060 over thousands of years. 700 00:40:42,260 --> 00:40:45,040 A lot of it has to do with our reproductive systems. 701 00:40:45,180 --> 00:40:47,960 Maybe they're actually trying to create a new race, 702 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:51,240 possibly that will be able to withstand atmospheric changes 703 00:40:51,340 --> 00:40:54,200 here on Earth or potentially lead us to a point 704 00:40:54,260 --> 00:40:56,300 where we have to leave the planet? 705 00:40:58,060 --> 00:41:00,300 NARRATOR: But if humans are someday forced underground 706 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:04,320 by a cataclysmic event, does it even make 707 00:41:04,380 --> 00:41:07,220 scientific sense that we would evolve to have 708 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:09,420 insect-like characteristics? 709 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:15,200 According to some scientists, we are part insect already. 710 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:18,080 GENE KRITSKY: The work of the human genome 711 00:41:18,140 --> 00:41:21,160 has indicated that possibly up to half of our DNA 712 00:41:21,220 --> 00:41:23,960 may be the result of transposons. 713 00:41:24,260 --> 00:41:28,160 That's a fancy word for jumping genes, genes that can jump 714 00:41:28,220 --> 00:41:30,040 from one species to another. 715 00:41:33,300 --> 00:41:35,040 Recently it was shown that Rhodnius-- 716 00:41:35,300 --> 00:41:38,000 this is the sucking insect that spreads Chagas disease-- 717 00:41:38,180 --> 00:41:41,060 not only can spread the trypanosoma, the disease 718 00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:43,960 causing agent, from organism to organism, 719 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:48,180 it also can spread its own genes to those organisms. 720 00:41:49,060 --> 00:41:50,320 Humans get Chagas disease. 721 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,320 So far they've not tested humans for this insect DNA. 722 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:58,260 Odds are, we do have some of these insect genes 723 00:41:58,320 --> 00:41:59,300 in our system. 724 00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:01,200 We know some of these transposon probably 725 00:42:01,260 --> 00:42:04,180 came from diseases we caught when our ancestors were 726 00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:06,020 bitten by insects. 727 00:42:08,260 --> 00:42:10,360 NARRATOR: Could the studies on horizontal gene 728 00:42:10,420 --> 00:42:14,420 transfer one day prove that we really do have insect DNA 729 00:42:14,980 --> 00:42:16,380 in our genetic makeup? 730 00:42:18,140 --> 00:42:21,380 And if so, might it be not by chance but by 731 00:42:21,940 --> 00:42:24,220 some extraterrestrial design? 732 00:42:26,380 --> 00:42:29,320 DAVID WILCOCK: Is it possible that evolution is being 733 00:42:29,380 --> 00:42:33,080 guided by some sort of greater galactic 734 00:42:33,140 --> 00:42:34,980 or universal intelligence? 735 00:42:35,220 --> 00:42:38,960 Could it be possible that certain circumstances, insects 736 00:42:39,020 --> 00:42:40,980 could be the dominant species that 737 00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:43,180 ultimately become sentient and develops 738 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:45,360 hominid characteristics. 739 00:42:46,080 --> 00:42:48,320 The contact reports are consistent. 740 00:42:48,980 --> 00:42:53,100 Some people are seeing beings like this communicating 741 00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:57,060 with them intelligently and for a benevolent purpose. 742 00:42:57,380 --> 00:42:59,340 DAVID CHILDRESS: The whole idea of mixing these life 743 00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:03,380 forms together is fascinating, making hybrids of the two 744 00:43:03,940 --> 00:43:05,020 of them. 745 00:43:05,180 --> 00:43:09,980 Throughout history, people have honored and even worshipped 746 00:43:10,100 --> 00:43:13,320 insects, built temples to them. 747 00:43:14,060 --> 00:43:17,980 It's quite possible that there is an insectoid type 748 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:21,180 life on other planets that can actually have 749 00:43:21,240 --> 00:43:24,020 intelligence beyond our own. 750 00:43:28,980 --> 00:43:31,340 NARRATOR: Is it possible that there really is a connection 751 00:43:31,940 --> 00:43:34,240 between insects and aliens? 752 00:43:35,980 --> 00:43:38,340 Are they related to beings from beyond our world, 753 00:43:38,980 --> 00:43:41,320 as some ancient astronaut theorists suggest? 754 00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:46,000 And if so, might they have a secret purpose 755 00:43:46,060 --> 00:43:47,400 we have yet to discover? 756 00:43:49,240 --> 00:43:53,300 Perhaps one day we'll find that alien beings don't only inhabit 757 00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:57,320 the furthest reaches of space but that there are, 758 00:43:57,380 --> 00:44:01,980 in fact billions here on Earth, and most of them 759 00:44:02,180 --> 00:44:04,380 right under our feet.