Original subtitles

NARRATOR: For thousands of years, people have held a belief

that objects can become imbued with a mysterious energy.

Everyday objects can become animate and even enlightened.

NARRATOR: Known as talismans, they are revered in every culture.

JONATHAN YOUNG: The ancient Sumerians, the Greeks, the Romans--

they thought there was sacred power in inanimate objects.

NARRATOR: And it is believed that they provide

a connection to a higher realm.

Ancient Egyptian magic was based on the idea

that a person holding one of these talismans

actually possessed the power of the god.

NARRATOR: Could it be that what fuels our faith in talismans

is not superstition, but a real connection

to something beyond our world?

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: I think the reason why many of us put so much value

into these talismans is because they are a direct connection

to our ancestors

and to some sort of a celestial power.

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.

The cross.

For billions of Christians throughout the world,

this is the most prominent symbol of their faith.

It adorns churches, pulpits, the vestments

of clergy, and members of the faith.

Representing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ,

the cross serves as a symbolic reminder of his sacrifice.

But for many, it is not merely a symbol.

It is an object of power, and serves as a modern-day example

of a very ancient concept:

the talisman.

Throughout history, possibly throughout pre-history,

human beings have always had an ongoing love affair

with talismans.

DOMINIC STEAVU: Talismans are found throughout cultures

from South America to the Middle East,

to Africa, to East Asia and Europe.

They are found everywhere,

and they share a lot of common features.

They are primarily material concretions of the divine.

Of supernatural power.

Talismans provide a physical anchoring

for what is usually invisible.

The word "talisman" actually means

"to consecrate and to fulfill."

And it's thought that they actually fulfill

or amplify the will or desire of the person using it.

JONATHAN YOUNG: The Iroquois, the Native American group,

had this energy in things.

It was called Orenda. The Japanese Shinto tradition

believed that physical objects had soul.

The ancient Sumerians, the Greeks, the Romans,

they thought there was

the possibility of sacred power in inanimate objects.

KATHLEEN McGOWAN: Talismans can be big or small.

They can be carried, they can be installed in buildings.

There are all kinds of talismans.

There are talismans for protection.

There are talismans for healing.

And there are a lot of talismans

for religious purposes, which are used

to feel closer or connected to

a religious character, a saint, or even a god.

The earliest talismans that we have records of,

specifically, are bear claws for helping the hunt,

eagle talons for personal strength,

and what are called Venus figurines for fertility.

Even in the 21st century talismans are big.

Many people might not think of them as talismans,

but you have Saint Christopher medals

for travelers, you have Christian crosses,

and you often see people touching them or holding them.

And they do think of them as talismans.

They do think it actually protects them in some way.

NARRATOR: Throughout all of human history,

and in every culture, people have assigned certain objects

with extraordinary powers.

But why?

What is behind this enduring belief?

YOUNG: The talisman helps us bridge the seen and the unseen.

The spirit and matter.

The sacred dimension is really beyond our understanding.

We can't see it.

We can believe in it, but it would be nice to touch.

And that's the bridging function

of a talisman or an amulet.

STEAVU: The talisman can be a constant reminder that someone

or something is watching over you.

And I think a lot of people can find comfort and solace in that.

Even for nonreligious believers,

talismans can be a concretion

that is physical of the presence of the invisible.

NARRATOR: Any physical object has the potential to be a talisman,

but there are certain talismans that appear all over the world

and in many different cultures.

The talismans that I find the most mysterious

are those that employ the human eye.

And they're mysterious precisely because they appear

all over the world, amidst cultures that are separated

by vast differences in time, geography, custom, language,

from Siberia to Polynesia.

Literally, human beings, for millennia,

have been devising talismans in the shape of an eye.

The most famous, of course, being the Egyptian Eye of Horus,

but they occupy every culture, every territory, every time.

And that common language is fascinating.

NARRATOR: Curiously, this talisman serves the same function

in nearly every culture in which it appears,

which is to protect against what is commonly known

as the curse of the evil eye.

The evil eye goes back at least 5,000 years.

Uh, you can go back to Mesopotamia,

you can go back to ancient Egypt.

The definition of the evil eye is basically a curse.

And it is transmitted through a glance.

So, the evil eye is born from the emotion of envy,

of jealousy, of greed, of resentment.

And we see there are many different types of amulets

that deflect this negative energy.

Today, you can find the evil eye just about everywhere.

You have jewelry, the evil eye beads, which is called a nazar,

of the blue and the white circles.

The hamsa.

People will hang hamsas on their doors,

above their desks, they tie them on cribs.

So, you can see these amulets everywhere,

and they are all to deflect

the curse that is unleashed from the evil eye.

NARRATOR: As the evil eye is for protection

and the Venus figurine is for fertility,

many talismans take forms that are directly connected

to their intended purpose.

But there are some whose origins are far more mysterious.

One talisman that many people around the world

wear around their neck

or as a bracelet is the so-called Merkabah.

The Merkabah is a concept that comes

from the Hebrew faith, and "Merkabah," translated

into plain English, is "chariot."

It actually ties in with the story of Ezekiel,

in which he describes, as an eyewitness,

what he saw up in the sky.

NARRATOR: In the Hebrew bible's Book of Ezekiel,

the prophet Ezekiel describes witnessing a fiery chariot

with wheels within wheels,

descending from the sky in a whirlwind.

Not only did he see these wheels within a wheel up in the sky,

but that thing landed in front of him,

and somebody came out.

And Ezekiel himself is actually

taken inside this craft.

So, the Merkabah is a transportation device.

I find it fascinating that the Merkabah now

is just, oh, for protection.

It's for you know, longevity.

It is for procreation, which are all great things.

But when I read that Merkabah means "celestial chariot,"

that's when my ears perk up.

PAGLIARULO: The book itself is among the most mystical texts.

And so, when you do that connection,

and you look at the Merkabah, you can really get the idea

that it creates a connection to another realm,

metaphorically, but then, also, I do believe, too,

that people who wear it do sense

some sort of a portal into something else.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Merkabah--

that is still worn by millions of people today--

was inspired by an extraterrestrial visitation?

And if so, might this be true of other talismans

as well, and the belief that inanimate objects

can be imbued with energy?

Perhaps further clues can be found by examining

the most prominent and mysterious talismans

of ancient Egypt.

NARRATOR: Thebes, Egypt.

Here, in the 1830s, British Egyptologist

Sir John Gardner Wilkinson

discovered the earliest known version

of what the ancient Egyptians referred to as

"The Book of the Dead."

This text, dating back 3,600 years,

was a key component of Egyptian funerary rituals

and detailed as many as 75 talismanic objects,

each with a specific purpose

for both the living and the dead.

Ancient Egyptian magic was based on the idea that the gods

could imbue an object with magical powers,

with superpowers.

That a person holding one of these talismans

actually possessed the power of the god,

and then could heal themselves,

protect themselves, manipulate their environment.

The Egyptians utilized talismans in a very special way.

The actual physical object of the talisman--

what it was created from-- is important.

Was it a scarab carved out of lapis lazuli?

Was it important stone? How was it inscribed?

NARRATOR: The ancient Egyptians often made talismans

from a type of limestone called lapis lazuli,

which they believed would provide good fortune,

as well as protection during the journey to the afterlife.

Another powerful talismanic material was moldavite,

a type of green glass formed by a meteor impact

super heating the desert sand.

A protective heart scarab made of moldavite was found

in the tomb of King Tut, and the Egyptians believed

it provided a connection to the cosmos.

PAGLIARULO: The origins of the moldavite are extraterrestrial,

and people believed that you can use the stone as a talisman,

um, to connect with extraterrestrial energy.

It's bringing the properties that

are from an extraterrestrial world into ours.

NARRATOR: For the ancient Egyptians,

just as important as the material

from which a talisman was made was the shape that it took.

The design of each talisman invoked a certain energy.

The people believed they could gain access

to the gods through, well, little figurines of the gods,

or-or animals, although some of them were very abstract,

even technological-looking.

MCGOWAN: Arguably, one of the oldest and certainly the most popular

and common talismans in human history is the Egyptian ankh,

which is sometimes called the "Key of Life,"

which resembles a cross with a loop on the top of it.

The ankh symbolized the goddess Isis.

Carrying the ankh was believed to imbue you

with a lifeforce and a vitality

that came directly as a gift from the goddess herself.

The ankh is of enormous importance to the Egyptians.

And you have gods carrying them.

Especially the god Anubis, the jackal-headed god,

who ushers you into the afterlife.

And when he points it towards

the mummy of the deceased,

he's aiding in the first stages of resurrection

and, indeed, reincarnation.

COLLINS: The ankh often associated with a second symbol

known as the djed pillar.

This was the representation of the backbone

of the god named Osiris.

MCGOWAN: But what the djed pillar represented in terms of

talismanic use was stability.

Carrying the djed pillar was to keep you stable

and to protect you from chaos.

The forces of evil in Egyptology were the forces of chaos.

COLLINS: These two symbols together represented

life and stability,

and they were shown being given by a god

to the current pharaoh to bring stability

to his or her own reign during their lifetime.

But beyond this, it was a symbol of communication,

also, with the gods themselves.

NARRATOR: In Egyptian mythology, the gods Osiris and Isis

are husband and wife, and they came to Earth

from the belt stars of the Orion constellation.

When the talismans that represent them--

the ankh and the djed pillar-- were combined,

it was believed to facilitate a connection

to these otherworldly entities.

And in some cases, these objects were associated

with a third talisman: the was-scepter.

The was-scepter was a type of baton, a scepter, a stick.

And at the top, there was the representation

of an animal's head, most often believed to be a jackal.

It was a symbol of dominion. It was a symbol of power.

The was-scepter was used by the gods

and the was-scepter was also used by the pharaoh.

The was-scepter was not used by common people.

It was only used by people of power.

The was-scepter, combined with the ankh

and the djed pillar, becomes a symbol of absolute power.

You have to ask the question, well, how are they related?

And frankly, especially the djed pillar and the was-scepter,

they look very technological in origin.

COLLINS: What is curious about the djed pillar

is its resemblance

to a Tesla coil or an electrical conductor.

Is it possible, therefore, that the ancient Egyptians

modeled the djed pillar on some kind of device

that they had that could generate electricity?

My question is: is it possible that the ancient Egyptians

witnessed far-advanced technology

that they then misinterpreted as magic?

And therefore, a mythology was created

around these objects suggesting, well,

if you have an ankh around your neck

or if you have a djed pillar around your neck

or something like this, it is imbued with power.

It would seem these djed pillars,

which people would carry around as amulets,

were imitations

of really high-tech extraterrestrial devices.

NARRATOR: The three powerful talismans of ancient Egypt

inspired scepters that are still incorporated

in royal ceremonies today,

like those used for the coronation

of King Charles III of England in 2023.

And they continue to symbolize

divinely granted authority.

The British monarchy is the classic example

of a modern monarchy that still uses talismans,

the scepter, that have these ancient antecedents in Egypt

that convey the idea that the monarch

is now separated from humans

and is much closer to the gods

than any other human being on Earth.

NARRATOR: Could it be that ceremonial objects

still being used today are rooted in ancient talismans

that were fashioned after extraterrestrial technology?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining talismans that

represent the gods themselves.

NARRATOR: In cultures throughout the world,

there are talismans that take the shape of divine

or celestial beings

and are believed to hold a connection

to the entities they depict.

In some cultures, these talismans

are even considered to be alive.

In Buddhism and many other, uh, East Asian religious traditions,

statues or iconographic representations

of deities are paramount.

And typically,

when carving a statue that represents a deity,

the last part to be carved are the eyes

because that's what gives them life.

So, they're considered to be alive, and at the point

when the eyes are opened,

this is when the essence of the deity

descends into the statue or the image.

They are venerated, of course, they are cleaned and washed.

They are fed through offerings,

and these are considered to be the equivalent

to having the deity present in front of you.

NARRATOR: For ancient astronaut theorists,

some of the most intriguing talismanic objects ever made

can be found on the East Asian islands of Japan.

Here, the Jomon people,

who emerged roughly 12,000 years ago,

created thousands of figurines

depicting strange, humanoid beings.

The earliest culture that we can identify in Japan is the Jomon,

which is originally a Stone Age culture

running roughly from 10,000 BCE to 300 BCE.

STEAVU: The little that we do know about the Jomon

comes from archaeological evidence.

And one of the most representative artifacts

that is tied to the Jomon is the dogu statue.

There are over 15,000 dogu figurines,

uh, that date back to the Jomon period

that are spread all over Japan.

They are thought to be some kind of talismanic object,

but their appearance is very striking.

They're humanoid in form,

but they don't look like anything properly human.

Many of them have heart-shaped heads

and they wear suits that seem otherworldly.

A variety of these dogu figurines

also seem to be wearing goggles,

as one would find on astronaut helmets

or some kind of advanced technology.

TSOUKALOS: If you go to Japan today, at the museums,

you can find countless dogu statues,

and some of which are still used today

in Japanese households in a shrine.

The Shinto religion suggests that any inanimate object

can be imbued with a soul.

And Shintoism is the primary religion of Japan.

According to Shinto tradition,

uh, certain objects can come to life.

They can become animate and, uh, sentient as well.

Household objects, everyday objects, tools

can become animate and even enlightened.

TSOUKALOS: They worship what they call the kami,

which are these celestial beings that come down

from their celestial palace in the sky.

And these figurines look like these humanoid beings

that are in some type of space suits.

And of course, the ancient astronaut's suggestion

is that they were created after

the extraterrestrials visited Earth in a remote past.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the mysterious dogu figures are, in fact,

imbued with some type of metaphysical energy?

And if so, might this energy

have been imparted by otherworldly beings

that the dogu were modeled after?

CHILDRESS: You have, also, these figurines from Sumeria

that are showing people with these extremely large eyes.

They also are talismans,

and they look very much like extraterrestrials.

And they were carrying them around in their pocket

or in a little altar in their house.

NARRATOR: In Sierra Leone, Africa,

hundreds of strange, humanoid figurines

with amphibian features were unearthed in the 1990s.

Called the nomoli, they are believed to date back

at least 17,000 years.

In Southern Iraq, figurines of reptilian humanoids

have been discovered that date to 5900 BC.

And perhaps the most mysterious artifacts of all

are the large-eyed clay figures

found in Tell Brak, Syria,

that are more than 5,500 years old.

PAGLIARULO: You have the figurines that were unearthed at Tell Brak,

and they have large eyes,

and they are very, very much reminiscent,

in some cases if not identical,

to the image of aliens, of Greys.

When we think of ET, the image that comes to mind

is always the really large eyes.

They are very, very reminiscent

of even ET himself from the movie.

HOROWITZ: Tens of thousands of these objects

have been recovered,

and it's enormously intriguing

to find this similarity of design

in objects among ancient people who were separated

by vast differences in culture, custom, language.

PAGLIARULO: Were these mythological ideas,

or did they come from actual experiences with aliens,

who were then perceived to be sky gods?

NARRATOR: Is it possible that the gods depicted

in many ancient talismans are representations

of otherworldly beings that our ancestors

actually encountered?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes.

And as further evidence, point to special talismans

that feature writings and symbols

said to have been sent down from the heavens.

NARRATOR: Sanliurfa, Turkey.

Here, on a rocky mountaintop,

stands one of the oldest and most astonishing

archaeological sites in the world: Gobekli Tepe.

This ancient megalithic complex

features nearly two dozen enormous

T-shaped limestone pillars

and has been dated to roughly 10,000 BC,

long before the first known writing

or the invention of the wheel.

Gobekli Tepe features many carvings

that include depictions of animals,

human hands,

and intricately designed symbols.

But most intriguing to ancient astronaut theorists

is a carving of three handbags.

The oldest symbols in all iconography is the handbag.

When we go back to Gobekli Tepe,

12,000 years old, we find a carving

of these three handbags

that appear above this bird-like creature.

And what's fascinating about this is that you can find

carvings of similar handbags about 400 miles

to the south, where the ancient Sumerians lived.

And there, the handbags are held

by these winged figures with bird-like heads

called Anunnaki.

We find them at Tula, in Mexico.

What is the meaning of this handbag?

All around the world, on many carvings and figurines

and drawings, you see these ancient deities

holding on to some sort of a handbag.

This motif of a handbag exists worldwide,

in pretty much all ancient cultures.

NARRATOR: Is it merely coincidence

that this mysterious handbag motif is repeated

around the world and in a vast range of cultures?

Ancient astronaut theorists say no.

And some suggest that these bags

have a connection to talismans.

HENRY: One theory is that these handbags

are containers of talismans brought by the gods

that contain all the wisdom of the universe.

The ancient Sumerian texts tell us that these handbags contained

the me tablets of the gods.

These are the tablets of destiny.

The tablets of civilization.

The tablets that contain all the working knowledge

of the earthly world, as well as the heavenly world.

NARRATOR: The Sumerian tablets also tell of a figure

named Adapa, who was the bringer of civilization

and carried a bag that contained all the knowledge

that humanity would ever need.

They may have been, literally, handbags,

in that they contained something very useful.

The ancient priests, almost across the board--

we're talking ancient Egyptian, Sumer, you name it--

they, one way or another,

would communicate, they believed, with the gods

or spirits, who would give them information.

And what if these handbags contained something that was

significant and highly important to their rituals?

NARRATOR: While researchers can only speculate as to the true meaning

behind the handbag motif found throughout the world,

other talismans exist that,

according to those who create them,

are directly inspired by otherworldly beings.

There's a special class of talismans

in East Asian traditions

that are considered to be the most powerful,

and they are actually inscribed

in a, uh, illegible language

that is considered to be the language of the gods.

NARRATOR: Known as fulu, these talismans can be found

in Taoist, Buddhist, and Shinto traditions.

Very little is known about the origin of the fulu,

and they are made even more mysterious

by the fact that they feature script

that does not belong to any earthly language.

Fulu are made by priests who claim to receive visions

of so-called "magic writing."

Although the priests are not able to comprehend this writing,

they understand it to be the language

of the gods and inscribe what they see

on objects such as coins or amulets.

STEAVU: They're typically made up of commands or injunctions

or requests addressed to divine beings

in their own language.

They are revealed spontaneously sometimes

in dreams or through visions.

And another feature of these

extremely powerful talismans is that they are adorned

with constellations.

And these function, in some cases, as a way

to call down the gods from those stars.

In other cases, they can actually function as passports

to an ecstatic journey from Earth to the stars directly.

The practitioner either leaves their body to go directly

to those stars or experiences this through a series

of very powerful and inspirational visions.

COLLINS: Some of the most powerful talismans are inscribed

with messages received through some kind of, uh, divine source.

It's almost like the higher intelligence

is speaking to you directly.

It would seem that certain talismans--

they could all be inspired by extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: If objects like the fulu and the mysterious handbags depicted

in various cultures possess a real link

to otherworldly beings, then might they contain

some type of hidden power?

Perhaps further clues can be found by examining

a recent scientific experiment that appeared to capture

a thermal anomaly triggered by a talisman.

NARRATOR: On Easter Sunday, thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square

bow their heads as Pope Francis performs

the Liturgy of the Eucharist

and consecrates the offerings of bread and wine.

(speaking Latin)

(bell chimes)

NARRATOR: According to the Roman Catholic tradition,

during the mass, the priest is empowered by the prayers

that energize the bread and the wine such that they become

transformed, or transubstantiated,

into the living presence of the body and the blood of Christ.

Transubstantiation is one of the Catholic Church's

most exalted mysteries.

And Catholics believe that, through this

transubstantiation miracle, or process, somehow

these ordinary wafers and ordinary wine become,

as a matter of fact, the blood and body of Jesus.

NARRATOR: In the example of the Catholic Mass,

the recitation of the eucharist prayer

is believed to infuse the bread and wine with an outside energy.

Similarly, many cultures hold the belief that talismans

can become energized through spoken words or sacred sounds.

Throughout all sorts of cultures,

ancient African cultures, South American, Sumer,

ancient Egypt, you name it,

the power of the word was quite something.

Egyptians used magical words over all the talismans.

Talismans that they carried.

Talismans that they buried the dead with.

All of these items

would have magical words spoken over them, chanted over them.

In South Asian traditions, um,

tantric Buddhism,

for example or Hinduism, um, and even Jainism,

the power of the spoken word is paramount.

Words unlock divine potential in the talismans.

NARRATOR: Spoken words and sacred sounds

also play a critical role in Native American rituals,

especially in connection to certain places or objects.

YOUNG: If you go to Native American ceremonies,

you see that repeating certain phrases

are essential to the ritual.

The words are the conveyor.

The word is the portal to the sacred dimension.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that certain words,

when spoken, can imbue objects

with talismanic power,

perhaps unlocking gateways to other dimensions,

and even otherworldly beings?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

and point to recent experiments conducted

at one of the most mysterious sites in the world:

Skinwalker Ranch.

Located in Northern Utah, this 512-acre property

has been a hotbed of UFO sightings

and other mysterious phenomena for more than a century.

Today, a team of researchers, which includes

astrophysicist Dr. Travis Taylor,

is conducting scientific experiments across the property,

and has documented numerous startling anomalies,

including a number of unidentified aerial phenomena.

-Hey, look, J.P., right there! -Yep. I see it.

NARRATOR: Some of which have vanished into thin air.

MAN: It's gone.

NARRATOR: According to the traditions

of the Indigenous Navajo people in the Uintah Basin,

the phenomena that occurs on Skinwalker Ranch

is actually related to interdimensional portals.

And they believe that by utilizing certain words

and sound frequencies, particularly in conjunction

with talismanic objects, these portals can be opened.

Within Native American culture, there are music, there's chants.

There's things that are done at a certain frequency,

and we believe that it's very possible

that different frequencies can open portals

to other places.

NARRATOR: In 2022,

an organization of Indigenous tribal members

known as Blazing Bear

were invited to Skinwalker Ranch

in order to perform an ancient song ritual

near a megalithic spiral of boulders.

A formation that was created centuries ago

and is believed to hold talismanic power.

DOVER: A circle of stones that were purposely

set up in a circle could be a portal area.

Maybe with all our scientific instruments,

we can nail it down a little better.

NARRATOR: As night falls on Skinwalker Ranch,

the Blazing Bear drummers continue their song ritual

near the spiral of boulders.

The investigative team filmed the event

using a thermal camera.

-Right there. -NARRATOR: And almost immediately,

they spotted an anomaly.

TAYLOR: Well, when they started singing,

the temperature literally changed.

Look at the top of the mesa!

Eric, the stone circle is where it's heating up

-on top of the mesa. -Are you kidding me?

TAYLOR: You should see this. This is fascinating.

Right there-- that's where the stone circle is.

And it's heating up. Look how hot it's getting.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that a spiral of boulders

was imbued with talismanic powers

by the words and sounds of an ancient, sacred ritual?

(singing)

NARRATOR: While many cultures throughout history have believed

that sounds can infuse objects with otherworldly powers,

there are those who suggest even more profound talismans

can be created from the remains of the dead.

NARRATOR: Clay figurines believed to be sentient.

Coins inscribed with the language of the gods.

A spiral of boulders said to open an interdimensional portal.

Many talismans are considered to possess great power,

but perhaps none more than the remains of holy figures.

McGOWAN: Human remains have been used as talismans

since the beginning of time.

In the last 2,000 years, we tend to think of human remains

in terms of relics--

holy relics used primarily by Christians,

uh, in order to connect them to the saints

who they are praying to as an intercessor

between them and to God.

PICKNETT: It's the idea that just being in the presence

of this tiny bit of bone is touching you with the divine.

The tip of a little finger belonging

to Saint John the Baptist, for example,

has become hotly contested over the centuries.

NARRATOR: Because saints and other holy figures are seen

as transcending humanity

and having a connection to the divine,

their remains are considered to hold special power.

CHILDRESS: With these talismans, it's as if that energy,

that power that these people had,

is still embedded in pieces of their body,

such as bones or skulls or hair.

NARRATOR: While it may sound like a primitive notion--

that a bone fragment or a piece of fabric

retains a connection to the person

it once belonged to--

some researchers suggest it is not so far-fetched

and point to the modern-day scientific concept

of quantum entanglement.

Quantum entanglement says that if two objects' particles

were ever connected, they're forever connected.

And you can link with a being clear across the universe

through an object through quantum entanglement.

MICHIO KAKU: Quantum entanglement is based on the idea that electrons

are like waves, and if I have two electrons

right next to each other, they wave simultaneously, coherently.

If I separate them,

there's a invisible umbilical cord

that connects these two,

even if I separate them, to the ends of the universe.

HENRY: Is that what talismans are ultimately all about--

some kind of quantum entanglement device?

A god originally touched or possessed an object

and it still has the energy of that god.

I think it's very possible.

NARRATOR: Could there really be a scientific explanation

behind the ancient notion that objects

can possess a connection to some otherworldly power?

And if so, was this taught to our ancestors

by extraterrestrial visitors?

PAGLIARULO: The mythology brings us back to this idea of the gods.

Were these mythological ideas

or did they come from actual experiences with aliens

who were then perceived to be sky gods,

aliens who came forth and communicated?

CHILDRESS: It may be that, really, in the past,

the early talismans were ET technology,

real devices that could do things.

We see talismans in pretty much any culture

in modern day society because of belief.

It is faith in an object

that it is imbued with some sort of a divine or celestial power.

And you have to ask the question, why?

I think that has to do with extraterrestrials

that visited Earth in a remote past.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the talismans

we continue to carry with us and revere

provide a connection to an incredible past

when ancient people encountered visitors

from other worlds?

And if so, is this connection merely symbolic

or might these objects of veneration

possess a profound power

that we are not yet equipped to understand?

Perhaps it is through talismans

that our extraterrestrial ancestors

have remained among us all along.

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