Original subtitles

NARRATOR: A flying monster terrorizing West Virginia...

...a giant beast that roamed the Himalayas,

and a sea creature that may be from another world.

For more than a decade, Ancient Aliens

has collected dozens of reports of bizarre encounters

with strange and mysterious beasts.

Now, we're going to take a look back at the top ten

extraordinary creatures we've investigated.

Creatures that just might provide definitive proof

that Earth has been visited

by extraterrestrials.

Throughout recorded history,

there have been stories of strange beings

inhabiting the Earth,

from bizarre hybrids that are half human and half animal,

to giant sea monsters and fire-breathing dragons.

But for ancient astronaut theorists,

these are not just fanciful stories.

They are eyewitness testimony

to what could very well be alien entities.

And believe it or not,

there is evidence that the most famous monster

reported in modern times

may be a visitor from another world.

At number ten on our countdown

of the top ten extraordinary creatures,

Bigfoot.

NARRATOR: Mount Shasta, northern California, 1979.

Author Chris O'Brien is out for a hike

when he encounters something terrifying in the dense forest.

I was up on the side of Mount Shasta on the foothills,

uh, trying to get to the base of the mountain.

So dense and so tough.

As we're standing there, we heard this crashing sound.

(branches snapping)

And then we heard the most blood-curdling

combination of an elephant, uh, trumpeting

a lion roaring.

(roaring)

And it was so loud,

it bounced off the foothills two miles away.

That was probably the most terrified

I've ever been in my life.

A-And the next thing I knew, we were headed

down the mountain, almost skidding on corners.

NARRATOR: Chris believes he had an encounter

with the legendary Bigfoot,

also known as Sasquatch.

Witnesses report that these creatures

walk upright like a human,

are covered in reddish-brown hair,

and are of enormous size.

Bigfoot is this sort of large, lumbering,

eight- to nine-foot-tall ape

that predominantly lives in the Pacific Northwest.

But we also get reports of these creatures

all across the United States,

from the west coast to the east coast.

And estimates are there must be thousands of them.

NARRATOR: With so many reports of the notorious beast

coming from all across the country,

could it be that Bigfoot is real?

Anthropologist Jeff Meldrum

believes it's very possible.

There is, uh, a growing body of data

that suggests that there may actually be

a biological species behind the legend of Bigfoot.

I've focused my attention on the footprints.

And so, in my laboratory now, I've amassed a collection

of well over 200 examples of footprint casts

from all over the United States.

And-And that's provided a quite unique opportunity

to very systematically assess this evidence.

NARRATOR: If the creature known as Bigfoot does exist,

why is it so difficult to capture?

(growling)

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest

clues can be found by examining reports

that link Bigfoot to otherworldly phenomena.

REDFERN: There are a number of cases on record

where Bigfoot has been seen in the same precise timeframe

as UFO activities being reported.

For example, there was a big wave of UFO activity

in Pennsylvania, and people were actually reporting

these large, shadowy, lumbering, ape-like creatures

walking out of the woods.

I had heard from sheriffs

about a rancher in Montana

who had gone out to go hunting.

Comes around a ridge, has an eight-foot-tall,

reddish-brown, primate-looking,

long-haired creature standing right in front of him.

Picks up a .30-06 and just fires.

And the creature disappeared in a flash of light.

If the Sasquatch, when a bullet is shot at it,

disappears in a flash of light,

then what in the world are we dealing with

and what do they want?

Many Sasquatch researchers have noted

that there is a connection

between Bigfoot activity and UFO activity.

And in fact, some people have claimed

they have seen a Bigfoot

actually come out of a flying craft.

So, you have to wonder,

is it possible that Bigfoot

is actually an extraterrestrial?

High in the mountains of the Himalayas,

there are accounts of another mysterious ape-like creature.

Sightings of the beast

have been reported for centuries,

and the local people say

that it is an otherworldly being,

one that is protecting a hidden kingdom of the gods.

At number nine in our countdown

of the top ten extraordinary creatures,

the Yeti.

NARRATOR: Mount Makalu, Nepal, April 9, 2019.

Just a few miles south of the Tibetan border,

a group of Indian soldiers are on patrol

when they make a mysterious discovery.

An expedition from the Indian army

noticed very strange tracks in the snow.

And when they looked at them, they realized

that each one was 32 inches in length

and 15 inches in width.

And they came to the conclusion

that they possibly belonged

to the legendary Yeti.

NARRATOR: The Yeti are often described

as half-man, half-ape creatures that are covered with hair.

But while physical descriptions

of the creature sound very similar to Bigfoot,

researchers suggest that the Yeti

is something entirely different.

MELDRUM: The notorious Himalayan Yeti

is often described as being shorter,

between five and six feet in height,

and leaving footprints that possibly, uh, show

indications of a divergent big toe

in a thumb-like fashion.

So their footprints look quite distinct

from the North American Sasquatch.

NARRATOR: The Yeti is said to be

an extremely dangerous and ferocious monster.

According to both Hindu and Buddhist traditions,

this is because the Yetis

are the guardians of a hidden kingdom in the Himalayas

known as Shambhala.

Shambhala is considered to be one of the abodes

of the celestial gods of the region

where knowledge was imparted

to the local population.

WILLIAM HENRY: The Yeti have this reputation of being guardians of Shambhala,

keeping away all those that are not pure of heart

from entering into this holiest of holy places.

NARRATOR: For ancient astronaut theorists,

the Yeti's role as a protector of Shambhala

suggests the creature has otherworldly origins.

Despite the fact that we have numerous sightings

and photographs of footprints, we don't have

any actual DNA or bones of-of a Yeti.

And the question is, why is that?

And-And one answer that's been proposed is that

the Yeti could, in fact, be an interdimensional creature

capable of disappearing into other realms.

The next extraordinary creature on our list

is believed to be hiding in the deep, cold waters of Scotland.

And it has been reported by witnesses

for nearly 1,500 years.

But how is it that in all that time,

this giant lake monster has never been caught?

Well, according to some researchers,

it's because this is no earthly being,

but one that can travel between dimensions.

At number eight on our countdown

of the top ten extraordinary creatures,

the Loch Ness Monster.

NARRATOR: Scotland. April 21, 1934.

The Daily Mail newspaper

publishes an astonishing photograph.

It allegedly shows a long-necked creature

emerging from the rippling waters of Loch Ness.

Many people believe the image

is of the famous and elusive Loch Ness monster.

KEN GERHARD: The Loch Ness monster,

affectionately referred to as Nessie,

is easily the most iconic of all aquatic monsters,

with thousands of reports on record.

Most people typically describe

one or several large, dark humps

surfacing in the water,

although some people have also reported

a very long, periscope-like neck

with a small head attached.

Nessie first gained notoriety in 1933,

when sightings began to surface as a result

of a road being constructed along the side of the loch.

But accounts actually date back to the year 565 AD,

when great St. Columbus

actually repelled a great water beast

that was seen in the river Ness.

One of the things that we've found

is that sometimes there's a cluster of sightings,

and then there won't be any reports for decades.

And if there was a colony of these animals,

we surely should have got evidence of their existence.

NARRATOR: Is there really a creature

moving deep within the waters of Loch Ness?

And if so, just what is it?

According to ancient astronaut theorists,

it's possible the Loch Ness monster

is not of our world.

HENRY: The story of the Loch Ness monster

reminds me of a UFO sighting that happened

north of Nashville, back in the '90s.

A man sees a giant UFO

that's firing at a creature on his deck that looks like--

he calls it the one-footed snorkel monster,

because it looked like an elephant's trunk with one foot.

In his police report, the man described

how the snorkel monster spun itself into a vortex

or a ball of light and disappeared.

One wonders if this is evidence of a portal

that this creature was opening up.

And, in fact, if this creature and the Loch Ness monster

are part of the same family of creatures

that travel the world through these portals or gateways,

it's possible that the Loch Ness monster

somehow came from another world.

(lowing)

the ancient astronaut theory net of

is that thousands of years ago,

extraterrestrials performed genetic experimentations

on planet Earth.

And evidence of this can be found

in the form of strange hybrids

that were documented in numerous cultures.

Like a bloodthirsty creature described in Greek mythology

that was created by an otherworldly being.

At number seven on our countdown

of the top ten extraordinary creatures,

the Minotaur.

NARRATOR: The Greek island of Crete.

According to the stories of ancient Greece,

this land was once home

to a terrifying monster called the Minotaur.

The Minotaur was a creature

that was half bull and half human.

And the Minotaur was this incredibly violent

and unwieldy beast.

KATHLEEN MCGOWAN: This legend of the Minotaur

is one of the most important and prevalent legends

of the ancient Greek mythology.

One day, King Minos of Crete angers the god Poseidon.

Poseidon, being angry at Minos,

casts a spell over his wife, Pasiphaë,

that she might fall in love

with this great white bull.

And through the mating of the bull,

the Minotaur is born.

And he is ferocious and he feeds on the flesh of humans.

Eventually, it had to be placed within this structure

known as the Labyrinth.

The legend of King Minos and the Labyrinth

is something that was seen to be a fable,

until the explorations

of the palace in Crete.

MCGOWAN: At the very beginning of the 20th century,

a British researcher and archaeologist, Sir Arthur Evans,

discovered the ruins of the palace of King Minos.

But it's not just a palace.

It became very clear

upon looking at the structure

that this was the original Labyrinth.

NARRATOR: If the structure found in Crete

really is the fabled Labyrinth of King Minos,

then is it possible that the story of the Minotaur

is based on actual events?

Ancient astronaut theorists say "yes,"

but suggest that what is described in the legend

is not literally a bull mating with a human.

The story of the Minotaur is an amazing story

about the creation of a hybrid being.

And what's interesting about this

is that Daedalus, this genius engineer,

crafts this cow-shaped container

that Minos' wife is to enter into this container

and mate with this sacred bull.

The Minotaur is the result of that mating.

So, when we peel back the layers of this story,

we can easily interpret this

as some kind of genetics lab

that's being created here for gene splicing.

It's fascinating to think that my Greek ancestors

could have actually encountered

a hybrid creature like the Minotaur.

But believe it or not,

there might be another hybrid creature

living among us today.

This one is described as appearing human,

but with glowing red eyes and birdlike wings,

and is often witnessed in connection with UFOs.

At number six on our list,

the Mothman.

NARRATOR: Point Pleasant, West Virginia. November 15, 1966.

Two young couples

are driving down a dark road outside of town.

As they pass by an old building,

they are startled by a frightening sight.

(raspy breathing)

They claim to have seen a large, uh, winged creature.

Six to seven foot tall, gray in color

and two large red eyes.

They said this creature flew over their car

and followed them back into town.

That was the beginning of the Mothman sightings.

NARRATOR: The harrowing account was picked up by the local press

and incited panic across town.

Over the next year,

residents were terrorized by encounters

with the winged monster.

(raspy breathing)

There were over 100 reported sightings

to the local authorities.

You had some people who claimed

to have seen it while driving in their car.

You had other people seeing it in their front yard.

NARRATOR: The strange sightings attracted the attention

of local journalist Mary Hyre.

Mary Hyre was just a normal, legitimate, uh, journalist

investigating your average stories around town.

And then she was suddenly plunged

into this issue involving the Mothman.

NARRATOR: Mary interviewed dozens of people

who encountered the Mothman.

But soon after she began her investigation,

she was visited by a group of mysterious government agents

known only as the Men in Black.

Mary Hyre was visited by Men in Black,

uh, who told her to s-stop writing

about the Mothman and all these strange encounters.

"Stop writing about this."

"You don't want to be involved in this."

The Men in Black are the cleanup squad.

They are the ones who hide the traces,

hide the footsteps, so to speak,

of the alien presence

or phenomena such as the Mothman.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the creature known as the Mothman

was an otherworldly being,

one that the alleged Men in Black

were attempting to cover up?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and suggest further evidence

of extraterrestrial visitation

can be found in ancient stories

of beasts that could breathe fire.

,

I'm always looking out for examples

of what I call "misunderstood technology."

Our ancestors didn't have the same frame of reference

that we have today.

So when they wrote about flying serpents

that were breathing fire,

were they talking about real-life monsters

or extraterrestrial spacecraft?

At number five on our countdown

of the top ten extraordinary creatures,

Dragons.

NARRATOR: Throughout history, there have been tales of dragons:

powerful, fire-breathing creatures

that flew through the air.

Virtually every culture has a legend about dragons

or dragon beings that came from the sky.

Around England, the Celts revere the dragon.

And the winged dragon, to this day, is the symbol for Wales.

In North America, we learn of the winged serpents.

It must be that there was a common source.

CHILDRESS: We have stories all around the world

of flying dragons and smoke and thunder and fire,

of flying around, carrying people with them.

So, how would all these different places

that are unconnected with each other

have these similar stories?

So, is it possible in these cases

that these flying dragons

are really a mistaken identity

of airships and things like that?

NARRATOR: Is it possible,

as ancient astronaut theorists suggest,

that dragons are not mythical creatures,

but descriptions of advanced,

even extraterrestrial technology?

Perhaps further clues can be found

in the legend of China's Yellow Emperor,

who founded Chinese civilization

nearly 5,000 years ago.

According to Chinese mythology,

the Yellow Emperor, also known as Huangdi,

arrived on the back of a dragon.

The Yellow Emperor, uh, Huangdi, is a culture hero.

He's an originator of Chinese civilization and culture.

And one version of the story has a dragon emerging.

And then the Yellow Emperor jumps on the dragon's back,

and the dragon ascends up to heaven.

NARRATOR: To this day, the people of China celebrate the arrival

of the Yellow Emperor with a traditional dragon dance.

Curiously, dragons are also prominent in the creation myths

of Central America, where various civilizations

worshipped a dragon-like being known by various names.

The Aztecs called this flying deity Quetzalcoatl.

JONATHAN YOUNG: Quetzalcoatl was a creator god.

He brought the rain, he brought water,

he brought civilization, he brought the arts.

This was the creator divinity for the Aztec culture.

It was a flying serpent. It was a dragon.

The dragon is worldwide because, again, in Central America,

in Villahermosa, there is a stone

called the Dragon Monolith.

You see a man sitting inside the dragon.

You see the form of the dragon

with his open mouth, like a snake.

And you see the man is sitting inside.

He has a helmet on.

So the story of the dragon

has come around the world, from China to Central America.

TSOUKALOS: Now, from the ancient astronaut perspective,

the dragon was never a dragon.

It was a flying craft.

It is only natural that our ancestors would

describe these things as living creatures with fire and smoke.

They had never seen anything like it before.

So in my opinion, dragons were an extraterrestrial craft.

Dragons are just one of countless examples

of misunderstood technology

that can be found in the accounts of our ancestors.

In fact, you can find many in the pages of the Holy Bible,

like a terrifying sea monster described

in the Book of Job that had glowing eyes

and ribs made out of gleaming bronze.

At number four on our countdown, the Leviathan.

NARRATOR: The Mediterranean Sea.

Thousands of years ago, these picturesque waters

were said to be home to one of the most extraordinary

creatures ever encountered.

This gigantic beast was described in

the Bible's Old Testament. It's known as the Leviathan.

The Leviathan is sometimes described

as a serpent or a crocodile or a dragon,

but it lurks deep in the sea and comes up

and terrifies the people.

Leviathan, in Biblical terms, is considered this

sea monster of behemoth proportions. Huge.

Now, in the Book of Job, the behemoth all of a sudden

is seen and witnessed.

And the way Job describes it,

it's not a biological entity that we are familiar with today.

It is described that it has skin of metal

and ribs made out of gleaming bronze,

And then Job even describes that it is

like some type of an animal.

But what animal breathes smoke and fire,

and has glowing eyes?

NARRATOR: Might the eyewitness account of the Leviathan

found in the Book of Job

actually be a description not of an underwater creature,

but of misunderstood technology,

as ancient astronaut theorists suggest?

HENRY: Today, we have videos of UFOs, or UAPs,

that are coming and going from the ocean.

We call them trans-medium craft.

Well, this is exactly what we see in

these ancient myths about the Leviathan.

So based on this, that opens up the possibility

that the Leviathan is also

some kind of an ancient, misunderstood UFO technology.

Some of the mod

can be found in the Islamic holy book called the Quran.

These strange beings are described

as shapeshifters made of smokeless fire.

And some believe they inhabit alternate dimensions.

Number three on our countdown

of the top ten extraordinary creatures,

the Jinn.

NARRATOR: Karachi, Pakistan. 2016.

A 25-year-old mother of three is taken to a local physician

after displaying increasingly bizarre behavior.

She speaks in gibberish

and complains of being plagued

by disturbing visions and strange voices.

Her family claims she is possessed

by supernatural beings known as the jinn.

In Islam, there is a class of beings known as jinn.

The jinn are angelic, and yet they are

not of the ethereal realm.

They are of the earthly realm. They're shapeshifters.

They can help you. They can also trick you.

"Jinn" literally means "to hide" or "to conceal."

And so you can think of a jinn as a being who is

concealed from the senses.

They have all sorts of interesting properties.

The jinn can change shapes.

The Quran talks about the jinn being able to take animal form,

but it also takes on the notion, in Arabic of, like, possession.

Someone who is possessed is called Majnun.

They literally have, you know, a jinn inside them.

NARRATOR: In the Islamic texts, the jinn appear only when

they want to be seen, often influencing humans

by whispering instructions to them while invisible.

HENRY: The jinn are described as shadowy beings

that are often malevolent in their intentions.

They are supposed to have had magic abilities,

supernatural powers, and humans greatly feared the jinn.

NARRATOR: Stories of encounters with the jinn have been reported

for centuries, and millions of people

continue to believe in their existence.

But if the jinn really do exist,

could they be extraterrestrials?

ARIEL BAR TZADOK: In order to understand the nature of these entities,

we must understand that, in many ways,

they're the intermediary race.

Like human beings, they eat and drink.

Like human beings, they sexually procreate.

But like the angels, they can shapeshift,

fly, and know the future.

LYNN PICKNETT: The interesting thing about the jinn

is that, technically, they're neutral.

They're neither good nor evil, but they resent human beings

because they were there, enjoying the Earth,

and along came human beings and usurped them.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that alien beings, known as the jinn,

preceded humans on planet Earth,

and have been interacting with us for thousands of years?

Perhaps further clues can be found by examining

ancient Hebrew texts that describe the role

of the jinn in building King Solomon's Temple.

According to the story, King Solomon was given

a powerful ring that allowed him to communicate with the jinn.

HENRY: In the story, Solomon prays to God,

and instantly, the Archangel Michael

manifests, as if out of thin air.

And Michael says that he's going to give Solomon

a power that has never before been seen on Earth

and never again shall be.

And he produces for him a ring with a signet seal

that would enable Solomon to control the jinn

from that point forward.

NARRATOR: The jinn were said to be master architects,

and King Solomon used his ring

to compel them to help build his temple.

The jinn also gave Solomon a mysterious tool

that could cut through stone called a shamir.

Now, the shamir is described in traditional literature

as this little worm that you'd put on the stone,

and it would cut it precisely.

TSOUKALOS: The shamir was a "worm"

that could cut and drill

through even the hardest of stones rather with ease.

What if this shamir was some type of laser cutting device?

NARRATOR: As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned,

the fact that the jinn possessed a device

like the shamir suggests that they were

not ethereal beings, but otherworldly creatures

that have remained present on Earth to this day.

HENRY: When we look at various encounters

with beings like the jinn,

we have to be open to the possibility

that these are examples of misunderstood extraterrestrials,

that they're a different class of being

than we're ordinarily thinking about

when we think "extraterrestrial."

They come from outside of our normal frequency realm.

n y

and all around the world.

As far as I'm concerned,

these are eyewitness accounts of the same beings

that have been described by modern-day alien abductees.

And according to the people of Ireland,

they reside in hidden realms right here on Earth.

Number two on our countdown

of the top ten extraordinary creatures,

the Sidhe.

NARRATOR: Ireland.

According to ancient folklore,

this lush, green island in the North Atlantic

is home to mysterious, otherworldly creatures

known as the Sidhe, or fairy folk.

Do we believe in fairies and leprechauns in Ireland?

Absolutely, 100%. You ask any Irish person.

We don't call them fairies.

It's the Sidhe.

And all of our stories say they came from the sky world.

They went underground. They went to rest.

NARRATOR: According to ancient folklore,

the Sidhe inhabit the massive earthen mounds

that dot the Irish countryside.

And they've been part of the Irish culture for centuries.

MULLIGAN: Fairies and leprechauns and all that sort of stuff.

Like, too many people kind of laugh

and joke about at times,

but it's knowledge that's been passed down for

thousands and thousands of years.

NARRATOR: While modern-day representations of the fairy folk

often depict benevolent, sprightly creatures,

traditional Irish notions of fairies are much different.

They are considered powerful and sometimes dangerous beings.

You don't want to mess with the Sidhe...

They're not cute, cuddly little fairies like

we typically think of today.

These are very extraordinarily powerful beings

that-that dwell underneath the earth.

NARRATOR: While modern stories of the Sidhe

often refer to these beings as fairies or elves,

the Irish know them by yet another name, the Shining Ones.

This is because, according to ancient Irish stories,

they are the descendants of a race of luminous beings

who came down from the sky more than 3,000 years ago

called the Tuatha Dé Danann.

JENNY BUTLER: There is a description in the mythological material,

in the early Irish literature,

of the Tuatha Dé Danann arriving in cloud ships.

Arriving in dark clouds,

and landing on a mountain.

NARRATOR: Irish legends describe the Tuatha Dé Danann

as god-like beings who wielded powerful weapons.

But a conflict with humans led them to find

a new home in a mystical underground realm.

COLLINS: It was agreed that the Tuatha Dé Danann

would go beneath the earth,

inside mounds of earth that were known as Sidhe.

These acted as these doorways into a realm

where, forever after, the Tuatha Dé Danann would live.

NARRATOR: After this event,

the Tuatha Dé Danann became known as the Sidhe,

just like the mounds they inhabit.

But could the Sidhe really exist?

In 1969, French astronomer Jacques Vallée

published a groundbreaking book on unexplained phenomenon called

Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers.

In it, he proposed that historical accounts

of fairies and other strange beings could be

the same phenomenon

that today is interpreted as extraterrestrial.

Jacques did what I think is one of the most important books

about the UFO phenomena.

Trying to understand of all the things in the sky

and on the ground through history

that have either been painted,

photographed, caught on radar,

what are they and why are they?

NARRATOR: According to Vallée, the strange beings

that humans have reported encountering

for thousands of years,

known in Ireland as the Sidhe, may in fact be interdimensional.

BILL BIRNES: Vallée believes that from the time of the Big Bang,

if it created one universe,

why couldn't it create a multitude of universes?

Might there be connections between

the different universes, where elements

from the other universe cross into our universe,

and where elements of our universe cross into theirs?

That would explain how people coming upon the Sidhe

might not just see an underground civilization,

but they might see an interdimensional civilization.

We're moments away from the most extraordinary creature

on our list, and I'm almost certain

it's not what you expect.

down

of the top ten extraordinary creatures,

and this last one absolutely blows my mind.

It's one that everyone is familiar with,

and is found in oceans around the world.

But scientists believe it could possess extraterrestrial DNA.

At number one, the Octopus.

NARRATOR: History books are filled with sensational accounts

of terrifying sea monsters, like the Hydra and the Kraken.

Some are convinced they exist,

while others dismiss them as purely mythological.

But perhaps the most extraordinary sea creature

is one that can be found

in every ocean, and is undeniably real.

The octopus.

KIRSTEN FISHER: The octopus is a really fascinating organism.

The octopus's brain, instead of just being centered

in its head, like ours, is actually distributed.

There are these brains in their arms,

as well as the central brain in their head.

An octopus can certainly manipulate its environment.

It builds its own homes by piling rocks

and shells on top of it.

FISHER: Octopuses are very adept at camouflaging themselves

by changing their color to that of their surroundings

really, really quickly.

I mean, almost, it looks instantaneous to us.

It can also manipulate its body into different shapes

to imitate other animals.

NARRATOR: This extraordinary creature

has three hearts and nine brains.

Some scientists have speculated that in the absence of humans,

the animal best suited to evolve into the dominant species

on the planet is not another primate, but the octopus.

For many scientists, these creatures are truly unlike

any other organism on Earth.

CHILDRESS: As scientists study octopi,

they're amazed at what they're finding,

and they're not seeing

a connection to some ancestor of the octopi.

It's like these creatures were brought here

in their entirety

and put into our oceans.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the octopus didn't originate on Earth,

as ancient astronaut theorists suggest?

Astrobiologist Dr. Chandra Wickramasinghe

believes it's entirely possible.

In March, 2018, he and 32 other scientists

published a scientific paper that caused

a sensation in the press.

In it, they suggest the octopus

contains extraterrestrial DNA.

What we find in the octopus genome is just almost uncanny.

It has something like 50,000 genes.

Compare that with the human,

which has something like 25,000 genes.

So the octopus, in many ways, appears to be

more complex than the human.

Now, how did this complexity manifest itself?

There's ample evidence to suggest

that it came from outside.

NARRATOR: According to Dr. Wickramasinghe,

the DNA of the octopus didn't originate on Earth,

but was transported here through meteors or comets.

The process is known as panspermia.

The panspermia theory cannot be dismissed.

And one possibility is that our solar system

is like one big, gigantic Ping-Pong table,

with ping pongs-- that is, asteroids--

carrying DNA going back and forth

between the various planets.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the octopus didn't originate on Earth,

but was brought here from somewhere else?

Perhaps further clues can be found

in mythological accounts from across the ancient world

that describe aquatic deities who resemble the octopus.

All the way around the world, there are traditions

to do with a creator god in the form of an octopus.

For instance, in ancient Crete, there are numerous

images and paintings of an octopus

with bizarre, large eyes.

In Ecuador, at a place called Mantas,

were these bas-relief carvings of this bizarre octopus deity.

We have to ask ourselves, is it possible that the ancients

were aware that the octopus is truly alien to this planet?

If we could one day prove the presence

of alien DNA in the octopus, it would radically change

the accepted history of our planet.

But as far as I'm concerned, each of the extraordinary

creatures on our list, from Bigfoot to dragons

to the mysterious jinn, provide evidence

that extraterrestrials came to Earth thousands of years ago

and are still visiting today.

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