1 00:00:04,171 --> 00:00:08,217 aerial maneuvers that defy understanding 2 00:00:08,300 --> 00:00:11,470 and top secret government installations 3 00:00:11,553 --> 00:00:14,473 forbidden to the public. 4 00:00:14,515 --> 00:00:20,395 What exactly are unidentified flying objects? 5 00:00:20,479 --> 00:00:23,482 Are they simply aircraft that haven't been accounted for? 6 00:00:24,900 --> 00:00:29,029 Examples of advanced military technology? 7 00:00:29,112 --> 00:00:31,448 Weather phenomena? 8 00:00:32,741 --> 00:00:37,496 Or could they be exactly what many people believe they are: 9 00:00:37,579 --> 00:00:40,082 alien spacecrafts? 10 00:00:40,165 --> 00:00:45,796 Well, that is what we'll try and find out. 11 00:00:45,837 --> 00:00:48,048 ♪ ♪ 12 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,650 An opinion poll conducted by the Gallup Organization 13 00:01:06,692 --> 00:01:09,778 reveals two astonishing facts: 14 00:01:09,861 --> 00:01:14,157 one‐third of all Americans have not only seen a UFO, 15 00:01:14,199 --> 00:01:19,288 they believe alien spaceships have visited the Earth. 16 00:01:20,831 --> 00:01:25,711 In the last few years, there's been a historic, dramatic shift 17 00:01:25,794 --> 00:01:28,422 in the entire debate over UFOs. 18 00:01:28,505 --> 00:01:32,384 It used to be that the burden of proof was on the true believers. 19 00:01:32,467 --> 00:01:35,929 They had to prove that they were from another planet. 20 00:01:36,013 --> 00:01:38,140 Now the burden has shifted. 21 00:01:38,223 --> 00:01:39,933 Before, it was hearsay. 22 00:01:40,017 --> 00:01:41,977 Now we have the videotapes. 23 00:01:42,019 --> 00:01:44,479 And the fact that everyone has cell phones 24 00:01:44,521 --> 00:01:47,774 has vastly increased the number of encounters. 25 00:01:49,526 --> 00:01:52,029 And so now we're running out of excuses. 26 00:01:52,112 --> 00:01:54,156 We're running out of natural phenomena 27 00:01:54,239 --> 00:01:57,451 that can explain these UFO sightings. 28 00:02:00,370 --> 00:02:03,040 PAUL HYNEK: MUFON is the Mutual UFO Network 29 00:02:03,123 --> 00:02:05,500 and the largest UFO research group in the world. 30 00:02:05,584 --> 00:02:10,047 There were 5,000 reported cases to MUFON last year alone. 31 00:02:10,130 --> 00:02:13,008 So, what that shows is that the UFO phenomenon 32 00:02:13,091 --> 00:02:15,594 is not slowing down at all. 33 00:02:17,679 --> 00:02:20,140 This is a real pointer that this subject 34 00:02:20,223 --> 00:02:23,310 is now absolutely mainstream. 35 00:02:23,352 --> 00:02:26,146 This is no longer a subject 36 00:02:26,229 --> 00:02:29,316 of fringe belief and conspiracy blogs. 37 00:02:29,358 --> 00:02:32,486 This is absolutely down the middle, 38 00:02:32,569 --> 00:02:34,946 on your TV screens every evening. 39 00:02:35,030 --> 00:02:36,323 This is real. 40 00:02:38,825 --> 00:02:42,663 SHATNER: If the number of recent sightings is any indication, 41 00:02:42,704 --> 00:02:46,541 then by all means, the UFO phenomenon is quite real. 42 00:02:47,834 --> 00:02:50,295 But despite the compelling evidence 43 00:02:50,337 --> 00:02:52,130 presented by true believers, 44 00:02:52,172 --> 00:02:56,510 skeptics are still waiting for a smoking gun. 45 00:03:00,681 --> 00:03:03,850 There are several issues that are at work 46 00:03:03,934 --> 00:03:07,104 in this whole topic of UFOs, 47 00:03:07,187 --> 00:03:09,564 and number one, you think you've got 48 00:03:09,648 --> 00:03:12,526 a really good scientific experiment about 49 00:03:12,609 --> 00:03:15,529 things from another planet being here on Earth? 50 00:03:15,612 --> 00:03:19,324 Go write that scientific paper and try to get it published. 51 00:03:19,366 --> 00:03:21,993 It's most likely not going to get published 52 00:03:22,035 --> 00:03:26,790 because, for whatever reason, we call that "fringe science." 53 00:03:32,337 --> 00:03:34,256 POPE: Intellectually, from history, 54 00:03:34,339 --> 00:03:39,594 we know the sorts of things that people misidentify as UFOs. 55 00:03:39,678 --> 00:03:44,307 Military aircraft activity, of course, and commercial airlines. 56 00:03:44,391 --> 00:03:47,894 We know that certain meteorological phenomena 57 00:03:47,978 --> 00:03:50,230 can give rise to UFO reports. 58 00:03:50,313 --> 00:03:53,316 We liaise with astronomers and we find out 59 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,819 whether there were any meteor showers, 60 00:03:55,861 --> 00:03:58,071 or debris from a rocket launch. 61 00:03:58,155 --> 00:04:03,493 All of these things we check and we essentially try to see 62 00:04:03,577 --> 00:04:06,872 if the UFO has a conventional explanation. 63 00:04:08,373 --> 00:04:11,084 BILL BIRNES: When the stealth fighter was being tested, 64 00:04:11,168 --> 00:04:13,795 one of the things the Air Force would do 65 00:04:13,879 --> 00:04:18,300 is have its pilots fly the stealth fighter under the wing 66 00:04:18,383 --> 00:04:21,762 of commercial flights from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. 67 00:04:21,845 --> 00:04:24,181 And the pilots would see this triangular craft, 68 00:04:24,264 --> 00:04:25,474 and they would say, "What is this thing? 69 00:04:25,557 --> 00:04:27,809 "Is it a flying saucer or is it a UFO? 70 00:04:27,851 --> 00:04:28,977 We don't know." 71 00:04:29,060 --> 00:04:31,730 It was actually the stealth fighter. 72 00:04:33,023 --> 00:04:34,524 SHATNER: While some may be quick to say 73 00:04:34,608 --> 00:04:37,611 that alien UFOs are figments of the imagination, 74 00:04:37,694 --> 00:04:41,823 the truth is, sightings of strange things in the sky 75 00:04:41,865 --> 00:04:43,950 are not a recent phenomenon. 76 00:04:44,034 --> 00:04:49,623 According to both ufologists and ancient astronaut theorists, 77 00:04:49,706 --> 00:04:53,627 they have been documented for thousands of years. 78 00:04:53,668 --> 00:04:58,131 The idea of celestial visitors goes way back. 79 00:04:58,215 --> 00:05:00,509 This is not just a modern phenomenon. 80 00:05:00,592 --> 00:05:04,513 And it's not just things that seem like spaceships. 81 00:05:04,596 --> 00:05:07,599 There are celestial visitors in the form of angels 82 00:05:07,682 --> 00:05:11,812 and random characters that show up in mysterious ways. 83 00:05:11,895 --> 00:05:14,856 The idea that we would have some kind of contact 84 00:05:14,940 --> 00:05:20,320 with beings beyond ourselves is part of ancient cultures. 85 00:05:20,362 --> 00:05:22,322 It varies from culture to culture, 86 00:05:22,405 --> 00:05:24,407 but there is something universal about this, 87 00:05:24,491 --> 00:05:27,494 something that seems persistent. 88 00:05:29,371 --> 00:05:30,997 ARIEL BAR TZADOK: One of the most profound 89 00:05:31,039 --> 00:05:34,501 close encounters in the Bible 90 00:05:34,584 --> 00:05:37,212 is recorded in the Book of Ezekiel. 91 00:05:37,295 --> 00:05:39,965 The episode begins by saying that Ezekiel 92 00:05:40,048 --> 00:05:42,634 had the hand of God upon him, 93 00:05:42,717 --> 00:05:45,804 and that he witnessed this experience 94 00:05:45,887 --> 00:05:51,643 of this profound apparatus which he tries to describe, 95 00:05:51,685 --> 00:05:54,813 but yet is described in the most bizarre ways, 96 00:05:54,896 --> 00:06:00,151 talking about types of angels called wheels, Ophanim, 97 00:06:00,235 --> 00:06:03,321 and they have multiple faces and the like. 98 00:06:03,405 --> 00:06:08,869 Many want to understand Ezekiel's vision as either being 99 00:06:08,952 --> 00:06:13,748 some psychological dreamlike experience. 100 00:06:13,832 --> 00:06:18,378 Others want to interpret it as being a spaceship. 101 00:06:20,171 --> 00:06:25,427 But the reality is, it was both and more. 102 00:06:26,678 --> 00:06:30,599 SHATNER: Strange objects raining fire from the heavens, 103 00:06:30,682 --> 00:06:33,643 celestial bodies streaking across the night skies 104 00:06:33,685 --> 00:06:37,105 and floating balls of mesmerizing light. 105 00:06:37,188 --> 00:06:41,401 But believe it or not, until the mid‐19th century, 106 00:06:41,484 --> 00:06:45,363 UFOs like these were often dismissed as little more 107 00:06:45,447 --> 00:06:48,450 than delusional daydreams or hoaxes. 108 00:06:48,533 --> 00:06:50,744 So, what changed? 109 00:06:50,827 --> 00:06:55,498 A little invention called photography. 110 00:06:55,582 --> 00:06:58,460 RICHARD DOLAN: The first known UFO photograph 111 00:06:58,543 --> 00:07:00,295 is from a place called Mount Washington 112 00:07:00,378 --> 00:07:02,589 in New Hampshire, from 1870. 113 00:07:02,672 --> 00:07:04,758 And what you see is, in the clouds, 114 00:07:04,841 --> 00:07:08,261 is this horizontal cigar‐shaped object. 115 00:07:08,345 --> 00:07:10,347 Which is odd because airship technology 116 00:07:10,430 --> 00:07:13,516 really didn't take off until the early 1900s. 117 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,478 There were attempts even then to create photographic illusions, 118 00:07:16,519 --> 00:07:18,647 but this is clearly not that. 119 00:07:18,730 --> 00:07:21,608 We don't really have an explanation for it to this day. 120 00:07:22,692 --> 00:07:24,569 SHATNER: Despite photographic evidence 121 00:07:24,653 --> 00:07:27,238 and thousands of credible eyewitness accounts, 122 00:07:27,322 --> 00:07:31,576 there are many who still refuse to believe that UFOs are real. 123 00:07:31,660 --> 00:07:34,996 However, there is one incident that continues to cast doubt 124 00:07:35,038 --> 00:07:39,292 in the minds of even the most hardened UFO skeptics, 125 00:07:39,376 --> 00:07:41,419 an incident so infamous 126 00:07:41,503 --> 00:07:44,631 that many researchers believe it was a tipping point, 127 00:07:44,673 --> 00:07:49,594 when UFOs went from being science fiction to science fact. 128 00:08:01,564 --> 00:08:05,819 A radar operator with the 509th Operations Group 129 00:08:05,902 --> 00:08:09,823 detects an unidentified craft approaching the base. 130 00:08:09,864 --> 00:08:12,242 Moments later, the object drops from the sky 131 00:08:12,325 --> 00:08:17,998 and crashes into the desert outside a nearby cattle ranch. 132 00:08:19,541 --> 00:08:22,627 A local rancher found debris, 133 00:08:22,711 --> 00:08:26,798 contacted the local sheriff, who then contacted the air base. 134 00:08:26,881 --> 00:08:31,136 You have a couple of days pass before the 509th Bomb Group 135 00:08:31,219 --> 00:08:32,470 was able to get up to the site. 136 00:08:32,554 --> 00:08:35,598 So, it absolutely is clear 137 00:08:35,682 --> 00:08:38,309 that the United States military was not immediately 138 00:08:38,393 --> 00:08:42,856 on top of acquiring whatever it was that came down there. 139 00:08:44,274 --> 00:08:46,526 BIRNES: People in the city of Roswell 140 00:08:46,609 --> 00:08:48,153 thought it was an airline crash. 141 00:08:48,236 --> 00:08:52,615 They saw a kind of a delta‐shaped object embedded 142 00:08:52,699 --> 00:08:55,326 into the arroyo that was split open. 143 00:08:55,410 --> 00:08:58,663 DOLAN: The Roswell Daily Record 144 00:08:58,705 --> 00:09:01,541 had the most famous headline, uh, you know, 145 00:09:01,624 --> 00:09:03,918 probably of the year, which was 146 00:09:04,002 --> 00:09:06,546 "the Army's recovered one of these flying discs." 147 00:09:06,629 --> 00:09:11,092 That made national, international news. 148 00:09:11,176 --> 00:09:12,802 BIRNES: After the crash, 149 00:09:12,844 --> 00:09:16,306 Roger Ramey, who was general of the Eighth Air Force, 150 00:09:16,347 --> 00:09:18,183 flew to Roswell. 151 00:09:18,266 --> 00:09:21,978 And Jesse Marcel, who was the base intelligence officer, 152 00:09:22,020 --> 00:09:24,481 brought all of the Army truck drivers out, 153 00:09:24,564 --> 00:09:25,982 gave them gunnysacks, 154 00:09:26,066 --> 00:09:28,651 and they said, "Look, just collect this stuff." 155 00:09:28,693 --> 00:09:30,528 Meanwhile, Ramey says to Marcel, 156 00:09:30,612 --> 00:09:33,073 I want you to pose in front of this weather balloon. 157 00:09:33,156 --> 00:09:36,868 Marcel is, like, in shock, but he poses with it with a smile, 158 00:09:36,951 --> 00:09:40,622 and he becomes the poster boy for the cover‐up. 159 00:09:40,705 --> 00:09:44,626 PAUL HELLYER: The first press release was the truth 160 00:09:44,709 --> 00:09:46,961 and the second one was a lie. 161 00:09:47,045 --> 00:09:50,215 And that is an indication of the depth 162 00:09:50,298 --> 00:09:53,051 of the withholding of information 163 00:09:53,134 --> 00:09:56,930 and the, uh, truth embargo, as it has been called. 164 00:09:58,139 --> 00:10:00,642 SHATNER: A truth embargo? 165 00:10:00,683 --> 00:10:03,686 Is it possible that the rumors about Roswell are true, 166 00:10:03,770 --> 00:10:07,148 and the United States military was concealing physical evidence 167 00:10:07,190 --> 00:10:09,234 that UFOs exist? 168 00:10:10,610 --> 00:10:13,613 Despite the government's insistence to the contrary, 169 00:10:13,696 --> 00:10:16,741 almost 75 years later, 170 00:10:16,825 --> 00:10:20,578 UFO researchers are still searching for answers. 171 00:10:20,662 --> 00:10:23,832 Because according to many firsthand accounts, 172 00:10:23,873 --> 00:10:28,253 Roswell may have been the government's first UFO cover‐up, 173 00:10:28,336 --> 00:10:30,964 but it wouldn't be the last. 174 00:10:41,933 --> 00:10:46,146 SHATNER: An unidentified object slams into a hill DOLAN: They went out there 175 00:10:46,187 --> 00:10:49,440 eight miles northeast of the Kingman Airport. 176 00:10:49,524 --> 00:10:52,443 Within moments, the United States military 177 00:10:52,527 --> 00:10:54,696 springs into action. This time, 178 00:10:54,779 --> 00:10:57,448 they won't repeat the mistake they made at Roswell 179 00:10:57,532 --> 00:11:00,076 of letting the public find out about it. 180 00:11:02,453 --> 00:11:05,039 BIRNES: The Army descends on that hill, 181 00:11:05,123 --> 00:11:06,124 locks it down. 182 00:11:06,207 --> 00:11:08,501 Onlookers are trying to climb the hill to see it. 183 00:11:08,585 --> 00:11:10,128 Nope, can't see it. 184 00:11:10,170 --> 00:11:12,630 The Army puts up a tent, but it invites 185 00:11:12,714 --> 00:11:15,508 different scientists to come out 186 00:11:15,592 --> 00:11:16,926 and kind of examine it. 187 00:11:17,010 --> 00:11:20,638 It was estimated to be about 14 feet high, 188 00:11:20,722 --> 00:11:23,224 classic flying saucer shape. 189 00:11:23,308 --> 00:11:27,979 It had, like, rows of lights along the perimeter. 190 00:11:28,062 --> 00:11:32,650 And they were all told to examine this site 191 00:11:32,692 --> 00:11:35,403 and provide their assessment. 192 00:11:35,486 --> 00:11:38,656 And then they were told, like, "You are to take an oath, 193 00:11:38,740 --> 00:11:41,409 and you are never to talk about this again." 194 00:11:42,869 --> 00:11:45,830 The Kingman crash was really not even discussed 195 00:11:45,872 --> 00:11:49,792 until the 1970s, when one researcher 196 00:11:49,876 --> 00:11:52,962 was able to interview a primary witness of it: 197 00:11:53,046 --> 00:11:55,757 an atomic scientist who gave a very detailed description 198 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:57,842 about the Kingman event. 199 00:11:57,926 --> 00:12:01,930 SHATNER: Unlike the crash at Roswell six years earlier, 200 00:12:02,013 --> 00:12:04,891 the U. S. military's response to the Kingman incident 201 00:12:04,974 --> 00:12:08,228 was so swift that it wasn't until years later 202 00:12:08,311 --> 00:12:11,814 that the world knew anything had occurred there. 203 00:12:11,856 --> 00:12:14,776 But how was an event of this apparent magnitude 204 00:12:14,859 --> 00:12:18,112 kept secret for so long? 205 00:12:18,196 --> 00:12:22,909 In my experience of government, there would need to be 206 00:12:22,992 --> 00:12:26,496 what we would call a standard operating procedure. 207 00:12:26,537 --> 00:12:28,748 And it's claimed that one was drawn up 208 00:12:28,831 --> 00:12:31,000 for UFO crashes after Roswell. 209 00:12:31,084 --> 00:12:35,964 And it seems that this was used in 1953 210 00:12:36,005 --> 00:12:39,175 in relation to the Kingman UFO crash. 211 00:12:40,385 --> 00:12:42,762 SHATNER: An operations manual 212 00:12:42,845 --> 00:12:45,682 on how to deal with UFO crashes? 213 00:12:45,765 --> 00:12:50,520 As far‐fetched as it sounds, UFO researchers believe 214 00:12:50,603 --> 00:12:53,815 that such a handbook not only exists, 215 00:12:53,898 --> 00:12:55,817 but was put in place to avoid the mistakes 216 00:12:55,858 --> 00:12:58,820 the U. S. military made trying to contain 217 00:12:58,861 --> 00:13:02,156 the earlier crash at Roswell in 1947. 218 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,244 And they claim that the authors of this handbook 219 00:13:06,327 --> 00:13:09,289 were members of a shadowy organization 220 00:13:09,372 --> 00:13:13,042 known as the Majestic 12. 221 00:13:13,126 --> 00:13:17,297 DOLON: Majestic 12, or MJ‐12, is believed by many researchers 222 00:13:17,380 --> 00:13:21,467 to be a group of individuals who essentially are 223 00:13:21,509 --> 00:13:25,221 controlling the UFO cover‐up. 224 00:13:25,305 --> 00:13:28,808 MIKE BARA: There are many, many documents that exist that say that 225 00:13:28,891 --> 00:13:32,562 MJ‐12 actually was a real government organization. 226 00:13:32,645 --> 00:13:35,315 Majestic 12 was signed into existence 227 00:13:35,398 --> 00:13:39,652 by President Harry Truman in September of 1947, 228 00:13:39,736 --> 00:13:41,946 shortly after the Roswell incident, 229 00:13:42,030 --> 00:13:44,532 when the U. S. government decided it needed to have 230 00:13:44,615 --> 00:13:47,994 a main central oversight committee that would handle 231 00:13:48,036 --> 00:13:49,954 the so‐called alien problem. 232 00:13:50,038 --> 00:13:52,415 And it contained many, many prominent members, 233 00:13:52,498 --> 00:13:54,584 including the head of the CIA at the time, 234 00:13:54,667 --> 00:13:56,210 or what became the CIA. 235 00:13:56,294 --> 00:14:00,131 Of all of the documents that I have ever received, 236 00:14:00,214 --> 00:14:03,926 most important to me is the Majestic 12: 237 00:14:04,010 --> 00:14:07,930 Extraterrestrial Entities and Technology, 238 00:14:08,014 --> 00:14:11,142 Recovery and Disposal. 239 00:14:11,225 --> 00:14:16,856 The document is about how you would take military units 240 00:14:16,939 --> 00:14:18,274 out into a field, 241 00:14:18,358 --> 00:14:21,819 gather extraterrestrial biological entities, 242 00:14:21,861 --> 00:14:24,614 alive or dead. 243 00:14:24,697 --> 00:14:27,367 How you would get the craft. 244 00:14:27,450 --> 00:14:32,955 And it has top secret classification throughout. 245 00:14:34,457 --> 00:14:37,126 SHATNER: Are we really to believe a secret government agency 246 00:14:37,168 --> 00:14:40,963 was established in order to cover up evidence of UFOs? 247 00:14:41,047 --> 00:14:42,965 According to many experts, 248 00:14:43,049 --> 00:14:46,803 even if that organization did exist, 249 00:14:46,844 --> 00:14:48,679 it would be nearly impossible to keep 250 00:14:48,763 --> 00:14:50,598 such information under wraps for long. 251 00:14:50,681 --> 00:14:54,143 They argue that it's much easier to convince eyewitnesses 252 00:14:54,227 --> 00:14:58,564 that what they saw wasn't really there in the first place. 253 00:15:04,695 --> 00:15:08,658 High school basketball coach Reggie Bone and his players 254 00:15:08,741 --> 00:15:10,451 are driving through the Ozark woods 255 00:15:10,535 --> 00:15:13,329 on their way home from a game when they spot 256 00:15:13,371 --> 00:15:17,500 a bright shaft of light coming from the sky. 257 00:15:17,542 --> 00:15:22,630 In 1973, I was general manager of KPWB radio station 258 00:15:22,713 --> 00:15:23,798 in Piedmont, Missouri. 259 00:15:23,881 --> 00:15:27,343 And I did the news for the station. 260 00:15:27,427 --> 00:15:32,640 I interviewed Reggie and five of his basketball players. 261 00:15:32,682 --> 00:15:37,311 After the team had seen a light flashing in the sky, 262 00:15:37,353 --> 00:15:38,688 several miles later, 263 00:15:38,771 --> 00:15:42,150 one of the boys exclaims, said, "Hey, there's that light again." 264 00:15:42,191 --> 00:15:45,069 The coach and the ballplayers got out, and they saw 265 00:15:45,153 --> 00:15:50,324 these lights, circular, in red, amber, green and white. 266 00:15:50,408 --> 00:15:55,371 And then it started raising up, and... no sound. 267 00:15:55,455 --> 00:15:57,039 And went over a hill, 268 00:15:57,123 --> 00:15:58,833 and that's the last they saw of it. 269 00:15:58,916 --> 00:16:02,879 SHATNER: At first, Reggie and his team thought what they had seen 270 00:16:02,962 --> 00:16:06,048 wasn't actually a UFO, but merely a trick of light 271 00:16:06,132 --> 00:16:08,009 fooling their tired eyes. 272 00:16:08,092 --> 00:16:10,803 But, as it turns out... 273 00:16:10,887 --> 00:16:13,222 they weren't the only ones who saw it. 274 00:16:13,306 --> 00:16:16,225 HOVIS: Pretty soon, the local police department had received 275 00:16:16,309 --> 00:16:19,520 500‐plus phone calls from people saying, 276 00:16:19,604 --> 00:16:22,190 "Hey, we're looking at this, we're seeing this." 277 00:16:22,273 --> 00:16:26,152 As a reporter, I felt like I needed to 278 00:16:26,194 --> 00:16:29,822 do some more investigating besides just the local people 279 00:16:29,906 --> 00:16:32,116 explaining to me what they were seeing. 280 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:36,162 So I contacted personnel at Scott Air Force Base 281 00:16:36,245 --> 00:16:39,081 to find out if they had any lights in the area. 282 00:16:39,165 --> 00:16:43,377 And the gentleman at the time explained to me that they‐‐ 283 00:16:43,461 --> 00:16:45,296 nothing like that was going on. 284 00:16:45,338 --> 00:16:48,299 SHATNER: According to one theory, the reason why 285 00:16:48,341 --> 00:16:52,011 the Air Force was so unhelpful was due to yet another 286 00:16:52,094 --> 00:16:55,181 government program created to cover up UFOs. 287 00:16:55,264 --> 00:16:59,810 One that wasn't designed to conceal UFO wreckage, 288 00:16:59,894 --> 00:17:02,021 but to explain it away. 289 00:17:02,104 --> 00:17:05,149 DOLON: Project Blue Book was the official 290 00:17:05,191 --> 00:17:08,110 UFO investigative body of the United States Air Force, 291 00:17:08,194 --> 00:17:10,530 from the 1950s through the end of the '60s. 292 00:17:10,613 --> 00:17:13,115 And one of the tricks that they used was 293 00:17:13,199 --> 00:17:16,077 they eliminated the category of "possible." 294 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:19,622 And so, if something was a possible balloon, 295 00:17:19,705 --> 00:17:23,084 even if it was the most remote possibility, 296 00:17:23,167 --> 00:17:26,337 then it became balloon, and that was the explanation. 297 00:17:26,420 --> 00:17:29,674 All they wanted to do was just get these reports 298 00:17:29,757 --> 00:17:31,259 into the "identified" category 299 00:17:31,342 --> 00:17:33,928 so that the public didn't get worked up over them. 300 00:17:34,011 --> 00:17:36,681 HELLYER: One of the ways to combat 301 00:17:36,764 --> 00:17:38,975 public understanding of UFOs 302 00:17:39,016 --> 00:17:41,852 was ridicule. 303 00:17:41,936 --> 00:17:44,814 First denial, then ridicule. 304 00:17:44,855 --> 00:17:49,360 And then, if that didn't work, to call it Venus or swamp gas. 305 00:17:50,528 --> 00:17:52,655 One day, a couple of gentlemen came in 306 00:17:52,738 --> 00:17:56,534 and started questioning me about what the people were seeing, 307 00:17:56,617 --> 00:18:00,746 what was in the air, did it leave any kind of traces? 308 00:18:00,830 --> 00:18:03,833 I suspected then that they were part of the military. 309 00:18:03,916 --> 00:18:05,626 Part of the Air Force. 310 00:18:05,668 --> 00:18:10,965 SHATNER: Although Project Blue Book was officially ended in 1970, 311 00:18:11,007 --> 00:18:13,926 three years before the Piedmont sightings, 312 00:18:14,010 --> 00:18:18,055 its methods of disinformation still seemed to be in place. 313 00:18:18,139 --> 00:18:20,308 Because one of the mysterious men in black 314 00:18:20,349 --> 00:18:23,436 who visited Piedmont after the UFO sightings 315 00:18:23,519 --> 00:18:26,188 was none other than J. Allen Hynek, 316 00:18:26,272 --> 00:18:31,027 the scientist who had been in charge of Project Blue Book. 317 00:18:31,110 --> 00:18:33,446 My father was in a very awkward position at times, 318 00:18:33,529 --> 00:18:36,157 being a scientist who wanted to discover the truth, 319 00:18:36,198 --> 00:18:40,161 but knowing that Project Blue Book was not chartered 320 00:18:40,202 --> 00:18:43,456 to go out and find the truth to the UFO phenomenon, 321 00:18:43,539 --> 00:18:46,459 but rather to be a public relations answer factory 322 00:18:46,542 --> 00:18:49,211 for the Air Force so that they could trot out an astronomer 323 00:18:49,295 --> 00:18:53,299 and say, "Oh, we've discovered that this is a sighting 324 00:18:53,382 --> 00:18:56,135 of Venus, or it's a weather balloon or a hoax." 325 00:18:56,177 --> 00:18:57,720 And so my father's on record as saying that 326 00:18:57,803 --> 00:19:02,224 the 1973 sightings in Piedmont, Missouri were mass hysteria. 327 00:19:02,308 --> 00:19:04,560 HOVIS: I disagree with that. 328 00:19:04,644 --> 00:19:06,771 I didn't see anybody going crazy, 329 00:19:06,854 --> 00:19:10,274 running up and down the streets of Piedmont, in a rural area. 330 00:19:10,358 --> 00:19:13,361 There was no mass hysteria in Piedmont at that time. 331 00:19:13,444 --> 00:19:18,199 Could the hundreds of UFO sightings in Piedmont, Missouri 332 00:19:18,282 --> 00:19:22,995 really have been a simple case of mass hysteria? 333 00:19:23,037 --> 00:19:26,582 Or did those witnesses see something that 334 00:19:26,666 --> 00:19:31,170 traveled to Earth from somewhere across the galaxy? 335 00:19:31,253 --> 00:19:34,006 To find out, perhaps we should 336 00:19:34,090 --> 00:19:38,344 ask for scientists who are searching for signs 337 00:19:38,427 --> 00:19:41,681 of advanced technology in a place... 338 00:19:41,764 --> 00:19:44,642 where no one has gone before. 339 00:19:53,025 --> 00:19:55,403 KAKU: EvenAstronomer Seth Shostak is at home, 340 00:19:55,486 --> 00:19:57,279 getting ready to have dinner, 341 00:19:57,363 --> 00:20:00,616 ‐when he receives an urgent phone call. ‐(phone ringing) 342 00:20:00,700 --> 00:20:04,829 SETH SHOSTAK: The phone rings, and it's my boss at the SETI Institute. 343 00:20:04,912 --> 00:20:06,414 And he says, "Seth, 344 00:20:06,497 --> 00:20:08,541 I think you ought to get down to the office." 345 00:20:08,624 --> 00:20:11,627 Now, he never calls me at home, and certainly not at dinnertime. 346 00:20:11,669 --> 00:20:14,380 And he never, never ever says, "Get down to the office." 347 00:20:14,463 --> 00:20:17,550 So I didn't know what was going on. 348 00:20:17,675 --> 00:20:21,303 SHATNER: Moments later, Seth arrives at the SETI Institute, 349 00:20:21,387 --> 00:20:24,974 a nonprofit organization tasked with the search 350 00:20:25,015 --> 00:20:28,477 for extraterrestrial intelligence. 351 00:20:28,519 --> 00:20:31,814 I go in, and there are about a dozen of my colleagues 352 00:20:31,856 --> 00:20:33,357 all looking at computer screens. 353 00:20:33,441 --> 00:20:35,443 There was a signal that we had picked up... 354 00:20:36,819 --> 00:20:39,822 ...and it had the characteristics that we look for 355 00:20:39,947 --> 00:20:43,033 when we're trying to find whether ET is on the air 356 00:20:43,117 --> 00:20:44,994 somewhere else in the galaxy. 357 00:20:45,035 --> 00:20:47,496 So this was pretty darn exciting. 358 00:20:47,538 --> 00:20:49,749 SHATNER: After attempting to pinpoint the source of the signal 359 00:20:49,832 --> 00:20:53,127 for hours, Seth and his colleagues' initial excitement 360 00:20:53,210 --> 00:20:56,630 gave way to profound disappointment. 361 00:20:56,714 --> 00:20:59,300 As it turned out, one of my colleagues 362 00:20:59,383 --> 00:21:02,136 had been busily looking up the frequencies‐‐ 363 00:21:02,219 --> 00:21:06,140 the telemetry frequencies‐‐ of known satellites, 364 00:21:06,223 --> 00:21:10,186 and he found a European satellite that sent data 365 00:21:10,269 --> 00:21:12,188 back to Earth just at the frequencies 366 00:21:12,271 --> 00:21:13,856 that we were picking up, 367 00:21:13,939 --> 00:21:16,317 and it was in the direction we were looking, and he said, 368 00:21:16,358 --> 00:21:19,361 you know, "Everybody can go back to bed now." 369 00:21:21,071 --> 00:21:23,491 SHATNER: Despite the false alarm, there are many leading scientists 370 00:21:23,574 --> 00:21:27,328 who believe that SETI's work is a key component 371 00:21:27,411 --> 00:21:29,622 in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon. 372 00:21:29,705 --> 00:21:32,666 Because if there are aliens visiting Earth, 373 00:21:32,708 --> 00:21:37,671 programs like SETI may be able to tell us where they came from. 374 00:21:37,755 --> 00:21:39,590 SHOSTAK: The universe has been around a long time, 375 00:21:39,673 --> 00:21:42,426 a lot longer than the Earth and our solar system. 376 00:21:42,510 --> 00:21:44,428 There could be very advanced societies out there, 377 00:21:44,512 --> 00:21:47,640 and maybe they've sent probes to our solar system. 378 00:21:47,723 --> 00:21:50,184 You know, maybe they've sent probes to lots of solar systems, 379 00:21:50,309 --> 00:21:52,102 and we just have one ourselves. 380 00:21:52,186 --> 00:21:57,942 HYNEK: My father thought that SETI was a tremendously important effort. 381 00:21:58,025 --> 00:22:00,736 He felt that it was incumbent upon us as a civilization 382 00:22:00,820 --> 00:22:03,989 to reach out to try to find life elsewhere in the universe 383 00:22:04,073 --> 00:22:07,910 as opposed to only waiting for it to land in our laps. 384 00:22:07,993 --> 00:22:11,413 We know that there are planets around pretty much every star. 385 00:22:11,497 --> 00:22:13,415 So now we have to look at those planets 386 00:22:13,499 --> 00:22:16,210 and see if there are things called technosignatures. 387 00:22:16,335 --> 00:22:19,213 These are signatures that civilization is occurring. 388 00:22:19,296 --> 00:22:22,007 Are they creating what we call greenhouse gases 389 00:22:22,091 --> 00:22:26,762 or outgassing materials or properties that we could detect 390 00:22:26,846 --> 00:22:29,515 with our instruments using normal, natural, 391 00:22:29,598 --> 00:22:33,811 astronomical technologies that we have? 392 00:22:33,853 --> 00:22:36,522 One thing they might be producing is light. 393 00:22:36,605 --> 00:22:38,983 Do they have cities that make light, 394 00:22:39,108 --> 00:22:41,569 or radio waves or whatever? 395 00:22:41,652 --> 00:22:45,489 SETI has so far turned up empty‐handed. 396 00:22:45,573 --> 00:22:47,783 For all the millions of dollars, for all the stars 397 00:22:47,867 --> 00:22:50,703 that they've analyzed, they have yet to pick up 398 00:22:50,786 --> 00:22:55,291 a single signal indicating intelligence in outer space. 399 00:22:55,374 --> 00:22:59,628 But maybe we're barking up the wrong tree. 400 00:22:59,712 --> 00:23:01,714 After all, what do we do with SETI? 401 00:23:01,839 --> 00:23:05,092 We analyze radio from outer space. 402 00:23:05,175 --> 00:23:08,387 But the aliens out there may laugh at us, saying, "What? 403 00:23:08,512 --> 00:23:11,891 "You're looking for our civilization using radio? 404 00:23:12,016 --> 00:23:14,351 "That's so 20th century. 405 00:23:14,435 --> 00:23:17,479 We got rid of radio centuries ago." 406 00:23:18,647 --> 00:23:19,982 SHATNER: Is it possible 407 00:23:20,107 --> 00:23:22,735 our current technology is too primitive to detect 408 00:23:22,818 --> 00:23:26,822 advanced alien civilizations throughout the galaxy? 409 00:23:26,864 --> 00:23:28,949 Perhaps. 410 00:23:29,033 --> 00:23:32,494 But if some UFO researchers are to be believed, 411 00:23:32,536 --> 00:23:33,996 it hardly matters. 412 00:23:34,079 --> 00:23:35,331 Because according to them, 413 00:23:35,456 --> 00:23:38,751 astronomers already have the evidence they need 414 00:23:38,834 --> 00:23:41,837 to confirm the existence of alien spaceships. 415 00:23:41,921 --> 00:23:46,008 Evidence that is hiding in plain sight. 416 00:23:53,807 --> 00:23:57,603 Scientists working at the Panoramic Survey Telescope 417 00:23:57,686 --> 00:24:00,648 detect a mysterious, oblong object 418 00:24:00,773 --> 00:24:03,734 that has wandered into our solar system. 419 00:24:03,817 --> 00:24:05,486 Named 'Oumuamua, 420 00:24:05,569 --> 00:24:09,156 which means "scout from a distant place" in Hawaiian, 421 00:24:09,239 --> 00:24:12,368 it is the first interstellar asteroid 422 00:24:12,451 --> 00:24:15,496 ever observed by astronomers. 423 00:24:15,537 --> 00:24:18,832 And many believe its journey from across the galaxy 424 00:24:18,874 --> 00:24:23,629 to our solar system is no accident. 425 00:24:23,754 --> 00:24:25,798 SHOSTAK: It's just a little dot on a photograph. 426 00:24:25,839 --> 00:24:28,092 You don't really know what it looks like up close. 427 00:24:28,175 --> 00:24:29,301 We knew it was kind of cigar‐shaped, 428 00:24:29,385 --> 00:24:30,678 and beyond that, we didn't know. 429 00:24:30,761 --> 00:24:33,514 It was about the size of a football stadium. 430 00:24:33,597 --> 00:24:35,808 Well, Avi Loeb, who is the chair 431 00:24:35,891 --> 00:24:38,894 of the Harvard Astronomy Department, suggested 432 00:24:38,978 --> 00:24:41,438 that there was a good reason to think that maybe 433 00:24:41,522 --> 00:24:44,525 this wasn't just a rock, that maybe it was a spacecraft, 434 00:24:44,650 --> 00:24:48,654 deliberately sent by aliens from some other solar system. 435 00:24:48,779 --> 00:24:52,908 Astronomers were shocked to find that it tracked backwards 436 00:24:52,992 --> 00:24:57,121 into outer space from another solar system. 437 00:24:57,204 --> 00:24:58,789 Not only that, 438 00:24:58,872 --> 00:25:01,834 but the trajectory was acting irregularly. 439 00:25:01,875 --> 00:25:04,044 This sent shockwaves through the community. 440 00:25:04,169 --> 00:25:08,048 Even reputable astronomers said, "We cannot rule out the fact 441 00:25:08,132 --> 00:25:13,429 that this irregular trajectory means that it's piloted." 442 00:25:13,512 --> 00:25:16,098 It seems very, very unlikely 443 00:25:16,181 --> 00:25:19,268 that a rock that's just randomly thrown out by nature 444 00:25:19,351 --> 00:25:23,147 would so accurately get to the center of our solar system, 445 00:25:23,188 --> 00:25:25,107 swing around the Sun and leave. 446 00:25:25,190 --> 00:25:26,734 That's pretty unlikely. 447 00:25:26,859 --> 00:25:29,987 This may be a directed rock and maybe it's an alien spacecraft. 448 00:25:31,697 --> 00:25:34,950 POPE: The fact that we're even having this debate 449 00:25:35,034 --> 00:25:38,162 shows how much the landscape has changed 450 00:25:38,203 --> 00:25:39,872 in the last two or three years. 451 00:25:39,955 --> 00:25:42,916 I think, previously, this sort of theory 452 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,377 would have been just dismissed as nonsense. 453 00:25:45,461 --> 00:25:49,548 Uh, mainstream media would have not covered the story at all, 454 00:25:49,673 --> 00:25:53,135 and if they had, they would have simply ridiculed it. 455 00:25:53,218 --> 00:25:56,722 But now, stories like this are treated very seriously, 456 00:25:56,805 --> 00:26:02,311 and it's‐it's reported in an absolute levelheaded way. 457 00:26:02,352 --> 00:26:05,022 You're not shocking people by telling them something 458 00:26:05,105 --> 00:26:06,732 they already believe. 459 00:26:06,815 --> 00:26:10,027 SHATNER: Could 'Oumuamua be an alien ship? 460 00:26:10,110 --> 00:26:11,820 One that is cigar‐shaped 461 00:26:11,904 --> 00:26:14,656 like the many UFOs that have been reported in the past? 462 00:26:14,740 --> 00:26:17,326 According to some astronomers, it's a distinct possibility. 463 00:26:17,451 --> 00:26:21,163 But there are those who believe that we can find out for sure, 464 00:26:21,205 --> 00:26:24,750 by determining whether it's even possible for a spacecraft 465 00:26:24,833 --> 00:26:29,171 to travel across the galaxy in the first place. 466 00:26:36,386 --> 00:26:40,349 SHATNER: The New York Times publishes an article that reveals 467 00:26:40,474 --> 00:26:45,646 the existence of a top secret military program known as AATIP, 468 00:26:45,771 --> 00:26:49,983 the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. 469 00:26:50,067 --> 00:26:54,988 Its purpose: to identify and investigate UFOs. 470 00:26:55,072 --> 00:26:59,451 Congress was informed about AATIP 471 00:26:59,535 --> 00:27:03,205 in a letter dated January 2018. 472 00:27:03,330 --> 00:27:07,459 And the Defense Intelligence Agency wrote to Congress 473 00:27:07,543 --> 00:27:10,671 and said, "The AATIP program was designed 474 00:27:10,796 --> 00:27:15,551 "to look at far‐term aviation threats to the United States 475 00:27:15,676 --> 00:27:18,971 "out to maybe 40 years into the future 476 00:27:19,096 --> 00:27:23,308 "from Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, 477 00:27:23,433 --> 00:27:26,770 secret prototype aircraft, missiles and drones." 478 00:27:26,854 --> 00:27:31,567 But there was an attachment to the letter, and said, 479 00:27:31,692 --> 00:27:36,488 "Please find attached a list of all the products 480 00:27:36,572 --> 00:27:39,741 produced under the AATIP contract." 481 00:27:39,867 --> 00:27:45,664 Antigravity, invisibility, warp drive, 482 00:27:45,789 --> 00:27:48,167 wormholes, stargates. 483 00:27:48,292 --> 00:27:53,380 And when I looked at this list, it‐it was astounding. 484 00:27:53,505 --> 00:27:55,174 SHATNER: In the weeks that follow, 485 00:27:55,299 --> 00:27:57,718 a number of previously classified videos 486 00:27:57,843 --> 00:27:59,386 are leaked to the public. 487 00:27:59,511 --> 00:28:02,556 Among them is footage of an encounter 488 00:28:02,681 --> 00:28:05,517 that took place in 2004, 489 00:28:05,601 --> 00:28:07,394 between a squadron of fighter jets 490 00:28:07,477 --> 00:28:10,564 and an unidentified flying craft 491 00:28:10,647 --> 00:28:14,526 that appears to be not of this world. 492 00:28:14,651 --> 00:28:17,529 TAYLOR: Whatever this thing is in this video, 493 00:28:17,654 --> 00:28:20,032 it goes from a couple hundred miles per hour 494 00:28:20,157 --> 00:28:23,660 to thousands of miles per hour like that. 495 00:28:23,702 --> 00:28:28,165 That's the equivalent of going many hundreds of miles per hour 496 00:28:28,248 --> 00:28:29,708 and hitting a brick wall. 497 00:28:29,833 --> 00:28:31,460 So, what would that do? 498 00:28:31,543 --> 00:28:33,462 It would turn your brain to mush. 499 00:28:33,545 --> 00:28:35,631 It would turn your body to Jell‐O. 500 00:28:35,714 --> 00:28:37,758 I mean, you‐‐ it would kill you instantly. 501 00:28:37,841 --> 00:28:41,470 So, there's a technology in there that would protect 502 00:28:41,595 --> 00:28:44,932 a biological thing if it's a biological thing in there. 503 00:28:45,015 --> 00:28:47,851 We don't have that type of technology yet. 504 00:28:47,935 --> 00:28:51,271 We now know much more about the AATIP program 505 00:28:51,355 --> 00:28:55,484 and indeed government UFO investigations more generally 506 00:28:55,567 --> 00:28:57,486 than we knew a couple of years ago. 507 00:28:57,611 --> 00:29:00,489 So, we have pilots who are involved in these incidents. 508 00:29:00,614 --> 00:29:04,993 We have radar operators, we have former intelligence officers 509 00:29:05,118 --> 00:29:08,247 who handled this, all going public, 510 00:29:08,372 --> 00:29:11,500 going on the record and saying this is real. 511 00:29:11,625 --> 00:29:15,837 SHATNER: Is the footage proof that UFOs not only exist, 512 00:29:15,963 --> 00:29:20,050 but that they employ technology that far surpasses our own? 513 00:29:20,175 --> 00:29:23,136 It's certainly a far‐fetched notion, 514 00:29:23,220 --> 00:29:26,265 but according to one man who was there, the answer's yes. 515 00:29:26,348 --> 00:29:30,727 On the day of the incident, Petty Officer P. J. Hughes 516 00:29:30,852 --> 00:29:32,604 was stationed on the nearby USS Nimitz, 517 00:29:32,688 --> 00:29:37,359 the aircraft carrier from which the fighters were launched. 518 00:29:37,484 --> 00:29:41,154 His job was to facilitate the storage of radar data 519 00:29:41,238 --> 00:29:45,826 by an E‐2C Hawkeye aircraft that was in the air at the same time 520 00:29:45,951 --> 00:29:48,996 that the fighter jets encountered the UFO. 521 00:29:49,079 --> 00:29:52,332 The easiest way to explain what an E‐2C Hawkeye is 522 00:29:52,374 --> 00:29:55,335 is by saying it's the quarterback of the air wing. 523 00:29:55,460 --> 00:29:56,795 It's got a bunch of sensors, 524 00:29:56,878 --> 00:29:58,839 it's got a bunch of communications equipment. 525 00:29:58,964 --> 00:30:02,050 We were doing some testing, and before that exercise 526 00:30:02,134 --> 00:30:05,971 was actually able to start, the object actually came up, 527 00:30:06,096 --> 00:30:10,559 so everybody got a good look at it and then it just took off. 528 00:30:10,684 --> 00:30:13,937 I wasn't in the plane, so the information I'm getting 529 00:30:14,021 --> 00:30:17,441 is secondhand from the multitude of sources who've seen it. 530 00:30:23,447 --> 00:30:26,325 HUGHES: It's a giant white cylindrical object, 531 00:30:26,450 --> 00:30:29,453 roughly 48 feet, 49 feet, somewhere in there. 532 00:30:29,536 --> 00:30:32,664 No windows, no engines, no flight control surfaces, 533 00:30:32,789 --> 00:30:34,166 a smooth object, basically. 534 00:30:34,291 --> 00:30:35,959 It looked like a white Tic Tac. 535 00:30:36,001 --> 00:30:39,129 No visible means of propulsion, but be able to go 536 00:30:39,254 --> 00:30:43,175 from full blast to zero in time we can't measure. 537 00:30:43,300 --> 00:30:45,802 When the Hawkeye left, it was recording. 538 00:30:45,886 --> 00:30:47,971 When it came back, the recording was stopped. 539 00:30:48,055 --> 00:30:49,806 I took the bricks. 540 00:30:49,890 --> 00:30:51,141 They're classified hard drives 541 00:30:51,224 --> 00:30:54,061 that basically record everything it saw. 542 00:30:54,144 --> 00:30:56,188 Went down, put them in our safe. 543 00:30:57,898 --> 00:31:00,233 20 minutes after I locked them in that safe, 544 00:31:00,359 --> 00:31:03,695 my executive officer shows up at my door 545 00:31:03,820 --> 00:31:06,198 with two uniformed Air Force officers, 546 00:31:06,323 --> 00:31:07,908 and he asked me for all the hard drives 547 00:31:08,033 --> 00:31:09,659 that were in that Hawkeye that went flying. 548 00:31:09,743 --> 00:31:12,329 'Cause normally we'd sign them out in a logbook saying, 549 00:31:12,412 --> 00:31:16,458 you know, "XO took these‐these serial numbers," 550 00:31:16,541 --> 00:31:19,127 and as I started to write, he's like, "Don't do it." 551 00:31:19,169 --> 00:31:21,880 So, I hand them over and away they went, 552 00:31:21,963 --> 00:31:24,341 and I never knew what happened to them. 553 00:31:24,466 --> 00:31:29,513 SHATNER: On April 27, 2020, the Pentagon officially released 554 00:31:29,638 --> 00:31:32,474 the three now‐famous AATIP videos. 555 00:31:32,599 --> 00:31:35,727 By doing so, they acknowledged that the UFOs depicted 556 00:31:35,852 --> 00:31:39,356 were genuinely of unknown origin, 557 00:31:39,481 --> 00:31:41,775 although they stopped short of admitting 558 00:31:41,858 --> 00:31:43,985 they might also be extraterrestrial. 559 00:31:44,069 --> 00:31:49,241 HUGHES: The fact that the government wants to know more about things 560 00:31:49,366 --> 00:31:52,035 that we encounter in the sky and that the pilots see, 561 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:53,537 there's something to it. 562 00:31:53,662 --> 00:31:56,081 The universe is way too big for us to be alone. 563 00:31:56,206 --> 00:31:58,583 There's something else out there. 564 00:31:58,708 --> 00:32:03,213 If extraterrestrials really do possess advanced technologies 565 00:32:03,338 --> 00:32:06,466 thousands of years ahead of ours, 566 00:32:06,591 --> 00:32:08,135 wouldn't we seem as insignificant 567 00:32:08,218 --> 00:32:13,473 and primitive to them as bugs are to us? 568 00:32:13,557 --> 00:32:15,183 Perhaps. 569 00:32:15,308 --> 00:32:18,854 But there are many who believe that aliens might be coming here 570 00:32:18,979 --> 00:32:21,064 not to invade us 571 00:32:21,148 --> 00:32:25,152 but to guide us to a future more incredible 572 00:32:25,235 --> 00:32:29,448 than anything we could otherwise imagine. 573 00:32:37,372 --> 00:32:40,333 ‐of weather phenomenon... ‐MAN: Oh, my God. 574 00:32:40,417 --> 00:32:45,005 ...or Earth technology, is it possible 575 00:32:45,088 --> 00:32:48,049 that they are really extraterrestrial spacecrafts? 576 00:32:48,133 --> 00:32:49,551 (people exclaiming) 577 00:32:49,634 --> 00:32:53,180 As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned, 578 00:32:53,263 --> 00:32:56,475 alien visitors have been coming to Earth for thousands of years. 579 00:32:56,516 --> 00:32:58,977 And they have left behind evidence in the form 580 00:32:59,019 --> 00:33:02,147 of everything from magnificent architecture 581 00:33:02,230 --> 00:33:06,610 to mysterious symbols etched into the earth. 582 00:33:09,112 --> 00:33:11,531 GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: The ancient astronaut theory 583 00:33:11,615 --> 00:33:13,408 suggests that at some point, 584 00:33:13,492 --> 00:33:17,370 extraterrestrials came to our planet and they saw 585 00:33:17,454 --> 00:33:21,750 that there was potential for a civilization here, 586 00:33:21,833 --> 00:33:25,587 and so, they artificially changed the genetic makeup 587 00:33:25,670 --> 00:33:27,881 of our ancestors. 588 00:33:27,964 --> 00:33:30,675 And they left behind 589 00:33:30,759 --> 00:33:33,136 these m‐massive megalithic structures 590 00:33:33,178 --> 00:33:38,391 in ancient Egypt and on Easter Island, 591 00:33:38,475 --> 00:33:42,646 in South America, in Greece, all over the world. 592 00:33:42,687 --> 00:33:46,358 We have multiple written stories and oral stories 593 00:33:46,441 --> 00:33:50,820 where we are told that these megalithic blocks at one point 594 00:33:50,904 --> 00:33:53,406 levitated into place. 595 00:33:53,490 --> 00:33:57,160 And the mythologies only happened because our ancestors 596 00:33:57,202 --> 00:34:00,163 thought they were visited by divine beings, 597 00:34:00,205 --> 00:34:01,790 when in actuality, 598 00:34:01,873 --> 00:34:07,337 the only divine thing that they had was more advanced technology 599 00:34:07,420 --> 00:34:10,590 which, to our ancestors, looked divine. 600 00:35:01,057 --> 00:35:04,811 SHATNER: But if highly advanced alien visitors 601 00:35:04,853 --> 00:35:07,814 are visiting Earth from other worlds, 602 00:35:07,856 --> 00:35:09,858 shouldn't we be frightened? 603 00:35:09,941 --> 00:35:14,654 Ancient astronaut theorists believe that, if anything, 604 00:35:14,738 --> 00:35:18,033 extraterrestrial interest in our planet suggests 605 00:35:18,116 --> 00:35:22,454 they have a much more benevolent agenda. 606 00:35:22,537 --> 00:35:25,415 DOLAN: I think that, from the 20th century onward, 607 00:35:25,498 --> 00:35:28,293 there has been a qualitative change in the UFO phenomenon, 608 00:35:28,335 --> 00:35:30,795 and I think it is our technology that has gotten 609 00:35:30,837 --> 00:35:32,339 the interest of other beings. 610 00:35:32,422 --> 00:35:36,259 And I'm looking particularly at nuclear technology. 611 00:35:37,594 --> 00:35:40,513 When you look at all of the confluence of sightings 612 00:35:40,597 --> 00:35:44,100 of these unknown objects over our nuclear technology sites, 613 00:35:44,184 --> 00:35:47,145 nuclear weapons sites, over the many years, 614 00:35:47,187 --> 00:35:49,689 this is way beyond chance. 615 00:35:49,773 --> 00:35:51,316 So, there is a definite interest 616 00:35:51,358 --> 00:35:54,235 by these objects in our nuclear technology. 617 00:35:55,528 --> 00:35:59,157 HELLYER: It is my belief that, over the years, 618 00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:03,203 they have catalogued every nuclear installation 619 00:36:03,286 --> 00:36:06,331 in the whole world, of all nations, 620 00:36:06,373 --> 00:36:09,626 and they have gone from one location to another 621 00:36:09,709 --> 00:36:11,961 to record what is there 622 00:36:12,045 --> 00:36:15,840 and what its capabilities are and what they should expect. 623 00:36:15,924 --> 00:36:19,386 Perhaps to prepare themselves better in case they ever had 624 00:36:19,469 --> 00:36:22,722 to come to our rescue and save us from wrecking our world. 625 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:36,152 SHATNER: Nick Pope, a defense analyst for the British government, 626 00:36:36,236 --> 00:36:38,988 attends an international symposium 627 00:36:39,030 --> 00:36:41,366 on advanced propulsion systems. 628 00:36:41,449 --> 00:36:45,537 POPE: These people came together with different backgrounds, 629 00:36:45,620 --> 00:36:51,793 united by their common interest in exotic propulsion systems, 630 00:36:51,835 --> 00:36:55,588 the sort of propulsion that ultimately will take us 631 00:36:55,672 --> 00:36:56,673 to the stars. 632 00:36:56,756 --> 00:37:00,301 And if anything in the UFO phenomenon is real, 633 00:37:00,343 --> 00:37:03,304 this is the technology the aliens use 634 00:37:03,346 --> 00:37:05,640 because it gets around the problem 635 00:37:05,724 --> 00:37:09,310 of, "Well, you can't get here from there." 636 00:37:09,352 --> 00:37:11,855 The answer is, "Maybe you can." 637 00:37:11,938 --> 00:37:14,983 And what happened is these people came together to say, 638 00:37:15,024 --> 00:37:18,027 "If it's true, this is how they do it." 639 00:37:18,111 --> 00:37:20,989 Some people were from government, 640 00:37:21,072 --> 00:37:22,657 some people from the military, 641 00:37:22,699 --> 00:37:25,535 some from the intelligence community 642 00:37:25,618 --> 00:37:29,372 and some from the big defense contractors 643 00:37:29,456 --> 00:37:33,877 and others were scientists working in academia. 644 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:38,757 But what's really interesting is that a number of people 645 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:41,968 who attended that conference, who spoke 646 00:37:42,051 --> 00:37:43,928 and who presented papers at it, 647 00:37:44,012 --> 00:37:49,392 went on to be involved with the Pentagon's AATIP program. 648 00:37:49,476 --> 00:37:51,227 For the longest time, 649 00:37:51,311 --> 00:37:54,397 studying UFOs was not gonna be a career maker, right? 650 00:37:54,481 --> 00:37:56,316 It was gonna be a career killer. 651 00:37:56,357 --> 00:37:58,151 But yet, there's no question 652 00:37:58,193 --> 00:38:00,653 that a number of very brilliant, knowledgeable, 653 00:38:00,695 --> 00:38:03,364 scientifically oriented individuals 654 00:38:03,448 --> 00:38:05,158 have said to themselves, 655 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:06,618 "You know what, I'm not gonna be swayed 656 00:38:06,701 --> 00:38:10,997 by the media propaganda that this is all nonsense." 657 00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:14,584 And they started looking into it, and what they discovered 658 00:38:14,667 --> 00:38:16,419 is that there's something there and they began communicating 659 00:38:16,503 --> 00:38:18,213 with each other about it. 660 00:38:18,296 --> 00:38:20,632 That's the invisible college. 661 00:38:22,175 --> 00:38:24,636 SHATNER: UFOs, piloted by extraterrestrials 662 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:30,266 who come to Earth not to invade or destroy but to instruct? 663 00:38:30,350 --> 00:38:33,812 If true, it's a temptingly reassuring notion. 664 00:38:33,895 --> 00:38:36,815 But, then, what would be their ultimate goal? 665 00:38:36,898 --> 00:38:40,652 Perhaps the answer can be found not here on Earth 666 00:38:40,693 --> 00:38:45,406 but on a neighboring planet in our own solar system. 667 00:38:54,374 --> 00:38:58,086 it, 668 00:38:58,169 --> 00:39:02,715 Perseverance, which it plans to launch later in the year. 669 00:39:02,799 --> 00:39:06,261 It will be equipped with an experimental instrument 670 00:39:06,344 --> 00:39:08,346 designed to generate oxygen 671 00:39:08,429 --> 00:39:11,683 from the carbon dioxide‐rich Martian atmosphere, 672 00:39:11,766 --> 00:39:14,978 paving the way for humans to one day 673 00:39:15,019 --> 00:39:19,065 be able to breathe on Mars. 674 00:39:19,148 --> 00:39:24,153 Some people dream of the day when we can terraform Mars. 675 00:39:24,195 --> 00:39:27,824 That is, turn Mars into a Garden of Eden 676 00:39:27,907 --> 00:39:32,662 by changing the atmosphere, and then water, liquid water, 677 00:39:32,745 --> 00:39:37,667 will then flow freely in the riverbeds of Mars. 678 00:39:37,709 --> 00:39:40,378 And so, we're talking about creating a new home for us 679 00:39:40,461 --> 00:39:41,796 in outer space. 680 00:39:41,838 --> 00:39:45,425 SHATNER: If humankind is planning to colonize Mars 681 00:39:45,508 --> 00:39:48,970 as a first step in expanding its knowledge of the universe, 682 00:39:49,053 --> 00:39:54,017 is it so far‐fetched to suggest that alien‐piloted UFOs 683 00:39:54,100 --> 00:39:58,187 may be coming to Earth for very similar reasons? 684 00:39:58,271 --> 00:40:01,107 We got to think of why would 685 00:40:01,190 --> 00:40:03,234 UFOs come here in the first place? 686 00:40:03,318 --> 00:40:07,071 What if you wanted to find kindred spirits, 687 00:40:07,155 --> 00:40:09,073 you wanted to find other life? 688 00:40:09,157 --> 00:40:11,993 We send probes to the Moon and Mars and elsewhere. 689 00:40:12,035 --> 00:40:13,786 Saturn, Jupiter, you name it. 690 00:40:13,870 --> 00:40:16,331 They're doing a search for extraterrestrial life. 691 00:40:16,372 --> 00:40:18,499 Maybe that's what's happening. 692 00:40:18,583 --> 00:40:20,335 Somebody else is sending probes. 693 00:40:20,418 --> 00:40:24,756 DOLAN: This is a planet overflowing with life. 694 00:40:24,839 --> 00:40:27,842 If you know how to manipulate DNA, 695 00:40:27,926 --> 00:40:32,096 Earth could be the ultimate, ultimate gold mine, 696 00:40:32,180 --> 00:40:33,806 and that's got to be an attraction. 697 00:40:33,890 --> 00:40:36,059 Do they want to take over the world? 698 00:40:36,142 --> 00:40:40,229 Something tells me that although some people believe that, 699 00:40:40,313 --> 00:40:41,856 I'm not sure that I believe that. 700 00:40:41,940 --> 00:40:46,486 But I do think that there is a presence here that is covert, 701 00:40:46,569 --> 00:40:51,950 a monitoring that is covert to a large degree. 702 00:40:53,618 --> 00:40:57,121 TSOUKALOS: Once a technological society 703 00:40:57,205 --> 00:40:59,874 has reached or mastered 704 00:40:59,958 --> 00:41:04,337 the way with which to explore beyond your solar system, 705 00:41:04,420 --> 00:41:07,548 at least morally and philosophically, 706 00:41:07,632 --> 00:41:12,845 you have advanced enough to recognize that if and when 707 00:41:12,929 --> 00:41:18,643 you encounter a species that is less technologically advanced, 708 00:41:18,685 --> 00:41:20,895 you don't destroy them, you let them live. 709 00:41:20,979 --> 00:41:24,816 You let them develop to see what happens. 710 00:41:24,857 --> 00:41:27,110 And according to the ancient astronaut theory, 711 00:41:27,193 --> 00:41:28,611 you may even help them. 712 00:41:28,695 --> 00:41:31,823 So, what do you think? 713 00:41:31,864 --> 00:41:34,826 Are UFOs really evidence that aliens 714 00:41:34,909 --> 00:41:40,081 are coming to Earth to visit, to examine, to colonize? 715 00:41:40,164 --> 00:41:43,042 And is the proof really being withheld from us by a government 716 00:41:43,126 --> 00:41:47,630 that believes we would panic if we knew the truth? 717 00:41:47,714 --> 00:41:50,925 For the answers, perhaps we should keep searching the skies 718 00:41:51,009 --> 00:41:55,388 and continue to find more evidence of the unusual, 719 00:41:55,471 --> 00:41:59,475 the unknown and the unexplained. 720 00:41:59,517 --> 00:42:06,272 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS