[music playing] GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: I'm in the
nation's capital, Washington, DC. And everywhere I look, I'm
reminded of the ancient world. There are Greek pillars, a giant
stupa-shaped dome, and even a huge Egyptian-style obelisk. But it's not just
the architecture that was inspired by
civilizations that thrived thousands of years ago. Many of America's
founding fathers including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin
Franklin, and George Washington were steeped in
ancient knowledge and even believe that
intelligent life existed throughout the universe. But was this belief based
on logical speculation, or was it based
on something more? I'm on a mission to find
out if there might be more to this country's origins
than what we've been told by mainstream scholars. And to see if there are
any real connections between extraterrestrials
and the founding of America. My name is Giorgio Tsoukalos. I explore the world that
exists between reality and speculation, the
Known and unknown. What we've been taught
by mainstream scholars is not the whole picture. But I'm convinced
that every day, we are one step
closer to the truth. [music playing] On July 19, 1952, during
the height of the Cold War, an air traffic controller at
Washington National Airport picked up seven unidentified
flying objects on his radar screen approaching
our nation's capitol. He initially feared that
they were Soviet military but quickly determined
otherwise based on their strange movement. Witnesses in the
airport tower reported seeing large, bright lights
moving quickly across the sky. Some speeding away and
others simply disappearing. These lights were reported to be
seen over the Capitol building, the White House, and
the Washington Monument. Fighter Jets were deployed
to intercept the objects. But as they closed in, the
mysterious lights suddenly disappeared. Several days after this event,
Major General John Sanford, director of intelligence for
the United States Air Force, addressed the issue at a
Pentagon press conference. We have received and analyzed
between one and 2,000 reports that have been made by credible
observers of relatively incredible things. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: But what
were these strange lights? Could they have been some
sort of alien spacecraft? And if so, what were they
doing in Washington, DC? Some have suggested that
since ancient times, extraterrestrials have
monitored human progress. It may have even played a role
in influencing human history. So is it possible that they have
been watching over the United States of America and
even guiding its progress since the nation's
very beginnings? I'm in our nation's
capital, Washington, DC, to meet with historian Richard
Dolan, an expert on the history of extraterrestrial contact
and UFO events in the United States. With his help, I
hope to find out if there's a history of
documented contact right here in Washington, and possibly
dating back to the founding fathers. Richard has studied not
only early American history but he's authored several books
on the hidden history of UFO contact and its influence
upon our government. America or the United
States was supposed to be this place of freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion-- Absolutely. --all these things that were
censored and looked down upon in the old country. So in your view of
history, has a country ever existed that was based on the
principles of the United States with the tenets of freedom
of speech and religion, and the pursuit of happiness? That's the beautiful thing
about the United States. The truly beautiful thing is
that this was the place where those principles were
first incorporated into the very foundation
of the society. That's what we talk about when
we mean the American dream. This is a place where you had
freedom of speech, freedom to be yourself. America was always
considered the New World. When Columbus got here,
it was the New World. And back in the
days of Washington, they were very aware of that. And when they were
creating that republic, they consciously were trying to
create a new and better world, one based on
principles of freedom. The discovery
of America really was like a discovery
of a new world because when Christopher
Columbus sailed westward from Spain across
the Atlantic Ocean, there were those who thought
that he would either reach Asia or he would fall off
the edge of the Earth. They had no idea that
America even existed. On the night of
October 11, 1492, just days before he reached
land, Columbus wrote in his log that from the deck
of the Santa Maria, he saw, and I quote, a light
glimmering at a great distance and appeared like the light of
a wax candle moving up and down. Now, they were
too far out to sea for this to have been
a light from shore. So what could it have been? Some kind of an
extraterrestrial beacon? A sign that Columbus and his
companions were being welcomed? But if so, by whom? Washington, Jefferson,
Franklin, James Madison-- all of these thinkers
and more were enamored of the ancient
Greeks and the ancient Romans. And they were very
self-consciously trying to bring back
those traditions. That's why we have this
institution called the Senate that comes out of ancient Rome. That's why all the
architecture is based on classical models, the
classical pillars and the domes and all of this. This is all right
out of classical-- And I think it's
a great homage to the great free thinkers
of the ancient world because you wouldn't create
these structures unless it were to honor where this whole
knowledge and these ideas originated. For sure. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Shortly
after the start of the American Revolutionary War
on July 4, 1776, the 13 colonies formally
severed their ties to England, both politically
and philosophically. It is well-documented that
many of the men whom we call the founding fathers
fully embraced the Age of Enlightenment, a
social movement that valued science over superstition,
and individual human rights over what they
considered the tyranny of the European monarchies. A big part of this philosophy
was a concept dating back to the 5th century BC called the
plurality of worlds, the belief that life exists
not only on Earth but throughout the
entire universe. One of the questions
I'm dying to ask you is that there are these
rumors that have circulated that at some point, George
Washington apparently made contact with these
green-skinned people. Is there any truth to that? Because I find it incredible. I did look into this. I feel that there's
no justification for this whatsoever. But here's the interesting
thing about Washington. There were many stories
or myths about him during the days of
Valley Forge which was a really horrible,
difficult, dark time for Washington and
the Continental Army. And many of these men starved
and froze to death that winter. It was horrific. And during that time,
Washington would go out to pray, trying to get guidance,
spiritual guidance. And he had some kind
of mystical encounter. He supposedly was
met by this woman who called him son of the republic. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: According
to one of the accounts, a strange so-called
woman in white informed Washington
of the victory that a Continental Army would
have against the British. She presented him with a
vision of the new United States of America. General Washington was even
shown a map of the United States. And as raindrops fell onto this
map, cities began to appear, popping up throughout
the entire country. It was a model of what the
United States would look like in the future. So that is very
interesting to me, because the idea or the
legends of cosmic mothers are prevalent throughout
ancient history. And it supposedly surfaced
from one of the survivors of Valley Forge. You get a number of these myths,
stories about Washington having some kind of mystical
encounter at Valley Forge. Could it be true? Sure, it could be true. [music playing] I'm about to meet
with grandmaster Akram Elias, a long time
Freemason in Washington, DC. And I want to find out about
Freemasonry's influence on some of our founding fathers such
as Washington and Jefferson, and to see how Freemasonry
may have impacted the birth of our nation. [music playing] This is amazing. So grandmaster
Elias, where are we? What is this particular room? Please, please call me Akram. I will. Thank you. Well, we are here
in the Masonic Lodge Room of the Scottish
Rite in Washington, DC. Architecture, in short, is
very important in Masonry and that is one of the reasons
why the Supreme Being is referred to as the Grand
Architect of the Universe by Freemasons. Now, the letter G,
quite often people think it's related to God. In fact, the letter G is the
initial of the word Geometry. And the idea, again, of the
Grand Architect of the Universe is the Grand Geometrician. It doesn't matter what
religion they come from. But the word architect brings
reason, design, and beauty together. And the origins really go back
to the Renaissance period, which is the time when
scientific discovery, the explosion in art, and
Renaissance going back to some of the ancients, the
Greeks, and the Romans, what was the lost knowledge,
how can we bring it back. This is incredibly
fascinating to me, because these are essentially
the original tenets of the United States. And so with the idea that, you
know, George Washington was a Mason, you know, people have
forgotten that in the end, this is all connected. AKRAM ELIAS: Absolutely. I may even go
further by saying it was the law of the Masonic
ideals and principles that inspired the founding
fathers and helped the founding of this nation. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
According to historians, nine signers of the
Declaration of Independence and 13 signers of the
Constitution were Freemasons. And Akram told me that Master
Mason George Washington was so passionate about the
concepts of Freemasonry that on September
18, 1793, he insisted on laying the cornerstone
of the Capitol building according to Masonic
ceremonial traditions. AKRAM ELIAS: George
Washington, dressed in his full Masonic regalia, led
a Masonic parade from the White House to Jenkins Hill, which
is now called Capitol Hill, to lay the cornerstone
of the US Capitol. The powerful symbol of
this new grand experiment, the legislative branch. Was it more acceptable
for George Washington to show up in his regalia
with people back in the day scoff at that or
was it something that was accepted in society? No, it was very much accepted. And as a matter of fact,
the United States stood out in a way because so
many of the founders, founding fathers of
the United States were Freemasons and
proud to be Freemasons. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: One of
the most fascinating paintings that exists of George Washington
is an 1866 lithograph that depicts him in his
Masonic regalia and there is a Masonic imagery
throughout the painting. Over his right shoulder is
the popular Freemason's symbol of Jacob's Ladder, which
comes from the biblical story where Jacob witnesses angels
ascending and descending a ladder from heaven. But in the painting, the
ladder doesn't appear to be coming from
heaven, it looks to be coming out of
a dark, round object emitting multicolored lights. So are we really looking at
a ladder from heaven here or could this be a ramp coming
out of some type of craft? And if so, what is it doing in
a painting of George Washington? I can get you into some of
the additional Masonic symbolism in the city. The Washington Monument is
an extraordinary example of Masonic symbolism
in the city. In fact, it was the one thing
that triggered my interest, curiosity. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Really? I said, what is an obelisk, an
Egyptian-style structure doing here in the middle
of Washington, DC? The architect was a Freemason. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
At 555 feet high, the Washington Monument is the
largest obelisk on the planet and hearkens back
to the ancient world more than any other
structure in Washington, DC. The Freemasons built it so that
the constellation of Pleiades would be visible directly
over its pyramid-shaped tip. But even more fascinating is the
fact that they also installed a reflecting pool so
the observer is given the impression that the monument
itself is not only pointing up to the heavens, but is
pointing from the heavens down into the earth. This notion represents
another concept that the Freemasons adopted
from the ancient world, that of as above, so below. Meaning, the world
of the universe is also right here
all around us. Then I started looking
at the architects. And then I discovered that all
the major architects who worked on these major
structures were also Freemasons from
the Supreme Court, to the United States
Capitol, to the White House, or the Lincoln Memorial. And I said, wow. And of course, an
architect is an artist. And an artist reflects
his or her views, beliefs, whatever it is in their art. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Now
just as interesting to me as the Washington Monument
is the Dome of the Capitol building. I mean, look at it. It looks exactly like a
stupa, a bell-shaped dome that was believed by
ancient Buddhists to have mystical powers. Numerous ancient Sanskrit
texts describe stupas as chariots of the
gods, flying machines in which powerful beings
came down from the heavens. There are even those who believe
that the stupas design helps people underneath it
to connect directly with extraterrestrial knowledge. So I've always been curious
about the dollar bill. And since I've got
you right here, I want to see if there's
anything you can explain to me about the symbolism that
exists on our dollar bill. This is the most esoteric
piece of paper money that exists on the
face of the Earth. And esoteric means it has hidden
symbols that only somebody who has been taught to decipher
them can really understand them. So I'm going to start
with the pyramid. The pyramid is really
connected to the obelisk because both are to create
symbols from ancient Egypt, the great builders. Now, below the
pyramid you will see there is a Latin inscription. It says, "novus ordo
seclorum", which in Latin means "new order for the ages". The founders were basically
telling us, it is up to you future generations of Americans
to keep the building going. And to do that building, you
need the source of light. And that's why you see
on top of the pyramid an all seeing eye with
light in a triangle. It's also a symbol
from ancient Egypt. It's mythological. You interpret it
any way you want. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: I mean,
there are countless cultures with that exact same idea. The Masonic symbolism
on the dollar bill is fascinating, especially the
all-seeing eye because this is an ancient symbol
that is sometimes meant to suggest that there is
someone or something watching over us. So for men who are
promoting science and reason over religious faith,
what might this mean? Was the all-seeing eye meant
to allude to the Almighty God? Or could it be that the founding
fathers believed that there was some other, perhaps some kind
of extraterrestrial presence, guiding their way,
a presence that may have had a vested interest
in the American experiment. [music playing] GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: I'm
talking with grandmaster Akram Elias, a long time
Freemason in Washington, DC, who has been pointing
out to me just how abundant Masonic symbolism
is in America's capital. But what really caught
my interest is the fact that the symbolism doesn't
end with the architecture. There are symbols built
right into the layout of the city itself. Since Washington, DC, was
designed on a map what makes it unique is that it had to
be designed with the intent that it should reflect a
philosophy of government. Right. And geometry. So if you look at
Washington, DC, everything is
geometrically-shaped. The Capitol is at the center. The district is divided into
four quadrants-- northeast, northwest, southeast,
southwest-- very scientific. So now, when you look
at the city from above, you're going to see the
intersection between avenues and streets forming,
obviously, geometric shapes-- triangles, rectangles, squares. This is to make a
very important point. This new form of
government will not be based on religion to govern
the affairs of the people. It will be based on the
scientific method, geometry, reason, and beauty. I must call you grandmaster
Elias because this has been very, very-- That's very kind of you. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
To find out more about the design of
our nation's capital, I'm heading to Logan Circle
in downtown Washington to meet up with Freemason
Mark Koltko-Rivera and local historical
surveyor Chas Langelan. These are some very
interesting instruments, and I presume they're quite old. They're wonderful. 1700s, early 1800s. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: No way. The period of time that
the city of Washington was surveyed. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: To
get a hands-on demonstration of how the founding fathers
planned and surveyed the city and with the actual instruments
they would have used was really amazing. This is the angle
device, transit. This is how they measure
distances in colonial times. Can you show us here on the
field how some of these things were actually implemented? They didn't have a
flexible steel tape. Prior to that, it was this-- 33-foot surveyor's chain. Why 33 feet? Exactly. Why? 33 feet works
into a mile evenly. It works into an acre evenly. You want to try it? Yeah, absolutely. Where do I go? It's interesting that the
length of the surveyor's chain is exactly 33 feet. 3 is a mystical number in
Freemasonry dating back to ancient times. Is it possible that a 33-foot
measuring device was chosen, once again, to keep
with Masonic principles or is this just a coincidence? Plunk it down. Congratulations, you've just
measured the first 33 feet of the continental
United States. Keep going then
measure it back and you will do what the surveyors did. It's awesome to think that the
entire city of Washington, DC, was measured to make such
a design using nothing but chains. And the effort it clearly took
the founding fathers to realize their vision got me
even more curious about the design they chose
and the purpose behind it. Is it possible that the founding
fathers perhaps intended for it to be recognized from the sky? What do you think somebody
might see seeing Washington, DC from space? CHAS LANGELAN: You know, there's
been articles that L'Enfant speculated about that. I think they're true. Pierre L'Enfant,
he was the engineer of the city of Washington,
the designer of the city, or a planner. And he played with symmetry,
which was a brand new revolutionary god-send. The Eastern 13 colonies are, if
you look at them from the air, the lines and the
roads and the fields are all cockeyed and catawampus. It's the old English system. That system came here we
were English colonies. He wanted his plan
to be symmetrical. These circles were
lined up on high points but then he played with them. He wanted it and it's
not exactly symmetrical, he wasn't able to
get it perfect. Sure. But he played with it. Make this the
parallel with that, parallel with that,
this, this, this, this. Make them parallel. In other words, he could have
connected an avenue from here to here, but he didn't
because he wanted symmetry. He was concerned about
what the plan would look like from the air. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
This is really fascinating to think that the founding
fathers along with surveyor, Pierre L'Enfant,
also a Freemason, considered what Washington,
DC would look like from high above the Earth when they
came up with their design for the city. In the ancient
world, we can find a number of sites
purposely designed to be seen from the sky. Most famously, we have
the Nazca lines in Peru. But there's also the
Serpent Mound in Ohio, the Kofun Tombs in Japan,
the Atacama Giant in Chile, and numerous others. And of course, in
the ancient world, the mythology was always
that these places were meant to be seen by the gods. So what were the intentions
of the founding fathers? Could it be that the founding
fathers, many of whom believe that intelligent
life existed elsewhere on other planets,
designed Washington, DC In the anticipation that
America might one day be visited by extraterrestrials? Or is it possible that America
had already been visited hundreds of years ago? [music playing] GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
On April 5, 1800, Vice President Thomas Jefferson
received one of America's first official UFO reports. Astronomer William Dunbar
in Baton Rouge, Louisiana reported to Jefferson
that he witnessed a bright glowing light the
size of a large house hovering 200 yards above the ground. Dunbar said that it was very
bright, gave up a lot of heat, and crashed to the
earth close by. [explosion] Jefferson took this
report very seriously. So much so that he wrote
about it in his diary. He even presented it to the
American Philosophical Society. And to this day, Thomas
Jefferson, along with former US President Jimmy Carter,
remain the most powerful public figures ever to
officially acknowledge a UFO encounter. It's incredible to me that
Thomas Jefferson reported a UFO sighting and almost no
one today knows about it. But one of his contemporaries
was even more adamant that we are not alone in the universe. [music playing] I'm in Philadelphia to learn
more about the founding father who was the most outspoken
of all concerning his ideas about extraterrestrial life--
Benjamin Franklin. To find out why Ben Franklin
was such a strong proponent of the notion that life
exists beyond Earth, I'm meeting up with author and
historian Michael Zuckerman. Michael and I have arranged to
meet at Philadelphia's Stanton House built by James Logan,
a friend of Ben Franklin. So did Ben Franklin
frequent this house? Franklin would
have come here a lot because Franklin loved
books and Logan had the most amazing library,
for sure, in Pennsylvania. Really. Probably in all
of early America, and the only library
that ever approached it, was Ben Franklin's own library
as he built it later on. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
Even though America's founding fathers included
some of the most brilliant men America has ever known,
Benjamin Franklin still managed to stand out. He was an inspired genius,
whose advanced scientific ideas on everything from
electricity and light waves to weather patterns and ocean
currents placed him on par with men like Leonardo da
Vinci and Albert Einstein. He contributed to everything. He was the greatest
diplomat America ever had, the greatest
scientist we ever had. And he was the most important
scientist of the 18th century period. And he got honorary degrees
from half a dozen universities. He was a great writer. He was obviously an inventor. But he was a civic leader,
he was the most powerful politician in Pennsylvania. He was a military man. There was nothing
he couldn't do. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
It's staggering what Benjamin Franklin was able
to accomplish with virtually no formal education. As a young man, he refused to
attend church, but instead, educated himself about
all the major religions. MICHAEL ZUCKERMAN: He was
the antithesis of spiritual. Despite that, he read
widely in theology, he wrote more theology
than any non-clergyman in all of colonial America. How do you think Franklin
has approached the idea of the plurality of worlds? For people of some scientific
knowledge in the 18th century, it was a given scientific fact. Franklin said that if
you're going to pray, it's a grand mistake to pray to
God, because God has to watch over this enormous cosmos. God can't be bothered with
this tiny little planet Earth. So Franklin took it
as a given that there were many, many other worlds. He imagined serried ranks
of angels taking care of different parts
of that universe, and he just took that
as a matter of fact. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
The concept of the plurality of worlds
originated in ancient Greece. But what many people don't know
is that the founding fathers were also heavily influenced
by Native American culture and their stories of beings
that descended from the stars. It's becoming
increasingly clear to me that the concept of life
existing beyond Earth had a strong influence
on the founding fathers. I'm really curious to
discover what they learned from the people who
first inhabited America. [music playing] At this point of
my investigation, I'm convinced that America was
founded by men and women who were undoubtedly religious,
but they were also tolerant of the idea that
intelligent life might exist throughout the universe. They also intentionally
found their new nation on the ancient philosophies of
Rome, Greece, Egypt, and India. Civilizations which, in
turn, credited their origins to so-called gods, visitors
from the stars who came to Earth and shared their
wisdom with mankind. I'm also becoming convinced that
another ancient civilization played a significant
role in conducting the American experiment,
that of the native Iroquois. For this reason, I've traveled
to Georgetown in Washington, DC to meet with Dr. Donald Grinde,
an expert on Iroquois history. How are you? Pleasure to meet you. How are you? GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: I'm
interested to hear how the Iroquois Six Nations
Treaty may have actually been an inspiration to
our very own Constitution. I've heard all these
different stories about how the Iroquois
played an instrumental part in the creation of our nation. What can you tell me
about the Iroquois? Well, the Iroquois are
Haudenosaunee people, it's what they call
themselves, which means People of the Longhouse. And they, basically in New York
State and Southern Ontario, they're the indigenous
people to those areas. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
What can you tell me about Chief Canassatego? Who was he? And why was he so significant? Well, Canassatego was a
Six Nations Iroquois chief. He spoke at a treaty
that Benjamin Franklin was in attendance in 1754. And he told the
American colonists that they should
think about developing a confederation similar to
the Iroquois Confederacy. Did this great law of peace
inspired the founding fathers to found this nation
on similar laws? Yes, yes. Benjamin Franklin was inspired
about the Iroquois, how they govern. It is generally regarded
as one of the first steps towards independence. Are there any
specific concepts that you're aware of that have
made it into our present day government? Well, I mean there's
"We, the people", which is sovereignty or
power resides in the people. Under the monarchical
system, sovereignty resided in the king who
was appointed by god. And "we, the people" is how the
Iroquois Constitution starts. It's about the people. I'm excited to see how
much the principles and even the structure of
American government was inspired by the
native Iroquois. But I'm also curious if the
founding fathers were equally influenced by the
Iroquois' own stories about having
extraterrestrial origins. What can you tell
me about Skywoman? The Skywoman is part of the
Iroquois-Haudenosaunee creation story. There's a world in the
sky and she falls down towards the Earth which
is covered with water. And then a giant turtle
rises up to catch her. And that land is what
Haudenosaunee people call Turtle Island,
which is North America. If you look at a map
of North America, North America looks
like a turtle. Mexico down to
Panama is the tail. Florida is one back-leg. Baja, California is
the other backleg. The frontleg is Alaska. And the other frontleg
is up near Labrador. And the turtle is
kind of like that. It's interesting that you
would have a creation story and a recognition that North
America looked like that without satellites
in those days. You just took the
words out of my mouth. It's fascinating to hear
that a turtle figures into this Iroquois
creation story because in ancient cultures
all over the world, you can find origin stories
that begin with a cosmic turtle. Now, in the case
of the Iroquois, it is said that a giant turtle
rose up to catch the Skywoman. but could this
really be a reference to some kind of spacecraft? But even if a
turtle in the story is only referring to the shape
of North America that's just as incredible because how would
ancient Native Americans have had any idea about the
shape of the continent unless they could
see it from space? When the American
Revolution started, one of the symbols
of the colonists was a Native American woman. It wasn't until the 1840s or
50s that you get Uncle Sam. Now, this is fascinating to
me that one of the earliest symbols of colonial America
was a Native American woman who may have been a representation
of the Iroquois Skywoman. Because we also have that weird
story of George Washington being visited at Valley Forge
by an angelic female being. In one of the various
versions of the story, the Skywoman goes on to spread
soil and seed while standing on the back of a turtle. The turtle then grows and grows
and becomes rich and fertile. So is the story of the Skywoman
simply a colorful myth? Or could it be a description
of a real flesh and blood extraterrestrial? My investigation must continue. [music playing] I'm fascinated to learn
about the strong connections between men like
Benjamin Franklin and the native Iroquois,
especially as it relates to the incorporation of
Iroquois philosophies and laws into the US Constitution. But I'm also equally excited to
find out that the Iroquois have an origin story concerning a
so-called Skywoman who they believe came to Earth tens
of thousands of years ago and that she served as a
symbol for the United States until the mid-19th century. To learn more, I've
arranged to meet with Native American folklorist
Dr. Joanne Shenandoah, a member of the Oneida
Iroquois Confederacy. Joanne, what can you tell me
how the Iroquois had influence on the founding fathers? Iroquois people
had a beautiful thing to offer America, and that
was democracy, equality, women's rights, and the
respect for human dignity, religious rights. There were no class systems. We didn't have kings and queens. What can you tell me about
the legend of Skywoman? First of all, we don't
consider it a legend. We consider it reality. We believe this is the
beginning of who we are as a people on this Earth. When Joanne told me
that for her people, these stories of beings
descending from the stars are not legend but
reality, it gave me goosebumps because
that is the whole point of the ancient astronaut theory. But would it be safe to say that
the Iroquois greatly influenced the Declaration of
Independence and perhaps even the Constitution? Most definitely. They say my ancestors,
seven generations ago, Chief Shenandoah, was
there on the second floor when that was being signed. So I mean, that's pretty,
pretty amazing right there. There's a room full of Iroquois
people there to witness this event, this great event
of how people could live in freedom and democracy. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: So do
you think that the Iroquois creation story had influence
on the founding fathers? Yes, and I'm not so sure
that America was aware even of the fact that the Iroquois
brought together the colonists and showed them a different way. I truly appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
- Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. If someone were to
challenge and ask me if it is at all possible that
the United States perhaps has some ancient astronaut
origins or at least some connections,
then I tell them to look no further than right
here in the nation's capital, Washington, DC. Because not only can you find
entire monuments and buildings inspired by ancient
civilizations, civilizations which believe
that mankind's ancestors have traveled here from other worlds,
but also because as bizarre as this may sound,
there is a statue that could be interpreted
as an extraterrestrial right here out in the open
for everyone to see. Where is this, you might ask? There, on top of
the Capitol Dome is a statue called
the Spirit of Freedom, but it might just as well
be called the Skywoman. It was sculpted
by Thomas Crawford and dates back to the 1860s. When you look
closely, you can see that she is dressed in what
appears to be the native garb of the Iroquois. And on her head is an
elaborate headdress made of eagle feathers
which is ringed with stars. Perhaps, we shouldn't only
be thinking of America as having founding fathers
but also a founding mother. Is it possible that the Iroquois
stories about a Skywoman were really an attempt
by early humans to describe the visitation
of a female astronaut in the remote past? And could this mean that it was
really an extraterrestrial who inspired the Iroquois to believe
that a good government should guarantee its citizens
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Although I'm not
entirely convinced, I am open to the idea that
the statue on top of the dome could be a depiction of
a real flesh and blood extraterrestrial whose influence
can still be found by those who study our nation's
laws, examine our most sacred of institutions,
and everyone who challenges authority in search of aliens. And it supposedly surfaced
from one of the survivors of Valley Forge. You get a number of these myths,
stories about Washington having some kind of mystical
encounter at Valley Forge. Could it be true? Sure, it could be true. AKRAM ELIAS: This is the most
esoteric piece of paper money that exists on the
face of the Earth. It has hidden symbols
that only somebody who has been taught to decipher
them can really understand them. It's also a symbol
from ancient Egypt. It's mythological. You interpret it
any way you want. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: I mean,
there are countless cultures with that exact same idea. The Masonic symbolism
on the dollar bill is fascinating, especially the
all-seeing eye because this is an ancient symbol
that is sometimes meant to suggest that there is
someone or something watching over us. So for men who are
promoting science and reason over religious faith,
what might this mean? Was the all-seeing eye meant
to allude to the Almighty God? Or could it be that the founding
fathers believed that there was some other, perhaps some kind
of extraterrestrial presence, guiding their way,
a presence that may have had a vested interest
in the American experiment. Plunk it down. Pierre L'Enfant,
he was the engineer of the city of
Washington, the designer of the city or the planner. And he played with
symmetry, which is a brand new revolutionary god-send. parallel with that,
this, this, this, this. Make them parallel. In other words, he could have
connected an avenue from here to here, but he didn't
because he wanted symmetry. He was concerned about
what the plan would look like from the air. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
This is really fascinating to think that the founding
fathers along with surveyor, Pierre L'Enfant,
also a Freemason, considered what Washington,
DC would look like from high above the Earth when they
came up with their design for the city. In the ancient
world, we can find a number of sites
purposely designed to be seen from the sky. Most famously, we have
the Nazca lines in Peru. But there's also the
Serpent Mound in Ohio, the Kofun Tombs in Japan,
the Atacama Giant in Chile, and numerous others. And of course, in
the ancient world, the mythology was always
that these places were meant to be seen by the gods. So what were the intentions
of the founding fathers? Could it be that the founding
fathers, many of whom believe that intelligent
life existed elsewhere on other planets,
designed Washington, DC In the anticipation that
America might one day be visited by extraterrestrials? Or is it possible that America
had already been visited hundreds of years ago? How do you think Franklin
has approached the idea of the plurality of worlds? Franklin took it as a
given, that there were many, many other
worlds, and he just took that as a matter of fact. it was a given scientific fact. Franklin said that if
you're going to pray, it's a grand mistake to pray to
God, because God has to watch over this enormous cosmos. God can't be bothered with
this tiny little planet Earth. So Franklin took it
as a given that there were many, many other worlds. He imagined serried ranks
of angels taking care of different parts
of that universe, and he just took that
as a matter of fact. GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
The concept of the plurality of worlds
originated in ancient Greece. But what many people don't know
is that the founding fathers were also heavily influenced
by Native American culture and their stories of beings
that descended from the stars. It's becoming
increasingly clear to me that the concept of life
existing beyond Earth had a strong influence
on the founding fathers. I'm really curious to
discover what they learned from the people who
first inhabited America. It's interesting that you
would have a creation story and a recognition that North
America looked like that without satellites
in those days. You just took the
words out of my mouth. [music playing]
