Much of humanity’s past is a great, swirling enigma which is lost to the ages. Among the many mysteries of human history are buried hints, clues and a few trails of evidence which point to the possibility that we may not be alone in the universe.
Many researchers and scholars have asked the same intriguing question: At some point during the dim, dawn light of our civilization, were we visited by beings from the stars?
It’s an impossible question to answer definitively, but there are some tantalizing clues scattered throughout ancient texts, engravings, artwork and legends which suggest this possibility.
One thing to keep in mind when searching for evidence of ancient aliens is that our ancestors would likely have interpreted an alien visitation as something God-like, magic or something spiritual.
In the words of Arthur C. Clarke,”Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” — so it’s entirely possible that some of the signs and wonders described in ancient texts could in fact be colorful descriptions of sophisticated technology.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
— Arthur C. Clarke
Many students of ancient texts believe that the Bible itself may hold clues to alien visitations. Let’s take a look at a few passages which practically demand speculation.
Ancient Aliens: The Biblical Evidence
Were the Biblical Nephilim the hybrid offspring of humans and aliens?
It would be one thing if the Bible mentioned an enigmatic race of giants just once. But the thing about the Nephilim, or the mysterious race of giants described in the Bible, is that they’re mentioned several times — in completely different books of the Bible and the Apocrypha.
Just a single reference to a mysterious race of giants might be easily dismissed as poetic phrasing, or a mis-translation. But multiple references?
The Nephilim giants are first mentioned in the book of Genesis, where they’re described as being the offspring of angels and men.
“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
— Genesis 6:4 (King James Version)
The above sentence alone has to be one of the most intriguing in the entire Bible. Especially because it’s found in the Bible’s very first and ostensibly oldest book, Genesis.
Who were these giants? More importantly: What were these giants?
If this single line in Genesis were the only mention of the Nephilim in the Bible, they might easily be forgotten. But the references to giants keep coming:
“We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them”
— Numbers 13:33
Is this poetic exaggeration? Perhaps.
Still, the description of humans looking like “grasshoppers” relative to the size of the Nephilim certainly raises questions. The Bible is clearly not just talking about some unusually tall neighbors here. Whoever Anak was, he and his descendants were not only huge, they were said to be descended from the legendary Nephilim mentioned in the book of Genesis.
Did Anak have “giant DNA”? How big was he really?
These questions have long been a mystery to curious Bible readers, but the riddles don’t end there.
In fact, this is where things get even stranger.
In the above passages, the Nephilim giants come off as being somewhat benign. But in the Apocrypha, the so-called “lost” books of the Bible, they’re something darker altogether.
Enter the Apocrypha
It’s in the ancient books of Apcocrypha, the parts of the Bible that were edited-out sometime in the 1500’s, that the Nephilim get really interesting. In fact, so interesting that one starts to see why these books may have been removed from the official Biblical canon in the first place.
The following passage comes from the “deleted” book of Enoch. It describes “angels” from heaven lusting after human females and making the conscious decision to procreate with them. The passage also suggests that the “angels” were well aware that mating with humans was strictly forbidden, and decided to do it as a group so they’d all get in trouble together.
“And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.’ And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: ‘I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.’ And they all answered him and said: ‘Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.'”
— Enoch 6:1-4
After which, it appears that the “angels” did follow through with their plan to mate with human females. What’s more, the “angels” proceeded to teach their human mates about magic, technology, botany and medicinal herbs of some kind.
And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants.
— Enoch 7:1-2
So far, it seems like these “angels” didn’t actually have the worst intentions. Aside from breaking what appear to be some very serious rules, they do seem interested in sharing technology and teaching these human females important skills like botanical root grafting to help them (and their offspring) survive.
Unfortunately, this is where their plan apparently went off the rails: Their offspring, the Nephilim were born — and they sound like a genetics experiment gone wrong.
“And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood.”
— Enoch 7:3-6
So what exactly happened here?
The Bible clearly describes the Nephilim as the offspring of angels and human females — but any modern re-telling of this tale would likely sound more like this:
Alien mutineers decided to break some “Prime Directive”, abandon their posts, live among humans and take human wives.
As if proving the importance of said directive, their offspring — giant alien-human hybrids — were mentally unstable and became horrifically violent. These offspring eventually turned on each other, drank each others’ blood for some reason — and were eventually destroyed.
That’s quite a tale.
Was Ezekiel’s Wheel a UFO?
In a profoundly mysterious passage from the Bible’s “Book of Ezekiel”, there’s a passage which stands out from the rest. Ezekiel, a 6th century prophet, was dwelling in Babylon during the period of the exile of the Israelites when he experienced his famous vision.
Ezekiel’s vision, commonly called “Ezekiel’s Wheel”, would almost certainly be described as a UFO sighting if anyone were to see it today. His vision of vast concentric wheels of color and blue-green light, hovering in the sky, conjure images straight out of contemporary science fiction.
Here are the relevant parts from the passage (edited down for brevity), taken from the King James version of the Bible:
“The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl … and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel…. and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes. … Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.”
— Ezekiel 1:16-21:
The use of the descriptive term “Wheels” is strikingly similar to our modern description of UFO’s being “saucers”. And Ezekiel’s description of the wheels being “full of eyes”, sounds suspiciously like lights or perhaps windows.
What exactly did Ezekiel witness in the skies above ancient Babylon?
Was the “Pillar of Fire” a laser
The Bible is filled with wondrous acts of God. Some of these acts however bear a striking resemblance to scenes from cinematic science fiction.
One such reference is that of a brilliant column of “fire” which descended from the evening skies in the book of Exodus.
“And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.”
— Exodus 13:21-22
Remember, these events were recorded millennia before the knowledge of lasers, so light traveling in a tight beam would likely be described as a “pillar of fire”. It’s likely that if someone were describe the same event today, they would use the term “laser”.
Is it possible that what’s being described here is laser light?
Was Elijah “taken” by a UFO?
In the Biblical Book of Kings, the prophet Elijah was taken from the Earth.
As the story goes, Elijah was walking with his son Elisha when a “chariot of fire” appeared in the skies above them. Emanating from the “chariot” a sudden whirlwind took Elijah up into the chariot. The chariot then sped off, vanishing forever.
What exactly happened here?
Again, one must keep in mind that “chariot” was few words one could use to describe a “vehicle” at the time. Today we might have said he “beamed up”, but the term “whirlwind” was probably as close as they could come with ancient vocabulary.
If anyone were to describe this story today it would sound almost exactly like any number of “taken” stories from the UFO genre.
Was Elijah taken by a UFO?
These are just a few of the hints and traces of possible alien influence which appear in one of the oldest and most important human texts. While it’s unlikely we’ll ever learn the truth of these Bible stories — or perhaps we already know it — they are certainly food for thought.
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