Ancient Aliens s16e02 Episode Script
The Lost Kingdom
1
Higher top than Himalayas
could be the gateway
to another realm.
There's a place
somewhere in Tibet
that's some kind of vortex.
GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
It is said that this was
the abode of the gods.
NARRATOR: With
thousands of reports of UFOs
Suddenly they saw an oval-shaped object pass over them.
NARRATOR: accounts
of terrifying monsters
These yetis are able to appear
and disappear at will.
NARRATOR and
mysterious mass vanishings
JONATHAN YOUNG: This
kingdom had power, it had glory.
And then it disappeared.
NARRATOR: could Tibet
be an extraterrestrial outpost
- on Earth?
- TSOUKALOS: The reason why
this area of the world has
become a religious center
is because of the arrival
of the extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR:
There is a doorway
in the universe.
Beyond it is
the promise of truth.
It demands
we question everything
we have ever been taught.
The evidence is all around us.
The future is
right before our eyes.
We are not alone.
We have never been alone.
NARRATOR: On the
northern side of the Himalayas
lies the highest geographical
region on Earth: Tibet.
Known as "the roof
of the world,"
it has an average elevation
of nearly 15,000 feet.
There is 40% less oxygen to breathe here than at sea level,
and the weather can be dangerous
and unpredictable.
Yet more than three million
people call Tibet home.
Millions more brave the harsh
conditions to travel here
each year and visit
Tibet's sacred peaks,
including Mount Everest,
which reaches
nearly five and a half miles
into the heavens.
Tibet we call "Land of Snow."
YOUNG: Here is this mountain
kingdom, very hard to get to,
with an exotic culture all its own, amazing architecture
and the dizzying heights
of its location.
DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: There
are a lot of mysteries involved,
with the origin of, uh, Tibet,
and also a lot of history.
Tibet is usually referred to
as a land of gods.
It is a kind of exotic land
where many people Westerners
wanted to go there.
YOUNG: The secrets
of the Tibetan culture
have eluded us and held our
fascination since early times.
NARRATOR: Humans have
inhabited Tibet for at least 20,000 years.
Little is known about
the earliest inhabitants
of this forbidding environment,
but ancient Tibetan texts
identify
the region's first rulers
as the Zhangzhung people,
who emerged around 500 BC.
Much about this early civilization is still a mystery.
But their spiritual tradition,
called Bon,
remains a powerful force
in Tibet.
The native indigenous
Tibetan religion,
which is known as Bon or Bon po,
that, in many ways,
is similar to Taoism.
It connects nature
and spirituality.
Certain spots are
very powerful spots.
There's a lot of magic involved, like, with demons and exorcisms.
NARRATOR: In the eighth
century, Tibetan king Trisong Detsen
introduced a new religion
and philosophy to the area:
Buddhism.
Followers of Buddhism share
a belief in reincarnation
and don't acknowledge
a supreme god or deity.
They instead focus
on achieving enlightenment,
a state of inner peace
and wisdom.
The combination of Bon,
Buddhism,
and other local traditions
resulted in what is known today as Tibetan Buddhism.
At the same time Buddhism was introduced, Tibet also gave rise
to the world's most mysterious
spiritual leader,
the Dalai Lama.
YOUNG: The great Tibetan
thinkers strongly believe,
along with the rest
of the population,
that this is, in fact, the 74th incarnation of the Chenrezig.
And it is a continuation
of the Buddha himself.
So, the current Dalai Lama
is a continuation
of this great energy.
SHIMKHADA: These Lamas
and all these great personalities
lived in Tibet,
so perhaps there is something
to be learned from
these great masters in Tibet.
DAVID CHILDRESS: Having
traveled in Tibet a number of times,
it really expands your mind.
And in many ways,
Tibet is that magical, mystical place where anything can happen.
NARRATOR: Tibet not
only stands at a crossroads
of Eastern religious traditions, but is believed by many
to be a place where heavenlybeings actually reside on Earth.
TSOUKALOS: It is said that
this was the abode of the gods.
The Himalayan region
is filled with stories
of so-called "celestial beings"
that descended from the sky
in flying vehicles
that they're referred to as dragons and flying furnaces.
According to some of the earliest Sanskrit texts,
the first Buddha
that ever walked the Earth
was nine feet tall,
had light blue skin,
and his arms reached
all the way down to his knees.
And there are multiple statues
all throughout that region
of the world that depict
exactly a Buddha like that.
TSOUKALOS:
Visitation did happen,
and this was something that has remained in the consciousness
of the local people
over millennia.
The reason why
this area of the world
has become a religious center
is because of the arrival
of the extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the culture of Tibet
was influenced
by ancient alien visitors?
And if so,
could they still be present
in this mountainous region
today?
According to both Hindu
and Buddhist traditions,
the gods reside in a hidden
kingdom in the Himalayas
known as Shambhala.
CHILDRESS:
Shambhala is ruled by kings
who live for hundreds of years.
They are all-knowing.
And they, particularly,
are guiding the planet.
Very much as we often think that extraterrestrials are doing.
They have wonderful technology.
There's electricity.
There's airships.
So what is going on
in Shambhala?
Is it some mystical city
of the masters,
where extraterrestrials
and humans
are living and working together?
I mean, that's what
many people believe.
NARRATOR: Is the lost kingdom of Shambhala really a secret city
of advanced
extraterrestrial beings,
as some ancient astronaut
theorists suggest?
And if so, might evidence
of its alien origin
be found somewhere in Tibet?
Perhaps clues can be found
in one legendary expedition
into the very heart
of the unknown.
- WILLIAM HENRY: We're told that people live there
- NARRATOR: Russian painter, philosopher
and archaeologist
Nicholas Roerich
embarks on
an unprecedented expedition
into the uncharted territory
of the Tibetan plateau
on a quest to find
the lost kingdom of Shambhala.
On August 5, 1927,
Roerich notes a strange object
in the skies while traveling
through the mountains along the northeastern border of Tibet.
Roerich writes that they were
looking up at the sky,
watching an eagle fly around,
and then suddenly they saw
a sort of oval-shaped object,
moving from north to south
at very fast speeds,
pass over them.
HUGH NEWMAN: At one of his
later lectures in 1935,
Nicholas Roerich described
his sighting as a spacecraft
or an aerial vehicle that must have come from Shambhala itself.
NARRATOR:
Did Nicholas Roerich witness
an alien craft in Tibet
nearly a century ago,
decades before the era
of modern UFO sightings began?
And if so, is it possible
that the traditions
that have endured here
for centuries
reflect not only
a profound spirituality,
but are tied
to an otherworldly presence?
Perhaps further clues
can be found
by examining
an early Buddhist civilization
that suddenly
and mysteriously disappeared.
Ngari Prefecture, Tibet, 2020.
Towering at over 12,000 feet,
these ancient ruins
are all that is left
of the mysterious Buddhist
kingdom of Guge.
Established
in the tenth century,
this civilization flourished
for 700 years.
But then, according
to local legend,
its inhabitants vanished.
The ruins of this early city
are truly amazing.
They're in the south west corner of Tibet,
and there are thousands
of what were temples
and palaces, mostly gone now.
This was a kingdom of great influence in its time.
This magnificent capital had artwork over all the walls,
images of the Buddha,
sacred carvings
and images of all kind.
It had power, it had glory,
and now it is nothing.
HENRY: Guge was in continuous operation
until it mysteriously,
virtually disappeared.
Nobody knows exactly
what happened there
or why people
stopped living there
or why they where they want.
NARRATOR: Guge was brought under the rule
of the central Tibetan
government in 1680,
but remained largely isolated
and independent
for more than 200 years.
Then, in the early 20th century,
the Tibetan government
decided to finally
start taxing
the residents of Guge.
But when soldiers arrived
to collect,
they were shocked to find
that the entire population,
an estimated 100,000 people,
had disappeared.
Where they went remains
a complete mystery,
and many Tibetans believe
the reason why
is because the people of Guge
traveled deep underground.
CHILDRESS: The fortress of
Guge had all kinds of tunnels
and hidden staircases
that went underground
and went inside this mountain.
So even though
it was, uh, ruins already
when archaeologists went there,
they were astounded
that this city of Guge
apparently led inside the Earth.
What people seemed to believe
was that
if you were to follow
these tunnels far enough
into the Earth,
you would eventually
come to that hidden city
of Shambhala
an active city full of light
and-and power.
NARRATOR: Did the people
of this ancient civilization
flee underground
on an epic pilgrimage
to the mythic kingdom
of Shambhala?
And if so,
where did their path lead?
Some researchers believe
the tunnels of Guge
lead to a holy mountain
to the east
that can be clearly seen
from these ruins
Mount Kailash.
Every year,
thousands of pilgrims
make the treacherous journey
to the base
of this sacred peak.
STEAVU: Every year,
there are pilgrimages
around Mount Kailash
in order to gain the blessing
and maybe even
some of the powers
associated with
the residing gods
and, and Buddhas and deities
of Mount Kailash.
It lasts up to four weeks
if it's done correctly,
with full prostrations
at every step,
and it's also
a very unforgiving landscape,
so many people end up
giving up, and some of them
also end up dying.
NARRATOR: According
to ancient Buddhist texts
known as the Kalachakra tantra,
the kingdom of Shambhala
can be found "behind"
Mount Kailash,
or, as some interpret it,
within.
And many who have stared up
at this sacred peak
have observed mysterious objects in the sky.
Mount Kailash is at the center
of all sorts of mysteries.
UFO sightings,
the hint that there might be
something hidden there,
but it's unknowable.
HENRY: There are many myths and legends and strange things
that have gone on
at Mount Kailash.
People go there on pilgrimages,
but they're told not to stay
there long,
because there's
something radioactive
inside the mountain.
And we're told that
people live there,
both in physical form
and in non physical form.
It has to be one of
the strangest places
on the planet.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the mysterious phenomena
occurring at Mount Kailash,
and its association
with Shambhala,
is connected
to extraterrestrial activity?
Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest answers can be found
by studying the sacred
Buddhist monuments
known as stupas,
found all throughout Nepal,
India and Tibet, including at the ruins of Guge.
HENRY: For centuries,
people have been sighting UFOs
or unexplained craft coming
in and out of Mount Kailash.
And it's very interesting
when you compare the shape
of the stupas
that we find in Tibet,
these dome shapes,
and how they highly resemble
some kind of extraterrestrial
craft sitting on the ground.
So perhaps people saw
these craft entering
into Kailash and decided,
"We're gonna build stupas in
remembrance of what they saw."
TSOUKALOS:
A stupa, by definition,
is a vehicle with which to reach the realm of the gods.
That is the definition
of a stupa.
Well, just change the wording,
"a vehicle
with which to reach space."
These stupas can be seen,
for example,
in the Ajanta Cave, with smoke and fire at the, at the bottom.
And what more do you want?
It's no longer a symbol.
It is the truth.
NARRATOR: Might the Buddhist
stupas of Tibet be monuments
to alien craft witnessed flying
in and around Mount Kailash,
a site believed by many to be
the kingdom of Shambhala?
And if so, how has it remained
hidden for millennia?
Could it be that somewhere
on the slopes of Mount Kailash
is the entrance to a hidden
extraterrestrial realm?
While countless expeditions
have tried and failed
to find the legendary kingdom
of Shambhala,
there are some who claim
to have found a way
to communicate with
its otherworldly inhabitants.
NEWMAN:
Was she somehow in contact
Famed Russian mystic
and philosopher
Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
publishes her seminal book
The Secret Doctrine.
In it, she offers
detailed descriptions
of the legendary lost continents
of Atlantis and Lemuria.
She claims not only that these
ancient civilizations existed
but that they possessed
highly advanced technology,
including flying machines,
thousands of years ago.
Madame Blavatsky maintained
that human lineage
is vastly older
than we understand
and that primordial
civilizations,
like Atlantis or Lemuria,
formed the foundation
of human history
and were much older
than Egyptian culture,
than Vedic culture,
than any culture
known to humanity.
This, to her, was an occult
history that humankind,
uh, had forgotten about,
had failed to understand.
LACHMAN: Atlantis, we
know, goes back to Plato.
Uh, he's the first one
to really talk about it.
And both Atlantis and Lemuria
at some point,
they sort of turned dark.
They became fascinated
with a kind
of form of black magic, and a kind of hyper technology.
And this led to their demise.
NARRATOR: Madame Blavatsky
claimed she received this knowledge
from a mysterious entity
she described
as a "mahatma," a Sanskrit word that means "great soul."
He called himself Koot Hoomi
and resided in Tibet.
Koot Hoomi communicated
with her telepathically.
In other words,
she kind of channeled him.
SHIMKHADA:
The way she described him
is almost like an eternal baba, eternal soul,
so, you know, he is,
like, immortal.
MICHAEL SALLA: Also, he
was able to manifest himself
in her apartment
in New York City,
even though it was
thousands of miles away.
NEWMAN: We have to
question what was going on here.
Was she somehow in contact
with some kind of hidden world
in the Himalayas?
NARRATOR:
In 1875,
Madame Blavatsky founded
the Theosophical Society.
It was made up
of prominent thinkers
who sought to explore Eastern
religions and the occult,
and create a kind
of universal brotherhood
based on the teachings
of Koot Hoomi
and other Mahatmas.
LACHMAN: Theosophy means,
uh, "the wisdom of the gods."
The Theosophical Society
was incredibly, um
successful and popular
and influential.
Not only in the occult world,
but she was also influential
in the cultural world.
Uh, people like, uh,
the-the painter, Mondrian,
and Wassily Kandinsky
were early Theosophists.
L. Frank Baum,
who wrote the Oz books.
Abner Doubleday,
who invented baseball.
Thomas Edison invented
the light bulb.
These were all
very early members
of the Theosophical Society.
NARRATOR:
While many important figures
joined the Theosophical Society,
Madame Blavatsky had a particularly profound influence
on a young Indian law student
who came to visit her
in London
Mohandas Gandhi.
HOROWITZ: Gandhi wrote
about this as one of the pivotal
encounters of his life.
He maintained that
Madame Blavatsky gave him
the first sense of universal
brotherhood
that later came to form
the core of his philosophy,
not only of radical equality
but of radical non violence.
Now, this is quite astonishing, when we think about
the potential here
that perhaps an entity,
this strange Tibetan entity
that's making psychical contact
with Blavatsky,
has now reached out to someone
who would go on to be
one of the most famous persons
in history,
and would have made this radical change in India that would,
you know, really shock the world
and change the face
of the British Empire.
NARRATOR: Was Gandhi's
transformative leadership
and Indian independence in part a result of influence
from these mysterious,
enlightened masters in Tibet?
And if so, who were these
so-called mahatmas?
Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer can be found
by examining an encounter
with a similar entity.
New York City, 1918.
British occultist and writer
Aleister Crowley engages
in a magic ritual he calls
the Amalantrah Working.
He claims the ritual opens
an inter dimensional portal,
allowing him to interact
with an otherworldly being.
Aleister Crowley is probably
the most famous,
or, rather, infamous, magician
of the 20th century.
And Crowley took it
upon himself to revive
the ancient black arts
the dark arts, as it were.
He was contacting
lots of different beings
from other dimensions.
But there was also a vision Crowley had of this individual,
this entity that he called Lam.
NARRATOR:
According to Crowley,
this entity claimed to reside high in the mountains of Tibet,
just like the mahatma
that Madame Blavatsky said
she encountered.
Lam claimed to be
a Tibetan master of wisdom,
somewhat in the footsteps
of some of the figures
that Madame Blavatsky had
been in touch with.
And he was a kind of mystical
or otherworldly adept,
in his own description,
according to Crowley.
PICKNETT: Aleister Crowley
drew a sketch of this creature.
And if you look at this sketch, one thing that hits you
very forcibly
in fact, startlingly
is the fact that this looks like a Grey alien.
NARRATOR: More than
70% of alleged alien abductees
describe encountering what have become known as the Greys,
or Grey aliens.
Is it possible that
there is a connection
between these beings
and the Tibetan masters
that both Aleister Crowley
and Madame Blavatsky
claimed to have contacted?
And if so, does this suggest
that there is a hidden
extraterrestrial realm
within Tibet?
Some ancient astronaut
theorists believe
that physical proof
of an alien presence in Tibet
was uncovered
more than 80 years ago
by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
LACHMAN: The idea is that the statue has some kind of mystical,
May, 1938.
Roughly one year before the
start of the Second World War,
German explorer and zoologist
Ernst Schafer
leads a Nazi-funded expedition
into Tibet.
Schafer's official objective
for the expedition
was the creation of a complete
scientific record of Tibet.
But unofficially, he was given
another directive:
to determine whether Tibet was
the cradle of the Aryan race.
This was allegedly inspired
by a 19th century book written
by British author
Edward Bulwer-Lytton called
Vril, the Power
of the Coming Race.
He describes this
extraordinary race of beings
that have magical powers
sort of superheroes, really.
And they have the "Vril" power.
And sadly,
this idea also permeated
into the very early Nazi
ideologues' world view.
The idea that a man
can be a superman,
and in order to do this,
in their eyes,
you had to be of the Aryan race.
NARRATOR:
Some within the Nazis' ranks identified the Tibetan mahatmas
described by Madame Blavatsky
as a race of supermen,
and sought to prove that the
Aryans were their descendants.
But even more important to the
German expedition than proving
Nazi superiority was finding the hidden kingdom of Shambhala.
COLLINS: The Nazis
took an incredible interest
in looking for that entrance
to Shambhala.
The Nazis were almost
certainly influenced
by the works
of Madame Blavatsky,
because she said
if somebody could find access
into Shambhala,
they would also be able to control the destiny of humanity,
and the world as a whole.
LACHMAN:
While they were there,
the war broke out in 1939,
so they were called back.
So, uh, they didn't really
return with any positive proof
about what, you know,
what they were looking for,
but the story is, they did comeback with this statue.
NARRATOR: Among the items
Schafer brought back to Germany
was a mysterious
22-pound iron statue
of what was presumed
to be a Buddhist deity.
The figure had a swastika on its clothing, a symbol of divinity
that predated the Nazis
by thousands of years.
One of their discoveries
was a little nine-inch statue
of a being wearing
a swastika on his chest,
which certainly would have got
the attention of the Nazis,
having adopted the swastika
as their symbol,
although they put it into its counter clockwise form.
The swastika was originally a Tibetan symbol for prosperity
and for good luck.
NARRATOR: In the late
19th century, the term Aryan
referred to an Indo-European
language group
that included German, Romance
and Sanskrit languages.
The ancient symbol of
the swastika became associated
with "Aryan"
due to where it was found.
But when the Nazis
redefined the term to identify
what they called "the master race," they adopted the swastika
as a symbol of their heritage and self-proclaimed superiority.
We can assume that this is
what stood out to them,
was this, you know, swastika
emblazoned on the chest,
and they decided that this
is a representation
of one of these entities
that are somehow involved
in the back story
of the Aryan race
and their sort of greatness
in the world.
NARRATOR: Could the
"Iron Man" statue depict
one of the powerful mahatmas
described by Madame Blavatsky?
Was it perhaps a sign
that the Nazi expedition
was close to finding Shambhala?
While most researchers have been preoccupied with determining
what the statue
is meant to depict,
80 years after its discovery,
a scientific study uncovered
an even more intriguing aspect
of the Iron Man.
NARRATOR:
Stuttgart University, 2012.
A team of German geologists
that have performed
a new examination
of the Iron Man statue
publish their analysis
in the scientific journal
Meteorics & Planetary Science.
They estimate the figure was
created in the 11th century
and have found that it was not
made of earthly iron,
but was carved
from the Chinga meteorite.
POPE: It turns out this thing is made
from one of the rarest
meteorites in human history,
that fell to Earth over Tibet
around 15,000 years ago.
It's the most unusual
and hardest meteorite
ever discovered.
The ancient Tibetans
who carved this into a statue
clearly suspected that this thing had great power.
CHILDRESS: The Tibetans themselves seem to realize that this was special.
And you have to wonder,
is this meteorite,
was it perhaps part
of a spaceship?
Something that had crashed
there in Tibet,
and the Chinga meteorite
is all that's left of it?
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the Iron Man statue
was made from part
of an alien craft
that crash-landed on Earth
thousands of years ago?
Could it be
a remnant of an event
that marked the arrival
of otherworldly visitors,
and the beginning
of the legend of Shambhala?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest that the reason
this alien realm remains
so elusive can be found
by examining stories
of a Tibetan monster
known as the yeti.
CHILDRESS:
Were they murdered by,
April 29, 2019.
Just a few miles south of the Tibetan border, the Indian Army
reports the discovery of enormous footprints in the snow
measuring an astounding 32
inches long by 15 inches wide.
They identify the footprints
as having been made
by the legendary monster
known as the yeti.
SHIMKHADA: The yeti is some kind of a Himalayan monster
that looked like a man,
that looked like an ape.
This is a composite, uh, figure.
Local people have seen it
in the snow, in the mountains.
NARRATOR: Tales of the yeti
stretch back to pre-Buddhist Tibet,
where the shamanic mystics
of the Bon religion
told of wild men
that guarded a hidden place
of power and perfection
called Olmo Lung Ring,
known in the Tibetan Buddhist
tradition as Shambhala.
The yeti have this reputation
of being extremely violent
and aggressive towards humans.
And one explanation for this
is because they're considered
to be the guardians
of Shambhala.
Keeping away all those
that are not pure of heart
from entering into
this holiest of holy places.
CHILDRESS: When the early
British expeditions
went through India into Tibet,
they would stop
at Tibetan monasteries
on their way to Mount Everest
and they would be told
about yetis.
And that yetis were guardians
of the entrances to Shambhala.
NARRATOR: Monsters guarding the entrances to the land of the gods?
While it may sound
like the stuff of legend,
ancient astronaut theorists
suggest there is
disturbing evidence
that may prove
such stories are,
in fact, very real.
Uttarakhand, India.
16,000 feet high
in the Himalayas,
just 40 miles
from the Tibetan border,
lies Roopkund Lake.
While it has become
a popular tourist destination,
those who approach this small,
picturesque body of water
are confronted
with a chilling sight
because Roopkund Lake
is littered
with the remains
of over 600 human bodies.
For decades, scientists assumed that the dead
had fallen victim to a single massive catastrophe.
But in 2019, DNA sampling
revealed that
the bodies contained
in what has been dubbed
"Skeleton Lake"
did not all die at once,
but at different points in time,
over a period
of at least a thousand years.
Some of the skeletons, uh,
had, uh, what they said were,
um unhealed compression
fractures on the head.
Were they murdered by, like,
being hammered on the head
and then thrown into this lake?
So researchers were baffled
by this whole thing.
And the more information
that came out of this lake,
the stranger it became.
SHIMKHADA: Recently,
Indian scientists have performed
DNA testing on those bones
in Roopkund.
They have found
many South Asians
and some East Asians
meaning Chinese and Koreans
and of course
some from the West,
you know, for example
Mediterranean region.
So that is really intriguing,
you know, how these people
wound up there,
uh, that's baffling.
NARRATOR: What could have
drawn people from all over the world
to make the treacherous journey to this very small
and remote mountain lake?
And not just
at a single point in time,
but continuously
for hundreds of years?
LACHMAN:
Roopkund Lake is
on the pilgrims' trail, uh, to
uh, Mount Kailash, which is,
uh, one of the central, uh, uh,
geographic sites
in-in, um, Hindu
and-and Tibetan and Buddhist,
uh, religion.
These people at different times could have been
on the pilgrimage path.
HENRY: If the yeti is considered to be the guardian of Shambhala,
and if Shambhala is Kailash,
then it makes perfect sense
why the yeti is somehow taking
these people, killing them,
harming them, and throwing them in Skeleton Lake.
[growling]
NARRATOR: Could the
bones found at Skeleton Lake
belong to pilgrims
who were seeking
Shambhala and fell victim
to the yeti?
Although there have been
numerous reported sightings
of yetis in Tibet,
no reliable physical proof
of their existence has been
successfully retrieved.
In fact, these mysterious beings are often reported
as simply vanishing
into thin air.
In 1951, the world-famous
mountaineer Eric Shipton
was on his way to Mount Everest.
He's at 19,000 feet.
And all of a sudden,
he sees these giant
footprints in the snow.
And he follows them
for over a mile
until they disappear
into the glacier.
The yeti could, in fact, be
an inter dimensional creature,
capable of either
cloaking itself
or disappearing
into other realms.
Perhaps they are not
physical biological beings,
but are some sort
of inter dimensional
class of entities, which is able
to appear and disappear at will.
And manifest themselves at will to stop those
who are not supposed
to enter certain areas.
NARRATOR: Is it
possible that both the yeti
and the kingdom of Shambhala
that it is said to protect
are not only extraterrestrial,
but also inter dimensional?
Might this explain
why they remain so elusive?
Some modern researchers,
people like Jacques Vallée,
John Keel, amongst others,
have drawn the conclusion
that maybe we're not really
dealing with extraterrestrials
from outer space,
but ultra-terrestrials were
coming from parallel space.
That's exactly
what masters of mysticism
and experiences
of the prophetic traditions
have been saying
for thousands of years.
NARRATOR:
If a gateway
leading into another dimension
exists somewhere
in Tibet, as ancient
astronaut theorists suggest,
could it be a site
where extraterrestrials
or, perhaps,
ultra-terrestrials
are entering our world?
And might it also be possible
for us to enter theirs?
Ancient astronaut theorists
believe
that the key to accessing
this cosmic paradise
may not lie in traveling to a secret location in Tibet
but in mastering an ancient
technique of the mind.
NARRATOR:
Seda County, China.
December 11, 2015.
In the southeast region
of the Tibetan plateau,
renowned Tibetan Buddhist monk
Lama Thubser has been in a state of continuous meditation
for seven straight days,
engaged in a practice
that is said
to go back some 10,000 years.
He is attempting
to attain what is known
as the "rainbow light body."
Tibetan Buddhists believe that
through meditation practices
like this, it is possible
to access alternate realms.
And that this may be
where the kingdom of Shambhala
truly exists.
You will find people within
Tibetan Buddhist tradition
who believe that Shambhala
is an actual place.
But it may be what we might call an inter dimensional place.
So it cannot be accessed through
ordinary material techniques.
But it exists in another
dimension, so to speak.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that the concept of the rainbow light body
holds the key
to reaching an alien realm
that exists on Earth?
And is there any evidence that
such a transformative process
could actually take place?
Recently, scientists have discovered that the human body,
particularly in the brain,
naturally produces light
in the form of bio photons.
The average person emits
14 to 20 photons
by centimeter square per second.
This is very, very low.
But in a state of meditation,
you are able
to raise that number
by 100,000 photons per
centimeter square per second,
which is extremely bright.
This tells us that
when we are in a higher state
of consciousness, our bodies
emit a huge amount of light.
And perhaps that is the reason
why we call it enlightenment.
NARRATOR: Tibetan Buddhists
say that when a highly trained priest
commits himself to attainment
of the rainbow light body,
his material body
will fade away.
Photographs taken by those
in attendance
on the seventh day
of Lama Thubser's meditation
provide an incredibly
rare documentation
of this sacred process.
As his breathing stops and his
physical body begins to die,
it dramatically
decreases in size.
According to the monks,
he has dissolved into light.
And a final photograph reveals
a beam of light shooting up
into the sky from the site
of his transformation.
HENRY: In the Tibetan tradition, they tell us that once a Lama
has achieved
this state of being,
that they're able to then
travel to 12 star systems
where this teaching is taught,
that are all connected
with the Earth,
and that beings come and go,
bringing this teaching
and enlightening
all other civilizations
they come into contact with.
The rainbow light body, it is
an extraterrestrial teaching
that was imported to Earth
from other star systems.
TZADOK: Right now,
very few make the efforts
to learn how to expand
consciousness,
to interact
with our parallel dimensions.
But the future is
to bring the worlds together.
This is what the biblical
tradition teaches
when it says everyone
will know the truth.
There will be
enlightenment for all.
NARRATOR:
Could it be that high
in the mountains of Tibet,
there is a gateway
into another dimension?
And if so, is it possible
that this alternate realm
can only be accessed through
a state of enlightenment?
Perhaps as science begins
to understand more
about human consciousness,
we will learn
what the Tibetan masters
have known for centuries.
That we can reach
the stars not only
by mastering technology
but by mastering
the power of the human mind.
CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY
A+E NETWORKS
Higher top than Himalayas
could be the gateway
to another realm.
There's a place
somewhere in Tibet
that's some kind of vortex.
GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS:
It is said that this was
the abode of the gods.
NARRATOR: With
thousands of reports of UFOs
Suddenly they saw an oval-shaped object pass over them.
NARRATOR: accounts
of terrifying monsters
These yetis are able to appear
and disappear at will.
NARRATOR and
mysterious mass vanishings
JONATHAN YOUNG: This
kingdom had power, it had glory.
And then it disappeared.
NARRATOR: could Tibet
be an extraterrestrial outpost
- on Earth?
- TSOUKALOS: The reason why
this area of the world has
become a religious center
is because of the arrival
of the extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR:
There is a doorway
in the universe.
Beyond it is
the promise of truth.
It demands
we question everything
we have ever been taught.
The evidence is all around us.
The future is
right before our eyes.
We are not alone.
We have never been alone.
NARRATOR: On the
northern side of the Himalayas
lies the highest geographical
region on Earth: Tibet.
Known as "the roof
of the world,"
it has an average elevation
of nearly 15,000 feet.
There is 40% less oxygen to breathe here than at sea level,
and the weather can be dangerous
and unpredictable.
Yet more than three million
people call Tibet home.
Millions more brave the harsh
conditions to travel here
each year and visit
Tibet's sacred peaks,
including Mount Everest,
which reaches
nearly five and a half miles
into the heavens.
Tibet we call "Land of Snow."
YOUNG: Here is this mountain
kingdom, very hard to get to,
with an exotic culture all its own, amazing architecture
and the dizzying heights
of its location.
DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: There
are a lot of mysteries involved,
with the origin of, uh, Tibet,
and also a lot of history.
Tibet is usually referred to
as a land of gods.
It is a kind of exotic land
where many people Westerners
wanted to go there.
YOUNG: The secrets
of the Tibetan culture
have eluded us and held our
fascination since early times.
NARRATOR: Humans have
inhabited Tibet for at least 20,000 years.
Little is known about
the earliest inhabitants
of this forbidding environment,
but ancient Tibetan texts
identify
the region's first rulers
as the Zhangzhung people,
who emerged around 500 BC.
Much about this early civilization is still a mystery.
But their spiritual tradition,
called Bon,
remains a powerful force
in Tibet.
The native indigenous
Tibetan religion,
which is known as Bon or Bon po,
that, in many ways,
is similar to Taoism.
It connects nature
and spirituality.
Certain spots are
very powerful spots.
There's a lot of magic involved, like, with demons and exorcisms.
NARRATOR: In the eighth
century, Tibetan king Trisong Detsen
introduced a new religion
and philosophy to the area:
Buddhism.
Followers of Buddhism share
a belief in reincarnation
and don't acknowledge
a supreme god or deity.
They instead focus
on achieving enlightenment,
a state of inner peace
and wisdom.
The combination of Bon,
Buddhism,
and other local traditions
resulted in what is known today as Tibetan Buddhism.
At the same time Buddhism was introduced, Tibet also gave rise
to the world's most mysterious
spiritual leader,
the Dalai Lama.
YOUNG: The great Tibetan
thinkers strongly believe,
along with the rest
of the population,
that this is, in fact, the 74th incarnation of the Chenrezig.
And it is a continuation
of the Buddha himself.
So, the current Dalai Lama
is a continuation
of this great energy.
SHIMKHADA: These Lamas
and all these great personalities
lived in Tibet,
so perhaps there is something
to be learned from
these great masters in Tibet.
DAVID CHILDRESS: Having
traveled in Tibet a number of times,
it really expands your mind.
And in many ways,
Tibet is that magical, mystical place where anything can happen.
NARRATOR: Tibet not
only stands at a crossroads
of Eastern religious traditions, but is believed by many
to be a place where heavenlybeings actually reside on Earth.
TSOUKALOS: It is said that
this was the abode of the gods.
The Himalayan region
is filled with stories
of so-called "celestial beings"
that descended from the sky
in flying vehicles
that they're referred to as dragons and flying furnaces.
According to some of the earliest Sanskrit texts,
the first Buddha
that ever walked the Earth
was nine feet tall,
had light blue skin,
and his arms reached
all the way down to his knees.
And there are multiple statues
all throughout that region
of the world that depict
exactly a Buddha like that.
TSOUKALOS:
Visitation did happen,
and this was something that has remained in the consciousness
of the local people
over millennia.
The reason why
this area of the world
has become a religious center
is because of the arrival
of the extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the culture of Tibet
was influenced
by ancient alien visitors?
And if so,
could they still be present
in this mountainous region
today?
According to both Hindu
and Buddhist traditions,
the gods reside in a hidden
kingdom in the Himalayas
known as Shambhala.
CHILDRESS:
Shambhala is ruled by kings
who live for hundreds of years.
They are all-knowing.
And they, particularly,
are guiding the planet.
Very much as we often think that extraterrestrials are doing.
They have wonderful technology.
There's electricity.
There's airships.
So what is going on
in Shambhala?
Is it some mystical city
of the masters,
where extraterrestrials
and humans
are living and working together?
I mean, that's what
many people believe.
NARRATOR: Is the lost kingdom of Shambhala really a secret city
of advanced
extraterrestrial beings,
as some ancient astronaut
theorists suggest?
And if so, might evidence
of its alien origin
be found somewhere in Tibet?
Perhaps clues can be found
in one legendary expedition
into the very heart
of the unknown.
- WILLIAM HENRY: We're told that people live there
- NARRATOR: Russian painter, philosopher
and archaeologist
Nicholas Roerich
embarks on
an unprecedented expedition
into the uncharted territory
of the Tibetan plateau
on a quest to find
the lost kingdom of Shambhala.
On August 5, 1927,
Roerich notes a strange object
in the skies while traveling
through the mountains along the northeastern border of Tibet.
Roerich writes that they were
looking up at the sky,
watching an eagle fly around,
and then suddenly they saw
a sort of oval-shaped object,
moving from north to south
at very fast speeds,
pass over them.
HUGH NEWMAN: At one of his
later lectures in 1935,
Nicholas Roerich described
his sighting as a spacecraft
or an aerial vehicle that must have come from Shambhala itself.
NARRATOR:
Did Nicholas Roerich witness
an alien craft in Tibet
nearly a century ago,
decades before the era
of modern UFO sightings began?
And if so, is it possible
that the traditions
that have endured here
for centuries
reflect not only
a profound spirituality,
but are tied
to an otherworldly presence?
Perhaps further clues
can be found
by examining
an early Buddhist civilization
that suddenly
and mysteriously disappeared.
Ngari Prefecture, Tibet, 2020.
Towering at over 12,000 feet,
these ancient ruins
are all that is left
of the mysterious Buddhist
kingdom of Guge.
Established
in the tenth century,
this civilization flourished
for 700 years.
But then, according
to local legend,
its inhabitants vanished.
The ruins of this early city
are truly amazing.
They're in the south west corner of Tibet,
and there are thousands
of what were temples
and palaces, mostly gone now.
This was a kingdom of great influence in its time.
This magnificent capital had artwork over all the walls,
images of the Buddha,
sacred carvings
and images of all kind.
It had power, it had glory,
and now it is nothing.
HENRY: Guge was in continuous operation
until it mysteriously,
virtually disappeared.
Nobody knows exactly
what happened there
or why people
stopped living there
or why they where they want.
NARRATOR: Guge was brought under the rule
of the central Tibetan
government in 1680,
but remained largely isolated
and independent
for more than 200 years.
Then, in the early 20th century,
the Tibetan government
decided to finally
start taxing
the residents of Guge.
But when soldiers arrived
to collect,
they were shocked to find
that the entire population,
an estimated 100,000 people,
had disappeared.
Where they went remains
a complete mystery,
and many Tibetans believe
the reason why
is because the people of Guge
traveled deep underground.
CHILDRESS: The fortress of
Guge had all kinds of tunnels
and hidden staircases
that went underground
and went inside this mountain.
So even though
it was, uh, ruins already
when archaeologists went there,
they were astounded
that this city of Guge
apparently led inside the Earth.
What people seemed to believe
was that
if you were to follow
these tunnels far enough
into the Earth,
you would eventually
come to that hidden city
of Shambhala
an active city full of light
and-and power.
NARRATOR: Did the people
of this ancient civilization
flee underground
on an epic pilgrimage
to the mythic kingdom
of Shambhala?
And if so,
where did their path lead?
Some researchers believe
the tunnels of Guge
lead to a holy mountain
to the east
that can be clearly seen
from these ruins
Mount Kailash.
Every year,
thousands of pilgrims
make the treacherous journey
to the base
of this sacred peak.
STEAVU: Every year,
there are pilgrimages
around Mount Kailash
in order to gain the blessing
and maybe even
some of the powers
associated with
the residing gods
and, and Buddhas and deities
of Mount Kailash.
It lasts up to four weeks
if it's done correctly,
with full prostrations
at every step,
and it's also
a very unforgiving landscape,
so many people end up
giving up, and some of them
also end up dying.
NARRATOR: According
to ancient Buddhist texts
known as the Kalachakra tantra,
the kingdom of Shambhala
can be found "behind"
Mount Kailash,
or, as some interpret it,
within.
And many who have stared up
at this sacred peak
have observed mysterious objects in the sky.
Mount Kailash is at the center
of all sorts of mysteries.
UFO sightings,
the hint that there might be
something hidden there,
but it's unknowable.
HENRY: There are many myths and legends and strange things
that have gone on
at Mount Kailash.
People go there on pilgrimages,
but they're told not to stay
there long,
because there's
something radioactive
inside the mountain.
And we're told that
people live there,
both in physical form
and in non physical form.
It has to be one of
the strangest places
on the planet.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the mysterious phenomena
occurring at Mount Kailash,
and its association
with Shambhala,
is connected
to extraterrestrial activity?
Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest answers can be found
by studying the sacred
Buddhist monuments
known as stupas,
found all throughout Nepal,
India and Tibet, including at the ruins of Guge.
HENRY: For centuries,
people have been sighting UFOs
or unexplained craft coming
in and out of Mount Kailash.
And it's very interesting
when you compare the shape
of the stupas
that we find in Tibet,
these dome shapes,
and how they highly resemble
some kind of extraterrestrial
craft sitting on the ground.
So perhaps people saw
these craft entering
into Kailash and decided,
"We're gonna build stupas in
remembrance of what they saw."
TSOUKALOS:
A stupa, by definition,
is a vehicle with which to reach the realm of the gods.
That is the definition
of a stupa.
Well, just change the wording,
"a vehicle
with which to reach space."
These stupas can be seen,
for example,
in the Ajanta Cave, with smoke and fire at the, at the bottom.
And what more do you want?
It's no longer a symbol.
It is the truth.
NARRATOR: Might the Buddhist
stupas of Tibet be monuments
to alien craft witnessed flying
in and around Mount Kailash,
a site believed by many to be
the kingdom of Shambhala?
And if so, how has it remained
hidden for millennia?
Could it be that somewhere
on the slopes of Mount Kailash
is the entrance to a hidden
extraterrestrial realm?
While countless expeditions
have tried and failed
to find the legendary kingdom
of Shambhala,
there are some who claim
to have found a way
to communicate with
its otherworldly inhabitants.
NEWMAN:
Was she somehow in contact
Famed Russian mystic
and philosopher
Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
publishes her seminal book
The Secret Doctrine.
In it, she offers
detailed descriptions
of the legendary lost continents
of Atlantis and Lemuria.
She claims not only that these
ancient civilizations existed
but that they possessed
highly advanced technology,
including flying machines,
thousands of years ago.
Madame Blavatsky maintained
that human lineage
is vastly older
than we understand
and that primordial
civilizations,
like Atlantis or Lemuria,
formed the foundation
of human history
and were much older
than Egyptian culture,
than Vedic culture,
than any culture
known to humanity.
This, to her, was an occult
history that humankind,
uh, had forgotten about,
had failed to understand.
LACHMAN: Atlantis, we
know, goes back to Plato.
Uh, he's the first one
to really talk about it.
And both Atlantis and Lemuria
at some point,
they sort of turned dark.
They became fascinated
with a kind
of form of black magic, and a kind of hyper technology.
And this led to their demise.
NARRATOR: Madame Blavatsky
claimed she received this knowledge
from a mysterious entity
she described
as a "mahatma," a Sanskrit word that means "great soul."
He called himself Koot Hoomi
and resided in Tibet.
Koot Hoomi communicated
with her telepathically.
In other words,
she kind of channeled him.
SHIMKHADA:
The way she described him
is almost like an eternal baba, eternal soul,
so, you know, he is,
like, immortal.
MICHAEL SALLA: Also, he
was able to manifest himself
in her apartment
in New York City,
even though it was
thousands of miles away.
NEWMAN: We have to
question what was going on here.
Was she somehow in contact
with some kind of hidden world
in the Himalayas?
NARRATOR:
In 1875,
Madame Blavatsky founded
the Theosophical Society.
It was made up
of prominent thinkers
who sought to explore Eastern
religions and the occult,
and create a kind
of universal brotherhood
based on the teachings
of Koot Hoomi
and other Mahatmas.
LACHMAN: Theosophy means,
uh, "the wisdom of the gods."
The Theosophical Society
was incredibly, um
successful and popular
and influential.
Not only in the occult world,
but she was also influential
in the cultural world.
Uh, people like, uh,
the-the painter, Mondrian,
and Wassily Kandinsky
were early Theosophists.
L. Frank Baum,
who wrote the Oz books.
Abner Doubleday,
who invented baseball.
Thomas Edison invented
the light bulb.
These were all
very early members
of the Theosophical Society.
NARRATOR:
While many important figures
joined the Theosophical Society,
Madame Blavatsky had a particularly profound influence
on a young Indian law student
who came to visit her
in London
Mohandas Gandhi.
HOROWITZ: Gandhi wrote
about this as one of the pivotal
encounters of his life.
He maintained that
Madame Blavatsky gave him
the first sense of universal
brotherhood
that later came to form
the core of his philosophy,
not only of radical equality
but of radical non violence.
Now, this is quite astonishing, when we think about
the potential here
that perhaps an entity,
this strange Tibetan entity
that's making psychical contact
with Blavatsky,
has now reached out to someone
who would go on to be
one of the most famous persons
in history,
and would have made this radical change in India that would,
you know, really shock the world
and change the face
of the British Empire.
NARRATOR: Was Gandhi's
transformative leadership
and Indian independence in part a result of influence
from these mysterious,
enlightened masters in Tibet?
And if so, who were these
so-called mahatmas?
Ancient astronaut theorists believe the answer can be found
by examining an encounter
with a similar entity.
New York City, 1918.
British occultist and writer
Aleister Crowley engages
in a magic ritual he calls
the Amalantrah Working.
He claims the ritual opens
an inter dimensional portal,
allowing him to interact
with an otherworldly being.
Aleister Crowley is probably
the most famous,
or, rather, infamous, magician
of the 20th century.
And Crowley took it
upon himself to revive
the ancient black arts
the dark arts, as it were.
He was contacting
lots of different beings
from other dimensions.
But there was also a vision Crowley had of this individual,
this entity that he called Lam.
NARRATOR:
According to Crowley,
this entity claimed to reside high in the mountains of Tibet,
just like the mahatma
that Madame Blavatsky said
she encountered.
Lam claimed to be
a Tibetan master of wisdom,
somewhat in the footsteps
of some of the figures
that Madame Blavatsky had
been in touch with.
And he was a kind of mystical
or otherworldly adept,
in his own description,
according to Crowley.
PICKNETT: Aleister Crowley
drew a sketch of this creature.
And if you look at this sketch, one thing that hits you
very forcibly
in fact, startlingly
is the fact that this looks like a Grey alien.
NARRATOR: More than
70% of alleged alien abductees
describe encountering what have become known as the Greys,
or Grey aliens.
Is it possible that
there is a connection
between these beings
and the Tibetan masters
that both Aleister Crowley
and Madame Blavatsky
claimed to have contacted?
And if so, does this suggest
that there is a hidden
extraterrestrial realm
within Tibet?
Some ancient astronaut
theorists believe
that physical proof
of an alien presence in Tibet
was uncovered
more than 80 years ago
by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
LACHMAN: The idea is that the statue has some kind of mystical,
May, 1938.
Roughly one year before the
start of the Second World War,
German explorer and zoologist
Ernst Schafer
leads a Nazi-funded expedition
into Tibet.
Schafer's official objective
for the expedition
was the creation of a complete
scientific record of Tibet.
But unofficially, he was given
another directive:
to determine whether Tibet was
the cradle of the Aryan race.
This was allegedly inspired
by a 19th century book written
by British author
Edward Bulwer-Lytton called
Vril, the Power
of the Coming Race.
He describes this
extraordinary race of beings
that have magical powers
sort of superheroes, really.
And they have the "Vril" power.
And sadly,
this idea also permeated
into the very early Nazi
ideologues' world view.
The idea that a man
can be a superman,
and in order to do this,
in their eyes,
you had to be of the Aryan race.
NARRATOR:
Some within the Nazis' ranks identified the Tibetan mahatmas
described by Madame Blavatsky
as a race of supermen,
and sought to prove that the
Aryans were their descendants.
But even more important to the
German expedition than proving
Nazi superiority was finding the hidden kingdom of Shambhala.
COLLINS: The Nazis
took an incredible interest
in looking for that entrance
to Shambhala.
The Nazis were almost
certainly influenced
by the works
of Madame Blavatsky,
because she said
if somebody could find access
into Shambhala,
they would also be able to control the destiny of humanity,
and the world as a whole.
LACHMAN:
While they were there,
the war broke out in 1939,
so they were called back.
So, uh, they didn't really
return with any positive proof
about what, you know,
what they were looking for,
but the story is, they did comeback with this statue.
NARRATOR: Among the items
Schafer brought back to Germany
was a mysterious
22-pound iron statue
of what was presumed
to be a Buddhist deity.
The figure had a swastika on its clothing, a symbol of divinity
that predated the Nazis
by thousands of years.
One of their discoveries
was a little nine-inch statue
of a being wearing
a swastika on his chest,
which certainly would have got
the attention of the Nazis,
having adopted the swastika
as their symbol,
although they put it into its counter clockwise form.
The swastika was originally a Tibetan symbol for prosperity
and for good luck.
NARRATOR: In the late
19th century, the term Aryan
referred to an Indo-European
language group
that included German, Romance
and Sanskrit languages.
The ancient symbol of
the swastika became associated
with "Aryan"
due to where it was found.
But when the Nazis
redefined the term to identify
what they called "the master race," they adopted the swastika
as a symbol of their heritage and self-proclaimed superiority.
We can assume that this is
what stood out to them,
was this, you know, swastika
emblazoned on the chest,
and they decided that this
is a representation
of one of these entities
that are somehow involved
in the back story
of the Aryan race
and their sort of greatness
in the world.
NARRATOR: Could the
"Iron Man" statue depict
one of the powerful mahatmas
described by Madame Blavatsky?
Was it perhaps a sign
that the Nazi expedition
was close to finding Shambhala?
While most researchers have been preoccupied with determining
what the statue
is meant to depict,
80 years after its discovery,
a scientific study uncovered
an even more intriguing aspect
of the Iron Man.
NARRATOR:
Stuttgart University, 2012.
A team of German geologists
that have performed
a new examination
of the Iron Man statue
publish their analysis
in the scientific journal
Meteorics & Planetary Science.
They estimate the figure was
created in the 11th century
and have found that it was not
made of earthly iron,
but was carved
from the Chinga meteorite.
POPE: It turns out this thing is made
from one of the rarest
meteorites in human history,
that fell to Earth over Tibet
around 15,000 years ago.
It's the most unusual
and hardest meteorite
ever discovered.
The ancient Tibetans
who carved this into a statue
clearly suspected that this thing had great power.
CHILDRESS: The Tibetans themselves seem to realize that this was special.
And you have to wonder,
is this meteorite,
was it perhaps part
of a spaceship?
Something that had crashed
there in Tibet,
and the Chinga meteorite
is all that's left of it?
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the Iron Man statue
was made from part
of an alien craft
that crash-landed on Earth
thousands of years ago?
Could it be
a remnant of an event
that marked the arrival
of otherworldly visitors,
and the beginning
of the legend of Shambhala?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest that the reason
this alien realm remains
so elusive can be found
by examining stories
of a Tibetan monster
known as the yeti.
CHILDRESS:
Were they murdered by,
April 29, 2019.
Just a few miles south of the Tibetan border, the Indian Army
reports the discovery of enormous footprints in the snow
measuring an astounding 32
inches long by 15 inches wide.
They identify the footprints
as having been made
by the legendary monster
known as the yeti.
SHIMKHADA: The yeti is some kind of a Himalayan monster
that looked like a man,
that looked like an ape.
This is a composite, uh, figure.
Local people have seen it
in the snow, in the mountains.
NARRATOR: Tales of the yeti
stretch back to pre-Buddhist Tibet,
where the shamanic mystics
of the Bon religion
told of wild men
that guarded a hidden place
of power and perfection
called Olmo Lung Ring,
known in the Tibetan Buddhist
tradition as Shambhala.
The yeti have this reputation
of being extremely violent
and aggressive towards humans.
And one explanation for this
is because they're considered
to be the guardians
of Shambhala.
Keeping away all those
that are not pure of heart
from entering into
this holiest of holy places.
CHILDRESS: When the early
British expeditions
went through India into Tibet,
they would stop
at Tibetan monasteries
on their way to Mount Everest
and they would be told
about yetis.
And that yetis were guardians
of the entrances to Shambhala.
NARRATOR: Monsters guarding the entrances to the land of the gods?
While it may sound
like the stuff of legend,
ancient astronaut theorists
suggest there is
disturbing evidence
that may prove
such stories are,
in fact, very real.
Uttarakhand, India.
16,000 feet high
in the Himalayas,
just 40 miles
from the Tibetan border,
lies Roopkund Lake.
While it has become
a popular tourist destination,
those who approach this small,
picturesque body of water
are confronted
with a chilling sight
because Roopkund Lake
is littered
with the remains
of over 600 human bodies.
For decades, scientists assumed that the dead
had fallen victim to a single massive catastrophe.
But in 2019, DNA sampling
revealed that
the bodies contained
in what has been dubbed
"Skeleton Lake"
did not all die at once,
but at different points in time,
over a period
of at least a thousand years.
Some of the skeletons, uh,
had, uh, what they said were,
um unhealed compression
fractures on the head.
Were they murdered by, like,
being hammered on the head
and then thrown into this lake?
So researchers were baffled
by this whole thing.
And the more information
that came out of this lake,
the stranger it became.
SHIMKHADA: Recently,
Indian scientists have performed
DNA testing on those bones
in Roopkund.
They have found
many South Asians
and some East Asians
meaning Chinese and Koreans
and of course
some from the West,
you know, for example
Mediterranean region.
So that is really intriguing,
you know, how these people
wound up there,
uh, that's baffling.
NARRATOR: What could have
drawn people from all over the world
to make the treacherous journey to this very small
and remote mountain lake?
And not just
at a single point in time,
but continuously
for hundreds of years?
LACHMAN:
Roopkund Lake is
on the pilgrims' trail, uh, to
uh, Mount Kailash, which is,
uh, one of the central, uh, uh,
geographic sites
in-in, um, Hindu
and-and Tibetan and Buddhist,
uh, religion.
These people at different times could have been
on the pilgrimage path.
HENRY: If the yeti is considered to be the guardian of Shambhala,
and if Shambhala is Kailash,
then it makes perfect sense
why the yeti is somehow taking
these people, killing them,
harming them, and throwing them in Skeleton Lake.
[growling]
NARRATOR: Could the
bones found at Skeleton Lake
belong to pilgrims
who were seeking
Shambhala and fell victim
to the yeti?
Although there have been
numerous reported sightings
of yetis in Tibet,
no reliable physical proof
of their existence has been
successfully retrieved.
In fact, these mysterious beings are often reported
as simply vanishing
into thin air.
In 1951, the world-famous
mountaineer Eric Shipton
was on his way to Mount Everest.
He's at 19,000 feet.
And all of a sudden,
he sees these giant
footprints in the snow.
And he follows them
for over a mile
until they disappear
into the glacier.
The yeti could, in fact, be
an inter dimensional creature,
capable of either
cloaking itself
or disappearing
into other realms.
Perhaps they are not
physical biological beings,
but are some sort
of inter dimensional
class of entities, which is able
to appear and disappear at will.
And manifest themselves at will to stop those
who are not supposed
to enter certain areas.
NARRATOR: Is it
possible that both the yeti
and the kingdom of Shambhala
that it is said to protect
are not only extraterrestrial,
but also inter dimensional?
Might this explain
why they remain so elusive?
Some modern researchers,
people like Jacques Vallée,
John Keel, amongst others,
have drawn the conclusion
that maybe we're not really
dealing with extraterrestrials
from outer space,
but ultra-terrestrials were
coming from parallel space.
That's exactly
what masters of mysticism
and experiences
of the prophetic traditions
have been saying
for thousands of years.
NARRATOR:
If a gateway
leading into another dimension
exists somewhere
in Tibet, as ancient
astronaut theorists suggest,
could it be a site
where extraterrestrials
or, perhaps,
ultra-terrestrials
are entering our world?
And might it also be possible
for us to enter theirs?
Ancient astronaut theorists
believe
that the key to accessing
this cosmic paradise
may not lie in traveling to a secret location in Tibet
but in mastering an ancient
technique of the mind.
NARRATOR:
Seda County, China.
December 11, 2015.
In the southeast region
of the Tibetan plateau,
renowned Tibetan Buddhist monk
Lama Thubser has been in a state of continuous meditation
for seven straight days,
engaged in a practice
that is said
to go back some 10,000 years.
He is attempting
to attain what is known
as the "rainbow light body."
Tibetan Buddhists believe that
through meditation practices
like this, it is possible
to access alternate realms.
And that this may be
where the kingdom of Shambhala
truly exists.
You will find people within
Tibetan Buddhist tradition
who believe that Shambhala
is an actual place.
But it may be what we might call an inter dimensional place.
So it cannot be accessed through
ordinary material techniques.
But it exists in another
dimension, so to speak.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that the concept of the rainbow light body
holds the key
to reaching an alien realm
that exists on Earth?
And is there any evidence that
such a transformative process
could actually take place?
Recently, scientists have discovered that the human body,
particularly in the brain,
naturally produces light
in the form of bio photons.
The average person emits
14 to 20 photons
by centimeter square per second.
This is very, very low.
But in a state of meditation,
you are able
to raise that number
by 100,000 photons per
centimeter square per second,
which is extremely bright.
This tells us that
when we are in a higher state
of consciousness, our bodies
emit a huge amount of light.
And perhaps that is the reason
why we call it enlightenment.
NARRATOR: Tibetan Buddhists
say that when a highly trained priest
commits himself to attainment
of the rainbow light body,
his material body
will fade away.
Photographs taken by those
in attendance
on the seventh day
of Lama Thubser's meditation
provide an incredibly
rare documentation
of this sacred process.
As his breathing stops and his
physical body begins to die,
it dramatically
decreases in size.
According to the monks,
he has dissolved into light.
And a final photograph reveals
a beam of light shooting up
into the sky from the site
of his transformation.
HENRY: In the Tibetan tradition, they tell us that once a Lama
has achieved
this state of being,
that they're able to then
travel to 12 star systems
where this teaching is taught,
that are all connected
with the Earth,
and that beings come and go,
bringing this teaching
and enlightening
all other civilizations
they come into contact with.
The rainbow light body, it is
an extraterrestrial teaching
that was imported to Earth
from other star systems.
TZADOK: Right now,
very few make the efforts
to learn how to expand
consciousness,
to interact
with our parallel dimensions.
But the future is
to bring the worlds together.
This is what the biblical
tradition teaches
when it says everyone
will know the truth.
There will be
enlightenment for all.
NARRATOR:
Could it be that high
in the mountains of Tibet,
there is a gateway
into another dimension?
And if so, is it possible
that this alternate realm
can only be accessed through
a state of enlightenment?
Perhaps as science begins
to understand more
about human consciousness,
we will learn
what the Tibetan masters
have known for centuries.
That we can reach
the stars not only
by mastering technology
but by mastering
the power of the human mind.
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