NARRATOR:
They can control nature.
DAVID WILCOCK:
Clouds come swirling in,
lightning is coming down.
NARRATOR: They can
access other dimensions...
WILLIAM HENRY: This energy
enables them to travel
into the realm
of the spirit beings.
NARRATOR: And connect
with otherworldly beings.
GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
Those creatures actually existed
in physical form.
NARRATOR: Throughout
history, spiritual leaders
known as shamans have
healed, protected,
and advised their people,
but are they simply putting
on elaborate ceremonies,
or is there something more
to their rituals?
DAVID CHILDRESS: In a sense,
in these shamanistic states,
you're tapping into
extraterrestrial powers.
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 if so, might the evidence
lie with mystical healers
known as the shamans?
Northern China, 1211 A.D.
5 years after uniting
the nomadic tribes of Mongolia,
Genghis Khan launches
a brutal invasion
against Chinese Jin forces.
Despite being severely
outnumbered, the Mongol army
decimates their enemy
in what is believed to be
one of the bloodiest
battles in Genghis Khan's
more than 20 years of conquest.
By the time of his death
in 1227, his empire,
covering most of Asia,
Russia, and parts of Europe
had become
the largest in the world.
JONATHAN YOUNG: Genghis Khan
was a great warrior.
He amassed one
of the most awesome armies
in the history of the planet,
and he would go up
the mountains to commune
with the sky gods to gain
power for his battles.
NARRATOR: According to
historical accounts,
the Great Khan was also
described as relying
on powerful magic to create
severe weather on demand,
like hail storms,
hurricanes, and tornadoes
to confound
and defeat his enemies.
WILCOCK: They march into battle,
and the next thing you know,
clouds come swirling in,
lightning is coming down,
rain is falling down,
ice is falling down,
chunks of hail, snow.
The soldiers are not equipped
for this sudden burst of cold.
They're shivering, they're
freezing, they're slipping
and falling on the ice,
and then they get totally
wiped out by
the invading Mongolian army.
What was remarkable
about Genghis Khan is that
we tend to think about
him today as being
this despotic, mad, cruel ruler.
He was a priest king,
something known as a shaman.
NARRATOR: In Mongolian
culture, certain members
of the tribe were thought
to have the ability to
communicate directly
with the gods, accessing
seemingly supernatural
powers and information.
These holy prophets were
commonly known as shamans.
Is it possible that
Genghis Khan, one
of the greatest conquerors
in human history,
used his connection
with the divine to build
the massive Mongol empire,
and if so, just
what does it mean
to be a shaman?
For thousands of years,
in cultures throughout
the world, shamans have been
described as intermediaries
who provide a link
between humans
and otherworldly beings.
Known in some cultures
as medicine men
or witch doctors, they are
believed to have the power
to travel to other realms
in order to bring back
healing, wisdom, and guidance
to their people.
The word "shaman" originated
with the indigenous people
of Siberia and means
simply "to know."
RONALD HUTTON: Shamans
think of the universe as
being constructed
in different layers, one
on top of each other,
each one containing
a separate world.
One of the skills
of the shaman is to be able to
travel herself or himself
between these different
worlds in spirit form.
GRAHAM HANCOCK: Shamans
are people who enter those
realms and negotiate with
the intelligent beings that
inhabit those realms.
NARRATOR: But are shamans
simply experiencing
hallucinations, daydreams
manifested in their minds?
Or is it possible that
their visions are real?
Dismissed by some today
as madmen or charlatans,
in the ancient world,
shamans like Genghis Khan
often held positions
of great influence,
and ancient astronaut
theorists claim the stories
of these shamans reveal
a connection to
otherworldly beings.
Copán, Western Honduras.
In the ruins of this
archaeological site, once
a major Mayan city that
thrived from 400 to 800 A.D.,
stands a statue of one of its
most powerful ancient kings.
Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil,
commonly known as 18 Rabbit.
PHILLIPS: Around 2,000
years ago, the Mayan empire
was at its height,
and they had a king
by the name of 18 Rabbit.
The rabbit,
to the ancient Mayans,
represented the Moon.
So basically, 18 Rabbit
was considered to be
an incarnation of the Moon god,
and he is said to have
had all sorts of
miraculous powers.
NARRATOR: By the end
of his 44-year reign,
18 Rabbit had erected
7 stone pillars,
each depicting him
interacting with the divine.
KATHLEEN McGOWAN COPPENS:
The stela of Copán shows.
King 18 Rabbit
standing in the center
of the universe.
But on the side of him is
a portal to another world.
So it would seem to be
telling us that he had
access to the other
world, as well as being
the commander and chief
of this world.
EDWIN BARNHART: Today,
we separate politics
and religion.
In the past, especially
for the Maya, that was
not the case.
To be the king was to also
be supernatural,
to have shamanic ability.
You were not just a king,
you were a shaman king.
And 18 Rabbit, like every
other king in the dynasty
of Copán and in the cities
around them, was a shaman.
NARRATOR: According to Maya
tradition, shaman kings
like 18 Rabbit would
connect with otherworldly
beings through a process
known as bloodletting.
LOGAN HAWKES: The Mayan
king would put a spine
through his hand.
Blood would be collected
by the shaman into a piece
of paper,
and it would then be put
into a fire, and it would smoke.
And by watching this smoke rise,
the shaman could see
what actions they were
supposed to take according
to the will of the gods
revealed in the smoke that
was made by the blood
of the king or the ruler.
BARNHART: The right to
rulership for a Maya king,
the thing that the people
followed him for was his
ability to contact
the other world.
Through shamanic
ceremonies, he was able to
ask for the favor of
the gods for the people.
HENRY: 18 Rabbit was
a very powerful shaman king.
And you have to ask is it
possible that these gods
could be extraterrestrials?
And perhaps it was
the guidance of these
extraterrestrial beings
that made him such
a powerful leader.
TSOUKALOS: All around
the world, we can
hear stories of how shamans
state that they were
in communications
with beings from other worlds.
Is it possible that what
we see in the experiences
of ancient shamans is
extraterrestrial-human contact?
And this contact wasn't
seen as something dangerous
or strange but rather as
a means for moving humanity
forward due to new and important
knowledge received.
NARRATOR: Were kings
like 18 Rabbit really
communicating with
divine, perhaps even
extraterrestrial, beings?
Was it this otherworldly
guidance that made them
so powerful?
But if so, where did these
ancient shaman learn how to
access these
incredible abilities?
Ancient astronaut theorists
believe the answers can be
found by examining
the transformative
and sometimes dangerous process
of becoming a shaman.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
January 27, 2014.
A Peruvian-born
shaman leads a group
of participants in
an ancient Andean practice.
Known as a despacho
ceremony, this ritual dates
back thousands of years.
OSCAR MIRO-QUESADA:
In Peru, despachos, or...
[Speaks foreign language]
Which are offerings, have
existed since the first
pre-Columbian peoples
settled the Andes
and coastal area.
A despacho consists
of a ritual honoring
with reverence our
ancestral star relatives
in the cosmos that have
been guiding the evolution
of humankind on planet Earth.
Every time I perform
a Pachacuti ritual,
portals are opened,
conduits between the Earth
and the sky are revealed.
[Trumpeting]
WILCOCK: It is believed
that through ceremonies
such as the despacho
shamans are in fact able to
access these so-called
nonlocal realms of being
in the universe.
That helps to unify
those of Earth with those
from the sky.
NARRATOR: If shamans really
are able to access these
so-called nonlocal realms,
how are they doing it?
And who or what has chosen
them to be the ones to
communicate with beings
from beyond our world?
MIRO-QUESADA: I came into
this shamanic tradition as
a result of deep
curiosity as a child.
[Speaking foreign language]
I learned from my two
primary mentors
in folk healing known as
curanderismo the following.
The spirit world
is here with us.
Let us celebrate through
that portal to the stars.
I was introduced to
a universe in which seen as
well as unseen
relatives and allies
and spirit helpers abound,
and forming relationships
with these spirit helpers
was the foundation
of my apprenticeship.
NARRATOR: But who are
the spirit helpers?
Are they actual beings who
exist in a realm most of us
are unable to experience?
Ancient astronaut theorists
believe the answer may be
found in the story of a famous
Native American shaman.
Bighorn Mountain Range, Wyoming.
Nearly 10,000 feet up
on a desolate peak that is
only accessible during
the brief summer months lies
a structure known as
the Bighorn Medicine Wheel.
This massive stone circle
measures over 75 feet
in diameter and contains
28 spokes representing
the lunar cycle.
By studying
the astronomical alignments
of the stones, researchers
were able to date
the construction of the site
to approximately 1200 A.D.
Although it is held sacred
by over 60 different.
Native American tribes,
just who built
the Medicine Wheel
remains a mystery.
So the Bighorn Medicine Wheel
is significant to
a lot of tribes because
it has this connection to
a lot of different
traditions in terms
of star knowledge
and star power and ceremony.
NARRATOR: According to
the oral tradition
of the Crow tribe,
the 19th century leader.
Red Plume made a journey
to the Medicine Wheel
as a young man that
shaped his destiny
as a powerful shaman and chief.
BURKHART: With
the Medicine Wheel, you connect
to particular constellations
that are kind of like
vortexes between certain
star energy and certain.
Earth energy,
and the Medicine Wheel seems
to be creating some place
that marks the particular spot
at a particular time
where those star energies
and Earth energies
and human energy come together.
NARRATOR: During what
the Crow tribe call his
vision quest, Red Plume
claimed to have encountered
a mysterious race of beings
he called "little people."
DAVID CHILDRESS: He was
visited, he said, by these
little men who then took
him inside the Earth into
some kind of a vortex wormhole.
There, they taught him
secrets of medicine.
There are lots of stories
about little people
in Native tradition
across the Americas.
The little people come
from another planet,
and they kind of play around
with human beings,
but they're also protectors
of them, teaching them even
through that playfulness.
CHILDRESS: Is it possible
that this medicine man was
actually meeting
with extraterrestrials who then
taught him some medical
secrets and then allowed
him to return back
to his people?
[Caws]
TSOUKALOS: These stories
didn't originate in our
ancestors' imagination.
There is a core of truth
to all those stories.
And so those beings,
are they, in reality,
of extraterrestrial origin,
something physical,
flesh and blood?
Absolutely.
Those beings are
the progenitors of knowledge.
NARRATOR: Could the stories
of the Bighorn Medicine Wheel
be describing
extraterrestrial contact?
Is this where shamans, like
Red Plume, acquired wisdom
from otherworldly beings?
In cultures throughout
the world, there are stories
of shamanic initiation
at the hands
of so-called spirits.
Oftentimes, the process
is described as dangerous.
In fact, many healers are
said to be taken against
their will for this instruction.
SABINA MAGLIOCCO: When shamans
narrate their life stories,
they usually do not say,
"Well, I chose to be a shaman."
The healer does not choose
her or his profession.
They are chosen by the spirits.
DAVID CUMES: The shaman
is usually called,
and there's some sort of wound
that the shaman sustains.
It can be any bizarre
malady... being struck by
lightning, epileptic fits,
a bad accident, anything
that wounds the person
and enables them to go inward.
It's quite a hardship, you know.
It's not something that
anybody who really knows
about it would
readily undertake.
HUTTON: Once the spirits
have got you, you either
die or remain permanently
sick or become a shaman.
There aren't a lot of ways out.
You often go mad for a bit
or fall sick for a bit,
as the spirits take possession
of you, and then you go
through a visionary process
in which, for example,
quite often you feel your
entire body being taken
apart and then put
back together again.
And when you're back
together again, you're
starting to acquire
the abilities to travel
through time and space.
NARRATOR: Why would so
many of these traditional
healers share this belief
that they had been chosen
and physically
changed by spirits?
Some ancient astronaut
theorists believe more
clues can be found by
examining the similarities
between these shamanic
experiences and the stories
of modern-day UFO abductions.
HANCOCK: People who believe
they've been abducted by
aliens will speak
of implants being put
in their bodies,
put there by the aliens.
Exactly the same
experiences are reported
in much more
traditional cultures,
shamanistic cultures.
The construal there is that
this is being done by
the spirits, and the similarity
between the two experiences
are very, very, very strong
and very, very powerful.
CHILDRESS: Perhaps what's
happening is that you're
really in contact with some
kind of extraterrestrials,
and in a sense in these
shamanistic states, you're
tapping into what
we would almost call
extraterrestrial powers.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that shamans receive their
mysterious powers
through alien abductions,
and might this explain why
shamans all over the world claim
to have a connection
to other realms?
Perhaps the answers can
be found in the strange
and powerful visions
experienced by shamans
in the Amazon.
The Amazon Jungle, Peru.
Stretching from the Andes
Mountains to the eastern
shores of Brazil, this rain
forest is home to more than
80,000 species of
plants, many of which
shamans and religious
healers have consumed
for thousands of years as
a way to access realms they
say are inhabited by
otherworldly beings.
In the Amazon, one
of the shaman's jobs aside
from going to the other world
and speaking with
the spirits is to find
the plants right here on Earth
that can heal
the people of his tribe,
and in the Amazonian
belief systems, each plant
in the jungle has
its own spirit...
and one of the shaman's gifts
is that he can communicate
with these plant spirits.
Originating in the central
Andes of South America,
ayahuasca, meaning
"the vine of the souls," is
a psychedelic brew
consisting of two different
types of plants
cooked with water.
ROSS HEAVEN: And this
is drunk by the shaman
in order to enter
the spirit world to gain
information about diseases,
to foresee the future,
to carry out
a healing for somebody.
We know some
of the history of ayahuasca
because archaeologists
have found artifacts from
the rain forest which date back
3,500 or 4,000 years,
but those are only
the surviving artifacts
that they found.
Potentially, this could
go back to
the beginning of time.
NARRATOR: Ayahuasca contains
dimethyltryptamine, or DMT,
one of the most powerful
hallucinogens known to man,
but strangely, this
chemical compound only
works when consumed under
precise conditions.
Ingest DMT, it's inactivated
in the intestine by
certain enzymes.
So in order to get the DMT
to be activated and to be
able to be absorbed,
they had to combine it
with other plants.
HANCOCK: Ayahuasca contains
a mixture of two plants.
There's actually quite
subtle and sophisticated
knowledge of plants goes
into the preparation
because these two things
separately will not work.
You have to mix them
together, and let's not
forget that there's
150,000 different
species of plants
and trees in the Amazon.
It's really quite
an amazing achievement
of ancient chemistry to
bring these two plants
together to produce
a highly psychoactive
visionary brew.
NARRATOR: But how did
ancient people living
in the jungles of Peru
over 3,000 years ago
with tens of thousands
of plants to choose from
figure out that combining
these two particular plants
would produce these
powerful visions?
According to the mythology
of the Achuar people
of the Amazon, their
ancestors didn't discover
this on their own
but were guided by
extraterrestrial beings.
HEAVEN: The shamans
communicated with their
spirits and were told to
go into the jungle and turn
two corners, as the myth
goes, and then they would
find this plant,
and they brought that back to
the village,
prepared it
in the appropriate way.
WILCOCK: The oral tradition
says that ayahuasca is
a linkage to the upper world.
And it is entirely possible
that they were given this
gift by their own gods,
which may be extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR: If the Achuar
story of how their
ancestors discovered
ayahuasca is true, could
they have been guided
not by spirits but by
extraterrestrial beings,
beings who communicated
with them on another
plane of reality?
Between 1990 and 1995,
scientists
at the University
of New Mexico administered DMT,
the active ingredient
in ayahuasca,
to 60 volunteers
and discovered shocking results.
HENRY: Medical researchers
actually administered DMT
to patients in a controlled
medical setting,
and they had exactly the
same experiences as those
reported in the jungles
of South America
and elsewhere who are
experiencing ayahuasca.
Ayahuasca users typically
experience hallucinations
in the visual form,
and a lot of them say that they
see other beings,
and a lot of them say
that they get
messages sent to them
from these beings.
In several cases, those
intelligent entities said
to them roughly the following...
"We're so pleased you've
discovered this technology."
"Now we can communicate
with you more often."
Perhaps what we're dealing
with here is intelligent
inhabitants of other dimensions.
NARRATOR: Why would so many
people report such similar
experiences while
using ayahuasca?
Is it possible DMT provides
access to another realm?
HEAVEN: Some shamans
believe that plants like
ayahuasca have an
extraterrestrial origin,
that they drifted here
as space spores perhaps
and then came to Earth on
comets, started growing here,
and perhaps they
even had an agenda.
Perhaps they are communication
from extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
extraterrestrials gave
the ancients the recipe for
this powerful concoction as
a way to communicate
healing powers
with shamans, and if so,
might the very core
of mankind's knowledge
about medicine have
come from
an otherworldly source?
Hua Shan Mountain, China.
This 7,000-foot-high
peak in the Shaanxi province
is believed to
have been the place where.
Shennong, a benevolent
emperor that ruled the area
more than 4,500
years ago, was conceived.
According to accounts from
the Han dynasty, Shennong
not only introduced
agriculture to mankind
but also developed
a profound knowledge
of Chinese herbs.
DOMINIC STEAVU: Shennong
pledged that he would
venture out into
the world and test every plant
on the planet in order to
determine its benefits
for humans and also to
catalog, uh, the more toxic
or dangerous effects of
ingesting these plants.
Sometimes he would ingest,
of course, poisonous
plants, and he would suffer
poisonings up to 70
times per day.
NARRATOR: More than
2,000 years later,
Shennong's findings
were compiled in.
"The Divine Farmer's
Herb-Root Classic,"
a medical journal that became
one of the foundations
of Chinese medicine.
But just how could this
mysterious being have
tested so many herbs,
some even containing
deadly poisons?
CHILDRESS: Shennong was
a quite unusual person.
It's said that he had
a transparent stomach,
and he himself, after ingesting
these poisons, would look
into his own stomach
and see how these poisons were
interacting with himself,
and then he would take
the antidotes for it.
So you have to wonder
if he's not some kind
of extraterrestrial.
HENRY: Shennong could, in
fact, have been an astral
or star being who came
to Earth to teach
the secrets of healing.
TSOUKALOS: This idea
would explain his strange
appearance and also his
ability to withstand
ingesting poisonous plants
without ever being harmed.
NARRATOR: Might Shennong
have been an alien visitor,
one who traveled to Earth
in order to educate mankind
about medicine and the healing
nature of plants?
And is this proof that
ingesting DMT, a practice
that dates back thousands
of years, actually connects
shamans with
extraterrestrial beings?
Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes and claim further
evidence lies
with the supernatural
healing rituals
of the San Bushmen.
The Kalahari Desert,
South Africa.
Here, the native
San Bushmen hold elaborate
fireside rituals, lasting
for hours into the night.
During these ceremonies,
their shamans perform
what's known as a trance
dance, through which they
reach an altered state
of being and access
other dimensions.
HENRY: The trance dance
is thought to activate
an energy in their
body called "nlum."
And this energy opens
a portal of sorts that
enables them to travel
into the spirit world,
and when the Bushmen activate
this energy, they're able to put
their hands in the fire
without being burned.
They can see vast distances,
and it's as if
in every way, shape,
and form, they're transformed
into super powerful beings.
NARRATOR: By accessing
the power of nlum energy, it is
believed that a shaman can
extract illness,
see the insides of the sick,
and travel out of their own
body to the land of the gods.
CUMES: This nlum, it goes
up the body, and then often
it goes out of the crown
of the head, and that's
usually when the out-of-body
experience occurs
and they travel to
the spirit world.
I've seen a Bushman put
a coal in his mouth,
and he wasn't burned.
They'll put their heads
in the fire, and although
their hair might singe and
even catch fire, their face
won't be burned, so
something is happening
with this nlum energy.
They call it boiling energy.
It's almost like there's
a vibrational change in their
whole body and probably
in their DNA in some way.
NARRATOR: Could this so-called
nlum energy really
be inherent in shamans,
accessed only while
in a sort of dream state?
And is it possible that
the genetic makeup of these
medicine men is what
allows them to access
other dimensions?
PHILLIPS: The San Bushpeople
have a tradition
that they are the first
tribe ever created,
they're the oldest people
in the world.
DNA tests have shown
that they probably are,
that all other cultures and all
other peoples that spread
throughout the world came
originally from where
the San people are now.
WILCOCK: When we look
at the San Bushmen and we see
the clear genetic
evidence that they are
the primordial seed
of human civilization and life
on Earth, it is possible
that their DNA is
especially well-equipped
to have this potential to
access these non-ordinary
states of consciousness
which may, in fact,
be a key to physically
journeying into them,
giving these people
the ability to do things
that most of us
seemingly cannot.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the San Bushmen have
special knowledge of how to
alter their genetic makeup
in order to access other
realms, a knowledge that is
shared by shamans
around the world?
And might this knowledge
or power have been given to
them by alien beings?
Ancient astronaut theorists
believe an undeniable
connection between shamans
and extraterrestrials can
be found in cave paintings that
date back thousands of years.
The Lascaux Caves,
Southwestern France.
Discovered in 1940 near
the village of Montignac,
this cave complex is
covered in Paleolithic
paintings dating back more
than 17,000 years.
Anthropologists believe
ancient shamans used these
subterranean chambers to
perform sacred rituals,
and curiously, among
the many Ice Age animals that
are depicted on the walls,
there is a strange creature
that has the body of a man
and the head of a bird.
HANCOCK: The technical
term for such a creature is
a therianthrope, and that's
from the Greek "therian,"
which means wild beast,
and "anthropos,"
which means man.
Clearly these are not
things that one encounters
in everyday life.
The imagery of cave art
is best explained as
the experiences that
shamans undergo
in a deep state of trance.
When they return
from the trance state,
they then depict on the cave
walls the visions that they have
seen in this deeply altered
state of consciousness.
NARRATOR: The birdman found
in Lascaux is reminiscent
of one of the Egyptians'
most important gods... Thoth.
It is also consistent
with the depiction
of the Sumerian sky gods,
the Anunnaki,
but is it mere coincidence that
these shamans are encountering
the same types of beings
while in a trance that
the world's earliest
civilizations depicted
as their gods?
WILCOCK: In all of these
different indigenous
cultures around the world
there are remarkable
similarities of what types
of beings people claim to
be meeting when they
go out of body.
This suggests that
in the dream plane
and in the shamanic state,
there is, in fact, a real
place that we are going
and real beings that we are
encountering when we get there.
TSOUKALOS: This is where
the ancient astronaut
theory suggests that they
were the same teachers,
the teachers that went to
all the ancient cultures
and brought them
the basics for what we've
accomplished today.
HANCOCK: There was a big,
noticeable change
in human behavior around
40,000 years ago, exactly
at the time that our
ancestors begin to manifest
the first amazing cave art,
but what is clear is that
it's not a coincidence,
that at the moment that
the cave art begins,
we also witness
in the archeological
record a radical change
in human behavior.
NARRATOR: Could the Lascaux
cave paintings be proof
that Shamans really do
communicate with
extraterrestrial beings,
as ancient astronaut
theorists suggest?
And if shamans like those
of the San Bushmen undergo
a physiological change
in order to make this
connection, what
might that change be?
Perhaps the answer can
be found inside
the human brain.
Tepoztlán, Mexico, October 2011.
Here just 50 miles from
Mexico City, shamans from
all over North
and South America gather to
commemorate the region's
long tradition
of shamanic healing.
Throughout
the 3-day celebration,
these modern-day medicine men
engage in sacred dances,
rhythmic chanting, and drumming,
all methods that shamans use to
connect with other realms.
But Why?
Do these practices really
effect a change within
the shamans that allows them
to communicate with beings
that are otherwise
beyond our perception?
In many shamanic
traditions, shamans have
special tools that
allow them to access
the spirit world.
Among the most important
of these tools are
the shaman's drum and/or
the shaman's rattle.
These are rhythm
instruments that beat out
a particular rhythm that
allow the shaman to enter
into trance and to journey
to the world of spirits.
We see this rapid, very
steady rhythm on the drum
as being a central tool in
shamans being able to open
up the doors of the mind,
giving voice to the unseen
realms of the cosmos.
NARRATOR: Is it merely
coincidence that shamans
all over the world
share the belief that by
repeating certain rhythmic
movements and sounds they
can communicate with other
realms, or might this
ancient practice produce
a real physiological change
in the shamans themselves?
MAGLIOCCO: There's
a neurological explanation
for this.
One of the ways that we can
alter our consciousness is
through rhythmic movement.
So throughout the world,
you see many traditions
in which people communicate
with the gods by spinning,
by dancing, by doing
something rhythmic.
NARRATOR: At the University
of California
in San Francisco, neuroscientist
Dr. Adam Gazzaley is
performing experiments
using 3-D gaming technology
that actually track how drumming
affects the human brain.
Participants wear
virtual reality goggles
and experience both visual
and auditory rhythms.
GAZZALEY: We feel that if
we have a participant learn
how to entrain with
different rhythms through
game mechanics, we can
strengthen the rhythms
of the brain and lead to
better performance, better
cognition, better memory,
better attention.
And so we're recording
in real time what's going
on in her brain.
You can have a rhythm going
on that you're listening to,
and your brain has
its own natural rhythms.
The entrainment would be
that they become locked
in time such that they
follow each other.
We're sort of at, like,
the gateway of this
frontier now.
NARRATOR: Could rhythm
and repetition hold the key
to discovering
untapped potential
within the human brain?
Might shamans have been
aware of this connection
for thousands of years?
And is the practice of
entering a trance state
still used to access this
power in other spiritual
ceremonies across the world?
Pentecostal faith healers
incorporate music that
mirrors the rhythm of the heart.
Hypnosis is often achieved
through the use of a pendulum.
Important that you hear
the word of Christ.
NARRATOR: Priests performing
exorcisms repeat phrases
over and over.
Return!
NARRATOR: Even the Catholic
Rosary involves repeating
a sequence of prayers
counted out on a string
of beads to communicate
with Almighty God.
It seems possible that
the shamans must have
understood something about
the brain that we're only
rediscovering today
and how the drum in particular
can affect the brain.
It's the brain who works
different with the shamans
than with normal people.
I always suggested look at
our brain like a gigantic
hole with big machines in there.
Some of the machines
are running,
and others are dead.
Now with the shamans, some
of the machines are running
which in other brains
they are not working.
That makes a difference
between the brain
of a shaman and the normal, the
average people.
NARRATOR: Have shamans
discovered the means to
communicating with
extraterrestrials within
the human brain?
And does this suggest that
similar powers might exist
within all of humanity,
powers that we have yet to
fully realize?
McGOWAN COPPENS: As we
settle into the 21st century,
our craving to be
connected with what we used
to know, what we can know again,
and how unlimited we
are as human beings is something
that we're all seeking,
and it is through
the power of shamanism,
it is with the help of these
intermediaries, that we can
begin to experience this again.
HENRY: The shamans were
always bringing advanced
knowledge and leading
humanity forward.
They represented healing,
and they represented
expansion of our consciousness.
CHILDRESS: If these shamans
are really in contact
with some kind
of extraterrestrial gods,
then we can see how these ETs
have been purposely guiding
us throughout our history.
In many ways, they created us.
And even today, they
are still manipulating
and guiding us into the future.
NARRATOR: Did shamans
really communicate
with otherworldly beings
in the distant past?
Is it possible that through
these spiritual mediators
extraterrestrials were
able to influence mankind?
And might such celestial command
continue even today?
Perhaps one day we will
realize that the key to
contact with our alien
ancestors does not lie
in technology that
propels us to the stars
but in rediscovering
abilities that already
exist deep within ourselves.
07x06 - The Shamans
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Explores the pseudoscientific hypothesis of ancient astronauts in a non-critical, documentary format.
Explores the pseudoscientific hypothesis of ancient astronauts in a non-critical, documentary format.