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Fire!
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[ Man Narrating ]
A people torn apart'.
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[ Man ] Not a household
in the North or the South...
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was not touched by blood
in this conflict.
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[ Narrator] A no' the future of a nation
hanging in the balance.
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[ Man ]
That Union, for it to fail...
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that meant that the concepts
of democracy...
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would fail throughout the world.
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[ Narrator] The Civil War nearly
destroyed the great experiment...
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known as the United States of America...
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but might there have even been
more at stake than we know?
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Could it be that the preservation
of the Union...
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was ensured
by extraterrestrial beings?
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[ Man ] it's possible that extraterrestrials
have been visiting America...
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since its foundation...
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and did steer the outcome
of the Civil War.
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[ Narrator]
Millions of people around the world...
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believe we have been visited in the past
by extraterrestrial beings.
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What if it were true?
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Did ancient aliens
really help to shape our history?
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And if so,
might they have even influenced...
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the outcome
of the American Civil War?
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[ Narrator]
Jackson County, Missouri.
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1831.
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Thirty years before the Confederate cannons
fired on Fort Sumter...
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marking the start
of the American Civil War...
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Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith...
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brought many of his followers here...
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declaring this location to be
the site of the New Jerusalem.
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He also stirred up controversy
with his comments on slavery...
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in this long-established slave state.
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Joseph Smith, when he takes
his Mormon colony to Missouri...
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he actually makes
some statements about slavery.
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He thought that the slavery issue
would cause discord.
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He also came out and said
that the slaves...
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would eventually rise up
against their masters.
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[ Narrator]
Eight years earlier...
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Joseph Smith claimed that
a strange figure named Moroni...
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came to him in the night,
enveloped in light...
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and professing to be
from the Pleiades star cluster.
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It was also Moroni who directed him...
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to the golden tablets that would
become the Book of Mormon.
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Joseph Smith also reported that
the angel Moroni continued to visit him...
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and three others amongst his congregation
also reported similar visits.
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[ Narrator]
According to Smith...
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Moroni appeared to him numerous times
over the course of his life...
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and in 1832...
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he came bearing an ominous prophecy.
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On December 25, Smith passed
this prophecy on to his flock, stating...
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“Wars will shortly come to pass...
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beginning at the rebellion
of South Carolina...
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which will eventually terminate
in the death and misery of many souls.
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[ Horse Whinnies ]
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For behold, the Southern States shall
be divided against the Northern States.”
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[ Man ] Now, there's some people that say this
is a prophecy, this is a vision, by Smith.
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Whatever way it was, it really did portend
what came about in the 1860s.
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[WILCOCK ] What we're seeing
is a human-looking being...
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with brilliant light coming off of it...
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who conveyed an intelligent message
to Joseph Smith.
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There are some speculations
that Joseph Smith...
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was, in fact, visited by
an advanced extraterrestrial being.
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[ Narrator] Did Joseph Smith
really receive a prophecy...
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that predicted the coming
of the Civil War?
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A no' if so,
how did an otherworldly entity...
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Know that the war would begin
in South Carolina...
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nearly 30 years in advance?
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Is it possible that the angel Moroni...
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this perhaps extraterrestrial being...
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was very concerned
about the Civil War...
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and that's why it gave Joseph Smith...
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an advanced prophetic glimpse
into what was coming?
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Was this another one
of the efforts to intervene...
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and to try to steer our history...
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towards the most favorable outcome...
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perhaps not just for us, but also for
the extraterrestrials themselves?
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[ Narrator] But Joseph Smith
is not the only person...
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who is said to have been visited
by an otherworldly being...
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foretelling of a future civil war.
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Stories have emerged
that during the American Revolution...
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in 1777...
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George Washington had
a similar encounter at Valley Forge.
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[ Henry] The story is,
is that while at Valley Forge...
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General Washington had given his men
orders not to disturb him.
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And suddenly,
there's a being standing there.
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And this being is described
as being extremely luminous.
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And next thing we know is this being
starts giving Washington a prophecy...
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about the future of America.
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[ Narrator] According to the story,
this luminous being...
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not only gave Washington
a vision of the future United States...
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but also warned that the Union
would be tested by Civil War.
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Is it possible that both
George Washington and Joseph Smith...
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were visited by extraterrestrial beings...
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who somehow knew
that the Civil War would take place?
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Ancient astronaut theorists say yes...
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and suggest even stronger evidence
can be found...
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with strange encounters
that were reported...
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not by lone individuals,
but by entire communities.
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While UFO sightings were
extremely rare before the 1900s...
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a number were reported during
the final years leading up to the war.
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[ Man ]
One of the best early UFO encounters...
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is from Wilmington, Delaware,
from 1860...
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where witnesses reported seeing
this vast 200-foot-long object...
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flying through the sky.
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And it had like a trail of globes
or balls of light behind it.
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One of them was actually
ejected from the object.
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Now, this sounds almost like a rocket.
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Certainly, nobody should have
been flying a rocket in 1860.
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[ Narrator]
An even more striking UFO encounter...
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was reported in Shreveport, Louisiana,
that same year.
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A group of people saw
an enormous craft 300 yards long...
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hovering just above the tallest trees.
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This thing was described as having a color
like a glowing red stove.
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And out of the center
of this massive object...
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there were rays, like rays of the sun,
that reached toward the sky.
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Incredibly, this thing was seen
for an hour without changing at all.
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People got a very good look
at this thing...
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and nobody could even hazard a guess
as to what it was.
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[ Narrator] Less than a month
before the start of the war...
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another major sighting
was reported in New York City.
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New York at that time
was very different.
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It was a cramped urban setting
before the age of tall buildings.
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In that setting, a witness,
Mrs. T. Richard Kinder...
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looked out of an upper window
in her house on Baxter Street...
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and she saw an object in the sky.
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She described it as luminous,
glowing, shaped like a cross...
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flying in the air.
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Startled, she awoke her husband.
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He saw the glowing cross too.
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This ongoing presence
strongly suggests...
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that extraterrestrials were not
just taking a backseat approach...
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to what was happening on Earth...
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but they were actively involved
and they were monitoring us.
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[ Narrator] How is it that in an era
when UFO sightings were rarely reported...
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three mass UFO encounters occurred...
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within a year
of the start of the Civil War?
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Is it possible that extraterrestrials
really did monitor the United States...
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during this time?
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Ancient astronaut theorists say yes...
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and claim that even stranger than
the encounters leading up to the war...
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are those that were reported
once the fighting began.
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[ Narrator]
Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
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April 12, 1861.
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At 4:30 in the morning,
Confederate cannons fire on Fort Sumter.
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Three days later,
President Abraham Lincoln declares...
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that an insurrection exists...
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and calls for 75,000 volunteers
to put down the rebellion.
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The American Civil War has begun.
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People on both sides assumed
that there would be one great battle...
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that would decide everything,
winner take all.
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One great battle fought somewhere probably
between Richmond and Washington.
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But that doesn't happen.
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People actually came out from Washington...
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with picnic baskets and champagne
to watch the battle.
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But this war would be a horrible war...
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a war that no participant
would ever forget.
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It cost more American lives
than all other wars combined.
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750,000 people, it is now believed...
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perished during the war.
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The Civil War was felt everywhere
in America...
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because it is that war that defines
what type of nation we're going to be.
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[ Narrator] It was not just the future
of the United States that was at stake.
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This was a War over different'
philosophies of go government...
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with the fate of a people
caught in the cross fire.
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And according
to ancient astronaut theorists...
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there may have been
even more at stake than we know.
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[ Narrator] New York City.
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April 19, 1861.
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Responding to
President Lincoln's call to action...
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the Seventh New York Militia
travels by steamboat...
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to Annapolis, Maryland.
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While en route, they witness
a very strange occurrence in the sky.
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While these men and sailors
were on board...
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they saw what was described
as the moon...
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suddenly soaring clear into the sky...
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and around it, clearly defined...
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three circles of light.
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Now, of course, we know
that it's not possible...
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for the moon to change position
in the sky that way.
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And looking at this sighting
as it was reported...
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this would have to be classified
as a UFO.
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If UFO sightings represent encounters
with alien spaceships...
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then it seems certain that UFOs
were watching over America...
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during the Civil War.
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[ Narrator] Is it possible that the men
of the Seventh New York Militia...
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really did have an encounter
with some type of alien craft...
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just days after the start
of the Civil War?
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And if so, is it a sign...
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that extraterrestrials had an interest
in this turning point in our history?
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There's an intriguing pattern
that we see within UFO reports...
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and that's an increase in sightings
when wars break out.
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First World War, Second World War,
Vietnam, the Korean War-
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they all had their UFO incidents.
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And another example
is the American Civil War.
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[ Pittman ] it could be that aliens
might simply be interested...
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in observing historical events.
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It's also possible that extraterrestrials
might be trying to influence...
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the course of events
or simply to warn people in some way.
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[ Narrator] While there were numerous UFO
sightings reported during the Civil War...
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even more common
are stories of soldiers...
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encountering strange beings
on the battlefield.
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It happened all the time
in the Civil War...
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that soldiers reported seeing ghostly
figures or ghosts of famous people.
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Soldiers reported seeing
all kinds of strange things...
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when the heat of battle was on.
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[ Narrator] Also reported were
bizarre dreams and premonitions...
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some of which proved to be prophetic.
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One of the most notable was published
in a Kansas newspaper...
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on March 27, 1862.
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According to the account,
General George B. McClellan...
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chief of the Union Armies...
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was visited in his sleep by
the ghostly figure of George Washington...
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who warned him that Confederate forces
were closing in on the capital.
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The vision reportedly caused McClellan...
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to change his plans
and fend off the attack.
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There are many soldiers
and politicians during the Civil War...
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00:15:04.863 --> 00:15:07.408
that have premonitions,
premonitions of death.
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Nathaniel Lyons at the Battle
of Wilson Creek actually said...
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“Today I will die.”
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[ Gunshots ]
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And he is going to be shot in the chest
during the battle...
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trying to rally his men.
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[ Narrator] But what can explain
all of these bizarre incidents?
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Ancient astronaut theorists suggest...
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00:15:35.686 --> 00:15:38.439
that the strange dreams
and UFO sightings. ..
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Are evidence that extraterrestrials
were, in fact, present in America...
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00:15:43.902 --> 00:15:46.710
during the Civil War.
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[ Man ] it would seem that
throughout the history of this planet...
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certain civilizations and nations...
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have been watched very carefully
by the extraterrestrials...
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and nurtured by them.
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And in ancient times, this could
well have been the Egyptians...
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and the Chinese and the Sumerians.
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And really, in our own era...
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it's the United States of America...
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that is the country that these
extraterrestrials are the most interested in.
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[ Narrator] Could it be
that extraterrestrials took an interest...
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00:16:27.237 --> 00:16:30.699
in the success
of the United States of America?
238
00:16:32.760 --> 00:16:35.245
Ancient astronaut theorists say
the answer may lie...
239
00:16:35.329 --> 00:16:39.500
with the man who was tasked
with preserving the Union...
240
00:16:39.583 --> 00:16:41.752
Abraham Lincoln.
241
00:16:48.592 --> 00:16:50.594
[ Narrator]
Springfield, Illinois.
242
00:16:50.678 --> 00:16:53.347
November 7, 1860.
243
00:16:55.599 --> 00:16:58.185
The morning after hearing
the triumphant news...
244
00:16:58.268 --> 00:17:01.313
that he has been elected
president of the United States...
245
00:17:01.397 --> 00:17:04.316
Abraham Lincoln
wakes up from a deep sleep...
246
00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:08.362
and gazes into a full-length mirror
in his bedroom...
247
00:17:08.445 --> 00:17:10.864
and has a startling vision.
248
00:17:13.367 --> 00:17:16.328
He saw two images of himself in the mirror.
249
00:17:17.121 --> 00:17:21.208
One face was healthy and well.
250
00:17:21.291 --> 00:17:24.294
The other was a pale, ghostly image of it.
251
00:17:25.796 --> 00:17:27.965
He got up, looked at the mirror...
252
00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:29.968
checked it to see
if there was something wrong...
253
00:17:30.800 --> 00:17:32.845
then he laid down again thinking,
well, it's just my imagination.
254
00:17:34.346 --> 00:17:36.765
[ Narrator] Thinking his mind
was playing tricks on him...
255
00:17:36.849 --> 00:17:39.685
Lincoln checked the mirror
a second time.
256
00:17:39.768 --> 00:17:43.355
Each time,
his two faces confronted him-
257
00:17:43.439 --> 00:17:46.240
one five times paler than the other.
258
00:17:47.651 --> 00:17:50.904
Lincoln told his wife Mary
about the vision.
259
00:17:50.988 --> 00:17:54.740
[Coleman ]
Lincoln relied on Mary quite a bit.
260
00:17:54.158 --> 00:17:58.912
When he told her about the vision,
she became deathly afraid...
261
00:17:58.996 --> 00:18:02.820
because she interpreted it to mean...
262
00:18:02.166 --> 00:18:05.586
that he would have two terms
as president.
263
00:18:05.669 --> 00:18:08.714
One, he would be healthy and well...
264
00:18:08.797 --> 00:18:13.260
and the second term,
he would die in office.
265
00:18:15.262 --> 00:18:19.266
[ Narrator] If the ghostly reflection
in the mirror was not a hallucination...
266
00:18:19.349 --> 00:18:21.310
then what was it?
267
00:18:22.853 --> 00:18:25.355
It's not too big of a stretch to think...
268
00:18:25.439 --> 00:18:28.567
that perhaps President Lincoln
was somehow influenced...
269
00:18:28.650 --> 00:18:33.113
by otherworldly beings
during the course of the war.
270
00:18:33.197 --> 00:18:35.320
It was that important.
271
00:18:35.115 --> 00:18:37.659
It took on immense cosmic significance.
272
00:18:38.702 --> 00:18:42.164
[ Narrator] Was Abraham Lincoln
actually able to receive messages...
273
00:18:42.247 --> 00:18:47.252
from an extraterrestrial realm
that helped him anticipate the future?
274
00:18:48.295 --> 00:18:51.480
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes...
275
00:18:51.131 --> 00:18:53.801
and point out
that the president himself...
276
00:18:53.884 --> 00:18:57.179
believed he was the instrument
of a higher power.
277
00:18:58.550 --> 00:19:00.349
Abraham Lincoln
is such a mystery still to us...
278
00:19:00.432 --> 00:19:03.811
even though dozens and dozens and dozens
of books have been written about him.
279
00:19:03.894 --> 00:19:06.939
But Lincoln himself
was something of a mystic.
280
00:19:07.220 --> 00:19:09.399
I think he had a belief
in the supernatural.
281
00:19:10.734 --> 00:19:12.861
At least three different times
during the war...
282
00:19:12.945 --> 00:19:14.947
he told friends
that he had had a dream...
283
00:19:15.300 --> 00:19:18.325
about being on a boat with no rudder...
284
00:19:18.408 --> 00:19:20.536
with no sail, with no tiller.
285
00:19:20.619 --> 00:19:22.162
It's adrift.
286
00:19:22.246 --> 00:19:25.666
He is powerless to steer it,
and it's heading toward a shore.
287
00:19:27.167 --> 00:19:29.200
[ Coleman ]
Every time he had that dream...
288
00:19:29.860 --> 00:19:33.600
something important happened
during the war, mainly the battles.
289
00:19:35.500 --> 00:19:37.928
Antietam, Stones River...
290
00:19:38.110 --> 00:19:42.150
Shiloh, Gettysburg.
291
00:19:42.933 --> 00:19:45.769
Lincoln believed he was psychic.
292
00:19:45.853 --> 00:19:47.604
He believed in the paranormal.
293
00:19:48.272 --> 00:19:52.109
He had a strong belief
in his own destiny.
294
00:19:56.446 --> 00:19:59.449
[ Narrator] Is it really possible
that Abraham Lincoln...
295
00:19:59.533 --> 00:20:04.705
was given premonitions about the war
by extraterrestrial beings?
296
00:20:06.623 --> 00:20:10.502
Could he have been chosen
because he represented the best hope...
297
00:20:10.586 --> 00:20:14.470
for preserving the Union
and ensuring the continuation...
298
00:20:14.131 --> 00:20:16.717
of the great American experiment?
299
00:20:17.551 --> 00:20:23.765
Abraham Lincoln saw the United States
as this great experiment in democracy.
300
00:20:23.849 --> 00:20:26.310
That for it to fail...
301
00:20:26.393 --> 00:20:29.354
that meant that the concepts
of democracy would fail...
302
00:20:29.438 --> 00:20:31.773
throughout the world.
303
00:20:32.649 --> 00:20:37.290
Lincoln is infused with a desire...
304
00:20:37.112 --> 00:20:38.906
to keep the Union together.
305
00:20:38.989 --> 00:20:40.616
And he himself said...
306
00:20:40.699 --> 00:20:44.244
“lf I could keep the Union together
by freeing all the slaves, I would do it.
307
00:20:44.328 --> 00:20:47.789
If I could keep the Union together
by not freeing the slaves, I would do it.”
308
00:20:47.873 --> 00:20:52.440
His paramount focus
is restoring the Union.
309
00:20:55.500 --> 00:20:57.257
[ Narrator]
In addition to his own premonitions...
310
00:20:57.341 --> 00:21:00.520
some say that Lincoln
may also have been influenced...
311
00:21:00.135 --> 00:21:04.560
by the visions of a spiritualist
named Nettie Colburn.
312
00:21:05.307 --> 00:21:10.620
In December of 1862,
during the darkest days of the Civil War...
313
00:21:10.145 --> 00:21:13.440
Nettie became a spiritual adviser
for Mary Todd Lincoln...
314
00:21:13.523 --> 00:21:16.610
who was a devout' believer
in mysticism.
315
00:21:16.693 --> 00:21:20.405
She claimed to have attended Seances
with Lincoln multiple times...
316
00:21:21.156 --> 00:21:25.369
and, while in a trance, claimed to
have advised him on the war.
317
00:21:26.620 --> 00:21:29.873
Now, proving that is sometimes difficult...
318
00:21:29.957 --> 00:21:33.430
but in my research,
I did find on several points...
319
00:21:33.126 --> 00:21:35.870
Nettie's story does check out.
320
00:21:38.900 --> 00:21:40.467
[ Narrator]
According to Nettie's autobiography...
321
00:21:40.550 --> 00:21:42.970
otherworldly beings used her...
322
00:21:43.530 --> 00:21:46.848
to communicate with President Lincoln
during séances...
323
00:21:46.932 --> 00:21:51.561
and even advised him
to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
324
00:21:52.562 --> 00:21:55.524
And another mystic, J.B. Conklin...
325
00:21:55.607 --> 00:21:58.944
claimed these voices
actually dictated to the president...
326
00:21:59.270 --> 00:22:01.822
a first draft of the historic document.
327
00:22:02.406 --> 00:22:04.491
[Woman ]
Things that not only Nettie did...
328
00:22:04.574 --> 00:22:06.469
but other people
in the spiritualist movement did...
329
00:22:06.493 --> 00:22:08.620
was they were giving him messages...
330
00:22:08.704 --> 00:22:12.666
about how important
the Emancipation Proclamation was.
331
00:22:12.749 --> 00:22:19.172
And it was something that Lincoln took
as divine sort of guidance.
332
00:22:19.256 --> 00:22:23.135
And so it appears to have played
a role in his decision making.
333
00:22:25.846 --> 00:22:28.557
[ Henry] it's quite possible
that at one of these events...
334
00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:31.435
he received messages
from otherworldly beings...
335
00:22:31.518 --> 00:22:34.187
possibly even extraterrestrial beings...
336
00:22:34.271 --> 00:22:36.648
in order to preserve the Union...
337
00:22:36.732 --> 00:22:40.527
as part of this immense
master plan for humanity.
338
00:22:41.945 --> 00:22:44.239
What that leads us to
is the possibility...
339
00:22:44.322 --> 00:22:47.367
that some of the same extraterrestrials
that were being seen...
340
00:22:47.451 --> 00:22:51.913
in numerous UFO sightings
before and during the Civil War...
341
00:22:52.956 --> 00:22:56.710
were able to form
a direct contact to Lincoln...
342
00:22:56.793 --> 00:22:59.870
through Nettie Colburn Maynard...
343
00:22:59.171 --> 00:23:01.590
to give him the messages
that he needed...
344
00:23:01.673 --> 00:23:04.801
to be able to steer the outcome
of the Civil War.
345
00:23:09.264 --> 00:23:13.600
[ Narrator] Was Abraham Lincoln
literally destined for greatness?
346
00:23:14.102 --> 00:23:16.146
Might aliens have been guiding him...
347
00:23:16.229 --> 00:23:19.733
through his dreams and visions
during the Civil War?
348
00:23:20.484 --> 00:23:22.986
If so, what was their purpose?
349
00:23:23.987 --> 00:23:28.158
Perhaps the answer can be found
with an incredible encounter-
350
00:23:28.241 --> 00:23:29.284
Fire!
351
00:23:29.367 --> 00:23:31.828
At Gettysburg.
352
00:23:37.918 --> 00:23:39.920
[ Narrator]
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
353
00:23:40.300 --> 00:23:43.298
July 2, 1863.
354
00:23:43.381 --> 00:23:46.593
Two years and three months
into the Civil War...
355
00:23:46.676 --> 00:23:50.180
337,000 men lie dead-
356
00:23:50.263 --> 00:23:53.160
over 13 times as many casualties...
357
00:23:53.100 --> 00:23:56.937
as the United States suffered
during the Revolutionary War.
358
00:23:57.771 --> 00:24:02.442
But after so much bloodshed,
neither side has a clear advantage.
359
00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:11.159
The majority of the fighting
has taken place in the Southern states...
360
00:24:12.119 --> 00:24:14.371
but Confederate General Robert E. Lee...
361
00:24:14.454 --> 00:24:17.332
who is gaining a reputation
as being in vincible...
362
00:24:17.415 --> 00:24:22.587
decides to make an aggressive move
and advance into Union territory.
363
00:24:23.547 --> 00:24:26.633
[ Lewis] Robert E. Lee decides
that he will take the war north...
364
00:24:26.716 --> 00:24:28.385
for a couple of reasons.
365
00:24:28.468 --> 00:24:31.300
Number one: It's gonna relieve pressure
on the farmers in Virginia...
366
00:24:31.540 --> 00:24:34.641
who are trying to grow crops,
feed themselves, feed the army.
367
00:24:34.724 --> 00:24:36.309
And second, politically.
368
00:24:36.393 --> 00:24:40.147
He knows that there is a lot of pressure
on Abraham Lincoln to win this war.
369
00:24:40.230 --> 00:24:43.316
Northern voters,
northern politicians are angry...
370
00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:46.236
that this war is carrying on so far.
371
00:24:47.904 --> 00:24:50.323
[ Narrator] If Lee won here,
the door to Washington...
372
00:24:50.407 --> 00:24:52.659
and ultimately, victory, was open.
373
00:24:54.244 --> 00:24:56.830
While the Confederates
were massing for attack...
374
00:24:56.913 --> 00:25:00.208
reinforcements from the 20th Maine
Volunteer Infantry Regiment...
375
00:25:00.292 --> 00:25:04.838
were called in, commanded
by Colonel Joshua Chamberlain.
376
00:25:04.921 --> 00:25:09.676
Chamberlain rushes his troops
towards the Little Round Top...
377
00:25:11.344 --> 00:25:14.347
but he comes to a crossroads.
378
00:25:14.431 --> 00:25:19.519
And he said there was
an eerie figure in a tri-corner hat...
379
00:25:19.603 --> 00:25:24.357
pointing the way to the Little Round Top,
the right road to take.
380
00:25:24.441 --> 00:25:27.777
And he said
it looked like George Washington.
381
00:25:29.905 --> 00:25:31.615
[ Narrator] George Washington?
382
00:25:31.698 --> 00:25:35.702
Could this ghostly vision
have been merely an illusion?
383
00:25:35.785 --> 00:25:38.380
Although the story sounds incredible...
384
00:25:38.121 --> 00:25:42.375
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
appointed a member of his staff...
385
00:25:42.459 --> 00:25:45.962
to speak with a number of the men
who experienced this vision...
386
00:25:46.460 --> 00:25:49.132
and it is said that he gathered
unwavering testimony...
387
00:25:49.216 --> 00:25:52.219
claiming that the encounter was real.
388
00:26:01.186 --> 00:26:03.396
In the end, the 20th Maine...
389
00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:06.566
would repel the Confederate attack
on Little Round Top...
390
00:26:06.650 --> 00:26:09.819
and save the day for the Union Army.
391
00:26:09.903 --> 00:26:11.988
So you have to ask yourself-
392
00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:16.868
Did extraterrestrials
in some way influence this battle...
393
00:26:16.952 --> 00:26:22.415
by disguising themselves as a familiar
figure, like George Washington...
394
00:26:22.499 --> 00:26:25.961
and then guiding the troops
to a certain position...
395
00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:29.589
where they knew this would turn
the tide of the battle?
396
00:26:29.673 --> 00:26:31.716
It would seem
that something like this happened.
397
00:26:35.220 --> 00:26:37.347
[ Narrator]
Is the story of George Washington...
398
00:26:37.430 --> 00:26:39.891
appearing to soldiers at Gettysburg...
399
00:26:39.975 --> 00:26:42.227
the ultimate proof that alien beings...
400
00:26:42.310 --> 00:26:46.314
really did intervene to influence
the outcome of the Civil War?
401
00:26:47.649 --> 00:26:50.318
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes...
402
00:26:50.402 --> 00:26:53.280
and suggest that
the United States of America...
403
00:26:53.363 --> 00:26:58.285
has had a connection with extraterrestrials
since its very beginning.
404
00:26:59.661 --> 00:27:02.747
We do have clues
that Thomas Jefferson...
405
00:27:02.831 --> 00:27:04.833
and Benjamin Franklin
and George Washington...
406
00:27:04.916 --> 00:27:07.850
all believed in extraterrestrial life.
407
00:27:09.796 --> 00:27:12.799
Thomas Jefferson
gave a famous lecture...
408
00:27:12.882 --> 00:27:15.552
about the unusual UFO sighting...
409
00:27:15.635 --> 00:27:17.929
by a person named William Dumbarton...
410
00:27:18.130 --> 00:27:20.560
in Baton Rouge in 1800.
411
00:27:21.570 --> 00:27:24.477
Benjamin Franklin wrote
in his Poor Richard is Almanac...
412
00:27:24.561 --> 00:27:26.896
about life on other worlds...
413
00:27:26.980 --> 00:27:29.482
and, apparently,
was a believer in that.
414
00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:36.906
And George Washington
had a very famous angelic vision...
415
00:27:36.990 --> 00:27:38.992
at Valley Forge...
416
00:27:40.760 --> 00:27:42.871
and so it would seem
that George Washington...
417
00:27:42.954 --> 00:27:45.832
Thomas Jefferson
and Benjamin Franklin...
418
00:27:45.915 --> 00:27:48.460
were very much believers
in extraterrestrials...
419
00:27:48.543 --> 00:27:50.879
and life on other planets.
420
00:27:54.924 --> 00:27:57.635
[ Narrator]
Is it possible that extraterrestrials...
421
00:27:57.719 --> 00:27:59.888
have been guiding
the course of America...
422
00:27:59.971 --> 00:28:02.182
since it's very beginning...
423
00:28:02.265 --> 00:28:04.309
and intervened in the Civil War...
424
00:28:04.392 --> 00:28:07.896
to ensure that
the great experiment would continue?
425
00:28:09.272 --> 00:28:12.942
Ancient astronaut theorists suggest
further evidence...
426
00:28:13.260 --> 00:28:17.720
that an otherworldly force
was present at this point in history...
427
00:28:17.155 --> 00:28:20.283
can be found
by examining a recurring dream...
428
00:28:20.367 --> 00:28:24.871
that Abraham Lincoln had
of his own death.
429
00:28:26.390 --> 00:28:30.752
He sees a body on the catafalque
wrapped in mourning clothing.
430
00:28:36.925 --> 00:28:40.530
The body is being guarded
by Union soldiers.
431
00:28:42.806 --> 00:28:47.352
He asks one of the soldiers,
“Who is dead in the White House?”
432
00:28:47.435 --> 00:28:50.647
And one of the soldiers says,
“lt's the president.
433
00:28:50.730 --> 00:28:52.649
He's been killed by an assassin.”
434
00:28:56.820 --> 00:28:59.656
[Coleman ] Lincoln's belief
that he would rise to greatness...
435
00:28:59.739 --> 00:29:02.750
and then die prematurely...
436
00:29:02.158 --> 00:29:04.536
was something that was
of long standing...
437
00:29:04.619 --> 00:29:08.665
and it's a testament to his courage
that he fulfilled his destiny.
438
00:29:11.376 --> 00:29:15.422
He believed that he was
uniquely suited to become president...
439
00:29:15.505 --> 00:29:19.467
to carry the country through
the great crisis of disunion...
440
00:29:20.969 --> 00:29:25.890
and part and parcel with that belief
in his destiny to become president...
441
00:29:25.974 --> 00:29:28.226
was his belief that he would be slain.
442
00:29:29.686 --> 00:29:31.980
[ Gunshot]
443
00:29:32.630 --> 00:29:36.651
Abraham Lincoln is said
to have had prophetic dreams, visions.
444
00:29:37.986 --> 00:29:40.280
If aliens are coming here
to visit Earth...
445
00:29:40.363 --> 00:29:42.740
certainly it seems reasonable to wonder...
446
00:29:42.824 --> 00:29:45.493
if they might have tried to influence
the course of events...
447
00:29:45.577 --> 00:29:49.706
through Abraham Lincoln,
possibly through his dreams and visions.
448
00:29:53.376 --> 00:29:55.879
[ Narrator]
Could it be that extraterrestrials...
449
00:29:55.962 --> 00:29:59.382
were the source
of this recurring dream...
450
00:29:59.466 --> 00:30:01.885
and that they were testing
Abraham Lincoln...
451
00:30:01.968 --> 00:30:04.888
to see if he would fulfill his destiny...
452
00:30:04.971 --> 00:30:07.849
even knowing that it would lead
to an early grave?
453
00:30:09.517 --> 00:30:11.936
Ancient astronaut theorists suggest...
454
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:14.814
that further clues can be found...
455
00:30:14.898 --> 00:30:19.986
by examining the life of one
of the war's most extraordinary soldiers...
456
00:30:20.690 --> 00:30:22.697
Ambrose Bierce.
457
00:30:29.954 --> 00:30:31.873
Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia.
458
00:30:31.956 --> 00:30:34.959
June 23, 1864.
459
00:30:36.920 --> 00:30:39.964
While leading a skirmish line
on Confederate troops...
460
00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:45.530
Union Army Lieutenant Ambrose Bierce
is shot in the left temple by a sniper.
461
00:30:53.978 --> 00:30:57.857
Miraculously, the bullet travels
around the side of his skull...
462
00:30:57.941 --> 00:31:00.693
and ends up behind his left ear...
463
00:31:00.777 --> 00:31:03.613
leaving Bierce injured, but alive.
464
00:31:07.659 --> 00:31:09.619
After being shot in the head...
465
00:31:09.702 --> 00:31:12.956
Bierce went on to become
one of the most prominent authors...
466
00:31:13.390 --> 00:31:15.208
of the post-Civil War era...
467
00:31:15.291 --> 00:31:18.440
and was a pioneer of science fiction...
468
00:31:18.127 --> 00:31:21.381
influencing such writers
as Ray Bradbury. -.
469
00:31:21.464 --> 00:31:24.842
Roald Dahl and Kun' Vonnegut.
470
00:31:24.926 --> 00:31:28.888
But could his genius as a writer
have been in some way connected...
471
00:31:28.972 --> 00:31:31.891
to the injury to his head?
472
00:31:32.892 --> 00:31:37.397
In the case of brain injuries,
when you suddenly display a new ability...
473
00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:39.983
I'm not so sure that it's something
that was there all along...
474
00:31:40.660 --> 00:31:42.151
and you're uncovering.
475
00:31:43.486 --> 00:31:46.823
More so, that it's a new ability,
re-circuitry, if you will.
476
00:31:48.992 --> 00:31:52.360
We are all disconnected
from our core...
477
00:31:52.120 --> 00:31:55.790
unaware of the greater realm
of pure potential...
478
00:31:55.873 --> 00:31:59.919
and Ambrose Bierce
may have gotten the right nudge...
479
00:32:00.300 --> 00:32:02.797
to give him
an interesting window...
480
00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:04.757
into that realm...
481
00:32:04.841 --> 00:32:09.220
allowing him to get closer to it
than most of us normally ever do.
482
00:32:14.517 --> 00:32:17.854
[ Narrator] Ambrose Bierce
is best known for short stories...
483
00:32:17.937 --> 00:32:22.609
that involve paranormal incidents,
strange disappearances...
484
00:32:22.692 --> 00:32:25.320
and incongruencies of time.
485
00:32:27.155 --> 00:32:30.950
One of the most famous is
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”...
486
00:32:31.340 --> 00:32:34.871
in which a Confederate sympathizer
is being hanged for treason.
487
00:32:40.752 --> 00:32:42.712
At the moment of the man's hanging...
488
00:32:42.795 --> 00:32:45.965
the rope breaks
and he falls into the water below.
489
00:32:50.553 --> 00:32:52.513
Escaping to dry land...
490
00:32:52.597 --> 00:32:55.308
the hero travels through
a seemingly unending forest...
491
00:32:55.391 --> 00:32:57.727
to his home 3O miles away.
492
00:32:58.936 --> 00:33:01.939
But once he arrives
and runs towards his wife...
493
00:33:02.230 --> 00:33:05.151
he feels a searing pain in his neck.
494
00:33:05.234 --> 00:33:07.945
[ Man ] Suddenly,
he was back on the bridge again...
495
00:33:08.863 --> 00:33:13.826
with a noose around his neck,
and then he fell, he was executed.
496
00:33:13.910 --> 00:33:16.120
He hung by the neck.
497
00:33:16.204 --> 00:33:17.830
[ Soldier] About, face!
498
00:33:17.914 --> 00:33:22.669
And Bierce was trying to tell us
that alternate realities exist.
499
00:33:22.752 --> 00:33:25.254
Alternate worlds.
500
00:33:25.338 --> 00:33:27.924
And we see this pattern
all throughout his writings...
501
00:33:28.700 --> 00:33:32.261
where he believed that
inter-dimensional travel was a possibility.
502
00:33:34.681 --> 00:33:36.808
[ Narrator]
Another short story that Bierce wrote...
503
00:33:36.891 --> 00:33:40.269
for the San Francisco Examiner
in 7888...
504
00:33:40.353 --> 00:33:43.356
titled “The Difficulty
of Crossing a Field”...
505
00:33:43.439 --> 00:33:46.275
is reportedly based on an actual event...
506
00:33:46.359 --> 00:33:50.863
that occurred in Selma, Alabama,
in July of 1854.
507
00:33:50.947 --> 00:33:52.532
[ Ringing ]
508
00:33:52.615 --> 00:33:54.677
[ Hawkes] It was about
a plantation owner, a farmer...
509
00:33:54.701 --> 00:33:56.703
who, in the broad daylight,
sitting on his porch...
510
00:33:56.786 --> 00:33:58.413
talking to his neighbors...
511
00:33:58.496 --> 00:34:01.833
walked across the road into the field
and suddenly disappeared...
512
00:34:01.916 --> 00:34:04.502
with a number of witnesses watching.
513
00:34:04.585 --> 00:34:07.338
So as they walked over to the point
where he disappeared...
514
00:34:07.422 --> 00:34:11.884
they could still hear his voice faintly,
but they couldn't see him.
515
00:34:11.968 --> 00:34:14.950
He never returned.
516
00:34:18.182 --> 00:34:20.435
[ Narrator] Ambrose Bierce
interviewed the locals...
517
00:34:20.518 --> 00:34:22.937
who searched for the lost farmer...
518
00:34:23.200 --> 00:34:26.482
as well as scientists
with theories on the disappearance.
519
00:34:27.567 --> 00:34:31.237
One claimed the farmer had
entered another dimension.
520
00:34:36.159 --> 00:34:39.954
Is it possible that Ambrose Bierce
was, in fact...
521
00:34:40.370 --> 00:34:42.206
contacted by extraterrestrials...
522
00:34:42.290 --> 00:34:45.840
that this is why luminous beings
appear in his fiction...
523
00:34:45.168 --> 00:34:48.400
and this is why vanishings
appear in his fiction?
524
00:34:49.589 --> 00:34:52.759
[ Narrator] Could it be that the head
injury Ambrose Bierce suffered...
525
00:34:52.842 --> 00:34:57.430
allowed him to receive information
from an otherworldly source?
526
00:34:58.306 --> 00:35:01.142
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes...
527
00:35:01.225 --> 00:35:04.437
and suggest the strongest evidence
may not be found...
528
00:35:04.520 --> 00:35:07.607
in his stories of strange disappearances...
529
00:35:07.690 --> 00:35:10.485
but with how he disappeared himself.
530
00:35:14.697 --> 00:35:18.618
In December of 1913,
Bierce left the country...
531
00:35:18.701 --> 00:35:20.828
and headed to Chihuahua, Mexico.
532
00:35:20.912 --> 00:35:24.373
He was never seen or heard from again.
533
00:35:26.542 --> 00:35:28.836
It's quite interesting to note
that he met...
534
00:35:28.920 --> 00:35:31.470
with another famous
adventurer-traveler...
535
00:35:31.130 --> 00:35:34.967
an Englishman
named Frederick Mitchell Hedges.
536
00:35:35.510 --> 00:35:38.971
Mitchell Hedges was the man who claimed
to discover the first crystal skull.
537
00:35:39.550 --> 00:35:42.767
And that's significant because
they both were interested in crystals...
538
00:35:42.850 --> 00:35:45.853
and inter-dimensional subjects.
539
00:35:47.396 --> 00:35:50.399
The last letter that we know of
he ever sent to anyone...
540
00:35:50.483 --> 00:35:52.151
was to his secretary that said...
541
00:35:52.235 --> 00:35:56.781
“I go tomorrow to a destination
of which I may not return.”
542
00:35:58.491 --> 00:36:01.494
And the theory is he may have gone
with Mitchell Hedges to the Crystal Cave.
543
00:36:01.577 --> 00:36:05.289
The Crystal Cave being a place
that Mitchell Hedges believed...
544
00:36:05.373 --> 00:36:08.709
you could contact beings
from another dimension.
545
00:36:10.294 --> 00:36:12.839
[WILCOCK ] it's possible that
extraterrestrials said...
546
00:36:12.922 --> 00:36:17.900
“You helped steer the outcome
towards a more favorable determination.
547
00:36:17.930 --> 00:36:19.679
In the future, people will be
more comfortable with us.
548
00:36:19.762 --> 00:36:22.849
You've set the stage
by writing all these sci-fi stories.
549
00:36:24.141 --> 00:36:25.643
Come live with us.
550
00:36:25.726 --> 00:36:27.603
Come to this place,
and we'll meet you there.”
551
00:36:33.276 --> 00:36:35.653
[ Narrator]
Might the stories of Ambrose Bierce...
552
00:36:35.736 --> 00:36:37.864
and his strange disappearance...
553
00:36:37.947 --> 00:36:41.158
all point to a connection
with extraterrestrials?
554
00:36:41.951 --> 00:36:47.206
And if so, were these alien beings
simply observing the Civil War...
555
00:36:47.290 --> 00:36:49.667
or might they have even intervened?
556
00:36:50.376 --> 00:36:54.338
Ancient astronaut theorists
say the answer might be found...
557
00:36:54.422 --> 00:36:56.632
in Washington, DC...
558
00:36:56.716 --> 00:37:00.386
standing high atop the Capitol dome.
559
00:37:07.810 --> 00:37:09.896
[ Narrator] Washington, DC.
560
00:37:09.979 --> 00:37:13.149
December 2, 1863.
561
00:37:14.108 --> 00:37:18.404
It has been exactly five months
since the battle of Gettysburg...
562
00:37:18.487 --> 00:37:23.826
and the tides of the Civil War
are beginning to turn in the Union's favor.
563
00:37:26.454 --> 00:37:28.122
At the start of the war...
564
00:37:28.205 --> 00:37:32.209
construction of the giant dome
that would sit atop the Capitol Building...
565
00:37:32.293 --> 00:37:34.420
had been halted...
566
00:37:34.503 --> 00:37:39.300
but President Lincoln convinced Congress
to provide the funding to finish it...
567
00:37:39.383 --> 00:37:44.180
saying the dome would act as a sign
that' the Union would go on.
568
00:37:50.190 --> 00:37:54.230
Upon its completion,
a statue was placed on top of it...
569
00:37:54.106 --> 00:37:59.111
with the final section raised
to a salute of 35 guns-
570
00:38:00.154 --> 00:38:04.116
answered by the guns
of the 12 forts around Washington.
571
00:38:08.371 --> 00:38:10.623
Weighing nearly 15,000 pounds...
572
00:38:10.706 --> 00:38:14.210
and standing 19 and a half feet tall...
573
00:38:14.293 --> 00:38:19.256
this bronze statue features a woman with
a Native American-style fringed blanket...
574
00:38:19.340 --> 00:38:21.926
thrown over her left shoulder...
575
00:38:22.900 --> 00:38:24.845
and an elaborate headdress
made of eagle feathers...
576
00:38:24.929 --> 00:38:27.980
and ringed with stars.
577
00:38:28.474 --> 00:38:31.310
It is called the Statue of Freedom...
578
00:38:31.394 --> 00:38:33.854
and according
to ancient astronaut theorists...
579
00:38:33.938 --> 00:38:37.566
it may represent
an extraterrestrial being.
580
00:38:39.485 --> 00:38:42.947
The symbolism they chose
is completely and totally cosmic.
581
00:38:43.300 --> 00:38:45.992
A goddess cloaked in stars...
582
00:38:46.750 --> 00:38:50.371
suggesting she's a celestial,
or a star being.
583
00:38:51.122 --> 00:38:54.458
[ CHILDRESS ] When you look at it and even
have the natives explain it to you...
584
00:38:54.542 --> 00:38:58.671
they say things like, “Oh, yes, these
are the star people coming from the sky.”
585
00:39:02.383 --> 00:39:04.844
[ Narrator] Is it really possible
that there is a depiction...
586
00:39:04.927 --> 00:39:08.931
of an extraterrestrial
standing atop the Capitol dome?
587
00:39:10.725 --> 00:39:13.394
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes...
588
00:39:13.477 --> 00:39:18.816
and suggest the evidence can be found
by looking back to the Founding Fathers.
589
00:39:23.904 --> 00:39:27.283
In the 1730s to the 1760s...
590
00:39:27.366 --> 00:39:30.244
Benjamin Franklin published
a series of pamphlets...
591
00:39:30.327 --> 00:39:32.747
he cal/ed The Indian Treaties.
592
00:39:32.830 --> 00:39:35.410
One of the best-selling
of these pamphlets...
593
00:39:35.124 --> 00:39:38.961
chronicled the Iroquois creation story
of the Sky Woman.
594
00:39:40.337 --> 00:39:43.424
Native Americans believed
that the Sky Woman came to Earth...
595
00:39:43.507 --> 00:39:46.520
when there was nothing here
but water and animals...
596
00:39:46.135 --> 00:39:49.930
and that she was the mother
of the very first human beings.
597
00:39:50.140 --> 00:39:55.561
Native Americans had beliefs
in people who lived in space.
598
00:39:55.644 --> 00:39:59.565
Many of the Founding Fathers believed
in the plurality of worlds.
599
00:39:59.648 --> 00:40:01.942
And these ideas, these stories...
600
00:40:02.260 --> 00:40:04.695
would have matched up very well
with their concepts...
601
00:40:04.779 --> 00:40:08.699
about plurality of worlds
and extraterrestrials from space.
602
00:40:12.703 --> 00:40:15.915
And you have to wonder
if there wasn't some kind...
603
00:40:15.998 --> 00:40:19.168
of extraterrestrial influence here.
604
00:40:20.419 --> 00:40:24.965
And did they have some connection
to these star people?
605
00:40:25.490 --> 00:40:27.718
Was this basically
a message for aliens?
606
00:40:31.347 --> 00:40:34.100
[ Narrator] Did Abraham Lincoln
and the Union leaders...
607
00:40:34.183 --> 00:40:36.310
erect the Statue of Freedom...
608
00:40:36.393 --> 00:40:39.188
as a tribute to star beings
that they believed...
609
00:40:39.271 --> 00:40:41.732
might be watching over the country?
610
00:40:44.527 --> 00:40:47.947
Were they reinstating a symbol
of our cosmic heritage...
611
00:40:48.300 --> 00:40:50.908
during the time of our greatest crisis?
612
00:40:51.617 --> 00:40:55.663
And if extraterrestrials
really did have a vested interest...
613
00:40:55.746 --> 00:40:57.998
in the outcome of the Civil War...
614
00:40:58.820 --> 00:41:02.753
are they still watching over
the great American experiment today?
615
00:41:03.379 --> 00:41:08.300
It really seems that extraterrestrials
have been monitoring the United States...
616
00:41:08.384 --> 00:41:10.594
since its very inception.
617
00:41:12.721 --> 00:41:16.559
We've seen this really
from the American Civil War...
618
00:41:16.642 --> 00:41:20.200
and right at the very beginning
of the American Revolution.
619
00:41:20.104 --> 00:41:24.316
And I think that this
is still going on today.
620
00:41:24.400 --> 00:41:26.735
The nurturing of the United States...
621
00:41:26.819 --> 00:41:33.284
as an inclusive, spiritual
and technically advanced country...
622
00:41:33.367 --> 00:41:35.995
is very important
to the extraterrestrials...
623
00:41:36.780 --> 00:41:38.914
and ultimately for the entire planet Earth.
624
00:41:42.251 --> 00:41:46.500
It's possible that extraterrestrials
have been visiting America...
625
00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:48.340
since its foundation...
626
00:41:48.424 --> 00:41:52.303
and have been, in fact, steering
the outcome this whole time.
627
00:41:52.386 --> 00:41:54.763
And why might they want to do that?
628
00:41:54.847 --> 00:41:58.642
You would want to see society moving
in a direction of greater freedom...
629
00:41:58.726 --> 00:42:01.200
greater openness,
greater acceptance...
630
00:42:01.103 --> 00:42:03.856
so that in time, this allows them...
631
00:42:03.939 --> 00:42:08.270
to have a much more warm welcome
than they otherwise would have.
632
00:42:09.278 --> 00:42:13.240
There is every reason to believe that
extraterrestrials are still watching over us...
633
00:42:13.324 --> 00:42:18.579
and are having a key impact
in the events that unfold on Earth today.
634
00:42:23.420 --> 00:42:25.211
[ Narrator]
Is it possible that extraterrestrials...
635
00:42:25.294 --> 00:42:29.131
really were present here on Earth
during the Civil War?
636
00:42:31.759 --> 00:42:35.950
If so, were they simply
passive observers...
637
00:42:35.179 --> 00:42:39.558
waiting to see if our fragile democracy
could survive this test?
638
00:42:42.978 --> 00:42:44.897
Or did they take an active role...
639
00:42:44.980 --> 00:42:47.608
in order to preserve the Union?
640
00:42:49.318 --> 00:42:51.528
Perhaps the great American experiment...
641
00:42:51.612 --> 00:42:54.531
is part of a larger cosmic agenda...
642
00:42:54.615 --> 00:42:57.826
and once we fully realize
the ideals put forth- ..
643
00:42:57.910 --> 00:43:01.247
By men like George Washington
and Abraham Lincoln...
644
00:43:01.330 --> 00:43:06.293
we will finally come face-to-face
with our alien ancestors.