Five Mysteries of Ancient Aliens

As long as there have been human beings we've wondered how we came to be. Imagination is one of the most powerful tools in the evolutionary toolbox. As a species filled with boundless curiosity, we inevitably desire to seek our origins and speculate about our fates after death. Today, I will discuss the former.

At some point in our lives we are all confronted with various ideas and theories regarding the origin of mankind. Over time, the vast majority of these concepts have involved religious teachings and the presence of a spiritual God (or gods). As time has moved on, many people have come forward to challenge those claims. Evolution explains changes and adaptations in living organisms over time, but it does not explain the big question of how the first living biological cells came into existence. A mixture of curiosity and imagination, combined with dissatisfaction with the teachings of organized religion, has led to a number of alternative theories on the source of life as we know it. I use the word "theory" very loosely here. These "theories" are not the rigid and testable theories of science, but they are rather far-fetched speculation.

One of the ideas being bounced around out there is that life on this planet has an alien origin. It goes without saying that this is a controversial idea to say the least. Just because a topic is absurd or controversial doesn't mean that I won't write about it. Free up your imagination for a while and look at the contents of these five items as a fun thought exercise.

Ancient Aliens - This is a fairly simple to understand concept. The idea here is that beings from another world came to earth at some time in the past and populated our planet. Aliens supposedly directly influenced the evolution of mankind. Some suggest that this was accomplished through genetic engineering or cross-breeding. Additionally, the aliens were thought to have aided in the development of human cultures, technologies and religions.

This concept has been around since the middle of the 19th century, but has only gained widespread recognition since 1968 following the publication that year of Chariots of the Gods. Small subsets of believers in ancient aliens also believe in what is called the zoo hypothesis. According to the zoo hypothesis, aliens have been secretly watching and participating in human development for thousands of years. The idea is that this is done out of view and at a distance, somewhat like humans may do when we manage a zoo.

Angels and Demons - Combine religious ideology with the idea of alien origins of life and you have Raelism. The Raelian Movement teaches that life on Earth was scientifically created by a species of extraterrestrials, which they call the Elohim. The members of this species supposedly appeared human and when they first made their appearance to humans they were mistaken for angels, demons or gods. Raelians believe messengers, or prophets, of the Elohim include Buddha, Jesus, and others.

In Christian traditions, demons are similar to angels. They are spiritual, and immortal. The apocryphal Book of Enoch recounts that a group of 200 rebellious angels left heaven and came down to Earth to marry human women and have children with them. In Islam, the Quran depicts a story of angels that are given their own free will. One of these angels was Iblis (Satan) who rebelled and was therefore banished on the Earth to create mischief through mankind. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, angels were all created as good beings, but some decided to become evil. It was written that angels do not need faith as they already have the knowledge of celestial things, which means that their actions constitute unforgivable sin.

Men in Black - The Men in Black are men, or aliens, dressed in black suits that have been reported to harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen. In most cases, the men claim to be government agents, but it is often suggested that they may be aliens themselves.

People having encounters with men in black often describe them as being short and having dark skin. They always seem to have detailed information about the people they contact. According to several reports, the men in black seem to have trouble comprehending the nature of everyday life such as understanding the uses of common objects like utensils and writing instruments. They may smile at inappropriate times and have been said to use outdated slang.

The phenomenon has been frequently reported since the 1950s and 1960s, but some researchers have suggested similarities between the Men in Black reports and earlier demonic accounts. Believers suggest that the beings are a modern-day manifestation of the same phenomena that was earlier interpreted as the devil, or encounters with fairies. The term “the black man” has been used for centuries in reference to the Devil. During the Middle Ages, the black man was not a person with African features, but rather a man colored black and dressed in black.

Greys - Greys are a supposed alien species that have been closely linked to alien abduction and the Roswell incident. They are thought to be highly intelligent beings who are interested in human physiology. This may account for the stories of alien abductions and medical probing.

The appearance of the Greys is thought to be fairly uniform. They are described as being small in stature (under five feet tall) with large dark eyes and slits where the nose and ears would appear on a human. People have described the Greys as staring into their eyes when conducting mental procedures. This staring is claimed to induce hallucinogenic states or directly provoke different emotions.

According to reproductive biologist Jack Cohen, the typical image of a Grey is too physiologically similar to a human for them to be credible as an alien species. This makes some people believe that these extraterrestrial beings had some influence on the evolution of life on Earth in the distant past, or that they are an ancient race of humans that was forced to abandon Earth, but still watches over the planet.

Spaceship Moon Theory - What if I told you that astronomy data indicates that the internal regions of the Moon are less dense than the outer regions, and when Apollo 11's lunar module impacted the Moon’s surface it caused their seismic equipment to register a continuous reverberation like a bell for more than an hour? It might lead you to think that the moon isn't completely solid. This is the basis of the pseudoscientific hypothesis known as the hollow moon theory.

Back in July of 1970, Micheal Vasin and Alexander Shcherbakov, both members of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, first proposed the spaceship moon theory. The pseudoscientific theory claims that the Earth’s moon may actually be an alien spacecraft. Their thesis was that the Moon is actually a hollowed out planetoid created by unknown beings with technology far superior to what we possess on Earth today. In their minds, the Moon was a hull like inner shell with an outer shell formed by metallic rock slag. This
“Spaceship Moon” would have been placed onto Earth orbit.

Proponents of this “theory” note that there have been numerous reported sightings and photographs of UFOs made by NASA during their missions to the Moon. They also point out that meteors create shallow crates on the lunar surface with a convex instead of concave floor. This is interpreted by them as supporting the idea of a rigid inner shell.

Just in case you might be wondering, there is no real scientific evidence to support the hollow Moon theory.

Sources:

Hollow Moon - Wikipedia

Ancient Aliens - AncientX.com

The International Raelian Religion - Washington and Lee University, Callie Campbell

UFO Abduction and the Greys - v-j-enterprises.com

Men in Black (MIB) - ufoevidence.org