"Return to Antarctica" investigates whether the frozen continent has served as an extraterrestrial base for millennia, focusing on anomalous readings detected by NASA's Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) at Ross Island in May 2018. The instrument recorded high-energy particles erupting from the Earth rather than raining down from space—a phenomenon physicist guests describe as defying normal cosmic ray behavior. Ancient astronaut theorists including Giorgio Tsoukalos propose that nearly three miles of ice may conceal not only geological features but evidence of advanced civilizations or active alien installations. The episode promises testimony from military whistleblowers who claim firsthand knowledge of unexplained activity, with investigative journalist Linda Moulton Howe conducting interviews with former personnel willing to break silence about what they witnessed on the continent.
Mainstream physicists acknowledge the ANITA readings as genuinely puzzling, though proposed explanations involve exotic particles or reflection phenomena rather than subsurface structures. Antarctica's extreme inaccessibility—98% ice-covered, with temperatures plunging below minus-50 degrees and winds exceeding 200 mph—means vast regions remain genuinely unstudied, making it fertile ground for speculation. For skeptics, the episode offers a legitimate scientific mystery wrapped in Cold War-era secrecy around Antarctic operations, even if the extraterrestrial conclusions require extraordinary leaps. The continent's status as Earth's last major unmapped frontier ensures that whatever lies beneath the ice, whether geological, archaeological, or mundane, discovery will genuinely rewrite understanding of this least-known landmass.
Antarctica
Antarctica · Hypothetical Extraterrestrial
Ancient Aliens claims that satellite imagery has revealed apparent man-made pyramids scattered beneath Antarctica's ice, suggesting an ice-free Antarctica was colonized by extraterrestrials until a global catastrophe caused an ice age.
Antarctica (octagonal structure site, southeast coast)
Antarctica (international territory) · Modern
A retired Navy SEAL identified as 'Spartan 1' claims to have entered a large octagonal structure protruding from the Antarctic ice in August 2003, describing massive self-opening doors, interior temperatures of 68–72 degrees, internal lighting with no visible source, and walls lined with unknown hieroglyphics, which theorists interpret as an ancient extraterrestrial construction. No mainstream corroboration or counter-analysis is presented in the episode.
East Antarctica (Davis Station area)
Antarctica (international territory, Australian claim) · Modern
Theorists use the account of a medevac flight routed around a classified no-fly zone on the way to the Australian Davis Station to support claims of hidden restricted underground facilities on the far side of East Antarctica. The episode offers no mainstream counterexplanation for the alleged deviation order.
Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica
Antarctica (international territory) · Modern
Theorists claim that a team of scientists dropped at a research site in Marie Byrd Land went missing for over a week and returned in a state of shock, with scuttlebutt suggesting they encountered non-human entities; theorists link this to an extraterrestrial presence in the region. No mainstream scientific explanation for the alleged incident is offered in the episode.
McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Antarctica (international territory) · Modern
Theorists argue that McMurdo Station served as the operational hub for military personnel who witnessed UFO activity and encountered restricted no-fly zones concealing large holes in the ice, suggesting hidden extraterrestrial infrastructure. The station is presented as the base from which whistleblower 'Brian' flew missions that exposed these anomalies.
Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica
Antarctica (international territory) · Modern
Ancient astronaut theorists argue that vast thermally heated ice caverns discovered near Mount Erebus could serve as ready-made hidden bases for extraterrestrials, with temperatures warm enough to sustain life. Researchers from the Australian National University confirmed in 2017 that glacial caves near the volcano reach temperatures of up to 72 degrees Fahrenheit due to geothermal activity.
Ross Island, Antarctica
Antarctica (international territory) · Modern
Ancient astronaut theorists argue that the ANITA experiment's detection of cosmic rays erupting from the ground at Ross Island may be connected to extraterrestrial activity or underground bases on the continent. Mainstream physicists acknowledge the anomalous upward-traveling particles but frame them as an unresolved but naturally occurring physics phenomenon.
South Georgia Island, Antarctica
United Kingdom (South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands) · Modern
Theorists claim that satellite images of South Georgia Island reveal straight skid marks in the ice consistent with a craft crash-landing, and compare the alleged craft's shape to the interstellar object 'Oumuamua,' suggesting it could be a crashed extraterrestrial vehicle. No mainstream scientific investigation of the claimed crash site is presented in the episode.
South Pole, Antarctica
Antarctica (international territory) · Modern
Theorists claim that a large hole in the ice observed near the South Pole, surrounded by a restricted no-fly zone labeled an 'air sampling station,' is evidence of a hidden underground entrance possibly used by extraterrestrials. Mainstream sources offer no official explanation for the no-fly zone beyond standard operational security around research facilities.
Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
Turkey · Modern
Theorists argue that the 1513 Piri Reis map, housed at Topkapi Palace, depicts Antarctica's ice-free coastline with impossible accuracy for its era, suggesting the cartographer had access to ancient maps made either by a pre-flood civilization or by extraterrestrials with satellite-like technology. Mainstream historians acknowledge the map's existence and its depiction of southern landmasses but attribute any resemblance to Antarctica to coincidence, speculative interpolation, or projection distortions.