1 00:00:01,460 --> 00:00:03,086 [Narrator] A mathematical message 2 00:00:03,253 --> 00:00:06,173 encoded on opposite sides of the globe. 3 00:00:06,340 --> 00:00:08,342 Complex crop circles 4 00:00:08,550 --> 00:00:11,678 designed to convey sound frequencies. 5 00:00:11,803 --> 00:00:13,972 And colossal figures 6 00:00:14,139 --> 00:00:17,643 that can only be seen from the sky. 7 00:00:19,228 --> 00:00:21,230 ♪ ♪ 8 00:00:33,283 --> 00:00:36,495 When author and ancient astronaut theorist 9 00:00:36,662 --> 00:00:39,581 Erich von Däniken wrote Chariots of the Gods? 10 00:00:39,790 --> 00:00:43,126 he presented a groundbreaking theory. 11 00:00:43,293 --> 00:00:45,671 He suggested that extraterrestrials 12 00:00:45,837 --> 00:00:48,340 not only came to Earth in the distant past, 13 00:00:48,549 --> 00:00:51,969 but that they left hidden messages for us to discover 14 00:00:52,135 --> 00:00:56,265 once we had developed the right technology to decipher them. 15 00:00:56,431 --> 00:01:00,269 One compelling example are geoglyphs, 16 00:01:00,435 --> 00:01:03,897 massive shapes and figures carved into the landscape 17 00:01:04,105 --> 00:01:08,318 that are only fully visible from the sky. 18 00:01:11,780 --> 00:01:14,324 [Narrator] Saudi Arabia. 2004. 19 00:01:16,368 --> 00:01:20,163 While exploring the ancient lava fields of Harrat Khaybar, 20 00:01:20,330 --> 00:01:23,625 amateur archaeologist Dr. Abdullah Al-Saeed 21 00:01:23,792 --> 00:01:27,588 comes upon a number of what appear to be stone walls, 22 00:01:27,754 --> 00:01:30,465 each approximately three feet high. 23 00:01:32,134 --> 00:01:35,429 From the ground level, Dr. Al-Saeed concludes 24 00:01:35,596 --> 00:01:38,515 that the structures have no discernable pattern or purpose. 25 00:01:41,935 --> 00:01:44,855 That is, not until four years later, 26 00:01:45,022 --> 00:01:49,318 when he obtains satellite photos of the very same area. 27 00:01:49,443 --> 00:01:52,654 What he sees astounds him. 28 00:01:52,821 --> 00:01:55,282 There, detectable from the sky, 29 00:01:55,449 --> 00:01:59,161 are a vast collection of more than 400 stone enclosures. 30 00:02:00,620 --> 00:02:03,957 Known to the local Bedouin as "The Works of the Old Men," 31 00:02:04,124 --> 00:02:07,002 these mysterious structures are quickly examined 32 00:02:07,169 --> 00:02:11,048 and are revealed to stretch for hundreds of miles. 33 00:02:12,049 --> 00:02:13,925 [Andrew Collins] They were within what's referred to as-- 34 00:02:14,092 --> 00:02:16,803 as a lava field of activity. 35 00:02:16,928 --> 00:02:18,472 And are generally described 36 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:20,515 either as kites... 37 00:02:22,643 --> 00:02:24,436 ...or as gates, 38 00:02:24,603 --> 00:02:28,815 which are more rectilinear forms of them. 39 00:02:30,692 --> 00:02:33,111 And there are literally hundreds of these. 40 00:02:33,278 --> 00:02:37,366 In fact, they stretch all the way from Saudi Arabia 41 00:02:37,532 --> 00:02:39,951 right away across to Jordan 42 00:02:40,118 --> 00:02:41,912 and into Syria. 43 00:02:43,455 --> 00:02:45,540 [Hugh Newman] They're kind of like angular pyramids, almost, 44 00:02:45,749 --> 00:02:47,918 going off into the distance like runways, 45 00:02:48,085 --> 00:02:50,295 widening at one end to being short at the other end. 46 00:02:51,505 --> 00:02:53,256 [Narrator] Although no record exists 47 00:02:53,423 --> 00:02:55,884 indicating when these structures were built, 48 00:02:56,051 --> 00:02:58,762 who built them, or why, 49 00:02:58,929 --> 00:03:02,474 the predominant theory among mainstream archaeologists 50 00:03:02,641 --> 00:03:05,185 is that they were constructed for hunting purposes, 51 00:03:05,352 --> 00:03:07,646 many thousands of years ago. 52 00:03:08,730 --> 00:03:12,025 What we think they are, are prehistoric hunting sites, 53 00:03:12,192 --> 00:03:13,568 where gazelle and other animals 54 00:03:13,735 --> 00:03:15,362 would be driven into the enclosure, 55 00:03:15,529 --> 00:03:18,990 and then, on the outsides of the enclosure, 56 00:03:19,157 --> 00:03:21,410 pits were dug, and the animals would fall into the pits. 57 00:03:23,078 --> 00:03:24,454 The kites, when you visit them on the ground, 58 00:03:24,621 --> 00:03:26,123 are really hard to find. 59 00:03:27,207 --> 00:03:29,084 In the air, you get the whole pattern. 60 00:03:29,251 --> 00:03:31,211 There are literally thousands of them. 61 00:03:31,378 --> 00:03:35,090 And they must have been in use for thousands of years. 62 00:03:35,257 --> 00:03:36,883 And why did they fall into disuse? 63 00:03:37,050 --> 00:03:38,593 That's an answer we haven't yet got. 64 00:03:39,886 --> 00:03:41,346 [Narrator] Although the theory that 65 00:03:41,513 --> 00:03:42,806 the stone structures were used 66 00:03:42,973 --> 00:03:44,599 for hunting purposes is compelling, 67 00:03:44,724 --> 00:03:47,477 ancient astronaut theorists argue 68 00:03:47,644 --> 00:03:49,271 that if these structures were really used 69 00:03:49,438 --> 00:03:51,398 for hunting gazelle, 70 00:03:51,565 --> 00:03:54,276 the walls would have needed to be more than three feet high, 71 00:03:54,443 --> 00:03:58,405 since a gazelle can leap more than ten feet into the air. 72 00:03:59,573 --> 00:04:01,283 Instead, they suggest 73 00:04:01,408 --> 00:04:04,786 that because the structures are only viewable from the air, 74 00:04:04,953 --> 00:04:07,164 they should be considered geoglyphs. 75 00:04:08,290 --> 00:04:09,749 [Paul Bahn] A geoglyph is just, basically, 76 00:04:09,916 --> 00:04:11,209 a drawing on the landscape. 77 00:04:11,376 --> 00:04:13,253 Usually quite large-scale. 78 00:04:13,420 --> 00:04:15,172 Most geoglyphs are in deserts, 79 00:04:15,338 --> 00:04:16,923 and in deserts you get a phenomenon 80 00:04:17,048 --> 00:04:18,675 which we call desert varnish. 81 00:04:18,841 --> 00:04:21,803 It's just a natural dark patina that builds up on the surface. 82 00:04:21,928 --> 00:04:24,765 And so, if you move the dark parts to one side, 83 00:04:24,931 --> 00:04:27,392 expose the lighter soil or sand underneath, 84 00:04:27,559 --> 00:04:30,187 that is one way of making a drawing. 85 00:04:30,353 --> 00:04:32,063 The second basic technique 86 00:04:32,230 --> 00:04:34,149 is to use the dark stones 87 00:04:34,316 --> 00:04:36,610 and pile them together to make shapes, 88 00:04:36,777 --> 00:04:41,072 geometric shapes, animal shapes or whatever. 89 00:04:41,239 --> 00:04:42,449 And the third basic technique 90 00:04:42,616 --> 00:04:44,367 is simply a combination of the two. 91 00:04:44,534 --> 00:04:46,661 You move things to one side to expose lightness, 92 00:04:46,870 --> 00:04:48,747 you use the dark stones to make patterns. 93 00:04:48,914 --> 00:04:50,916 So you get very nice combination of the two. 94 00:04:51,958 --> 00:04:53,335 In recent years, thanks to modern technology, 95 00:04:53,502 --> 00:04:55,837 and particularly satellite photographs, 96 00:04:56,004 --> 00:04:58,298 there has been an explosion in new discoveries 97 00:04:58,507 --> 00:05:00,717 of-of geoglyphs that we didn't know about before. 98 00:05:03,053 --> 00:05:05,639 [Collins] The interesting fact about all of these 99 00:05:05,764 --> 00:05:08,725 is that they point towards the sky. 100 00:05:08,892 --> 00:05:11,228 And what might this tell us? 101 00:05:11,394 --> 00:05:14,940 Well, the first thing is that many of the geoglyphs 102 00:05:15,148 --> 00:05:18,693 that we know today were only discovered 103 00:05:18,860 --> 00:05:23,406 once aerial survey started in around the 1920s. 104 00:05:23,573 --> 00:05:26,117 All of them were only really revealed 105 00:05:26,284 --> 00:05:28,870 once aircraft got up into the air. 106 00:05:29,037 --> 00:05:31,748 And this tells us something very, very important. 107 00:05:33,708 --> 00:05:36,878 [Bahn] Most geoglyphs really only make sense from above. 108 00:05:37,045 --> 00:05:39,965 It therefore seems that they would be messages 109 00:05:40,131 --> 00:05:42,717 to something non-human, something up there. 110 00:05:43,927 --> 00:05:45,220 [Narrator] When the now-legendary Nazca Lines 111 00:05:45,428 --> 00:05:49,349 of Peru were first discovered in 1927, 112 00:05:49,516 --> 00:05:52,143 they were considered a unique phenomenon. 113 00:05:52,310 --> 00:05:55,814 But now, with the benefit of satellite imagery, 114 00:05:55,981 --> 00:05:58,149 thousands of ancient geoglyphs are being found 115 00:05:58,316 --> 00:06:00,110 all over the world: 116 00:06:00,277 --> 00:06:02,612 in Kazakhstan, 117 00:06:02,779 --> 00:06:05,323 in the southwestern United States, 118 00:06:05,448 --> 00:06:07,534 in the Atacama Desert of Chile 119 00:06:07,701 --> 00:06:09,828 and in Bolivia. 120 00:06:11,204 --> 00:06:13,039 [Collins] Almost everywhere around the world, 121 00:06:13,164 --> 00:06:15,917 we find what are known as geoglyphs, 122 00:06:16,084 --> 00:06:19,129 whether they be the Nazca Lines in Peru, 123 00:06:19,296 --> 00:06:21,548 British geoglyphs, 124 00:06:21,715 --> 00:06:24,050 to those in the Middle East, 125 00:06:24,217 --> 00:06:26,761 they're something that are virtually universal 126 00:06:26,928 --> 00:06:28,763 around the world, 127 00:06:28,889 --> 00:06:31,766 and they've been appearing for many hundreds of years. 128 00:06:32,809 --> 00:06:34,561 [Narrator] But why would ancient people 129 00:06:34,686 --> 00:06:37,522 in so many different locations around the world 130 00:06:37,647 --> 00:06:41,985 all be making signs that can only be seen from above? 131 00:06:42,152 --> 00:06:43,820 We don't know for sure what 132 00:06:44,029 --> 00:06:45,655 ancient peoples were trying to communicate through geoglyphs, 133 00:06:45,864 --> 00:06:48,074 but the most important thing is 134 00:06:48,241 --> 00:06:51,161 the amount of time and effort that went into building them. 135 00:06:51,286 --> 00:06:52,996 They're not quick sketches. 136 00:06:53,163 --> 00:06:55,290 They're, many of them, whole community projects. 137 00:06:55,457 --> 00:06:58,043 And the time that you spend working on them 138 00:06:58,168 --> 00:07:00,337 is time not spent gathering food, 139 00:07:00,545 --> 00:07:02,505 not spent defending your land. 140 00:07:02,672 --> 00:07:05,800 It's time not spent looking after your children. 141 00:07:05,925 --> 00:07:08,678 So, the first thing that they communicate 142 00:07:08,845 --> 00:07:10,513 is to the community itself, 143 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:12,265 what is important to the community. 144 00:07:13,558 --> 00:07:14,893 [Narrator] But could there be another, 145 00:07:15,060 --> 00:07:17,562 even more incredible explanation? 146 00:07:17,729 --> 00:07:20,774 Is it possible that these ancient geoglyphs 147 00:07:20,940 --> 00:07:23,985 were created not for a terrestrial purpose 148 00:07:24,152 --> 00:07:26,571 but for an extraterrestrial one? 149 00:07:27,614 --> 00:07:30,492 Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, 150 00:07:30,659 --> 00:07:32,869 and suggest further clues can be found 151 00:07:33,036 --> 00:07:35,163 by examining similar shapes and symbols 152 00:07:35,288 --> 00:07:37,832 that occur on a much smaller scale. 153 00:07:37,999 --> 00:07:42,879 Geoglyphs are gigantic-sized versions of 154 00:07:43,004 --> 00:07:44,714 what we know as petroglyphs, 155 00:07:44,881 --> 00:07:47,425 the most obvious being the rock art that we'd see 156 00:07:47,592 --> 00:07:50,804 on surfaces of stone rock around the world 157 00:07:50,970 --> 00:07:53,807 that date back many, many thousands of years. 158 00:07:53,973 --> 00:07:56,267 Petroglyphs are images carved into stones 159 00:07:56,434 --> 00:07:59,020 or incised or hammered away. 160 00:07:59,229 --> 00:08:01,564 They occur all over the world, 161 00:08:01,731 --> 00:08:03,775 from Australia up through Asia, 162 00:08:03,942 --> 00:08:06,444 Europe, Africa, through the Americas. 163 00:08:09,823 --> 00:08:11,116 [Narrator] Perhaps more intriguing 164 00:08:11,282 --> 00:08:12,867 than the petroglyphs themselves 165 00:08:13,034 --> 00:08:15,370 are the eerie similarities between them 166 00:08:15,537 --> 00:08:17,706 and their geoglyphic siblings. 167 00:08:17,872 --> 00:08:21,418 We see certain symbols recurring again and again. 168 00:08:22,544 --> 00:08:25,171 There are many geometric forms. 169 00:08:25,338 --> 00:08:28,633 These take the form of spirals, 170 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:30,719 of concentric rings, 171 00:08:30,844 --> 00:08:34,972 and other more rectilinear or abstract designs. 172 00:08:35,140 --> 00:08:37,015 They're something that are virtually 173 00:08:37,225 --> 00:08:39,352 universal around the world. 174 00:08:39,519 --> 00:08:41,145 One of the most interesting geoglyphs 175 00:08:41,312 --> 00:08:43,940 that you have at Nazca is the Sun, Star, Cross geoglyph, 176 00:08:44,149 --> 00:08:46,401 which is really a very complicated, 177 00:08:46,526 --> 00:08:51,489 huge mandala of interconnected stars and triangles. 178 00:08:51,656 --> 00:08:53,867 And it's something we see all over the world, 179 00:08:54,034 --> 00:08:57,620 and in Tibet and India as mandalas, and even yantras. 180 00:08:57,829 --> 00:08:59,205 So, things like this, 181 00:08:59,372 --> 00:09:02,667 that are so geometrically complicated 182 00:09:02,834 --> 00:09:04,377 and are found all over the world, 183 00:09:04,586 --> 00:09:06,171 indicates that there was some kind of 184 00:09:06,337 --> 00:09:09,591 worldwide symbolic language 185 00:09:09,758 --> 00:09:13,344 that was brought here by a higher intelligence, 186 00:09:13,511 --> 00:09:15,388 probably extraterrestrials. 187 00:09:19,350 --> 00:09:20,894 In 2005, an unusual feature 188 00:09:21,061 --> 00:09:23,271 was discovered in central Canada 189 00:09:23,438 --> 00:09:26,566 that some believe contains the best evidence yet 190 00:09:26,733 --> 00:09:30,528 of a hidden message left by extraterrestrial visitors. 191 00:09:30,695 --> 00:09:34,574 It's a colossal geoglyph that has become known 192 00:09:34,741 --> 00:09:37,202 as the Badlands Guardian. 193 00:09:43,249 --> 00:09:44,959 [Narrator] Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. 194 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:47,378 2005. 195 00:09:48,463 --> 00:09:51,299 53-year-old grandmother Lynn Hickox 196 00:09:51,508 --> 00:09:54,511 is scanning GPS driving directions to a local museum 197 00:09:54,677 --> 00:09:57,889 on satellite view when something catches her eye: 198 00:09:58,973 --> 00:10:01,726 a geographical feature that bears a striking resemblance 199 00:10:01,893 --> 00:10:03,770 to a human face. 200 00:10:04,896 --> 00:10:07,357 It looks so much like a man-made structure 201 00:10:07,524 --> 00:10:09,818 that she posts the image on a message board. 202 00:10:10,860 --> 00:10:14,364 Almost overnight, the image goes viral 203 00:10:14,531 --> 00:10:16,533 and becomes known far and wide 204 00:10:16,699 --> 00:10:19,202 as "the Badlands Guardian." 205 00:10:20,745 --> 00:10:22,080 It is quite striking. 206 00:10:22,205 --> 00:10:23,873 It is clearly a face. 207 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:26,459 The brow, the nose, the lips, the chin are well-formed. 208 00:10:26,668 --> 00:10:29,170 The headdress, a little less so, 209 00:10:29,337 --> 00:10:31,881 but clearly could be seen as feathers. 210 00:10:32,006 --> 00:10:34,134 The Badlands Guardian appears to be 211 00:10:34,300 --> 00:10:37,387 a huge geoglyph near Alberta, Canada. 212 00:10:37,554 --> 00:10:40,890 And to see it from Google Earth or from satellite imagery, 213 00:10:41,057 --> 00:10:44,894 you would think it was created by people many, many years ago. 214 00:10:45,061 --> 00:10:48,189 [William Saunders] Badlands Guardian is a bust, 215 00:10:48,356 --> 00:10:51,276 or a head and shoulders presentation, 216 00:10:51,442 --> 00:10:54,112 of a male Indigenous person. 217 00:10:54,279 --> 00:10:57,073 It is so striking because that is 218 00:10:57,240 --> 00:10:59,242 the Indigenous people of the area. 219 00:10:59,367 --> 00:11:02,036 It doesn't look like a Scotsman wearing a kilt, 220 00:11:02,203 --> 00:11:04,330 doesn't look like an African warrior, 221 00:11:04,497 --> 00:11:08,793 it looks like an Indigenous, uh, native to the area. 222 00:11:09,961 --> 00:11:12,505 [Narrator] Is it possible that the likeness of a human face 223 00:11:12,672 --> 00:11:14,924 naturally formed in the earth? 224 00:11:15,091 --> 00:11:18,094 Many who have examined the Badlands Guardian 225 00:11:18,261 --> 00:11:21,514 suggest that, based on the amount of detail it displays, 226 00:11:21,681 --> 00:11:23,600 this is highly unlikely. 227 00:11:25,185 --> 00:11:27,353 When the mainstream scientific community looks 228 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:28,938 at the Badlands Guardian, 229 00:11:29,147 --> 00:11:30,857 their first explanation is that 230 00:11:31,065 --> 00:11:33,693 it was created by weathering, rain and water runoff. 231 00:11:33,860 --> 00:11:35,737 But there's just so much detail 232 00:11:35,945 --> 00:11:37,614 that we're seeing in this formation 233 00:11:37,780 --> 00:11:40,033 that it goes way beyond anything nature could make. 234 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,827 It not only has basic facial features, 235 00:11:42,994 --> 00:11:45,413 it has secondary facial features, such as the eyelid. 236 00:11:45,580 --> 00:11:46,915 The only thing missing from 237 00:11:47,081 --> 00:11:48,833 the Badlands Guardian is an ear feature. 238 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,544 Now, the interesting thing about that is, 239 00:11:51,711 --> 00:11:53,046 the local government in Canada, 240 00:11:53,213 --> 00:11:54,923 they had found a gas deposit there. 241 00:11:55,089 --> 00:11:56,716 Right where the ear should be. 242 00:11:56,883 --> 00:11:58,468 There might have been an ear there at one time, 243 00:11:58,635 --> 00:12:00,345 but now, because they put an access road there 244 00:12:00,511 --> 00:12:03,348 and they built this gas feature, that was all erased. 245 00:12:03,514 --> 00:12:07,435 Archaeologists are often mistaken about ancient sites. 246 00:12:07,602 --> 00:12:10,521 And what is actually a pyramid 247 00:12:10,647 --> 00:12:13,775 that's now, say, covered in soil 248 00:12:13,942 --> 00:12:16,402 and has a forest on it 249 00:12:16,527 --> 00:12:18,988 can be mistaken for just a natural hill. 250 00:12:19,155 --> 00:12:23,660 This has happened in... in South America, in China. 251 00:12:23,868 --> 00:12:26,120 Archaeologists are continually 252 00:12:26,246 --> 00:12:28,414 finding that things they think are natural 253 00:12:28,581 --> 00:12:30,708 are actually artificial. 254 00:12:32,126 --> 00:12:34,003 [Narrator] Some of the geoglyphs found 255 00:12:34,170 --> 00:12:35,880 around the world were formed 256 00:12:36,005 --> 00:12:38,591 simply by removing the top layer of soil 257 00:12:38,758 --> 00:12:41,469 to expose the lighter-colored dirt underneath. 258 00:12:41,636 --> 00:12:45,473 But if the Badlands Guardian is also a geoglyph, 259 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,309 creating it would have been an enormous undertaking. 260 00:12:49,310 --> 00:12:52,105 The massive, concave formation 261 00:12:52,272 --> 00:12:54,107 is almost half a mile long, 262 00:12:54,274 --> 00:12:57,610 and is over 1,100 feet wide. 263 00:12:58,820 --> 00:13:01,614 For comparison, the Mount Rushmore National Monument 264 00:13:01,781 --> 00:13:05,994 in South Dakota, which was completed in 1941, 265 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:10,164 is approximately 80 feet tall and 200 feet wide. 266 00:13:10,331 --> 00:13:13,084 And while it is only a fraction of the size 267 00:13:13,251 --> 00:13:16,337 of the Badlands Guardian, constructing it required 268 00:13:16,546 --> 00:13:18,131 an enormous amount of work, 269 00:13:18,298 --> 00:13:20,091 even with modern technology. 270 00:13:21,551 --> 00:13:24,637 The carving officially started in 1927, 271 00:13:24,804 --> 00:13:27,724 and it was considered complete in 1941. 272 00:13:28,766 --> 00:13:30,643 My grandfather was on the mountain 273 00:13:30,810 --> 00:13:34,814 approximately from 1933 to 1941. 274 00:13:34,981 --> 00:13:37,025 He was chief carver on Mount Rushmore. 275 00:13:37,191 --> 00:13:39,235 It took about 400 workers. 276 00:13:39,402 --> 00:13:41,154 It took 14 years. 277 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,657 And when I think about the amount of time and effort 278 00:13:44,866 --> 00:13:47,410 that it took for people in the '30s 279 00:13:47,577 --> 00:13:49,537 to create Mount Rushmore, 280 00:13:49,746 --> 00:13:51,831 I can't even begin to imagine 281 00:13:51,998 --> 00:13:54,375 what the person or persons had to do 282 00:13:54,542 --> 00:13:56,878 working on something the size of the Badlands Guardian. 283 00:13:57,045 --> 00:13:59,547 I-I can't even wrap my head around it. 284 00:13:59,714 --> 00:14:02,508 How was it possible that the people that carved these, 285 00:14:02,675 --> 00:14:04,052 thousands of years ago, 286 00:14:04,218 --> 00:14:06,471 were able to see what they were doing 287 00:14:06,637 --> 00:14:08,514 or know what they were doing? 288 00:14:08,681 --> 00:14:12,226 They must have had assistance by extraterrestrial beings. 289 00:14:13,561 --> 00:14:15,855 [Tsoukalos] The Badlands Guardian can only be 290 00:14:16,064 --> 00:14:18,357 fully appreciated from the sky. 291 00:14:18,524 --> 00:14:21,027 So you have to wonder: why? 292 00:14:21,194 --> 00:14:24,989 Well, then, the answer is people on the ground 293 00:14:25,156 --> 00:14:29,077 wanted to signal someone up in the sky. 294 00:14:30,536 --> 00:14:32,997 [Narrator] For ancient astronaut theorists, 295 00:14:33,164 --> 00:14:35,083 the Badlands Guardian could offer 296 00:14:35,208 --> 00:14:36,959 some of the most compelling new evidence 297 00:14:37,085 --> 00:14:39,003 that extraterrestrial intervention 298 00:14:39,170 --> 00:14:41,506 occurred on Earth in the distant past... 299 00:14:41,672 --> 00:14:45,426 that is, if it really is an artificial structure. 300 00:14:49,055 --> 00:14:50,723 Boston, Massachusetts. 301 00:14:50,890 --> 00:14:53,768 February 2019. 302 00:14:54,393 --> 00:14:58,397 Aerospace engineer and satellite imaging expert Mark Carlotto 303 00:14:58,564 --> 00:15:00,775 has spent countless hours examining 304 00:15:00,942 --> 00:15:04,362 the Badlands Guardian to see if he can determine for certain 305 00:15:04,487 --> 00:15:07,532 whether it is something other than a natural formation. 306 00:15:08,658 --> 00:15:10,284 [Mark Carlotto] The image of the Badlands Guardian is 307 00:15:10,451 --> 00:15:12,995 very striking as this Native American figure, 308 00:15:13,162 --> 00:15:16,082 and some properties that are unusual. 309 00:15:16,207 --> 00:15:20,461 So I did some analysis, uh, using some imaging software 310 00:15:20,670 --> 00:15:22,755 and the height map of the feature. 311 00:15:22,922 --> 00:15:24,465 So we'll start with an overview of 312 00:15:24,632 --> 00:15:26,801 the Badlands Guardian image here. 313 00:15:26,926 --> 00:15:29,220 We see the figure in the middle of the image here. 314 00:15:29,428 --> 00:15:31,013 And notice the surrounding landform 315 00:15:31,180 --> 00:15:33,307 is very similar in morphology. 316 00:15:34,350 --> 00:15:36,310 So now what we'll do is we'll zoom up on the figure. 317 00:15:37,812 --> 00:15:40,398 You can see it a little bit more clearly, the, um... 318 00:15:40,565 --> 00:15:43,067 this iconic face. 319 00:15:43,234 --> 00:15:45,695 So what can we do to bring out, you know, some information? 320 00:15:45,862 --> 00:15:48,906 So, we ran a program that extracts the height 321 00:15:49,073 --> 00:15:51,993 or elevation from the figure. 322 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,370 And the way it's depicted here is... 323 00:15:54,537 --> 00:15:57,373 is dark is low and bright is high. 324 00:15:57,540 --> 00:15:59,959 So now, when we've-- after we've taken the image 325 00:16:00,084 --> 00:16:01,961 and texture-mapped it onto the elevation surface, 326 00:16:02,086 --> 00:16:03,796 we can view it in 3D. 327 00:16:03,963 --> 00:16:06,591 And, um, now I'm moving around it 328 00:16:06,757 --> 00:16:09,844 and viewing it like we might see it in a drone. 329 00:16:10,011 --> 00:16:11,762 And as you can see, when you're looking 330 00:16:11,929 --> 00:16:13,890 straight down on the Badlands Guardian, 331 00:16:14,056 --> 00:16:16,684 it's, uh, this uncanny resemblance 332 00:16:16,851 --> 00:16:18,394 to a Native American. 333 00:16:18,561 --> 00:16:19,937 But as we look off-angle 334 00:16:20,146 --> 00:16:22,481 and as we look at it from ground level, 335 00:16:22,607 --> 00:16:24,025 simulated ground level, 336 00:16:24,192 --> 00:16:26,444 you see the illusion disappears. 337 00:16:26,611 --> 00:16:29,447 So, clearly, this feature, if it was created, 338 00:16:29,614 --> 00:16:31,490 was meant to be viewed from above. 339 00:16:32,700 --> 00:16:33,993 [Travis Taylor] To me, the Badlands Guardian 340 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:35,578 looks artificial. 341 00:16:35,786 --> 00:16:37,580 It doesn't look like a trick of nature 342 00:16:37,788 --> 00:16:39,457 and that I'm suffering from apophenia. 343 00:16:39,665 --> 00:16:41,292 All humans do have apophenia, 344 00:16:41,459 --> 00:16:43,169 meaning they see patterns where patterns are not. 345 00:16:43,336 --> 00:16:46,380 That's why we see Mickey Mouse in the clouds and so on. 346 00:16:46,589 --> 00:16:49,467 But this looks too specifically like 347 00:16:49,634 --> 00:16:53,304 some type of Native person with a headdress on. 348 00:16:53,471 --> 00:16:54,805 Looking at this picture, 349 00:16:54,972 --> 00:16:57,475 you can see the natural patterns of erosion. 350 00:16:57,642 --> 00:16:59,936 So, it's clear to me from this picture 351 00:17:00,102 --> 00:17:01,896 that this is an artificial structure. 352 00:17:08,194 --> 00:17:09,819 High in the arid desert of Peru 353 00:17:09,819 --> 00:17:13,281 is a strange, mile-long earthwork 354 00:17:13,406 --> 00:17:16,827 made up of over 5,000 shallow holes 355 00:17:16,993 --> 00:17:18,788 dug out of the dirt. 356 00:17:18,954 --> 00:17:21,457 What purpose this Band of Holes served 357 00:17:21,665 --> 00:17:25,002 and why it was created remains a mystery. 358 00:17:25,127 --> 00:17:27,128 But some researchers believe 359 00:17:27,296 --> 00:17:29,882 that the pattern there contains a hidden message 360 00:17:30,049 --> 00:17:33,344 and point to a nearly identical design 361 00:17:33,511 --> 00:17:35,888 found thousands of miles to the east, 362 00:17:36,055 --> 00:17:37,640 in France. 363 00:17:40,768 --> 00:17:42,186 [Narrator] Central Peru. 364 00:17:43,187 --> 00:17:45,481 Just outside of Pisco, 365 00:17:45,606 --> 00:17:48,192 at an elevation of 11,000 feet, 366 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:50,319 stretches an arid desert 367 00:17:50,444 --> 00:17:52,613 known as the Cajamarquilla Plain. 368 00:17:54,282 --> 00:17:58,119 Here, thousands of holes of varying dimensions and depths 369 00:17:58,244 --> 00:17:59,996 have been dug into a mountain range 370 00:18:00,162 --> 00:18:04,959 in a pattern that runs north and south for almost two miles. 371 00:18:07,128 --> 00:18:08,796 This mysterious formation 372 00:18:08,963 --> 00:18:12,466 has baffled archeologists for decades, 373 00:18:12,633 --> 00:18:14,385 and, like the Nazca Lines, 374 00:18:14,552 --> 00:18:17,722 the holes can only be appreciated in their entirety 375 00:18:17,847 --> 00:18:19,599 from high above the ground. 376 00:18:22,602 --> 00:18:24,645 [Tsoukalos] In the mountains of Peru, 377 00:18:24,812 --> 00:18:28,899 we have what's commonly referred to as the Band of Holes. 378 00:18:29,734 --> 00:18:31,527 It is one of the coolest places 379 00:18:31,694 --> 00:18:34,113 in relation to the ancient astronaut theory, 380 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:36,991 because who in their right mind 381 00:18:37,158 --> 00:18:39,452 would go ahead and dig all these holes? 382 00:18:40,911 --> 00:18:42,288 For what? 383 00:18:43,956 --> 00:18:46,626 They're a incredible mystery, 384 00:18:46,792 --> 00:18:49,003 a very long-lived mystery. 385 00:18:49,128 --> 00:18:51,297 Some people think it looks like some kind of machine 386 00:18:51,505 --> 00:18:53,758 was running over the territory. 387 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:55,968 Some people think it was some kind of 388 00:18:56,135 --> 00:18:59,096 systematic mining operation. 389 00:18:59,263 --> 00:19:01,557 Some people say it was just pot-hunters, 390 00:19:01,724 --> 00:19:04,393 you know, looting, looking for burials. 391 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:06,979 None of the explanations make good sense. 392 00:19:10,358 --> 00:19:11,567 [Narrator] While the Band of Holes 393 00:19:11,734 --> 00:19:13,778 continues to defy explanation, 394 00:19:13,986 --> 00:19:16,405 some ancient astronaut theorists believe 395 00:19:16,572 --> 00:19:19,367 it may represent a type of message, 396 00:19:19,533 --> 00:19:22,203 a message that can also be found 397 00:19:22,328 --> 00:19:25,706 at another site 6,000 miles away. 398 00:19:30,586 --> 00:19:33,214 The northwest coast of France. 399 00:19:34,715 --> 00:19:36,717 Here, just south of Brittany, 400 00:19:36,884 --> 00:19:39,387 lie the legendary Carnac stones... 401 00:19:41,222 --> 00:19:44,934 ...an arrangement of over 3,000 megalithic rocks 402 00:19:45,101 --> 00:19:48,771 that stretch for more than two miles across the countryside. 403 00:19:51,315 --> 00:19:55,194 The megaliths of Carnac in Brittany are just amazing. 404 00:19:56,529 --> 00:19:59,407 Some of them stand about 30 or 40 feet tall. 405 00:20:02,159 --> 00:20:05,913 There are multiple avenues of stones going right over hills. 406 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,958 And no one's really worked out exactly what their purpose is. 407 00:20:13,003 --> 00:20:14,714 [Narrator] Like the Band of Holes in Peru, 408 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:18,926 the Carnac stones continue to defy explanation. 409 00:20:20,052 --> 00:20:22,555 But ancient astronaut theorists suggest 410 00:20:22,722 --> 00:20:26,559 that the clue to understanding both mysterious sites 411 00:20:26,684 --> 00:20:30,271 might be found by comparing them side by side. 412 00:20:34,108 --> 00:20:37,987 The Band of Holes runs for approximately two miles. 413 00:20:38,154 --> 00:20:40,156 So do the Carnac stones. 414 00:20:42,408 --> 00:20:46,495 The width of the Band of Holes measures eight holes across, 415 00:20:46,662 --> 00:20:50,082 occasionally deviating by one or two holes. 416 00:20:50,207 --> 00:20:54,211 This, too, is often the case with the Carnac stones. 417 00:20:54,378 --> 00:20:56,213 And when viewed from high above, 418 00:20:56,380 --> 00:20:59,550 the layout of the two sites is eerily similar. 419 00:21:01,802 --> 00:21:03,471 [Childress] It would appear, in my mind, 420 00:21:03,637 --> 00:21:05,473 that there's some connection 421 00:21:05,639 --> 00:21:09,810 that's between Carnac, France and Peru, 422 00:21:09,977 --> 00:21:12,772 and a special code put there for us 423 00:21:12,938 --> 00:21:14,899 to find at a-- at a future time 424 00:21:15,107 --> 00:21:18,486 when we could understand these codes. 425 00:21:21,363 --> 00:21:23,032 [Narrator] Some ancient astronaut theorists 426 00:21:23,199 --> 00:21:24,658 have even gone so far 427 00:21:24,867 --> 00:21:27,536 as to suggest that the Band of Holes 428 00:21:27,703 --> 00:21:30,247 may have once held some sort of standing totems... 429 00:21:31,874 --> 00:21:34,043 ...similar to what is believed to have existed 430 00:21:34,168 --> 00:21:36,670 at Stonehenge, 431 00:21:36,837 --> 00:21:39,298 and that those totems may have disappeared 432 00:21:39,507 --> 00:21:41,425 because they were made of wood. 433 00:21:43,511 --> 00:21:45,763 There are a series of postholes that were found 434 00:21:45,930 --> 00:21:47,306 all around Stonehenge 435 00:21:47,473 --> 00:21:50,392 in which you can stick sticks in the holes. 436 00:21:50,559 --> 00:21:52,770 But they degraded over time 437 00:21:52,937 --> 00:21:54,897 and it gradually crumbled away, 438 00:21:55,105 --> 00:21:57,191 and perhaps the same thing happened 439 00:21:57,358 --> 00:22:01,695 in the Nazca Plain in Peru with these holes. 440 00:22:05,616 --> 00:22:07,284 [Narrator] Could there really be a connection 441 00:22:07,451 --> 00:22:09,495 between the Carnac stones in France 442 00:22:09,662 --> 00:22:11,997 and the Band of Holes in Peru, 443 00:22:12,164 --> 00:22:14,583 as ancient astronaut theorists suggest? 444 00:22:16,585 --> 00:22:20,297 And if so, is it meant to convey a message? 445 00:22:22,216 --> 00:22:24,593 [Wilcock] If you look at the stones at Carnac, 446 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:27,137 you see curious alignments. 447 00:22:27,346 --> 00:22:29,807 And these alignments actually duplicate 448 00:22:29,974 --> 00:22:32,268 the Pythagorean triangle. 449 00:22:32,434 --> 00:22:37,314 This appears to have happened as much as 3,000 years before 450 00:22:37,481 --> 00:22:40,776 Pythagoras allegedly invented the Pythagorean triangle. 451 00:22:43,612 --> 00:22:47,408 What you're seeing is remarkable mathematical symbolism 452 00:22:47,575 --> 00:22:50,160 and encoding messages 453 00:22:50,286 --> 00:22:53,038 that seem to suggest somebody wanted us to know 454 00:22:53,163 --> 00:22:54,999 it was built with technology 455 00:22:55,124 --> 00:22:57,209 far in excess of what we have now. 456 00:23:01,881 --> 00:23:04,216 [Erich von Däniken] Some thousands of years in the past, 457 00:23:04,425 --> 00:23:06,760 the extraterrestrials who visited our planet 458 00:23:06,927 --> 00:23:09,179 left a proof behind. 459 00:23:09,388 --> 00:23:11,640 They knew that in the far future 460 00:23:11,765 --> 00:23:14,643 the humans will see these stone patterns. 461 00:23:14,810 --> 00:23:17,563 They will realize that this is high geometry. 462 00:23:17,688 --> 00:23:19,607 And sooner or later the questions comes up, 463 00:23:19,773 --> 00:23:22,401 "Have we maybe been visited by beings from outer space?" 464 00:23:25,321 --> 00:23:28,240 [Narrator] Is it possible that these two ancient sites 465 00:23:28,407 --> 00:23:30,159 are both conveying a message 466 00:23:30,284 --> 00:23:32,828 left behind by extraterrestrials? 467 00:23:33,871 --> 00:23:35,497 And was it their intention 468 00:23:35,706 --> 00:23:38,959 that it would one day be deciphered by mankind? 469 00:23:39,084 --> 00:23:42,630 Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, 470 00:23:42,796 --> 00:23:45,883 and claim that further clues can be found 471 00:23:46,050 --> 00:23:48,802 by investigating magnetic anomalies 472 00:23:48,928 --> 00:23:51,430 within mysterious, colossal stone heads 473 00:23:51,597 --> 00:23:54,892 unearthed in the jungles of Central America. 474 00:23:58,979 --> 00:24:01,523 A key tenet of the ancient astronaut theory is 475 00:24:01,523 --> 00:24:05,319 that extraterrestrials left information for us 476 00:24:05,444 --> 00:24:08,530 within megalithic structures and monuments. 477 00:24:08,697 --> 00:24:11,033 And a recent breakthrough suggests 478 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:14,078 that some of the largest statues ever built 479 00:24:14,244 --> 00:24:16,705 could possibly be 480 00:24:16,872 --> 00:24:18,958 ancient hard drives. 481 00:24:22,002 --> 00:24:24,213 [Narrator] La Democracia, Guatemala. 482 00:24:24,380 --> 00:24:27,466 June 2019. 483 00:24:28,550 --> 00:24:32,805 A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard, and Yale announce 484 00:24:32,972 --> 00:24:35,849 that they have discovered unusual magnetic anomalies 485 00:24:36,016 --> 00:24:39,395 within the colossal stone heads attributed to the Monte Alto, 486 00:24:39,561 --> 00:24:42,147 a Mesoamerican civilization 487 00:24:42,314 --> 00:24:45,442 that emerged around 1800 BC. 488 00:24:47,236 --> 00:24:48,946 [Childress] Some of these statues 489 00:24:49,113 --> 00:24:51,073 have very strong magnetic fields. 490 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,117 The creators of these statues 491 00:24:53,283 --> 00:24:55,202 were totally aware 492 00:24:55,327 --> 00:24:57,287 of these magnetic fields. 493 00:24:57,454 --> 00:25:00,416 And that is something that shocked modern archaeologists, 494 00:25:00,624 --> 00:25:04,378 that this rather primitive culture, they thought, 495 00:25:04,586 --> 00:25:06,714 was aware of magnetism 496 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:10,175 and that they actually chose certain rocks 497 00:25:10,342 --> 00:25:12,970 because of the magnetic field. 498 00:25:13,137 --> 00:25:16,056 [Narrator] In Mexico, similar statues 499 00:25:16,223 --> 00:25:18,100 created by the Olmec civilization 500 00:25:18,308 --> 00:25:21,770 were also found to emit magnetic anomalies. 501 00:25:21,937 --> 00:25:23,814 These intricately carved heads 502 00:25:23,981 --> 00:25:26,316 vary in height from nearly five feet 503 00:25:26,483 --> 00:25:29,069 to over 11 feet tall, 504 00:25:29,236 --> 00:25:32,364 the largest weighing approximately 50 tons. 505 00:25:33,449 --> 00:25:35,409 Like the Monte Alto sculptures, 506 00:25:35,576 --> 00:25:38,287 most of these heads were made from basalt. 507 00:25:39,246 --> 00:25:41,749 Basalt has large quantities 508 00:25:41,915 --> 00:25:44,168 of-of iron and magnesium in 'em. 509 00:25:44,334 --> 00:25:47,337 The Olmec were so precise 510 00:25:47,546 --> 00:25:50,132 with knowing where the magnetic fields were 511 00:25:50,299 --> 00:25:51,842 that they actually carved the structure 512 00:25:52,009 --> 00:25:53,635 around these anomalies. 513 00:25:53,802 --> 00:25:56,889 So, when scientists use a magnetometer 514 00:25:57,056 --> 00:25:58,891 around the stone statue, 515 00:25:59,058 --> 00:26:01,935 they notice the nose or the cheeks, 516 00:26:02,102 --> 00:26:05,647 around the chin, the magnetic fields are strongest there. 517 00:26:06,690 --> 00:26:10,027 [Collins] The great heads of the Olmec are made of basalt. 518 00:26:10,194 --> 00:26:13,906 Basalt is a volcanic substance. 519 00:26:14,073 --> 00:26:17,826 And the closest source to many of these heads 520 00:26:17,993 --> 00:26:20,704 is anything up to a hundred miles away. 521 00:26:20,871 --> 00:26:22,790 Now, this is interesting, 522 00:26:22,956 --> 00:26:25,501 because I don't think it's simply the case 523 00:26:25,709 --> 00:26:28,587 that the basalt was easy to sculpt 524 00:26:28,754 --> 00:26:31,298 into the forms of heads. 525 00:26:31,507 --> 00:26:33,217 [Williams] Basalt is dense. 526 00:26:33,425 --> 00:26:35,719 It's very, very heavy, thick rock 527 00:26:35,844 --> 00:26:37,763 and it's very difficult to work with, 528 00:26:37,888 --> 00:26:40,599 let alone carve with rudimentary tools 529 00:26:40,724 --> 00:26:42,351 like flint. 530 00:26:42,893 --> 00:26:45,187 Because they range higher on Mohs test 531 00:26:45,354 --> 00:26:47,272 as far as density. 532 00:26:47,439 --> 00:26:51,485 And flint is a much softer material than basalt. 533 00:26:51,652 --> 00:26:54,530 So, it's difficult to understand how 534 00:26:54,696 --> 00:26:56,115 they carved these things. 535 00:26:56,281 --> 00:26:58,909 And the intricate detail on some of them 536 00:26:59,076 --> 00:27:01,203 is just incredible. 537 00:27:03,747 --> 00:27:05,124 [Newman] With these stone giants, 538 00:27:05,290 --> 00:27:07,584 it really is a question as to why they chose 539 00:27:07,751 --> 00:27:09,378 these specific types of rock. 540 00:27:09,586 --> 00:27:12,381 Like granite we find, it's very crystalline. 541 00:27:12,589 --> 00:27:14,716 It's also electrically conductive. 542 00:27:14,883 --> 00:27:16,718 We find basalt, which is volcanic. 543 00:27:16,844 --> 00:27:18,428 Again, this is very magnetic. 544 00:27:18,595 --> 00:27:20,806 And so, again, it can be conductive 545 00:27:20,973 --> 00:27:22,432 for various different purposes. 546 00:27:22,599 --> 00:27:24,601 And so what's going on here? 547 00:27:24,726 --> 00:27:26,436 Were they specifically choosing 548 00:27:26,603 --> 00:27:27,771 certain types of rock 549 00:27:27,938 --> 00:27:31,275 for technological reasons? 550 00:27:32,651 --> 00:27:34,778 [Childress] When we look at how the ancients were selecting 551 00:27:34,945 --> 00:27:36,363 certain stones that were magnetic 552 00:27:36,530 --> 00:27:38,031 or had certain energies, 553 00:27:38,198 --> 00:27:41,326 we wonder how they could know 554 00:27:41,493 --> 00:27:45,998 about all of the-the properties of these stones. 555 00:27:47,124 --> 00:27:49,167 Are they getting this information 556 00:27:49,334 --> 00:27:51,044 from extraterrestrials? 557 00:27:53,213 --> 00:27:55,257 [Narrator] Extraterrestrials? 558 00:27:55,465 --> 00:27:58,510 Is it possible that the ancient people of Mesoamerica 559 00:27:58,677 --> 00:27:59,970 were given instructions 560 00:28:00,137 --> 00:28:02,139 to sculpt these giant basalt heads 561 00:28:02,347 --> 00:28:04,099 by alien visitors? 562 00:28:05,517 --> 00:28:07,227 But if so, why? 563 00:28:08,729 --> 00:28:11,815 As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned, 564 00:28:11,982 --> 00:28:14,192 the answer is simple: 565 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:17,404 they were intended to be used for data storage. 566 00:28:19,823 --> 00:28:24,369 In 2017, IBM made a huge breakthrough in data storage. 567 00:28:24,912 --> 00:28:26,496 They figured out how to store 568 00:28:26,663 --> 00:28:30,542 201 gigabytes of data on a square inch of tape. 569 00:28:30,709 --> 00:28:32,419 That means a magnetic tape reel, 570 00:28:32,628 --> 00:28:34,171 the size of the palm of your hand, 571 00:28:34,338 --> 00:28:36,256 can hold as much data as you would have 572 00:28:36,465 --> 00:28:38,467 in 330 laptops. 573 00:28:38,634 --> 00:28:40,719 [Williams] Mag tape, mag stripe tape, 574 00:28:40,844 --> 00:28:42,387 is made out of, basically, 575 00:28:42,554 --> 00:28:45,390 very, very tiny magnetic particles. 576 00:28:45,557 --> 00:28:47,726 And what they do is they-they adhere them 577 00:28:47,893 --> 00:28:49,770 to the back of a-a thin strip. 578 00:28:50,812 --> 00:28:52,606 And the way it works is 579 00:28:52,773 --> 00:28:55,108 the little metal filings, which are very microscopic, 580 00:28:55,275 --> 00:28:57,444 they would all align in a certain pattern, 581 00:28:57,611 --> 00:28:59,571 kind of like the grooves on a record player. 582 00:28:59,738 --> 00:29:02,074 And it would take another piece of equipment, 583 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,368 similar to the one that actually aligned them, 584 00:29:04,534 --> 00:29:07,955 to interpret how those particles are lined up. 585 00:29:09,164 --> 00:29:12,209 And we still use it to this day for backup data storage. 586 00:29:13,460 --> 00:29:15,045 [Childress] And so, once again, 587 00:29:15,212 --> 00:29:17,631 we have to ask ourself if these statues... 588 00:29:17,798 --> 00:29:19,424 were in fact devices 589 00:29:19,591 --> 00:29:22,511 that had recorded information. 590 00:29:22,678 --> 00:29:26,056 And information could be extracted from them. 591 00:29:26,264 --> 00:29:29,685 Like a computer hard drive or something like that. 592 00:29:31,395 --> 00:29:32,938 [Nova Spivak] We've been looking at these objects 593 00:29:33,146 --> 00:29:34,773 primarily at the macroscopic level. 594 00:29:34,940 --> 00:29:36,400 What do they look like? 595 00:29:37,484 --> 00:29:40,028 But maybe there's information inside them, 596 00:29:40,195 --> 00:29:42,698 encoded using nanotechnology. 597 00:29:42,906 --> 00:29:44,449 Why is that likely? 598 00:29:44,616 --> 00:29:47,160 Because we ourselves are doing the same thing. 599 00:29:47,285 --> 00:29:49,871 By trying to store information 600 00:29:50,038 --> 00:29:52,833 for thousands or millions of years, 601 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:54,626 you end up going to 602 00:29:54,793 --> 00:29:57,546 the same physical materials and solutions 603 00:29:57,713 --> 00:30:01,675 that the hypothetical ancient aliens may have also 604 00:30:01,842 --> 00:30:03,802 figured out how to use. 605 00:30:07,889 --> 00:30:09,474 Across the globe, 606 00:30:09,474 --> 00:30:12,561 farmers have discovered massive images in their crops. 607 00:30:12,686 --> 00:30:16,106 These formations, known as crop circles, 608 00:30:16,273 --> 00:30:18,108 often appear overnight 609 00:30:18,275 --> 00:30:22,070 and look like they were created by an otherworldly force. 610 00:30:22,237 --> 00:30:25,032 Curiously, some researchers believe 611 00:30:25,198 --> 00:30:29,202 that these complex patterns contain hidden messages 612 00:30:29,369 --> 00:30:32,956 that are encoded as sounds. 613 00:30:35,834 --> 00:30:38,420 [Narrator] Yarnbury Castle. Wiltshire, England. 614 00:30:38,628 --> 00:30:41,256 July 26, 2020. 615 00:30:42,299 --> 00:30:45,177 An intricate formation of concentric circles, 616 00:30:45,385 --> 00:30:48,013 featuring a number of smaller semi-circles, 617 00:30:48,180 --> 00:30:49,973 appears in a field of wheat. 618 00:30:51,725 --> 00:30:53,977 While the design may seem random, 619 00:30:54,186 --> 00:30:57,147 some researchers believe it contains a message 620 00:30:57,314 --> 00:30:59,399 that can be both seen and heard... 621 00:31:00,442 --> 00:31:02,027 ...because it is a perfect match 622 00:31:02,194 --> 00:31:05,614 for what is known as a cymatic pattern. 623 00:31:07,282 --> 00:31:09,201 When we talk about cymatic patterns, 624 00:31:09,326 --> 00:31:11,870 we're talking about a frequency 625 00:31:12,037 --> 00:31:15,791 that will create a image that has a complexity to it. 626 00:31:16,917 --> 00:31:20,253 So, specific frequencies relate to specific patterns. 627 00:31:23,924 --> 00:31:25,467 [Narrator] The origins of cymatics 628 00:31:25,634 --> 00:31:27,636 among human civilizations 629 00:31:27,803 --> 00:31:31,765 can be traced back more than ten centuries to West Africa. 630 00:31:31,932 --> 00:31:34,101 There, tribal rituals 631 00:31:34,309 --> 00:31:36,269 involved sprinkling grains of sand 632 00:31:36,436 --> 00:31:38,438 on the surface of drums. 633 00:31:38,605 --> 00:31:41,399 Striking the drums created specific audio tones, 634 00:31:41,525 --> 00:31:44,444 causing the sand to be instantly shaped 635 00:31:44,611 --> 00:31:47,197 into distinct formations. 636 00:31:47,364 --> 00:31:50,075 From the resulting formations on the drum's surface, 637 00:31:50,242 --> 00:31:52,702 tribal elders believed it was possible 638 00:31:52,869 --> 00:31:54,871 to predict future events. 639 00:31:56,748 --> 00:32:00,001 [Childress] With cymatics, you have these patterns 640 00:32:00,127 --> 00:32:02,045 that are a visualization, really, 641 00:32:02,212 --> 00:32:04,714 of-of sound and vibration. 642 00:32:05,715 --> 00:32:07,134 And physicists tell us 643 00:32:07,300 --> 00:32:09,761 that the entire universe comes down 644 00:32:09,928 --> 00:32:12,722 to vibration and sound patterns, 645 00:32:12,848 --> 00:32:16,017 and these patterns that can be visualized. 646 00:32:17,602 --> 00:32:19,729 [Narrator] In 1787, 647 00:32:19,896 --> 00:32:23,066 German physicist and musician Ernst Chladni 648 00:32:23,233 --> 00:32:24,985 offered a breakthrough on the subject 649 00:32:25,152 --> 00:32:28,655 when he published "Discoveries in the Theory of Sound." 650 00:32:30,282 --> 00:32:32,200 In the writing, Chladni revealed 651 00:32:32,325 --> 00:32:34,786 that specific tones consistently create 652 00:32:34,953 --> 00:32:36,538 the same visual pattern. 653 00:32:37,831 --> 00:32:41,918 By applying sound vibrations to metal plates covered in sand, 654 00:32:42,043 --> 00:32:43,920 he identified the images produced 655 00:32:44,045 --> 00:32:46,214 by various frequencies. 656 00:32:47,340 --> 00:32:50,552 [Henry] When we look at so many crop circles, 657 00:32:50,719 --> 00:32:54,014 they're consistent with what we see in research on cymatics. 658 00:32:54,181 --> 00:32:55,807 We find the same shapes 659 00:32:55,974 --> 00:32:57,684 that are created on Chladni plates. 660 00:32:57,851 --> 00:32:59,227 We find the same shapes 661 00:32:59,394 --> 00:33:01,646 that are created in sound experiments. 662 00:33:01,813 --> 00:33:03,440 So, there's a very key connection 663 00:33:03,565 --> 00:33:05,025 that is to be made here. 664 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:09,029 [Narrator] But why would cymatic patterns 665 00:33:09,196 --> 00:33:11,364 appear in crop circles? 666 00:33:11,531 --> 00:33:14,576 Could extraterrestrials be using audio frequencies 667 00:33:14,743 --> 00:33:17,037 as a method of communication? 668 00:33:18,121 --> 00:33:20,248 Ancient astronaut theorists suggest 669 00:33:20,415 --> 00:33:23,501 further clues can be found by examining the teachings 670 00:33:23,710 --> 00:33:25,712 found in ancient Hindu religious texts 671 00:33:25,879 --> 00:33:28,131 known as Vedas. 672 00:33:29,716 --> 00:33:31,009 [Dominic Steavu] The word "veda" means 673 00:33:31,176 --> 00:33:33,136 "knowledge" in Sanskrit. 674 00:33:33,303 --> 00:33:35,347 There is this close association with 675 00:33:35,513 --> 00:33:38,558 a special type of wisdom or knowledge 676 00:33:38,725 --> 00:33:40,602 that is transmitted through the Vedas. 677 00:33:41,895 --> 00:33:45,440 Now, originally, the Vedas were revealed by the gods 678 00:33:45,565 --> 00:33:49,069 to a certain class of spiritual elect. 679 00:33:50,278 --> 00:33:53,907 And they contain, again, these primordial sounds 680 00:33:54,074 --> 00:33:55,992 that are associated with the creation 681 00:33:56,159 --> 00:33:58,745 of the universe and its proper functioning. 682 00:34:00,288 --> 00:34:02,958 [Narrator] In the Vedic texts, it is said 683 00:34:03,124 --> 00:34:07,003 that the gods gave humankind a visual guide to sacred sounds 684 00:34:07,170 --> 00:34:10,840 in the form of elaborate patterns called "mandalas." 685 00:34:11,925 --> 00:34:13,677 Like Chladni's experiments, 686 00:34:13,842 --> 00:34:17,554 the mandalas translate sound into visual patterns, 687 00:34:17,722 --> 00:34:20,934 but for a profound and otherworldly purpose. 688 00:34:21,935 --> 00:34:24,603 In Hinduism, mandalas are considered to be 689 00:34:24,771 --> 00:34:28,650 visual translations of primordial sounds. 690 00:34:30,025 --> 00:34:31,777 And these are the sounds 691 00:34:31,987 --> 00:34:34,406 that gave rise to the universe, 692 00:34:34,572 --> 00:34:36,283 and to the very nature of reality. 693 00:34:37,324 --> 00:34:39,577 They are divine, 694 00:34:39,786 --> 00:34:42,914 they were uttered cosmically 695 00:34:43,081 --> 00:34:45,875 by supernatural beings, by gods. 696 00:34:47,252 --> 00:34:48,837 [Henry] The Vedas tell us 697 00:34:49,004 --> 00:34:51,547 that the gods taught humans how to chant. 698 00:34:51,715 --> 00:34:53,757 How to pray and to sing 699 00:34:53,882 --> 00:34:56,428 in order to communicate with the gods. 700 00:34:58,555 --> 00:35:00,265 [Narrator] The most powerful Hindu mantra 701 00:35:00,432 --> 00:35:02,726 is the sound "Om," 702 00:35:02,892 --> 00:35:05,937 which is visually represented by a simple circle 703 00:35:06,146 --> 00:35:08,356 with a dot in the middle... 704 00:35:08,523 --> 00:35:11,318 the fundamental element of a mandala. 705 00:35:12,569 --> 00:35:15,113 Incredibly, when the "Om" frequency 706 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:17,365 is applied to a Chladni plate, 707 00:35:17,532 --> 00:35:20,076 the exact same pattern emerges. 708 00:35:22,829 --> 00:35:26,333 Higher-toned frequencies result in more complex arrangements... 709 00:35:27,959 --> 00:35:29,502 ...that also identically match 710 00:35:29,669 --> 00:35:31,796 the ancient mandala symbols. 711 00:35:33,548 --> 00:35:35,050 [Collins] Is it conceivable 712 00:35:35,216 --> 00:35:38,803 that the writers of the ancient Vedic texts 713 00:35:38,928 --> 00:35:41,264 were given advanced knowledge 714 00:35:41,431 --> 00:35:43,808 on how sound frequencies 715 00:35:43,975 --> 00:35:47,562 can be converted into visual patterns? 716 00:35:49,189 --> 00:35:50,982 Some of the crop circle designs 717 00:35:51,149 --> 00:35:53,193 are very clearly 718 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:55,654 reflections of sound. 719 00:35:56,946 --> 00:35:58,990 Is it therefore possible 720 00:35:59,157 --> 00:36:02,369 that what we are looking at is sound signatures, 721 00:36:02,535 --> 00:36:06,665 communication with such higher intelligences? 722 00:36:08,833 --> 00:36:10,627 [Narrator] Many cultures around the world 723 00:36:10,794 --> 00:36:13,630 believe it is possible to commune with a higher realm 724 00:36:13,797 --> 00:36:15,590 through ritualistic chanting, 725 00:36:15,757 --> 00:36:17,467 singing, and prayer. 726 00:36:18,510 --> 00:36:21,638 Like mandalas, could crop circles contain 727 00:36:21,805 --> 00:36:24,140 an otherworldly message for humanity, 728 00:36:24,349 --> 00:36:27,185 one that is based on sacred sounds? 729 00:36:28,603 --> 00:36:30,105 [Tsoukalos] I certainly think that 730 00:36:30,271 --> 00:36:33,525 crop circles are messages by... 731 00:36:33,692 --> 00:36:36,945 other beings who are trying to 732 00:36:37,112 --> 00:36:38,988 make contact with us, 733 00:36:39,155 --> 00:36:42,701 or at least letting us know they're there. 734 00:36:42,909 --> 00:36:47,163 And the entire basis of the universe is vibration, 735 00:36:47,330 --> 00:36:49,916 and sound is vibration. 736 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,128 When we talk about different ways 737 00:36:53,294 --> 00:36:56,256 with which to communicate with different civilizations, 738 00:36:56,464 --> 00:36:58,675 scientists have proposed 739 00:36:58,842 --> 00:37:02,387 that can be achieved with sound frequencies. 740 00:37:02,554 --> 00:37:04,139 [Childress] What they're doing is 741 00:37:04,347 --> 00:37:05,849 putting sound and vibration 742 00:37:06,015 --> 00:37:09,602 into a communication device of some sort, 743 00:37:09,769 --> 00:37:12,605 but exactly what they're trying to communicate to us 744 00:37:12,772 --> 00:37:14,315 is the big question. 745 00:37:20,989 --> 00:37:22,615 The idea that an alien civilization 746 00:37:22,615 --> 00:37:24,534 has left us hidden messages 747 00:37:24,701 --> 00:37:26,369 may strike some as sounding more like 748 00:37:26,536 --> 00:37:29,038 science fiction than fact. 749 00:37:29,164 --> 00:37:33,042 But in 2001, a crop circle appeared in England 750 00:37:33,209 --> 00:37:35,420 that many believe was sent 751 00:37:35,628 --> 00:37:37,714 by extraterrestrials. 752 00:37:42,135 --> 00:37:45,680 [Narrator] Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico. 753 00:37:45,847 --> 00:37:49,642 November 16, 1974. 754 00:37:50,727 --> 00:37:54,230 Scientists, dignitaries and other public officials 755 00:37:54,397 --> 00:37:57,275 gather to watch as astronomers send out 756 00:37:57,442 --> 00:37:59,778 the first official radio communication 757 00:37:59,986 --> 00:38:02,530 directed to extraterrestrials, 758 00:38:02,697 --> 00:38:04,491 using the largest, 759 00:38:04,657 --> 00:38:07,994 most powerful telescope in the world. 760 00:38:08,536 --> 00:38:10,121 [Seth Shostack] The message was just a series 761 00:38:10,246 --> 00:38:12,791 of, you know, dots and dashes, if you will, 762 00:38:12,957 --> 00:38:15,210 but you could order them into a-a matrix 763 00:38:15,376 --> 00:38:17,045 and actually get a picture. 764 00:38:17,212 --> 00:38:18,588 It's a way of sending 765 00:38:18,755 --> 00:38:20,715 a greeting card, if you will, from Earth. 766 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:23,176 [Narrator] Designed by renowned scientists 767 00:38:23,384 --> 00:38:25,804 like Carl Sagan and Frank Drake, 768 00:38:25,970 --> 00:38:30,433 the Arecibo message contains binary encoded information 769 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,353 including the numbers one through ten, 770 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:35,605 an image of human DNA, 771 00:38:35,772 --> 00:38:37,357 a human figure, 772 00:38:37,524 --> 00:38:39,234 and a graphic of the solar system, 773 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:41,903 highlighting the position of Earth. 774 00:38:43,321 --> 00:38:45,615 [Nick Pope] This was a calling card from Planet Earth. 775 00:38:45,782 --> 00:38:49,869 It was really reaching out across the galaxy 776 00:38:50,036 --> 00:38:51,871 and saying, "We're here." 777 00:38:52,956 --> 00:38:54,707 Now, some scientists condemned it, 778 00:38:54,874 --> 00:38:58,378 and, in fact, SETI has been very controversial 779 00:38:58,586 --> 00:39:00,964 when it moves into active-- what's called METI, 780 00:39:01,130 --> 00:39:04,092 messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence. 781 00:39:04,259 --> 00:39:07,929 Some people have said it's like a suicide note to the universe, 782 00:39:08,096 --> 00:39:10,723 because if there's a super predator species out there, 783 00:39:10,890 --> 00:39:12,767 you were saying, "Come and get us." 784 00:39:12,934 --> 00:39:16,187 Now, SETI scientists say, "Well, it's too late. 785 00:39:16,354 --> 00:39:19,190 We've been a detectable civilization for decades 786 00:39:19,357 --> 00:39:22,151 because of our radio and television broadcasts," 787 00:39:22,318 --> 00:39:24,112 but it's still controversial. 788 00:39:25,697 --> 00:39:27,699 [Narrator] In August 2001, 789 00:39:27,907 --> 00:39:31,995 almost three decades after the Arecibo message was sent, 790 00:39:32,161 --> 00:39:34,080 there was an extraordinary development. 791 00:39:35,164 --> 00:39:37,375 Workers at the Chilbolton Observatory 792 00:39:37,542 --> 00:39:39,294 in Hampshire, England 793 00:39:39,460 --> 00:39:42,714 discovered a mysterious crop circle in a nearby field 794 00:39:42,881 --> 00:39:44,841 that was an almost exact replica 795 00:39:44,966 --> 00:39:47,135 of the Arecibo message. 796 00:39:47,302 --> 00:39:50,680 It's actually called, sometimes, the Arecibo reply, 797 00:39:50,805 --> 00:39:53,516 because it-it's essentially very similar 798 00:39:53,683 --> 00:39:57,145 to the Arecibo message, but with some subtle changes. 799 00:39:57,312 --> 00:40:01,691 For example, the DNA swaps out carbon for silicon, 800 00:40:01,858 --> 00:40:04,819 and also there's a-a representation of a figure, 801 00:40:05,028 --> 00:40:06,237 but it's not a human. 802 00:40:06,362 --> 00:40:08,114 It looks like an alien. 803 00:40:08,281 --> 00:40:11,951 Instantly, the astronomers proclaimed this a hoax. 804 00:40:12,118 --> 00:40:14,829 And as people started to investigate this, 805 00:40:14,996 --> 00:40:16,831 they realized that maybe it was possible 806 00:40:16,998 --> 00:40:18,499 that it came from extraterrestrials. 807 00:40:18,708 --> 00:40:22,086 One reason why was that the message was so perfect. 808 00:40:22,253 --> 00:40:25,590 How likely is it that some crop circle hoaxer 809 00:40:25,757 --> 00:40:28,801 could have duplicated that message in a crop circle? 810 00:40:28,927 --> 00:40:30,803 Crop circles are a very important 811 00:40:30,929 --> 00:40:33,681 potential way that an extraterrestrial intelligence 812 00:40:33,806 --> 00:40:35,475 could use to communicate with us. 813 00:40:35,642 --> 00:40:37,018 They're very public, 814 00:40:37,226 --> 00:40:39,896 and they have caught the curiosity of humanity. 815 00:40:43,274 --> 00:40:47,028 Was the so-called "Arecibo reply" sent to Earth 816 00:40:47,195 --> 00:40:49,614 by an alien civilization? 817 00:40:49,781 --> 00:40:51,616 It's entirely possible. 818 00:40:51,783 --> 00:40:54,243 But perhaps the better question is, 819 00:40:54,410 --> 00:40:57,830 are we ready to receive the information contained 820 00:40:57,997 --> 00:41:00,875 in these hidden messages that are all around us? 821 00:41:02,335 --> 00:41:03,795 One thing is clear: 822 00:41:03,962 --> 00:41:07,507 whether they are massive geoglyphs... 823 00:41:07,674 --> 00:41:10,218 towering monoliths... 824 00:41:10,426 --> 00:41:13,638 or elaborate crop circles... 825 00:41:13,805 --> 00:41:16,933 once these extraordinary sites are decoded, 826 00:41:17,100 --> 00:41:20,937 we may be one step closer to learning the truth 827 00:41:21,145 --> 00:41:24,399 of our extraterrestrial past. 828 00:41:24,524 --> 00:41:27,443 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS