"Wondrous wizards..." "Merlin is the authority, really, the advisor behind the throne." "Mysterious sorcerers..." "Their job was really to communicate with the sacred in order to bring about a change here on Earth." "And heavenly beings possessed of unimaginable power." "So what had begun as a battle of magic becomes a horrific bloodbath." "Throughout the ancient world, magic was used for everything from healing to communicating with the gods." "But did real magic really exist?" "And if so, could it have come from an otherworldly source?" "Certain human beings seem to have somehow mastered the power of the universe to an extent that even we don't understand." "The ancients believed that they learned magic from their gods, and extraterrestrial gods had taught them these powers." "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 will we find proof by exploring the magic of the gods?" "Las Vegas, Nevada, 2009." "Magician Steve Wyrick stuns a circle of 40 onlookers as he appears to make a three-ton Hummer..." "Raise the curtain!" "vanish in an instant." "Everyone, join hands." "All right." "There's 40 people around the Hummer." "Watch this." "Do it... now!" "The continued popularity of illusions like these speaks to a worldwide fascination with magic that can be traced back thousands of years." "We long for some kind of connection to the supernatural, and we can have it for a couple of hours and the price of a ticket by attending a magic show." "When we go to the theater and see a stage magician, we know supernatural events are not happening before our eyes no matter how much it seems like they are." "We sometimes think of the people of the ancient worlds as simple." "They lived in a world saturated with magic." "There really was no distinction between ordinary life and the supernatural." "They were completely embedded in each other." "So belief in magic was absolutely universal." "It was a way of looking at the world as an interconnected whole, as well as a technology through which you could make things happen in the everyday material world." "Magic offered people an opportunity to influence the outcome of important events and to know the will of the gods and to communicate directly with those gods." "In the ancient times, it is actually said that magic was of the gods." "Somehow otherworldly, somehow beyond the confines of ordinary reality." "What we see is that certain human beings seem to have somehow mastered the power of the universe to an extent that even we don't understand." "Magic in the ancient world was primarily viewed as, in some ways, coercive." "Which is to say people are attempting to control the spiritual realm to do something in their daily lives." "So, whereas modern magic is primarily driven to engage in sort of trickery, in the ancient world there was an attempt to sort of coerce spirits to sort of affect one's life and the direction of one's life." "Whether that would be one's fate or, in some ways, nature as well." "But did magic really exist in the ancient world?" "Not as a form of theater but as a means of replicating the power of the gods?" "Shanxi Province, China, 7th century A.D." "The Zhongtiao Mountain range." "Here, according to Chinese mythology, lived Zhang Guo Lao, a Taoist saint thought to possess unique magical abilities and a profound understanding of the secrets of nature." "He was one of what were referred to as the Eight Immortals." "So the Eight Immortals are these semi-mythical figures in Chinese history." "The majority of them, they're based on people who actually existed, and then certain legends accrued around these people as time passed." "The historical figure of Zhang Guo Lao is thought to have lived in the mid-7th and the mid-8th centuries." "And he was very renowned for his magical skills even at the time." "Zhang Guo Lao is possibly the most interesting of the Eight Immortals." "He is depicted as an old man." "He could make himself invisible." "He could go without food for days." "According to Chinese mythology, Zhang Guo Lao first emerged at the very beginning of the universe, where he appeared out of chaos in the form of a white bat." "He was thought to be a gifted alchemist, necromancer and sorcerer." "So Zhang Guo Lao is often depicted as riding a magical mule, and what's peculiar is that he is seated facing backwards on this mule." "The mule can ride divine winds and also cross thousands of miles in a single day without ever stopping once for rest." "When Zhang Guo Lao finds a place that he wants to settle, for the night, he actually folds up his mule as one would fold a piece of paper until it is the size that you can fit in your pocket." "And then he would reactivate it by sprinkling water on it, and it would reappear again." "So you have to ask yourself, is this white mule actually some kind of incredible alien technology that allowed him to travel around China?" "It's entirely possible that what they're describing here is some type of a craft and that Zhang" "Guo Lao himself may possibly have been an extraterrestrial." "In order to explain his abilities and technology, our ancestors described him as a magical being." "But is it possible that extraterrestrials could develop a technology in which you have some sort of flying machine that can fold itself into hyperspace?" "It runs on an advanced energy propulsion source." "You can travel with it." "It's short, it's compact." "And when you're done, you just fold it into hyperspace, and it's something that you hold in your hand and... the whole thing just folds up." "Is it possible that Zhang Guo Lao really existed?" "And if so, could his amazing powers of transformation have been based on an advanced, perhaps extraterrestrial form of transportation?" "Ancient astronaut theorists believe further clues can be found more than 1,700 miles away in Patna, India." "Situated on the southern shores of the Ganges River, this ancient city is believed to be the place where the great spiritual leader Buddha embarked on an incredible journey in 483 B.C." "Gautama Buddha was a messenger and sage, who was born in what is now Nepal sometime around 500 to 600 Before the Common Era." "And he was the original figure in the teachings that became Buddhism." "When the Buddha was born, his father was told by a seer that "your son is going "to become a great teacher."" "The Buddha's message, his teaching, is supposed to bring people out of suffering." "He made up a religion to solve what he considered as the basic problems of living." "The Buddha traveled around India spreading his teachings." "His followers in the monastic community grew increasingly." "He was perceived as a human, but an extraordinary human." "In the process of gaining enlightenment, he had these realizations that were marked by supernatural powers." "He actually projected and built, through pure psychic power, this bejeweled walkway up in the sky." "And he paced up and down that walkway filled with jewels for about a week." "According to ancient texts, near the end of his life, Buddha and his many disciples attempted to cross the" "Ganges, but were blocked by raging floodwaters." "Well, it happened to be the time of the year when the great rivers flooded." "It's at its high peak." "Not only is it very, very wide, almost a mile wide at that time of the year, but it's going very fast, something like 70 miles an hour, a virtual rapid." "And he sees people on one side of the Ganges trying to build up these frail rafts, trying to cross the river." "And what he does is... in an instant, and the text says that in the time it takes for a strong man to stretch out his bent arm, or to bend his outstretched arm, the Buddha appears on the other side of the river." "Now, there was no boat, no form of transportation whatsoever, and people witnessed this." "So was this some sort of a miracle?" "Of course not." "So are we talking about teleportation here?" "Some type of technology that was misinterpreted as a miracle?" "Might the incredible feats performed by beings like Buddha and Zhang Guo Lao be based on real-life extraterrestrial encounters?" "And if so, could they have been the inspiration for what we now call "magic"?" "Perhaps further evidence can be found by examining the stories of a famous sorcerer whose supernatural powers helped to build a mighty nation." "Tintagel Island, England." "500 A.D." "Here, hidden along the rugged" "Cornwall coastline, is the entrance to a mysterious cave thought to have housed the great wizard Merlin." "We first see Merlin historically in the writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth." "He tells the story of this extraordinary character who most famously shows up during the time period of Arthur." "I think that there is this tendency to think of him as the man in the pointed cap." "And to be a little bit sort of comical, um, or ridiculous." "When, in fact, the real Merlin is a very, very serious and very important character." "According to stories, King Arthur lived around 500 A.D., and he was advised by this wise man called Merlin." "Merlin is attributed as having all sorts of miraculous powers." "He is said to be able to bring lightning down, and thunder." "He can levitate rocks." "He can foresee the future." "He can call upon a mist to cover the battlefield." "Merlin seems to have been based on this idea of the Druids." "Druids were the sort of religious figures, uh, in a lot of this early society." "In some cases, we see them associated with the, uh, more" "Celtic warrior groups, where they would...might function as a king's advisor." "Druids appear as very magical, and having various other ways that they could interact with the supernatural world for the benefit of the mundane world." "There is a manuscript in the British library called the Annales Cambriae, which means the Welsh Annals." "And in there it refers to a man by the name of Merlin living in a forest somewhere in the north." "And the way it refers to this Merlin, is it could very well be the same Merlin as the Merlin in the stories of Arthur." "According to legend, it is Merlin who was the mastermind behind a plan which would unite the various kingdoms of Britain into one nation, capable of fending off invasion by Saxon forces." "He launches a quest to install the young Arthur as king, using his formidable powers." "Merlin is stage-managing the union of" "Britain from before the time Arthur is conceived." "He essentially manipulates things so that Arthur can be born in a way that has royal blood, but he does not grow up in a castle, which was a dangerous place for a divinely ordained leader to be." "He was able to be a tutor to Arthur in his childhood, teach him ways of nature." "He makes him king by getting Arthur to perform all sorts of feats that no one else can do, like drawing the sword from the stone." "And it seems that he wants to make Arthur into a sort of immortal figure in the eyes of the people, so that they will readily follow him and make him their one and only king." "In other words, Merlin is the authority, really, the advisor behind the throne." "Did Merlin use supernatural or otherworldly knowledge to empower Arthur, and in so doing, create the British Empire?" "But why?" "And who... or what... was Merlin?" "Ancient astronaut theorists believe clues can be found in the strange circumstances surrounding Merlin's birth." "The birth of Merlin is a miraculous tale." "His mother was a nun, a virgin, who has a steamy erotic dream, and she wakes up just knowing she is pregnant." "So Merlin's father could've been an incubus." "That would be a dark angel, one of the devil's legion, a monstrous figure, who in this case came and had sex with innocent women while they slept, in their dreams." "The most common legends about Merlin say that he got his powers through this demonic father." "Merlin was baptized and then the demonic nature melted away, but he maintained all of the magic from the demon father." "When we're confronted by the story of" "Merlin, we're looking at a medieval figure who is possibly another example of an otherworldly being, who is half human, half extraterrestrial, and that he, in fact, is a representative of this long line of otherworldly beings." "This is the real core of British history." "It's very revered." "It doesn't seem that someone just made this up out of nowhere." "It could be that the stories help cover up the truth." "Which was that human... extraterrestrial contact did occur." "That Merlin was actually an extraterrestrial being who was sent here to help King Arthur establish his kingdom, and that" "Merlin's advanced capabilities might be nothing more than the use of technology that he had available to him." "Is it possible that Merlin had what many believe to have been otherworldly origins?" "If so, might his magic really have been based, not on occult forces, but on advanced extraterrestrial technology?" "London." "1966." "The British Museum acquires an unusual Aztec artifact thought to possess magical powers." "Known as the "Devil's Looking Glass," this mirror, made of black volcanic glass, once belonged to the influential" "16th century scholar, John Dee." "Dee was a respected mathematician, astrologer, and close advisor to Queen Elizabeth I." "He was also considered to be a powerful magician and claimed he used the mirror to communicate with angels." "John Dee was a famous magician in the" "Elizabethan Period in England." "Probably the most famous Renaissance mage, at least from" "England from that time, and he became very obsessed with trying to conjure angels." "Later magical practitioners start to refer to it as Enochian magic." "John Dee believed that there was an angelic language." "That there was a sound, a real sound, not just a concept, but a voice that the universe spoke in, that the angels, that those with supreme knowledge had their very, very own language." "And he was trying to tap into that." "Dee believes this information was given to him because God originally wanted it to go to mankind throughout all of time." "This Enochian magic was given to man before but has been lost throughout the ages." "God originally gave it to Adam, the legend goes, and then to the prophet Enoch, and maybe to others in between." "Did early magicians like John Dee really have access to extraterrestrial technology?" "Technology that was mistakenly believed to be of a supernatural or divine origin?" "In the ancient world, magicians were religious specialists whose job was to interact with the spirit world on behalf of their social group." "Their job was really to communicate with the sacred in order to bring about real and lasting change here on Earth." "Centers of power would have magicians." "The courts of the time, whether a king, a Caesar or a pharaoh would have "vizars"..." "wizards, magicians... advising them, protecting them, using their secret powers to heal, to guide in battle." "It was an important part of leadership in ancient times." "These figures had enormous power and enormous influence, not only helping a leader, but helping a country stay together." "Is it possible that the early practitioners of what we call magic were really individuals in possession of advanced extraterrestrial knowledge... knowledge that could change the course of human history?" "Ancient astronaut theorists believe that such an audacious notion is, in fact, possible and believe further evidence may be found in the legends of a mysterious device... one so powerful, it could make its user disappear." "Dallas, Texas." "2011." "Researchers at the University of Texas's Nanotech Institute discover a process that can actually make objects invisible." "These scientists spin tiny carbon fibers into sheets, and submerge them into water." "An electrical charge heats the material, and changes the way the surrounding water bends light, making an object appear to vanish at the turn of a switch." "We are not actually seeing around the object we're cloaking." "What we're doing is we're using the heated carbon nanotube sheet to bend light." "So when we think we're looking in a particular direction, we're actually looking at neighboring seawater." "We're using very extraordinary materials to accomplish our mirage cloaking." "But as innovative as this remarkable technology is, stories of devices with similar powers can be found throughout history." "Serifos, Greece." "It was here, on this tiny island in the Aegean Sea, the ancient" "Greeks believed the hero Perseus set off on his seemingly impossible mission to kill the fearsome Gorgon Medusa." "So Perseus had this incredible challenge because Medusa was powerful, and you just look at her and die, so it is a true dangerous situation for the hero." "According to mythology, Perseus is given a magical helmet that ultimately ensures his success." "Called the Helm of Darkness, the cap belonged to Hades, the god of the Underworld." "Perseus goes on this adventure with the help of a number of the-the Greek gods." "He is given a number of mythological items that are going to help him on his journey." "He is given the cap of Hades, which will make him invisible." "He then successfully kills Medusa... and the other two Gorgons try to find him but they can't see him because he's wearing the helm of invisibility." "Did the Helm of Darkness really make Perseus disappear?" "Or might there be another, perhaps more scientific, explanation?" "This could be an ancient example of an advanced technology, using the bendable nature of light, and laws of physics that we're now aware of, to make something that seems to be impossible very attainable, and with a" "technology that anyone could use, if they wanted to." "Is Hades' helmet evidence of an alien technology once used in ancient times?" "And if so, might the tales of other magical devices in the distant past offer proof that our ancestors had access to other even more highly advanced extraterrestrial tools?" "Ponza, Italy." "Located in the Mediterranean Sea, this crescent-shaped island is thought to be the legendary home of the Greek goddess Circe... a goddess thought to possess a wand with remarkable power." "But the notion of a wand as an instrument of magic can be traced back even farther, back to the very origins of magic itself." "The idea of magic comes from the area known as Persia, or Iran." "This is from Zoroaster, the Zoroastrian traditions and rituals." "The magi, the priest of that belief system would use a handful of wands as a magical intercession, a way to connect the unseen world and the seen." "Magicians and leaders of all kind use staffs and verges and rods and wands and scepters, maces, all from similar traditions." "The ancient accounts of Circe's famous wand describe it as a formidable weapon, capable of producing astonishing physical transformations." "According to Greek mythology," "Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun." "And according to those legends, she was incredibly beautiful." "In fact, she was radiant." "She was glowing because she was not of this Earth." "The ancient Greeks considered her the goddess of magic." "The stories surrounding Circe usually refer to her powerful wand, with which she was able to transform people into animals." "And so there's a famous story in the" "Odyssey where Odysseus and his men land on a mysterious island." "And they come come upon a house where there's a woman inside who's singing songs." "And the songs that she sings sort of lure the men into the house, and Circe says that she's going to entertain them." "And in the course of her interactions with them, she pulls out a wand and touches them with it." "As a result, the men are then transformed into pigs." "The idea of transformation is fascinating." "There was fear in the ancient world that you could be changed into a wolf or some other animal." "And then it was imagined that some people with extraordinary powers could do this to you, against your will, and that was greatly feared." "And a good deal of magical practice was to try to avoid such a calamity." "Was Circe's magic wand simply a mythological invention, one rooted in mankind's primitive imagination and superstition, as mainstream scholars suggest?" "Or might this incredible device have actually existed." "Because we all know that all of these myths have a core of truth to them;" "something that happened in real life." "And so when we talk about powerful wands that are used in order to transform people into animals... the only thing that something like this could have happened is if it was a technological device." "Is it possible, however, that an extremely advanced technology could actually, somehow, generate a shape-shifting effect... and completely retool the DNA, the physical tissues, the flesh of a living human being?" "Many different ancient legends describe some sort of handheld device that had incredible capability to do things that would seem to be magical or even impossible." "We see Vishnu's spear." "We see Thor's hammer." "We see Zeus's thunderbolt." "This could very well all be examples of a handheld technology that extraterrestrial humans who look like us did possess." "Might Circe have come from a divine, possibly extraterrestrial lineage?" "And if so, could her wand have been based on highly advanced alien technology?" "Ancient astronaut theorists believe such an idea is possible, and believe more evidence can be found in the stories of one of the most epic and destructive confrontations in religious history." "Qantir, the Nile Delta, Egypt, 60 miles northeast of Cairo." "Many historians believe that beneath these fields lie the ancient ruins of the lost city of Pi-Ramesse." "In the 13th century B.C., during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II, this city served as the capitol of Egypt, and according to some theologians, was the historical site of the Ten Plagues of Egypt as described in the Biblical Book of Exodus." "We have the story of the Exodus, which is the story of the Hebrew people leaving Egypt." "And so Moses is going to be the liberator." "He's chosen by God, I.e. Yahweh, to go to pharaoh and say, "Let my people go."" "Moses is told by this angel inside the burning bush that he must go to Pharaoh and convince him to release" "700,000 Hebrews." "The next thing that most people know is that he's in the court of pharaoh challenging pharaoh's magicians." "In the very ancient civilization of Egypt, magicians played an important part in the court of the pharaoh." "They protected the pharaoh from dark powers." "They healed him from time to time." "They gave him legitimacy with the people." "They were vital in the court life in ancient Egypt." "The Egyptians had no word for religion." "For them, magic was their religion." "It was around them, it was part of them." "It was the power of their deities, it created their deities." "It was a constant force in their life." "So to study magic, to understand magic was to understand the world." "Egyptians were the masters of natural magic." "They understood how magic really works, how you could use nature and use the power of a human mind to create an effect." "According to the Biblical account, God instructs" "Moses to give the pharaoh a demonstration of his divine power, one that will force him to free the Israelite slaves." "In order to help compel pharaoh, Moses throws down his staff so it turns into a serpent." "The Egyptian magicians, they look at that and they go," ""Gosh, we can do this, too."" "All of the magicians throw their rods down on the ground." "They all turn into snakes." "But Moses' snake eats all those other snakes." "And that's the beginning of what we know as probably the greatest magic contest ever recorded." "God is equipping" "Moses to face off pharaoh and pharaoh's magicians." "It is a literal battle of sorcerers." "The confrontation quickly escalates as God proceeds to unleash a series of ten increasingly devastating plagues on the people of Egypt." "In the first plague, Moses touches his staff to the Nile River, and it becomes blood, but the magicians are able to do this as well." "In the second plague, Moses multiplies frogs, but so can the magicians, although once they do it, they can't get rid of the frogs." "In the third plague," "Moses brings about gnats, or some think lice." "So for each of these plagues, they begin to increase in their severity." "And up through the third plague, the Egyptian magicians are able to replicate everything Moses is doing." "But finally, they have to concede that, you know, this is the finger of God, and beyond this, we can't challenge him anymore." "What we're seeing here is very strange." "We're seeing a magic competition that God is continuing, forcing a continuance of this." "And it eventually leads to the death of every firstborn male in Egypt, which finally ends the entire thing." "And Moses takes not only the 700,000 Hebrews out, but generally considered to be between one and two million" "Egyptians go with him, as well, on what we now know as the Exodus." "So what had begun as a battle of magic tricks, turning staffs into serpents, becomes, really, a horrific bloodbath." "That is, as the resistance continues, Yahweh keeps upping the ante." "The plagues get worse and worse." "Now, these are supernatural events." "We don't know how they were done, how they transpired, but the shift in history happened because of the plagues." "So, magic prevailed." "Theologians will say, "This was God that did "this."" "I have a different theory." "I don't think God is mean." "I don't think God goes out and kills and so it could've been extraterrestrial." "Might the story of the Ten Plagues of Egypt really be an account of a deadly contest between humans in possession of extraterrestrial technology, as ancient astronaut theorists believe?" "The ancient Egyptians believed that they learned magic from their gods, and these extraterrestrial gods had taught them these powers." "Suddenly, they found out that they were up against a more powerful force, a more powerful magic than they had." "We're not dealing with two indigenous human cultures battling it out here on Earth." "We're dealing with people on" "Earth in a war they could not win against extraterrestrials." "In many of the ancient texts, it seems apparent that the gods actually took sides." "They were involved in battles." "So to suggest that they might've been also involved in plagues is plausible." "So the question is, was it really God who unleashed these plagues upon Egypt, or was it in fact an extraterrestrial?" "And according to the ancient astronaut theory, it was a misunderstood, misinterpreted extraterrestrial who, in this particular case, sided with the Israelites." "Might the incredible power, wielded by" "Moses against the Egyptians, have been of an extraterrestrial origin... a power based as much on science as on an extraordinary knowledge of the powers of the human mind?" "Many ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer is "yes," and that the key to what many perceive as magic can be found not only on other worlds, but right within the human body." "New York City." "2012." "Magician David Blaine begins a 72-hour stint standing in the middle of a million volts of electrical current, protected by only a suit of armor." "But is it a mere trick?" "An illusion?" "Or is it evidence that what we call magic actually exists?" "We're interested in people like David Blaine because we find those things amazing." "It just pushes the boundaries of what human beings are capable of." "And I think that we ask ourselves, could we be capable of such a thing?" "We will embrace the endurance effects." "We will embrace them because we think this might be real." "Maybe there's something to this." "Maybe there isn't a trick." "Maybe I can evolve into a person able to do this kind of magic." "We are quite literally searching for the supernatural in ourself." "Izu Oshima." "60 miles south of Tokyo." "It was here, in the seventh century B.C., that a legendary" "Japanese mystic known as En no Gyoja was banished for his so-called magical powers." "En no Gyoja was the founder of an ascetic teaching." "Shugendo means the practice of training and testing." "This tradition from the seventh century, done up in the mountains with great physical, arduous exercises and discipline is said to lead to an access to supernatural powers beyond our understanding." "En no Gyoja's magic differs from our European concepts of magic in many ways." "This is something that you bring out of yourself." "He would go high into the mountains..." "less oxygen, isolated, less food." "Just one lapse of concentration and you die." "And then also meditating in the middle of a waterfall." "That's where he finds silence." "That's where he finds control." "Even historical records depict En no Gyoja as someone who was endowed with magical capacities, and the ability to also summon and control demons and spirits." "En no Gyoja was also known for his ability to ride the five-colored clouds." "He was also set to be executed a number of times, and every time the executioners' axe landed on the back of his neck, the axe actually shattered to pieces." "Still, today, we're making ongoing discoveries about the capabilities and potential of the human brain and body." "So it's possible that in the stories and legends of En no Gyoja, we're seeing someone who was able to somehow access knowledge that was already hardwired into our own DNA by extraterrestrials." "Is it possible that ancient magicians like En no" "Gyoja were able to tap into incredible extraterrestrial abilities embedded within the human body?" "And might this explain similar feats performed by more modern magicians like Harry Houdini and David Blaine?" "Magic appears to be a derivation of extraterrestrial technology." "It's the accessing of the human potential, using the technology of the human form." "Magic derived from extraterrestrial beings seems to be the linkage that they gave us to enable us to become more like them." "Do ancient accounts of magic really suggest evidence of advanced, otherworldly knowledge?" "A knowledge given to early humans as a means of helping them unlock their own..." "some might say "divine"... potential?" "We are drawn to magic." "We need something extraordinary that allows us to transcend everyday life, and what we sense as profound limits and frustrations to what we would like to be and like to do." "It is both a fantasy release and to a degree, a bit of a map that we might be able to reach further than we think." "That we might be able to do more than humans have done before." "That we might be more than this." "Magic enables latent potentials that we're not supposed to have." "But throughout history, many people have demonstrated those capabilities." "They've been witnessed." "It's been written down and passed along with great excitement and enthusiasm." "And then, of course, the question is where did they get this from?" "Did they develop this on their own?" "Or was it somehow given to them by the gods?" "In each occasion, we find that our ancestors specifically state that magic is given to mankind by the gods, by non-human intelligences, by extraterrestrial beings." "Did ancient magic really have otherworldly origins?" "And was it based not on mere trickery, but on advanced knowledge of science and the powers of the human brain?" "Perhaps we will discover the answer when we open our eyes to the possibility that what we think we know is an illusion, and what we think is illusion may very well be real."