Ancient Alien Theory

The time was the 1890s – the invention of the motion picture cameras had just revolutionized the entertainment industry. While the first films were only under a minute long and without sound, the novelty of moving photographs was enough for the motion picture business to flourish. Cinema offered a cheap and simple way of providing entertainment to the masses. Filmmakers could record actors' performances, which are then shown to audiences around the world. Travelogues would bring the sights of far-flung places, with movement, directly to spectators' hometowns. (Bordwell & Thompson, 2003).

Interestingly, one of the first topics explored by motion pictures is extra-terrestrial life. In 1902, Georges Méliès produced and directed the first film

Ancient Alien Theory states that extraterrestrials with superior knowledge of science and engineering landed on Earth thousands of years ago and shared their expertise with early civilizations. In Chariots of the Gods? (1968), Erich von Däniken put forth his hypothesis that, thousands of years ago, space travelers from other planets visited Earth, where they taught humans about technology and influenced ancient religions. Most ancient alien theorists, including von Däniken, point to two types of evidence to support their ideas. The first is ancient religious texts in which humans witness and interact with gods or other heavenly beings that descend from the sky – sometimes in vehicles resembling spaceships – and possess spectacular powers. The second is physical specimens such as artwork depicting alien-like figures and ancient architectural marvels like Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt. (Ancient Alien Theory).

On the other hand, the Fermi Paradox, proposed by Enrico Fermi and Michael H. Hart, is considered a pessimistic view on SETI. Although it does not counter the theory of the Drake Equation, its argument stems from actual observation. Even at the slow pace of currently envisioned interstellar travel, the Milky Way galaxy could be completely traversed in about a million years. Therefore, aliens should have already visited Earth. Fermi saw no convincing

Dubbed “Lubbock Lights”, the incident received national publicity and regarded as one of the first great UFO cases in the United States. Consequently, the US Air Force investigated the Lubbock Lights. They initially believed a type of bird caused the lights with white bottoms called “plover”. Nevertheless, the US Air Force concluded that the lights were from neither birds nor spaceships. No explanation exists yet for the Lubbock Lights. (Ruppelt,