Ancient Aliens s10e07 Episode Script
Creatures Of The Deep
Narrator: Strange, sharp-toothed predators.
David Wilcock: Their genes don't match up with anything else that we have on Earth.
Narrator: Multi-legged behemoths.
Loren Coleman: The kraken scared humans for centuries.
Narrator: And ravenous reptiles that prey on humans.
Ken Gerhardman: Children are warned to stay away from bodies of water because the kappa will actually drag them in and drown them.
Narrator: Throughout history, there are accounts of bizarre and frightening creatures inhabiting our waters.
Is it possible that they come not from our lakes and oceans, but from somewhere far more remote? Giorgio Tsoukalos: Could it be possible that some of that live that we've discovered at the bottom of the ocean had its origin in outer space? Narrator: Since the dawn of civilization, mankind has credited its origins to gods and other visitors from the stars.
What if it were true? Did extraterrestrial beings really help to shape our history? And if so might they have come in the form of creatures of the deep? Narrator: August 19, 2014.
During a routine cleaning, Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station discover something incredibly unexpected covering parts of the windows living sea plankton.
According to some mainstream scientists, the tiny organisms may have been carried to the station on air currents from the earth's oceans, or perhaps launched into space on a contaminated rocket.
But many say these are both highly improbable scenarios.
In the previous episode of cleaning, which was only about a few weeks prior to that particular date, there was nothing found.
And the space station was in orbit; there was no connection with the ground.
So I-I really think that there's absolutely no chance that these are microorganisms that were somehow lifted from the Earth.
Narrator: Astrobiologist Chandra Wickramasinghe believes the plankton is of extraterrestrial origin, and evidence of panspermia the idea that life exists throughout the universe and is spread by comets and asteroids.
WICKRAMASINGHE: I think what happened was that a small fragment of a comet that carried microorganisms, uh, including plankton, landed on the window of the International Space Station.
It's not surprising if one accepts the idea that life is continuing to arrive at the Earth from space.
Paul Davies: There's always been a-a problem about life on Earth.
Did it actually start here on Earth or come here from somewhere else? Uh, seeing as we don't know how life began, it's up for grabs.
Narrator: But whether life originated on Earth or somewhere else in the universe, one thing is now certain: sea plankton can survive in outer space.
Surviving space is very difficult, actually, primarily because of the, um, the vacuum of space and then the intense radiation.
And so those things, um, in general will sort of rip apart tissues.
So the presence of-of plankton on the space station, um, is remarkable.
Narrator: The discovery of plankton on the International Space Station has led ancient astronaut theorists to ask the question: If sea life can thrive in the furthest reaches of space, could the reverse be true as well? Might there be undiscovered alien life-forms dwelling in the deepest regions of our oceans? Portsmouth, England.
December 21, 1872.
The HMS Challenger sets out on a three-year scientific expedition to survey the Earth's oceans and search for new marine life.
At the time of its departure, the mainstream scientific viewpoint is that life cannot exist more than 1,800 feet beneath the surface of the ocean.
But in March of 1875, after more than two years at sea, the crew of the HMS Challenger makes a remarkable discovery.
Using a deep-sea dredge, they uncover an abundance of life at depths well beyond 1,800 feet.
Every time they dredged the waters of the ocean, they kept bringing up weirder and weirder creatures at deeper and deeper levels.
And it quickly became apparent that the oceans are teeming with life.
Throughout time, we tend to sort of, um, impose our own limitations and our own perspectives on, sort of, our view of the universe, right? And so our idea of the deep ocean was similar to that, too.
We thought that probably nothing else could live at great depths because we certainly couldn't survive.
Um, our bodies couldn't take the pressure.
It's sort of biased, I think, our interpretation of life in the deep oceans.
Wilcock: They found over 4,700 different types of new life.
It was a wealth of data so vast that it filled and was, essentially, a scientific revolution for its time.
_ Uh, 220-plus, uh, crew.
Only five scientists _ _ _ _ _ Narrator: In addition to finding new species of marine life, the Challenger crew also made the first discovery of what are called cosmic spherules nickel-iron micrometeorites from outer space.
According to some scientists, these spherules could be capable of carrying extraterrestrial life.
Davies: A lot of those rocks would have carried a microbial cargo.
Cocooned inside of rocks, a microbe could be quite happy in the harsh conditions of space.
In particular, it would be shielded from radiation by the depth of rock.
It could probably stay in the dormant phase out in space for certainly thousands if not millions of years.
Henry: When scientists explored these nickel-iron spherules in depth, they discovered that they contained iron that was extraterrestrial in origin.
Is it possible that this extraterrestrial substances were brought here by alien beings and deposited in the oceans of Earth, along with other forms of life? Narrator: Is it possible that the Challenger discovered the conveyance of extraterrestrial life on the sea floor? Might the deepest parts of the ocean be as alien to us as the farthest reaches of outer space? Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer is a resounding yes, and point to other strange creatures that have recently been found in the seemingly inhospitable deep.
March, 2005.
Scientists off the coast of Easter Island discover the yeti crab, a furry crustacean that thrives on the sea floor near hydrothermal vents fissures that release geothermally-heated water.
Using the hair that covers its body, the crab is able to filter out the toxic minerals the vents excrete.
But as extraordinary as the yeti crab is, it is just one of many forms of marine life known to be able to exist in such extreme conditions.
Because of the unique conditions that exists in the hydrothermal vents, um, some really interesting and remarkable organisms can be found there.
Narrator: Another newly-discovered organism that puzzles scientists is the ctenophore, or comb jelly.
When neurobiologist Leonid Moroz sequenced the DNA of this translucent creature at the University of Florida in 2007, he discovered they possessed a complex nervous system completely different from the entire animal kingdom.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Narrator: How comb jellies function continues to baffle scientists, and their unique properties have led Dr.
Moroz to dub them, quote, "aliens of the sea.
" _ _ _ _ We're still finding incredible creatures in the ocean, creatures that we never even knew existed.
Could be extraterrestrial life.
It's a big planet, and there are a lot of mysteries still here.
Narrator: Could there really be alien life thriving in Earth's oceans? Might they have traveled here on meteors, like the plankton found aboard the International Space Station? Perhaps further clues can be found by examining the legends of strange aquatic creatures that were said to have come to Earth from the stars.
Narrator: Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan.
May, 2014.
At the historic Miyakonojo Shimazu Residence, the mummified remains of a sea animal with webbed hands and feet are put on public display.
Discovered in 1818, the bones are the first of their kind to be exhibited, and are purported to be from the legendary kappa a species of amphibious humanoid creatures believed to lurk in the waters of Japan.
DOMINIC STEAVU: These remains were from, allegedly, a kappa that had been shot in 1818 near a local river.
The kappa, which translates as "water child," is a creature that is usually about five feet in height, has scaly skin, and is usually blue or green in color.
It has a turtle shell on its back and a beak, as well as a kind of plate on the top of its head in which it always has to carry water.
If it spills this water, then it loses all of its power, and it can die within a very short period of time.
So the kappa is basically a water demon.
Gerhard: The kappa is perceived to be a very malevolent and quite violent creature.
And, in fact, children are warned to stay away from bodies of water, because the kappa will actually drag them in and drown them.
Narrator: While accounts of the kappa are rare in modern times, there are still sightings in remote areas like the Fukuoka Prefecture.
In fact, to this day, signs can be found posted near bodies of water throughout Japan warning of the kappa.
For ancient astronaut theorists, the kappa are not only real, but their existence is proof of otherworldly beings inhabiting the Earth's waters.
Wilcock: These kappa are reported as having an unusual intelligence.
Apparently, they can speak, even though they have a bird-like beak.
And now, physical, tangible artifacts of the body of the kappa have gone on display.
Will we find genetic markers that clearly show that it could not be something from Earth? Narrator: Could it be that the kappa are similar to the other strange undersea creatures first discovered by the HMS Challenger in the 1870s? And if so, are they indigenous to planet Earth, or did they come here by some extraterrestrial means? Perhaps the answer can be found by examining the many historical accounts of mermaids.
The very earliest accounts of mermaid-like creatures reveal a connection with beings that come from the sky.
A story from ancient Syria that dates back to 1,000 B.
C.
relates that the goddess Atargatis came down from the sky and dove into a lake to become a half-fish, half-human creature.
And in Greek mythology, the goddess Aphrodite is sometimes associated with mermaid-like beings.
Loren Coleman: If you look at some of the ancient classic authors from the Greeks, from the Sumerians, you see tales of mermaids in which there is a very direct connection with the heavens, with a fish-like creature that comes from outer space.
There's something out there that may not even be connected to our known biological world.
Narrator: For ancient astronaut theorists, the strongest evidence that humanoid sea creatures not only existed but came from somewhere beyond our Earth can be found in the origin tale of yet another aquatic creature with human traits.
The West African Dogons worship ancestral spirits they call the Nommo the first living creatures created by their sky god Amma.
Described as amphibious, hermaphroditic, fish-like creatures, they descended from the stars in a vessel accompanied by fire and thunder.
Giorgio Tsoukalos: There's a really incredible story of the Nommo that descended from the sky in a loud noisy whirlwind that made the Earth shake when it landed.
And their knowledge of everything was given to them by that being that descended in a whirlwind from the sky.
Henry: Now, this is interesting because we have so many traditions of extraterrestrial beings riding upon clouds that you have to ask, did the Nommo come from the stars? Were they extraterrestrial beings that came to Earth to teach the Dogon? Is this perhaps why they called them the monitors and the teachers? Wilcock: The legend said they described the star Sirius as being their point of origin, and had very accurate information about a dwarf star called Sirius B that wasn't even known at the time.
The Dogon said that when the Nommo landed and came out of this craft that they arrived in, they almost immediately got into the water.
Because they were essentially fish-like humanoids, it seems that they needed to be in the water.
We are definitely dealing with some sort of intelligent, aquatic, humanoid species that came here as an extraterrestrial visitor from outer space.
Narrator: Might the detailed descriptions of the Nommo suggest that they were extraterrestrials that came from space to inhabit our oceans? And might these be the same beings that are described in the accounts of the kappa and mermaids? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest there is evidence that alien life forms have not only descended to Earth from the sky, but that they may also be entering our planet through underwater portals.
Narrator: Lake Champlain.
July 5, 1977.
While taking a drive along the Eastern shore, just north of St.
Albans, Vermont, Sandra and Anthony Mansi pull over to let their two children play in the lake.
As they begin to wade in, Sandra notices a disturbance in the water.
And then, something shocking.
And I'm watching out there, and all of a sudden, I could see turbulence.
Something broke the surface of the water.
And it broke the surface like this, right here the back of the head and the neck.
I went down, and that's when it turned to look over its back.
And I snapped the photograph.
Narrator: The photograph that Sandra Mansi took that day is considered by many to be definitive evidence that Lake Champlain is home to a monster.
Lake Champlain is named for the French explorer Samuel De Champlain, and in 1609, he claimed that he saw a strange creature emerging from the waters while on an expedition.
This sighting was just the first of hundreds.
And for many who believe the stories are true, Sandra Mansi's photograph is the ultimate proof that Champ really exists.
In 1981, the famous photo was submitted for authentication to the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona.
The findings from the optical college in Arizona was that this was an authentic photograph.
It was not tampered.
It was genuine.
Narrator: Curiously, there have been sightings of very similar creatures reported all over the world, like Cressie and Ogopogo in Canada; the Japanese sea monster Issie; Mokele-mbembe, sighted off the West Coast of Africa; and the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland.
Ken Gerhard: One of the most compelling aspects of the mystery is that descriptions are very similar.
And we're talking about decades of sightings, numbering in the thousands.
To me, this indicates that we're dealing with variations of the exact same species here a breeding population worldwide.
Narrator: Could the fact that stories of similar sea monsters are told throughout the world be evidence that these strange creatures really exist? And if so, just what are they? According to ancient astronaut theorists, there is evidence that they may have extraterrestrial origins.
Henry: The story of the Loch Ness Monster reminds me of a UFO sighting that happened north of Nashville back in the '90s.
A man hears the sound of rain beating down on the roof, and he goes outside, and it's a perfectly clear night.
And he looks up in the sky, and he sees a giant UFO that's firing at a creature on his deck that looks like He calls it the one-footed snorkel monster, because it looked like an elephant's trunk with one foot.
In his police report, the man described how the snorkel monster spun itself into a vortex or a ball of light and disappeared.
One wonders if this is evidence of a portal that this creature was opening up, and, in fact, if this creature and the Loch Ness Monster are part of the same family of creatures that travel the world through these portals or gateways.
Narrator: Could it be that there are alien life-forms inhabiting our oceans that have traveled here through portals in time and space? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest further proof can be found with the story of another underwater monster: the kraken.
This squid-like creature of enormous proportions was described in 1755 by Norwegian historian and bishop Erik Pontoppidan.
He included it in not a fictional text, but in an encyclopedic account of the diverse life-forms in his home country called The Natural History of Norway.
This is very compelling because it indicates that the kraKen was viewed as a real and very viable animal.
In Norse mythology, the kraKen was an island-sized, multi-tentacled monster, capable of sinking ships by way of the massive whirlpools that it left in its wake.
Many of the ancient classic authors talked about kraken as really being the object that was in the middle of a whirlpool, so they saw the kraken as a shipping danger.
Narrator: Norwegian accounts of the kraken creating whirlpools through which ships would disappear date back to the 13th century.
But could the truth about these sea monsters be even more incredible than our ancestors believed? Do the stories of the kraken, and the mysterious whirlpools it creates, provide further evidence of alien entities coming to Earth through underwater portals? These legends suggest that there is a highly intelligent species in the ocean.
We don't even really know where they came from.
Perhaps our definition of extraterrestrial life is a little too strict.
And it could be that these are species that came here from somewhere else.
Of course, there's a lot of the ocean that hasn't actually been, uh, well explored, so we're constantly finding new and exciting creatures that maybe before may have only been legendary.
Narrator: Could there be alien life inhabiting our seas that is much larger, more intelligent, and more dangerous than furry crabs and strange jellyfish? And is it possible that the Earth's waters contain portals that allow these creatures to travel here from other parts of the universe undetected? To find out, ancient astronaut theorist David Childress will dive into the waters of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where according to ancient legends, there is an underwater gateway to another realm.
Narrator: Tulum, Mexico.
Here, on the eastern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula, lie the ruins of one of the last cities built by the Maya, an advanced ancient civilization that thrived throughout Mesoamerica from the eighth century B.
C.
to the 15th century A.
D.
Situated on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea, this site honors the mysterious diving god that can be found depicted on several buildings.
Behind me is the Temple of the Diving God.
On the western doorway is a stucco relief of a winged being who is either diving down from the sky or he's diving down into the water.
His real identity is not known.
Narrator: In addition to the diving god, it has been documented that the interior of the temple once contained a mural portraying the Aztec water goddess Chalchiuhtlicue.
While the Aztecs did not occupy the Yucatan Peninsula, their ancestors the Olmecs did, and some believe there may be a profound connection between this area of Mexico and the Aztec water gods, who ruled over a paradise-like world called Tlalocan.
Descriptions of Tlalocan come from the Aztec shamans, spiritual guides who could access this otherworldly realm through whirlpools while in a dream state.
And according to ancient astronaut theorists, deep in the jungle, just south of Tulum, is a location that is a perfect match for the descriptions of the east region of Tlalocan.
There's an intriguing site right here off the coast of the Caribbean Sea, and it may have a connection to the Aztec Tlalocan, and it's name is Cenote Angelita, and it's right here.
Narrator: A cenote is a sinkhole where limestone bedrock has collapsed, exposing the freshwater underneath it.
Many of the cenotes in this part of the Yucatan are believed to have been formed by the meteor strike that wiped out the dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago.
As a result of this extreme impact, they contain high amounts of shocked quartz.
Shocked quartz is a particular type of quartz that really needs very, very high pressure to form.
Quartz is a crystal, but every crystal is not completely uniform.
It's comprised of smaller little pieces that have to align along defects.
And high pressure changes the internal structure of the quartz.
Narrator: Scientists have long known that quartz is able to convert the Earth's natural electrical vibrations into a form of energy.
And some have even suggested that it could be used in the formation of wormholes, through an electromagnetic reaction called the Casimir effect.
Michael Dennin: The idea is, if I take two metal plates and stick them in the vacuum of space, it turns out, because of quantum fluctuation, this creates an effective, attractive force between the plates.
One can think of this as a negative energy.
Now, an intriguing idea that we get is that this is exactly the principle we need to understand perhaps how to stabilize a wormhole.
Narrator: Although there are a number of cenotes in the Yucatan, Cenote Angelita is very unique.
About 100 feet below its surface, the freshwater meets up with the salt water coming from the ocean beneath it, creating a mysterious underwater river.
Childress: Where we are right now in the Yucatan is just about as far east as you can go in Mexico.
And the description of Tlalocan was that the very eastern side was where the waters of the underworld met with the waters of the surface world.
And that is exactly what we have here.
It was said that souls passed through here, and the Aztecs believed very strongly that this was a portal to another dimension.
Wilcock: The Aztecs had the legend of the Tlalocan they entered into through whirlpools in the water.
So you can start to connect the dots here and see that those areas could in fact be traversable wormholes that will take us somewhere else.
Narrator: Could the highly pressurized quartz found in Cenote Angelita have made it the perfect location for advanced alien beings to create a wormhole? And might this explain the stories from the Aztec shamans who claimed they were shown an entrance to paradise? David Childress has enlisted diver Spencer Stander to help him explore the cenote.
We'll see the-the river, um, around an island.
And, uh, you'll see these bizarre trees.
It's like a decrepit forest; it's so cool.
It looks like a moving river.
You're gonna be blown away.
Uh, this is gonna be unique.
Narrator: Just south of Tulum, Mexico, diver Spencer Stander and ancient astronaut theorist David Childress are about to explore the Cenote Angelita.
For ancient astronaut theorists, Cenote Angelita has an eerie similarity to both the legends and illustrations of the Aztec paradise Tlalocan, where it was believed souls could pass through a portal to another realm.
So, um, we're just gonna check.
All right, I'm gonna jump in there.
Narrator: Although the waters of the cenote are extremely murky on the surface, at 15 feet down, everything becomes crystal clear.
But once they descend to 100 feet, it turns as black as the darkest reaches of space.
Childress: And even though we had lights with us, it was still like we were floating within the cosmos.
But then as we got down at a hundred feet, suddenly we could start to see the sides of the cenote and then this strange layer began to emerge.
Narrator: Here, the freshwater of the cenote meets the salt water of the ocean, forming one of nature's most mysterious anomalies: an underwater river.
Childress: And these dead trees coming out of the sides, and-and this artificial sort of mound at the bottom.
And it was really like the meeting of-of two worlds.
One of the freshwater of the upper world and then that of this lower world of the seawater and this murky layer of hydrogen sulfite that we had to then penetrate.
Narrator: The meeting of waters from above with waters from below is exactly how the Aztecs described the east region of Tlalocan, a place where souls would pass from one dimension to another as though passing through a portal.
It is here that some ancient astronaut theorists believe there may really exist a portal to another world.
Could it be true? Might extraterrestrials have considered this the perfect location to create a stargate hidden in the thick layer of poisonous hydrogen sulfide that obscures all that lies beneath from view? The whole thing was-was very spooky.
And, uh, it's something I'll remember for the rest of my life.
Narrator: After 30 minutes underwater, David and Spencer return to the surface.
Childress: Oh, man, that was so fantastic and strange.
Man, uh, wow.
It strikes me just how much this does fit the Aztec legend of the-the underworld of Tlalocan.
What is mysterious though is, even if the Aztecs had come here and knew about this place or-or learned about it from the Olmecs, how would they have known what is 100 feet down in this cenote? That's right, 'cause you can't see it from the surface.
I mean, I suppose that, you know, the shamans could just go down there in a in a trance state or if someone actually dove down into this thing.
- Yeah.
- It's incredible.
Narrator: Could it be that some of the bizarre underwater creatures that have been reported for centuries like the Loch Ness Monster, the kraKen and the kappa are not just mythical sea monsters, but alien entities that have come to Earth through wormholes? Childress: You have to ask yourself, could the shocked quartz here at the Cenote Angelita create wormholes that extraterrestrials might have used for interdimensional travel? Jason Martell: It can't be a coincidence that both Mayan and Aztec beliefs incorporated a swirling pool of water where they were able to travel to some other sacred paradise.
Maybe we're talking about a form of technological travel that isn't understood in modern form, but through the ancient astronaut lens, we have to understand that ancient man went to great lengths to depict and explain how this form of travel was taking place.
And it might be that this is something that was extraterrestrial in nature.
Narrator: Could there really be a gateway to another world hidden at the bottom of Cenote Angelita? And if so, could other cenotes, lakes, rivers and oceans contain similar portals through which all manner of alien life is coming to our planet? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest there is new evidence that the abundance of water on planet Earth makes it a prime destination for extraterrestrial beings.
Narrator: August 30, 2012.
NASA launches Storm Probes into the Van Allen belts, intense radiation zones that surround planet Earth like a doughnut.
Dennin: Because of the Van Allen belts, incoming charged particles are sent on curved paths that safely protect the Earth, and we don't get hit by them.
Narrator: During the two-year mission, the probes record the belts' radio waves and discover something incredible.
The sound they produce in space is nearly identical to the song of a humpback whale.
Dennin: What's nice about the Van Allen belts is the radio waves they emit are at the same frequencies as sound that we listen to.
And so you can record these radio waves and play them, and they make music basically.
Radiation and things in the universe make noise.
Planets emit a sound.
Everything emits a sound.
And the similarity to the humpback whale sound I mean, is that a coincidence? I don't believe in coincidences.
But it is weird.
Wilcock: It's possible to me that other aquatic, humanoid life-forms that are out there in the universe might be able to notice that these electromagnetic belts around our Earth are ringing like a gong, saying, "There's water here.
" And that could very well attract them and draw them to our planet, almost like a beacon to a watery world.
Narrator: Could the Van Allen belts actually be of extraterrestrial design, acting as a beacon to indicate that our planet is rich with water? While scientists are discovering that water is more prevalent throughout the universe than previously thought, it has become increasingly clear that planets with large bodies of liquid water believed to be essential for complex life are scarce.
Earth is a little bit special.
It's got abundant water, but it's also got abundant land, and that may be a peculiar feature.
But seeing as liquid water is so critical to life as we know it, when we look to worlds elsewhere, we're primarily looking for liquid water.
If life exists that's intelligent on a planet that hosts water-based life, then one can suggest that the only other planet that they would be looking for intelligent life is also water-based.
Gerhard: We seem so fixated on finding life on other planets, yet there's so much potential here on Earth.
If there's anything that we've learned from history, it's that anything is possible.
We can't discount the possibility that somewhere in the vast, unexplored ocean depths lies some highly intelligent and highly dangerous life-form we haven't seen yet deep-sea aliens, if you will.
_ _ _ _ Martell: Today, as we look deeper into our own solar system and beyond, we realize the importance of H2O, and that water isn't only a life force for us, but possibly other organisms within the galaxy.
And knowing that our oceans are as deep as they are, it's very possible that there's a whole other world of exploration waiting for us.
We might even discover that there are other races living on the planet Earth, but at the deep parts of our oceans.
Narrator: Is it possible that extraterrestrials inhabit our waters all over the world? Could exotic fish, terrifying sea monsters, and even humanoid creatures have come to our planet through underwater portals? Perhaps when we finally make contact with alien beings, it will not be in the furthest reaches of space, but right here on Earth, lurking in the deep.
David Wilcock: Their genes don't match up with anything else that we have on Earth.
Narrator: Multi-legged behemoths.
Loren Coleman: The kraken scared humans for centuries.
Narrator: And ravenous reptiles that prey on humans.
Ken Gerhardman: Children are warned to stay away from bodies of water because the kappa will actually drag them in and drown them.
Narrator: Throughout history, there are accounts of bizarre and frightening creatures inhabiting our waters.
Is it possible that they come not from our lakes and oceans, but from somewhere far more remote? Giorgio Tsoukalos: Could it be possible that some of that live that we've discovered at the bottom of the ocean had its origin in outer space? Narrator: Since the dawn of civilization, mankind has credited its origins to gods and other visitors from the stars.
What if it were true? Did extraterrestrial beings really help to shape our history? And if so might they have come in the form of creatures of the deep? Narrator: August 19, 2014.
During a routine cleaning, Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station discover something incredibly unexpected covering parts of the windows living sea plankton.
According to some mainstream scientists, the tiny organisms may have been carried to the station on air currents from the earth's oceans, or perhaps launched into space on a contaminated rocket.
But many say these are both highly improbable scenarios.
In the previous episode of cleaning, which was only about a few weeks prior to that particular date, there was nothing found.
And the space station was in orbit; there was no connection with the ground.
So I-I really think that there's absolutely no chance that these are microorganisms that were somehow lifted from the Earth.
Narrator: Astrobiologist Chandra Wickramasinghe believes the plankton is of extraterrestrial origin, and evidence of panspermia the idea that life exists throughout the universe and is spread by comets and asteroids.
WICKRAMASINGHE: I think what happened was that a small fragment of a comet that carried microorganisms, uh, including plankton, landed on the window of the International Space Station.
It's not surprising if one accepts the idea that life is continuing to arrive at the Earth from space.
Paul Davies: There's always been a-a problem about life on Earth.
Did it actually start here on Earth or come here from somewhere else? Uh, seeing as we don't know how life began, it's up for grabs.
Narrator: But whether life originated on Earth or somewhere else in the universe, one thing is now certain: sea plankton can survive in outer space.
Surviving space is very difficult, actually, primarily because of the, um, the vacuum of space and then the intense radiation.
And so those things, um, in general will sort of rip apart tissues.
So the presence of-of plankton on the space station, um, is remarkable.
Narrator: The discovery of plankton on the International Space Station has led ancient astronaut theorists to ask the question: If sea life can thrive in the furthest reaches of space, could the reverse be true as well? Might there be undiscovered alien life-forms dwelling in the deepest regions of our oceans? Portsmouth, England.
December 21, 1872.
The HMS Challenger sets out on a three-year scientific expedition to survey the Earth's oceans and search for new marine life.
At the time of its departure, the mainstream scientific viewpoint is that life cannot exist more than 1,800 feet beneath the surface of the ocean.
But in March of 1875, after more than two years at sea, the crew of the HMS Challenger makes a remarkable discovery.
Using a deep-sea dredge, they uncover an abundance of life at depths well beyond 1,800 feet.
Every time they dredged the waters of the ocean, they kept bringing up weirder and weirder creatures at deeper and deeper levels.
And it quickly became apparent that the oceans are teeming with life.
Throughout time, we tend to sort of, um, impose our own limitations and our own perspectives on, sort of, our view of the universe, right? And so our idea of the deep ocean was similar to that, too.
We thought that probably nothing else could live at great depths because we certainly couldn't survive.
Um, our bodies couldn't take the pressure.
It's sort of biased, I think, our interpretation of life in the deep oceans.
Wilcock: They found over 4,700 different types of new life.
It was a wealth of data so vast that it filled and was, essentially, a scientific revolution for its time.
_ Uh, 220-plus, uh, crew.
Only five scientists _ _ _ _ _ Narrator: In addition to finding new species of marine life, the Challenger crew also made the first discovery of what are called cosmic spherules nickel-iron micrometeorites from outer space.
According to some scientists, these spherules could be capable of carrying extraterrestrial life.
Davies: A lot of those rocks would have carried a microbial cargo.
Cocooned inside of rocks, a microbe could be quite happy in the harsh conditions of space.
In particular, it would be shielded from radiation by the depth of rock.
It could probably stay in the dormant phase out in space for certainly thousands if not millions of years.
Henry: When scientists explored these nickel-iron spherules in depth, they discovered that they contained iron that was extraterrestrial in origin.
Is it possible that this extraterrestrial substances were brought here by alien beings and deposited in the oceans of Earth, along with other forms of life? Narrator: Is it possible that the Challenger discovered the conveyance of extraterrestrial life on the sea floor? Might the deepest parts of the ocean be as alien to us as the farthest reaches of outer space? Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer is a resounding yes, and point to other strange creatures that have recently been found in the seemingly inhospitable deep.
March, 2005.
Scientists off the coast of Easter Island discover the yeti crab, a furry crustacean that thrives on the sea floor near hydrothermal vents fissures that release geothermally-heated water.
Using the hair that covers its body, the crab is able to filter out the toxic minerals the vents excrete.
But as extraordinary as the yeti crab is, it is just one of many forms of marine life known to be able to exist in such extreme conditions.
Because of the unique conditions that exists in the hydrothermal vents, um, some really interesting and remarkable organisms can be found there.
Narrator: Another newly-discovered organism that puzzles scientists is the ctenophore, or comb jelly.
When neurobiologist Leonid Moroz sequenced the DNA of this translucent creature at the University of Florida in 2007, he discovered they possessed a complex nervous system completely different from the entire animal kingdom.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Narrator: How comb jellies function continues to baffle scientists, and their unique properties have led Dr.
Moroz to dub them, quote, "aliens of the sea.
" _ _ _ _ We're still finding incredible creatures in the ocean, creatures that we never even knew existed.
Could be extraterrestrial life.
It's a big planet, and there are a lot of mysteries still here.
Narrator: Could there really be alien life thriving in Earth's oceans? Might they have traveled here on meteors, like the plankton found aboard the International Space Station? Perhaps further clues can be found by examining the legends of strange aquatic creatures that were said to have come to Earth from the stars.
Narrator: Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan.
May, 2014.
At the historic Miyakonojo Shimazu Residence, the mummified remains of a sea animal with webbed hands and feet are put on public display.
Discovered in 1818, the bones are the first of their kind to be exhibited, and are purported to be from the legendary kappa a species of amphibious humanoid creatures believed to lurk in the waters of Japan.
DOMINIC STEAVU: These remains were from, allegedly, a kappa that had been shot in 1818 near a local river.
The kappa, which translates as "water child," is a creature that is usually about five feet in height, has scaly skin, and is usually blue or green in color.
It has a turtle shell on its back and a beak, as well as a kind of plate on the top of its head in which it always has to carry water.
If it spills this water, then it loses all of its power, and it can die within a very short period of time.
So the kappa is basically a water demon.
Gerhard: The kappa is perceived to be a very malevolent and quite violent creature.
And, in fact, children are warned to stay away from bodies of water, because the kappa will actually drag them in and drown them.
Narrator: While accounts of the kappa are rare in modern times, there are still sightings in remote areas like the Fukuoka Prefecture.
In fact, to this day, signs can be found posted near bodies of water throughout Japan warning of the kappa.
For ancient astronaut theorists, the kappa are not only real, but their existence is proof of otherworldly beings inhabiting the Earth's waters.
Wilcock: These kappa are reported as having an unusual intelligence.
Apparently, they can speak, even though they have a bird-like beak.
And now, physical, tangible artifacts of the body of the kappa have gone on display.
Will we find genetic markers that clearly show that it could not be something from Earth? Narrator: Could it be that the kappa are similar to the other strange undersea creatures first discovered by the HMS Challenger in the 1870s? And if so, are they indigenous to planet Earth, or did they come here by some extraterrestrial means? Perhaps the answer can be found by examining the many historical accounts of mermaids.
The very earliest accounts of mermaid-like creatures reveal a connection with beings that come from the sky.
A story from ancient Syria that dates back to 1,000 B.
C.
relates that the goddess Atargatis came down from the sky and dove into a lake to become a half-fish, half-human creature.
And in Greek mythology, the goddess Aphrodite is sometimes associated with mermaid-like beings.
Loren Coleman: If you look at some of the ancient classic authors from the Greeks, from the Sumerians, you see tales of mermaids in which there is a very direct connection with the heavens, with a fish-like creature that comes from outer space.
There's something out there that may not even be connected to our known biological world.
Narrator: For ancient astronaut theorists, the strongest evidence that humanoid sea creatures not only existed but came from somewhere beyond our Earth can be found in the origin tale of yet another aquatic creature with human traits.
The West African Dogons worship ancestral spirits they call the Nommo the first living creatures created by their sky god Amma.
Described as amphibious, hermaphroditic, fish-like creatures, they descended from the stars in a vessel accompanied by fire and thunder.
Giorgio Tsoukalos: There's a really incredible story of the Nommo that descended from the sky in a loud noisy whirlwind that made the Earth shake when it landed.
And their knowledge of everything was given to them by that being that descended in a whirlwind from the sky.
Henry: Now, this is interesting because we have so many traditions of extraterrestrial beings riding upon clouds that you have to ask, did the Nommo come from the stars? Were they extraterrestrial beings that came to Earth to teach the Dogon? Is this perhaps why they called them the monitors and the teachers? Wilcock: The legend said they described the star Sirius as being their point of origin, and had very accurate information about a dwarf star called Sirius B that wasn't even known at the time.
The Dogon said that when the Nommo landed and came out of this craft that they arrived in, they almost immediately got into the water.
Because they were essentially fish-like humanoids, it seems that they needed to be in the water.
We are definitely dealing with some sort of intelligent, aquatic, humanoid species that came here as an extraterrestrial visitor from outer space.
Narrator: Might the detailed descriptions of the Nommo suggest that they were extraterrestrials that came from space to inhabit our oceans? And might these be the same beings that are described in the accounts of the kappa and mermaids? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest there is evidence that alien life forms have not only descended to Earth from the sky, but that they may also be entering our planet through underwater portals.
Narrator: Lake Champlain.
July 5, 1977.
While taking a drive along the Eastern shore, just north of St.
Albans, Vermont, Sandra and Anthony Mansi pull over to let their two children play in the lake.
As they begin to wade in, Sandra notices a disturbance in the water.
And then, something shocking.
And I'm watching out there, and all of a sudden, I could see turbulence.
Something broke the surface of the water.
And it broke the surface like this, right here the back of the head and the neck.
I went down, and that's when it turned to look over its back.
And I snapped the photograph.
Narrator: The photograph that Sandra Mansi took that day is considered by many to be definitive evidence that Lake Champlain is home to a monster.
Lake Champlain is named for the French explorer Samuel De Champlain, and in 1609, he claimed that he saw a strange creature emerging from the waters while on an expedition.
This sighting was just the first of hundreds.
And for many who believe the stories are true, Sandra Mansi's photograph is the ultimate proof that Champ really exists.
In 1981, the famous photo was submitted for authentication to the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona.
The findings from the optical college in Arizona was that this was an authentic photograph.
It was not tampered.
It was genuine.
Narrator: Curiously, there have been sightings of very similar creatures reported all over the world, like Cressie and Ogopogo in Canada; the Japanese sea monster Issie; Mokele-mbembe, sighted off the West Coast of Africa; and the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland.
Ken Gerhard: One of the most compelling aspects of the mystery is that descriptions are very similar.
And we're talking about decades of sightings, numbering in the thousands.
To me, this indicates that we're dealing with variations of the exact same species here a breeding population worldwide.
Narrator: Could the fact that stories of similar sea monsters are told throughout the world be evidence that these strange creatures really exist? And if so, just what are they? According to ancient astronaut theorists, there is evidence that they may have extraterrestrial origins.
Henry: The story of the Loch Ness Monster reminds me of a UFO sighting that happened north of Nashville back in the '90s.
A man hears the sound of rain beating down on the roof, and he goes outside, and it's a perfectly clear night.
And he looks up in the sky, and he sees a giant UFO that's firing at a creature on his deck that looks like He calls it the one-footed snorkel monster, because it looked like an elephant's trunk with one foot.
In his police report, the man described how the snorkel monster spun itself into a vortex or a ball of light and disappeared.
One wonders if this is evidence of a portal that this creature was opening up, and, in fact, if this creature and the Loch Ness Monster are part of the same family of creatures that travel the world through these portals or gateways.
Narrator: Could it be that there are alien life-forms inhabiting our oceans that have traveled here through portals in time and space? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest further proof can be found with the story of another underwater monster: the kraken.
This squid-like creature of enormous proportions was described in 1755 by Norwegian historian and bishop Erik Pontoppidan.
He included it in not a fictional text, but in an encyclopedic account of the diverse life-forms in his home country called The Natural History of Norway.
This is very compelling because it indicates that the kraKen was viewed as a real and very viable animal.
In Norse mythology, the kraKen was an island-sized, multi-tentacled monster, capable of sinking ships by way of the massive whirlpools that it left in its wake.
Many of the ancient classic authors talked about kraken as really being the object that was in the middle of a whirlpool, so they saw the kraken as a shipping danger.
Narrator: Norwegian accounts of the kraken creating whirlpools through which ships would disappear date back to the 13th century.
But could the truth about these sea monsters be even more incredible than our ancestors believed? Do the stories of the kraken, and the mysterious whirlpools it creates, provide further evidence of alien entities coming to Earth through underwater portals? These legends suggest that there is a highly intelligent species in the ocean.
We don't even really know where they came from.
Perhaps our definition of extraterrestrial life is a little too strict.
And it could be that these are species that came here from somewhere else.
Of course, there's a lot of the ocean that hasn't actually been, uh, well explored, so we're constantly finding new and exciting creatures that maybe before may have only been legendary.
Narrator: Could there be alien life inhabiting our seas that is much larger, more intelligent, and more dangerous than furry crabs and strange jellyfish? And is it possible that the Earth's waters contain portals that allow these creatures to travel here from other parts of the universe undetected? To find out, ancient astronaut theorist David Childress will dive into the waters of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where according to ancient legends, there is an underwater gateway to another realm.
Narrator: Tulum, Mexico.
Here, on the eastern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula, lie the ruins of one of the last cities built by the Maya, an advanced ancient civilization that thrived throughout Mesoamerica from the eighth century B.
C.
to the 15th century A.
D.
Situated on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea, this site honors the mysterious diving god that can be found depicted on several buildings.
Behind me is the Temple of the Diving God.
On the western doorway is a stucco relief of a winged being who is either diving down from the sky or he's diving down into the water.
His real identity is not known.
Narrator: In addition to the diving god, it has been documented that the interior of the temple once contained a mural portraying the Aztec water goddess Chalchiuhtlicue.
While the Aztecs did not occupy the Yucatan Peninsula, their ancestors the Olmecs did, and some believe there may be a profound connection between this area of Mexico and the Aztec water gods, who ruled over a paradise-like world called Tlalocan.
Descriptions of Tlalocan come from the Aztec shamans, spiritual guides who could access this otherworldly realm through whirlpools while in a dream state.
And according to ancient astronaut theorists, deep in the jungle, just south of Tulum, is a location that is a perfect match for the descriptions of the east region of Tlalocan.
There's an intriguing site right here off the coast of the Caribbean Sea, and it may have a connection to the Aztec Tlalocan, and it's name is Cenote Angelita, and it's right here.
Narrator: A cenote is a sinkhole where limestone bedrock has collapsed, exposing the freshwater underneath it.
Many of the cenotes in this part of the Yucatan are believed to have been formed by the meteor strike that wiped out the dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago.
As a result of this extreme impact, they contain high amounts of shocked quartz.
Shocked quartz is a particular type of quartz that really needs very, very high pressure to form.
Quartz is a crystal, but every crystal is not completely uniform.
It's comprised of smaller little pieces that have to align along defects.
And high pressure changes the internal structure of the quartz.
Narrator: Scientists have long known that quartz is able to convert the Earth's natural electrical vibrations into a form of energy.
And some have even suggested that it could be used in the formation of wormholes, through an electromagnetic reaction called the Casimir effect.
Michael Dennin: The idea is, if I take two metal plates and stick them in the vacuum of space, it turns out, because of quantum fluctuation, this creates an effective, attractive force between the plates.
One can think of this as a negative energy.
Now, an intriguing idea that we get is that this is exactly the principle we need to understand perhaps how to stabilize a wormhole.
Narrator: Although there are a number of cenotes in the Yucatan, Cenote Angelita is very unique.
About 100 feet below its surface, the freshwater meets up with the salt water coming from the ocean beneath it, creating a mysterious underwater river.
Childress: Where we are right now in the Yucatan is just about as far east as you can go in Mexico.
And the description of Tlalocan was that the very eastern side was where the waters of the underworld met with the waters of the surface world.
And that is exactly what we have here.
It was said that souls passed through here, and the Aztecs believed very strongly that this was a portal to another dimension.
Wilcock: The Aztecs had the legend of the Tlalocan they entered into through whirlpools in the water.
So you can start to connect the dots here and see that those areas could in fact be traversable wormholes that will take us somewhere else.
Narrator: Could the highly pressurized quartz found in Cenote Angelita have made it the perfect location for advanced alien beings to create a wormhole? And might this explain the stories from the Aztec shamans who claimed they were shown an entrance to paradise? David Childress has enlisted diver Spencer Stander to help him explore the cenote.
We'll see the-the river, um, around an island.
And, uh, you'll see these bizarre trees.
It's like a decrepit forest; it's so cool.
It looks like a moving river.
You're gonna be blown away.
Uh, this is gonna be unique.
Narrator: Just south of Tulum, Mexico, diver Spencer Stander and ancient astronaut theorist David Childress are about to explore the Cenote Angelita.
For ancient astronaut theorists, Cenote Angelita has an eerie similarity to both the legends and illustrations of the Aztec paradise Tlalocan, where it was believed souls could pass through a portal to another realm.
So, um, we're just gonna check.
All right, I'm gonna jump in there.
Narrator: Although the waters of the cenote are extremely murky on the surface, at 15 feet down, everything becomes crystal clear.
But once they descend to 100 feet, it turns as black as the darkest reaches of space.
Childress: And even though we had lights with us, it was still like we were floating within the cosmos.
But then as we got down at a hundred feet, suddenly we could start to see the sides of the cenote and then this strange layer began to emerge.
Narrator: Here, the freshwater of the cenote meets the salt water of the ocean, forming one of nature's most mysterious anomalies: an underwater river.
Childress: And these dead trees coming out of the sides, and-and this artificial sort of mound at the bottom.
And it was really like the meeting of-of two worlds.
One of the freshwater of the upper world and then that of this lower world of the seawater and this murky layer of hydrogen sulfite that we had to then penetrate.
Narrator: The meeting of waters from above with waters from below is exactly how the Aztecs described the east region of Tlalocan, a place where souls would pass from one dimension to another as though passing through a portal.
It is here that some ancient astronaut theorists believe there may really exist a portal to another world.
Could it be true? Might extraterrestrials have considered this the perfect location to create a stargate hidden in the thick layer of poisonous hydrogen sulfide that obscures all that lies beneath from view? The whole thing was-was very spooky.
And, uh, it's something I'll remember for the rest of my life.
Narrator: After 30 minutes underwater, David and Spencer return to the surface.
Childress: Oh, man, that was so fantastic and strange.
Man, uh, wow.
It strikes me just how much this does fit the Aztec legend of the-the underworld of Tlalocan.
What is mysterious though is, even if the Aztecs had come here and knew about this place or-or learned about it from the Olmecs, how would they have known what is 100 feet down in this cenote? That's right, 'cause you can't see it from the surface.
I mean, I suppose that, you know, the shamans could just go down there in a in a trance state or if someone actually dove down into this thing.
- Yeah.
- It's incredible.
Narrator: Could it be that some of the bizarre underwater creatures that have been reported for centuries like the Loch Ness Monster, the kraKen and the kappa are not just mythical sea monsters, but alien entities that have come to Earth through wormholes? Childress: You have to ask yourself, could the shocked quartz here at the Cenote Angelita create wormholes that extraterrestrials might have used for interdimensional travel? Jason Martell: It can't be a coincidence that both Mayan and Aztec beliefs incorporated a swirling pool of water where they were able to travel to some other sacred paradise.
Maybe we're talking about a form of technological travel that isn't understood in modern form, but through the ancient astronaut lens, we have to understand that ancient man went to great lengths to depict and explain how this form of travel was taking place.
And it might be that this is something that was extraterrestrial in nature.
Narrator: Could there really be a gateway to another world hidden at the bottom of Cenote Angelita? And if so, could other cenotes, lakes, rivers and oceans contain similar portals through which all manner of alien life is coming to our planet? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest there is new evidence that the abundance of water on planet Earth makes it a prime destination for extraterrestrial beings.
Narrator: August 30, 2012.
NASA launches Storm Probes into the Van Allen belts, intense radiation zones that surround planet Earth like a doughnut.
Dennin: Because of the Van Allen belts, incoming charged particles are sent on curved paths that safely protect the Earth, and we don't get hit by them.
Narrator: During the two-year mission, the probes record the belts' radio waves and discover something incredible.
The sound they produce in space is nearly identical to the song of a humpback whale.
Dennin: What's nice about the Van Allen belts is the radio waves they emit are at the same frequencies as sound that we listen to.
And so you can record these radio waves and play them, and they make music basically.
Radiation and things in the universe make noise.
Planets emit a sound.
Everything emits a sound.
And the similarity to the humpback whale sound I mean, is that a coincidence? I don't believe in coincidences.
But it is weird.
Wilcock: It's possible to me that other aquatic, humanoid life-forms that are out there in the universe might be able to notice that these electromagnetic belts around our Earth are ringing like a gong, saying, "There's water here.
" And that could very well attract them and draw them to our planet, almost like a beacon to a watery world.
Narrator: Could the Van Allen belts actually be of extraterrestrial design, acting as a beacon to indicate that our planet is rich with water? While scientists are discovering that water is more prevalent throughout the universe than previously thought, it has become increasingly clear that planets with large bodies of liquid water believed to be essential for complex life are scarce.
Earth is a little bit special.
It's got abundant water, but it's also got abundant land, and that may be a peculiar feature.
But seeing as liquid water is so critical to life as we know it, when we look to worlds elsewhere, we're primarily looking for liquid water.
If life exists that's intelligent on a planet that hosts water-based life, then one can suggest that the only other planet that they would be looking for intelligent life is also water-based.
Gerhard: We seem so fixated on finding life on other planets, yet there's so much potential here on Earth.
If there's anything that we've learned from history, it's that anything is possible.
We can't discount the possibility that somewhere in the vast, unexplored ocean depths lies some highly intelligent and highly dangerous life-form we haven't seen yet deep-sea aliens, if you will.
_ _ _ _ Martell: Today, as we look deeper into our own solar system and beyond, we realize the importance of H2O, and that water isn't only a life force for us, but possibly other organisms within the galaxy.
And knowing that our oceans are as deep as they are, it's very possible that there's a whole other world of exploration waiting for us.
We might even discover that there are other races living on the planet Earth, but at the deep parts of our oceans.
Narrator: Is it possible that extraterrestrials inhabit our waters all over the world? Could exotic fish, terrifying sea monsters, and even humanoid creatures have come to our planet through underwater portals? Perhaps when we finally make contact with alien beings, it will not be in the furthest reaches of space, but right here on Earth, lurking in the deep.