Original subtitles

NARRATOR: For thousands of years, Scotland has been

an epicenter of otherworldly phenomena.

NICK POPE: So many high-profile

UFO cases and other mysteries

are centered on Scotland

and actually go back to the dawn of time.

NARRATOR: It is home to many mysterious ancient structures...

One of the theories about the stone circles in Scotland

is that they're energetic.

NARRATOR: ...and is a major hotspot for UFO sightings.

RYAN SPRAGUE: The volume of UFO reports in Scotland

compared to the population is astronomical.

NARRATOR: Could it be that, throughout its history,

Scotland has been a magnet for extraterrestrial visitors?

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: I think that that particular area

of the world is crucial in figuring out

the larger picture that our origins

is not down here on Earth,

but out there.

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: Scotland.

The most northerly nation in the British Isles

is a land known for its stunning geography,

mysterious ancient structures,

and a rich mythological tradition

that dates back thousands of years.

PAMELA JAYE SMITH: Scotland, by its very nature,

is a land of mystery.

It's a land of mists.

It's a land of craggy moors.

It's a land of firths

snaking up between green hills and mountains.

NEWMAN: There are many mysteries associated with Scotland

from ancient times

all the way up into the modern era.

NARRATOR: The mysteries of Scotland extend even to its very origins.

Some scholars suggest the country's name is derived

from the Greek word "skotos," meaning "darkness and gloom,"

but ancient legends say it comes from Scotland's true founder,

who was the sister of the famous Egyptian pharaoh King Tut.

ANDREW COLLINS: One of the founders

of the Scottish race, according to ancient tradition,

was a princess or a queen by the name of Scota.

She actually came from ancient Egypt,

and Scota can be found in ancient Egyptian chronicles,

identifying her

as the daughter of the Pharaoh Akhenaten.

And, according to the story,

she left there at a time of persecution.

Tutankhamun, her younger brother, takes over,

and she settled in Scotland and therefore

her descendants are the Scottish people of today.

NARRATOR: Researchers say support for this version

of Scotland's origin story can be found

in The History of Egypt,

written in 300 BC

by an Egypto-Greek historian named Manetho.

But very little was written about Scotland

before Roman soldiers arrived in the British Isles

in the first century AD.

The Romans saw Britain as this mysterious island

at literally the edge of the world.

Now, the Roman legion is notorious for their might,

but yet, they went to great lengths

to protect themselves from the people who lived

to the north to keep them away

from the rest of the Roman population.

NARRATOR: In 128 AD,

Roman soldiers built a massive stone wall

stretching across the southern border of Scotland

named for the emperor Hadrian.

The imposing 73-mile-long structure

was 12 feet thick and stood 15 feet high.

One of the most interesting constructions

in ancient Britain is Hadrian's Wall.

They were trying to keep out the invading tribes

coming down from Scotland.

The tribes were a part of a confederation

called the Picts,

and these people were remarkable warriors.

They painted themselves blue with tattoos

all over their bodies,

and they would attack their enemies,

naked and fearless.

Even up to the 4th century AD,

they were still coming over the wall,

and, virtually, they kind of drove the Romans out of Britain.

NARRATOR: Scotland has maintained its reputation

as a fiercely independent nation throughout its history,

with heroes like William Wallace

and Robert the Bruce and their legendary battles

for Scotland's independence from English rule.

And just as unique and volatile

as Scotland's history is its landscape.

There is something geologically special about Scotland.

It's visible with the naked eye

when you drive through the Highlands,

when you drive through the Scottish mountains

and you see the grandeur of the place.

It's obvious when you come to understand

how much volcanic activity there was in Scotland,

how many extinct volcanoes there are all over Scotland,

and that there is a very specific and powerful

fault structure and system across Scotland.

There are just some places in the world

where the earth itself is powerful,

and Scotland is at the very, very top of this list.

Scotland is really overlooked geologically,

in terms of its seismic activity.

To have greater than a magnitude five earthquake

is, uh, pretty common.

If you look at what we call the structure of Scotland,

it's a structure or an amalgamation

of tectonic activities going back

hundreds of millions of years

that have really pieced together this island,

and it's still very active.

These are deep crustal faults.

So, when you consider the whole configuration of it,

it's a very, very energetically dynamic place.

NARRATOR: Scotland's energetic landscape

is of interest not only to geologists

but also to ancient astronaut theorists

because they believe it could have a connection

to another defining characteristic of Scotland:

its unusually high number of unidentified aerial phenomena.

HENRY: There's a very interesting correlation between

UFO sightings and earthquakes and other underground activity.

In fact, there are numerous places

around the world where portals are talked about.

Natives speak of these portals that are also sites

where there's this seismic activity.

You think of places like the Big Island in Hawaii,

Carnac stones in France,

and also Mount Shasta.

You think of Mount Adams in southern Washington where,

for centuries, we've been told about this place

as being a gateway into the inner Earth.

It's actually a dormant volcano.

These are all places the natives or the locals

speak of UFO activity, portal activity,

and they also happen to be sites where there's

extreme seismic activity as well.

In Scotland, they have exactly the same thing

involving UFOs and paranormal phenomena.

POPE: So many high-profile UFO cases

and other mysteries are centered on Scotland.

And Scotland may be at the heart of

a lot of things which might help us unlock this mystery.

NARRATOR: Could it be that among the mist-shrouded mountain peaks

and boggy moorlands of Scotland lurks an otherworldly presence?

One that has been around for thousands of years?

Perhaps further clues can be found by examining

a small town in Scotland

known to be one of the most active UFO hotspots on Earth.

NARRATOR: Central Scotland.

Situated between Glasgow and Edinburgh

lies a mysterious region famous among UFO researchers

as the Falkirk Triangle.

Centered around the small village of Bonnybridge,

it boasts the highest concentration

of UFO sightings on Earth.

The volume of UFO reports that come

within the Falkirk Triangle in Scotland

compared to the population of these areas

is astronomical and immediately shoots it up

to being one of the biggest UFO hot spots in the world.

You have to say to yourself, "What-what is it

"that's going on in this area?

Why is this area so special?"

NARRATOR: Since 1992,

approximately 300 UFO sightings

are reported every year in the Falkirk Triangle.

And for the past 30 years,

this extraordinary statistic has been well-documented

in recorded images captured by local residents.

NARRATOR: Over the years, Craig has filmed

an unprecedented 18 hours of UFO footage,

much of it from his own backyard in Bonnybridge.

And neighbors like Steven Bird

have captured additional footage.

NARRATOR: While most people cite 1992

as the year the Falkirk Triangle became a UFO hotspot,

locals say that mysterious encounters

have been happening in the area for far longer,

and as evidence point to one of

the most famous UFO incidents in Scottish history.

In the center of the Falkirk Triangle,

just 20 miles from Bonnybridge,

Forest service supervisor Bob Taylor walks

down a wooded path when he sees something

extraordinary in the clearing ahead--

a huge object hovering above the forest floor.

What Bob Taylor came across

was a physical object.

One that appeared to be disc-like in appearance.

But it would seem to have these very odd propellers.

NARRATOR: Taylor managed to stagger the mile and a half

back to his home and called the police.

As a result, the Bob Taylor incident

remains one of the only UFO encounters in history

to be officially investigated as a criminal matter.

The case was also taken up

by young UFO investigators

Malcolm Robinson and Andrew Collins,

who were both just 22 years old.

NARRATOR: Now they are returning to the scene

with researcher Hugh Newman in search of new evidence

that could shed light on the 44-year-old mystery.

NEWMAN: Wow, that's a proper plinth.

Wow. Marking the spot.

Was it just right here? Is this where it was?

And then you put the word out to the UFO community.

And this is where Andrew got involved,

-I believe? -ROBINSON: That's right.

I came straight up here, immediately,

because we realized just how significant this case was.

-And there I met Malcolm for the first time. -ROBINSON: Yeah.

That being 44 years ago, almost to the day now.

-Yes. -There were still a lot of people here

that would still come in the area investigating it.

And we saw the marks on the ground.

The marks were in a circular arrangement.

And there was no way that these were caused by some kind of

mundane events such as horses passing through.

You know, these were very clearly

heavy-duty marks pushed right into the ground.

NARRATOR: Bob Taylor's account stands apart from many others

due to the abundance of physical evidence.

Including the trousers he was wearing,

which he claimed were torn by the objects

that tried to pull him into the craft.

NEWMAN: They are proper thick, aren't they, as well?

Look at these.

That is unusual.

You can see the way it's being cut, kind of accurately.

It's not just like a random branch

or a stone cutting it if you fall over, is it?

Something quite-- something else going on here.

COLLINS: Just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

NARRATOR: Does Bob Taylor's extraordinary encounter--

supported by physical evidence and a large-scale

police investigation-- provide the ultimate evidence

of an extraterrestrial presence in the Falkirk Triangle?

And if so, is some mysterious force

attracting alien visitors

to this particular location on Earth?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes and suggest

that further evidence can be found

not by looking to the skies above Scotland

but by examining the earth beneath it.

NARRATOR: Billy Buchanan is elected to represent Bonnybridge

and the neighboring town of Larbert

on the Falkirk area council.

It is the same year that hundreds of UFOs

begin to be witnessed in the region

known as the Falkirk Triangle,

and the locals come to Councilman Buchanan

in droves to report their strange encounters.

POPE: Billy Buchanan lobbied the government,

first the ministry of defense

and then the office of the prime minister.

And he was calling for a public inquiry.

And I think

Billy came to view me as-as one of the bad guys here,

because his central allegation was that the ministry of defense

knew all about this and was covering it up.

And, you know, I don't like to fall back

on the Nuremberg Defense, but, uh, this was my job

to play down the phenomenon.

But, uh, Billy and the people of Bonnybridge, I apologize.

There's something going on in the Falkirk Triangle.

NARRATOR: What could explain why this area of Scotland experiences

even more UFO sightings than the rest of the country?

Curiously, geologists have found that the seismic pressure

beneath the Falkirk Triangle is particularly intense.

When you look at that triangular area,

there's a break in seismicity.

And we call that break a seismic gap.

If you live in a seismic gap,

it's actually more prone

to have a next big earthquake, because it's locked.

You know, pressures are being put on it

from what we call the institute stresses.

And we see the Falkirk Triangle

falls into one of these seismic gaps,

and I think that's very, very relevant to the story here.

NARRATOR: Some researchers have theorized

that aerial phenomena witnessed throughout Scotland

is connected not only to seismic activity

but also the country's geological makeup.

A lot of the country is made up of igneous rocks

that were produced by volcanoes across many millions of years.

And this creates

an intense type of geology

involving certain types of minerals,

such as quartz and tourmaline,

which generates electricity.

So is it possible

that the presence of this

incredibly intense geology here

is producing a portal

into another realm

or another place in space and time

or indeed, perhaps, even

a higher dimensional reality?

NARRATOR: Could the geology and seismic activity in Scotland

be creating exotic energy

that attracts extraterrestrial visitors?

Or even opens portals to other realms?

Curiously, a major fault line runs

directly through one of the most famous sites in Scotland.

Loch Ness.

COLLINS: One of the most intense geological areas

is Loch Ness.

Because passing along the entire length

of the loch immediately beneath it,

is the Great Glen fault line.

NARRATOR: The rock walls of the chasm

that exists in Loch Ness

contain a high concentration of quartz,

which is known to be an efficient conductor

of electricity.

Some researchers have suggested

that quartz, coupled with the narrowness

and depth of Loch Ness,

creates a perfect storm

of highly charged electromagnetism

that could generate portals

in space-time

through a process called the Casimir effect.

The idea is if I take two metal plates

and stick 'em in the vacuum of space,

it turns out, because of quantum fluctuations,

this creates an effective,

attractive force between the plates.

One can think of this as a negative energy.

Now, an intriguing idea that we get

is that this is exactly the principle we need

to understand, perhaps, how to stabilize a wormhole.

TSOUKALOS: Perhaps Loch Ness

creates a window into the past.

And so what if, because of the Casimir effect--

which, at Loch Ness, is a physical possibility--

a window in time opened

and the Loch Ness Monster is witnessed

essentially almost by coincidence.

NARRATOR: Could it be that those who witness

the Loch Ness Monster are actually

looking through a window in time?

Or is it even possible that Nessie is an alien entity

that is able to pass through a wormhole

that exists at Loch Ness?

COLLINS: If it was only Nessie,

then we could ignore this as perhaps

being a clue to understanding

the greater importance of Scotland.

But it's not.

Because what we also find

is that UFOs are regularly seen

either above the loch,

on the shores of the loch.

Sometimes they fly down the length of the loch.

We have Bigfoot sightings on the shores of Loch Ness.

We have fairy encounters

in the modern day.

So is this underlying

geological fault

producing the right type

of environment

to allow the manifestation of UFOs?

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the geology

and seismic activity in Scotland

creates an energetic environment

that attracts extraterrestrial visitors?

Or even opens portals to other realms?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining another of Scotland's many mysteries:

the ancient stone circles.

NARRATOR: For more than 2,000 years,

Scotland has maintained a connection

to its ancient Celtic traditions

of little people and fairy folk.

According to legend, these magical beings

inhabit stone circles and standing stones

across the country,

and sometimes even abduct humans

into their realm.

Most scholars regard such Celtic mythology

as purely fictional.

But to many Scots and other descendants

of the Celtic people, stories of fairies

and other non-human entities are anything

but fantasy.

NARRATOR: Scotland's fairy folk are often associated

with its rich trove of stone circles

that date back more than 4,000 years.

Legends have persisted for centuries

that these sites attract otherworldly entities

and serve as portals to other dimensions.

Scotland does have a lot of stone circles,

and some of them are...

similar, somewhat, to Stonehenge

in that they are upright stones

of varying size and heights.

And typically, the layout

seems to correlate with the summer

and winter solstices

and the equinoxes.

Knowing the changing of the seasons

is really important because

you need to plan your agriculture around it,

you need to plan your herding around it.

And some people think the stone circles might have

a hidden meaning that speak

of a higher connection to something.

NARRATOR: One of the first researchers to document

the strange happenings witnessed near Scotland's

ancient standing stones was a 17th century

episcopalian minister in the Scottish Highlands

named Robert Kirk.

McGOWAN: Robert Kirk made it his life's work

to document supernatural activity around Scotland.

And he created a volume called The Secret Commonwealth.

And Kirk really focused on the idea that

the fairy folk were guardians

of portal areas, that there were places

in Scotland where you could slip

in and out of different dimensions.

NARRATOR: The accounts Kirk documented

came from his parishioners' many striking stories

about elves, fairies,

wraiths, and other mysterious beings.

Kirk believed these stories constituted strong evidence

that another world exists parallel to our own.

The fascinating thing about Robert Kirk

is right before he published The Secret Commonwealth

he died and his body disappeared.

And it's believed to this day that he was taken,

uh, by the fairy folk into another dimension

through one of the very portals that he was writing about.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the fairy folk described

in Scottish folklore truly exist?

According to some researchers,

the fairy sightings reported at stone circles

may be connected to the modern-day UFO phenomenon.

COLLINS: In the folklore of Scotland,

the fairies became

the inhabitants of these stone circles.

So how can we relate this to the UFO phenomena?

Well, we can in the sense that we know

that these monuments are associated

with the appearance of mysterious lights.

This is found not just in Britain

but also across the world.

In other words, it's very obvious

that our ancestors built these monuments

where mysterious lights would appear on a regular basis.

NARRATOR: Andrew Collins and Hugh Newman have spent

decades researching UFO activity associated

with the standing stones of Scotland.

This is really a fascinating area.

I mean, Lundin Links is an incredible megalithic site...

NARRATOR: In 2023,

they traveled to the northern edge of the Falkirk Triangle

to investigate Lundin Links,

three ancient monoliths

associated with mysterious lights

and other phenomena.

These are some of the tallest standing stones

we get in the entire British Isles.

These have been compared to the sites

on Orkney, like the Stones of Stenness,

but also the Ring of Brodgar and a few other places.

So, these are just so similar.

They're so outrageously tall for Britain.

We are in a landscape that was created

as much as 300 million years ago.

But intruding into that is this incredible hill behind us,

Largo Law, as it's known locally.

NEWMAN: That could be important because we know

that Largo Law was once a volcano.

So, there could be a lot of unusual geology,

which could create energies within the landscape.

Yeah. And those energies are generated

through the extreme actions going on below the earth,

through the process of piezoelectricity.

And through them, portals might open.

Folklore plays an incredible role

in the memory of historic UFOs.

They were associated with the fairies, the little people.

So, what is the relationship

between these megalithic monuments here

and the UFO phenomena?

Is it possible that this whole area

is one big UFO hotspot

whereby structured craft can come through?

Structured craft like Bob Taylor saw in 1979?

Certainly seems like that because we are literally

on the edge of the Falkirk Triangle.

It just seems like there's something really special

about this place, and this was marked

by these giant standing stones

that we have here at Lundin Links.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the people of ancient Scotland

were instructed to erect stone circles

by extraterrestrial visitors

in order to harness the energy of the Earth?

Do the many modern-day UFO sightings

reported throughout Scotland

point to an alien presence

that remains in this region of the world even today?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

and suggest the most compelling evidence of all

has been kept hidden by the British government

for more than three decades.

NARRATOR: August 15, 2022.

Newsweek magazine publishes the provocative headline

"Best UFO Picture Ever,

"the Calvine Photo, Found After 30 Years Missing."

HENRY: This from the Calvine Hills in Scotland

is crystal clear. It's in color.

And it shows this just magical-looking,

100-foot-long diamond-shaped craft

that is clear as a bell.

SPRAGUE: Not only that, we also see Harrier jet

trailing the object.

As soon as this photo was released to the public,

uh, people went crazy.

It was a big deal.

HOWE: It has been called the greatest UFO photo ever.

And I agreed. In fact, I've had a picture

of the Calvine photo on my wall for the last year.

NARRATOR: While the image is compelling,

of greater interest to UFO researchers

was the sudden publication of the photograph.

It was taken 32 years earlier,

in August 1990,

by two hikers outside the small village of Calvine.

The identities of the two hikers have never been revealed,

but according to the story,

they delivered the photos to Scotland's biggest newspaper,

The Daily Record.

HOWE: They had six photographs

and they go to the local newspaper

to have them published.

And for reasons that are still not clear to this day,

this Scotland newspaper, instead of immediately

putting these six incredible photos on the front page,

which is what I would have done as a reporter,

somebody calls the ministry of defense in London.

And they are ordered to send the photos and the negatives

from the newspaper to somebody in the government.

NARRATOR: The only people to see the Calvine photos

were the hikers who took them,

a handful of people at The Daily Record,

and a select group of employees at the ministry of defense.

Among them was former ministry of defense

UFO investigator Nick Pope,

who was present for classified briefings regarding the images.

The photographs and the negatives went to JARIC,

which is Joint Air Reconnaissance

and Intelligence Center.

This is part of the intelligence community

that specializes in imagery analysis.

Their opinion was that this was not a fake,

these were genuine pictures.

And they showed a solid structured craft.

And also critically important,

parts of the countryside were visible.

So, trees, fields, a fence.

What that meant was that our ministry of defense experts

could start to make some calculations

and estimate distance from the lens,

height above ground, diameter of craft.

One of the things we were most interested in

is the apparent lack

of conventional aerospace, parts and shapes.

No wings, no tail, no fuselage,

uh, no obvious engines.

NARRATOR: While the ministry of defense claimed the Calvine photos

were returned to Scotland's Daily Record,

the newspaper said they never received them.

The images remained a mystery for the next 30 years,

until former ministry of defense press officer Craig Lindsay

revealed that he had kept a copy of one of the photos

and shared it with Newsweek for publication.

NARRATOR: While it is unknown exactly what happened to the originals,

some believe the ministry of defense

secretly took measures to ensure that the photos

would never be seen by the public.

POPE: My theory is that the ministry of defense

bought the photos and the negatives.

And the witnesses effectively signed

a nondisclosure agreement.

NARRATOR: Were these photos hidden by the government

for more than 30 years because they know

that what was captured is in fact an alien craft?

Could the Calvine photos provide the strongest evidence yet

of an otherworldly presence in Scotland?

According to ancient astronaut theorists,

the mysteries found in Scotland

extend throughout the entire region of the British Isles,

and their connection to extraterrestrials

is well known

to the royal family.

NARRATOR: Across the United Kingdom,

people gather to pay their respects

to Queen Elizabeth's husband

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh,

who passed away at the age of 99.

In the months after his death,

reports surface that Prince Philip

spent more than half of his life

investigating UFO reports.

Over the years, he allegedly used his influence

to amass a trove of classified reports

and statements from the British military.

COLLINS: The late Prince Philip had this incredible interest

in the subject of ufology and would follow it avidly.

He would actually even invite witnesses

to come to Buckingham Palace

to actually discuss their encounters.

POPE: Using the intermediary of a royal inquiry,

he actually investigated a number of cases himself

and had witnesses brought in.

And interestingly, he was the Duke of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh being the capital of Scotland.

So, with Prince Philip's interest in this in mind,

it does pose the intriguing possibility

that the Royals are aware

not only of Scotland's ancient mysteries,

but are the ultimate guardians of the UFO secret.

NARRATOR: The British Isles account for only 0.2%

of the Earth's surface above sea level,

but despite their small size,

they are home to many of the world's greatest mysteries,

like the towering monoliths of Stonehenge,

the giant Newgrange mound in Ireland,

the crop circle phenomenon

and Rudloe Manor,

an underground military installation

where it has been rumored

that the British government is hiding an alien craft.

Is it possible that the British Isles

have been a prime destination for extraterrestrial visitors

dating back thousands of years?

And if so, might the modern UFO hotspot of Scotland

provide important clues to understanding why?

McGOWAN: Scotland seems to have the largest number

of recorded events,

whether it's recorded in folklore

or recorded in modern times.

Scotland seems to have more supernatural,

unexplained events and circumstances

than maybe in any other place in the world.

TSOUKALOS: To this day, Scotland has incredible UFO sightings.

And we can see this also in ancient times.

So I think that

that particular area of the world

is crucial in figuring out the larger picture

that our origins is not down here on Earth,

but out there.

NARRATOR: Is Scotland, with its long history of unusual phenomena,

a hub of otherworldly activity?

Could it be that thousands of years ago,

extraterrestrials made this area a connection point

using megalithic stone circles

to harness the energy of the Earth?

And does the region's unique geology

still attract otherworldly visitors today?

Perhaps solving the mysteries of Scotland

will provide the key to reuniting

with our alien ancestors.

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