Ancient Aliens s06e11 Episode Script
Aliens and Mysterious Mountains
Unexplained sightings at 10,000 feet This was a very odd thing that was captured.
I mean, off-the-charts dramatic.
strange creatures on remote cliffs They are somewhere between a bird and a person, but in a very frightening form.
and ancient warfare waged above the clouds.
I'm talking about a functioning military outpost in the mountains for an all-out war between extraterrestrials.
Are mysterious stories surrounding our highest peaks simply tall tales? Or is it possible that Earth's greatest mountains have been secretly inhabited by alien civilizations? They are the closest points to the sky and the world that exists up there.
Which makes them the perfect place of communication between this world and the next.
Millions of people around the world believe we have been visited in the past by extraterrestrial beings.
What if it were true? Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history? And if so, might the ultimate proof be hidden on the Earth's most mysterious mountains? Nepal, 2007.
Here, in a remote area of the Himalayan mountain range, researchers scale a cliff crumbling from erosion in order to explore one of the world's greatest archaeological mysteries: the sky caves of the ancient kingdom of Mustang.
There are over 10,000 of these man-made caves tunneled all around the Mustang region.
Many have yet to be explored.
Entry is not only dangerous, but nearly impossible, even with The caves of Mustang are absolutely amazing because they're in a very fragile, friable rock.
That is, it breaks off very easily, it's very hard to scale, to try to get up to them.
These caves appear to be human carved; to be cut out by humans.
No one really knows who carved these caves initially because they seem to go back to such a very, very early period.
Hidden inside, researchers find art, artifacts, and religious texts, dating back to at least the 1400s and some much, much older.
Among the most stunning of the discoveries is a mural composed of 55 panels depicting scenes from the life of the spiritual They have images of Buddha's various life scenes of the Buddha.
So, perhaps it was used for a ritual purpose, perhaps used as a meditation purpose.
We do not know why particularly Buddhist deities have been painted, uh, in some of these, uh, caves.
But how and why did this unknown ancient civilization scale nearly 155 feet of sheer vertical rock wall to create these caverns in the mountainside? And why are the caves covered with images of the life of Buddha? Mankind has been drawn to mountains for centuries.
Across ancient civilizations, the world's highest peaks were often viewed as sacred and home to all-powerful gods.
But why do so many different cultures throughout history share this belief that mountains have a divine connection? Mountains have fascinated people all over the world for thousands and thousands of years.
They seem to be a way to ascend to the heavens or to get as close to the heavens as we can here on this planet.
In many mythologies, they were imagined as the dwelling place of the gods.
The idea that the mountains would be the homes of the gods shows up in Norse tradition, in India, in Japan, all over.
The ruler, the god, the great power, would want to have the view from above.
This is transcendence, this is getting the big picture.
So we imagine that there is a kind of control tower or control center up in the mountains that helps the gods rule wisely from above.
They are the closest points to the sky and the world that exists up there, which makes them the perfect place of communication between this world and the next.
The gods are said to use them when they come down.
They are places of otherworldly activity.
Were mountains around the world really home to divine or perhaps extraterrestrial beings? Beings who used these extreme elevations to observe and communicate with mankind? Many ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and as evidence they point to the mountain that is most famously associated with powerful gods of the ancient world.
Mt.
Olympus, Greece.
Rising over 9,500 feet, this sacred mountain is the second tallest in the Balkan peninsula.
According to ancient myth, it was also the chosen home of immortal deities known as the Olympians.
Mt.
Olympus hides a particularly mysterious abode where the gods live in perfect, immortal repose for all of their existence.
Even nowadays, clouds gather around the top of it.
That's where it is assumed that the abode of the gods was, up in the clouds that you aren't able to see.
Mt.
Olympus was viewed as sacred by the ancient Greeks, and the city of Dion, located at the foot of the mountain, became a major center of pilgrimage and religious worship in the 5th century B.
C.
Dion was at the base of Mt.
Olympus and it was believed to be a power spot.
In 4th century B.
C.
, Alexander the Great came to Dion before launching off on his vast conquest of Asia.
There is something about this place, something very important related to the mountain.
The Greeks were fascinated by Mt.
Olympus, and they believed that real people, real gods were living up there.
When they saw lighting flashes, storm clouds, and when there were natural disasters, they believed the gods were angry.
The Olympians were huge sky beings who descended on Earth and had a headquarters at Mt.
Olympus.
They interacted with humans.
And the ancients believed that they were real beings.
For many years, historians believed the Greek stories were complete myth.
But then in 1870, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schleimann discovered Troy.
Similarly, we have the story of the Oracle at Delphi and the god Apollo speaking through the Oracle.
Archaeologists have now found the exact spot where the Oracle at Delphi sat.
So now we know that some of the Greek stories are genuine.
So was it possible that the stories of the Olympians are also true? It's possible that they were actually extraterrestrial beings who came here to influence humankind.
.
Could the myths of Ancient Greece be true? Was Mount Olympus home to gods living here on planet Earth? And if so, might those powerful deities have been extraterrestrials, as some ancient astronaut theorists believe? According to the accounts of the Greek poet Hesiod from the eighth century BC, the Olympians were the children of the Titans, another generation of gods thought to occupy nearby Mount Othrys.
Fed up with the oppressive rule of the Titans, the Olympians waged a brutal rebellion against them, using Mount Olympus as their base.
The command was done from the mountains and the battle took place in the plains between the mountains.
And the battle went on and on.
The Olympians prevailed finally capturing the Titans.
Whenever we have references to Mount Olympus, it is described to be this magnificent palace, and the temple walls were always gleaming of gold, or gleaming with silver, and a lot of little lights that they described as jewels, some blinking lights and all those things.
Well, if you look at that from a modern perspective, what if Mount Olympus and Mount Othrys were basically the command posts where the Olympian and the Titans drew up their battle plans.
And when I say command posts I'm talking about a functioning military outpost in the mountains for an all-out war between extraterrestrials.
Could the stories of the war between the Olympians and the Titans actually be describing a battle between extraterrestrial forces? And did Mount Olympus and Mount Othrys serve as their tactical military bases? And if so, might there be other strategic reasons why extraterrestrials may have chosen mountains as their point of contact with Earth? Ancient astronaut theorists say the evidence can be found in a mysterious mountain dwelling where a prince ascended to the stars.
Hubei Province, Central China.
Covering an area of over 100 square miles, Wudang Mountain has long served as the sacred center of China's oldest surviving religion Taoism.
This ancient religion emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao, the energy that is the driving force behind everything that exists in the universe.
Located high in the mist-covered peaks and cliffs of Wudang Mountain is a remarkable Taoist complex of temples and palaces.
Some dating back to the seventh century A.
D.
This is where Taoism began.
And this mountain is still revered today.
Very sacred mountain.
Many pilgrims go there to experience some of these temples.
Some that are devoted to Taoist philosophy, others to martial arts.
The most famous temple of all is called the Nanyan Temple.
All the features in this temple are built right into the side of a mountain.
And it's considered one of the most important temples in all of China.
According to accounts from the Song Dynasty, it was here that the Taoist hero Zhenwu abandoned his role as a prince to seek spiritual enlightenment in the Wudang Mountains in the 27th Century BC.
The stories of Zhenwu describe him as possessing many magical abilities, including the power to summon thunder and lightning.
Zhenwu translates as, uh, "the perfected warrior.
" And he was particularly solicited for his exorcistic healing powers and also for protecting the nation.
He was a very, powerful protective deity.
Perhaps the most famous account of Zhenwu's incredible abilities is believed to have taken place on the very location of the Nanyan Temple itself.
The Nanyan Temple has a very peculiar site.
It's marked by a 2.
9-meter horizontal pillar or beam that extends over a very deep ravine right below it.
And at the end of this pillar or beam, you have an incense burner that has been placed where the heads of two dragons meet.
It's believed that this pillar marks the spot where Zhenwu first fathomed the cosmic truths of Taoism.
And upon fathoming these truths, he straddled two dragons, and ascended up to the skies.
Zhenwu flew upward.
He flew onto his reward, to transcendence itself, and became one with heaven.
And this gives a sense of the connection between the divine and the mountains.
So it is considered a central shrine in the Taoist tradition, a place of great holiness.
It is also spectacularly beautiful.
I find the story of Zhenwu interesting because we have another example of somebody having disappeared into the sky when he left.
He took off back into the sky to to return to the stars.
Now what does that mean, riding on a dragon? Because dragons as we think of them today never existed.
They were misunderstood technology, misunderstood machines.
So you have to wonder if this dragon that they were describing isn't really some kind of spaceship? If Zhenwu was using the Wudang Mountain and the cliff face that was so inaccessible as his launching pad to make his journeys, the people down below would look up and they would see this fiery dragon and lights in the sky and a roar of flame and thunder and to them it was a dragon.
People were so blown away by this that it not only becomes legend, it becomes religion, and it becomes the center piece of faith.
When we see the Nanyan Temple, we're seeing some sort of physical artifact left behind to support the notion that Zhenwu was able to reach the top of this mountain and then head directly into the heavens.
A very real report of extraterrestrial and human interaction which was then documented with the construction of this temple.
Was Zhenwu an extraterrestrial? Did he use the Wudang Mountain as a launching site for his return to the stars? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and believe it was not the only mountain to be visited by otherworldly beings.
Taticev Kamen, Macedonia, 2001.
Archaeologists investigating this volcanic peak 3,300 feet above sea level discover what they believe to be the remains of a nearly 4,000 year-old observatory.
The Kokino, um, Observatory in Macedonia has been recognized by NASA as one of the most impressive observatories of its kind in the world.
The others being the Cambodian temples and Stonehenge itself.
It's composed of four thrones that were carved out of stone that face east, the direction of the rising sun.
In addition to the four thrones are manmade markers carved into the eastern rock wall that track celestial movements with remarkable precision.
This location also tracks the movement of the sun, tracking the solstices, and the equinoxes.
And in fact, they've discovered that the Kokino Observatory is a kind of lunar calendar that shows the phases of the moon and the 19-year eclipse cycle, which is something that Stonehenge does, as well.
So what we're looking at here is something that is very advanced knowledge, and we don't know where they got this from.
It tracks the movement of the moon, and also the movement and location of the Pleiades.
In many ancient cultures throughout the world including the Egyptians, Greeks, Mayans, Celts, and numerous Native American tribes the Pleiades Star Cluster is associated with the gods, and in some cases, even the origins of the human race.
The earliest known depiction of this star cluster is an artifact known as the Nebra Sky Disk, which dates back to approximately the 17th century BC the same time period most archaeologists believe the Kokino Observatory was built.
But, according to Ancient Astronaut theorists, a connection to the Pleiades is not the only aspect of Kokino that is curiously similar to other ancient cultures.
What I find fascinating about Kokino is that these stone thrones aren't exclusive to Kokino.
But those stone thrones can be found all around the world.
In fact, we find the exact same structures at Sacsayhuaman in Peru, in Greece, in Italy.
When you put all this together, it makes one wonder if in fact this was a site that was visited long ago by star beings or extraterrestrials.
And that they who created this observatory were perhaps commemorating something that they experienced as a result of an encounter with these beings.
Is the Kokino Observatory evidence of an otherworldly presence in the mountains of Macedonia? Did extraterrestrials use locations like these to share scientific knowledge with early humans? Ancient Astronaut theorists say yes, and as further proof, they point to numerous cultures that believe otherworldly beings visit the mountains even to this day.
The Peruvian Andes.
Tens of thousands of people from all over the region journey to the Sinakara Valley, near Ausangate Mountain for the Quyllur Rit'I or Snow Star Festival.
Historical records show that local Catholics adopted this annual celebration back in 1780, but most experts agree it likely dates back hundreds and possibly thousands of years earlier.
And although no one knows exactly when or why the Snow Star Festival was started, oral traditions maintain that it has always been tied to a star cluster the native Quecha people call Collca or as it's known to many other cultures, the Pleiades the same star cluster that is tracked by the Kokino Observatory in Macedonia.
The Quyllur Rit'I Festival seems to go back to a much earlier festival that ties in literally with the stars, in particular, the Pleiades, which disappears in April in the southern hemisphere from the view in that area and then reappears in June.
And this can be tied to agricultural seasons.
Is it merely coincidence that an ancient mountain observatory in Macedonia and an ancient mountain festival 7,000 miles away in Peru, are both associated with the Pleiades Star Cluster? Perhaps further clues can be found in the rituals of the Snow Star Festival.
The Quecha people, descendants of the ancient Incas, return to this location every year to be surrounded by four sacred mountains.
In hopes of gaining good fortune, they spend several days dressed in traditional costumes, dancing, and making ceremonial offerings to the apu, the spirits of the mountains.
In the ancient civilization of the Incas, there is a belief that there are spirits in the mountains.
They're called apu.
And ceremonial leaders, chieftains, priests can make connection, can get some wisdom and guidance.
They are benevolent spirits.
Each mountain has its own apu spirit.
The apus are supernatural things but they are not deities, so people are not necessarily praying to them.
Rather they are in a relationship with them, asking them for the favor that they can provide.
The Incans were very specific in believing that the apu actually existed as tangible entities who they were interacting with, and who they were, in fact, very much beholden to for their technology, for their civilization.
You have to wonder if these apus were in fact extraterrestrials that the Incas were in contact with.
And today, the people return to these mountains to have some kind of contact and perhaps advice from the apus.
Might the apu have been extraterrestrial beings? Beings who came to Earth from the Pleiades Star Cluster and interacted with the Incans in ancient times? Perhaps the answers can be found in the culmination of the festival itself.
At the close of the celebration, select members of the Quecha community prepare to make the treacherous journey up the mountain glacier.
They go in search of ice they refer to as the "snow star.
" The pilgrims go up to the top of the mountain and they ask the apu if they can have some of this ice.
It's intentionally something that is supposed to be grueling.
Some people have even been known to die along the way.
That particular ice is supposed to have healing properties.
And those that take the journey have good health for the rest of their life.
So it is a gift from the apus that they go and take and bring back down to the village.
They believe the glacier ice has unique healing capabilities.
Now, it is possible the presence of an extraterrestrial craft, which the indigenous people may refer to as a star, as it landed, created some sort of intrinsic energy to the ice in that area, giving that ice actually a tangible healing Throughout the ancient world, we learn of extraterrestrials depositing treasures and knowledge in sacred mountains.
It's possible that that's what we're seeing here with the Snow Star ritual.
It's very name tells us that it comes from beyond the Earth.
Did extraterrestrials really visit the mountains of Peru? And might they have left behind healing technology in the glacial ice of the Andes? If so, might there be evidence in other parts of the world that mountains served as points of connection between humans and otherworldly beings? Shandong Province, China.
Referred to as the "cosmic peak of the East", Mt.
Tai has been a site of pilgrimage and worship Mt.
Tai is considered an extremely powerful place, a place where people can communicate with the divine.
In Chinese antiquity, 72 emperors were believed to have made the pilgrimage to Mt.
Tai.
They would do ceremonies there that were crucial to their reign, If they did the ceremonies correctly, they gained the approval of the gods and the legitimacy that stems from that.
If they made a mistake, an entire dynasty could be in trouble.
In 110 B.
C.
, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made the first of several journeys to Mt.
Tai during his reign.
According to the historical accounts of scribe Sima Qian, mysterious sightings were reported during his time on the mountain.
There seems to have been a beam of light that appeared off into the horizon.
And there was a mysterious white cloud that emerged from the mound where the sacrifice is performed.
In the historical record, a white cloud and a beam of light appeared as though he summoned them.
So what is really being described here? And why must his followers stay behind? It reads much more like an encounter with some type of an extraterrestrial craft that was misinterpreted as some type of a divine event.
The Chinese believe that the emperors were actually communicating with the gods.
So it's possible that in fact the ETs were guiding Chinese civilization through their leaders.
Were the emperors of ancient China in contact with extraterrestrials? And might this story suggest that mountains like Mt.
Tai served as a kind of communication portal to places beyond the Earth? Perhaps the answers can be found not on the tops of mountains, but on the tops of man-made structures found all over the world.
Shikoku, Japan.
Here, towering 6,500 feet over this ancient island, is Mt.
Ishizuchi, one of the most revered mountains in all of Japan.
The sharp summit is called "Tengudake," named after the fearsome demons known as "Tengu" thought to live not only here, but in mountains all over Japan.
These are fierce birdlike creatures.
They are frightening to look at.
They've got feathers, of course, and sharp teeth, They've got claws and beaks, and yet they are persons.
They are somewhere between a bird and a person, but in a very frightening form.
The Karasu Tengu, which translates as "crow Tengu," are born out of these giant eggs.
And these creatures are typically very mischievous and even malevolent towards humans.
They like to play tricks on them.
They like to make them lose their way in the mountain.
They often kidnap people as well.
One story about the Tengu concerns Mt.
Ishizuchi: a six-year-old boy went missing at the top of the mountain, Tengu peak.
When they asked him what had happened, he said that he had left the trail, and that a all-black humanlike figure from behind said, "If you are lost, I will help you.
Close your eyes.
" And the next thing he knew he was back home safe and sound.
Belief in the Tengu was widespread.
In fact, as recently as 1860, the Edo government posted an official notice to the Tengu, ordering them to evacuate the mountains before a Shogun's upcoming visit.
But did these strange and powerful beings really exist? And if so, what were the Tengu? All over the world we have stories of what we call birdmen like the Tengu.
And these are men that are often depicted with wings on their backs, they're able to fly.
And you have to wonder if really these aren't some kind of extraterrestrials and that the wings are purely symbolic.
But they're called bird-men and have wings because they can fly.
They can fly in their spaceships.
The biggest creatures, or the biggest gods that we can talk about with wings are none other than the Anunnaki.
And to this day, in museums all around the world, we can see them as these winged majestic beings with muscular bodies and these massive wings.
The Sumerian mythologies proclaim that the Anunnaki will return one day.
And so the question is, is it possible that they never left? And what better place to go than the mountains? Because it would be a logical place to escape detection.
Might the accounts of the Tengu really be describing Anunnaki? Did the same beings that walked amongst the ancient Sumerians take refuge in the mountains of Japan? And if so, might they also have hidden in other mountains throughout the world? Tenerife, Canary Islands.
Reaching a height of over 24,000 feet from its base under the ocean, Mt.
Teide is the third-largest volcano in the world.
The surrounding region was once home to the mysterious Guanche people, thought to live on the islands as far back as 200 B.
C.
After the Spanish invaded in the and traditions quickly disappeared but some archaeologists believe a series of pyramids found near Mt.
Teide were built by the Gaunche, and may provide more clues about this ancient civilization.
The Guanche people are fascinating because there is so much that we don't know about them.
The Guanche people are a real mystery.
They mummified their dead.
So we're able to obtain what information we do have about them through looking at some of these mummies.
The Guanche were also pyramid builders.
And the pyramids that they are building resemble the earliest step pyramids in Egypt, but also the step pyramids that we see throughout the Mayan culture.
Quite close to Mount Teide, there are a series of pyramids that seem to have some relationship to the mountain or volcano.
And they may have even been representations of that mountain itself.
But they also were places of communication with the gods.
But who those gods were is lost today.
But for what purpose were the Mount Teide pyramids built? Were they meant to be places of worship? Or could it be, as ancient astronaut theorists suggest, that they were constructed to welcome otherworldly visitors? Perhaps the answers can be found in the mythology of the Guanche people.
The Gauche also believed that Mount Teide was a huge pyramid put there by the gods.
They also believed that they are seeing gods coming and going from this mountain, but perhaps what they're really seeing is extraterrestrial vehicles coming and going from the mountain.
The ancient Egyptians called their step pyramids "the stairway to heaven.
" And maintained that the gods themselves taught them how to build these structures.
It's possible that the Gauche step pyramids were built based on instructions from the same gods.
And that they, too, are portals or gateways to heaven.
Is it possible that the Guanche people built these pyramids not for mythical gods, but as launching pads for actual beings that visited them in the distant past? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and point to strange sightings that continue around Mount Teide even to this day.
That region has had more than its share of interesting U.
F.
O.
sightings.
Not just of U.
F.
O.
sightings, but really dramatic, I mean off- the-charts dramatic U.
F.
O.
sightings.
In June of 1976, people on the ground saw this glowing large three-story high almost like a globe that at times was transparent, and in fact, the Spanish military investigated this particular case.
And they were left with something that was truly unknown, truly extraordinary.
Did the Guanche people witness extraterrestrials coming and going from Mount Teide in the distant past? Many ancient astronaut theorists believe that not only have aliens landed on mountains, but that they may even have created elaborate bases deep inside of them.
Bugarach, France.
Believing that the end of the Mayan calendar is a prediction of the apocalypse, thousands descend on this mountain village, hoping to be rescued by extraterrestrials.
Bugarach has been known as a holy mountain since time immemorial in this part of France.
There is something truly magnetic about this mountain that is bringing people to come and watch it.
There is so much U.
F.
O.
activity, there are so many unidentified lights, unidentified objects that are seen around that mountain.
That people come from all over Europe to observe Bugarach.
All throughout the mountain is a vast labyrinth of limestone caves.
These limestone caves have led a number of people to believe that this is actually some kind of alien base.
That extraterrestrials are living inside the mountain, and in fact they've been living there for thousands of years.
So, what happened in 2012, is that all sorts of doomsday groups flocked to the area, because they felt like it would be the only place that would be safe from the devastation and destruction that would engulf the entire planet.
They believed that the aliens were going to come out and protect anybody who was encamped in the area, and that they would be the ones who would start the new world that would come afterwards.
Could extraterrestrials really be living inside a mountain in France, remaining undetected for thousands of years? And if so, might there be other similar mountains secretly housing otherworldly civilizations? Mount Shasta, California.
Dominating the landscape at over inspired strange and incredible stories for thousands of years.
The local Native Americans have always felt there was something special about Mount Shasta.
It was thought that humankind actually originated from within Mount Shasta.
That there was a great cataclysm and that the people of planet Earth actually hid within the mountain.
When the cataclysm had passed, the people were able to come out of Mount Shasta and repopulate the world.
A book came out in the 1890s proposing the idea that there was a culture that lived within subterranean chambers in Mount Shasta.
Over the years, there have been a number of very significant U.
F.
O.
sightings around Mount Shasta and you have to wonder why is that the case? I don't think we can rule out the idea of some sort of permanent presence buried deep within Mount Shasta itself.
Could alien beings really be living on planet Earth hidden inside mountains? And, if so, might they have built advanced civilizations, not only within Mount Shasta but in mountains across the world? Great mountains have been objects of fascination and veneration for as long as we have stories.
They reach to the heavens.
They have hidden crevices and caves.
They are also dangerous.
So we have the severity, issues of life and death.
So in every corner of the planet, there have been special and sacred mountains.
Throughout the world we find myths and legends of sacred mountains that are not only landing places or places where the gods or star beings descended, but also places that became their sanctuary.
And humans have been almost magnetically attracted to these places since the beginning of recorded history.
So, it's entirely possible that the extraterrestrials set up space bases in mountains all over the world.
That way they could watch humanity, help guide us, and if necessary intervene again in human affairs as they had done in the past.
And perhaps this is why we're drawn to mountains.
We instinctively know that the extraterrestrial gods are there.
And always have been.
Are the Earth's mountains really the sites of alien visitations that occurred thousands of years ago? Did extraterrestrials use remote mountain peaks to interact with early man? To guide the course of our civilization? Or simply to live among us undetected? Might this explain why humans continue to worship mountains as places of divine, or even otherworldly connection? Perhaps one day we'll discover that not only were our mountains inhabited by extraterrestrials in the distant past, but that, in fact they still are.
I mean, off-the-charts dramatic.
strange creatures on remote cliffs They are somewhere between a bird and a person, but in a very frightening form.
and ancient warfare waged above the clouds.
I'm talking about a functioning military outpost in the mountains for an all-out war between extraterrestrials.
Are mysterious stories surrounding our highest peaks simply tall tales? Or is it possible that Earth's greatest mountains have been secretly inhabited by alien civilizations? They are the closest points to the sky and the world that exists up there.
Which makes them the perfect place of communication between this world and the next.
Millions of people around the world believe we have been visited in the past by extraterrestrial beings.
What if it were true? Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history? And if so, might the ultimate proof be hidden on the Earth's most mysterious mountains? Nepal, 2007.
Here, in a remote area of the Himalayan mountain range, researchers scale a cliff crumbling from erosion in order to explore one of the world's greatest archaeological mysteries: the sky caves of the ancient kingdom of Mustang.
There are over 10,000 of these man-made caves tunneled all around the Mustang region.
Many have yet to be explored.
Entry is not only dangerous, but nearly impossible, even with The caves of Mustang are absolutely amazing because they're in a very fragile, friable rock.
That is, it breaks off very easily, it's very hard to scale, to try to get up to them.
These caves appear to be human carved; to be cut out by humans.
No one really knows who carved these caves initially because they seem to go back to such a very, very early period.
Hidden inside, researchers find art, artifacts, and religious texts, dating back to at least the 1400s and some much, much older.
Among the most stunning of the discoveries is a mural composed of 55 panels depicting scenes from the life of the spiritual They have images of Buddha's various life scenes of the Buddha.
So, perhaps it was used for a ritual purpose, perhaps used as a meditation purpose.
We do not know why particularly Buddhist deities have been painted, uh, in some of these, uh, caves.
But how and why did this unknown ancient civilization scale nearly 155 feet of sheer vertical rock wall to create these caverns in the mountainside? And why are the caves covered with images of the life of Buddha? Mankind has been drawn to mountains for centuries.
Across ancient civilizations, the world's highest peaks were often viewed as sacred and home to all-powerful gods.
But why do so many different cultures throughout history share this belief that mountains have a divine connection? Mountains have fascinated people all over the world for thousands and thousands of years.
They seem to be a way to ascend to the heavens or to get as close to the heavens as we can here on this planet.
In many mythologies, they were imagined as the dwelling place of the gods.
The idea that the mountains would be the homes of the gods shows up in Norse tradition, in India, in Japan, all over.
The ruler, the god, the great power, would want to have the view from above.
This is transcendence, this is getting the big picture.
So we imagine that there is a kind of control tower or control center up in the mountains that helps the gods rule wisely from above.
They are the closest points to the sky and the world that exists up there, which makes them the perfect place of communication between this world and the next.
The gods are said to use them when they come down.
They are places of otherworldly activity.
Were mountains around the world really home to divine or perhaps extraterrestrial beings? Beings who used these extreme elevations to observe and communicate with mankind? Many ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and as evidence they point to the mountain that is most famously associated with powerful gods of the ancient world.
Mt.
Olympus, Greece.
Rising over 9,500 feet, this sacred mountain is the second tallest in the Balkan peninsula.
According to ancient myth, it was also the chosen home of immortal deities known as the Olympians.
Mt.
Olympus hides a particularly mysterious abode where the gods live in perfect, immortal repose for all of their existence.
Even nowadays, clouds gather around the top of it.
That's where it is assumed that the abode of the gods was, up in the clouds that you aren't able to see.
Mt.
Olympus was viewed as sacred by the ancient Greeks, and the city of Dion, located at the foot of the mountain, became a major center of pilgrimage and religious worship in the 5th century B.
C.
Dion was at the base of Mt.
Olympus and it was believed to be a power spot.
In 4th century B.
C.
, Alexander the Great came to Dion before launching off on his vast conquest of Asia.
There is something about this place, something very important related to the mountain.
The Greeks were fascinated by Mt.
Olympus, and they believed that real people, real gods were living up there.
When they saw lighting flashes, storm clouds, and when there were natural disasters, they believed the gods were angry.
The Olympians were huge sky beings who descended on Earth and had a headquarters at Mt.
Olympus.
They interacted with humans.
And the ancients believed that they were real beings.
For many years, historians believed the Greek stories were complete myth.
But then in 1870, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schleimann discovered Troy.
Similarly, we have the story of the Oracle at Delphi and the god Apollo speaking through the Oracle.
Archaeologists have now found the exact spot where the Oracle at Delphi sat.
So now we know that some of the Greek stories are genuine.
So was it possible that the stories of the Olympians are also true? It's possible that they were actually extraterrestrial beings who came here to influence humankind.
.
Could the myths of Ancient Greece be true? Was Mount Olympus home to gods living here on planet Earth? And if so, might those powerful deities have been extraterrestrials, as some ancient astronaut theorists believe? According to the accounts of the Greek poet Hesiod from the eighth century BC, the Olympians were the children of the Titans, another generation of gods thought to occupy nearby Mount Othrys.
Fed up with the oppressive rule of the Titans, the Olympians waged a brutal rebellion against them, using Mount Olympus as their base.
The command was done from the mountains and the battle took place in the plains between the mountains.
And the battle went on and on.
The Olympians prevailed finally capturing the Titans.
Whenever we have references to Mount Olympus, it is described to be this magnificent palace, and the temple walls were always gleaming of gold, or gleaming with silver, and a lot of little lights that they described as jewels, some blinking lights and all those things.
Well, if you look at that from a modern perspective, what if Mount Olympus and Mount Othrys were basically the command posts where the Olympian and the Titans drew up their battle plans.
And when I say command posts I'm talking about a functioning military outpost in the mountains for an all-out war between extraterrestrials.
Could the stories of the war between the Olympians and the Titans actually be describing a battle between extraterrestrial forces? And did Mount Olympus and Mount Othrys serve as their tactical military bases? And if so, might there be other strategic reasons why extraterrestrials may have chosen mountains as their point of contact with Earth? Ancient astronaut theorists say the evidence can be found in a mysterious mountain dwelling where a prince ascended to the stars.
Hubei Province, Central China.
Covering an area of over 100 square miles, Wudang Mountain has long served as the sacred center of China's oldest surviving religion Taoism.
This ancient religion emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao, the energy that is the driving force behind everything that exists in the universe.
Located high in the mist-covered peaks and cliffs of Wudang Mountain is a remarkable Taoist complex of temples and palaces.
Some dating back to the seventh century A.
D.
This is where Taoism began.
And this mountain is still revered today.
Very sacred mountain.
Many pilgrims go there to experience some of these temples.
Some that are devoted to Taoist philosophy, others to martial arts.
The most famous temple of all is called the Nanyan Temple.
All the features in this temple are built right into the side of a mountain.
And it's considered one of the most important temples in all of China.
According to accounts from the Song Dynasty, it was here that the Taoist hero Zhenwu abandoned his role as a prince to seek spiritual enlightenment in the Wudang Mountains in the 27th Century BC.
The stories of Zhenwu describe him as possessing many magical abilities, including the power to summon thunder and lightning.
Zhenwu translates as, uh, "the perfected warrior.
" And he was particularly solicited for his exorcistic healing powers and also for protecting the nation.
He was a very, powerful protective deity.
Perhaps the most famous account of Zhenwu's incredible abilities is believed to have taken place on the very location of the Nanyan Temple itself.
The Nanyan Temple has a very peculiar site.
It's marked by a 2.
9-meter horizontal pillar or beam that extends over a very deep ravine right below it.
And at the end of this pillar or beam, you have an incense burner that has been placed where the heads of two dragons meet.
It's believed that this pillar marks the spot where Zhenwu first fathomed the cosmic truths of Taoism.
And upon fathoming these truths, he straddled two dragons, and ascended up to the skies.
Zhenwu flew upward.
He flew onto his reward, to transcendence itself, and became one with heaven.
And this gives a sense of the connection between the divine and the mountains.
So it is considered a central shrine in the Taoist tradition, a place of great holiness.
It is also spectacularly beautiful.
I find the story of Zhenwu interesting because we have another example of somebody having disappeared into the sky when he left.
He took off back into the sky to to return to the stars.
Now what does that mean, riding on a dragon? Because dragons as we think of them today never existed.
They were misunderstood technology, misunderstood machines.
So you have to wonder if this dragon that they were describing isn't really some kind of spaceship? If Zhenwu was using the Wudang Mountain and the cliff face that was so inaccessible as his launching pad to make his journeys, the people down below would look up and they would see this fiery dragon and lights in the sky and a roar of flame and thunder and to them it was a dragon.
People were so blown away by this that it not only becomes legend, it becomes religion, and it becomes the center piece of faith.
When we see the Nanyan Temple, we're seeing some sort of physical artifact left behind to support the notion that Zhenwu was able to reach the top of this mountain and then head directly into the heavens.
A very real report of extraterrestrial and human interaction which was then documented with the construction of this temple.
Was Zhenwu an extraterrestrial? Did he use the Wudang Mountain as a launching site for his return to the stars? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and believe it was not the only mountain to be visited by otherworldly beings.
Taticev Kamen, Macedonia, 2001.
Archaeologists investigating this volcanic peak 3,300 feet above sea level discover what they believe to be the remains of a nearly 4,000 year-old observatory.
The Kokino, um, Observatory in Macedonia has been recognized by NASA as one of the most impressive observatories of its kind in the world.
The others being the Cambodian temples and Stonehenge itself.
It's composed of four thrones that were carved out of stone that face east, the direction of the rising sun.
In addition to the four thrones are manmade markers carved into the eastern rock wall that track celestial movements with remarkable precision.
This location also tracks the movement of the sun, tracking the solstices, and the equinoxes.
And in fact, they've discovered that the Kokino Observatory is a kind of lunar calendar that shows the phases of the moon and the 19-year eclipse cycle, which is something that Stonehenge does, as well.
So what we're looking at here is something that is very advanced knowledge, and we don't know where they got this from.
It tracks the movement of the moon, and also the movement and location of the Pleiades.
In many ancient cultures throughout the world including the Egyptians, Greeks, Mayans, Celts, and numerous Native American tribes the Pleiades Star Cluster is associated with the gods, and in some cases, even the origins of the human race.
The earliest known depiction of this star cluster is an artifact known as the Nebra Sky Disk, which dates back to approximately the 17th century BC the same time period most archaeologists believe the Kokino Observatory was built.
But, according to Ancient Astronaut theorists, a connection to the Pleiades is not the only aspect of Kokino that is curiously similar to other ancient cultures.
What I find fascinating about Kokino is that these stone thrones aren't exclusive to Kokino.
But those stone thrones can be found all around the world.
In fact, we find the exact same structures at Sacsayhuaman in Peru, in Greece, in Italy.
When you put all this together, it makes one wonder if in fact this was a site that was visited long ago by star beings or extraterrestrials.
And that they who created this observatory were perhaps commemorating something that they experienced as a result of an encounter with these beings.
Is the Kokino Observatory evidence of an otherworldly presence in the mountains of Macedonia? Did extraterrestrials use locations like these to share scientific knowledge with early humans? Ancient Astronaut theorists say yes, and as further proof, they point to numerous cultures that believe otherworldly beings visit the mountains even to this day.
The Peruvian Andes.
Tens of thousands of people from all over the region journey to the Sinakara Valley, near Ausangate Mountain for the Quyllur Rit'I or Snow Star Festival.
Historical records show that local Catholics adopted this annual celebration back in 1780, but most experts agree it likely dates back hundreds and possibly thousands of years earlier.
And although no one knows exactly when or why the Snow Star Festival was started, oral traditions maintain that it has always been tied to a star cluster the native Quecha people call Collca or as it's known to many other cultures, the Pleiades the same star cluster that is tracked by the Kokino Observatory in Macedonia.
The Quyllur Rit'I Festival seems to go back to a much earlier festival that ties in literally with the stars, in particular, the Pleiades, which disappears in April in the southern hemisphere from the view in that area and then reappears in June.
And this can be tied to agricultural seasons.
Is it merely coincidence that an ancient mountain observatory in Macedonia and an ancient mountain festival 7,000 miles away in Peru, are both associated with the Pleiades Star Cluster? Perhaps further clues can be found in the rituals of the Snow Star Festival.
The Quecha people, descendants of the ancient Incas, return to this location every year to be surrounded by four sacred mountains.
In hopes of gaining good fortune, they spend several days dressed in traditional costumes, dancing, and making ceremonial offerings to the apu, the spirits of the mountains.
In the ancient civilization of the Incas, there is a belief that there are spirits in the mountains.
They're called apu.
And ceremonial leaders, chieftains, priests can make connection, can get some wisdom and guidance.
They are benevolent spirits.
Each mountain has its own apu spirit.
The apus are supernatural things but they are not deities, so people are not necessarily praying to them.
Rather they are in a relationship with them, asking them for the favor that they can provide.
The Incans were very specific in believing that the apu actually existed as tangible entities who they were interacting with, and who they were, in fact, very much beholden to for their technology, for their civilization.
You have to wonder if these apus were in fact extraterrestrials that the Incas were in contact with.
And today, the people return to these mountains to have some kind of contact and perhaps advice from the apus.
Might the apu have been extraterrestrial beings? Beings who came to Earth from the Pleiades Star Cluster and interacted with the Incans in ancient times? Perhaps the answers can be found in the culmination of the festival itself.
At the close of the celebration, select members of the Quecha community prepare to make the treacherous journey up the mountain glacier.
They go in search of ice they refer to as the "snow star.
" The pilgrims go up to the top of the mountain and they ask the apu if they can have some of this ice.
It's intentionally something that is supposed to be grueling.
Some people have even been known to die along the way.
That particular ice is supposed to have healing properties.
And those that take the journey have good health for the rest of their life.
So it is a gift from the apus that they go and take and bring back down to the village.
They believe the glacier ice has unique healing capabilities.
Now, it is possible the presence of an extraterrestrial craft, which the indigenous people may refer to as a star, as it landed, created some sort of intrinsic energy to the ice in that area, giving that ice actually a tangible healing Throughout the ancient world, we learn of extraterrestrials depositing treasures and knowledge in sacred mountains.
It's possible that that's what we're seeing here with the Snow Star ritual.
It's very name tells us that it comes from beyond the Earth.
Did extraterrestrials really visit the mountains of Peru? And might they have left behind healing technology in the glacial ice of the Andes? If so, might there be evidence in other parts of the world that mountains served as points of connection between humans and otherworldly beings? Shandong Province, China.
Referred to as the "cosmic peak of the East", Mt.
Tai has been a site of pilgrimage and worship Mt.
Tai is considered an extremely powerful place, a place where people can communicate with the divine.
In Chinese antiquity, 72 emperors were believed to have made the pilgrimage to Mt.
Tai.
They would do ceremonies there that were crucial to their reign, If they did the ceremonies correctly, they gained the approval of the gods and the legitimacy that stems from that.
If they made a mistake, an entire dynasty could be in trouble.
In 110 B.
C.
, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made the first of several journeys to Mt.
Tai during his reign.
According to the historical accounts of scribe Sima Qian, mysterious sightings were reported during his time on the mountain.
There seems to have been a beam of light that appeared off into the horizon.
And there was a mysterious white cloud that emerged from the mound where the sacrifice is performed.
In the historical record, a white cloud and a beam of light appeared as though he summoned them.
So what is really being described here? And why must his followers stay behind? It reads much more like an encounter with some type of an extraterrestrial craft that was misinterpreted as some type of a divine event.
The Chinese believe that the emperors were actually communicating with the gods.
So it's possible that in fact the ETs were guiding Chinese civilization through their leaders.
Were the emperors of ancient China in contact with extraterrestrials? And might this story suggest that mountains like Mt.
Tai served as a kind of communication portal to places beyond the Earth? Perhaps the answers can be found not on the tops of mountains, but on the tops of man-made structures found all over the world.
Shikoku, Japan.
Here, towering 6,500 feet over this ancient island, is Mt.
Ishizuchi, one of the most revered mountains in all of Japan.
The sharp summit is called "Tengudake," named after the fearsome demons known as "Tengu" thought to live not only here, but in mountains all over Japan.
These are fierce birdlike creatures.
They are frightening to look at.
They've got feathers, of course, and sharp teeth, They've got claws and beaks, and yet they are persons.
They are somewhere between a bird and a person, but in a very frightening form.
The Karasu Tengu, which translates as "crow Tengu," are born out of these giant eggs.
And these creatures are typically very mischievous and even malevolent towards humans.
They like to play tricks on them.
They like to make them lose their way in the mountain.
They often kidnap people as well.
One story about the Tengu concerns Mt.
Ishizuchi: a six-year-old boy went missing at the top of the mountain, Tengu peak.
When they asked him what had happened, he said that he had left the trail, and that a all-black humanlike figure from behind said, "If you are lost, I will help you.
Close your eyes.
" And the next thing he knew he was back home safe and sound.
Belief in the Tengu was widespread.
In fact, as recently as 1860, the Edo government posted an official notice to the Tengu, ordering them to evacuate the mountains before a Shogun's upcoming visit.
But did these strange and powerful beings really exist? And if so, what were the Tengu? All over the world we have stories of what we call birdmen like the Tengu.
And these are men that are often depicted with wings on their backs, they're able to fly.
And you have to wonder if really these aren't some kind of extraterrestrials and that the wings are purely symbolic.
But they're called bird-men and have wings because they can fly.
They can fly in their spaceships.
The biggest creatures, or the biggest gods that we can talk about with wings are none other than the Anunnaki.
And to this day, in museums all around the world, we can see them as these winged majestic beings with muscular bodies and these massive wings.
The Sumerian mythologies proclaim that the Anunnaki will return one day.
And so the question is, is it possible that they never left? And what better place to go than the mountains? Because it would be a logical place to escape detection.
Might the accounts of the Tengu really be describing Anunnaki? Did the same beings that walked amongst the ancient Sumerians take refuge in the mountains of Japan? And if so, might they also have hidden in other mountains throughout the world? Tenerife, Canary Islands.
Reaching a height of over 24,000 feet from its base under the ocean, Mt.
Teide is the third-largest volcano in the world.
The surrounding region was once home to the mysterious Guanche people, thought to live on the islands as far back as 200 B.
C.
After the Spanish invaded in the and traditions quickly disappeared but some archaeologists believe a series of pyramids found near Mt.
Teide were built by the Gaunche, and may provide more clues about this ancient civilization.
The Guanche people are fascinating because there is so much that we don't know about them.
The Guanche people are a real mystery.
They mummified their dead.
So we're able to obtain what information we do have about them through looking at some of these mummies.
The Guanche were also pyramid builders.
And the pyramids that they are building resemble the earliest step pyramids in Egypt, but also the step pyramids that we see throughout the Mayan culture.
Quite close to Mount Teide, there are a series of pyramids that seem to have some relationship to the mountain or volcano.
And they may have even been representations of that mountain itself.
But they also were places of communication with the gods.
But who those gods were is lost today.
But for what purpose were the Mount Teide pyramids built? Were they meant to be places of worship? Or could it be, as ancient astronaut theorists suggest, that they were constructed to welcome otherworldly visitors? Perhaps the answers can be found in the mythology of the Guanche people.
The Gauche also believed that Mount Teide was a huge pyramid put there by the gods.
They also believed that they are seeing gods coming and going from this mountain, but perhaps what they're really seeing is extraterrestrial vehicles coming and going from the mountain.
The ancient Egyptians called their step pyramids "the stairway to heaven.
" And maintained that the gods themselves taught them how to build these structures.
It's possible that the Gauche step pyramids were built based on instructions from the same gods.
And that they, too, are portals or gateways to heaven.
Is it possible that the Guanche people built these pyramids not for mythical gods, but as launching pads for actual beings that visited them in the distant past? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and point to strange sightings that continue around Mount Teide even to this day.
That region has had more than its share of interesting U.
F.
O.
sightings.
Not just of U.
F.
O.
sightings, but really dramatic, I mean off- the-charts dramatic U.
F.
O.
sightings.
In June of 1976, people on the ground saw this glowing large three-story high almost like a globe that at times was transparent, and in fact, the Spanish military investigated this particular case.
And they were left with something that was truly unknown, truly extraordinary.
Did the Guanche people witness extraterrestrials coming and going from Mount Teide in the distant past? Many ancient astronaut theorists believe that not only have aliens landed on mountains, but that they may even have created elaborate bases deep inside of them.
Bugarach, France.
Believing that the end of the Mayan calendar is a prediction of the apocalypse, thousands descend on this mountain village, hoping to be rescued by extraterrestrials.
Bugarach has been known as a holy mountain since time immemorial in this part of France.
There is something truly magnetic about this mountain that is bringing people to come and watch it.
There is so much U.
F.
O.
activity, there are so many unidentified lights, unidentified objects that are seen around that mountain.
That people come from all over Europe to observe Bugarach.
All throughout the mountain is a vast labyrinth of limestone caves.
These limestone caves have led a number of people to believe that this is actually some kind of alien base.
That extraterrestrials are living inside the mountain, and in fact they've been living there for thousands of years.
So, what happened in 2012, is that all sorts of doomsday groups flocked to the area, because they felt like it would be the only place that would be safe from the devastation and destruction that would engulf the entire planet.
They believed that the aliens were going to come out and protect anybody who was encamped in the area, and that they would be the ones who would start the new world that would come afterwards.
Could extraterrestrials really be living inside a mountain in France, remaining undetected for thousands of years? And if so, might there be other similar mountains secretly housing otherworldly civilizations? Mount Shasta, California.
Dominating the landscape at over inspired strange and incredible stories for thousands of years.
The local Native Americans have always felt there was something special about Mount Shasta.
It was thought that humankind actually originated from within Mount Shasta.
That there was a great cataclysm and that the people of planet Earth actually hid within the mountain.
When the cataclysm had passed, the people were able to come out of Mount Shasta and repopulate the world.
A book came out in the 1890s proposing the idea that there was a culture that lived within subterranean chambers in Mount Shasta.
Over the years, there have been a number of very significant U.
F.
O.
sightings around Mount Shasta and you have to wonder why is that the case? I don't think we can rule out the idea of some sort of permanent presence buried deep within Mount Shasta itself.
Could alien beings really be living on planet Earth hidden inside mountains? And, if so, might they have built advanced civilizations, not only within Mount Shasta but in mountains across the world? Great mountains have been objects of fascination and veneration for as long as we have stories.
They reach to the heavens.
They have hidden crevices and caves.
They are also dangerous.
So we have the severity, issues of life and death.
So in every corner of the planet, there have been special and sacred mountains.
Throughout the world we find myths and legends of sacred mountains that are not only landing places or places where the gods or star beings descended, but also places that became their sanctuary.
And humans have been almost magnetically attracted to these places since the beginning of recorded history.
So, it's entirely possible that the extraterrestrials set up space bases in mountains all over the world.
That way they could watch humanity, help guide us, and if necessary intervene again in human affairs as they had done in the past.
And perhaps this is why we're drawn to mountains.
We instinctively know that the extraterrestrial gods are there.
And always have been.
Are the Earth's mountains really the sites of alien visitations that occurred thousands of years ago? Did extraterrestrials use remote mountain peaks to interact with early man? To guide the course of our civilization? Or simply to live among us undetected? Might this explain why humans continue to worship mountains as places of divine, or even otherworldly connection? Perhaps one day we'll discover that not only were our mountains inhabited by extraterrestrials in the distant past, but that, in fact they still are.