All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens s15e01 The Mystery of Nan Madol.eng

NARRATOR:
Giant volcanic rock walls

rise up from the sea.

BRUCE FENTON:
We consider the sheer scale

of the Nan Madol construction
site-- it's mind-boggling.

NARRATOR: Just how were these
massive structures built, and why?

Ancient astronaut theorists
Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress embark
on an incredible journey

to these remote ruins
in search of answers.

GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
Wow. Look at this.

DAVID CHILDRESS:
250 million tons

of basalt just piled up
and into artificial islands.

NARRATOR:
Will they solve the mystery of

one of the world's
most baffling sites?

ROSS CONKLIN: We should
be getting close to the wall.

CHILDRESS: So as soon as you get
close to those stones, it disconnects.

That's so strange.

CHILDRESS The more you know,

the more mysterious it gets.

NARRATOR:
There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is
the promise of truth.

It demands
we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is
right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

NARRATOR:
The Pacific Ocean.

January 1836.

The British cutter Lambton
arrives at the shores

of the Micronesian island
of Pohnpei.

It is one of the first
European expeditions

to reach this remote landmass,

which is located roughly 2,500
miles northeast of Australia.

The ship's surgeon,
identified only as Dr. Campbell,

writes about a megalithic site

that stands off
Pohnpei's southeastern shore.

He speculates
that the massive structures

are as old
as the Egyptian pyramids,

and must have been
the work of great men.

It is one of
the earliest accounts

of what will later
be known as Nan Madol.

Nan Madol is this
amazing construction.

It's-it's a full-on city.

When pilots during World War II
would fly over

that part of the Pacific, they
would look out their windows,

and they would see
what essentially was described

as the Venice of the Pacific.

So that became
one of its nicknames.

NARRATOR: Today, much of Nan
Madol is hidden beneath dense vegetation,

making it appear as though
the edge of Pohnpei

extends further out
into the ocean.

But in reality, it is
an 11-square-mile complex

consisting of more than
100 man-made islets

standing atop
a submerged coral reef.

Archaeologists estimate
that to construct the site,

the builders used
250 million tons of basalt,

a black rock that forms when
basaltic lava from a volcano

cools and becomes solid.

Some of the basalt logs and
blocks weigh upwards of 50 tons.

Nan Madol is this mysterious
island in the middle of nowhere.

You have at least 600 miles
in every direction

where there is
absolutely nothing.

And so, to find this incredible
megalithic structure there,

you have to wonder
why that place existed

in the first place.

When we consider the sheer scale

of the Nan Madol construction
site, it's mind-boggling.

Why would they need
this scale of construction

on a tiny island
in the middle of nowhere?

It is a complete mystery

who exactly constructed it
and when.

NARRATOR: Historians have
attributed the megalithic construction

to the Saudeleur Dynasty.

The empire ruled over Nan Madol
for approximately 500 years,

from 1100 to 1628 AD.

But speculation that they were
the builders of Nan Madol

has been the subject
of controversy,

as many believe that an accurate
dating of the structures

is virtually impossible
to determine.

It's difficult, really,
to put dates on Nan Madol.

Currently, mainstream
archaeologists are

giving the city a date
of about 1100 AD,

and they're coming up
with that date by dating

some of the coral rubble
that's there.

What I think of there
is that this is the date

of the last repair work
on this amazing city

and that the city itself

was actually built
much earlier than that.

The thing is
they left no records.

They left no literature,
no history, no art,

nothing that says that they had
these advanced technologies

or concepts like mathematics

that would enable them to build
such an archeological wonder.

So, it leaves this great mystery

of who actually constructed
Nan Madol and why.

NARRATOR: A team of scientists,
backed by the U. S. Department

of State Ambassadors Fund
for Cultural Preservation,

completes a six-month project to
conduct the first lidar survey

of this World Heritage Site.

Lidar utilizes laser wave pulses
to create a 3-D representation

of an area and allows
unprecedented access

to otherwise
impenetrable locations.

This recent lidar survey
at Temwen Island and Nan Madol

indicates that there was

a specially designed
irrigation system

that could support people

on this relatively small island
adjacent to Pohnpei.

And then Nan Madol
is built there, too.

So, who then would have built

such a sophisticated
irrigation system,

which no one knew about
until this recent lidar survey?

And it doesn't seem that
the-the so-called builders,

the Saudeleurs,
were the builders of this.

NARRATOR: While the study
continues to credit the construction

of Nan Madol to the Saudeleurs,

many researchers suggest
that the oral history

of the people of Pohnpei
contradicts this notion.

This recent lidar survey
is sensational

because the big mystery
about Nan Madol was always:

Where did the people get
their food from or their water?

And according
to the local population,

it had to be boated in.

But if you now look
at this new lidar survey,

which suggests that there is
an artificial irrigation system

on Temwen, well, they could've
collected the water right there,

and this leads me to think
that the Saudeleurs

appropriated whatever was
at Temwen Island and Nan Madol.

NARRATOR: Does the lidar survey
prove that the conventional theories

crediting the Saudeleurs as the
creators of Nan Madol are wrong?

But if so, who built Nan Madol,
and why?

Intrigued by the results
of the recent lidar survey,

ancient astronaut theorists
Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress
embark on a journey

to the remote island of Pohnpei.

They are hoping to find evidence
that could shed new light

on what has become
a centuries-old mystery.

-Here we are.
-This is exciting.

NARRATOR: This expedition
is the first for Giorgio,

but David's fifth visit
to the megalithic site.

-All right. Hello. -Good morning. -Hi,
Gus. This is our guide.

-How are you,
Gus? Good to see you. -Welcome to Pohnpei.

NARRATOR: At Mangrove Bay
on the island's north shore,

Giorgio and David meet up
with Micronesia's

National Historic Preservation
Officer, Gus Kohler.

-So, ready to go? Okay.
-Yeah. Let's get going, yeah.

NARRATOR: From here,
they will travel by boat to Nan Madol.

TSOUKALOS:
Nan Madol is one of the last

ancient mysteries
that I have yet to see,

and it's been 30 years
since I've wanted to come here.

And I cannot wait
to see what awaits us.

And what better guide
than David Childress?

CHILDRESS: Nan Madol is
the eighth wonder of the world.

It's one of the most
amazing megalithic sites

that I've ever seen.

But it's very little known.

The archeologists
who come here...

-What do they say?
-Yeah, what-- they--

How do they say it was made,
Nan Madol?

Every-Everyone has
their own theory.

-Sure. -Their own
different theory. -Yeah.

If you imagine, if you carry it,
uh, you know,

it's-it's a very uneven terrain.

You've got mountains,
you've got valleys,

-you've got water.
-It's very rugged.

-Very rugged.
-Very rugged.

And then the-the question

of putting it or having it
hung underneath a boat...

-It's incredible. -I mean, w-we've
tried to carry lots, small ones on rafts,

tried to imitate how--
it's just impossible.

-They can't do it? -Really?
So you have actually tried...

We've tried.
We've experimented.

To do it the way that
mainstream archeology suggests

and it didn't quite work.

Uh, not with the rafts
that we had.

NARRATOR: According
to mainstream scholars,

bamboo rafts
transported the blocks used

in the construction
of Nan Madol.

But Gus Kohler does not agree.

As far as he's concerned,

this method has repeatedly
been tested and has failed,

even when the smallest
of basalt columns are used.

One of the most recent attempts

was made for a
television documentary in 1995.

After several attempts,
they were unable to demonstrate

how this would be done,

even with smaller blocks
weighing only one ton.

NARRATOR:
After a 90-minute boat ride,

David and Giorgio
get their first look

at the massive basalt walls
of Nan Madol.

CHILDRESS:
All right, so here we go.

Here's the massive
sea wall here.

But it's just huge.

Look at these giant stones.
(stammers)

How they're piled up here.

-But it-it's just, it's huge.
-TSOUKALOS: Incredible.

CHILDRESS:
It's just 250 million tons

of basalt just piled up
and into giant walls

and artificial islands.

It-it boggles the mind.

It's-it's so incredible.

I mean, some of these blocks
are just massive, massive.

CHILDRESS:
Yeah, huge.

TSOUKALOS:
The first time I laid eyes

on Nan Madol,
I thought it was prehistoric.

This place potentially
is thousands of years older

than what mainstream
archeology suggests.

CHILDRESS: Nan Madol
astounds you when you see it,

but most archeologists
really don't want

to open this Pandora's box

of what is there on this island,

because it's not
easily explained

by mainstream archeology.

NARRATOR:
Rufino Mauricio,

the Director of
the Federal States

of Micronesia Office
of National Archives,

is among many who believe
that the secret

to Nan Madol's origins
may not be a terrestrial one.

MAURICIO: The existence
of Nan Madol itself

continues to puzzle people

because it welcomes
all kinds of possibilities,

including possibilities of
people from the outer space...

NARRATOR:
People from outer space?

It is a question that Giorgio

and David are determined
to answer.

And as the first step
in their investigation,

they are eager to make a closer
examination of the site

and investigate the details
of its baffling construction.

CHILDRESS:
So here we're just on the edge

-of Temwen Island.
-TSOUKALOS: Amazing.

NARRATOR: After docking
on Pohnpei's Temwen Island,

ancient astronaut theorists
Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress

are now approaching
the ancient ruins

of Nan Madol by land.

With them is Micronesia's

National Historic Preservation
Officer, Gus Kohler.

Okay, we're gonna
make a left up there.

A left up here? Okay.

CHILDRESS:
This is it, huh? Okay.

-KOHLER: This is it.
-TSOUKALOS: Yes.

NARRATOR: To get an expert
opinion on the construction

of this staggering
megalithic complex...

-Yeah, let's do it.
-KOHLER: Follow me.

They have enlisted
UCLA Professor

of Structural Engineering
Dr. Henry Burton.

HENRY BURTON:
I'm a structural engineer,

so I think about how to
design things to make sure

that they move
through structures

in a way that they're...
that they're stable.

Are you okay back there?

BURTON: So,
my role is to bring a modern perspective

on the structures that we're
seeing here in Micronesia.

TSOUKALOS:
Wow. Look at this.

-KOHLER: Amazing, huh?
-BURTON: That's amazing.

-I mean,
look at some of those... -BURTON: I know.

-But, I mean... -Look at that
one. -BURTON: Look at that guy.

CHILDRESS:
So, here's this huge wall here

full of prismatic basalt.

How would you build that,
then, today?

Well, you'll--
You'd certainly need cranes,

I can tell you that.

Um, even for some
of these smaller blocks,

you're talking about
on the order of tens of tons.

CHILDRESS:
So, how would you build this

if you didn't have any cranes?

Well, that I can't...
I can't, um...

Yeah, I can't think of any way

that you'd be able
to build this.

TSOUKALOS:
Because one would argue,

perhaps, this was done
with some sort of scaffolding,

but wouldn't you need
really strong trees?

And they don't really have
strong trees here

to build that type
of scaffolding.

Yeah. It's a mystery to me.

I can't imagine how it could be
built without cranes.

So, Gus, uh,
what is your tradition

of how they built these walls?

And that is, distance-wise,
how long? How far?

20 miles? Okay.

Just imagine moving
that boulder right there.

How many people would it take
to move that?

What kind of a boat

would you have that you could
put that boulder on?

Well, I mean, you'd-you'd be
talking about a barge, right?

So, um, there are barges

that hold up to, uh,
hundreds of tons.

They have hundreds of tons
in terms of-of capacity,

so that's what
you're talking about.

You're talking about
basically shipping barges.

-Giant shipping barge.
-BURTON: Yes.

-Like what we have today.
-Yes.

TSOUKALOS: The idea that
people actually dragged these things

across a rugged terrain
or on rafts,

it's absolutely preposterous
in my opinion.

The bottom line is
that it is an impossibility

to move 250 million tons
of basalt

from one side of the island
to the other

without modern technology,
without modern machinery.

NARRATOR: As a heavy
rain suddenly sets in,

the team makes its way
through the ancient site

and towards a remarkable feature
in one of the basalt walls.

TSOUKALOS: So,
the weather here changes every 30 seconds.

(chuckles)

NARRATOR: For structural
engineer Henry Burton,

just as impressive as the size

of the stones
used to construct Nan Madol

is the engineering knowledge the
ancient builders must have had.

BURTON: So, what's
interesting about this is if you look

at the doorway
in any modern building

and you open up the walls,

you'll find a beam
directly over the doorway.

And why this type of beam
is important is because

it supports all of the load
that's above it.

It's called a lintel.

Right? So, that's actually
a-a structural element

that's used in design.

This is interesting because

this is actually
in bending, right?

It's subtle,
but this is actually

a bending action
that you're seeing here,

and it becomes a little bit

more interesting
when you have to do the design.

Wh-What type of mathematics
or physics is involved here?

Well, there are several things
you have to think about.

So, first,
you'd have to think about

the load
that's being placed on this.

Right?
Then you would have to consider

the structural mechanics,
so you'd have to consider

the cross-sectional properties
of this thing.

You would have to consider
the material properties.

Now, if we're talking about

sort of what governs
the bending shape

of this thing, then there's
some actual calculus involved

in-in understanding that.

TSOUKALOS:
Dr. Burton said

that in order to calculate
these stress levels,

he would need advanced
mathematics such as calculus.

And that is a pretty tall order,
because even archaeologists

would have to admit
that calculus

did not exist in the 1100 AD.

Calculus,
for all intents and purposes,

was not invented
until the 17th century AD.

(birds squawking)

So, gentleman,
we're gonna cross.

All right, let's do it.

NARRATOR: Although no
inscriptions of any kind exist

on the stone structures,

in 1907,
excavations were performed

in areas believed to be
ceremonial temples and tombs.

KOHLER:
So, this is the central part

of Nandauwas,
the ceremonial center.

TSOUKALOS:
This is unreal.

Right up front,
you'll see a tomb.

CHILDRESS:
Isn't this great?

This is just something else,
isn't it?

TSOUKALOS:
Wow.

This is extraordinary.

TSOUKALOS:
And then this was,

uh, some type of a tomb
at some point?

Okay.

CHILDRESS:
But they're not really sure

that it was a tomb, are they?
Do they...

TSOUKALOS:
And-and what did they discover?

Did they discover bones?

And then later,

some of the excavated material
from here

was put on a ship,
and that ship sank

in the Marshall Islands,
and everything was lost.

So, the excavator died
and the ship sank.

So is this similar to, like,
the curse of the pharaohs?

Because also in ancient Egypt,
they were saying

that if you excavate something,

you'll have a curse and you die.

-And some people have died.
-Well...

NARRATOR: Although Pohnpei
is home to 34,000 people,

Nan Madol is
completely uninhabited

and has been for centuries.

Among the reasons is that
the native islanders believe

this ancient site is cursed.

HENRY:
There's all kinds

of taboos
about visiting this place,

like it's got ghosts there.

CHILDRESS:
The local islanders believe

that the city of Nan Madol
is cursed, and they believe

that if they spend the night
there, they'll die.

The islanders say that at night,

there are lights
that move around in the city.

NARRATOR:
An unexplainable death

after the opening
of a sacred tomb?

-(thunder rumbles) -All evidence

gathered from the site
mysteriously lost at sea?

Could Nan Madol be home
to something that mankind

is not yet meant to discover?

Man, oh, man.

Wait, look how tall that is.

NARRATOR: While visiting
the ancient site of Nan Madol,

ancient astronaut theorists
Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress,

along with their guide,
Gus Kohler,

and structural engineer
Dr. Henry Burton,

have traveled
to the site of Nandauwas,

the royal mortuary
said to belong

to Nan Madol's
original builders.

This is supposed to be the
biggest stone here at Nandauwas.

This cornerstone right here?

To this day, it's...
it's supposed to be

the biggest
of all the stones here.

Henry, do you think you can
calculate the weight of this?

Yeah, we can
certainly estimate it.

Um, I have a measuring tape--
we can estimate

the volume,
and we know the density,

so that can give us the mass.

All right, let's do that.

BURTON: Yeah, so this is
about four meters.

All right, here's,
uh, the far... corner here.

NARRATOR: Using the
dimensions and the density

of one of
the basalt stone blocks,

-Dr. Burton calculates its
weight. -TSOUKALOS: 250.

-Two meters, 50. -All right,
so based on the measurements,

we are looking at a weight
of about 54 tons.

-54 tons? -Yeah, so 50 tons,
give or take. -Wow.

And you have
one, two, three, four

of those monoliths essentially
stacked on top of each other

at a height of 40 feet?

CHILDRESS:
So, Gus,

what is then the oral history

of moving this stone
on the island?

Well, according to the legends,

uh, the stones
were flown up there.

NARRATOR:
For generations,

the people of Pohnpei
have told the story

that Nan Madol was constructed
by strange visitors

through a process of levitation.

It is this legend

that has suggested
to ancient astronaut theorists

that Nan Madol is not only
an ancient megalithic structure,

it is also
an extraterrestrial one.

We have in the oral traditions

a story about two brothers...

NARRATOR:
According to legend,

the twin sorcerers
who created Nan Madol

were of giant proportions,

much like the legends
of Easter Island,

-where it is said -(rumbling)

that giants magically floated

the stone moai statues
into place.

Similar stories
involving levitation

are associated with numerous
other megalithic sites...

like Stonehenge in England,

the Great Pyramid
in Giza, Egypt,

the Uxmal pyramid
in the Yucatan peninsula,

and Puma Punku in Bolivia.

There are other stories
around the world

that say the exact same thing:

How gigantic stones
were moved into place

as if by magic.

And you have to ask yourself:
Is there a connection?

Did all of our ancestors
receive the same knowledge

from extraterrestrials?

And the answer to that is
a resounding yes.

Okay.

CHILDRESS:
Yeah, they don't know-- I think

they don't know
where it came from.

-TSOUKALOS: Aha.
-But it's not from here, right?

CHILDRESS:
So, yeah, 60% of the stones,

they don't know
where they came from.

That's incredible,
that the 60% is essentially

still a mystery, yes?

Huh.

NARRATOR: For decades,
mainstream archaeologists

had been frustrated by their
failure to identify the source

for much of the basalt used in
the construction of Nan Madol.

But recently,
a growing number of scientists

have become convinced
that it came

from a volcanic outcropping

located 25 miles northeast
of Nan Madol

called Pwisehn Malek.

The unusual formation extends
over 400 feet into the air,

and incredibly, the rock used
to construct Nan Madol

appears to have been extracted

from the least accessible part
of the mountain:

The very top.

But how?

According to the oral history
of Pohnpei,

the basalt was taken
by what the natives referred to

as a "giant bird."

There's one story that says
that at some point

there were these giant roosters

that lived on top
of that mountain,

and this rooster took
these basalt blocks

and flew them over to Nan Madol.

Now, monster roosters
do not exist,

so my mind always goes
to misunderstood technology,

machines that were provided
by the extraterrestrials.

CHILDRESS: I believe
that the islanders are correct

when they say all those stones
were flown through the air,

because I can't see how
it was done in any other way.

NARRATOR: As far as
ancient astronaut theorists

are concerned,
the local legends,

along with hard evidence

that basalt appears
to have been excavated

from the top of Pwisehn Malek,
add credence to the idea

that advanced alien technology
was used in the construction

of Nan Madol.

And to help prove their theory,
Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress,
along with structural engineer

Dr. Henry Burton, travel
25 miles across the island

to visit
the nearest basalt quarry.

TSOUKALOS:
Man, look at this.

-BURTON: Wow.
-What a quarry, huh?

So how does one free the basalt
from-from this wall?

Yeah, no, it would,
it would certainly require

some specialized tools,

some type of excavator,
some type of drill tip.

Once you start taking rocks off,

depending on how much room
you have to drive things up,

um, depending on the size
of the blocks,

you might need a crane
to sort of move things around.

You would need
some type of machinery

to be able to do that today.

How did people from
at least a thousand years ago

remove these blocks

from this quarry?

CHILDRESS:
They had to somehow pry

these columns out of the cliff

and, you know, remove them
so that they would be, yeah,

-stand-alone piece of
prismatic basalt... -Yeah.

And then, and then move it,
millions of tons of it.

I would think that, yeah,
there was very much

a special survey done
of this island,

looking for material
that could be used to build.

-TSOUKALOS: Right.
-And I would say

that an aerial survey
would accomplish all of that.

Yes, yes.
Or any type of, you know,

advanced, uh, radar technology
that, in my opinion,

existed with the
extraterrestrials at the time.

NARRATOR:
For Giorgio and David,

the more they learn
about Nan Madol,

from the weight
of the basalt columns

to the distance
they had to be transported

to the tools that would be
needed to quarry the rock,

the more difficult
it becomes to explain

how all of this
could have been accomplished

without the help of advanced
extraterrestrial technology.

Nevertheless, according to
the oral history of Pohnpei,

the most compelling evidence
cannot be found

by examining the megalithic
structures themselves,

but what lies beneath them.

NARRATOR:
In search of further clues

to help solve the mystery
of Nan Madol,

David Childress
and Giorgio Tsoukalos

meet up once again with
historical preservation officer

Gus Kohler.

-You guys ready for a trip?
-All right. Yes.

NARRATOR:
Gus has provided access

to underwater drones so they can
get an additional perspective

on the ruins of Nan Madol.

With their drone operator,
Ross Conklin,

David and Giorgio head out
towards an area

where it has been reported
that there are a number

of incredible structures that
lie hidden under the water,

structures that
some believe are part

of an incredibly ancient
submerged city

called Kanamwayso.

And it's deep under the water.
Uh, it's-it's another city.

It's different than Nan Madol.

It's a second city.

Could it be that
the coral reef itself is...

is that city,
and the corals grown over it?

NARRATOR: After a short
trip across the shoreline,

the team arrives
at their destination.

So, when you were scuba diving
here about 30 years ago,

you saw basalt columns
encrusted in coral.

CHILDRESS:
That's what we think.

We-we think
they're basalt column.

-We-we don't know.
-So wouldn't that

correlate with an extreme age,
if you have columns, you know,

-encrusted in-in... in coral?
-It would have been, I mean--

It's about 80 feet deep or so,
and it would mean that

the ocean levels were 80 feet
lower than they are today

-whenever they built that.
-Right. And that would mean

that we're talking
12,000 years ago, at least.

-Like, the last ice age, yeah.
-Right.

So, yeah, that the city would be

12,000 years old or older.

NARRATOR:
12,000 years old?

Is it possible
that extraterrestrials

were not only responsible
for constructing

the incredible
Nan Madol complex,

but also an earlier structure
that is now beneath the water,

and that they are
still accessing to this day?

(thunder crashing)

In many ancient texts,

there can be found accounts
of a great flood

wiping out a previous
civilization of humans,

such as in the Sumerian epic
of Gilgamesh,

the Egyptian Edu Creation texts,

the Vedic texts of India,

and the Bible's Book of Genesis.

Today, more and more
scientific evidence is emerging

to suggest that such a cataclysm
may actually have happened

around the end
of the last ice age,

12,000 years ago,

when sea levels
were 400 feet lower.

Is it possible that Nan Madol
was built that long ago

by a now forgotten
pre-flood civilization?

NEWMAN: The builders in Nan
Madol were a very advanced civilization.

So whether these people
originated on the island,

or as tradition states--
they came from other areas...

It may have been an inheritance
from the lost city

that was actually underwater
that Nan Madol was built upon.

NARRATOR: The team prepares
to launch an underwater drone.

This will be the first time
that the ruins

have ever been explored
in this way.

All right, so, Gus,
I'm gonna ask you for a hand

with this cable,
just to wrangle it.

GUS:
Okay.

Watch mode. Boom.

All right, so you just
kind of drop it.

CHILDRESS:
Yeah. There it is.

-All right.
-CONKLIN: And...

CONKLIN:
All right, now we're moving.

TSOUKALOS:
Cool.

A little bit of an image.

TSOUKALOS:
Ooh. Yeah, look at that.

CONKLIN:
Open ocean, open ocean.

We should be getting close
to the wall.

-Wow, cool.
-So let me drop down.

-And there we start to see
the wall again. -Mm-hmm.

CONKLIN: Now,
disconnected there for a second...

-(beeps)
-...and connected.

NARRATOR: Curiously,
the image being relayed by the drone

continues to cut out every time
it starts to get close

to what appears to be
an underwater wall

of basalt columns.

-It keeps disconnecting.
-Aha.

NARRATOR: The drone Ross is using
tested perfectly just one day earlier,

and in an area that
was also rich in basalt,

so he is genuinely baffled as
to why it is now malfunctioning.

I think what we should do
is reel this one back in.

I have another underwater drone.

We'll give that one a try

and we'll just go
straight to that wall.

KOHLER:
Okay, fingers crossed.

NARRATOR: While exploring
a vast underwater complex

submerged beneath
the ancient ruins of Nan Madol,

ancient astronaut theorists
Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress, along with
historic preservation officer

Gus Kohler and drone operator
Ross Conklin,

have just experienced
a mysterious setback.

The submersible drone
they deployed

suddenly stopped working.

Fortunately, Ross came prepared
with a backup.

CONKLIN:
All right,

so I'm heading right
for that corner over there.

Okay.

(beeping)

-Okay. Disconnected.
-Yeah.

CONKLIN:
Okay, disconnected. Wow.

CHILDRESS: So as soon as
you get close to those stones...

-CONKLIN: Unbelievable. Yeah.
-...it disconnects.

CONKLIN: So I'm just
right below the surface,

and as soon as I try and drop...

TSOUKALOS:
This is now our second one now.

CHILDRESS:
Yeah, now it's doing it to both.

That's so strange.

NARRATOR:
Curiously,

the second drone
has also malfunctioned.

Could the stone materials
have something to do with it?

TSOUKALOS:
Both underwater drones worked

on the north side of the island
the day before.

And then we came
to the area of Nan Madol,

and outside, only a few feet
away from Nan Madol,

those machines no longer worked.

It's as if something or someone

was interfering
with the devices.

So it's very strange to think
that maybe somehow

those basalt blocks
have been magnetized.

And if that is the case,
what were they exposed to

that they are
now apparently magnetized,

as some people have suggested?

CHILDRESS:
People see lights in this city.

At night, they see
lights moving around, and it--

and that may be because
the whole city's magnetic

and it's some kind
of electromagnetic,

-you know, phenomenon that's
coming... -Phenomenon. Yeah.

-...from the rocks themselves.
-Right.

NARRATOR: Oceanic basalt
like that found at Nan Madol

is ferromagnetic,

meaning that, when exposed
to a magnetic charge,

it becomes
magnetically charged itself.

MICHAEL DENNIN:
Rocks really have

three basic effects
on magnetic fields.

They either have no effect,

so the magnetic field stays
kind of straight.

They can effectively repel
magnetic fields or attract them.

Volcanic rock enhances
the magnetic field.

CHILDRESS:
The natives say

that the stones
all flew across the island.

And if that was the case,

then some magnetic energy

was put onto the stones,

levitated them,
they put them into place

and that energy is still there
in a residual manner.

And that is why the drones
wouldn't work there,

because there's still
this energy that was used

to levitate the stones.

If they flew these stones
through the air,

if they're using
some antigravity technology,

they would then be magnetized.

TSOUKALOS: Clearly,
it has something to do with the structure.

It's highly unlikely
that two pieces of equipment

are malfunctioning
all at the same time.

NARRATOR: If the
legend of Nan Madol is true

and it was constructed
by otherworldly visitors

using levitation technology,
what was it built for?

TSOUKALOS:
Why would anybody have

to create artificial land
or islands back in the day?

Especially with
a sizeable island

-right here.
-Right here.

But think of Venice in Italy.

It's a port city.
It has canals.

It's very much for boats.

To me,
it's a giant naval base here

for huge ships,

and those-those ships
were coming out

of Southeast Asia
into the vast Pacific,

and they would meet here.

And then they would go on
to other islands

and then to Mexico
and to Colombia and Peru.

But then, also,

-it's airships and high
technology. -Right.

CHILDRESS: I don't think that
naval traffic and airship traffic

are necessarily, uh, exclusive
of each other.

And it would seem that,
you know,

it's a combination of both.

They were using it
as a stepping-stone,

going out
to other Pacific islands,

where other megaliths and
pyramids and things were built.

NARRATOR:
Was Nan Madol a port

for an advanced
pre-flood civilization?

As far as David Childress
is concerned,

it was not only a port

but one with
an extraordinary origin.

And he believes
the most important evidence

to support his theory
can be found

by examining
the basalt stone used

to build the massive complex.

NARRATOR:
For more than three decades,

ancient astronaut theorist
David Childress

has been studying Nan Madol.

Over the years,

he has entertained
dozens of theories

as to how it was constructed
and why.

Based on what he has learned
over the course

of his latest investigation,

he is now more convinced
than ever

that it was built either by

or with the help from
extraterrestrial visitors.

He is also convinced

that the complex was built
with basalt rock

because of
its electromagnetic properties,

properties that would
make it possible

to levitate the large
megaton stones into place.

Nan Madol is built
out of millions

and millions of tons of basalt,

which is magnetic.

And perhaps this is something

that extraterrestrials
can manipulate,

use for themselves.

Even it could
possibly help power

their spaceships and things.

Nan Madol for sure
had to have been built

when the worldwide water levels

were much, much lower.

And that, according to science,

was between 11,000
and 20,000 years ago.

So, right there,

we have physical evidence
of a site that,

in my opinion,
was built in prehistory.

NEWMAN: When you find evidence
deep under the water

that potentially goes back
tens of thousands of years

in a very important part
of the Pacific,

it does raise the question:

Is there a much earlier epoch to
Nan Madol than people realize?

The incredible site of Nan Madol
looks like it was part

of a great culture
that existed throughout

the Pacific and probably beyond.

We find evidence of similar
construction at Gunung Padang,

which potentially goes back
20,000 years.

We find similar basalt columns

at Olmec sites
in ancient Mexico.

And these builders
may have been influencing,

uh, the pyramid constructions
in ancient Mexico.

All these are indicators

of an ancient lost civilization
in the Pacific.

TSOUKALOS:
There's no doubt in my mind

that the engineering knowledge
for Nan Madol

came from the extraterrestrials.

I have seen megalithic
structures around the world,

but this one is one of the few
that absolutely defies logic.

I would categorize Nan Madol
in the same category

like the Great Pyramid of Egypt

and also Puma Punku.

And you have to ask yourself,
is there a connection?

And the answer to that
is a resounding yes.

NARRATOR: Do the incredible
megalithic constructions at Nan Madol

provide evidence that mankind

has only begun
to scratch the surface

of an alien presence
on planet Earth,

one that dates back
tens of thousands of years?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer is a profound yes

and they are also convinced
that further investigations

will not only prove

that extraterrestrials have
revealed themselves to humanity

at different times
throughout history

but that we are
about to be visited

by these same
alien visitors again.

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