NARRATOR: A mysterious cloth
bearing a divine image.
WILLIAM HENRY: It represents the
supernatural transformation of a human.
NARRATOR: Gold hats worn by
strange, mystical beings.
MIKE BARA: The wearing of a
golden hat would tend to amplify
the signal that you were
getting from higher-up beings.
NARRATOR: And powerful stones
believed to have otherworldly origins.
PHILIP COPPENS: It is said
that every wish was granted.
NARRATOR: Could these mysterious
objects simply be the
targets of human imagination?
Or are they evidence of
something even more profound?
DAVID CHILDRESS: We have to wonder if
possibly all of these metallic books...
aren't part of some
extraterrestrial library.
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 be
found in the world's most
mysterious relics?
♪
NARRATOR: The White House,
February 11, 2013.
President Barack Obama presents
a Medal of Honor to Army Staff
Sergeant Clinton Romesha for his
courageous actions during the
deadly battle of Kamdesh
in Afghanistan.
(applause)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: These
53 Americans were surrounded by
more than 300 Taliban fighters.
If you seek a measure of that
day, you need to look no further
than the medals and ribbons
that grace their chests.
NARRATOR: This tradition of
honoring brave soldiers by
decorating their chest with
medals dates back to at least
the second century B.C., when
the ancient Roman military used
sculpted discs of metal to
reward superior acts of service.
But why?
What is it about the properties
of metal that make them chosen objects
of adornment and commemoration?
COPPENS: The tradition
of adorning people
with metal really goes
back thousands of years.
In the case of the Bible, we
have stories about how the
priests actually had to wear
certain metals before they were
able to enter the Holy of Holies
and make contact with the divine.
Today, we are confronted
with symbolism.
Our heroes are given pins and
medals because somehow we set
them apart as great people who
somehow have superseded the
human race, but in the past,
this was to be taken literally.
NARRATOR: Do certain metals
actually enhance mankind's
ability to connect with divine,
or some would say,
extraterrestrial forces?
And is this the reason why gold,
platinum and silver jewelry,
along with other metal
adornments and relics, have been
so prized throughout human history?
COPPENS: Definitely
the belief is that
we hold the relic there,
because the relic is
linked either to a deity
or to something magical.
RICHARD RADER: Relics can
be any number of things.
Pieces of wood, bits of statues,
literally anything can
be a relic if it has been kind
of invested with a divine power.
And that means you have a piece
of the god, and therefore a
piece of the god's power with you.
ALAN BUTLER: It seems to have
always been the case with human
beings that they've wanted
to possess items which they
thought were, uh, either from
the gods, to do with the gods,
or in some way associated
with the gods.
NARRATOR:
Berlin, Germany, 1996.
The Museum of Prehistory and
Early History acquires a
glittering artifact from an
anonymous Swiss collector.
A tall, cone-shaped hat crafted
from a thin sheet of pure gold,
and embellished with dozens of
sun and moon symbols.
It is one of four that have been
unearthed at various sites
throughout Europe, and is
believed by historians to date
back as far as 1000 B.C.
JONATHAN YOUNG: What is so
important about them is that
they indicate that there
was a common culture.
The images on them represent
astronomy, the study of the stars.
They also have complicated
mathematical implications,
suggesting a level of
philosophical development that's
very advanced for what we thought
was available at that time.
NARRATOR: German researchers
carefully studied the symbols on
the golden hat, and concluded
they represent a complex
mathematical table.
One that can accurately
calculate the long-term cycles
of the sun and the moon.
But how could such ancient
people have been able to make
such advanced and highly sophisticated
astronomical predictions?
ANDREW COLLINS: The suggestion
is that they belonged
to what might be referred to as
oracles, people that could fall
into an altered state and prophesize.
Could come up with statements
relating to the future or
otherworldly situations.
NARRATOR: Though most
mainstream scholars believe
these mysterious hats were worn
by king-priests during religious
ceremonies, ancient astronaut
theorists have another, even
more astounding theory.
BARA: The golden hats are kind
of interesting, because if
gold is something that actually
enhances your connection with
energies and higher-up celestial
beings, then the wearing of a
golden hat, especially in a
conical shape, would tend to
amplify the signal that you
were getting from on high.
So, it seems to me that ancient
cultures logically would build
them to get connected with the
gods who had perhaps left them
behind and gone back to
their celestial birthplace.
COPPENS: In the case of the
golden hats, what we're seeing
there is that all of this
technology seems to have been
part of a larger framework,
whereby once again it seems this
is a civilization which made
contact with the gods.
CHILDRESS: But we just don't
know who would have made these
or why, and they're so
incredibly unusual and tall.
Perhaps the extraterrestrial
gods were wearing some kind of
conical hat like this.
NARRATOR: Could the so-called
king-priests of the ancient past
have been otherworldly visitors,
utilizing metal's unique
properties? If so,
might additional evidence
be found of other ancient
peoples using metal relics for
advanced, even
metaphysical purposes?
Khirbet Qumran, Israel, 1952.
Hidden deep in a cave on the
desert cliffs, archaeologists
discover a mysterious
2,000-year-old manuscript
written on a sheet of copper.
Known as the Copper Scroll, this
mysterious relic was found at
the same site as the ancient
religious writings known as the
Dead Sea Scrolls.
JOHN DESALVO: All the Dead Sea
Scrolls that have been found
were written on either,
uh, leather or papyrus.
The Copper Scroll is the only
one made of copper.
You got to keep in mind, copper
was valuable, and to hammer out
a whole scroll would take a lot
of time and a lot of technique,
so it has to be very important.
NARRATOR: Scholars examining
the language on the Copper
Scroll agree it is unlike
anything found in other
texts of the period.
FATHER WILLIAM FULCO:
The script that's on it is-is a
little different, but it's not
just in Hebrew; it's in...
or Aramaic.
It also has Greek, uh, letters on it.
So it's quite peculiar.
The thing that makes the Copper
Scroll so fascinating is that it
mentions hidden treasures.
DESALVO: The Copper Scroll
lists 64 locations in Jerusalem
and around that area that
buried treasure is located.
Maybe the key is, in the 64th
location, it says there's
another copper scroll that will
help explain the rest of it.
Because we haven't found the
treasure yet, I somehow suspect
there could be another code within this
treasure map, a code within a code.
NARRATOR: What is the origin
of the mysterious Copper Scroll?
And at is its true purpose?
Mainstream scholars and
archaeologists have been puzzled
by these questions for more than
half a century.
GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Maybe the
Copper Scroll is missing a piece.
Many times with treasure maps,
you need a second piece in order
to complete the entire map, so
who knows if there's a piece missing?
CHILDRESS: It seems to be an
oddball... artifact.
And it's written in metal.
And you have now the stories of
other ancient books supposedly
written in sheets of gold.
Joseph Smith, Jr., who began
the-the Mormon Church, he
claimed also to have been shown
gold-plated books.
So we have to wonder if possibly
all of these metallic books
written in copper or gold plates
aren't part of some
extraterrestrial library.
NARRATOR: Could the
mysterious Copper Scroll have
extraterrestrial origins?
And is the fact that it is made
of copper evidence of a
connection between metal objects
and otherworldly beings?
yes and believe further proofsay
can be found by examining the
similarly strange properties
attributed to other mysterious
relics found all over the world.
NARRATOR: Bulgaria's Black
Sea Coast.
July 2010.
Here, in the ruins of a medieval
church on St. Ivan Island, six
small human bone fragments are
discovered inside a marble hagus.
Through radiocarbon dating and
DNA testing of one knucklebone,
scientists conclude that the
bones are from the first
century A.D. But what
is even more incredible
is the belief by many that the
bones are actually those of
St. John the Baptist.
KATHLEEN MCGOWAN:
In Christianity, John the Baptist
is specifically important
because he is known as the
forerunner, the precursor, the one
who comes before the Messiah.
And in the stories of John the
Baptist, he becomes extremely
important for Christians because
he announces that a greater
messiah is coming after him.
And the legends around John's
bones were always legends of
extreme power.
John was a prophet.
NARRATOR: Now on tour in
churches throughout Bulgaria,
tens of thousands of the
faithful come to visit, pray
and even worship these tiny
bone fragments. But why?
What is it about ancient bones...
even those thought to have
belonged to a saint... that
compel people to come and visit them?
Could it be they possess some
mystical or otherworldly power?
MCGOWAN: The idea of saints'
bones and relics having power is
something that goes back to the
very early days of Christianity.
And certainly in the latter part
of the Dark Ages and the Middle
Ages, they became very big
business.
If you had saints' relics in
your church or in your
cathedral, you could bring in a
lot of pilgrims who would also
There was a strong belief by the
nobility and the royalty that
the bones of these saints
actually did contain
some kind of power.
ERICH VON DANIKEN: Humans
always want to worship their
celebrities, their kings.
Whatever was linked with
mysteries, humans worshipped it.
So, in antiquity, it entered
already into altars.
When a high priest died, part of
his body, part of his bones, was
sometimes separated, brought
to different countries.
And everyone worshipped
the bone in an altar.
That's still happening in
Christianity.
NARRATOR: Kushinagar, India.
483 B.C.
Siddhartha Gautama, the great
spiritual teacher upon whom
Buddhism is founded, dies.
According to legend, after
Buddha was cremated, several
small pieces of his body
remained intact and were
retrieved from the ashes.
JUDY HO: After his cremation,
the ashes were fought over by a
lot of his disciples.
And finally, they resolved to
the problem by dividing, um,
them into eight different parts.
When the Buddha's ashes were
divided... and there's a claim
that there's a tooth found
there... it was considered...
it was very valuable.
Right away, when the tooth was
given to a king, the relic...
the tooth relic itself... became
associated with the
power of kingship.
And it is believed that the
king who possesses the tooth
will be able to rule properly
and there will be peace and
prosperity in his kingdom.
NARRATOR: Could such
a tiny but tangible
relic from the mouth of
the dead Buddha really
have such power?
Is a physical link to a holy and
venerated leader really a means
of connecting to the afterlife
and, even more profoundly,
some divine life force?
HO: The worship of relics,
actually, is as old as the
Buddhist religion itself and
many other religions, too.
The Buddha himself approves of
the worship of relics because
he believes that his followers
need something very concrete to
remind them of his presence
and his teachings.
The relics are supposed to be
actually the essence of the
saints. So, in a way,
the relics are the
saints themselves, so they have
the powers of the saints.
COLLINS: The importance here
is: Why is it that objects like
this can gain such an
incredible spiritual value?
And, quite clearly, it's to do
with the-the psychology of the
importance of-of individuals
like the Buddha, who is seen to
be personifications of God or
the gods themselves and that
just to own this or to have some
part of it imbues you with the
same power as the gods themselves.
CHILDRESS: So you have to
wonder just why these relics
are so important.
We give them power, these
bones and these teeth.
But what they are...at least
in a scientific manner... is a piece
of DNA from the Buddha himself.
DANIKEN: I think they knew
that in a far future, the gods,
the extraterrestrials,
would return again.
And some of these gods may have
said to one of his darlings on
planet Earth, "If we find your
body or your cells are still
existing, then we are able to
reconstruct your body."
NARRATOR: Cloning dead saints
using DNA from their relics?
Could this incredible notion be
one of the reasons why bone
fragments and other human
remains have been so prized
throughout the centuries?
And might this now very real
scientific possibility be
connected to ancient religious
notions of rebirth and
resurrection?
Perhaps the answers can be found
in another mysterious relic that
some believe depicts the greatest
religious figure of all time.
The Cathedral of Turin,
Northern Italy.
Here lies the sacred relic known
as the Shroud of Turin, a large
piece of linen which, when
photographed, bears the eerie
image of what appears
to be a crucified man.
DESALVO: The Shroud of Turin
is a piece of ancient linen
cloth, measures about 14 feet
long by three and a half feet
wide, and what's so important
about this cloth is, there's a
very faint imprint of a human
being on the cloth who appears
to have been crucified,
which matches the biblical
descriptions of Jesus Christ.
So, many believe that this
shroud, this relic, is the
actual burial cloth of Jesus Christ,
and bears the wounds of crucifixion.
FULCO: The Shroud of Turin has
such a fascinating history,
and the question is: Is it authentic?
Those who are against it say,
no, this could easily have been
a fake, and a body would never
have left such an image and so on.
The chemicals of an embalmed body
would not have done such a thing.
But the people who say that are
not able to explain how the
figure did get there.
It's not painted.
It doesn't seem to be a pigment
that's applied to the cloth.
DESALVO: The shroud has been
studied, actually, by some of
the top scientists and
researchers in the world.
And with all the scientific
knowledge and equipment, we
still do not know how the image
of the shroud was produced.
McGOWAN: And this is what I think
continues to fascinate us about it.
Regardless of what you believe,
whether you are a Christian and
a believer and bieve that this
is the image of the resurrected
Christ, or if you just believe
that there is some other
extraordinary metaphysical event
that causes this, you have to be
fascinated by the fact that this
extraordinary relic could not
have been created by any means that
in the 21st century we can identify.
NARRATOR: Could the Shroud of
Turin really be a divine relic?
Tangible evidence of the
existence of an almighty power?
HENRY: And in 2011, Italian
scientists were able to prove
that the Shroud of Turin was
created by a supernatural
flash of light, an
unearthly flash of light.
In my opinion, the Shroud of
Turin is proof that Jesus
transformed himself into a being
of light, and projected himself
through the Shroud of Turin.
NARRATOR: Does the Shroud of
Turin actually contain an image
of the crucified Jesus?
Or could this sacred object be
something else?
Might it, in fact, be evidence
of an incredibly advanced,
otherworldly technology?
Perhaps the answer can be found
by examining another, even more
perplexing, ancient artifact.
One found on a land known as the
Emerald Isle.
NARRATOR: Southern Ireland.
Here, approximately five miles
northwest of the small city of
Cork, lies the Blarney Castle.
Built more than 500 years ago,
this nearly 90-foot-tall
fortress houses the world-famous
Blarney Stone, a relic that more
than 300,000 people
come to kiss each year.
YOUNG: It is not in a
convenient location.
It's in the castle wall
high up on the outside.
So, to kiss it, you've got to
dangle over or sneak around so
that you're really at some peril
of falling a very great distance.
SABINA MAGLIOCCO: According
to legend, it grants whoever
kisses it the power to speak in
an articulate and charismatic
way and to flatter and
blandish in any circumstance.
DAVID WILCOCK: Here you have a
stone that has been kissed and
revered by probably
millions of people.
Blarney is the gift of gab, and
so the idea is that somehow
kissing this stone gives you the
ability to talk better or to
somehow amplify
your verbal prowess.
NARRATOR: Composed of a
single block of bluestone...
the same material used
at Stonehenge...this stone relic's
magical powers are widely
renowned.
But could a stone
really have such power?
One that could actually affect
an individual's power of speech?
YOUNG: And the story is, in
the 15th century, Cormac
MacCarthy had a court case
coming up, and he was concerned
about this and called upon the
goddess Cliodhna, the Queen of
the Banshees, to help him find
the right words and present a
good case.
She did.
She said, "Listen, on your way
to court, kiss the first stone
you see, and you'll be eloquent,
you'll find the words."
And he did this.
He went to court, he was very
persuasive, and won his case.
On his way home, he picked up
that rock and carried it back,
and had his workman fashion it
into a stone and set it
into the wall of his castle
where it is still to be found.
WILCOCK: When you look at
Irish mythology as a whole,
it starts to become
pretty obvious
that these people such as
Cliodhna were not ordinary
earthborn humans, but were,
in fact, most likely
extraterrestrial humans, who
came to the earth and shared
their technology.
And Blarney being the gift of
gab, the gift of talking more
eloquently, is something that
may have been impregnated into
the stone by an extraterrestrial
technology using energetic means
that we're not now aware of.
NARRATOR: Is it possible, as
ancient astronaut theorists
suggest, that the Blarney Stone
is actually evidence of some
ancient and otherworldly power?
Technology that helps to prove
that ancient man was in direct
contact with highly-developed
beings from another
part of the galaxy?
If so, might the character known
in Irish folklore as the goddess
Cliodhna, actually have
been a celestial traveler?
Perhaps more clues can be found
by investigating another
mysterious stone relic,
located just 160 miles away.
County Meath, Ireland.
On top of this mound, known as
the Hill of Tara, lies the Lia
Fáil, or Stone of Destiny...
one of four magical treasures said
to have been brought to Ireland
by mythical deities called
the Tuatha De Danann.
YOUNG: The Lia Fáil was a
stone that was considered
magical. All of the
kings of Ireland, up
until the fifth century of the
common era, were said to have
been crowned on this.
It seemed to know who the true
king was. They say,
if the true king put
his feet up on it, it
would roar with delight.
It also had the power to give
strength to the leader, to help
him solidify his rule, and, in some
cases, to heal, if that was necessary.
NARRATOR: To mainstream
scientists and archaeologists,
this stone relic represents nothing
more than the coronation stone
of Ireland's ancient kings.
But according to Irish mythology,
the Hill of Tara was also a sacred
dwelling place for the gods.
MAGLIOCCO: The Hill of
Tara is a mound and,
like many mounds in Ireland,
like many of these
sádhe mounds, it is allegedly
the entrance to the realm of the
sádhe, or these
otherworldly people.
The word sádhe means both
the people themselves, the
otherworldly people, and the mounds
in which they are said to dwell.
And the Hill of Tara is allegedly
an entrance to the other world.
YOUNG: The Hill of Tara is considered
the sacred center of Ireland.
The kings ruled from there for
many centuries in ancient and
in, uh, early history.
And this was considered a sacred
portal to another dimension, to
the other world, so it had more
than the authority of kingship.
It had the authority of the
supernatural.
CHILDRESS: In Irish mythology,
the Tuatha De Danaan
were gods who had magical powers.
They arrived from the landof
the west, these mythical lands
of the gods.
They were said to come in these
dark clouds, which then landed
in the mountains of Ireland.
And when they came, there were
three nights and three days of
darkness. So you have
to ask yourself what
kind of power they had, and were
they some kind of celestial
visitors arriving in UFOs?
WILCOCK: Maybe the
extraterrestrials found
a way to help society
make advancements,
including the selection
of a virtuous leader.
It's entirely possible that this
stone is not just something that
was coming out of a mythology,
that the Lia Fáil was an
engineered device, that those
leaders were able to be
assessed by the stone and even
maybe see into their destiny,
see into their future.
NARRATOR: Might the Lia Fáil,
a stone relic imbued with power
like the Blarney Stone, really
be evidence of highly advanced
knowledge brought to mankind
by the so-called gods?
And do these sacred objects
provide proof of ancient man's
extraterrestrial connections?
Perhaps the answers can be
found by examining strange and
unusual relics fallen from the sky.
NARRATOR: Valley of the
Kings, Egypt.
November 1922.
Archaeologist Howard Carter
discovers King Tutankhamun's
tomb, containing a treasure
trove of artifacts.
Among them is King Tut's
magnificent breastplate with a
yellow jewel as its centerpiece,
a jewel created as the result
of a meteorite impact.
GEOFFREY NOTKIN: In Egyptian
culture, there was a fascination
with Libyan desert glass.
And while it's not actually a
meteorite, Libyan desert glass
is the product of a meteorite impact.
Millions of years ago, an
enormous meteorite crashed into
what is today the Egyptian
desert, and the heat and
pressure of that impact melted
the sand in the desert, forming
a beautiful yellow impact glass.
ROBERT BAUVAL: And it crystallizes
the sand; it forms glass.
And you get these wonderful,
almost like jewel stones you get.
And they clearly imagined these
stones to be celestial, to have
been created by the impact of a star.
And therefore they were
given cosmic meaning.
NARRATOR: Humans have long
had a fascination with
meteorites and have fashioned many
tools and spiritual objects from them.
But why?
YOUNG: There are many
magical stories of meteors,
meteorites and meteor showers.
Aeschylus in Prometheus Unbound
talks about an angry Zeus
throwing rocks down at the Earth.
In the Aeneid, Virgil
speaks of meteors.
He describes a meteor shower as
indicating Troy is about to fall.
Such folk liefs about meteors,
sh**ting stars, meteorites were
common in the ancient world,
where, clearly, a piece of stone
from the heavens is
worshipped as a divine item.
TSOUKALOS: The reason why
they were so important was
because they inherently had
the power of the gods in them
because they were already
forged in the universe and they
descended from the sky.
NARRATOR: Meteoric gemstones
like Libyan desert glass have
been venerated throughout history.
But one particularly mysterious
green gemstone could be the
most sought-after relic of all time.
NOTKIN: Moldavite is the
name given to a green impact
glass of extraordinary beauty
and rarity that's only found in
one small region of
the Czech Republic.
It's very old.
HENRY: Metaphysically,
moldavite creates thistrange
pulsating energy field that amplifies
human thoughts or intention.
If you're a loving or
compassionate person, it will
amplify that, or it can bring
chaos if your thoughts and
energy and emotions are chaotic.
NARRATOR: According to some
legends, the Holy Grail, the
cup from which Jesus and his
apostles drank during the Last
Supper, was carved from a green
gemstone that had fallen to
Earth from the heavens.
YOUNG: It is said that there
was discord in the heavens
involving Lucifer, and a stone
dropped. It was a
stone that at one time
had been the center of Lucifer's
crown when he was an important angel.
It dropped to Earth.
It was then a piece of Heaven on
Earth and had great power and
was greatly venerated.
It was carved into the Holy
Grail, which was not made of
metal but of this beautiful
emerald, a precious
stone from Heaven.
NARRATOR: Could the green
gemstone that supposedly fell
from Lucifer's crown have been
made not of emerald but of
moldavite?
Perhaps more evidence can be
found in the legends of another
sacred stone that fell from the
sky more than 4,000 miles away.
Yumbulakang Palace, Southern Tibet.
Here, according to legend,
the 28th king, Lha Thothori
Nyantsen, obtains a magical
jewel called Cintamani.
It is said to be one of four
revered relics that fell from
the sky in a chest.
NOTKIN: The Cintamani Stone
is a fascinating myth that could
well have meteorite
associations.
It describes a jewel that's
meant to have enormous
properties that it can bestow
upon its owner, and there are
legends that some of the
greatest warriors and leaders in
all of history, including King
Solomon, owned this jewel, that
it was passed from one great
ruler or leader to another.
COLLINS: In both Hindu and
Buddhist tradition, um, there
are stories relating to a
so-called wishing jewel.
And it wielded great power.
It had a-a connection between
this world and the next, that it
could be used to interact, uh,
not just with other worlds but
the center of the universe itself.
COPPENS: It is said that
whoever possessed the Cintamani
stone was able to control
destiny, that every wish was granted.
Now, a stone or an object which
is able to change reality, truly
that is something which is a
piece of technology, and how our
ancestors got this is a gigantic
question mark, which fortunately
our ancestors have answered for us.
Their answer is that this came
from the sky, that it was given
to us by the gods, and that it
played a role in this exchange
between us and the divine.
NARRATOR: Could the legends
of the Cintamani stone be based
on fact? If so,
might this otherworldly
stone, as well as other sacred
and mysterious relics, hp
forge a connection between
mankind and extraterrestrial
forces? Ancient astronaut
theorists say
yes, and believe the ultimate
proof can be found in one of the
most sacred objects in the world.
NARRATOR: Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
50 miles from the Red Sea,
this is Islam's holiest city.
It was here in 2000 B.C.
that Muslims believe the prophet
Abraham built the Kaaba, a
cube-shaped structure that draws
millions of pilgrims each year.
But just what is it about this
building that is so sacred?
And why do so many people line
up to touch it?
ROBERT MULLINS: On the eastern
side of the Kaaba is a
meteorite stone which is embedded
in the corner of the Kaaba.
Now, according to Muslim belief,
this meteorite stone was sent
from heaven to Adam and Eve.
And that stone was used to build
the first temple.
And this really makes Mecca the
most holy place to Muslims.
CHILDRESS: Muhammad himself threw
out all of the other gods,
the deities and statues.
But he retained the one strange
thing that was there: the black
stone, the extraterrestrial
object that's still worshipped
today at Mecca.
So, you have to wonder why
Muhammad specifically chose that
object as part of his religion
that would remain, as
part of the Muslim faith.
It would have to be some memory
of an extraterrestrial event.
NARRATOR: Might the black
stone of Mecca and other sacred
relics really possess great power?
Could they be gateways, not only
to ancient knowledge, but to
other worlds and even
other dimensions?
Perhaps the answer can be found
by examining what many believe
to be the most sacred and
powerful of all the Earth's
mysterious relics: the
cross of Jesus Christ.
NARRATOR: Jerusalem.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
According to some researchers,
this sacred site is the place
where the crucified Jesus was
buried, and after three days,
rose from the dead.
And it was near here, in 326
A.D., that the remains
of a relic thought to be Jesus's cross
were discovered by a Roman empress.
MAGLIOCCO: Empress Helena was
the mother of the emperor
Constantine, and she was an
early convert to Christianity.
According to legend, she
journeyed to the holy land to
found a number of churches
there, and when she was there
she was drawn to the-the Hill of
Calvary, where Jesus was
allegedly ex*cuted.
And she had the pagan temple
which she found there torn down,
and in the rubble of that
temple, she allegedly discovered
the true cross, the cross where
Jesus was crucified.
YOUNG: She found three crosses.
Well, Christ was crucified with
two thieves, so three crosses
might be the right artifacts.
But to test them, she brought a
woman with terminal disease,
very near death, to touch the crosses.
She touched the first two and
her condition was unchanged.
When she touched the third
cross, she was miraculously
healed, and Helena declared that to be
the true cross upon which Christ died.
REV. MICHAEL J.S. CARTER:
The true cross, it's sacred.
Sacred to many, many, many people.
And people collect these, or
like to say that they... they
may have pieces of this cross,
because it brings them closer to
the one they love, or their Lord
and Savior, call it what you will.
Literally hundreds of Christian
churches lay claim to the fact
that they have pieces of the
actual cross that Jesus died on.
MAGLIOCCO: Like many relics
or pieces of saints' bodies, the
true cross where Jesus was
crucified was believed to have
all kinds of miraculous powers,
including healing powers and the
power to grant, um, salvation.
So if you were to touch or own a
relic of the true cross, a piece
of the true cross, some of that
power that Christ had would
transfer itself to you through
the power of touch.
CHILDRESS: It's a fascinating
thought that relics like the
true cross could contain some
divine energy that will heal
people, even raise
them from the dead.
So is it possible that they are
some kind of extraterrestrial
artifacts with some kind of power
in them that we don't understand?
NARRATOR: Could fragments of
Jesus's cross,
like other ancient stones and relics,
really have harnessed strange
extraterrestrial energy?
Could legends concerning mysterious
healing powers really be true?
CARTER: It's very human for
people to want to possess,
whether it's a piece of cloth,
a stone, uh, a follicle of hair...
to posses an object that means
something to them,
an object that can perhaps
help them in their life.
Could these relics assist us
in-in invoking otherworldly power?
I think we need to be open.
We need to be open to that
possibility. Clearly,
our ancestors thought so.
COLLINS: Well, ancient relics
were very important to many
different ancient cultures, um, just
as they still are today to religions.
And the reason for this is that
it was believed that they were
access points to otherworldly
environments wherein the gods,
the spirits, the immortals dwelled.
HENRY: Throughout history, we
find that some of our most
powerful figures, our most powerful
leaders, have gone on relic quests.
They're looking for the Holy Grail, the
Spear of Destiny, the Key of Life.
And the belief is that if we can
acquire these relics, we will
acquire powers beyond
human comprehension.
Powers that originally came from
the gods that will make us more
godlike if we can get
our hands on them.
COPPENS: The relic tradition,
this tooth from a-a deity, the
bone from a saint, all of these
aspects really tie in that
somehow, this deity, this saint
is able to link us mere mortals
to the realm of the divine.
NARRATOR: Sacred bones...
golden hats...
and fragments of sacred objects
thought to possess healing
properties.
Is it possible that these
ancient and mysterious relics
help to prove that
extraterrestrials not only
visited Earth in the ancient
past, but remain strangely
connected to us throughout space
and time? Perhaps
the truth of mankind's
origins has been right before
our eyes for hundreds and
thousands of years, in fabric,
metal and stone, and in the DNA
of holy saints and martyrs, who
someday, thanks to modern
science, may even rise again.
06x08 - Mysterious Relics
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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.