Friday , March 29 2024
If they do come back will we get E.T. or The Thing?

History Channel’s Ancient Aliens Can Make You Lose Sleep

Anyone familiar with History Channel’s series Ancient Aliens can understand the double-edged sword that is presented to us: we are set up to believe that beings from other worlds came here and either altered history or actually calculated it for us. On the surface this may not be any more disturbing than thinking, “Okay, so the Egyptian pyramids were built by guys from Orion” ; however, it does, upon deeply thinking about it, change the very fabric of what it means to be human beings on this planet.

Let us suppose that these “ancient alien theorists” (unseen experts constantly referred to on the show) are correct. Long ago aliens came to earth and manipulated our DNA; they let themselves be worshipped as gods; they taught us how to do things like metallurgy and masonry; they gave us language and alphabets; they showed us how to build things (some of them very big things); and basically changed the course of human history. If we accept any or all of these things, then the whole notion that we rose above the beast of the fields on our own is a lie; furthermore, the concept that some of us believe from the Bible (that were chosen by God to be special among the creatures of the earth) is incorrect.

All of this can keep you rather sleepless at night if you start thinking about it. The show is very adept at getting under your skin and making it crawl. They dig up these so-called experts, among them Erich von Daniken (author of the famous book Chariots of the Gods), who is either crazy as a loon or as sly as a fox. He has been promoting his theory of ancient visitations by the aliens for years, and this is the ultimate forum for him and others like him who want to stoke the fires of these theories.

If you watch the show even for a few minutes, it is easy to get sucked in. They take you to exotic locations in pursuit of these places where the aliens may have been. It is easy to look at things and think, “Humans could have never done this alone,” which is basically what the show is about in every episode. It also makes us seem ineffectual, that had Zodor and his minions from Orion’s belt not visited the earth, we would still be walking around in loincloths and bopping each other over the heads with clubs.

My biggest question as I watch this is why, if they came and were so interested in human affairs, did the aliens leave? Why did they not stay to see the seeds they planted grow? In some episodes (like “Roswell,” “Strange Abductions,” and “Aliens and Cover-Ups”) there are answers to this to some degree. The theory ends up being that aliens may have never left, that they are still watching us, and they may even walk among us.

Ancient Aliens isn’t for everyone, but if you have enjoyed science fiction books or movies like Prometheus or Predator, this is probably the show for you. It is a slick production, and the commentators will send a chill down your spine if you listen long enough. I know when I go outside at night, I look up at the stars and think about what they are saying on the show and wonder if the aliens will come back and make themselves known in a significant way. I mean, if they helped the Egyptians build the pyramids, why don’t they help us build spaceships that can go to their planet at the speed of light, or better yet teach us how to end hunger, cancer, and war. Then they would be seen as benevolent beings who really love us.

The problem is the Prometheus factor. As that film portrays it, the aliens did plant the seeds, go away, and didn’t like what grew here. That scary proposition is in my mind as I look at the stars, making me wonder if they do come back will we get E.T. or The Thing. No wonder I am losing sleep at night!

Photo credits: pyramids -famouswonders.com, Erich von daniken.com, ET – hollywood.com

About Victor Lana

Victor Lana's stories, articles, and poems have been published in literary magazines and online. His new novel, 'Unicorn: A Love Story,' is available as an e-book and in print.

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43 comments

  1. Everyone to their own beliefs. But it’s as if some people don’t believe that humans have a pretty long, factual and collective knowledge as a whole on important things that happened in our history. As a people, we know things happened and all believe them when they are true. Those stories don’t die and aren’t discredited, because they aren’t fanciful and, sadly, neither are most things that happen in life. No magic, no gods, no monsters ghosts and dragons. That’s not to say that there wasn’t outlandish things, dinosaurs for instance. But we KNOW of them, never disputed and never farcified. You don’t just forget, as an entire race, that angelic creatures, magic/magical monsters, aliens or world changingly amazing large-scale things happened to us. Also, when those things ARE remembered, like magic for example, they are factually explained now that we are able to do so. Really don’t like the whole innate human need to have this higher power all the time…have some balls about you, even a dog goes away by itself to die when it feels the time is right, he doesn’t go and dream up a wonderful place that makes death preferable to living. Piss. Weak. People. Always need more than just facts to make yourself feel better, Grow a pair earthlings.

  2. Regardless of all the religious undertones and talk, I think as thinking people we must consider that with all the living organisms and stuff on our own planet, com’on now, seriously? Are we the only ones living breathing, and making a mess in the universe? Not a personal witness but a childhood friends parents , and I recall the warm clear summer day like it was today, almost 30yrs ago… came into his apartment as we played and hung out with some new toys. We were very very close family friends of my parents & their faces were not normal. They both had expressions of disbelief & terror, confusion, his mom was shaking and her husband boldly told her to go into the bedroom and calm down. Camera in hand. She was an avid photographer, we could never get near the supper hi tech expensive camera, we were prone to breaking stuff. Kids. I later learnt they were nearby taking pics of planes , our homes were under a direct flight path & 5min from Toronto’s main airport. They got a clear image of a bright silver sphere, disk shaped I was told the next day by my buddy and he never spoke of it again. We were too young. Years later his Mom told us, commented on the day like nothing really serious happened and the issue was with the flight path this round bright silver thing took, zipping around like surveying the community, and then stopping in mid flight, no sound. and as more people noticed them shooting and pointing the UFO basically took off straight up vertically at light speed , as they said. It shook them and these were chilled out people. I know. I have always been perceptive and after that my buddy was not permitted to go out and play with us for several weeks after. The camera was never seen again. We searched for it a few times when his parents were not home. It changed them. Sadly, I am one who needs to see it to believe so there is my post. I still wait. and hope I don’t.

  3. I believe in God and I believe in Ancient Aliens too

  4. Very interesting, I have always been interested in the ancient alien theory after watching the Ancient Alien TV series. I do believe E.Ts have visited this planet before and this is where most religions originated from.

  5. victor lana…what exactly are u trying to say here??? on one hand u appear to be making fun of the proponents of the ancient aliens theory…on the other hand, u agree that the show has made u uneasy and given u food for thought…if u r so convinced that these theories r nonsense, y r u obsessing over them? Does that not mean that the purpose of the show (to make people think) has been fulfilled? the makers of the show clearly say that they do not have answers to all the questions, instead they have just advanced an exciting & daring new theory and left it to our imagination to think along those lines…therefore instead of discrediting and criticizing others, why don’t you stop watching the show if it makes your skin crawl so much ???

  6. you idiot!!!…does not caring about aliens help in resolving these problems…those problems are a way of life and exist as long as the world exists…but human beings have been blessed with intelligence and curiosity, which makes them ask deeper questions such as the meaning of their existence, possibility of other life in the universe etc…if we do not ask these questions and just go on existing mindlessly, what difference is there between us and beasts ???

  7. dan…i agree with you…you are right…there are many people on this earth who do not want to think out of the box and just like to discredit those who have the courage to do so…even in medieval times, there were people who persecuted galileo and other scientists for daring to say that the earth was round, it revolves around the sun etc…people like victor lana are afraid to think of anything that makes them uncomfortable!!!

  8. I watch the show and a lot of what is presented makes sense. I don’t get the impression that the proponents of ” ancient alien theory ” are crazy or looking for attention or fame or anything like that. To me they seem to be very intelligent people who seek the truth. I think that ancient alien theory explains a whole lot of questions a whole lot better than religion.

  9. Just watch Ancient Aliens debunked on youtube. It makes these moron’s on the history channel seem really stupid or they are depending on stupid people to believe their nonsense and make money off of them.

  10. Antidevil'sadvocate

    My thoughts overlap with truthseeker to an extent.
    Ancient Aliens seems to be taking the first step to shooting in the dark and coming up with reasonably trustworthy explanations than what already exists. Either way, we don’t have an answer beyond a certain point to many questions – I come from an Indian Brahmin family, and each time a Brahmin child is born, a horoscope is written, and this horoscope has all the planets in the Solar System plus two invisible planets. As part of the system, a child born is said to be born under a specific constellation. How is it possible to document this information without a telescope or by just staring at the sky ? Furthermore, Ancient Aliens talk about “Vimanas” and it is absolutely true. There are only two options, one could easily dismiss some of the stories from ancient culture/s as “stories” or believe that there existed an advance civilization (and the only way that would have been possible would have been with extraterrestrial help). Dismissing them as “stories” is the easy way out. Ancient Aliens seeks to take the difficult path to prove something difficult and connect the dots, kudos to them for trying just that.

  11. I had many of the thoughts and ideas long before the show. I accepted them truths since the age of 3 and have always considered it almost common sense. Some kind of natural thought process that had me just knowing we were from alien stock. Then again, maybe it’s because my mom left pot cookies on the table and I ate them. Hey, I was born in the late 70’s, all the kids were doing it!

    • My thoughts were initially that we actually invent time travel in the future where we have messed ourselves up beyond belief and we’re coming back to give ourselves advanced knowledge to further our intelligence before we die. We’re trying to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves…I guess…one of the many theories I had as a child. Also possible that The aliens were dying and wanting to preserve their DNA. They landed amongst the Jewish people “the chosen ones” and altered their DNA. This triggered our evolution as we become more like them. I also think, in a misguided way, it’s what Hitler considered the master race, because it lead to white skin. Also, it could be why we have different blood types. ALL of this was stuff I thought of around 8 years old…

  12. will somebody tell me more about burmuda triangle?

    • Yes. It’s a brand of hand-held percussion instrument manufactured as a joint project between the governments of Myanmar and Bermuda.

  13. The universe is vast… to say it’s just us and that’s it, and to just shoot down anyone who asks the question is arrogant and naïve. And you must remember that it’s the ancient alien THEORY not ancient alien LAW. The law of gravity has been proven beyond doubt… you can not dispute it since there is more than enough evidence to prove gravity exists…hence LAW not THEORY. I wonder how many people called Sir Isaac Newton a moron or crazy because of his theory on gravity that turned into a law. More than likely Newton asked questions about gravity, why things fell, how does it work, what causes gravity, at what rate do things fall, does weight matter, etc etc. That is what ancient alien theorists are doing and they admit it constantly. In one of the newer episodes Mr. Daniken says in his book, I’m probably off on this, but he asks more questions about the idea of aliens than saying that they actually exist. I believe he mentions how many question marks he uses. Anyway, throwing daggers to shoot someone down because of asking questions shows arrogance and ignorance. Me personally, the show has my curiosity and now I’ve been watching more shows dealing with aliens. It makes me look up in the sky a lot more, that’s for sure! Some of the AA shows have been a little over the top, but again, they are asking questions and pointing out things in our vast world and universe that may be pointing to bigger things than ourselves – nothing wrong with that. Something bigger and smarter than us??? Gasp, I know. Another thought I have on this and many people’s opposing views to the AA theory is that we can’t have it both ways. What I mean is when we were in school, we were taught how primitive man was and how their tools were as well – pictures in our text books show that and we can see them in museums. Evidence presented from the show (and other evidence) has shown in pyramids and statues etc that the engineering and precision is far beyond what just wood and stone tied together could have done. We can’t say in one breathe here are all of their tools in a museum, look how primitive it was – then look at the engineering masterpieces of the pyramids and then in then next breathe when someone says “hmmm maybe they had help, maybe from more intelligent beings” you get to say “hey moron…no way could that have happened!” Unfair, arrogant, ignorant and wait, what’s wrong with an open mind? I believe in God, have I read every page of the Bible, nope…but I do believe in God. My beliefs are that God created the world AND universe, says so in the Bible too. So there is the possibility that there is more than us in our little blue marble in the enormous universe…that aliens COULD exist… Do they? Are they here already? Did they help smarten us up? Did they help us build our societies and wonders in our world? Just questions… with some compelling evidence… Glad the guys and gals on AA are asking them and starting the conversation.

    • There’s a lot wrong with your comment, not least that you’re confused as to what a theory is and what a law is.

      Yes, there is a law of gravity, but it merely describes what gravity does – not how it works. As to the theory, we’re still not sure what gravity is: whether it’s one of the universal forces like electromagnetism, or whether it’s simply the warping of spacetime by matter. Einstein’s general theory of relativity is what we use to understand gravity, but we still do not know for sure how two bodies – sometimes at enormous distances – are able to attract one another. There are probably gravitational waves, but we have yet to detect one.

      Your more egregious error is to dismiss ancient civilizations as “primitive”. In fact, the technology of ancient Egypt was as far removed from that of “cavemen” as ours is from theirs. The Egyptians were perfectly capable of building their pyramids and temples with no outside intervention.

      I’m glad that the History Channel inspires you to look up at the skies – it certainly makes me roll my eyes heavenwards a lot of the time! – but take the time to explore and understand the wonderful things that are actually there, rather than things for which there is no evidence.

      As a wise person once said, keeping an open mind is admirable – but not so open that your brains fall out.

      • Rob, thanks for the reply! The purpose of my post was not to discuss what gravity is and everything about it, though thank you for the science lesson. I was just trying to say that when Newton started asking about gravity to develop the theory and law that he was probably hit with nay sayers just like ancient alien theorists are. that’s it. And I’m don’t believe Egyptians were primitive… they and Grecian civilizations were advanced for their time… but according to AA theory what was done to build the pyramids etc would have taken a lot more than what they had… it’s interesting and the questions can be asked. And no worries… there is much appreciation to what’s here in front of me!

        • Actually, a number of archaeologists and engineers have shown over the years that the pyramids could have been built with known ancient Egyptian technology. This NOVA documentary chronicles one of the best-known demonstrations.

          There are many theories as to the actual methodology but there is a general consensus that the Egyptians were well capable of building pyramids without any outside guidance.

      • Rob, you look like an alien yourself in this photograph, mean no offence, though. Sun glasses, uncompromising expression; Do you really believe present technology is the most advanced that the earth has seen. Humans societies are plagued with opposing and contradicting emotions, and judging situations by common sense. Barring this we may have decoded the finest of creation’s wonders.
        Judgement is itself based on memory, whereas events are unrepeated, and not of memory, but spontaneous. Tomorrow’s events cannot be predicted from existing database of events -though I have met a couple of people who could tell you tomorrow’s events and warn you against some.

        • “Do you really believe present technology is the most advanced that the earth has seen.”

          Yes. There is no evidence that technology more advanced than that we possess now ever existed in the past.

          And if you really think the pyramids, the Nazca lines, the Easter Island statues etc. represent such technologies you need to explain why.

          Invoking alien intervention is, in my opinion, an insult to the ingenuity of the civilizations that built these structures.

    • We are asking questions to answers that we already know. Questioning opens a new possibility and possibly opens another block in your brain-that is if don’t run to your teacher or text books, etc, seeking answer. And, sorry, mind was apart from brain. PLEASE DON’T MIND BUT BRAIN. So, we ask q’s and look for ans within the frame of what we already know. This is the pattern we are taught to think in all societies – globally. That is the reason we ALL are not going beyond 3 dimensions, THOUGH WE KNOW THERE ARE MORE DIMENSIONS. Whether the aliens came, planted seeds, or otherwise cannot be answered in yes/no or text book style answers-after all text books are tailored-GLOBALLY! So, we, in all countries, or skin shades or slant of eyes are eating the food already cooked tutored and doctored for us. Call their bluff-if you got it in you……ha ha ha ha. You will search for answers to that questions – that is the pattern you are conditioned, in fact you may demand if there is any other response to questions !!!! In fact you will not know even when the question has been “answered” or figured out by your brain-because you are not conditioned to see outside the box-OR EXPECT. KICK THESE CRUTCHES, YOU CAN SEE THE PULL TO TRANSCEND YOUR LIMITATIONS.
      YOU MUST NEVER TRUST ANYONE MORE THAN YOUR OWN SELF. PRACTISE TO PERCEIVE AND JUDGE BY YOURSELF.

  14. the show is absolute crap. a lot of time the present fake facts and evidence for example peru dinosaur rocks or the bosnian pyramids which are proven hoax… dont watch the show. i’m surprised that history channel allows this crap to be aired.

  15. I agree with you that the shows are for entertainment purposes. All the shows I have watched (although I don’t watch for too long) use words or phrases such as “what if” “suppose” “maybe” “could have” “might have been” etc. There is no physical evidence of any of their theories. But, what irritates me about these shows is that people do believe it is true. And it’s not. Read some actual ancient historical documents. They don’t refer to aliens. The best ancient historical document is the Bible. God is not an alien. The events that happened in ancient times were not alien events. People should use common sense when watching these shows. And why should we be so conceited to think that our later generations are the only people that can perform master feats? I imagine 1,000 – 2,000 people then will wonder how we manged to do what we did without outside help (if we are still here).

  16. The only thing the show repeatedly keep doing is by asking questions ” what if” or “could they”. They never assert but use intriguing instances or happenings to correlate with ET. And that is where the show gets it right.

  17. I am still waiting for the program to show us some simple sign of “technology”, such as a lost or discarded ray gun, communicator, or ANY element of advanced technology. Piles of rocks and stone structures that early man probably spent a hundred years to build, do not indicate ETs, or any advanced visitor technology..

  18. This “show” is an insult to old civilisations, who had technologies we don’t understand anymore, sometimes a glimpse becomes visible like the old ankythera mechanism found in a 2000 year old Greek shipwreck. We still don’t understand how it exactly worked.
    It’s such a pity that “history” channel has become a caricature of itself.
    Shows like Pawn stars, Storage wars and so on are amusing for a lot of people apparantly but have nothing to do with history, just amusement…

    • Ahh i disagree with this statement. There is lots of history in the shows Pawn Stars And Storage Wars. They teach you the related history to every item that comes in!

  19. I really think there are many oversummarising statements in this show in looking for traits of alien intervention. However, the people being interviewed were a vast majority of experts from different fields of studies, not only alien theorist advocators alone. Arguments and questions that are thrown into the assumption of alien visitation are fairly reasonable with proofs from phyicians, scientists, expert crafters who undoubtly admmited the anicent methods and itelligence of building huge complex structures were not possible without external help. I was amazed by how they show us the smooth cutting edges of the gigantic stones and the way they interlocked into each other.

  20. this show makes me go to sleep!

  21. What do you think pyramid can be built 4000 years ago without the help of alien?You think hindu mythology is a hoax?
    If human intelligence then why majority of the world believes in god.any human being in crisis will straight away prayer to god for help.

  22. Simple, better it be aliens than the ancient africans who actually built them. It tickles me how in 2013 a major network is promoting such rasist foolishness. Africans! Built the pyramids!

  23. The Vatican is now clearly able to embrace the possibility that we may well not be alone in the Big, Wide U.. I wonder how they respond officially to the notion that there might be a physical intermediary (to ANY varying degree) between us and Source?

    Not surprising that vested interests really don’t want to drill down too far on this.
    Me? I just enjoy looking for patterns in anomalous evidence and contemporary mythology, so color me idiot if it makes you feel better.

  24. It is no shame to admit that we simply do not know the why and how of the universe and life itself as pertains to why it exists and how did it all come into existence. As we see there are many great theories proposed from science, philosophy, religions etc. to explain it all. All deserve merit and consideration as anyone of them could be right.

    But we simply do not know for sure and to me that leaves the door open that anything is possible to explain where we came from, where we are going for eternity and the “why” of it all, will finally be answered at that time.

    I do personally feel the concept of ancient aliens that are responsible for life and the universe itself is not to far fetched to believe. But that is just my personal opinion and I have no discernible proof for this belief except that maybe I do not see it and understand it because I have never seen or understood its existence.

    Who really can say for sure?

  25. QUOTE “My biggest question as I watch this is why, if they came and were so interested in human affairs, did the aliens leave? Why did they not stay to see the seeds they planted grow?”

    My theory is, and for the sake of argument say you have built an ant colony. How long are you going to stick around? Or would you come back periodically to check for progress? Also, what would be the relation of time to the ants as to time according to you? (eg., a couple of months for you would be an entire lifespan for ants)

    Or

    Given the possibility of the technology found over 2000 years ago, the progress mankind has made since then, wouldn’t the aliens have had made the same (if not more) progress to deflect light (be invisible?)

    QUOTE “I mean, if they helped the Egyptians build the pyramids, why don’t they help us build spaceships that can go to their planet at the speed of light, or better yet teach us how to end hunger, cancer, and war.”

    Given the state of mankind today, with the wars and fear mongering, have we really learnt anything? I mean, people can barely drive cars properly, most of the world blindly believes in big pharma for medicine, and any if not most people (including me) are instantly skeptical of future technology that seems too good to exist.

    Consider the following:

    Alien walks upto me in human form

    Alien: “Hi Nikhil! I have come from another planet to teach you how to build a spaceship. And cure hunger. And cure cancer. And end all wars. All you have to do is believe!”

    Me: “Holy Shit! I believe you! Teach me everything!” or more likely “F***ing scientologist (or any other cult member) talking out of his ass! Get away from me before I mace you!”

    OR

    Alien walks up to you in alien form

    Alien: “Hi Nikh…!”

    Me: (shoot him or faint screaming like a little girl)

    Having gotten all that out of my system, I think I’ll go down Ancient Aliens now.

  26. I think they still walk among us look at justin bieber

  27. All the questions arises in this program can be solved by help of Indian mythology but unfortunately the producer of the program dont have the knowledge of Indian Mythology. In Hindu mythology we believe that this world has destroyed and constructed 6 times these are known as 6th Kalp(in Hindi). Every Kalp has 4 yUga(era) i,e sathyug,treta,dwapar and kalyug(which is running) .And every Kalp had its MANU(who started life on Earth) , presently we are all children of VAvSAT MANU. In our mythology every God has its own VIMAN(flying Machine).

  28. constructed *reconstructed in below comment

  29. someone explain to me how all of the massive ancient structures ( great pyramids, pumapunku, mohenjo daro, macchupichu, Angkor wat, Nazca lines, easter island etc) LINE UP PERFECTLY ACROSS THE GLOBE? think about those implications. if you took a basketball and drew a line around it, this is how these structures align across the globe. someone tell me how this is possible please.

    • Texas sharpshooter fallacy.

      If you draw a great circle from any random point on the globe, you’re pretty much guaranteed to find some ancient sites on or near it.

      Now perhaps you can explain why Chichen Itza, the Great Wall of China, the Yeha temple, Zimbabwe, Jericho, the Anasazi cliff dwellings, Stonehenge, Newgrange, the Pantheon, the Parthenon etc are nowhere near your circle, and what’s so special about the sites on your list that they are.

      Some of your sites aren’t exactly what you would call massive either. Nazca is just lines etched in the ground. The Easter Island heads aren’t that large compared to other ancient monuments. Many of them aren’t even all that ancient. Machu Picchu, Angkor, the Nazca lines and the Easter Island statues are all less than 1000 years old.