Episode Guide

The Mayan Conspiracy

The episode investigates whether the Maya civilization—which flourished in Central America for nearly 2,000 years before vanishing in the ninth century—received knowledge from extraterrestrial visitors. Ancient astronaut theorists point to specific achievements as evidence: the Maya's ability to predict axial precession on a 26,000-year cycle, inscriptions on King Pakal's sarcophagus at Palenque depicting what David Childress calls a "spaceship," and astronomical alignments at sites like Palenque, Tikal, Copan, and Calakmul that theorists argue exceed what a pre-industrial society should accomplish. Philip Coppens emphasizes that Maya texts repeatedly reference gods descending from the sky and promise their return, while the episode highlights that the Maya tracked celestial events with precision unmatched by contemporary civilizations—all without metal tools, the wheel, or pack animals.

The Doomsday Prophecies

This episode examines the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar on December 21, 2012, asking whether it signals catastrophe, transformation, or extraterrestrial return. The Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula tracked celestial cycles with remarkable precision, including the 26,000-year precession cycle, and ancient astronaut theorists like Philip Coppens suggest each Mayan age was "clearly defined by the gods returning." The episode highlights that December 21, 2012 coincides with a rare galactic alignment—when Earth, the sun, and the Dark Rift at the Milky Way's center line up for the first time in 26,000 years. Proponents argue the Maya saw this Dark Rift as the "birth canal of the universe" and question whether naked-eye astronomy alone could yield such advanced knowledge, pointing to the possible return of Bolon Yokte, a deity associated with creation and war whom some theorists identify as extraterrestrial.

The Greys

This episode explores the recurring depiction of "Grey" aliens—beings with elongated heads and large, dark eyes—across ancient art and artifacts worldwide, proposing they represent extraterrestrial visitors documented throughout human history. Ancient astronaut theorists point to prehistoric sculptures, 4,000-year-old elongated skulls, and rock art as evidence these beings have appeared for millennia, culminating in modern encounters like the 1947 Roswell crash in New Mexico. Researchers like Jason Martell and Ken Storch describe alleged recovered bodies matching the "Grey" archetype: three to four feet tall, with black wrap-around eyes and slender limbs. The episode also examines the 1961 Betty and Barney Hill abduction account in New Hampshire, where the couple reported seeing similar figures aboard a craft, suggesting a consistent phenotype across alleged contact events spanning ancient times to the modern era.

Aliens and Mega-Disasters

This episode explores whether catastrophic natural disasters throughout history—from the 2011 Japan tsunami to the devastating 365 AD earthquake that raised the island of Crete nine meters—might have been influenced or even triggered by extraterrestrial forces. Ancient astronaut theorists point to reported UFO sightings over Japan following the 2011 disaster as potential evidence of alien interest in human catastrophes, with some proposing that otherworldly beings may deliberately provoke such events. The episode draws connections between ancient myths, like the Greek god Poseidon's power to shake the earth and unleash tsunamis, and the possibility that these stories describe advanced technological beings rather than supernatural deities wielding destructive power over humanity.

The NASA Connection

This episode explores whether NASA has concealed evidence of extraterrestrial contact, both ancient and modern, through its space program. Ancient astronaut theorists including Michael Bara and David Childress argue that the Apollo 11 Moon landing at the Sea of Tranquility was planned for a specific date and time so its coordinates would align directly beneath Orion's Belt—a constellation central to ancient Egyptian religion. They point to the Brookings Report, which allegedly recommended withholding discovery of extraterrestrial life from the public, and suggest that mission planner Farouk El-Baz's background (his father was an expert in Egyptian stellar religion) indicates secret ceremonial or archaeological purposes. The episode also examines astronaut sightings during shuttle missions, unusual formations on Mars, and the possibility that lunar expeditions sought alien technology rather than purely scientific goals.

The Mystery of Puma Punku

This episode investigates the megalithic ruins of Puma Punku in Bolivia, where massive andesite blocks—some weighing over 100 tons—lie scattered across a high-altitude plateau near La Paz. Ancient astronaut theorists spotlight the site's precise stonework, including intricate drill holes and near-perfect right angles, as potential evidence of extraterrestrial construction. The episode examines Arthur Posnansky's controversial 1945 claim that the site dates to 15,000 BC based on archaeoastronomical alignments—far older than the conventional estimate. Researchers propose that such precision cutting and transport at nearly 13,000 feet elevation suggests technology beyond what cultures 2,000 years ago possessed, with some theorists like Giorgio Tsoukalos declaring Puma Punku "the only site on planet Earth that was built directly by extraterrestrials."

Aliens and Bigfoot

This episode explores whether the global phenomenon of Bigfoot sightings—from the 1951 discovery of massive footprints on Mount Everest's Menlung Glacier to encounters on Mount Shasta in Northern California—might point to an extraterrestrial origin rather than an undiscovered primate. Ancient Astronaut theorists suggest that the creature's reported ability to "appear and disappear at will," combined with physical anomalies like six fingers and double rows of teeth mentioned in some accounts, indicate technology or biology beyond Earth. The episode draws connections between modern Bigfoot encounters and ancient myths describing ape-like giants, proposing that these beings could represent an alien species that has visited Earth across millennia, existing in small numbers and deliberately evading human contact.

The Da Vinci Conspiracy

This episode investigates whether Leonardo da Vinci's extraordinary range of achievements—from conceptualizing helicopters, airplanes, and submarines centuries before their invention to creating anatomical drawings that NASA engineers used as templates for Robonaut 2, delivered to the International Space Station in 2011—might indicate contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. Ancient astronaut theorists suggest that da Vinci, born in Vinci, Italy in 1452 during the height of the Italian Renaissance, possessed knowledge that seems impossibly advanced for his era, with some proposing his paintings contain hidden messages and his private journals reveal awareness of otherworldly technology. The episode examines whether his profound intellect across painting, sculpture, geometry, optics, mechanical design, anatomy, and geology represents something beyond human genius, particularly given claims that he was "absolutely immersed in finding out, maybe even proving, that we were not alone."

The Time Travelers

This episode proposes that UFO sightings and alien encounters might actually be evidence of time travelers from humanity's distant future rather than extraterrestrial visitors. Ancient astronaut theorists point to Einstein's special theory of relativity—published in Bern in 1905—as the scientific foundation that makes time travel theoretically possible, noting that time slows down for objects traveling near light speed. The episode highlights the alleged Nazi Bell experiment (Die Glocke), a bell-shaped device reportedly built in Poland's Owl Mountains between 1943 and 1945, which some researchers claim was an attempt to create a functioning time machine using rapidly rotating magnetic fields. Theorists suggest that advanced beings seen throughout history, often interpreted as gods or aliens, could be evolved humans from our own timeline who have mastered time travel technology.

Aliens and Dinosaurs

This episode centers on a carving at Angkor Wat in Cambodia that some researchers interpret as a stegosaurus, raising the question of how ancient people could depict an animal mainstream science says vanished 65 million years before humans existed. Ancient Aliens theorists point to other alleged evidence of human-dinosaur coexistence: carvings showing humans riding dinosaurs, fossilized footprints of both species found in the same geological layers, and claims that some T. rex bones show unusually high radiation levels requiring lead paint during display. The episode's most provocative claim asks whether dinosaurs suffered not extinction but extermination—deliberately wiped out by extraterrestrials to clear the planet for humanity.