21x16 - Mysteries of the Norse Gods

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NARRATOR: Powerful gods
wielding advanced technology.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Odin sat on a throne

with which he could see everything.

NARRATOR: Strange creatures
who craft extraordinary weapons.

SCOTT MELLOR: Dwarves
were the ones that create

Odin's spear and Thor's hammer.

NARRATOR: And descriptions of
gateways through time and space.

NICK POPE: Bifrost might
be a sort of folkloric way

of explaining a wormhole.

NARRATOR: The ancient Norse legends

read like modern science fiction,

but could they be accounts
of extraterrestrial beings

who continue to visit
our planet even now?

WILLIAM HENRY: Contactees
today describe encounters

that precisely match Nordic mythology.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: In Northern Europe lies a land

of dramatic fjords and dense
forests called Scandinavia.

By most modern interpretations,

Scandinavia includes
the countries of Denmark,

Norway, Sweden,

Finland, and Iceland.

And many centuries ago,
this rugged landscape

gave rise to a hearty
and mysterious people

called the Norse.

In the early Bronze Age,

there were a number
of Germanic peoples that came up

into this peninsula,
the Scandinavian Peninsula.

But they were meeting
completely different people

with a different culture
and a very different language.

Eventually, these groups
of people come together

and they become the Norse.

NARRATOR: For many years,

the Norse were a peaceful people

who scratched out
an existence as farmers,

fishermen, and hunters.

But that changed dramatically

in the 8th century AD
with the rise of the Vikings.

KARL SEIGFRIED: "Viking" is
a term for Scandinavian pirates

and raiders who made their mark
on world history

between the late 700s
and the early 1000s.

MELLOR: One thing we have to understand

is the Vikings
technically is a profession.

It isn't the people
that were living there.

Scholars call the people that
were living there the Norse.

The Vikings were the ones
that went on raiding

and trading expeditions.

NARRATOR: Sailing on
their fearsome longships,

the Vikings terrorized Europe.

They could strike anywhere

and seemingly without warning.

The Viking longship, uh,
were excellent ships

for traveling the open oceans...

...but also up rivers and far inland.

Nobody was really expecting these guys.

People were unprotected.
Cities were unprotected.

Monasteries with vast amounts
of gold were unprotected.

And so when these raids
started happening,

everyone was caught by surprise.

The Vikings completely upset
the balance of power

throughout Europe.

NARRATOR: But despite their reputation

as fierce conquerors,

the Vikings were also skilled merchants,

and they set up trade routes

that reached every corner of the map.

MELLOR: The Vikings
were going both east and west,

into France and down into Spain

and the Mediterranean
from that direction...

...and then east
into what would become Russia

and down into places
like Constantinople.

The long-term effects
of the Viking Age are manifold.

There are huge linguistic influences

on languages like English and French.

There's a massive political
influence in Eastern Europe,

where, for example,
Russia draws its name

from the name of a tribe
of Swedish Vikings

who invaded that part of Eastern Europe.

We have the Byzantine emperor
guarded by Viking bodyguards.

We have Vikings in Baghdad
trading with Arab traders.

We have Vikings in the New World

exploring at least as far
as present-day Canada.

They reached all over the world.

NARRATOR: The Age of the
Vikings lasted just 300 years,

from the middle of the 8th
century until the 11th century.

But despite their accomplishments,

much about the Norse
remains shrouded in mystery.

Unlike other cultures at the time,

they did not keep
detailed written records

of their history.

Instead, they wrote
brief inscriptions with runes.

THOMPSON: Runes are

an early form of Viking writing.

They have been employed
largely in carving in stone,

so we see a lot of runestones.

But runes were kind of
cumbersome to write with,

and so things tended to be short.

It's not like the written
literature that we get later.

NARRATOR: Much about
Norse history remained unknown

until roughly 300 years
after the Viking era.

We would know very, very little
if it weren't for two books

from 1200s Iceland called Edda.

The first book was written
by an Icelandic chief

named Snorri Sturluson.

And in the 1220s or so,

he wrote the Prose Edda

to protect the heritage
and the old stories.

Also in the 1200s in Iceland,

someone... we don't know who...

wrote a book
that we call the Poetic Edda.

And this is just 30 or so of those poems

about the pre-Christian gods
and the, uh,

pre-Christian Norse heroes

written down by someone
who wants to preserve them,

because many of these seem
to have been orally preserved

for centuries.

NARRATOR: The Eddas
have provided historians

with detailed accounts
of Viking conquests,

the lineages of kings,

and even religious practices.

They also introduced the world

to the Norse people's
rich mythological traditions,

featuring dwarves,

giants, elves,

and all sorts of fantastical beasts.

But Norse mythology is dominated
by the gods known as the Aesir,

who hold domain over
certain aspects of existence.

The leader of this pantheon
is a one-eyed god named Odin.

SEIGFRIED: Odin is complex.

He's the god of w*r and death

but also of poetry and memory.

He inspires both the frenzy of battle

and the frenzy of creativity.

MELLOR: One
of the most fun gods is Loki.

Some people think of him
as a trickster god,

and he's oftentimes trying
to deceive people.

And deception is a very
important component of warfare.

PAMELA JAYE SMITH: Freyr was
the Norse god of fertility.

And his sister Freya, by the way,

was the love goddess.

THOMPSON: Thor is one
of the main deities

we see in Norse mythology.

He's the god of thunder,
the god of lightning.

One of his most elemental symbols

that we see again and again
is his hammer.

Thor's hammer seemed to have
been used as a protector symbol.

People would wear it around
very often around their neck

on a necklace for protection.

NARRATOR: While today
the Norse gods are regarded

as simply characters
in ancient mythological tales,

to the Vikings,

they were very real.

The Norse gods were not apart
from the world...

they were a part of the world.

They were not simply praised
on Sunday mornings.

They were approached in
ongoing reciprocal relationships

maintained through sacrificial rituals.

You give the gods something
for them to give you something.

So you sacrifice an animal,

hoping that the god
that you're sacrificing it to

will receive your gift
and say, "Ah, I favor him.

I want to give him something."

SEIGFRIED: The Viking offered to Thor

and asked for fair weather
for his travels.

You don't sacrifice horses, weapons,

and treasure you've won
in battle unless you believe

there are deities
receiving these sacrifices.

You don't raise altars to goddesses

across the width of the world you travel

unless you believe in building
a reciprocal relationship

with those goddesses.

This is clearly backed
by archaeological finds,

sacrificial sites,
burial sites, and so on.

MELLOR: The Scandinavians
undoubtedly thought

that the gods would have been real.

They would not have necessarily
thought of them as metaphor.

NARRATOR: While
mainstream scholars suggest

the Scandinavians' strong belief
in the existence of their gods

was simply a matter of faith,

ancient astronaut theorists ask

if these powerful beings
might have truly existed.

And if so, could they
have assisted the Vikings

in becoming one of the world's
most sophisticated explorers

and warriors?

Perhaps further clues can be
found by examining descriptions

of the Norse gods'
incredible technology.

NARRATOR: Most of what is
known about Norse mythology

comes from the 13th century
texts called the Eddas.

But they recount a history

that begins many centuries earlier.

And according to the Eddas,

the first ruler of the area
now known as Denmark

was a son of the god Odin named Skjöldr.

For ancient astronaut theorists,

this is particularly intriguing
because it lines up

with numerous other traditions
around the world.

This is almost identical to what
we find in ancient Egypt.

You have this golden age

in which the gods walked on the earth,

which the gods ruled.

And then, ultimately,

in Egypt, the pharaoh becomes

the representative
of the gods themselves,

just as Emperor Jimmu
became the representative

of Amaterasu in Japan

and also Huangdi,

the legendary first emperor
of China, the Yellow Emperor,

who was said to sail into
the stars and back to Earth.

What's fascinating
is that this idea occurs

in ancient cultures around the world.

NARRATOR: Another similarity
that Norse mythology shares

with other traditions across the planet

is the idea that the gods
come from another world.

HENRY: In Norse mythology, the
universe is divided into nine worlds.

It's the realm of the gods,

the realm of men,
the realm of the giants,

the dwarves, the elves, and so forth.

NARRATOR: The Norse gods
inhabited the realm of Asgard

and came to Earth, known as Midgard,

traveling across
a rainbow bridge called Bifrost.

But descriptions of Bifrost

do not portray any kind of structure

like a traditional bridge.

"Bifrost" means "shimmering road,"

and the Edda tells us
that it's the rainbow

raised by the gods to connect
the heavens and the earth.

CRAWFORD: Bifrost is a burning bridge.

The red that is the top layer
of the rainbow's color

is supposed to be the fire.

I'm only aware of stories
in which supernatural beings

cross Bifrost.

And some of them can't.

The fire somehow burns them but
doesn't seem to burn the gods.

NARRATOR: Bifrost is also known
as "the trembling or quivering way,"

suggesting that it is constantly moving.

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

it's possible that the old Norse stories

were attempting to describe a wormhole

connecting Earth to a distant planet.

A wormhole is a shortcut
across the universe.

And it's actually a structure predicted

by the theory of general relativity.

So there's science behind it.

TSOUKALOS: The Scandinavians
wrote that through Bifrost

these celestial beings
descended from the sky.

In the ancient astronaut opinion,

it almost seems like some type
of a portal technology,

because it was instantaneous travel

to the so-called realm of the gods.

NARRATOR: Could it be that the
Norse gods were in fact extraterrestrials

that traveled to Earth through
some kind of space-time portal?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest further evidence

to support this incredible
notion can be found

by examining elements
from the Norse stories

that sound like descriptions
of high technology.

TSOUKALOS: Norse mythology

is filled with a concept that I refer to

as misunderstood technology.

In Norse mythology,
we have stories of Odin,

the highest god, for example,

with his eight-legged horse Sleipnir

that was a celestial horse
that flew across the sky,

leaving behind a trail of fire.

We all know that horses
do not have eight legs.

And we also know that horses
do not fly across the sky,

leaving behind a fiery trail.

So why do we have these stories?

The pantheon of gods
were advanced space travelers

that our ancestors
witnessed and thought,

"Wow, they have to be gods

because they just descended
from the sky."

NARRATOR: Odin, the god of
the dead and the god of warfare,

interacted often with humans
in the Norse stories.

It is also written that,

from his magical throne
called Hlidskjalf,

he could observe all nine realms.

MELLOR: Hlidskjalf sits
at the top of this great tree

called Yggdrasil,

and Odin can look down
on all of creation

and see what's happening.

HENRY: He could see everything.

He could hear everything as well.

It makes you wonder
if this magic watchtower

is an advanced alien technology.

NARRATOR: Another prominent
figure in Norse mythology was Freyr,

the god of fertility.

Freyr possessed the most incredible ship

in all of the nine realms.

Freyr had an interesting device.

It was a ship.

And this ship was so big

that you could put all
of the Norse deities in it

and all their weapons

and then you could fold it up,

sort of like origami.

And Freyr could put it in his pocket.

HENRY: To us, when
we hear a story like this,

it automatically conjures images

of advanced nanotechnology

or perhaps a material science

where they had an ability
to create a lightweight material

that could be folded
into smaller dimensions

and then could be unfolded
into a much larger dimension.

NARRATOR: Ancient
astronaut theorists suggest

that descriptions of the weapons
wielded by the gods

also sound like advanced technology.

HENRY: Odin has
Gungnir, the spear of heaven,

that is also, uh, exemplary
of what we would think of

as modern technology today.

When he would throw this spear,
it would automatically hit

whatever target he threw it at.

And when we think about that today,

it sounds identical to some kind
of, like, heat-seeking m*ssile

or some guided precision weapon...

...that has
these incredible capabilities.

CRAWFORD: Thor's hammer
Mjolnir has a variety of special powers.

It can be thrown and
will always come back to Thor.

He can shrink it down to
the size of an ordinary amulet

so he can wear it around his neck.

And, uh, it can also break
anything that it hits.

NARRATOR: Curiously,
Thor could only use his hammer

while wearing a special metal glove.

MARTELL: It's really interesting to note

that all these ancient stories
around the Norse,

these magical imbued objects,

weapons and such,

they're very similar to things
that we can reference today.

To me, it sounds like this is
misunderstood technology.

Ancient people were viewing things,

and they didn't have
a technological lens

for reference.

NARRATOR: Is it
possible that the Norse gods

were not fictional creations

but were instead visitors
from another planet?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

and suggest there may even be
evidence that these beings

had a hand in the success
of the Vikings.

NARRATOR: Here, in
an ancient glacial valley,

stands a 5,000-year-old
megalithic structure

known as the Dwarfie Stane.

According to the locals,

the Vikings who invaded this region

claimed the inner chamber
served as the home of a dwarf.

For the Norse people,

the dwarves were not fictional creations

but real entities
who inhabited a hidden realm

beneath the earth.

According to the Eddas,

these diminutive beings
were created by the gods

to craft weapons and technology.

CRAWFORD: The Old Norse term "dvergr,"

translated
by its English cognate "dwarf,"

refers to a kind of supernatural
being much lower than the gods

that interacts
both with them and with us.

Their main function in the sagas
is to make stuff,

whether for the gods
or for human beings.

THOMPSON: The dwarves
are an interesting figure

in Norse mythology.

They're not gods, uh,
but they're not people.

And they show up as being
very powerful, very magical.

And so the gods are constantly
interacting with the dwarves.

And a lot of the power of the Norse gods

is derived from the dwarves.

They're the ones that have
an extraordinary ability

to create things.

Dwarves were described
as being the best smiths.

When the gods need
to have things created,

they go to the dwarves.

These were the creators
of these most important elements

of the Norse Viking world.

Things like Freyr's ship

and Odin's spear

and Thor's hammer.

NARRATOR: The dwarves were also
credited as being master sword makers.

But the swords they forged
were not just for the gods...

they were also made for humans.

And they were said to possess
extraordinary properties.

CRAWFORD: The dwarves

imbue their creations with magic

and make stuff for human beings.

For example, there's human heroes

who have magical swords
of different varieties.

The most important story of the heroes

is the story of Sigurd the dragonslayer.

Sigurd has a magic sword.

NARRATOR: According to the story,

a dwarf forges Sigurd a sword so sharp

it can cut through the
impenetrable scales of a dragon.

Other sagas describe weapons
that were powerful enough

to even k*ll the gods.

There's the magic sword Tyrfing,

which can only be drawn
and put back into its scabbard

if it draws blood in the meantime.

So you can't put it back in its scabbard

unless you've k*lled someone.

NARRATOR: While tales of the
dwarves being skilled weapons makers

are considered by historians
to be purely mythological...

...what can't be disputed

is that the Vikings
possessed swords far superior

to any others that were made
during their time.

While clearing his field of rocks,

a farmer stumbles upon
a remarkably well-preserved

Viking sword half buried in the soil.

The weapon is given to archaeologists

who determine it is
more than a thousand years old

and discover that the blade

contains a mysterious inscription.

X-ray imaging reveals

that the sword is inscribed
with the name Ulfberht.

RIC FURRER: The Ulfberht swords
were made between about 800

and 1000 AD.

So, right solid
in the high Viking period,

when they were trading and raiding.

NARRATOR: The recently unearthed weapon

is one of approximately 170 swords

that bear the mark "Ulfberht."

But just how these blades were created

continues to mystify researchers.

I've analyzed 40 or 50 Ulfberht swords.

And many of them
still have a sharp edge.

The chemistry's completely different

to any other weapons
found in medieval Europe.

These Ulfberht swords
were made of a very hard steel

and would be vastly superior
to any other weapon in combat.

FURRER: The Ulfberhts were special

because of the manufacturing
techniques that went into them.

Some of them were made
from a crucible steel,

which could have
both flexible properties

and edge hardness in a single item.

NARRATOR: Perhaps most baffling

is that, to create the Ulfberht swords,

Norse blacksmiths would have had
to heat their forges

to over 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

But historians
and archaeologists suggest

that humans didn't develop the ability

to achieve such an extreme heat
until the Industrial Revolution,

nearly 800 years after the Viking Age.

So just who could have created
these extraordinary weapons?

Could it be that the Norse stories

of dwarves forging incredible swords

were not merely mythology?

When you think about this,

you-you have to at least be open
to the possibility...

...that the swords of the Norse Vikings

were created by these dwarves

who were masters
at this advanced technology.

When you talk with people
who live in Norway

and Sweden and Iceland,

over 60% of the people
in a survey have claimed

that they believe in these beings.

FURRER: With the Ulfberht blades,

we still don't know who made them.

We don't know exact techniques
of how they were made.

Some were incredibly advanced
in their techniques.

Quite beautiful.

Hard to produce even today
in a modern shop.

WILLIAMS: We don't know
why the word "Ulfberht" was used.

It was assumed,

without any evidence,
that it was a swordsmith's name.

But it may have been
simply the name of somebody

whom the smith met or k*lled.

They may have thought
it was something sacred.

We don't know.

FURRER: What does "Ulfberht" mean?

It's probably not a person.

It was probably a word of power.

"Ulf" means "wolf,"

and "berht" is an adjective
meaning "bright."

So it might be "bright wolf."

Until we find some documented
evidence of manufacture,

we may never know the exact construction

or the exact raw material
that these were made from.

And that adds to the mystery
of these blades.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that
the dwarves of Norse mythology

were real beings

and that they helped the Vikings

to craft their incredible swords?

Perhaps further clues can be found

by examining another technology

that the Vikings were said to
have received from the dwarves.

A highly sophisticated navigation device

that was long believed
to be mythological

until one was discovered
at the bottom of the ocean.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Over a period of three months,

Scandinavian archaeologists
Gabriel Gustafson

and Haakon Shetelig excavate

a remarkably well-preserved Viking ship.

Built from oak
in the early ninth century AD,

the vessel is an extraordinary
piece of engineering.

MELLOR: One of the
things that the Vikings had

was a ship that was
a technological marvel

for the time.

They could go up and down rivers,

they could go across oceans
without flipping over

as much as previous ships had done.

And this meant that they had the ability

to get into areas

that other people at the time
could not get into.

THOMPSON: The Vikings'
skill was really sort of unmatched

by any other group at this time

in terms of the craftsmanship
of their boats.

And these boats were very flexible,

the way that they were made
to flex with the waves,

rather than break apart.

So they often referred to them
as the sea snakes,

because they could sort of
snake through the waves.

NARRATOR: The unique
design of Viking longships

made it possible to sail at speeds

approaching 28 miles per hour.

No other vessels could travel
as fast until 1852,

more than 1,000 years
after the first Viking ships

took to the high seas.

But what many researchers
find even more impressive

and more difficult to explain

is the Vikings'
incredible navigation skills.

When talking about the Vikings,
you're faced with a mystery,

and the mystery is that
how did the Vikings navigate?

For all we know, they had no compass.

The compass was a Chinese invention,

and without a compass,
how could they navigate?

"Well, the stars," you say,
but if you've ever been there,

to the northern, uh, Atlantic,
you realize how cloudy it is.

On a cloudy day, there's no sun,
there's no stars,

and yet, they were able
to navigate the North Seas

with tremendous accuracy.

And the question is

how did they do it?

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut
theorists believe clues might be found

by taking a closer look
at the Viking Sagas.

According to legend,
the dwarves provided humans

with a special stone that enabled them

to navigate with great accuracy.

McMAHON: In the Norse Sagas,

we get mention of something
called the sólarsteinn,

the sunstone,

and this is a kind
of translucent mineral

that's oblong-shaped
and had special magical powers.

And it's something that the captain

of a Viking warship

would hold up to the cloudy sky,

and through it, would be able
to see where the Sun was,

and that was essential to navigation.

THOMPSON: These crystals
were considered to be magic,

and it's been long rumored
that the sunstone

may have been a major part
of the navigational abilities,

giving them an edge that other
people at the time did not have.

NARRATOR: Was the Viking sunstone
simply a creation of Norse mythology?

Or might it have really existed?

Underwater archaeologists are exploring

a 16th-century sunken English warship

when they come upon an unusual crystal

carved into a nearly perfect rectangle.

Researchers are shocked
when tests reveal

that the object was carved from a chunk

of Icelandic calcite,

and they suspect they have found

one of the fabled Viking sunstones.

Calcite has a property
that if light comes into it,

it splits the light in half.

On a cloudy day, if you look
at a calcite crystal,

you see not one image but two images,

each one polarized slightly differently,

and as you scan the sky,

the intensity of these two changes,

depending upon where the Sun is located.

But when you lock on to the Sun,

the two images are equally bright.

Bingo, that's where the Sun is located.

And that's how the Vikings
could do it without a compass.

They simply pointed it toward the Sun

until the two images
matched in intensity.

NARRATOR: For
archaeologists, almost as exciting

as the discovery of a Viking sunstone

was the fact that it was
found on a 16th-century ship.

McMAHON: What that
shows us is that 500 years

after the disappearance of the Vikings,

their technology was still being used.

This was still cutting-edge technology.

NARRATOR: Might the
sunstone provide physical evidence

that the tales of Norse mythology

are not entirely fiction,

but could be based on real events?

And if so, might otherworldly beings,

like the dwarves and gods
described in the Viking Sagas,

have shared knowledge

with the ancient people of Scandinavia?

For ancient astronaut theorists,
the answer is a resounding yes.

Throughout Norse mythology,
they really have an abundance

of these magical, imbued objects,

but if the Norse people
had the ability to use a crystal

as some type of astronomical beacon

to actually know where the Sun was,

this is some
advanced science, and perhaps,

someone taught
the Norse people to understand

the principles
of using such a technology.

NARRATOR: From the technological
marvel known as the sunstone

to the highly advanced Viking swords

and mythology that reads
like modern science fiction,

ancient astronaut theorists suggest

there is abundant evidence
that the Norse people

had encounters with otherworldly beings.

But perhaps the most
intriguing evidence of all

can be found by closely examining

the ritual of the Viking funeral.

NARRATOR: Dinah Beach, Australia,

July 12, 2025.

At a modern-day yacht club

more than 7,000 miles from Scandinavia,

a ceremony is held to recreate
one of the most important

and iconic Norse rituals:
the Viking funeral.

In the days of the Vikings,
the body of the deceased

would be floated out to sea
aboard a ship...

...then a flaming arrow launched
to set it ablaze.

TSOUKALOS: There's a whole
symbology behind those rituals.

And this is interesting
because the whole idea

of burning the dead

is the smoke rises so that their essence

could reach the realm of the gods.

That is the legend behind it.

But you have to ask yourself
the question,

what's the origin for that?

What was the realm of the gods?

Was it just a spiritual place,
something ethereal?

The ancient astronaut theory
suggests, "Hold on a minute,

maybe they actually meant
a physical place."

NARRATOR: The Viking funeral
was symbolic of a journey to Asgard,

the realm of the gods.

But according to the old Norse stories,

the actual journey
happened on the b*ttlefield,

and it was carried out by the Valkyries,

who are described as
mortal women with divine powers.

SMITH: In Norse mythology,
you have Valkyries,

who are warrior princesses
who ride winged horses.

And they fly over the battlefields,

and they pick up
the bravest of the warriors...

particularly as they're
just about to die

or if they have died...

and they carry up
their spirits to Valhalla,

which is the palace for fallen
warriors and the feasting hall.

McMAHON: The Vikings didn't
fear death, because when they died,

they went to Valhalla, and
there, Odin would provide them

with a banquet every night.

They could eat and drink
as much as they want.

NARRATOR: In the Norse tales,

Valhalla is portrayed
as a great hall in Asgard

where Odin, the ruler of the gods,

welcomes fallen warriors.

The hall is described
as a physical place

made of gleaming metal,

held up by spear shafts
and roofed by shields.

And as far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

it's possible that Valhalla
was not some mythical paradise,

but something far more profound.

TSOUKALOS: According to
the ancient astronaut theory,

"Valhalla" could be another name for,

maybe, an orbiting space station
or something like that.

The reason why I'm saying this is

because whenever we have
a description of Valhalla,

it is an incredible description
of a place that has attributes

that I refer to
as misunderstood technology.

Various descriptions of
Valhalla give it the reference

of being some type
of a large metallic ship.

Add to the fact that Valhalla
is described as a place

that they actually journeyed to,

maybe this is some type of a description

of them traveling to this in a ship,

and since they put their dead
in ships and set them afire,

maybe this is actually
a reference of them

traveling to Valhalla
in a ship that has flames

coming out of it,

going into space.

NARRATOR: Could it be that
the old Norse tales of Valhalla

were describing some kind
of craft or space station

that was orbiting the Earth?

And might the Viking funeral
ceremony have been designed

to mimic the fire and smoke

produced by a rocket ship
blasting off into space?

Curiously, the Norse were
not the only ancient culture

to incorporate ships
into their funerary rites.

DAVID CHILDRESS: In Norse mythology,

you have this concept
of taking some kind of transport

into the otherworld.

This is something that has been around

for thousands of years,

and appears around the world.

It's in Africa,

it's in South America,

it's in China.

With Egyptian funeral rites,
oftentimes there would be

a funeral boat, was associated with it.

And these boats themselves

would be analogies
of the spaceships, in fact,

that would take them over the sky.

TSOUKALOS:
The fact that, around the world,

you find the exact same references

in ancient myths and legends,

to me, is not a coincidence,

but on the contrary,
it relays that true origin

was a worldwide visitation

by visiting extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that modern reenactments

of the Viking funeral
unknowingly commemorate

otherworldly contact
in the distant past?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer is a resounding yes.

And they suggest there is evidence

that Scandinavia may be
experiencing alien activity

even today.

NARRATOR: Just before dawn,

an incredible spiral of light

appears in the night sky.

It swirls in place for ten minutes

and is witnessed hundreds
of miles away in Sweden.

NICK POPE: The Norwegian spiral anomaly

captured the imagination of the world.

Theories included
that it was something to do

with the northern lights,

that it was the malfunctioning
of a Russian ballistic m*ssile.

Other people had more exotic theories.

RICHARD DOLAN:
It looked just awe-inspiring.

It really, truly did.

So, naturally,
there was a lot of questioning,

wondering, like, what is it?

Is this a UFO th...
related thing or is it not?

POPE: Some people said this
is the opening of a wormhole.

Something's come through.

NARRATOR: The Norwegian spiral anomaly

made headlines around the world.

And it was only the latest

in a number of extraordinary
mass UFO sightings

that have occurred
over the area of Scandinavia.

Since the 1930s,

residents of the small mountain
village of Hessdalen, Norway,

have been reporting
strange lights of various colors

that appear at night

and sometimes even during the day.

NARRATOR: The reports
continued for decades.

And in 1983,

Norwegian electrical engineer
Erling Strand

started a research project
to investigate the phenomena.

NARRATOR: In addition
to the Hessdalen Lights,

in 1946, thousands of people
in Sweden, Norway and Denmark

witnessed what were referred to
as the "ghost rockets,"

which are some of the earliest
UFO sightings on record.

NARRATOR:
For ancient astronaut theorists,

these sensational UFO events

beg the question:

is it possible that alien entities

witnessed by the Vikings
are still present

in this region today?

POPE: Scandinavia is
undoubtedly a UFO hot spot.

And we have interesting
accounts from Norse folklore.

And of course, there are
many, many people who say

that mythology is just
the way that our ancestors

described real things
that happened to them,

but just made them into these Sagas,

as a way of keeping the story alive,

and telling it
to successive generations.

CHILDRESS: You have to wonder
if the Norwegian spiral anomaly

has to do with these Nordic gods...

...and coming and going
out of this place

for many thousands of years.

And it could be that these Norse gods,

as extraterrestrials, are still here.

NARRATOR: Could it be
that otherworldly visitors

encountered by
the Norse people centuries ago

are behind the many strange sightings

reported over Scandinavia today?

And do the ancient tales of these gods

still resonate because they are part

of humankind's true history?

Perhaps one day soon,
characters like Thor and Odin,

long relegated
to the realm of mythology,

will introduce themselves
to humanity once again

as our alien ancestors.