Ancient Aliens (2009–…): Season 6, Episode 10 - Aliens and the Lost Ark - full transcript

NARRATOR: A Biblical relic
with incredible powers...

the power to harm...
the power to kill...

even the power to talk to God.

MIKE BARA:
The Ark of the Covenant,

it's the ultimate high
technology device of its day.

ARIEL BAR TZADOK: People were terrified
of this great and awesome Ark.

(horn blowing)
GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Wherever

it showed up, people would
all of a sudden die.

NARRATOR: But is this
mysterious gold chest truly of

divine origin?
Or might its power come from

some even more otherworldly source?



JASON MARTELL: It's a type of
super weapon that was being

controlled or guided from
an extraterrestrial.

NARRATOR: Millions of people
around the world believe we have

been visited in the past by
extraterrestrial beings.

What if it were true?
Did ancient aliens really help

to shape our history?
And if so, might the proof be

found inside the Ark of the Covenant?

Who are the real-world Illuminati ?
Find out @ saveanilluminati.com

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NARRATOR: The West Bank.
July, 2013.

Ten miles north of the Israeli
settlement of Beit El,

archaeologists unearth clay
pots, stoves, and a portion

of a wall dating back to
around 1300 B.C.

But the most mundane of their
findings here may also be the



most significant: holes carved
into the solid rock ground.

Based on the location and the
date of the artifacts, they

believe these holes may have
once held the wooden beams used

to support the Tabernacle at Shiloh.

If true, it is the first
physical evidence ever

discovered of the ancient
sanctuary built to house what is

perhaps the most mysterious
religious relic in the world:

the Ark of the Covenant.

TSOUKALOS: The story of the
Ark of the Covenant is one of

the most fascinating and
unexplored stories of the Bible.

The Ark of the Covenant had
some very mysterious powers.

GRAHAM HANCOCK: The Ark of the
Covenant was what took me

out of mainstream journalism.

I began to wonder, what...
what could this thing have been?

NARRATOR: Reproductions of
the Ark of the Covenant can be

found in churches, synagogues, and
Masonic temples throughout the world.

It has even been featured
in popular culture.

But just what is the
Ark of the Covenant?

Mount Sinai.
The 15th century BC.

According to the Bible's Book of
Exodus, after the Israelites

were released from Egypt, God
summoned Moses to the peak of

this holy mountain and gave him
two stone tablets, carved with

the Ten Commandments.
He also gave him specific

instructions for building the
Ark of the Covenant.

HANCOCK: It was the box that
was constructed to contain

the two tablets of the Ten
Commandments, which were

irradiated with divine power
because they had been touched by

the finger of God.

BARRY DOWNING: The covenant
itself was a contract between

God and the Israelites: "I will
be your God and protect you,

provided you keep
my "commandments."

Israel's end of the deal, then, was
going to be kept in the box,

which is the Ark itself.

NARRATOR: But the Ark of the
Covenant didn't only carry the

Ten Commandments.

It was also said to be the
throne of God himself.

ED FEINSTEIN: In the Book of
Exodus, in the 25th chapter,

the verse is very clear.
God says to Moses,

"V'Asu li mikdash
v'shachanti b'tocham."

"Have them make me a holy place"

and I, God, I will
dwell among "them."

And wherever the Ark went, that
power of God went with them.

TZADOK: The Ark is built in a
reflection of what's called

a "heavenly ark."

It was built two-and-a-half
cubits by one-and-a-half cubits

by one-and-a-half cubits.

So, the Ark would have been
somewhere in the ballpark of

about a three by five
foot rectangular box.

DOWNING: It was going to be
covered with gold, on the

outside and the inside.
And it was to have two gold

rings in each of the four corners.

And it was carried with poles
that were run through the rings.

And the orders were that, uh,
the poles should never be

removed from the rings.
And the lid was to be made out

of gold, and on each end of the
lid were to be, uh, cherubim or

guardian angels, basically,
with wings.

NARRATOR: But why was it so
important that the Ark be

constructed to such exact
specifications?

And why would God, a spiritual
being, require a physical throne

here on Earth?
Perhaps there is an answer in

the Bible's description of Moses
after he returned from Mount Sinai.

TZADOK: After Moses came down

from Mount Sinai, he was
glowing, the Bible says, that he

had to wear a scarf over his face.

TSOUKALOS: I am fascinated
with the idea that Moses...

all of a sudden, his
appearance changed.

And so, the idea that Moses, all
of a sudden, looked different...

we have to ask ourselves why.

NARRATOR: Just what did Moses
encounter on Mount Sinai? Was it God?

Or was it someone or something else?

TZADOK: God is clearly an
entity not of this earth,

and by definition, therefore,
an extraterrestrial.

Where does he come from?
We must recognize that when the

ancients are speaking about God,
there is no other term that we

can use to describe these experiences
other than "extraterrestrial."

NARRATOR:
After the Ark was built

and the Ten Commandments
placed within it, the Israelites

carried it with them on their
40-year exodus through the desert.

FEINSTEIN: The Ark of the
Covenant was considered powerful,

because it was the meeting
place of God and humanity.

And so, it had to be carried on
poles so that it could be

conveyed without being touched.

MICHAEL CARTER: Certain
people were allowed to carry it,

and those people were
ordained priests.

Aaron, Moses' brother, and his
sons were certainly priests.

It was a prestigious job.

But you had to know
what you were doing.

DOWNING: Now, the Ark would
be covered while they're

carrying it, with a cloth, so
that they really couldn't see

what they were carrying.

And they were given strict
orders that they should not lift

up the cloth and look at
the Ark and try to see it.

NARRATOR: But why was the
Ark considered so dangerous

that it couldn't be touched,
or even looked at?

According to the Old Testament
accounts, the Ark of the

Covenant was not only a
powerful device on its own.

It also housed a number of other
important religious relics.

In addition to the Ten
Commandments, it held Aaron's

Rod, the staff that could
miraculously turn into a serpent.

It also held a jar of manna, an
edible starch which, reportedly,

came from the sky.

WILLIAM HENRY: What we begin
to realize is that the Ark of

the Covenant was a sort of tool kit.

And once this tool kit was
assembled, we have the fully

functioning Ark of the Covenant.

TZADOK: The ark went before
them in the wilderness and made

sure the place where the
children of Israel were to go

would be safe and able to
provide for them in the desert.

Anybody who's been to the Sinai
Desert, you could hardly imagine

two-three million people having
any kind of sustenance

in a desert.
So therefore, what the Ark

must have accomplished
was profound.

NARRATOR: The Ark of the
Covenant was said to have

protected and provided for the
Israelites during the Exodus, but how?

TSOUKALOS:
What we can read in the Bible

is that they were
sustained by something

called "manna."
And the big question is where

did this manna come from?

Well, two engineers by a name of
Rodney Dale and George Sassoon

in the 1970s proposed that the
Ark of the Covenant was nothing

else but a container in which to
store what they referred to as

the Manna Machine.

The Manna Machine was a
nuclear-driven device that

dispensed food, or manna,
to the Israelites.

DAVID CHILDRESS: The Ark of the
Covenant is such a mystery.

It could actually create food,
supposedly, the-the manna that

they were eating.

It's like some kind of, uh, super
engineering, duplicating energy machine.

TSOUKALOS: We have a concise
description of it in the ancient

Jewish text of the Zohar, which
is a part of the Kabbalah where

they describe the Ancient of Days.

But in reality "the Ancient of
Days" is a mistranslation.

The correct translation is "the
transportable one with the tanks."

Since when is God transportable

and why does He need tanks?
So in the Zohar we have concise

descriptions not of God but some
type of a machine.

NARRATOR: Did the Ark of the
Covenant really house a machine

that provided food to the
Israelites during their 40 years

in the desert?
According to ancient astronaut

theorists and many religious
scholars, the answer is yes.

But that wasn't the only power
the Ark possessed.

For as the Ark could sustain
life, it could also destroy it.

NARRATOR: The Jordan River,
a 200-mile border separating the

present-day Kingdom of Jordan
from Israel and the West Bank.

In 1400 B.C., this waterway
represented one of the final

obstacles to the wandering
Israelites' long-awaited

entrance into the Promised Land.

DOWNING: The Ark of the
Covenant comes into its own

when Joshua is given the task
of, uh, leading Israel across

the Jordan River.

And the story is that the Ark
of the Covenant would go first

and be carried into the Jordan River.

The water would stop flowing.

TZADOK: Some energy came forth
from the Ark, causing the

waters to literally stop and ascend
and therefore creating dry land

for the entire children of Israel
to pass on off into the Holy Land.

NARRATOR: But if this
biblical story is true, what

kind of power could the Ark of
the Covenant have possessed that

would cause a raging
river to stand still?

DAVID WILCOCK: What if the
people who wrote these stories

were simply reporting on what
they were actually seeing?

If that's true, then the Ark of
the Covenant clearly represents

a technology that is more advanced
than anything we have now.

MICHAEL DENNIN: If you want to
part water, maybe a good way

to do it would be with
high-speed winds.

'Cause if you blow enough air,
you can get the water out of the

way and you can actually maybe even
form those two walls of water.

CHILDRESS: There's some kind of
technology that they're using

and it's so that they can
accomplish their goals and

continue on their journey,
and they're able to use this

extraterrestrial technology to do it.

NARRATOR: According to the
Bible's Book of Joshua, the Ark

of the Covenant once again
proved a powerful ally when

the Israelites arrived on the
western banks of the Jordan

River, set on conquering the seemingly
impenetrable walled city of Jericho.

TZADOK: The reputation of the
Israelites preceded them.

People were terrified.

They have heard the rumors of
the power of this great and

awesome ark.
They now come to the city of

Jericho.
The people were commanded by

God, march around the city walls.

DOWNING: They march around
the city once on the first day.

The next day, they do
the very same thing.

The third, fourth, fifth and the
sixth day is the same thing.

On the seventh day, they march
around and then they blow the

trumpets and all the people shout.

TZADOK: Between the marching
of the feet, the sounding of the

rams' horns, the shofar, and
with some power not described

from the Ark, enabled the big
stone mighty walls of the city

of Jericho to somehow be
vibrated with a earthquake-type

force which caused them to collapse.

TSOUKALOS: When I hear that
they had to walk around Jericho

seven times and then the
trumpets were the ones that

allowed for those walls to
crumble, one would have to ask

yourselves, "Was there
something else to it?"

DENNIN: Knocking something
down like a wall with pressure

is not inconceivable.
So you could imagine trying

to do this.
Now, when you look at things,

think of standard examples
that we experience.

Wget the sonic boom, and you can
feel it rattling the walls and

you can actually hear it.
That's far away.

Imagine getting a sonic boom
closer to the object.

You might be able to do
significant damage to the wall.

(rumbling)

NARRATOR: Could the
Israelites actually have

witnessed an advanced
technology, beyond even our own

modern capabilities, a machine
that could instantly part waters

and bring down stone walls?
Some ancient astronaut theorists

believe the best evidence that
the Ark of the Covenant may have

held alien technology can be
found by studying events that

took place 300 years after the
sacking of Jericho, when the

Ark was stolen.
According to the Book of Samuel,

when the Israelites went to
battle with the mighty

Philistine army around 1100
B.C., they brought out the Ark

of the Covenant to
aid them once again.

But God had not given them
instructions to do so.

(thunder rumbling)
Angered by their presumption

that they could use the Ark as a
weapon without His orders,

He awarded victory to the Philistines,
who captured it as a trophy.

TZADOK: The Bible records very strange
things then started to happen.

Death, sickness broke out
amongst the Philistines.

Now, in ancient times, they had
no understanding of energy or

what we would maybe consider
something similar to a

radioactive sickness.
They considered this to be

displeasure of the god.

CARTER: They placed the ark
next to a statue of one

of their gods, Dagon.

And they leave and when they
come back, they see that

Dagon's head has been
decapitated and his hands have

been taken off. So they say,
"We've got to get rid of this thing."

DOWNING: And so they loaded
the ark of the covenant on a cart.

And sent it off in the
direction of an Israeli village

called Beth Shemish.
Of course everyone ran up to

look at the Ark.
And as a result, the Bible says

70 men died when they
looked at the ark.

For those who have been fans of
Raiders of the Lost Ark, and

remember the last scene when
Indy is shouting "Don't look,

don't look, don't look."
That's where that story comes from.

NARRATOR: The old testament

contains numerous other examples
of the ark's devastating powers.

And ultimately depicts it as a
deadly device capable of

striking down anyone who does
not follow God's rules.

TZADOK: When Aaron, who was
the high priest, his two sons

approached to give an offering,
it's stated that literally two

beams of fire came forth from
the Ark and went up their

nostrils and burnt them from the
inside, leaving their entire

outsides intact.

NARRATOR Beams of fire?
Burning people from inside?

Why would an instrument of God
contain such deadly powers?

If the Ark of the Covenant was
truly divine, why would it

strike down two people who were
simply trying to make an offering?

TSOUKALOS: Wherever it showed up,
people would all of a sudden die.

In my opinion it was a storage
container that housed some type

of a nuclear device.
And having a nuclear device in

the hands of a technologically
primitive society would result

in people dying left and right.
Naturally, people would refer to

that as the wrath of God, when
in reality it's nothing else but

the wrath of atomic power.

NARRATOR: Is it possible,
as ancient astronaut theorists

suggest, that the Ark of the
Covenant actually contained a

nuclear device?
One that was brought to Earth...

not by God... but by visitors
from another planet?

MARTELL: It's possible that the
Ark of the Covenant was some

type of super weapon that was
being controlled or guided from

an extraterrestrial.

NARRATOR: Was the Ark of
the Covenant actually a

sophisticated, high-tech device
ancient Israelites were unable

to control it?
Perhaps.

But of all the Ark's alleged
powers, there was one that was

the most incredible...
(thunder crashing)

its ability to communicate
directly with God.

NARRATOR: Petra, Jordan.
At the summit of Jebel Haroun,

a small white dome marks the tomb
of Aaron, the brother of Moses.

According to the Hebrew Bible,
Aaron was chosen by God to be

the first high priest of the
Israelites... a title that came

FEINSTEIN: Aaron, Moses's brother,
served as priest of the people.

And then following Aaron, the line of
the priests followed his genealogy.

They were the ones designated
to carry the Ark...

and they were the ones permitted
to come close to it in worship.

CARTER: The attire of the
priests was beautiful, but it

was also there for their protection.

They had to wear a miter.
They wore breastplate.

They had to wear a long robe.
They had to keep certain areas

of the body protected: the head,
the lungs, the heart, the genital area.

TZADOK: The high priest would have
to have these on to approach the Ark.

And when he approached the Ark,
he had to have a rope tied

around his leg.
Why?

So if and when something ever
went wrong and the Ark struck

him or he died...
no one would be allowed to go

in to retrieve his body, 'cause
they would suffer the same fate.

FEINSTEIN: On top of the Ark
were the figures of two angels.

And it was said in the Bible
that God's presence came to rest

in the tiny space between them.

That was the place where
Heaven and Earth touched.

NARRATOR: The space between

the angels on the lid of the Ark
was known as the Mercy Seat,

upon which the image of God
would allegedly sit when

communicating with a Levite priest.

But did the Israelites really
witness an otherworldly presence

between the two angels?
And if so, was it literally the

image of God...
or something else?

Based on the numerous accounts
of the Ark's awesome power, some

ancient astronaut theorists have
proposed that it may have been

an electrical capacitor, a device used
for storing and transmitting energy.

MARTELL: Some of the stories

that have come out of history
about the Ark of the Covenant,

that it erupted in sparks and
flames and people would touch it

and die instantly, or that it
leveled cities.

And many people have theorized
that this is some type of actual

large energy capacitor.

DENNIN: "Capacitor" is exactly
the right word to use.

It relies on static electricity.
It's the simplest device.

You just need two conductors
with an insulator between them.

You've got the outer gold, a
very nice conductor, and then if

you open this up and look to the
inside, you'll see a second electrode.

So what that's gonna look like...

Okay, you have the outer
side of your Ark.

That's gonna, say,
charge positive.

Then you have your inner wall
of the Ark coated in gold.

And then you have an
insulator in between...

that's just the wood you
make the Ark out of.

Now what you got to do is
get negative charges...

here on the inner side.
And the question is: how do I

get my positive and negative
charges onto my Ark?

This is where the cherubs come in.

You have one sitting on top
here... that's attached to the

outer side, and you can put
charge on it and get your

positive charge.
The other cherub is going to be

sitting here... it won't be
connected to the outer layer,

but it'll come in from a rod and
connect to the inner side...

and this is where we'll
put our negative charge.

So what that looks like over
here at the Ark, is this cherub

will not actually be attached
to the outer conductor.

There'll be an insulator there.
It'll sit on it, and then it can

have a rod that goes through and
attaches to the inner conductor.

MARTELL: Now, the Israelites
claimed to have actually been

able to see the presence of God
between the two cherubs...

a representation of God.
Now, if they weren't actually

seeing a representation of God,
could this arc of energy have

been some type of other energy
device that they were seeing?

DENNIN: So, when we're
thinking about the Israelites

seeing the image of God between
the two cherub wings, one of the

things to keep in mind, I think,
is how the image of God was

often described.
We have smoke, fire...

there's very rarely an actual,
like, visual picture of a person.

And so if you picture what arcs
of electricity will be doing,

there'll probably be a little
bit of smoke, um, there will be

the really bright light,
there'll be a crackling noise.

That could certainly be
something that would be

interpreted as an image of God.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that

accounts of God's presence atop
the Ark were actually describing

electrical discharge?
(crackling, zapping)

And if so, might someone...
or something... have been sending

electrical signals through
the Ark of the Covenant to

communicate with the Israelites?
Ancient astronaut theorists

believe such a notion is not
only possible, but all the more

plausible, given the biblical
descriptions of a device known

as "the Breastplate
of Judgment."

According to the Book of Exodus,
it was worn by the priests when

entering the Tabernacle, and
was adorned with 12 sacred

gemstones called "the Stones of
Fire," which represented the 12

tribes of Israel.
And according to detailed

accounts from sacred texts known
as the Talmud, these gemstones

played an important role when
communicating with God through the Ark.

TZADOK: Somehow there would be

a pulsating sound emanating from
on top of the cherubim.

And these pulsating,
high-pitched sounds would cause

a vibration in the stones
on his breastplate.

The stones would actually
start to light up.

KATHLEEN MCGOWAN: There seems
to be a very complex, but very

specific code happening here that
God is communicating through.

CHILDRESS: It was like some
extraterrestrial Morse code that

was being received from
the Ark of the Covenant.

NARRATOR: Jerusalem.
995 BC.

Nearly a century after the
Philistines returned the Ark to

Judah, King David transports it
to the capital city with plans

to build an enormous temple
in order to house it.

FEINSTEIN: It's Solomon,
David's son, who built the

Temple of Jerusalem and
installed the Ark in the inner

sanctum, the Holy of Holies.

NARRATOR: Once installed
in the temple in 955 BC,

the mysterious ark continued to

serve the Israelites for another
three-and-a-half centuries...

until, suddenly...
it vanishes from history.

FEINSTEIN: The Book of Kings
describes the destruction of the

city of Jerusalem, says
nothing about the ark.

It disappears from the literary
history in the same way that it

disappeared from material
history.

NARRATOR: But what happened to it?
Was it stolen? Destroyed?

Or was it deliberately hidden?
There are those who believe they

know the answer, and that not
only does the Ark still exist,

but they are confident it will return.

NARRATOR: Mount Tsurugi, Japan.

Every year, Shinto worshippers
ascend this mountain...

6,000 miles from
the Jewish Holy Land.

They carry an elaborate,
gold-clad chest that, like the

Ark of the Covenant, is believed
to contain the spirit of God.

ALEXANDER BAY: Scholars in Japan
look at the Old Testament.

They also look at the kind of
mythical foundational texts of

Japan, like the Kojiki, and
see certain similarities.

And they like to think that
these similarities are not just

coincidences, but actually
suggest ancient connections.

Part of this theory is that
these lost tribes of Israel

brought the Ark to Japan, and it
ended up at a sacred peak, Mount

Tsurugi, and it lays hidden in the
limestone caves underneath it.

NARRATOR: Could the Ark of the
Covenant really be hidden in Japan?

And might this explain why

Shinto worshippers perform a
ritual that's eerily reminiscent

of the ancient Israelites carrying
the Ark through the desert?

One Japanese historian named

Takane Masanori was so confident
that the Ark of the Covenant was

hidden in Mount Tsurugi, he
actually performed excavations

of the mountain in the 1930s.

JONATHAN YOUNG: Excavations
were started in 1936 on the

peak, or near the peak of Mount
Tsurugi, and this research went

on for some decades, and then,
it was all shut down, and the

area is now a national park, so,
further research is banned for

environmental reasons,
so we won't know.

(wind whistling)

The Ark of the Covenant has not
been found in Japan, but the

legend continues.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that
a lost tribe of Israel made

their way thousands of miles
across the Asian continent and

brought the Ark to Japan?
It is just one theory out of many.

Some biblical scholars suggest

that Israel's high priests,
anticipating the destruction of

the city, stashed the Ark deep
in a cave under Jerusalem's

Temple Mount for protection.
It is also believed that,

centuries later, the Ark was
discovered in its hiding place,

and was taken away to safety by
a group known as the Knights

PHILLIPS: The Knights Templar
were monks who were trained to

fight as soldiers in the Holy
Land during the Crusades, from

the 1100s up until the 1300s.

They discovered a great treasure.

They themselves describe it
as a great biblical treasure.

McGOWAN: There are certainly
legends throughout Europe, and

specifically France, of where the
Ark of the Covenant ended up.

Some say it was buried beneath
Chartres Cathedral in the crypt.

Some say it was buried in the Languedoc
region near Rennes-le-Chateau.

And we know that the Nazis
excavated in depth in these

mountains, looking for
the Ark of the Covenant.

NARRATOR: But some believe the
Ark's journey didn't end in

France, and that, eventually, it was
taken even further to the north.

BARA: There's been a rumor
for years that the Templar

Treasure was actually taken
through France by the Templars.

And the story goes that it was
then taken to Rosslyn Chapel in

Scotland for safekeeping.

NARRATOR: Could the Ark of
the Covenant still be hidden

somewhere in Rosslyn Chapel?
Or might it have been, as some

ancient astronaut theorists
suggest, taken far away to North

America, where it was hidden
deep underground, and still lies

buried?
Perhaps.

But there are those who believe
that the Ark isn't hidden at all.

They claim its
whereabouts have been

well-known and well-guarded
for hundreds of years.

Aksum, Ethiopia.
The Church of St. Mary of Zion.

A solitary monk, who is not
allowed to leave the grounds,

is charged with guarding the
church's holiest relic.

It is a job he has devoted his life to,
and one he will keep until his death.

HANCOCK: There's a cathedral
there called the Cathedral of

St. Mary of Zion.

And I started talking to the
monk who guarded the chapel.

And he told me that lying in
that chapel was the true,

the original, Ark of the Covenant.
Now, at first, it seemed to me

like an incredibly tall story.
But as I began to look into it,

I realized that there was
something to the Ethiopian claim.

For example, why was there an ancient
Jewish population in Ethiopia?

It was like they were frozen in
amber from an earlier time and

caught in Ethiopia.

And I got to know a succession of
three different guardians of the Ark.

Once appointed as guardian, they
have a very short life span.

They die very quickly.

And one of them in particular
pointed to the issue of his eyes

to me in the way that the cataracts
were creeping over his eyes.

And I said, "What
is causing that?"

And he said, "It's the Ark of the
Covenant that's causing "that."

He said the Ark is a thing of fire.

And there was such truth and power
in his words that I began to feel

very strongly that the Ethiopians
could indeed have this object.

NARRATOR:
Could the Ark of the Covenant

really reside in a
church in Ethiopia,

in a location so publicly known
and so modestly protected?

If so, why has there been no proof?

Is it an elaborate hoax?
Or is there perhaps another

reason?
And could that reason be based

on one of the other audacious
theories concerning the Ark,

that there are more than one of them?

TZADOK: The Torah speaks that
there were actually two arks.

There was one ark, which was
built by Moses when he first

came down from Mount Sinai.

And only later do we find in the
Book of Exodus was the

commandment given for a ark to
be built by Bezalel.

That was the ark that
stayed in the Tabernacle.

NARRATOR: If the Ark really
was a technological device, as

ancient astronaut theorists
believe, might there really have

been more than one of them?
And, if so, might the various

myths and legends about the Ark
and its whereabouts all be

plausible?
Perhaps.

But whether there is one ark or
many, two other important

questions remain: what was the
Ark's true purpose?

And what would happen
if it ever returned?

NARRATOR: The Dome of the
Rock, Jerusalem.

This Islamic shrine sits atop
the Temple Mount, once the site

of King Solomon's Temple and
the last known location of the

Ark of the Covenant.
In 1981, a small team of Israeli

workmen secretly tunneled under
this hotly disputed site.

Rabbi Yehuda Getz, the
preeminent Rabbi of the Western

Wall, supervised the highly
prohibited and politically

inflammatory excavation.

WILCOCK: There was a pretty
big problem with this because

that is the number one sacred
site for the Muslims as well,

and these men believed strongly
enough that the Ark of the

Covenant had been located there
that they were willing to take

such great risks to try to locate
the Ark of the Covenant themselves.

NARRATOR: When Arabs on the
Mount heard noises from the

cistern below, they confronted
the work crew in what became a

dramatic subterranean standoff.
Police separated the two sides

and ordered the tunnel to be resealed.

To his dying day, Rabbi Getz
believed he was just 40 feet

away from finding the original
Ark of the Covenant.

But could such an audacious
claim be true?

Might the Ark really still be
located where it was thousands

of years ago, at the site of
the Jews' most sacred temple,

one of the holiest places on Earth?

For ancient astronaut theorists,
the answer may very well be yes,

and for proof they point to
reports of strange sightings

over the Mount in recent years.

CHILDRESS: In 2011, there was a
very sensational UFO sighting

over the Dome of the
Rock in Jerusalem.

TZADOK: Many will call it a fraud.

Many will say it was not real.

But it was witnessed that a ball
of light came down over the

Temple Mount...

(man speaks over video)

and just hovered there.

And then all of a sudden a pulsating
light went out from it, poof!

MAN: Whoa!

TZADOK:
And then it ascended back up.

(man chuckles)
CHILDRESS: Some speculate

that this UFO sighting may have
been energizing the Ark of the

Covenant, which is still
there in Jerusalem.

NARRATOR: Could it be a mere
coincidence that the UFO

sightings occurred over this
particular site?

Or could it be, as some ancient
astronaut theorists claim,

merely the first in a series of
events concerning the Ark that

are in fact the fulfillment of
an ancient prophecy?

TZADOK: There's a very
interesting prophecy in the Book

of Zechariah that states that
there's gonna be a tremendous

earthquake in Jerusalem.
The Mount of Olives is to split.

It is said that this earthquake
is to be caused by some type of

sonic vibration created from
under the earth and that the

powers from under the earth are
then gonna arise out of this

chasm with the Ark.
This is then considered to be,

"A," the return of the Ark and,
"B," the famous, of course,

coming of the Messiah.

HENRY: All three of the big
three religions have prophecies

about the end-time arrival
of a messianic figure.

And what we're told is that
angels will help bring the Ark

of the Covenant back to Earth.

NARRATOR: Could the lights
seen over the Temple Mount

indicate that some sort of
extraterrestrial reactivation of

the Ark was taking place?

And, if so, might we be close
to finally rediscovering this

ancient relic and finding the
source of its incredible power?

TSOUKALOS: If that device were
ever to be found, then that

will forever change the
course of human history.

Because if we look at our past,
it already has changed the

course of human history.

BARA: If the Ark could be
found and if it could be

retrieved, the possibility
exists that its technology could

be understood and exploited and
possibly even used to reconnect

with whoever created it.

If they were in fact
extraterrestrial beings, then

the reality is we might have a
direct phone line to the E.T.s.

CARTER: We, as a culture, as a
species, we seem to use most

of our technology for war.

And so it would be like giving
a three-year-old a loaded gun.

We can barely deal with the
technology that we have now, so

maybe it's good that,
for now, it's hidden.

NARRATOR: Could the Ark of
the Covenant, perhaps the most

coveted of the world's lost
relics, really be the ultimate

proof of an ancient
extraterrestrial encounter?

If so, what was it?
A sophisticated weapon?

A communication device?
A nuclear power source?

Or was it something else entirely?

Something beyond our
comprehension?

And if it is found, will it lead
to mankind's destruction or to

a reunion with our alien ancestors?

One thing is certain: the search
for the Ark will continue.

And there are those who believe it will
be found much sooner than we think.

sync and corrections by bellows
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