NARRATOR: Rockets capable
of destroying entire cities...
Fire that burns underwater...
And fighter jets that fly
without pilots...
Throughout history, advances in
technology have lead to the
development of powerful
weapons... each more deadly than
the last.
GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: We go from
attaching sharp stones to the
ends of sticks, and then all of
a sudden, we have actual swords.
DEEPAK SHIMKADA: In the
Mahabharata, 46 different
types of weapon are described.
BILL BIRNES: They're using
air-to-ground missiles, powerful
particle beam weapons.
It's astounding to read about
events from centuries ago using
weapons that are in use today.
NARRATOR: But were these
lethal weapons the product of
human innovation?
Or were they developed with help
from another, more otherworldly,
source?
DAVID CHILDRESS:
Extraterrestrials may well have
given man these weapons.
They want us to be able to
advance, and ultimately to be
like them.
NARRATOR: 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 might they have been
responsible for the development
of mankind's deadliest weapons?
NARRATOR: Earth, 4.5 billion
years ago.
Molten-hot magma spews from
beneath the ground.
Lightning cracks down in bursts
from the sky.
And rivers of lava flow across
the land.
Ever since the dawn of time, our
planet has been changing...
evolving... and ripped apart by
the awesome forces of nature.
And it's the harnessing of that
nature that has offered mankind
its most formidable challenge
and greatest accomplishment.
DAVID SOUTHWELL: Mankind
achieving the ability to
manipulate fire is probably the
most historical event that ever
happened.
When we achieved the ability to
master fire, everything changed
for mankind.
NARRATOR: But how did our
ancestors learn to recreate and
harness this most volatile...
and ultimately essential... of
the Earth's elements?
Was it simply a part of our
intellectual evolution?
Or is it possible that the
knowledge came from another,
more otherworldly, origin?
PHILIP COPPENS: When we look
at fire, we imagine this idea
that somehow our ancestors are
rubbing some sticks together.
But each culture always says
that fire is a gift from the
gods.
SOUTHWELL: In Native
American traditions, quite often
it's fire was stolen from the
world above.
In Maori legends, again, we see
the theft of fire from the gods.
In the Greek legends, it's
Prometheus stealing fire from
the gods.
NARRATOR: How is it that such
similar myths exist about fire
being given to man by the gods?
According to ancient astronaut
theorists, this eerie similarity
may actually be evidence that
gods, or, perhaps,
extraterrestrial beings, really
do exist.
And, if so, it might also reveal
how mankind eventually used fire
to create deadlier and more
sophisticated weapons.
SOUTHWELL: If we are
talking about ancient aliens
having an impact, where would we
expect to see that impact?
I would expect to see it in
metal working.
And do we actually see hard and
fast evidence of mankind making
sudden huge leaps in metal
working?
Yes, we do.
TSOUKALOS: We go from
attaching sharp stones to the
ends of sticks, and then all of
a sudden, we have actual swords.
NARRATOR: According to
archaeologists, the first human
work with metal weaponry began
in the Bronze Age, beginning
around 3300 BC in the Near East.
PHIL IMBROGNO: Most of the
swords at one time were either
copper or iron.
MICHAEL DENNIN: if you think
about it, the ages, we started
first with bronze, nickel,
softer things that are easier to
work with.
The reason we don't have iron as
our first example is because
it's a much harder material,
you have to get much hotter fire
to be able to work with it, and
it's just a tougher material to
work with.
RAFAEL KOSCHE: They were
fighting, bashing each other
with these swords.
They wanted a tough sword, which
means it was not always very
sharp.
When these people were fighting,
when they're hacking each
other's heads and arms off, they
were ripping each other's heads
and arms off with blunt pieces
of metal.
NARRATOR: Approximately 1,000
years after the development of
iron came another, even greater,
breakthrough: the invention of
steel.
IMBROGNO: No one really
knows when people first started
making steel.
Some say it only dates 1000 B.C.
To make a steel sword in ancient
times was not an easy task.
You would have to get
high-quality iron.
And most of the time they could
not get that iron mined from the
Earth.
And meteorites were obtained,
which were pure iron, which made
the best steel swords.
And these were considered magic
swords.
And they were usually a guarded
secret, and villages would have
one or two steel swords.
And there's tales about warlords
who had one purpose in mind: to
find all the steel swords that
were made and take them for
their army.
There's no doubt that the
cultures that were able to
obtain steel usually became
masters of the world.
(grunting and shouting)
NARRATOR: But where the
forging of iron requires a
relatively unsophisticated
knowledge of metallurgy, the
creation of steel is a more
complex scientific process.
So who, or what, was responsible
for this incredible evolutionary
innovation?
IMBROGNO: In the Book of
Enoch we see some type of
interaction between celestial
beings and human beings.
What did they give us?
They gave us steel.
And the legend goes... not only
from the Bible and from Enoch,
but it goes to Sumerian times...
where the gods had steel.
JONATHAN YOUNG: The making of
the sword is a magical process.
Back in the time before modern
metallurgy, the ability to take
natural material and make a
sword out of it was considered
the work of a wizard.
PETER FIEBAG (translated):
You mustn't look the village
blacksmith in the eyes because
people are frightened of being
killed by his gaze.
The blacksmith isn't allowed to
live in the village, because of
his magical powers.
NARRATOR: The notion of metal
working being a dark and magical
process was so prevalent in the
ancient world that in Greek
mythology, even Zeus looked upon
his son Hephaestus, the god of
metallurgy, with suspicion.
RICHARD RADER: Hephaestus is
responsible for making armature
for the gods.
But the real miracle that he
does is for this shield for
Achilles.
And it's got the whole universe
on it.
What's amazing about this thing
is that it's not just a static
shield:, it's alive.
This is not something that a
human being makes.
This is terrifying, this is
scary, and this thing will kill
you, just in its own kind of
metaphysical beauty.
And so he has this weird ability
to kind of endow metal with a
kind of life of its own.
So Zeus is, in fact, very
suspicious of this guy and just
tries to get rid of him.
So Zeus picks him up and slings
him, and he just falls and falls
and falls and falls and falls
until he crash-lands on the
island of Lemnos.
There is a little city on the
island of Lemnos called
Hephaestia, so there's a place
that is named specifically after
Hephaestus.
NARRATOR: 3,000 years ago,
Hephaestia was one of the most
important cities in Greece.
And according to the ancient
stories, Hephaestus actually
lived here among the people
of Lemnos.
The Greeks worshiped this
divine blacksmith and built
monuments to him.
But could this mythological
being have actually been present
in ancient Greece?
And if so, might he have been
not a god...
but an ancient alien visitor?
RADER: In Greek mythology,
you conceive of gods as kind of
like human beings.
And we have lots of literature
which deals with a whole range
of interactions that human
beings can have with gods.
TSOUKALOS: it is very clearly
stated that the knowledge for
making swords was given directly
by the gods.
And those gods weren't figments
of our ancestors' imagination,
but they were physical beings.
NARRATOR: Is it really
possible that our ancestors'
ability to forge metals and make
weapons was aided by
extraterrestrial beings?
And might stories of swords
imbued with magical powers be
something more than mere works
of fiction?
Ancient astronaut theorists
believe the answer can be found
half a world away...
in Japan.
NARRATOR: Japan.
700 A.D.
Here, according to legend, the
sword smith, Amakuni, and his
son, Amakura, sealed themselves
away in their blacksmith shop in
an effort to forge the perfect
weapon.
For seven days and seven nights,
they prayed to the Shinto gods
to guide them.
31 days later, they emerged from
their isolation with a curved,
single-edged sword resembling
no blade ever made before.
KOSCHE: At that time, the
swords that they used were these
double-edged Chinese design,
clunky, heavy, unwieldy swords.
And Amakuni started
reestablishing and learning
everything that he knew about
metallurgy, and after about a
month, he finally emerged from
his forge, and he had this
single-edged blade with a
curvature to it.
Every sword smith in the area
ridiculed him.
Everybody laughed at him.
They thought he was ridiculous,
that he didn't know what he
was doing.
"That's not the way you do it."
Well, the next time the emperor
went off into battle...
when he came back, Amakuni
stood on his front porch, and he
started counting the blades:
two, ten, 15, 20, 100, 200
blades... none of them
were broken.
And the emperor praised him and
said, "You are the greatest
sword smith ever."
Ever since then, they have
followed that design.
NARRATOR: But what was the
secret behind Amakuni's radical
new design?
And what... or who... inspired him
to deviate from the one that had
been used for more than 1,000
years?
Was he simply ahead of his time?
Or could he really have received
otherworldly guidance during the
seven days and nights he and his
son prayed to the Shinto gods?
(swords clanging, men shouting)
KOSCHE: The history of the
Japanese sword is a long and
varied history all the way back
to mythological beliefs that
Omikami, the sun goddess, gave
her grandson a sword when she
sent him down to rule over the
Earth.
NARRATOR: According to the
beliefs of the samurai, higher
beings called kami began human
life.
But in order for humans to
experience the divine nature of
the kami, they must undergo
purification rituals, which were
always performed when making a
new blade.
KOSCHE: Before you even
begin, you bathe yourself, and
you put on clean clothes.
All your assistants give
prayers, and they solicit the
help from the gods.
And, in fact, there are
sword smiths that will actually
chant as they're hammering on
the blade...
because every hammer, as it
compacts the metal, is also
including their chant into it.
NARRATOR: Could the sword
maker, Amakuni, and his son,
Amakura, have actually come in
contact with the kami?
And might these Buddhist gods
have come not from a spiritual
realm, but from an
extraterrestrial one, as ancient
astronaut theorists believe?
Might alien beings have chosen
Amakuni, the greatest sword
maker of his time, to hold the
knowledge of this new
technology?
COPPENS: When you give
certain very powerful objects to
people, you need to have
extremely intelligent people
to use them.
And so what we find everywhere
is that, even if the gods had
given the most extraordinary
machine, including fire or any
other piece of technology, you
would have to have somebody able
to operate it... a highly trained
human being.
NARRATOR: Another example
of Amakuni's work... the
Kogarasu Maru blade, the most
legendary sword in Japanese
history... resides in the
Japanese imperial Collection.
But modern scholars and
scientists have had difficulty
in figuring out the secret to
its amazing strength.
DENNIN: The famous stories
are always, of course, the
Japanese steel used for the
samurai blade.
It's been very hard to reproduce
because some of these processes
can be incredibly sensitive to
the exact detail of the
temperature.
Some of its features are just
its flexibility and the way they
were able to fold it over and
over and its incredible strength
and its resistance to oxidation,
which is what you really
need to keep something sharp.
NARRATOR: Could the fact
that modern sword makers have
been unable to achieve the same
quality as Amakuni's blades be
further evidence that he was
trained by a more advanced
race of beings?
And might these ancient swords
have held some technology we
have yet to discover?
KOSCHE: In Shingon Buddhism,
the sword has a life of its own.
It's not that the samurai
selects the blade.
Is the samurai, more
appropriately, good enough for
the blade?
Does the blade choose him?
NARRATOR: ls the philosophy
of Shingon Buddhism... that the
blade chooses its owner...
simply an example of early
humans' tendency to project
spiritual consciousness onto
inanimate objects?
Or might ancient sword smiths
like Amakuni really have
possessed some otherworldly
knowledge?
A knowledge that swords, like
other deadly weapons, come not
from man, but from a divine or
extraterrestrial origin?
According to legend, one such
sword may have existed in
15th-century France... the sword
of Joan of Arc.
KATHLEEN McGOWAN: When Joan
of Arc was arrested and brought
to what we now know of as her
condemnation trial, her
inquisitors were determined to
get information about her sword.
Her inquisitors were obsessed
with finding out about her
sword, and that is because Joan
of Arc's sword was reputed to
have legendary power, divine
power.
Joan claimed that her voices,
her angelic voices, led her to
this sword.
COPPENS: She's said to have
found it, as it was, hidden
behind an altar dedicated to
Saint Catherine de Fierbois.
It is said that the sword itself
was forged by the archangel
Saint Michael...
and that whoever possessed it
was invincible.
McGOWAN: And that was
certainly true when Joan wielded
this sword, carried it with her
into the Battle of Orleans.
Which was the decisive battle,
which allowed them to put King
Charles VII on the throne of
France.
NARRATOR: Could Joan of Arc
really have been given her
invincible sword by
extraterrestrials who had an
interest in the future of
France?
Ancient astronaut theorists
believe such a thing is not only
possible, but likely.
And they point to the legendary
story of King Arthur as evidence
of their claim.
CHILDRESS: King Arthur had
two swords.
The Sword in the Stone, that
showed that he was to be king,
is one sword.
TSOUKALOS: When I hear a
story about this magnificent
sword that's encased in this
stone with only the handle
sticking out and only King
Arthur has the capability to
pull it out, well, then I start
thinking about some type of a
biometric security system, where
today we now have guns that can
only be fired if the handle
recognizes your fingerprint.
Is it possible that the Sword in
the Stone was calibrated
specifically to King Arthur's
biometrics?
I think yes.
I know it sounds crazy, but
we're merely saying that what
today is being discovered is a
rediscovery of what already took
place thousands of years ago.
NARRATOR: According to the
stories of King Arthur, the
sword that he is said to have
pulled from the stone was never
used in battle.
His weapon was the legendary
Excalibur.
CHILDRESS: The Excalibur
sword came to him from the Lady
in the Lake, where a hand came
up and handed him a magical
sword.
And according to the ancient
chronicles, this sword shone
with the light of 30 suns and
blinded his enemies.
FIEBAG (translated): This
sword of King Arthur was said
to have radiated lightning and
energy when he fought
against monsters.
So, we have swords as magical
objects, but here also is
suspicion that a misunderstood
technology could exist.
NARRATOR: Although historians
still debate whether the stories
of King Arthur have a basis in
fact, in 1998, archeologists
found a sixth-century piece of
slate inscribed with his name at
his reputed birthplace...
Tintagel, England.
But if King Arthur really
existed, might the legends of
his incredible swords also be
true?
And, if so, might that suggest
that extraterrestrial visitors
did in fact provide humans with
weapons not of this world?
Perhaps the answer can be found
in ancient Rome and by examining
a legendary battle, one
involving a much-witnessed
phenomenon in the sky.
NARRATOR: Rome.
October 27, 312 A.D.
At the Milvian Bridge on the
north side of the city, deposed
Emperor Constantine prepares to
reclaim his throne from
Maxentius.
In the sky, he witnesses what he
will later describe as a cross
hovering above him.
He interprets this vision as a
sign from the Christian God.
The next day, Constantine and
his army bear the image of the
Chi Rho on their shields and
flags, one of the earliest
cruciform symbols used by
Christians.
When they emerge victorious,
Christianity becomes the
official religion of the Roman
Empire, and the world is changed
forever.
But was the cross-shaped object
Constantine claimed to have seen
in the sky really a sign from
God?
Or might it have been some other
extraordinary force?
BRAMLEY: it looked like the
shape of a cross, but the shape
of a cross could have been
airplane-type objects, because
the fuselage and the wings will
look like a cross to somebody
who's looking up.
And of course, they had no
concept of these things back
then.
PITTMAN: There were other
signs and portents that were
seen around the same time that
were described as a crucifix in
the sky.
If these were to appear in the
sky today, we would describe
them quite differently.
TSOUKALOS: Is it possible
that Constantine, instead of
actually having seen a cross
floating in the sky, actually
saw a type of an
extraterrestrial craft?
Is it possible that Constantine
won because the
extraterrestrials were siding
with Constantine and thus
altering mankind's history
forever?
NARRATOR: But according to
ancient astronaut theorists,
even stronger evidence exists
that Emperor Constantine had a
genuine alien encounter.
Shortly after the Battle of
Milvian Bridge, he was said to
have acquired a powerful new
weapon.
Known as Greek fire, it was the
most devastating weapon of the
time.
And it was said to have been
given to Constantine by angels.
IMBROGNO: it was said to burn
so violently and so hot, it was
said that even in the greatest
of rainstorms, the fire would
not go out.
And when projected out to sea,
when it sunk into the water, it
would still burn on the bottom
of the ocean.
FIEBAG (translated): In one
battle, Byzantium was attacked
by 1,800 Persian ships.
Only 15 escaped.
All the others were destroyed by
the so-called Greek fire.
Prince Igor, who attacked
Byzantium in the year 941 A.D.,
attacked with a fleet of 1,000
ships.
Ten ships made it home.
NARRATOR: But perhaps even
more astounding than the
incredible power of Greek fire
is the fact that scientists have
not been able to reproduce it,
even after 1,600 years.
COPPENS: Scientists have been
trying to identify what Greek
fire is for decades, if not
centuries.
Nobody has come up with a
satisfying answer.
The most logical answer is that
it might be somehow petroleum,
because it is known that
petroleum continues to burn when
in contact with water.
NOORY: I think it has to do
with phosphorus and magnesium.
Because when they are mixed in
with water, they tend
to explode.
NARRATOR: The formula for
Greek fire was not even known
to most of those who used
the weapon, as the
delivery system required
multiple people to operate it.
TSOUKALOS: What's interesting
about Greek fire is that it only
worked when all the different
components worked together as
one piece.
Each component was operated by a
different person, so if somebody
was captured, they couldn't give
away the quote, unquote, secret
of Greek fire.
NARRATOR: But what was this
mysterious weapon?
And, more importantly, where did
it come from?
TSOUKALOS: One story goes
that Greek fire was given to
Constantine by an angel.
Now angels are supposed to be
these friendly creatures that
instill peace and love... and all
of a sudden, we have this one
quote, unquote, angel that gives
one of the most sophisticated
weapons in mankind's history
to Constantine?
Replace the word angel with
extraterrestrial and we have
a very different story.
NARRATOR: Could Greek fire
really have been a type of
advanced alien technology given
to Constantine to ensure the
success of the Roman Empire?
If so, wouldn't there be
evidence of extraterrestrial
influence during other earthly
conflicts?
FIEBAG (translated):
Hannibal, who crossed the Alps
and attacked Rome, was said to
have had a chemical explosive.
We don't know where the
knowledge came from in these
cases, but there could
definitely be a connection to
other weapons of the gods.
NARRATOR: The explosive
weapon Hannibal allegedly used
against ancient Rome, in the
3rd century BC, predated
gunpowder by over a
thousand years.
And some believe even gunpowder
itself may have been a discovery
inspired by otherworldly beings
back in the 9th century.
Ironically, this deadly
invention was discovered by
Chinese alchemists attempting to
create an elixir of immortality.
SUN: Alchemy has a
long history in China.
And the alchemist Tze had been
seeking an elixir for
immortality... the medicine, for
example, to live forever.
So they were experimenting for
many centuries and mixed all
kinds of things and it was not
until around 850 Common Era, and
we have records to show the
disastrous impact of
this mixing.
NARRATOR: Though the Chinese
emperors never achieved this
elixir for immortality, they
ended up with something almost
as valuable... a weapon more
powerful than anything that had
come before.
SUN: The Chinese gunpowder
technology led to this important
political and geographical
changes in China, in Vietnam, in
Southeast Asia.
It led to the, even the rise and
the fall of dynasties.
NARRATOR: But where did such
an incendiary ability come from?
IMBROGNO: Was the formula
given to us by
extraterrestrials, or did
somebody discover it
by accident?
No one really knows.
Gunpowder was made of charcoal,
which they burnt trees and
ground down the charcoal.
Sulfur they would get from
volcanoes, and sodium or
potassium nitrate is, you know,
not readily available.
So how would they know to get
those nitrates and mix them
all together in the
right proportions?
NARRATOR: Could the formula
for gunpowder really have
extraterrestrial origins?
And if deadly technologies like
gunpowder and Greek fire really
were handed down to humans by an
alien race... why?
Might they have been trying to
shape our future?
And, if so, what other even more
powerful weapons might they have
had in their arsenal?
NARRATOR: An unmanned aerial
vehicle hurtles across the sky.
It travels at supersonic speeds,
spitting fire, launching deadly
missiles... programmed to seek
and destroy.
The effect is devastating...
high-tech warfare at its
most lethal.
But what could be a page stolen
from a U.S. military black
project, is actually a
description written down over
2,500 years ago in the
sacred Hindu text known as the
Mahabharata.
COPPENS: When it comes
to the ancient Indian accounts,
they're really eyewitness
testimony of the gods fighting.
CHILDRESS: When you read the
ancient Hindu epics, they talk
about horrific weapons...
missiles...
and atomic weapons...
massive laser weapons that are
melting and devastating
entire cities.
TSOUKALOS: I refuse to think
that our ancestors came up with
these stories out of thin air.
When writing was first invented,
they wrote down their history.
The first things that were
ever written down, were
actual events.
NARRATOR: How is it that some
of the earliest written accounts
of warfare describe
sophisticated weaponry that
humans wouldn't develop for
thousands of years?
For the answer, Ancient
Astronaut theorists point to
numerous descriptions of deadly
weapons found throughout the
Mahabharata... many strikingly
similar to those used by the
military today.
One example are the incendiary
weapons wielded by Vishnu, which
are specially equipped to find
their targets.
DEEPAK SHIMKADA: Vishnu has a
flying guided missile,
the Narayanastra.
And once it is launched, it will
destroy everything that
is moving.
So according to the description,
it is a motion-detecting weapon,
which is pretty much like our
modern weaponry.
There is also a weapon that is
heat-seeking.
MAJ. GEN. ROBERT E. DICKMAN:
Heat-seeking is a very effective
way of finding something.
You would fire a missile from
behind one aircraft, at an
aircraft in front of you,
specifically targeted against
the hot engine.
And then you were able to move
off, from behind the airplane
and the heat seeker would still
be able to find the target.
TSOUKALOS: I am aware that
there are forces of Nature.
You've got thunder, lightning,
earthquakes.
But how would you go from
witnessing that to a description
of heat-seeking missiles?
NARRATOR: In addition to
guided missiles, the Mahabharata
is filled with accounts of other
sophisticated weapons wielded
by the gods.
SHIMKADA: In the Mahabharata,
46 different types of weapon are
described, and each one has
a specific function.
The Pashupatastra is a weapon
that actually multiplies into
seven different arrows.
So then it hits seven different
targets at the same time.
Salva is an anti-god:, he can
make his vehicle disappear.
So we're talking about a flying
object that is stealth.
He also can put people
into sleep.
So we're perhaps talking about
nerve gas.
CHILDRESS: They talk about
weapons that are so high-tech,
that it could only be from
extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR: But of all
the weapons described
in the Mahabharata, perhaps the
most deadly was a device called
the Brahmastra: a weapon that
the texts warned was never
to be used.
SHIMKADA: Brahmastra is
described as the ultimate
weapon.
Once it is launched, it will
simply burn everything, so it
will incinerate the entire
universe.
We're talking about
a nuclear blast 100-fold
magnitude of the bomb that we
have seen or experienced in our
own times.
So it would never be used.
And yet, someone was going to
make use of that Brahmastra.
And so that's the dilemma that
the books talks about in the
Mahabharata.
India now has a rocket program,
and one of their rockets is
called Shakti.
Shakti means "goddess energy."
This is also another divine
weapon.
Indians are now sort of going
back to their text or their
mythology and they're reliving
it by their modern technology.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that alien beings visiting the
Earth thousands of years ago
dealt with the same issues of
nuclear annihilation that
humans are dealing with today?
And might the deadly weapons
currently being deployed by the
world's military really be
recreations of weapons first
used on Earth by
extraterrestrials in the ancient
past?
Perhaps.
But then it should also be
possible to predict mankind's
military future by searching
through still more ancient
texts.
NARRATOR: The Tonlé Sap Lake,
Cambodia.
This combined lake and river
system has a flow that changes
direction twice a year, and the
portion that forms the lake
expands and shrinks dramatically
with the seasons.
But this unusual body of water
is unique for another reason...
it is said to hold the mythical
sword of Preah Pisnokar.
SHIMKADA: The swordsman in
Cambodia has a wonderful legend
and a story within that culture
called Pisnokar.
This is a wizard, a master
craftsman.
NARRATOR: In Cambodian
mythology, Preah Pisnokar is
the son of a human man and
a woman who came from the sky.
The stories say that he is
brought to the sky world where
he is taught the technology of
the gods, and some have credited
him as being the architect
behind the world's largest
religious shrine, Angkor Wat,
which sits just north of the
Tonlé Sap Lake.
But in addition to magnificent
structures, Preah Pisnokar was
also said to have fashioned a
sword that made him invincible
in battle.
SHIMKADA: In the Cambodian
legend, he's been credited
crafting a sword as thin as
a feather.
FIEBAG (translated): Preah
Pisnokar had a sword that
could cut stone... and it's
reported that he could use
this to cut a ceramic jug so
finely down the middle that the
water only ran out when the two
halves fell apart.
NARRATOR: According to
legend, Preah Pisnokar threw his
mighty weapon into the Tonlé Sap
Lake when it grew too weak to
be of use to him anymore, much
like Excalibur was given back
to The Lady of the Lake in the
story of King Arthur.
But how does a sword grow weak?
According to Ancient Astronaut
theorists, the blade had lost
its power, and that blade was
not made of metal, but of light.
TSOUKALOS: Does a sword of
fire really exist?
Well, it does if you think of a
type of lightsaber.
Whenever he took it out to cut
something with it, it was more
blinding than the sun.
SHIMKADA: it was very thin
and very bright, emitting light.
From the description of it, it
could be a kind of laser type
of beam.
DENNIN: Lasers... what you
want to just think about is a
whole bunch of waves all moving
together in step.
The light that comes out of a
lightbulb is a bunch of random
people in a mob running crazy in
all different directions, and
the laser is all the people
marching in orderly fashion.
Everything lines up and
basically makes the light that
much more powerful and
effective.
NARRATOR: Could Preah
Pisnokar really have existed?
And if so, might the amazing
sword he wielded have involved
some type of laser technology?
Is it possible that lightsabers,
a work of modern science
fiction, actually existed in the
ancient past?
DENNIN: So there's two ways
to think of a lightsaber that
you're trying to make.
One is actually out of a laser
beam, and that's very hard to
imagine because it's hard to
figure out how you would get the
endpoint, because light just
keeps traveling.
And you would need a way to
bend it back on itself.
They make much more sense as a
plasma beam.
And a plasma beam is a bunch of
very, very energetically charged
particles, um, that would glow
so you'd get the effect of the
lightsaber.
And they're much easier to have
an endpoint, because they
respond to magnetic fields.
The plasma beam really is
energetically charged particles
with a lot of energy and pretty
much cut through anything.
NARRATOR: For ancient
astronaut theorists,
descriptions of laser-type
technology can be found in
numerous texts throughout the
ancient world.
FIEBAG (translated):
In China, it's called a yin yang
mirror, which could kill
opponents with a beam of light.
We have the Maori, whose god
defeated rebels with a kind of
laser-lightning weapon.
CHILDRESS: Stories come to us
from ancient India of Rama's
arrow, which was some kind of
laser weapon.
We have the famous story of
Archimedes, using some kind of
magic mirror to create a laser
that set ships on fire.
So it seems that ancient lasers
were being used, and that
technology probably came from
extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR: What if the
futuristic weapons we believe we
have cultivated in our modern
day arsenals are really
reinventions of something that
has come before?
Could we subconsciously be
recreating our ancient past?
COPPENS: What we have is
people who are eyewitnesses
and, to some extent, victims
of a show which is happening
above their heads.
And they are trying to explain
to people something which was
truly on a scale which they
couldn't comprehend.
TSOUKALOS: Here we are today
thinking that we are inventing
all these wonderful things,
which we are, but it's been
here before.
CHILDRESS: Extraterrestrials
may well have given man these
weapons.
They want us to be able to
defend ourselves, to advance and
ultimately to be like them.
NARRATOR: From flaming arrows
to heat-seeking missiles, could
the evolution of mankind's
deadly weaponry really be the
result of alien intervention?
Could extraterrestrial beings
have given us technology as a
way of accelerating natural
selection?
Or might they have imparted
their knowledge with a
specific... and perhaps
insidious... agenda in mind?
Some say the answer is right in
front of us... or in yet another
ancient text or carving waiting
to be discovered.
But one thing is certain... it
is best we keep looking and be
prepared before they return.
Captioning sponsored by
A&E TELEVISION NETWORKS
Captioned by
Media Access Group at WGBH
access.wgbh.org