Ancient Aliens s15e09 Episode Script

1 Narrator: They transform their appearance right before our eyes.
Bruce Fenton: They're able to go from being totally human-looking to dangerous beasts that tear people to pieces.
- (man screams) - David Childress: They turn into bats or a sudden mist and disappear.
(woman screams) Lynn Picknett: The most terrifying thing is they can steal the face of a loved one and lure you to your doom.
Narrator: Accounts of creatures able to morph from one form into another can be found all over the world and throughout history.
Giorgio A.
Tsoukalos: You have to ask the question, what is the core of truth behind those legends? Childress: When you look at all the different legends, we have a very strong connection between shape-shifters and extraterrestrials.
Narrator: Is it possible that earth has been infiltrated by shape-shifting beings from another planet? William Henry: What if there are millions of extraterrestrials that are walking amongst us and suddenly they reveal their true appearance? Narrator: There is a doorway in the universe.
Beyond it is the promise of truth.
It demands we question everything we have ever been taught.
The evidence is all around us.
The future is right before our eyes.
We are not alone.
We have never been alone.
Narrator: 22-year-old forestry worker Travis Walton is driving home after sundown with a group of coworkers when suddenly a strange light appears in the sky.
I noticed, uh, some little glimmers of light coming through the trees.
And the light seemed to be coming from higher than where ground level would be.
It was only when we got to where this light was crossing the road that we had an unobstructed view of the craft.
It was a clearly visible, clearly defined metallic object, a disc hovering there, outlined against the sky.
I threw open the door, thinking I'd get a closer look before it took off.
As I got closer to it, the sound it was making, it was a sound you, you both heard and felt.
And, uh, the crew said they could feel the vibration in the truck.
They said it seemed like something was about to happen.
And, uh, it was.
(Chuckles) that's when this energy hit me.
The crew said that it was like I'd stepped on a land mine.
Like an explosion so violent that, uh, they thought it, uh, it had killed me.
When this beam of energy hit me, I felt like a physical blow, but with a sort of a Tingling sort of an electric shock sort of feeling at the same time.
I don't know whether I came to soon after I was taken aboard.
But I know I was on some kind of an elevated gurney or operating table.
I was looking straight into the-the face of this creature.
And I just flipped out.
Michael Salla: He sees these Grey extraterrestrials around him, and he panics.
And he begins to struggle very violently.
And so those Grey extraterrestrials leave that room.
And then shortly afterwards, you have two human-looking extraterrestrials walking in.
Walton: In the case of these human-looking ones, I started to have serious misgivings that, that this was a rescue.
And that's when they put this mask over my face.
And I just blacked out real quickly.
Nick pope: Now the suspicion here was that actually these weren't different aliens.
These were the same aliens, but they were capable of shape-shifting into something else, specifically to calm him down.
Narrator: Travis Walton's story has become one of the most famous alien abduction cases ever reported, and was even adapted into a movie in 1993.
But if true, was he abducted by beings that are able to shape-shift and mimic humans? While Travis Walton's account is extraordinary, it is not entirely unique.
Salla: There are many stories of these abductees, who see these non-human looking extraterrestrials, these greys, who then are replaced by beings that look human.
And this seems to be extraterrestrials using this shape-shifting ability to make it look as though human extraterrestrials are there.
Narrator: In 2013, public policy polling released data that showed 12 million Americans believe that shape-shifting beings live amongst us.
Fenton: One of the most intriguing conspiracies today is that of the shape-shifting aliens.
The idea that perhaps there is a class of entities on our world today that is able to represent itself as humans at will.
These extraterrestrials that are hidden from the rest of the-the normal human society around them.
Pope: There is a theory that there are aliens among us.
Aliens in human form.
That there's an advance guard, a fifth column.
Call it what you like, but the idea that perhaps as a prelude to a full-scale alien invasion, they infiltrate, they get their people into positions of power.
And one could be walking right past you and you wouldn't know.
People think of disclosure as being the archetypal landing on the white house lawn, uh, spaceships in the sky.
What if it's actually not that? What if aliens are already here? Narrator: While the notion that shape-shifting extraterrestrials are living among the human race may sound like something ripped from a science fiction movie, this concept was actually prevalent among people living thousands of years ago.
In ancient times, nearly every culture across the globe described their gods as not only descending from the sky, but also having the ability to transform their appearance.
Jonathan young: Shape-shifting has shown up throughout history in shamanic lore, in the great religions the Olympians in Greece, the Hindu gods would change shape, the Egyptian gods.
There's something about this idea that particularly the gods can change into another person or become an animal.
Ric Rader: These stories are not just here to entertain us.
They are here to make sense of our relationship to the world and to the gods.
And that is not a world that we have a lot of control over.
And that, ultimately, is a terrifying thing, because when they come down to our world in whatever shape they take, we are subject to the whims of the gods.
Narrator: Are tales of shape-shifting beings a mere manifestation of a deep-seated fear that we are not in control of our own reality? Curiously, a common element found in many of these ancient stories is that the reason the gods changed shape was so that they could navigate the human world undetected.
Rader: In order to traffic in the human world, the gods have to take on a human shape or something that exists in the human world.
Zeus, in particular, um, wants to have sexual relations with human beings, with, uh, with women.
Zeus takes the form of a bull, an especially beautiful bull which attracts the interest of Europa, who was a Phoenician princess.
Henry in the Greek story, Europa climbs aboard this bull.
Together they cross over the Mediterranean to the island of Crete.
Zeus shape-shifts back into himself as Zeus the god, impregnates Europa.
So this is Zeus using shape-shifting as a way to attract a human female and ultimately to create a new island civilization in Crete.
Rader: Zeus changes himself into a bull.
Changes himself into an eagle.
Changes himself into a golden rain shower.
For practical reasons, the gods need to disguise themselves.
Because if they show up in the human world undisguised, then it'll wreak havoc.
And the limitation of our imagination is that they sort of look like us.
They may not, we don't really know.
They have to take a shape that our puny mortal minds are capable of comprehending.
Tsoukalos: Throughout history, we have these stories of ancient gods being able to shape-shift.
So you have to ask the question, what is the core of truth behind those legends? Narrator: Could there be some significance to the fact that in story after story, coming from all parts of the world, gods are said to change shape to interact with humans? Is it possible that at some point, the ancient people actually witnessed extraterrestrials changing shape? Childress: We have many stories in the past, legends and myths of shape-shifting gods.
The Greeks have many stories with this.
The Hindus, the Sumerians.
All over the world, we have these stories.
And you have to wonder if it might have something to do with shape-shifting extraterrestrials.
The ancient astronaut theory tries to decipher misunderstood technology in mythological stories.
This whole idea of shape-shifting is rooted solidly in the concept of misunderstood technology.
Actual flesh-and-blood extraterrestrials were able to change their appearance with technology.
Perhaps they had an invisibility cloak Or they had a cloak with which they could change themselves into whatever they wanted.
This was witnessed by the people, and this is how these stories came into existence.
(owl hooting) narrator: If extraterrestrials inspired the ancient stories of shape-shifting gods, as ancient astronaut theorists suggest, were they here only in the distant past, or have they remained with us for thousands of years? And what could be their reason for hiding among humans? Narrator: Here, hidden along the ocean floor, researchers discover a new and unusual creature the mimic octopus.
This highly intelligent cephalopod is capable of not only instantly changing its color and skin texture, but it can also transform its body to take on the form of many other creatures.
Kirsten fisher: The mimic octopus is remarkable.
It's been known to mimic flounder, which are like flat fish that live on the bottom of the ocean.
Sea snakes, with the striping.
And then also lionfish, remarkably, which have all these, like, feathery appendages.
It's been documented to essentially impersonate at least 15 different marine species.
Narrator: With three hearts, nine brains, and roughly double the number of genes of a human, some scientists have speculated that the octopus may well be from another planet.
In 2018, a group of 33 scientists proclaimed in a peer-reviewed paper that the octopus actually has alien DNA and might have originated elsewhere.
Now, when we think about that, you have to think: Well, what might extraterrestrials actually be like? Could they be like the octopus? Could they in fact be shape-shifters? We automatically assume that extraterrestrials might be humanoid, that they might look like us, but the fact of the matter is that they could in fact be shape-shifters able to change their form into anything they want to be.
Narrator: If the octopus is not indigenous to earth, could that point to the possibility that intelligent alien beings have also arrived here that have the biological ability to shape-shift? Fisher: The evolution of things like crypsis, or the ability to camouflage oneself.
On earth, we know the selective pressure for that is primarily sort of predator-prey relationships.
Crypsis is basically a trait to escape detection by a predator, if you're an animal that gets eaten, or to escape detection by your prey, if you happen to be a predator.
I think that selective pressure could certainly, um, drive the evolution of crypsis on other planets as well.
Pope: Given that shape-shifting has a clear evolutionary benefit, it's certainly possible that this capability evolved not just here on earth, but elsewhere in the universe.
It's perfectly possible there's other life out there, including intelligent life, civilizations that have the capability to shape-shift.
We have to wonder if This technology is something that-that they just naturally have as part of their biological DNA, or are they using some technology that's doing this for them? So it could be either, and even a combination of both.
Narrator: In the animal kingdom, the ability to shape-shift has evolved to conceal both the hunter and the hunted.
But if shape-shifting extraterrestrials truly are hiding among us, did they evolve as prey or predators? A 25-year-old mother of three is taken to a local physician after displaying increasingly bizarre behavior.
She speaks in gibberish and complains of being plagued by disturbing visions and strange voices.
Her family claims she is possessed by supernatural beings Known as the jinn.
Amir Hussain: Jinn is an Arabic term that means "to hide," "to conceal.
" the Koran says that they are created of fire without smoke.
Smokeless fire.
It talks about the jinn being able to take animal form.
It talks about the jinn being able to take the form of natural phenomena the wind, for example.
And so you will have people to this day in the Muslim world who will say that this person is possessed by jinn, that they're not physically ill, they're not mentally ill.
Picknett: The jinn were allegedly created before humankind by god.
They can take any shape to beguile you, and to tempt you.
Because part of their role is to test humanity.
Narrator: Encounters with the jinn are reported frequently in certain parts of the world, and millions of people continue to believe in their existence.
Similar shape-shifting beings can also be found in other ancient traditions and are so common that modern mythologists have grouped them into a category called "trickster gods.
" young: The trickster is the god of transitions, of change.
They're not always fun to encounter, because they-they pull the rug out from under us.
They are in charge of mischief and mayhem.
In the Norse tradition, we have the trickster character known as Loki.
Loki is a shape-shifter.
In some stories, he's a salmon, sometimes a fly.
Deepak Shimkhada: According to Hindu mythology, danivas are demons.
So they have special power to change shape, to delude others, to confuse others, to appear in any form they wish.
Henry: We find this in the Celtic fairy lore as well, where the fairies are able to shape-shift.
But in their deepest and darkest sense, they're seeking to extract something from humanity.
Fenton: Some of these encounters that we hear about with shape-shifting beings may be extraterrestrials.
There are some good examples of this with the so-called "greys.
" there's one incident where A large owl was seen that was about three foot high, and The witness just thought this could not add up, and then suddenly it just changed back into a Grey.
Very strange.
Deception runs through this whole phenomenon.
The idea that the extraterrestrials are deceiving, seducing, tricking people.
We see it in mythology.
We see it in close encounters.
Narrator: Is it possible that accounts of shape-shifting beings, both in the remote past and in modern times, are not the product of over active imaginations But actual encounters with extraterrestrials? But if so, do they have a sinister agenda? Perhaps further clues can be found by examining stories not of gods But of monsters? (cawing) narrator: This picturesque Transylvanian town is the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler, or Vlad Dracula.
This infamous Romanian prince was known to drink the blood of his enemies, and inspired the title of Bram stoker's 1897 vampire novel, Dracula.
In 2014, a tourist visiting a local church came across a painting so strange that she sent a photo of it to the Israeli extraterrestrials and UFOs research organization.
Henry: In the hometown of Vlad the Impaler, upon whom the story of Dracula the vampire is based, we find the church of the Dominican monastery.
And in this church is a 700-year-old painting that clearly portrays what most would identify as a circular craft, a UFO, hovering over a building that is thought to be the church.
Fenton: We have this very strange jelly-mold-shaped saucer hovering over the ancestral home of the great figure that really has given rise to the idea of You know, Dracula the vampire.
Now, is there a link here in some way with this vampire legend and extraterrestrials? Narrator: Is it possible that a 700-year-old painting in a church in Transylvania provides a connection between vampires and aliens? Could it be that the stories of these shape-shifting entities that are said to morph from human form into bats, wolves and other creatures are based on real encounters? While Bram stoker's Dracula is a work of fiction, it is inspired by historical events.
Picknett: In the classic vampire story, from Bram stoker's Dracula, the late 19th century, he did do some research into the Romanian traditions.
As I say, they're very complicated, and they-they tend to To differ village from village even.
So were there ever such things, paranormally speaking, as vampires? For a time 15th, 16th, 17th, into the 18th century in certain parts of the world, vampires did exist.
Narrator: During the construction of a roadway just outside this small town, a shocking discovery is made.
Workers unearth a burial ground that provides a gruesome window into the past.
It contains four skeletons, all decapitated.
Recently in Poland, some graves were found that had unusual characteristics.
The remains had the heads removed and placed on the legs.
This was evidence of a ritual execution.
Some theorists think these might've been suspected vampires.
Narrator: Archaeologists estimate these burials date back to the 16th century, and according to the traditions that existed in Poland at that time, keeping the head separated from the body would prevent the undead from coming back to life.
Similar vampire graves have been found throughout Europe, some even containing bodies with stakes driven through the hearts.
When we think about vampires, we think of Bram stoker's Dracula, uh, or indeed, Hollywood portrayals of vampires.
- (bats squeaking) - but for the peoples of Europe, particularly in eastern Europe, the idea of vampires was a very frightening and very real supernatural phenomena which was something that they had to guard themselves against, because the vampires were shape-shifters.
And the most frightening thing about these was that they had to sustain their existence by drinking the blood of animals or human beings.
Narrator: While the modern concept of the vampire was informed by European folklore, similar shape-shifting beings with a thirst for blood have been reported throughout the ancient world, like the rakshasas described in the Sanskrit texts of India.
Shimkhada: In Hindu scriptures, rakshasas have special power to change shape.
Rakshasa is a flesh-eating demon.
That rakshasa loves to eat flesh.
Fenton: All across the globe, we have mythology that represents some kind of vampiric-type entities.
There's the ekimmu in the Sumerian texts.
There's the jiangshi in china.
All these classes of entities that seem to be in some way interested in human blood.
But is there a real route to this? You know, is there some kind of entity that's interested in human blood? Narrator: Could these bloodthirsty abominations be more than just fantasy? As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned, the centuries-old tales of vampires bear striking similarities to a very modern phenomenon accounts of alien abduction.
Bill Birnes: When we talk about vampire experiences, we break them down into, there is the sighting.
Then there is the trapping of one's own mind and the luring of the person into the vampire.
But aliens abductions are exactly the same way.
Abductees report they are transfixed by a light, a figure approaches them.
The figure engages with them, and the figure takes them away.
Pope: Central to alien abductions is the idea of some sort of medical procedure.
Uh, some people say that DNA is taken, but in other cases, blood seems to have been removed.
Very often, the person is immobilized in these abduction reports.
And yet, when you look at the vedic texts, the Chinese legends, the European legends, one can draw these links between vampires and UFOs and abductions.
Childress: We have a very strong connection between vampires and extraterrestrials.
Is it possible that extraterrestrials somehow need our blood? (hissing) narrator: If stories of vampires have been inspired by extraterrestrial encounters, as ancient astronaut theorists suggest, might they reveal that blood plays an essential role in the ability to shape-shift? Perhaps further clues can be found by examining humanity's own efforts to transform life on earth through the manipulation of DNA.
Narrator: Archeologists excavating a stone age settlement known as "star Carr" make an extraordinary discovery.
Under layers of dense peat, they uncover a ritualistic headdress that is 11,000 years old one that would have been worn by a shaman or priest.
As long as there's been people, there's been the idea that certain people, certain special people, can shift their shape.
And the priests of the ancient magical world, the shamans, allegedly had the ability to shift their shape into an animal.
Narrator: Curiously, in recent years, the site and its surrounding region have become renowned for reports of a horrific shape-shifter, known As the Flixton werewolf.
A number of very odd experiences have been occurring there over the last 50 years or so.
These include the appearance of a strange biped with either a canine or wolf-like head.
- (growling) - in other words, half wolf, half human.
And in addition to this, there have been many strange sightings of mysterious light forms and structured craft, UFOs, in the same vicinity.
We have UFO activity and what would be werewolf activity in Europe, particularly in Yorkshire.
And so, we have to wonder, is there some connection between UFO activity and these shape-shifters? It would seem so.
Narrator: In 2016, nearly a dozen sightings of the Flixton werewolf were reported in the nearby town of hull, just 50 miles south of star Carr.
Witnesses claimed to have seen the creature feasting on the blood and flesh of local dogs, leaving residents gripped by terror.
Collins: For the peoples of Europe, in the past, this was a very real threat.
It was believed that there were certain individuals that could transform themselves, shape-shift, into a particular animal, - most obviously a wolf.
- (howling) and whilst these individuals were in the form of a werewolf, it was believed that to sustain their existence, they had to have the blood and life force of either animals or human beings.
Narrator: Among the many stories of shape-shifting beings from vampires to werewolves and even modern alien abduction accounts a recurring theme is the need for blood.
And as far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned, it's very possible that these beings need something contained within the blood in order to shape-shift DNA.
Fenton: Now, could it be that in some way, this shape-shifting ability could be harnessed by blending of the genes of a species to just morph into whatever you need to look like instantaneously? Howe: The priority is genetic harvesting, because they can mix and match genes at a sophisticated level, and make any body container that they want, and then, they can use it as camouflage.
And so one of our greatest questions is, "who walks around on our planet, looks human, but is not?" narrator: If there really are alien shape-shifters here on earth, might they require DNA in order to mimic a human or animal form? Over the past 30 years, advances in gene-splicing technology have allowed humanity to begin experimenting with cloning and transforming earthly creatures.
In 2019, researchers in china announced they had created the first hybrid embryos that are part human and part monkey.
Similar experiments have been done around the world, crossing human DNA with pigs, sheep, and soon, mice and rats.
Amy Teitel: We are seeing modern technology able to create these kinds of cross-species.
So what geneticists are able to do is actually clip pieces of a DNA strand, insert a new strand in to complete the sequence, and then, put that back into a cell.
When it's able to grow and become an embryo, and then grow into a full being, it has this different DNA sequence in it.
Michael Dennin: When you think about what we already know about gene editing, first of all, you know, the technology's possible.
So it is certainly well within the realm of possibility that an advanced civilization, an alien civilization, would have skills in gene editing far surpassing what we have now, and could really do things that are actually unimaginable and outside the scope of what we're thinking.
Narrator: Could it be that the genetic modifications that scientists are now able to achieve in a laboratory were perfected thousands of years ago by extraterrestrials? For ancient astronaut theorists, this possibility raises another intriguing question could they similarly alter the DNA of humans? Narrator: The southwest region of France is home to some of the earliest examples of prehistoric art ever discovered.
The caves of Lascaux, Niaux, and Pech Merle all contain rock paintings that date back more than 15,000 years.
But among the ancient cave art, one image stands apart.
Tucked inside the trois-frères cave is the depiction of a mysterious figure known simply as "the sorcerer.
" young: In the south of France, a cave was discovered with an image, believed to be something like 15,000 years old.
This might be the very earliest image we have of a deity.
It's a stag, but it's a human inside, so it seems to depict a shamanic ritual leader channeling animal powers.
Collins: It has the body of a deer, uh, it has the eyes of an owl, it has the tail possibly of a horse, but it's quite clearly standing on human legs and has humanlike arms.
And although it's been interpreted perhaps as the first god, more likely is that it represents a shaman, who has transformed, uh, into one or more animals, to move through the supernatural realms that the shaman is thought to have taken.
Narrator: While there is no written record to definitively identify cave art from 15,000 years ago, in the American southwest, the notion of shamans transforming themselves into shape-shifters is still prevalent today.
This 500-acre expanse has been plagued by reports of strange phenomena for decades.
Phenomena that include both UFO sightings and accounts of a shape-shifting monster.
Any paranormal activity that you can imagine has happened, allegedly, at this skinwalker ranch.
You've seen UFOs.
They have seen different creatures.
They have seen weird things happening up in the sky.
There is a history that not only goes back over the past 100 years, but over the past 1,000 years of activity happening in that area, some of which is connected to Navajo legends.
Tales of shape-shifters called skinwalkers have existed since time immemorial.
Narrator: In the oral traditions of both the local Navajo and Ute populations, the shape-shifter for which skinwalker ranch is named has inhabited the area for centuries.
But the story behind this creature is different from that of other shape-shifters.
According to the Navajo, the skinwalker is a human, who has attained the ability to transform his body.
A "skinwalker" is the name that is given to a Navajo shaman or witch when they are in a supernatural form.
Very often a skinwalker will be a wolf, but it can be other animals as well.
The native tradition concerning the skinwalkers is that these are actual people that, uh, have gained a certain type of power.
They were given certain abilities and shape-changing and magic.
Narrator: When it comes to how the skinwalker is able to change shape, the Navajo have a similar notion to that of ancient astronaut theorists.
They believe it is connected to DNA.
Dover: Our view on it is that they're manipulating the DNA of their own body.
They do change shape.
And it's usually an animal that they have the skin for.
And they'll use the skin and with a-a combination of chants, actually turn into that animal.
And interestingly enough, in Navajo tradition, you are taught early on as a child, you don't leave your fingernail clippings, you don't spit on the ground and not cover it up.
All of this has to do with the transmission of DNA.
Narrator: If extraterrestrials are harvesting DNA in order to shape-shift, as some ancient astronaut theorists suggest, is it possible that they could also bestow humans with this same ability? And might the skinwalker be evidence of alien intervention? While it may sound far fetched, former Navajo police officer Jonathan Dover is certain that the being called the skinwalker is real.
I spent, uh, 31 years in law enforcement.
We've had many, many incidences where people have seen them chasing their vehicles as their vehicles are traveling at 60, 65 miles an hour, and having a human figure running behind you.
(crickets chirping) I've had police officers arrest people and had them in handcuffs, they get to the station, they hadn't stopped anywhere and the person is gone.
Whether we have an alien presence, we don't know for sure, but there's enough information there that I would say don't take it lightly just because it's a different culture.
Narrator: Is the strange figure that was depicted on a cave wall in France 15,000 years ago alive and well in the American southwest? Have there always been shape-shifters among us, both alien and human? And is it possible that new scientific developments are leading towards a future in which we could become The shape-shifters? Narrator: Scientists developing shape-shifting technology announce their latest and most incredible creation lattices that can transform in response to changes in temperature.
When researchers demonstrate the material's remarkable metamorphosis, as if by magic, the flat mesh morphs into a three-dimensional face of 19th century mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.
This has been used to take a flat sort of structure and turn it to look like a human face or other interesting sort of three-dimensional shape.
When you talk about shape-shifting technologies, what you're seeing right now is our ability to control materials is really at a transformative point.
Narrator: In the near future, shape-shifting materials like this could be utilized in many ways, from constructing smart fabrics and self-repairing electronics to ushering in the next generation of robotics and high-tech medical equipment.
But ancient astronaut theorists see an even more profound possibility.
That these advancements combined with our growing understanding of DNA manipulation will unlock the potential for humans to harness the power of shape-shifting.
In science fiction, one of the-the great ideas was the idea of being able to-to shape-shift.
To change the color of your skin or to change your form to turn into something else.
And now high-tech companies are actually working on this today.
Fenton: In nature we see animals that can suddenly shift colors, change their shapes.
Could it be that in some way this ability could be harnessed and used in technologies? Or perhaps in even a-a cybernetic blending of the genes of a species like this with a technology, allowing us to have these rapid shape-shifts, to just morph into whatever you need to look like instantaneously? Human technology is advancing here by leaps and bounds.
By all accounts, we already have pretty much optical invisibility, or certainly camouflage so good that it's-it's almost indistinguishable.
I mean, some of this is, of course, so classified, we won't get to hear about it for years, but But if you're reading hints about it here and there, you can bet that it already exists.
We now have technology that is equal to what we see the gods using in these ancient stories.
And now we're faced with a new reality.
What if suddenly we realize that there are, are thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of extraterrestrials that are walking amongst us and suddenly they reveal themselves for their true appearance? Narrator: As humanity begins to harness the extraordinary abilities that ancient peoples associated with the gods, will we awaken to an incredible new reality? One in which we will not only achieve the power to shape-shift, but in the process, will discover that humans are not the only intelligent species on earth? Perhaps a reunion with our alien ancestors will only happen when we are finally able to open our eyes and see that they are all around us.