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22x12 - Hidden Messages

Episode transcripts for the TV show, "Ancient Aliens". Aired: March 8, 2009 – present.*
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Explores the pseudoscientific hypothesis of ancient astronauts in a non-critical, documentary format.

22x12 - Hidden Messages

Post by bunniefuu »

[Narrator] A mathematical message

encoded on opposite sides of the globe.

Complex crop circles

designed to transmit sound frequencies.

And colossal figures

which can only be seen from the sky.

♪ ♪

When the author and theorist of ancient astronauts

Erich von Däniken, author of *Chariots of the Gods*?

he presented a revolutionary theory.

He suggested that aliens

not only did he come to Earth in the distant past,

but that they left hidden messages for us to discover

once we developed the right technology to decipher them.

A convincing example are geoglyphs,

massive shapes and figures carved into the landscape

which are only fully visible from the sky.

[Narrator] Saudi Arabia. 2004.

While exploring the ancient lava fields of Harrat Khaybar,

amateur archaeologist Dr. Abdullah Al-Saeed

comes across a series of what appear to be stone walls,

each about one meter high.

From the ground level, Dr. Al-Saeed concludes

that the structures do not have a clear pattern or purpose.

I mean, only after four years,

when he obtains satellite photos of the same area.

What he sees amazes him.

There, detectable from the sky,

are a vast collection of over 400 stone enclosures.

Known to the local Bedouins as "The Works of the Elders",

These mysterious structures are being rapidly examined

and it turns out they stretch for hundreds of kilometers.

[Andrew Collins] They were in what's called...

like a lava field of activity.

And they are generally described

be like a kite...

...or as gates,

which are more rectilinear forms of them.

And there are literally hundreds of these.

In fact, they extend all the way to Saudi Arabia.

just across the Jordan

and in Syria.

[Hugh Newman] They're kind of like angular pyramids, almost...

breaking apart in the distance like runways,

widening at one end and being short at the other end.

[Narrator] Although there is no record

indicating when these structures were built,

who built them or why

the prevailing theory among mainstream archaeologists

is that they were built for hunting purposes,

many thousands of years ago.

What we think are prehistoric hunting grounds,

where gazelle and other animals

would have pushed into the enclosure,

and then, on the outside of the enclosure,

Pits were dug, and animals fell into the pits.

Kites, when you visit them on earth,

they are very hard to find.

In the air, you get the whole pattern.

There are literally thousands of them.

And they must have been used for thousands of years.

And why did they fall into disuse?

This is an answer I have not yet received.

[Narrator] Although the theory that

stone structures were used

for hunting purposes it is convincing,

Ancient astronaut theorists argue

that if these structures were really used

for hunting gazelles,

the walls should have been over a meter high,

since a gazelle can jump more than three meters in the air.

Instead, they suggest

because the structures are only visible from the air,

should be considered geoglyphs.

[Paul Bahn] A geoglyph is basically just...

a landscape drawing.

Usually on a fairly large scale.

Most geoglyphs are found in deserts,

and in the deserts you have a phenomenon

which we call a desert lake.

It's just a natural dark patina that builds up on the surface.

And so, if you move the dark parts to one side,

expose the lighter soil or sand underneath,

this is one way to make a drawing.

The second basic technique

is to use the dark stones

and gather them together to form shapes,

geometric shapes, animal shapes or anything else.

And the third basic technique

it is simply a combination of the two.

Move things aside to expose the brightness,

You use the dark stones to create patterns.

So you get a very nice combination between the two.

In recent years, thanks to modern technology,

and especially satellite photos,

there has been an expl*si*n of new discoveries

from geoglyphs that I didn't know about before.

[Collins] The interesting fact about all of this

is that they point to heaven.

And what could that tell us?

Well, the first thing is that many of the geoglyphs

that we know today were only discovered

once aerial studies began around the 1920s.

All was truly revealed only

once the aircraft took off.

And that tells us something very, very important.

Most geoglyphs only make sense when seen from above.

Therefore, it seems that these are messages

towards something non-human, something up there.

[Narrator] When now the legendary Nazca Lines

from Peru were first discovered in 1927,

were considered a unique phenomenon.

But now, with the advantage of satellite imagery,

Thousands of ancient geoglyphs are discovered

all around the world:

in Kazakhstan,

in the southwestern United States,

in the Atacama Desert of Chile

and in Bolivia.

[Collins] Almost everywhere in the world,

we find what are known as geoglyphs,

whether it's the Nazca Lines in Peru,

British geoglyphs,

those from the Middle East,

they are practically universal

all around the world,

and have been appearing for many hundreds of years.

[Narrator] But why would ancient people

in so many different places around the world

Are they all making signs that can only be seen from above?

We don't know for sure what

Ancient peoples tried to communicate through geoglyphs,

but the most important thing is

the time and effort put into building them.

These are not quick sketches.

Many of them are projects of the entire community.

And the time you spend working on them

is the time not spent gathering food,

not spent defending your land.

That's time not spent taking care of your children.

So, the first thing they communicate

it is for the community itself,

what is important to the community.

[Narrator] But there could be another one,

an even more incredible explanation?

It is possible that these ancient geoglyphs

were created not for a terrestrial purpose

but for an alien?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and suggests that additional clues may be found

by examining similar shapes and symbols

which are produced on a much smaller scale.

Geoglyphs are giant versions of

what we know as petroglyphs,

the most obvious being the cave art we would see

on rock surfaces around the world

which dates back many, many thousands of years.

Petroglyphs are images carved into rocks.

or incised or hammered.

They appear all over the world,

from Australia to Asia,

Europe, Africa, through the Americas.

[Narrator] Maybe more interesting

than the petroglyphs themselves

are the strange similarities between them

and their geoglyphic brethren.

We see certain symbols appearing over and over again.

There are many geometric shapes.

They take the form of spirals,

of concentric rings,

and other more rectilinear or abstract designs.

I am something that is practical.

universal throughout the world.

One of the most interesting geoglyphs

that you have at Nazca is the geoglyph of the Sun, Star, Cross,

which is really very complicated,

a huge mandala of interconnected stars and triangles.

And it's something we see all over the world,

and in Tibet and India in the form of mandalas and even yantras.

So, things like this,

which are so geometrically complicated

and are found all over the world,

indicates that there was some kind of

world symbolic language

which was brought here by a superior intelligence,

probably aliens.

In 2005, an unusual feature

was discovered in central Canada

which some believe contains the best evidence yet

a hidden message left by extraterrestrial visitors.

It is a colossal geoglyph that has become known

as the Guardian of the Badlands.

[Narrator] Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan.



Grandma Lynn Hickox, 53 years old

scan GPS directions to a local museum

on the satellite when something catches his attention:

a geographical feature that bears a striking resemblance

to a human face.

It looks so much like a man-made structure

that she posts the image on a forum.

Almost overnight, the image went viral.

and becomes known everywhere

as "Guardian of the Badlands".

It's quite striking.

It's clearly a face.

The forehead, nose, lips, chin are well formed.

The hairstyle, a little less,

but they could clearly be seen as feathers.

The Badlands Guardian appears to be

a giant geoglyph near Alberta, Canada.

And to see this from Google Earth or satellite imagery,

you would think it was created by humans many, many years ago.

[William Saunders] Badlands Guardian is a flop,

or a head and shoulders presentation,

of an indigenous male person.

It is so striking because it is

the indigenous population of the area.

He doesn't look like a Scotsman wearing a kilt.

he doesn't look like an African warrior,

He appears to be an indigenous, uh, native to the area.

[Narrator] It is possible that the resemblance of a human face

formed naturally in the ground?

Many of those who reviewed Badlands Guardian

suggests that, based on the amount of detail it displays,

this is very unlikely.

When the mainstream scientific community looks

to the Badlands Guardian,

their first explanation is that

it was created by weathering, rain and water leaks.

But there are so many details

that we see in this formation

that it far surpasses anything nature could create.

It doesn't just have basic facial features,

has secondary facial features, such as eyelids.

The only thing missing from

The Badlands Guardian is an ear feature.

Now, the interesting thing is that,

local government in Canada,

they had found a gas deposit there.

Exactly where the ear should be.

There might have been an ear there at one time,

but now, because they put an access road there

and they built this gas plant, which was completely wiped out.

Archaeologists are often wrong about ancient sites.

And what actually is a pyramid?

which is now, let's say, covered with earth

and it has a forest on it

it can be mistaken for a simple natural hill.

This happened in... South America, in China.

Archaeologists are constantly

discovering that the things they consider natural

are actually artificial.

[Narrator] Some of the geoglyphs found

from all over the world have formed

simply by removing the top layer of soil

to expose the lighter colored dirt underneath.

But if the Badlands Guardian is also a geoglyph,

creating it would have been an enormous undertaking.

Massive, concave formation

it's almost half a mile long,

and is over 330 meters wide.

For comparison, Mount Rushmore National Monument

in South Dakota, which was completed in 1941,

it is about 80 feet high and 200 feet wide.

And although it's only a fraction of the size

of the Badlands Guardian, its construction required

an enormous amount of work,

even with modern technology.

The sculpture officially began in 1927,

and was considered completed in 1941.

My grandfather was on the mountain

approximately between 1933 and 1941.

He was the chief sculptor on Mount Rushmore.

It took about 400 workers.

It lasted 14 years.

And when I think about the time and effort put in

what it took from people in the 1930s

to create Mount Rushmore,

I can't even begin to imagine.

what the person or persons were supposed to do

working on something the size of the Badlands Guardian.

I can't even figure it out.

How was it possible that the people who carved these,

thousands of years ago,

they could see what they were doing

or did they know what they were doing?

They must have had help from extraterrestrial beings.

[Tsoukalos] The Guardian of the Revolted Land can only be

fully appreciated from heaven.

So you have to ask yourself: why?

Well, then, the answer is the people on the ground.

He wanted to make a sign to someone up in the sky.

[Narrator] For ancient astronaut theorists,

The Badlands Guardian could offer

some of the most compelling new evidence

that alien intervention

happened on Earth in the distant past...

that is, if it is indeed an artificial structure.

Boston, Massachusetts.

February 2019.

Aerospace engineer and satellite imaging expert Mark Carlotto

spent countless hours examining

Guardian of the Badlands to see if he can establish for sure

whether it is something other than a natural formation.

[Mark Carlotto] The Badlands Guardian image is

very striking like this Native American figure,

and some unusual properties.

So I did some analysis, uh, using imaging software.

and the feature height map.

So, we will start with an overview of

Badlands Guardian image here.

We see the figure in the middle of the image here.

And notice the surrounding landforms.

is very similar in morphology.

So, now we're going to zoom in on the figure.

You can see a little clearer, uh...

this iconic face.

So, what can we do to uncover some information?

So, I ran a program that extracts the height

or elevation relative to the figure.

And the way it's represented here is...

Dark is below, and bright is above.

So, now that I have... after I made the image

and I texture mapped it onto the elevation surface,

we can view it in 3D.

And, uh, now I'm moving around him

and look at it as if we could see it in a drone.

And, as you can see, when you look

straight down the Badlands Guardian,

is, uh, this strange resemblance

to a Native American.

But as we look at it from another angle

and, if we look at things from the ground level,

simulated ground level,

see how the illusion disappears.

So obviously this feature, if it was created,

it was meant to be viewed from above.

[Travis Taylor] For me, the Guardian of the Lands of w*r

It seems artificial.

It doesn't seem like a trick of nature.

and that I suffer from apophenia.

All people have apophenia,

that is, they see patterns where there are none.

That's why we see Mickey Mouse in the clouds and so on.

But this sounds too specific to

a type of native with a headdress on his head.

Looking at this picture,

you can see the natural erosion patterns.

So, from this picture it is clear to me

that this is an artificial structure.

High in the arid desert of Peru

it is a strange earthwork a mile long

made up of over 5,000 shallow holes

dug from the ground.

What purpose did this strip of holes serve?

and the reason it was created remains a mystery.

But some researchers believe

that the pattern there contains a hidden message

and indicates an almost identical design

found thousands of kilometers to the east,

in France.

[Narrator] Peru Central.

Just outside the city of Pisco,

at an altitude of 3,300 meters,

an arid desert stretches out

known as the Cajamarquilla Plain.

Here, thousands of holes of various sizes and depths

were dug into a mountain range

in a pattern that stretches from north to south over a distance of almost three kilometers.

This mysterious formation

has puzzled archaeologists for decades,

and, like the Nazca Lines,

holes can only be appreciated in their entirety

from above the earth.

[Tsoukalos] In the mountains of Peru,

we have what is commonly referred to as the Hole Band.

It is one of the coolest places

regarding the theory of ancient astronauts,

because who is in his right mind

would they go ahead and dig all these holes?

For what?

I am an incredible mystery,

a very long-standing mystery.

Some people think it looks like some kind of machine.

run across the territory.

Some people think it was some kind of

systematic mining.

Some people say they were just marijuana hunters,

You know, robberies, searching for burials.

None of the explanations make sense.

[Narrator] While the Hole g*ng

continues to defy explanation,

some ancient astronaut theorists believe

can represent a type of message,

a message that can be found and

in another place, 6,000 miles away.

Northwest coast of France.

Here, just south of Brittany,

where the legendary stones of Carnac are located...

...an arrangement of over 3,000 megalithic rocks

which stretch for more than two kilometers along the rural area.

The megaliths of Carnac, in Brittany, are simply amazing.

Some of them are about 30 or 40 feet tall.

There are several stone paths that go directly over the hills.

And no one understood exactly what their purpose was.

[Narrator] Like the Hole g*ng in Peru,

The Carnac stones continue to defy explanation.

But ancient astronaut theorists suggest

that the clue to understanding both mysterious places

could be found by comparing them side by side.

The Holes Strip stretches for approximately three kilometers.

So are the stones at Carnac.

The width of the hole strip measures eight holes in diameter,

occasionally deviating by one or two holes.

This is often true of the Carnac stones as well.

And when viewed from above,

The appearance of the two sites is eerily similar.

[Childress] In my opinion, it would seem that

that there is a connection

this is between Carnac, France and Peru,

and a special code put there for us

to find at a future time

when I could understand these codes.

[Narrator] Some ancient astronaut theorists

they even went that far

to suggest that the Hole Band

they may have once held some kind of standing totems...

...similar to what is believed to have existed

at Stonehenge,

and that those totems could have disappeared

because they were made of wood.

A series of post holes were found

around Stonehenge

where you can stick sticks into holes.

But they degraded over time

and it gradually collapsed,

and maybe the same thing happened

in the Nazca Plain in Peru with these holes.

[Narrator] Could there really be a connection?

among the stones at Carnac in France

and the Holes g*ng from Peru,

as ancient astronaut theorists suggest?

And if so, is it meant to convey a message?

[Wilcock] If you look at the stones at Carnac,

see curious alignments.

And these alignments actually duplicate each other.

the Pythagorean triangle.

Apparently this happened 3,000 years ago.

Pythagoras is said to have invented the Pythagorean triangle.

What you see is remarkable mathematical symbolism.

and message encoding

which seem to suggest that someone wanted us to know

was built with technology

much more than what we have now.

[Erich von Däniken] A few thousand years in the past,

aliens who visited our planet

left behind evidence.

They knew that in the distant future

People will see these stone patterns.

They will realize that this is high geometry.

And, sooner or later, questions arise,

"We may have been visited by beings from outer space?"

[Narrator] It is possible that these two ancient sites

both send a message

left behind by aliens?

And it was their intention

that it will one day be deciphered by humanity?

Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

and I argue that other clues can be found

by investigating magnetic anomalies

inside mysterious and colossal stone heads

discovered in the jungles of Central America.

A key tenet of the ancient astronaut theory is

that aliens left us information

within megalithic structures and monuments.

And a recent discovery suggests

that some of the largest statues ever built

it might be possible

antique hard drives.

[Narrator] Democracy, Guatemala.

June 2019.

A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard and Yale announce...

that they discovered unusual magnetic anomalies

in the colossal stone heads attributed to Monte Alto,

a Mesoamerican civilization

which appeared around 1800 BC.

Some of these statues

they have very strong magnetic fields.

The creators of these statues

they were fully aware

of these magnetic fields.

And this is something that has shocked modern archaeologists,

that this rather primitive culture, they believed,

was aware of magnetism

and that they actually chose certain rocks

because of the magnetic field.

[Narrator] In Mexico, similar statues

created by the Olmec civilization

they have also been found to emit magnetic anomalies.

These intricately carved heads

ranges in height from almost five feet

up to over 3.3 meters high,

the largest weighing approximately 50 tons.

Like the sculptures at Monte Alto,

most of these heads were made of basalt.

Basalt has large quantities

of iron and magnesium in them.

The Olmecs were so precise

knowing where the magnetic fields were

that they actually carved the structure

around these anomalies.

So when scientists use a magnetometer

around the stone statue,

they notice the nose or cheeks,

Around the chin, the magnetic fields are stronger there.

[Collins] The great Olmec head is made of basalt.

Basalt is a volcanic substance.

And the closest source to many of these heads

it's anything within a hundred miles.

Now, this is interesting,

because I simply don't think that's the case

that basalt was easy to carve

in the shape of heads.

Basalt is dense.

It is a very, very heavy and thick rock.

and it's very difficult to work with,

not to mention carving with rudimentary tools

like flint.

Because they have higher scores on the Mohs test

in terms of density.

And flint is a much softer material than basalt.

So, it's hard to understand how

they carved these things.

And the intricate details of some of them

it's simply incredible.

[Newman] With these stone giants,

it's really a question of why they chose

these specific types of rocks.

Like the granite we find, it is very crystalline.

It is also electrically conductive.

We find basalt, which is volcanic.

Again, this is very magnetic.

And so, again, it can be conductive

for various different purposes.

And what's going on here?

They specifically chose

certain types of rock

for technological reasons?

[Childress] When we look at how the ancients selected

certain stones that were magnetic

or had certain energies,

we wonder how they could know

about all the properties of these stones.

Do they receive this information?

from aliens?

[Narrator] Aliens?

It is possible that the ancient inhabitants of Mesoamerica

they were given instructions

to carve these gigantic basalt heads

of extraterrestrial visitors?

But if so, why?

As for ancient astronaut theorists,

The answer is simple:

these were intended to be used for data storage.

In 2017, IBM made a huge breakthrough in the field of data storage.

They discovered how to store



That means a reel of magnetic tape,

the size of your palm,

can store as much data as you have

in 330 laptops.

[Williams] Magnetic tape, magnetic tape tape,

is practically made of

very, very small magnetic particles.

And what they do is respect them

on the back of a thin strip.

And the way it works is

the small metal filings, which are very microscopic,

they would all align in a certain pattern,

kind of like the grooves of a pickup truck.

And it would require one more piece of equipment,

similar to the one that actually aligned them,

to interpret how those particles are aligned.

And we still use it today for storing data backups.

[Childress] And so, once again,

we have to wonder if these statues...

they were actually devices

which had recorded information.

And information could be extracted from them.

Like a computer hard drive or something like that.

[Nova Spivak] We looked at these objects

mainly at the macroscopic level.

What does it look like?

But maybe there's information inside them,

encoded using nanotechnology.

Why is it likely?

Because we ourselves do the same thing.

By trying to store information

for thousands or millions of years,

you get to go to

the same physical materials and solutions

that hypothetical ancient aliens could also have

I figured out how to use it.

All around the world,

Farmers discovered massive images in their crops.

These formations, known as crop circles,

often appear overnight

and they look as if they were created by an otherworldly force.

Curiously, some researchers believe

that these complex patterns contain hidden messages

which are encoded as sounds.

[Narrator] Yarnbury Castle. Wiltshire, England.

July 26, 2020.

A complex formation of concentric circles,

having a series of smaller semicircles,

appears in a wheat field.

Although the design may seem random,

some researchers believe it contains a message

which can be seen and heard...

...because it's a perfect fit

for what is known as the cymatic model.

When we talk about cymatic models,

We are talking about a frequency

which will create a complex image.

So, specific frequencies refer to specific patterns.

[Narrator] The origins of cymatics

among human civilizations

can be traced back more than ten centuries to West Africa.

There, tribal rituals

involved sprinkling some grains of sand

on the surface of the drums.

Hitting the drums creates specific audio tones,

causing the sand to take an instant shape

in distinct formations.

From the resulting formations on the surface of the drum,

the elders of the tribe believed it was possible

to predict future events.

[Childress] With cymatics, you have these patterns

which are, in fact, a visualization,

of sound and vibrations.

And physicists tell us

that the whole universe is collapsing

to vibrations and sound patterns,

and these models that can be viewed.

[Narrator] In 1787,

German physicist and musician Ernst Chladni

has provided progress in this regard

when he published "Discoveries in the Theory of Sound."

In writing, Chladni revealed

which certain tones constantly create

the same visual model.

By applying sound vibrations to metal plates covered with sand,

He identified the images produced

through various frequencies.

[Henry] When we look at so many crop circles,

are consistent with what we observe in research on cymatics.

We find the same shapes

which are created on Chladni plates.

We find the same shapes

which are created in sound experiments.

So, there is a very important connection

which must be done here.

[Narrator] But why would there be cymatic models?

appear in crop circles?

Could aliens use audio frequencies?

as a method of communication?

Ancient astronaut theorists suggest

Other clues can be found by examining the teachings

found in ancient Hindu religious texts

known as the Vedas.

[Dominic Steavu] The word "veda" means

"knowledge" in Sanskrit.

There is this close association with

a special type of wisdom or knowledge

which is transmitted through the Vedas.

Now, originally, the Vedas were revealed by the gods

to a certain class of spiritual elect.

And they contain, again, these primordial sounds

which are associated with creation

of the universe and its proper functioning.

[Narrator] In the Vedic texts it says

that the gods gave humanity a visual guide to sacred sounds

in the form of elaborate patterns called "mandalas".

Like Chladni's experiments,

mandalas translate sound into visual patterns,

but for a deep and otherworldly purpose.

In Hinduism, mandalas are considered to be

visual translations of primordial sounds.

And these are the sounds

who gave birth to the universe,

and to the very nature of reality.

They are divine,

were cosmically spoken

of supernatural beings, of gods.

I don't know.

that the gods taught humans how to sing.

How to pray and sing

to communicate with the gods.

[Narrator] The most powerful Hindu mantra

is the sound of "Om",

which is visually represented by a simple circle

with a dot in the middle...

the fundamental element of a mandala.

Unbelievable, when the frequency "Om"

is applied to a Chladni plate,

the exact same pattern appears.

Higher-pitched frequencies lead to more complex arrangements...

...which fit identically

the ancient symbols of the mandala.

[Collins] Is it possible?

that the writers of ancient Vedic texts

they were given advanced knowledge

about how sound frequencies

can they be transformed into visual models?

Some of the crop circle patterns

I am very clear.

reflections of sound.

Is it possible, then?

that what we see are sound signatures,

communication with such superior intelligences?

[Narrator] Many cultures around the world

I believe it is possible to communicate with a higher realm.

through ritual incantations,

singing and praying.

Like mandalas, could crop circles contain

an otherworldly message for humanity,

one based on sacred sounds?

[Tsoukalos] I certainly think so.

Crop circles are messages from...

other beings trying to

contact us,

or at least let us know they're there.

And the entire basis of the universe is vibration,

and sound is vibration.

When we talk about different ways

with which to communicate with different civilizations,

scientists have proposed

which can be obtained with sound frequencies.

[Childress] What they do is

introducing sound and vibration

in a communication device of some kind,

but exactly what it's trying to communicate to us

is the big question.

The idea that an extraterrestrial civilization

left us hidden messages

it might seem to some that it sounds more like

science fiction than reality.

But in 2001, a crop circle appeared in England.

which many believe was sent

of aliens.

[Narrator] Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico.

November 16, 1974.

Scientists, dignitaries and other public officials

gather to watch as astronomers send

first official radio communication

directed at aliens,

using the largest,

the most powerful telescope in the world.

[Seth Shostack] The message was just a series

of, you know, dots and dashes, if you will,

but you could order them in a matrix

and actually take a picture.

It is a way to send

a greeting card, if you will, from Earth.

[Narrator] Designed by renowned scientists

like Carl Sagan and Frank Drake,

The Arecibo message contains binary encoded information

including the numbers one to ten,

an image of human DNA,

a human figure,

and a graphical representation of the solar system,

highlighting the position of the Earth.

[Nick Pope] This was a calling card from Planet Earth.

It really stretched across the galaxy

and saying, "I have arrived."

Now, some scientists have condemned it,

and in fact, SETI has been very controversial

when it goes into active mode -- what's called METI,

messages to extraterrestrial intelligence.

Some people have said it's like a suicide note to the universe,

because if there's a species of apex predator out there,

You said, "Come and get us."

Now, SETI scientists are saying, "Well, it's too late."

We have been a detectable civilization for decades.

because of our radio and television broadcasts,

but it is still controversial.

[Narrator] In August 2001,

almost three decades after the Arecibo message was sent,

there has been extraordinary development.

Workers at Chilbolton Observatory

in Hampshire, England

discovered a mysterious crop circle in a nearby field

that was an almost exact replica

of the Arecibo message.

In fact, it's sometimes called the Arecibo response.

because it is essentially very similar

to the Arecibo message, but with a few subtle changes.

For example, DNA replaces carbon with silicon,

and there is also a representation of a figure,

but he is not a man.

He looks like an alien.

Instantly, astronomers proclaimed this a hoax.

And as people started to investigate this,

they realized that maybe it was possible

that it came from aliens.

One reason was that the message was so perfect.

How likely is it that some crop circle impostor

could they have duplicated that message in a crop circle?

Crop circles are very important

the potential way in which an extraterrestrial intelligence

could use to communicate with us.

They are very public,

and they aroused the curiosity of humanity.

It was the so-called "Arecibo response" sent to Earth

by an extraterrestrial civilization?

It is completely possible.

But maybe the better question is,

Are we prepared to receive the information contained?

in these hidden messages that are all around us?

One thing is clear:

whether they are massive geoglyphs...

imposing monoliths...

or elaborate circles in fields...

once these extraordinary sites are decoded,

we might be one step closer to finding out the truth

from our alien past.