In Search of Aliens (2014) s01e01 Episode Script
The Hunt for Atlantis
Ever since Plato wrote about it in the 4th century BC, Atlantis has captured the imagination of adventurers and academics alike, obsessed with finding out its location.
But what if this classic story is nothing like anyone expects? What if the accounts of Atlantis having incredible, advanced technology and then mysteriously disappearing is actually a description of an extraterrestrial culture that existed here on Earth thousands of years ago? I've come to the Mediterranean to investigate one of mankind's most enduring and baffling mysteries, and to examine some startling new evidence and potential leads.
I'm in search of Atlantis.
My name is Giorgio Tsoukalos.
I explore the world that exists between reality and speculation, the known and the unknown.
What we've been taught by mainstream scholars is not the whole picture.
But I'm convinced that every day we are one step closer to the truth.
The lost continent of Atlantis has sparked the imaginations of scholars and explorers for over 2,000 years.
The Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis in two of his dialogues, Timaeus and Critias, around 360 BC.
In his account, Atlantis' capital city was a marvel of architecture and engineering and its people possessed highly advanced military capabilities.
And then one day, Atlantis mysteriously vanished in, as Plato describes it, "One unbearable day and night.
" So the big question is, if Atlantis really did exist, where was it located? And what really happened to it? Like many others before me, I've always been fascinated with Atlantis and my love affair with her began as a little kid when I dared to dream that one day I might even find this lost city.
Because Plato's descriptions are so vivid and detailed, I've always thought that they must have been describing a real geographical place.
So I'm starting my investigation here in Athens, where the story was written, back in the homeland of my Greek ancestors.
Where I've arranged to meet Plato expert Dr.
Sandy MacGillivray, a professor of classics and archaeology.
- Professor MacGillivray? - Yeah.
I'm Giorgio.
Pleasure to meet you.
- Hi.
Good to meet you.
- How's it going? All these tourists, I barely found you, but this was a great place where to meet.
Welcome to Athens.
Yes.
So tell me about Atlantis.
How did Plato describe it and what do you think are some of the clues that we should look at? He's describing the one city that was founded by Poseidon.
In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the seas.
While most people today consider the Greek gods to be mythological figures, the ancient Greeks themselves did not.
They thought that they were real.
When Poseidon comes down and he mates with an Earth woman and he has five sets of twin sons, which to me sounds a lot like genetic engineering.
So, you actually have ten kingdoms for Atlantis.
The one central kingdom is the one where the firstborn, Atlas, sets up his kingdom.
What you get a description of is the city that's built around a mountain.
There's a huge temple of Poseidon built up there.
You've got a first ring and then you've got fields beyond that, then you've got a second ring, fields beyond that, and then you've got a third ring.
So, basically it's moats.
Think of like a medieval castle where you got a moat around the castle.
Later on, they start cutting channels through wide enough to bring, Plato says, a trireme, the great huge three-level warships that the Greeks were sailing all the way through into the central core.
If Atlantis is a mere myth, then why are Plato's descriptions of it so incredibly detailed right down to the exact measurements? But if it existed, then where was it? People have surmised that Atlantis might've perhaps been some type of an empire that stretched a large, vast geographical location.
So, are there any other places that you would recommend I should go check out? You have to start where Plato sends you, and that's beyond the pillars of Hercules.
The pillars of Hercules in Greek mythology represented the gateway to the unknown.
But modern scholars now believe that the pillars were a reference to the large land masses on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, the gateway to the Atlantic Ocean, and beyond.
Sandy, thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
- Happy travels.
- Until next time.
Thank you.
Okay, man.
Wow.
I can't believe this.
Dr.
MacGillivray, an accomplished archaeologist, actually suggested that the story of Poseidon fathering five sets of male twins suggests evidence of genetic engineering in the ancient past.
This is very much the basis for the ancient astronaut theory and it's surprising to hear that this is coming from a mainstream scholar.
Ever since Plato wrote about Atlantis, many locations around the world have been identified with the lost city.
Theories range from Ireland to the Bahamas, the Americas and even Antarctica.
But all Plato says is, "beyond the pillars of Hercules.
" I'm in Silves, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal, where I'm about to meet with Peter Daughtrey, a former advertising executive from London.
For the past 20 years, he has investigated what some say are 100 clues that Plato left behind about Atlantis.
And he's convinced that Silves is the center of Atlantis.
I've got a few questions I'd like to ask you.
How did you get started in your research? I was doing some research for an article in a local magazine on an event here that happened in 1755.
It's called the Great Lisbon Earthquake, and it was about nine on the Richter scale.
They had tsunamis here on this coast up to 100 feet high.
Lisbon was virtually destroyed.
And that event set me first thinking.
Plato said that Atlantis was destroyed by earthquakes and floods.
I'd often wondered why this area didn't have an old civilization.
And then suddenly it was obvious that if there was one, it would've been destroyed.
Geologists had done research on the seabed, back in the bay, and found that there was one particular big event at about 11,600 years ago, which ties in exactly with Plato's dates that he gave us.
And that would coincide with the whole idea where Plato said that the story of Atlantis might've happened around 9,000 years before the Greeks.
Pretty well the same.
I then went back to reading Plato again and extracted about 100 clues that I thought would help us identify where he was talking about.
This area matches to 60 of Plato's clues.
Peter is absolutely convinced that Atlantis was once located right where we are in Southern Portugal.
And Silves, he believes, was the capital.
But if that's true, then where is the evidence of what Plato described as the three concentric rings of moats and the Temple of Poseidon? In your opinion what do you think are some of the most compelling clues? Well, there's one that is, that's certainly interesting.
I can't say it is necessarily from Atlantis, but I think the indications are that it could be.
When I first came here I met an elderly couple who collected antiques and interested in history, and he told me about, um, this huge stone egg that he'd seen laying on the side of the road not far from Silves in fact, and this was Did you say a giant egg? Yes, it's about six foot long.
The World Egg, or Cosmic Egg, is a mythological motif found in ancient creation stories from all around the world.
It is used to explain the beginnings of life on Earth, because many of the ancients believed that the gods themselves sent the Cosmic Egg and mankind hatched from it.
That to me is very fascinating, so the fact that there's one here, I would like to see it.
This egg has got something on it that also ties up with creation that is fascinating.
Let's do it, perfect.
I'm in Southern Portugal with author Peter Daughtrey.
He firmly believes the town of Silves matches more than half of the clues given by Plato about Atlantis and its mysterious location.
I brought you here because this is one of Plato's most specific clues on top of all the rest, probably the most important one.
You see the black, white, and red rock? Plato said it was quarried from this one small hill, and they built the town from it, and you can do this here.
So we're actually standing on a clue right now.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, there are not many places in the world where you can do that, particularly in one small hill.
That's pretty amazing.
I haven't yet forgotten about that egg.
I bet you haven't.
So how far is the egg and can we go check it out? Come on, I'll take you there.
Yeah, just down here on the right.
All right.
There you go.
Fascinating entrance.
Even though it is now in the Lagos Museum, the stone egg once stood near the area where Peter believes Atlantis existed.
I mean, this is like a labyrinth! Where is this thing? Yes, it's a it's a great little museum.
There it is.
Wow.
This is it.
Man, this is great.
What a payoff to come here and see this.
How does this museum classify this stone? They classified it with- with all the other standing stones as a "menhir," which are, you will know I'm sure, all the way up the west coast of Portugal, Spain, into the west coast of France, Brittany, and all the Celtic countries.
A menhir refers to one of more than 50,000 monoliths or standing stones deliberately placed by ancient humans.
Many of them feature carvings or strange symbols.
But this stone egg doesn't look like any menhir I've seen before, and what most intrigues me is the carving on it.
Many so-called "cosmic eggs" or "creation eggs" are shown with a snake or serpent wrapped around it.
In Greek mythology this is called the "orphic egg," but similar eggs can be found in China, Egypt and throughout the ancient world.
It was a perfect egg shape originally.
It was, in actual fact, a sculpture.
I mean, this is not a standing stone.
You can see that the symbol is actually raised or it's a relief.
It's not a carving.
It's not impressed.
It actually is this almost like a bevel, which would indicate that in order to achieve this, the entire egg had to be whittled down Shaped, yeah.
in order to achieve that raised symbol.
An enormous amount of extra work.
And interestingly is, they must've had tools to do it.
And bronze wouldn't do it.
It would bend.
They must've had some other form of metallurgy knowledge, I think, pre-this in order to do it.
How old do you presume this one is? You can see that it has worn, you know, before weathered, as if it's been standing somewhere, and it was obviously buried, because it was four or five meters deep, in a great, some great big conflagration, possibly like Noah's flood.
We're talking of something that's incredibly old.
And this thing up the middle here they resemble the rod, which throughout history has been a symbol of power and of creation.
Moses had a rod.
And in Mesopotamia, the rod was regarded as the symbol of the power of the gods.
And it reminds me of what might be a double helix symbol.
The strange symbol on the egg doesn't only look like the caduceus staff the classic winged staff entwined by two serpents that is associated with the Greek god Hermes but it also looks lik a double helix, the shape of DNA, the building blocks of life.
But the double helix model wasn't realized until 1953, so how could such a symbol exist on a stone egg that some say was carved approximately 7,000 years ago? How would you tie this into your Atlantean theory? Plato indicated that Poseidon created a race of people, that the race of people were partly his seed and partly the people who were living there.
Yeah, which is very interesting because that's basically what the ancient astronaut theory suggests that a long time ago, advanced extraterrestrials saw that there was potential for intelligent life, and with a target mutation of our genes and theirs, essentially we became who we are today.
According to writer and ancient astronaut theorist Zecharia Sitchin, extraterrestrials called the Anunnaki arrived on Earth thousands of years ago.
He believed the Anunnaki created humans by crossing their own DNA with Homo Erectus, an early hominid, and used them as slaves.
But when the Anunnaki left, they tried to wipe out their human creation with a flood.
But some survived.
Now, some scholars suggest that Atlantis was wiped out by a flood, which leads me to wonder, could these stories be related? And is this evidence of extraterrestrial activity here on Planet Earth thousands of years ago? I've seen many, many eggs all around the world and stories about creation in reference to cosmic eggs, and to see this I had no idea that there's one here in Portugal.
So thank you very much.
Pleasure.
And I can't wait what else you're gonna show me.
This cosmic egg has got me thinking that the story of Atlantis could be more significant than previously thought.
Is Silves the center of the lost empire of Atlantis, and does its cosmic egg really show ancient knowledge of DNA? Peter has chartered a boat to take us up the Arade River from the Atlantic Ocean to modern-day Silves.
This is the route ancient visitors would have taken to reach Atlantis thousands of years ago if Atlantis was here.
So is this the view the ancients would have had when entering Atlantis? 'Cause this here is a beautiful view of the town.
Yeah, this is exactly what they would have seen.
They would have, in fact, been forced to go in here, 'cause this is where the old harbor was, on our left.
The entrance to it.
And from here, where we are now, back to the mouth of the river, the sea, is exactly nine and a quarter kilometers.
And Plato said it was nine and a quarter kilometers from the harbor.
What about its wealth? Because in order to correspond the story, wasn't Atlantis also incredibly wealthy? Nobody will ever have that wealth again.
Yeah, precious metals.
It was the biggest producer of precious metals in the then-known world.
Peter has brought a bathymetric chart showing the areas around Silves that sank over the last few thousand years.
It could be the best clue yet.
These rocky areas are scattered all around, and I'm pretty certain they are ruins, because Plato said the empire was divided up between the different sons to rule.
So what we really want is to try and get somebody who's got a nice boat with lots of side scanners and equipment and Sonar and all that stuff.
Possibly submersibles to go down and have a look, because I'm pretty certain that some of these rocky areas will be ruins and that's the only way we're gonna be able to prove whether Plato was speaking the truth.
I'm exploring the medieval city of Silves in Southern Portugal with British author Peter Daughtrey.
Peter believes that he has matched 60 of Plato's 100 clues that identify the legendary city of Atlantis and he wants to show me some of them.
You can see here now, that this town is on a small hill, on a big, flat plane.
And the river you can see in the distance there, is about nine and a quarter kilometers from where you can see it to the sea, which is the exact distance that Plato said the town was connected by a waterway.
So, this is the place that, in your opinion, has a whole bunch of clues that match what Plato was writing? I think it was the capital city he was talking about.
Atlantis had to be connected by a tidal river, because he said they built embankments and canals around the town circling it.
They filled them with seawater, so it had to be a tidal river.
The river runs past the town; that's freshwater.
But that is seawater.
It comes right up tidal to the town.
Twice a day, you see the river will go up and down.
The local geologist has done a, uh, survey for the town and proven that all around the town, there was water at, um, at some stage.
How did Plato give his measurements? Now, I heard it was something about stadia.
It's a Greek measurement and it, and it comes from, I think, "stadium.
" The Greek stadium where they had games and things, was a standard size.
It was equivalent to 185 meters.
But he gives specific measurements for the size of this hill.
He says, it's less than a kilometer wide, which this is.
Specific measurements from the first canal, which butted up to the walls of this town he said that was one stadia wide.
Then, there was a larger earth embankment that was two stadia wide, then another canal that was two stadia wide, then an embankment that was three stadia, and finally the harbor area, which was three stadia.
The local archaeologist said, yes, that's where they think the harbor was.
It's very interesting.
In your opinion, how do you think Atlantis was built? Well, according to Plato, it was Poseidon.
So then, are there any references around here that speak of Poseidon? There is a famous Roman villa, where there's a big mosaic, which is now in a museum one of the best in Europe of Poseidon.
According to the ancient astronaut theory, these so-called "gods" were not gods at all, but flesh-and-blood extraterrestrials.
And if that's true, then Atlantis may not have been a continent, but some kind of an alien base.
Shall we go to the next spot? - Yup, let's move on.
- Let's do it.
So, what does the word "God" mean to you? Well, Plato made it clear, these gods were not some superhuman, ethereal being.
They were flesh and blood.
They were just a little more, um, advanced, intelligent.
Exactly.
And one of the reasons for creating the race was, these people would serve them.
I think it was built into us in the DNA or gene.
It was added at the time we were created to insure that the people actually worshipped and served these "gods.
" So how do you think this egg that we just saw plays into that whole story? I think the egg is probably just commemorating that and reminding people where they came from, and this is where it all started, here, at least where Atlantis started.
Peter, thank you very much It's a pleasure.
for sharing all this knowledge with me.
I mean, this was truly amazing, so thank you very much.
- Okay.
Okay.
- I appreciate that.
- Let's head out.
- Okay.
Wow, the clues Peter has identified here have given me a lot to think about.
Atlantis, to me, is highly fascinating, because, in those stories, you can read how Poseidon sired an entire race with mortal women.
That is what the ancient astronaut theory suggests that a long time ago, we became who we are today due to a targeted artificial mutation of our genes.
And that mutation was done and performed by extraterrestrials.
I'm in the mountains of Switzerland near Interlaken, where I'm about to meet the one and only Erich von Daniken, who wrote Chariots of the Gods and 34 additional books challenging human history and conventional archaeology.
Erich has invited me to Mystery Park, an educational exhibition dedicated to the ancient astronaut theory.
I've collaborated with Erich for over 20 years, and whenever I have a new theory, I always try to run it by him to hear what he has to say.
And this time, I'm here to talk to him about Atlantis.
In your opinion, where do you think the story for Atlantis came from? The whole story which we know from Atlantis comes from Plato.
Plato's two books, Timaeus and Critias.
And there, he quotes an older man with the name Solon.
Even though the Greek philosopher Plato wrote the first account of Atlantis that we know of, his account actually revolves around Solon, a great Greek legislator and poet who journeyed to Egypt some 150 years earlier.
Plato writes that Solon was in the Egyptian city of Sais in 590 BC, and while in a temple dedicated to the goddess Neith, he was told about a story written on a temple column of the Atlanteans and their military campaign against ancient Egypt and Greece.
Unfortunately, remains of this temple have yet to be found.
We have some Sumerian cuneiforms and Egyptian hieroglyphs, but they don't date back more than 2400 BC.
So, all what was before 2000 BC is destroyed, disappeared, probably because of the great flood.
And Plato, by the way, he says this.
He says that there were destructions of the whole planet, and everything disappeared.
In London, we have this stone block called WB444; it's the so-called Sumerian Kings List.
The first ten kings before the great flood they ruled together over 400,000 years.
So, the story is definitely older than the old Egypt Atlantis story.
In 1900, Hermann Hilprecht excavated a temple library in the ancient holy city of Nippur, Iraq.
Within it, a 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablet was discovered listing all the Sumerian kings since the dawn of time.
Since then, at least 18 other versions have been found.
Though none are identical, they all seem to derive from one ideal source.
According to the Sumerian Kings List, the early kings "descended from the skies" and each ruled for thousands of years.
Then, just as in the Book of Genesis, and what some propose was the fate of Atlantis, cities were swallowed up, and the kings who followed were mortals who ruled for dozens, but no longer for thousands of years.
While mainstream scholars maintain that the Sumerian Kings List is a mix of fact and mythology, I tend to wonder, what if it is real? It could be evidence that the so-called gods or kings were, in fact, extraterrestrials.
When I was in Portugal, I met with author Peter Daughtrey, and in his book, he proposed the idea that maybe Atlantis was in this place called Silves.
And one of the things that he showed me was this megalithic egg.
And on it, it had almost what could be interpreted as a DNA helix.
How do you propose that ancient man knew about this DNA? In old Sumerian times, in old Egyptian times, they knew nothing about genetic.
They knew nothing about DNA.
So, who were the teachers again? Who told them? It's always the same question.
We have Sumerian so-called "cylinder seals," and there you see flying beings, humans with wings.
They, by the way, have always watches on their arms.
And, you see, DNA has always four bases.
And if you see closer in the so-called Tree of Life, and the two winged gods are changing out some of these bases to create something new.
They take one example of our forefathers, they just take one cell out of it, they change the base in the one cell in the DNA code.
They plant the result into the womb of a female of the same species.
After nine months this female will give birth to a child.
The child has, of course, the skeleton, the bone, the body of the family tree.
But because of this artificial mutation, something was changed in the course of evolution.
And you can prove this even in old writings.
My conversation with Erich definitely blows my mind.
Because what he suggests is that the story of Atlantis may date back thousands of years before Plato, and that the people who lived there even had advanced knowledge of genetics.
So as I'm looking at all these different ideas for Atlantis, do you think that Atlantis might've been this culture that was not just in one place, but that maybe it was some type of an empire, or a network of Atlanteans that, uh, were in different places? Plato says it was an island, and partly the island was artificial.
But of course the people from Atlantis, they had scientists, they traveled, they leave their island.
So their knowledge has become part of other societies.
Where do you recommend I go next? Go to Santorini.
Make these pictures, hear, listen around what they tell about Atlantis and what they show you.
Perfect, I shall do that.
Thank you very much.
Of course.
Now that I've spoken with Erich, I am more convinced than ever that I'm on the right path.
But if Atlantis was indeed an advanced civilization that passed on its technology and knowledge to the local population, what happened to it? Was it destroyed by some natural disaster like an earthquake or a volcano? Or was it something else? Something out of this world? For my last stop, I've traveled to the Greek island of Santorini, an island in the Mediterranean.
It is all that remains of a much larger landmass that was destroyed by a huge volcanic eruption thousands of years ago.
And there are many who believe it to be the actual location of the lost island of Atlantis.
At this point, I'm beginning to think that there may be something much more to the story of Atlantis than anyone can imagine.
Something so incredible that I myself can hardly believe it.
So, to help me explore my theory, I'm meeting with Greek writer and Atlantis investigator Jonathan Bright.
I mean, perfect place to meet.
The most magical island in the world.
And I can't wait to find out what you have to tell me.
So, what do you think happened here to Santorini and when? During the eruption, which happened around 1600 BC, this whole part went down.
What has convinced many researchers that Santorini was once the actual location of Atlantis is its unique, semicircular shape.
But although it certainly bears a similarity to Plato's description of a circular island, much of it appears to have been destroyed by a volcano thousands of years ago.
Our first stop on Santorini is the ruins of the once wealthy Minoan seaport of Akrotiri.
When the volcano here erupted approximately 3,600 years ago, Akrotiri was covered in ash and preserved in time just like Pompeii in Italy.
This is truly amazing.
Akrotiri was occupied as far back as 4000 BC and the ancient buildings here suggest a highly advanced society equipped with surprisingly sophisticated technology for the time.
Three-story-high buildings featuring hot and cold water, and there's even evidence of four different languages spoken here.
But could this really be Atlantis? The mythical city that suddenly vanished in a single day and night? Do you know if any bodies were found here, like for example, at Pompeii, after the eruption of the Vesuvius? Has something similar been found here in the ash? There are no bodies that have been dug up, - from this place.
- Really? No bodies have been dug up? Yes.
No, it's kind of a mystery here.
I mean, that's very strange.
It's as if they had foresight that this eruption might happen.
Mm-hmm.
The ruins of Akrotiri clearly show evidence of advanced architecture, concepts of an organized society, and perhaps even the knowledge of a pending disaster that might destroy the island.
What do you think are some of the most interesting finds that have been discovered here? There are many important frescos that have been found in the walls.
I have some things to say about this, but I would better show you the proper place to say that.
Let's go.
As Jonathan and I are headed over to see the Akrotiri frescos, I was reminded of the ancient legends about an advanced race of supposedly mythical beings called the Telchines.
According to Greek mythology, the Telchines were sea creatures with flippers for hands and heads that looked like dogs.
They were eventually destroyed because the so-called gods feared they were becoming too powerful.
But what makes the Telchines particularly interesting is that, that, according to legend, it was they who raised Poseidon from childhood and also used their advanced metallurgy skills to make his powerful trident.
Is it possible that these hybrid beings were the real architects of Atlantis? Really, really great.
The elaborate frescos at Akrotiri are believed to date from before 1600 BC.
Truly, something else.
Many depict city scenes a goddess with a winged griffin and even blue monkeys making offerings.
Very interesting.
But what really caught my eye was one that featured a number of mysterious men dressed in feathers, almost like feather cloaks.
But were they priests? Kings? Or could they have been depictions of angels or other winged beings, like, for example, the Anunnaki? Had I found Atlantis after all? Or something that may have been directly inspired by it? Nevertheless, one thing is certain something powerful definitely happened at Akrotiri.
The more pieces of the puzzle I gather, the more I get to see the full picture.
And I find it interesting that once again, here in Santorini, some things fit Plato's clues about Atlantis but some don't.
The final destination on my hunt for Atlantis is the very top of the island of Santorini.
It's a real hike, but the views are definitely worth it and so are the mysterious megaliths found there.
What would compel an ancient people to build such a large complex on top of a mountain? Check out this wall right here.
We're on Santorini at the highest peak in an ancient site called Ancient Thera and this wall right here is, as you can tell, massive.
Walls like this not only exist in Greece but in Italy in Spain in Egypt and halfway across the world in South America.
So the fact that this wall exists here at one of the most inaccessible places seems like it is insane.
There had to have been a reason why this is here.
What if those stories of the Greek gods descending from the skies really, at some point, were true? Further down the mountain, I met once again with writer Jonathan Bright and discovered that he has an interesting take on how Santorini might be linked to the legend of Atlantis.
This place reminds me of the Enochian story where in the beginning, we see that a group of angels descends on the summit of a mountain Mount Hermon, the mythical mount and, like Poseidon, we see in Plato's story that did, and they make children with them, they begat children by them.
Mount Hermon is in the Golan Heights, between Israel and Lebanon.
According to the Book of Enoch, a group of so-called "watchers" descended here and mated with local women.
And this is exactly the same story Plato writes about concerning Atlantis, where Poseidon sired an entire race.
It happens also that in the place that they call the "Wheel of Giants" there is a huge monument from 5,000 years old now with concentric circles and the high walls of stones, the same traditions that we see related to Atlantis.
That's very interesting, and, you know, and of course, the legends that are corresponding with this place up here are very interesting, that something significant, something "sacred" happened up here a very long time ago.
And they weren't angels in the sense as we think of angels today.
Meeting with Jonathan and coming to Santorini has helped me to see Atlantis from a whole new perspective.
I'm starting to think that, what if Plato's stories about Atlantis are directly linked to similar stories about the arrival of the gods that appear to have occurred on mountaintops such as Mount Hermon and other mountains all around the world? I'm also reminded of the Greek legend of Asteria, the Titan goddess of falling stars.
In order to escape the advances of Zeus, she turned into a quail and then flung herself into the sea, where she transformed into a magical island.
Okay.
And if you learn anything new in the hunt for Atlantis, let me know.
- And thank you very much - I will.
For showing me all these different places.
- It's been a true honor.
- Nice meeting you.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
What an amazing journey.
The hunt for Atlantis has taken me to Athens, Portugal, Switzerland and Santorini, an island in the Mediterranean.
And I've had the chance to meet with some really cool researchers.
But this last stop has me convinced that the lost city of Atlantis was probably not an island at all, but maybe some sort of a flying craft.
Perhaps this is why Atlantis has been reported to have existed at various locations around the globe why it seemingly disappeared in one day and one night and why no evidence of it has ever been found.
Could it be that the powerful influence of the Atlantean perhaps extraterrestrial culture and highly advanced technology inspired early humans to copy them to build cities on the same spots where their craft once landed and even worship them as gods? Of course, my theory will still require more investigation, and hopefully, proof.
The planet we live on is billions of years old, but we humans walk the earth for only an instant.
Shouldn't we spend our brief time here asking questions? What if we could discover amazing things if only we would just open our eyes, challenge our minds, and pursue the truth? In search of aliens.
But what if this classic story is nothing like anyone expects? What if the accounts of Atlantis having incredible, advanced technology and then mysteriously disappearing is actually a description of an extraterrestrial culture that existed here on Earth thousands of years ago? I've come to the Mediterranean to investigate one of mankind's most enduring and baffling mysteries, and to examine some startling new evidence and potential leads.
I'm in search of Atlantis.
My name is Giorgio Tsoukalos.
I explore the world that exists between reality and speculation, the known and the unknown.
What we've been taught by mainstream scholars is not the whole picture.
But I'm convinced that every day we are one step closer to the truth.
The lost continent of Atlantis has sparked the imaginations of scholars and explorers for over 2,000 years.
The Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis in two of his dialogues, Timaeus and Critias, around 360 BC.
In his account, Atlantis' capital city was a marvel of architecture and engineering and its people possessed highly advanced military capabilities.
And then one day, Atlantis mysteriously vanished in, as Plato describes it, "One unbearable day and night.
" So the big question is, if Atlantis really did exist, where was it located? And what really happened to it? Like many others before me, I've always been fascinated with Atlantis and my love affair with her began as a little kid when I dared to dream that one day I might even find this lost city.
Because Plato's descriptions are so vivid and detailed, I've always thought that they must have been describing a real geographical place.
So I'm starting my investigation here in Athens, where the story was written, back in the homeland of my Greek ancestors.
Where I've arranged to meet Plato expert Dr.
Sandy MacGillivray, a professor of classics and archaeology.
- Professor MacGillivray? - Yeah.
I'm Giorgio.
Pleasure to meet you.
- Hi.
Good to meet you.
- How's it going? All these tourists, I barely found you, but this was a great place where to meet.
Welcome to Athens.
Yes.
So tell me about Atlantis.
How did Plato describe it and what do you think are some of the clues that we should look at? He's describing the one city that was founded by Poseidon.
In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the seas.
While most people today consider the Greek gods to be mythological figures, the ancient Greeks themselves did not.
They thought that they were real.
When Poseidon comes down and he mates with an Earth woman and he has five sets of twin sons, which to me sounds a lot like genetic engineering.
So, you actually have ten kingdoms for Atlantis.
The one central kingdom is the one where the firstborn, Atlas, sets up his kingdom.
What you get a description of is the city that's built around a mountain.
There's a huge temple of Poseidon built up there.
You've got a first ring and then you've got fields beyond that, then you've got a second ring, fields beyond that, and then you've got a third ring.
So, basically it's moats.
Think of like a medieval castle where you got a moat around the castle.
Later on, they start cutting channels through wide enough to bring, Plato says, a trireme, the great huge three-level warships that the Greeks were sailing all the way through into the central core.
If Atlantis is a mere myth, then why are Plato's descriptions of it so incredibly detailed right down to the exact measurements? But if it existed, then where was it? People have surmised that Atlantis might've perhaps been some type of an empire that stretched a large, vast geographical location.
So, are there any other places that you would recommend I should go check out? You have to start where Plato sends you, and that's beyond the pillars of Hercules.
The pillars of Hercules in Greek mythology represented the gateway to the unknown.
But modern scholars now believe that the pillars were a reference to the large land masses on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, the gateway to the Atlantic Ocean, and beyond.
Sandy, thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
- Happy travels.
- Until next time.
Thank you.
Okay, man.
Wow.
I can't believe this.
Dr.
MacGillivray, an accomplished archaeologist, actually suggested that the story of Poseidon fathering five sets of male twins suggests evidence of genetic engineering in the ancient past.
This is very much the basis for the ancient astronaut theory and it's surprising to hear that this is coming from a mainstream scholar.
Ever since Plato wrote about Atlantis, many locations around the world have been identified with the lost city.
Theories range from Ireland to the Bahamas, the Americas and even Antarctica.
But all Plato says is, "beyond the pillars of Hercules.
" I'm in Silves, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal, where I'm about to meet with Peter Daughtrey, a former advertising executive from London.
For the past 20 years, he has investigated what some say are 100 clues that Plato left behind about Atlantis.
And he's convinced that Silves is the center of Atlantis.
I've got a few questions I'd like to ask you.
How did you get started in your research? I was doing some research for an article in a local magazine on an event here that happened in 1755.
It's called the Great Lisbon Earthquake, and it was about nine on the Richter scale.
They had tsunamis here on this coast up to 100 feet high.
Lisbon was virtually destroyed.
And that event set me first thinking.
Plato said that Atlantis was destroyed by earthquakes and floods.
I'd often wondered why this area didn't have an old civilization.
And then suddenly it was obvious that if there was one, it would've been destroyed.
Geologists had done research on the seabed, back in the bay, and found that there was one particular big event at about 11,600 years ago, which ties in exactly with Plato's dates that he gave us.
And that would coincide with the whole idea where Plato said that the story of Atlantis might've happened around 9,000 years before the Greeks.
Pretty well the same.
I then went back to reading Plato again and extracted about 100 clues that I thought would help us identify where he was talking about.
This area matches to 60 of Plato's clues.
Peter is absolutely convinced that Atlantis was once located right where we are in Southern Portugal.
And Silves, he believes, was the capital.
But if that's true, then where is the evidence of what Plato described as the three concentric rings of moats and the Temple of Poseidon? In your opinion what do you think are some of the most compelling clues? Well, there's one that is, that's certainly interesting.
I can't say it is necessarily from Atlantis, but I think the indications are that it could be.
When I first came here I met an elderly couple who collected antiques and interested in history, and he told me about, um, this huge stone egg that he'd seen laying on the side of the road not far from Silves in fact, and this was Did you say a giant egg? Yes, it's about six foot long.
The World Egg, or Cosmic Egg, is a mythological motif found in ancient creation stories from all around the world.
It is used to explain the beginnings of life on Earth, because many of the ancients believed that the gods themselves sent the Cosmic Egg and mankind hatched from it.
That to me is very fascinating, so the fact that there's one here, I would like to see it.
This egg has got something on it that also ties up with creation that is fascinating.
Let's do it, perfect.
I'm in Southern Portugal with author Peter Daughtrey.
He firmly believes the town of Silves matches more than half of the clues given by Plato about Atlantis and its mysterious location.
I brought you here because this is one of Plato's most specific clues on top of all the rest, probably the most important one.
You see the black, white, and red rock? Plato said it was quarried from this one small hill, and they built the town from it, and you can do this here.
So we're actually standing on a clue right now.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, there are not many places in the world where you can do that, particularly in one small hill.
That's pretty amazing.
I haven't yet forgotten about that egg.
I bet you haven't.
So how far is the egg and can we go check it out? Come on, I'll take you there.
Yeah, just down here on the right.
All right.
There you go.
Fascinating entrance.
Even though it is now in the Lagos Museum, the stone egg once stood near the area where Peter believes Atlantis existed.
I mean, this is like a labyrinth! Where is this thing? Yes, it's a it's a great little museum.
There it is.
Wow.
This is it.
Man, this is great.
What a payoff to come here and see this.
How does this museum classify this stone? They classified it with- with all the other standing stones as a "menhir," which are, you will know I'm sure, all the way up the west coast of Portugal, Spain, into the west coast of France, Brittany, and all the Celtic countries.
A menhir refers to one of more than 50,000 monoliths or standing stones deliberately placed by ancient humans.
Many of them feature carvings or strange symbols.
But this stone egg doesn't look like any menhir I've seen before, and what most intrigues me is the carving on it.
Many so-called "cosmic eggs" or "creation eggs" are shown with a snake or serpent wrapped around it.
In Greek mythology this is called the "orphic egg," but similar eggs can be found in China, Egypt and throughout the ancient world.
It was a perfect egg shape originally.
It was, in actual fact, a sculpture.
I mean, this is not a standing stone.
You can see that the symbol is actually raised or it's a relief.
It's not a carving.
It's not impressed.
It actually is this almost like a bevel, which would indicate that in order to achieve this, the entire egg had to be whittled down Shaped, yeah.
in order to achieve that raised symbol.
An enormous amount of extra work.
And interestingly is, they must've had tools to do it.
And bronze wouldn't do it.
It would bend.
They must've had some other form of metallurgy knowledge, I think, pre-this in order to do it.
How old do you presume this one is? You can see that it has worn, you know, before weathered, as if it's been standing somewhere, and it was obviously buried, because it was four or five meters deep, in a great, some great big conflagration, possibly like Noah's flood.
We're talking of something that's incredibly old.
And this thing up the middle here they resemble the rod, which throughout history has been a symbol of power and of creation.
Moses had a rod.
And in Mesopotamia, the rod was regarded as the symbol of the power of the gods.
And it reminds me of what might be a double helix symbol.
The strange symbol on the egg doesn't only look like the caduceus staff the classic winged staff entwined by two serpents that is associated with the Greek god Hermes but it also looks lik a double helix, the shape of DNA, the building blocks of life.
But the double helix model wasn't realized until 1953, so how could such a symbol exist on a stone egg that some say was carved approximately 7,000 years ago? How would you tie this into your Atlantean theory? Plato indicated that Poseidon created a race of people, that the race of people were partly his seed and partly the people who were living there.
Yeah, which is very interesting because that's basically what the ancient astronaut theory suggests that a long time ago, advanced extraterrestrials saw that there was potential for intelligent life, and with a target mutation of our genes and theirs, essentially we became who we are today.
According to writer and ancient astronaut theorist Zecharia Sitchin, extraterrestrials called the Anunnaki arrived on Earth thousands of years ago.
He believed the Anunnaki created humans by crossing their own DNA with Homo Erectus, an early hominid, and used them as slaves.
But when the Anunnaki left, they tried to wipe out their human creation with a flood.
But some survived.
Now, some scholars suggest that Atlantis was wiped out by a flood, which leads me to wonder, could these stories be related? And is this evidence of extraterrestrial activity here on Planet Earth thousands of years ago? I've seen many, many eggs all around the world and stories about creation in reference to cosmic eggs, and to see this I had no idea that there's one here in Portugal.
So thank you very much.
Pleasure.
And I can't wait what else you're gonna show me.
This cosmic egg has got me thinking that the story of Atlantis could be more significant than previously thought.
Is Silves the center of the lost empire of Atlantis, and does its cosmic egg really show ancient knowledge of DNA? Peter has chartered a boat to take us up the Arade River from the Atlantic Ocean to modern-day Silves.
This is the route ancient visitors would have taken to reach Atlantis thousands of years ago if Atlantis was here.
So is this the view the ancients would have had when entering Atlantis? 'Cause this here is a beautiful view of the town.
Yeah, this is exactly what they would have seen.
They would have, in fact, been forced to go in here, 'cause this is where the old harbor was, on our left.
The entrance to it.
And from here, where we are now, back to the mouth of the river, the sea, is exactly nine and a quarter kilometers.
And Plato said it was nine and a quarter kilometers from the harbor.
What about its wealth? Because in order to correspond the story, wasn't Atlantis also incredibly wealthy? Nobody will ever have that wealth again.
Yeah, precious metals.
It was the biggest producer of precious metals in the then-known world.
Peter has brought a bathymetric chart showing the areas around Silves that sank over the last few thousand years.
It could be the best clue yet.
These rocky areas are scattered all around, and I'm pretty certain they are ruins, because Plato said the empire was divided up between the different sons to rule.
So what we really want is to try and get somebody who's got a nice boat with lots of side scanners and equipment and Sonar and all that stuff.
Possibly submersibles to go down and have a look, because I'm pretty certain that some of these rocky areas will be ruins and that's the only way we're gonna be able to prove whether Plato was speaking the truth.
I'm exploring the medieval city of Silves in Southern Portugal with British author Peter Daughtrey.
Peter believes that he has matched 60 of Plato's 100 clues that identify the legendary city of Atlantis and he wants to show me some of them.
You can see here now, that this town is on a small hill, on a big, flat plane.
And the river you can see in the distance there, is about nine and a quarter kilometers from where you can see it to the sea, which is the exact distance that Plato said the town was connected by a waterway.
So, this is the place that, in your opinion, has a whole bunch of clues that match what Plato was writing? I think it was the capital city he was talking about.
Atlantis had to be connected by a tidal river, because he said they built embankments and canals around the town circling it.
They filled them with seawater, so it had to be a tidal river.
The river runs past the town; that's freshwater.
But that is seawater.
It comes right up tidal to the town.
Twice a day, you see the river will go up and down.
The local geologist has done a, uh, survey for the town and proven that all around the town, there was water at, um, at some stage.
How did Plato give his measurements? Now, I heard it was something about stadia.
It's a Greek measurement and it, and it comes from, I think, "stadium.
" The Greek stadium where they had games and things, was a standard size.
It was equivalent to 185 meters.
But he gives specific measurements for the size of this hill.
He says, it's less than a kilometer wide, which this is.
Specific measurements from the first canal, which butted up to the walls of this town he said that was one stadia wide.
Then, there was a larger earth embankment that was two stadia wide, then another canal that was two stadia wide, then an embankment that was three stadia, and finally the harbor area, which was three stadia.
The local archaeologist said, yes, that's where they think the harbor was.
It's very interesting.
In your opinion, how do you think Atlantis was built? Well, according to Plato, it was Poseidon.
So then, are there any references around here that speak of Poseidon? There is a famous Roman villa, where there's a big mosaic, which is now in a museum one of the best in Europe of Poseidon.
According to the ancient astronaut theory, these so-called "gods" were not gods at all, but flesh-and-blood extraterrestrials.
And if that's true, then Atlantis may not have been a continent, but some kind of an alien base.
Shall we go to the next spot? - Yup, let's move on.
- Let's do it.
So, what does the word "God" mean to you? Well, Plato made it clear, these gods were not some superhuman, ethereal being.
They were flesh and blood.
They were just a little more, um, advanced, intelligent.
Exactly.
And one of the reasons for creating the race was, these people would serve them.
I think it was built into us in the DNA or gene.
It was added at the time we were created to insure that the people actually worshipped and served these "gods.
" So how do you think this egg that we just saw plays into that whole story? I think the egg is probably just commemorating that and reminding people where they came from, and this is where it all started, here, at least where Atlantis started.
Peter, thank you very much It's a pleasure.
for sharing all this knowledge with me.
I mean, this was truly amazing, so thank you very much.
- Okay.
Okay.
- I appreciate that.
- Let's head out.
- Okay.
Wow, the clues Peter has identified here have given me a lot to think about.
Atlantis, to me, is highly fascinating, because, in those stories, you can read how Poseidon sired an entire race with mortal women.
That is what the ancient astronaut theory suggests that a long time ago, we became who we are today due to a targeted artificial mutation of our genes.
And that mutation was done and performed by extraterrestrials.
I'm in the mountains of Switzerland near Interlaken, where I'm about to meet the one and only Erich von Daniken, who wrote Chariots of the Gods and 34 additional books challenging human history and conventional archaeology.
Erich has invited me to Mystery Park, an educational exhibition dedicated to the ancient astronaut theory.
I've collaborated with Erich for over 20 years, and whenever I have a new theory, I always try to run it by him to hear what he has to say.
And this time, I'm here to talk to him about Atlantis.
In your opinion, where do you think the story for Atlantis came from? The whole story which we know from Atlantis comes from Plato.
Plato's two books, Timaeus and Critias.
And there, he quotes an older man with the name Solon.
Even though the Greek philosopher Plato wrote the first account of Atlantis that we know of, his account actually revolves around Solon, a great Greek legislator and poet who journeyed to Egypt some 150 years earlier.
Plato writes that Solon was in the Egyptian city of Sais in 590 BC, and while in a temple dedicated to the goddess Neith, he was told about a story written on a temple column of the Atlanteans and their military campaign against ancient Egypt and Greece.
Unfortunately, remains of this temple have yet to be found.
We have some Sumerian cuneiforms and Egyptian hieroglyphs, but they don't date back more than 2400 BC.
So, all what was before 2000 BC is destroyed, disappeared, probably because of the great flood.
And Plato, by the way, he says this.
He says that there were destructions of the whole planet, and everything disappeared.
In London, we have this stone block called WB444; it's the so-called Sumerian Kings List.
The first ten kings before the great flood they ruled together over 400,000 years.
So, the story is definitely older than the old Egypt Atlantis story.
In 1900, Hermann Hilprecht excavated a temple library in the ancient holy city of Nippur, Iraq.
Within it, a 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablet was discovered listing all the Sumerian kings since the dawn of time.
Since then, at least 18 other versions have been found.
Though none are identical, they all seem to derive from one ideal source.
According to the Sumerian Kings List, the early kings "descended from the skies" and each ruled for thousands of years.
Then, just as in the Book of Genesis, and what some propose was the fate of Atlantis, cities were swallowed up, and the kings who followed were mortals who ruled for dozens, but no longer for thousands of years.
While mainstream scholars maintain that the Sumerian Kings List is a mix of fact and mythology, I tend to wonder, what if it is real? It could be evidence that the so-called gods or kings were, in fact, extraterrestrials.
When I was in Portugal, I met with author Peter Daughtrey, and in his book, he proposed the idea that maybe Atlantis was in this place called Silves.
And one of the things that he showed me was this megalithic egg.
And on it, it had almost what could be interpreted as a DNA helix.
How do you propose that ancient man knew about this DNA? In old Sumerian times, in old Egyptian times, they knew nothing about genetic.
They knew nothing about DNA.
So, who were the teachers again? Who told them? It's always the same question.
We have Sumerian so-called "cylinder seals," and there you see flying beings, humans with wings.
They, by the way, have always watches on their arms.
And, you see, DNA has always four bases.
And if you see closer in the so-called Tree of Life, and the two winged gods are changing out some of these bases to create something new.
They take one example of our forefathers, they just take one cell out of it, they change the base in the one cell in the DNA code.
They plant the result into the womb of a female of the same species.
After nine months this female will give birth to a child.
The child has, of course, the skeleton, the bone, the body of the family tree.
But because of this artificial mutation, something was changed in the course of evolution.
And you can prove this even in old writings.
My conversation with Erich definitely blows my mind.
Because what he suggests is that the story of Atlantis may date back thousands of years before Plato, and that the people who lived there even had advanced knowledge of genetics.
So as I'm looking at all these different ideas for Atlantis, do you think that Atlantis might've been this culture that was not just in one place, but that maybe it was some type of an empire, or a network of Atlanteans that, uh, were in different places? Plato says it was an island, and partly the island was artificial.
But of course the people from Atlantis, they had scientists, they traveled, they leave their island.
So their knowledge has become part of other societies.
Where do you recommend I go next? Go to Santorini.
Make these pictures, hear, listen around what they tell about Atlantis and what they show you.
Perfect, I shall do that.
Thank you very much.
Of course.
Now that I've spoken with Erich, I am more convinced than ever that I'm on the right path.
But if Atlantis was indeed an advanced civilization that passed on its technology and knowledge to the local population, what happened to it? Was it destroyed by some natural disaster like an earthquake or a volcano? Or was it something else? Something out of this world? For my last stop, I've traveled to the Greek island of Santorini, an island in the Mediterranean.
It is all that remains of a much larger landmass that was destroyed by a huge volcanic eruption thousands of years ago.
And there are many who believe it to be the actual location of the lost island of Atlantis.
At this point, I'm beginning to think that there may be something much more to the story of Atlantis than anyone can imagine.
Something so incredible that I myself can hardly believe it.
So, to help me explore my theory, I'm meeting with Greek writer and Atlantis investigator Jonathan Bright.
I mean, perfect place to meet.
The most magical island in the world.
And I can't wait to find out what you have to tell me.
So, what do you think happened here to Santorini and when? During the eruption, which happened around 1600 BC, this whole part went down.
What has convinced many researchers that Santorini was once the actual location of Atlantis is its unique, semicircular shape.
But although it certainly bears a similarity to Plato's description of a circular island, much of it appears to have been destroyed by a volcano thousands of years ago.
Our first stop on Santorini is the ruins of the once wealthy Minoan seaport of Akrotiri.
When the volcano here erupted approximately 3,600 years ago, Akrotiri was covered in ash and preserved in time just like Pompeii in Italy.
This is truly amazing.
Akrotiri was occupied as far back as 4000 BC and the ancient buildings here suggest a highly advanced society equipped with surprisingly sophisticated technology for the time.
Three-story-high buildings featuring hot and cold water, and there's even evidence of four different languages spoken here.
But could this really be Atlantis? The mythical city that suddenly vanished in a single day and night? Do you know if any bodies were found here, like for example, at Pompeii, after the eruption of the Vesuvius? Has something similar been found here in the ash? There are no bodies that have been dug up, - from this place.
- Really? No bodies have been dug up? Yes.
No, it's kind of a mystery here.
I mean, that's very strange.
It's as if they had foresight that this eruption might happen.
Mm-hmm.
The ruins of Akrotiri clearly show evidence of advanced architecture, concepts of an organized society, and perhaps even the knowledge of a pending disaster that might destroy the island.
What do you think are some of the most interesting finds that have been discovered here? There are many important frescos that have been found in the walls.
I have some things to say about this, but I would better show you the proper place to say that.
Let's go.
As Jonathan and I are headed over to see the Akrotiri frescos, I was reminded of the ancient legends about an advanced race of supposedly mythical beings called the Telchines.
According to Greek mythology, the Telchines were sea creatures with flippers for hands and heads that looked like dogs.
They were eventually destroyed because the so-called gods feared they were becoming too powerful.
But what makes the Telchines particularly interesting is that, that, according to legend, it was they who raised Poseidon from childhood and also used their advanced metallurgy skills to make his powerful trident.
Is it possible that these hybrid beings were the real architects of Atlantis? Really, really great.
The elaborate frescos at Akrotiri are believed to date from before 1600 BC.
Truly, something else.
Many depict city scenes a goddess with a winged griffin and even blue monkeys making offerings.
Very interesting.
But what really caught my eye was one that featured a number of mysterious men dressed in feathers, almost like feather cloaks.
But were they priests? Kings? Or could they have been depictions of angels or other winged beings, like, for example, the Anunnaki? Had I found Atlantis after all? Or something that may have been directly inspired by it? Nevertheless, one thing is certain something powerful definitely happened at Akrotiri.
The more pieces of the puzzle I gather, the more I get to see the full picture.
And I find it interesting that once again, here in Santorini, some things fit Plato's clues about Atlantis but some don't.
The final destination on my hunt for Atlantis is the very top of the island of Santorini.
It's a real hike, but the views are definitely worth it and so are the mysterious megaliths found there.
What would compel an ancient people to build such a large complex on top of a mountain? Check out this wall right here.
We're on Santorini at the highest peak in an ancient site called Ancient Thera and this wall right here is, as you can tell, massive.
Walls like this not only exist in Greece but in Italy in Spain in Egypt and halfway across the world in South America.
So the fact that this wall exists here at one of the most inaccessible places seems like it is insane.
There had to have been a reason why this is here.
What if those stories of the Greek gods descending from the skies really, at some point, were true? Further down the mountain, I met once again with writer Jonathan Bright and discovered that he has an interesting take on how Santorini might be linked to the legend of Atlantis.
This place reminds me of the Enochian story where in the beginning, we see that a group of angels descends on the summit of a mountain Mount Hermon, the mythical mount and, like Poseidon, we see in Plato's story that did, and they make children with them, they begat children by them.
Mount Hermon is in the Golan Heights, between Israel and Lebanon.
According to the Book of Enoch, a group of so-called "watchers" descended here and mated with local women.
And this is exactly the same story Plato writes about concerning Atlantis, where Poseidon sired an entire race.
It happens also that in the place that they call the "Wheel of Giants" there is a huge monument from 5,000 years old now with concentric circles and the high walls of stones, the same traditions that we see related to Atlantis.
That's very interesting, and, you know, and of course, the legends that are corresponding with this place up here are very interesting, that something significant, something "sacred" happened up here a very long time ago.
And they weren't angels in the sense as we think of angels today.
Meeting with Jonathan and coming to Santorini has helped me to see Atlantis from a whole new perspective.
I'm starting to think that, what if Plato's stories about Atlantis are directly linked to similar stories about the arrival of the gods that appear to have occurred on mountaintops such as Mount Hermon and other mountains all around the world? I'm also reminded of the Greek legend of Asteria, the Titan goddess of falling stars.
In order to escape the advances of Zeus, she turned into a quail and then flung herself into the sea, where she transformed into a magical island.
Okay.
And if you learn anything new in the hunt for Atlantis, let me know.
- And thank you very much - I will.
For showing me all these different places.
- It's been a true honor.
- Nice meeting you.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
What an amazing journey.
The hunt for Atlantis has taken me to Athens, Portugal, Switzerland and Santorini, an island in the Mediterranean.
And I've had the chance to meet with some really cool researchers.
But this last stop has me convinced that the lost city of Atlantis was probably not an island at all, but maybe some sort of a flying craft.
Perhaps this is why Atlantis has been reported to have existed at various locations around the globe why it seemingly disappeared in one day and one night and why no evidence of it has ever been found.
Could it be that the powerful influence of the Atlantean perhaps extraterrestrial culture and highly advanced technology inspired early humans to copy them to build cities on the same spots where their craft once landed and even worship them as gods? Of course, my theory will still require more investigation, and hopefully, proof.
The planet we live on is billions of years old, but we humans walk the earth for only an instant.
Shouldn't we spend our brief time here asking questions? What if we could discover amazing things if only we would just open our eyes, challenge our minds, and pursue the truth? In search of aliens.