Nevada is no stranger to UFO and alien activity, but the UFO spotted flying over the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada may be the first time an unidentified flying object graced the skies over that grand hotel. On February 18, 2012, multiple witnesses near the Bellagio saw the luminous disc as it moved slowly above the famous hotel. There have been no other reports of a UFO sighting at the Bellagio before or since.

One of the observers was able to record the flying saucer-shaped light as it traversed the dark night sky. The cameraman filmed the UFO for just a few brief seconds before it launched itself upwards and out of view. It was not possible for the witnesses to determine the size or speed of the object.

The UFO video shows the Fountains of Bellagio in the foreground. The fountains are a beautiful sight as streams of water erupt from the ground accompanied by music and lights. Could the UFO flying above the Bellagio have held observers who were enjoying the spectacular show of water, lights and music?

The streams of water that comprise the Fountains of Bellagio partially obscured the camera’s view of the UFO as it passed overhead. However, the video still shows the unidentified flying object clearly between the jets of water. The object seemed to be slightly convex, and it appeared to glow from within versus having exterior lights mounted on it.

The Bellagio itself has an astonishing 3,933 Guest Rooms and Suites. That means there are potentially a great number of witnesses who saw Saturday night’s UFO and did not come forward to report it. For now, this remains the only video footage documenting the events of that night.

Pakal the Great was the Mayan ruler of Palenque during the seventh century. As ruler of the Mayan city he was responsible for much of the art and architecture that decorated the city.

Pakal ascended to the throne at an early age and ruled into his eighties, a very old man by Mayan standards of the time. Pakal sat on the throne at 12 years old and ruled for about 70 years. Pakal became one of the most distinguished rulers of the Mayan empire because of the contributions of art and construction that came during his rule. The famous temple of the Inscriptions was one of the famous construction projects built during his reign.

The temple is comprised of nine levels and is just south of the Palace. The temple is built into the hill and it was revealed that the tomb of Pakal was contained within. Mexican Archaeologist Ruz discovered that the floor panels were movable and underneath he discovered the interior dimensions of the temple. Just inside, he found Pakal’s tomb and the staircase below. The chamber holds the sarcophagus of Pakal. The lid of the sarcophagus is the most interesting feature.

Pakal’s sarcophagus is the subject of some mystery and a common theory surrounding him is one that makes him an ancient astronaut.

This theory has sprung into life because of the intricate art work that can be found on the lid of this sarcophagus. The lid is a classic example of Mayan art and it is the source of the discussion around his origins.

The immense stone lid in the Temple of Inscriptions is classic Mayan Art. The accepted story of the lid is that Pakal is descending into the Mayan underworld. Around the sides are representations of the Sun, Venus, Moon and other constellations. Below Pakal is the dragon jaws that are opened to accept him into the underworld. The Mayan water guard protects the entrance to the underworld.

Upon the death of Pakal, he was buried in a pyramid called the Temple of Inscriptions. The temple of Inscriptions has been instrumental for archaeologists studying Mayan civilization because of the incredible hieroglyphic text found on the inscription tablets found on the piers of the building.

However, the controversy around Pakal is not around construction or art. Since the discovery of the sarcophagus of Pakal, UFO theorists have concluded that Pakal might have been an ancient astronaut and his sarcophagus shows him sitting in a spacecraft in flight. If you look at the picture of the lid, it appears to show Pakal taking off, operating the controls of a spaceship.

Pakal is sitting upright or slightly leaned and he appears to be leaning over a possible control platform in which he is holding controls. As well, the king seems to be wearing an odd helmet that has a set of tubes running backwards. In front of his nose is what could be an oxygen apparatus and his hands are on controls.

It almost seems as if he is manipulating the controls of a motorized bike of some kind. His feet are sitting on what appears to be a pedal that has several stages.

Was Pakal the king Pakal the Astronaut?

As we come up to the fiftieth anniversary of the famous Betty and Barney Hill alien abduction event, this baffling phenomena is due a closer look. Do we have enough information to even give a competent guess as to the motives behind the phenomena? Are these reported events even extraterrestrial in nature?

Reports of attempts by UFO crews to grab humans are not particularly new. One of the earliest reported cases was from Stockton, California in 1897 when Colonel H.G. Shaw and a companion were harassed and had to fight off three tall, humanoid beings that had emerged from a circular aircraft as the men were traveling in the mountains. However, the incidence of "alien abductions" did not begin to pick up in earnest until the 1960's. "Alien abductions" are a worldwide phenomena although most reports, over 95%, do occur in the English speaking countries of the world, most notably the United States.

There are several primary beliefs as to what may be behind these terrifying events; and terrifying they are as medical "experiments" and the helplessness of capture by unknown entities are consistent throughout the abduction phenomena. One theory involves the possibility that we are being harvested for our genetic material. It is thought that either the aliens need to rejuvenate their own kind or that they require a crossbred variety of themselves that can more easily live on this planet or pass undiscovered among us.

Another school of thought is that the supposed aliens are, in fact, actually another terrestrial species that has chosen to remain aloof from humans. It is speculated that these creatures are the basis for the old myths of "elves" and "fairies;" other mysterious creatures that have a history of abducting humans for their own nefarious means. The more theologically minded feel these creatures are actually demons of some sort who are attempting to steal a victim's soul instead of capturing them for physical genetic material.

Another theory that is quite popular is that rather than alien beings, the abductors are really humans from the future. It is believed that at some point humanity will have become genetically impoverished and have had to develop a way to replenish their diminished viability with genetic material from a distant past relative.

The one fact that is incontrovertible is that we have no way of knowing which, if any, of the above scenarios is actually the cause of abduction reports. We know that many people report experiencing this phenomenon. We know that they have similar psychological problems develop from their experience. There are cases where it seems physical evidence is left, both as scars and as metallic "implants" left in their bodies. Many thousands of people merely "disappear" every year. It cannot all be explained as runaways or serial killers. When some of these people come back and report about what happened to them, it does behoove us to pay a bit more attention. Something is happening to them and it is a serious matter.

The reported crash of an unidentified flying saucer in the desert farmland outside Roswell, New Mexico in the summer of 1947 is one of the most well known incidences in UFO lore. It had the potential to broaden humanity's awareness of things far outside our normal experience and prove that the cosmos is after all much greater in significance than the problems of a single planet. However, the Roswell incident instead created a fundamental change in the way the average person viewed the military and our own government.

Coming up on the mid-century mark, especially in the United States, there was still an element of trust in our federal government. It had seen the country through two world wars and a major economic disaster. It had comforted and provided for its citizens and they felt they were in good hands, whether they were actually correct or not. Beginning with the cover-up of the Roswell story this unshakable trust in the honesty and openness of our leaders began to shiver.

Colonel William Blanchard was the Commander of the 509th Bomb Group out of Roswell Army Air Field. He has been described by those who knew him as honest, businesslike and reliable. The 509th was an elite air group, being at the time the only atomic group in the world. Brought in on the investigation of strange wreckage, what was found seemed to be truly amazing to the investigators. A press release was issued describing their efforts at recovering the debris of an otherworldly craft whose remains demonstrated unusual physical properties. It the interest of the people, Colonel Blanchard was merely reporting to the world an event of vast importance to its people. Regrettably, not everyone in the high ranks of our military agreed with that openness.

Within hours a new press release was issued. This one came from General Roger Ramey, 400 miles away from the scene at the Fort Worth (Texas) Army Air Field. Without any way of knowing the reality of Colonel Blanchard's find, he rescinded their report and stated that the elite military officers of the 509th had foolishly mistaken a simple weather balloon as the source of the debris. However illogical the tale that top military men could make such a childish mistake, the fix was in and the cover-up had begun.

It was years before the men actually involved in the recovery of the crash remains once more refuted the official story. One of those who later told of the strange unearthly properties of the material were Major Jesse Marcel, intelligence officer for the 509th. Another key witness to the initiation of the cover-up was the late General Thomas DuBose, then a colonel and Chief of Staff for General Ramey at Fort Worth. In 1992 he went on record as being the individual who took the phone call from General Clements McMullen at Andrews Army Air Field in Washington, D.C. His orders were to "concoct a "cover story" to get the press off our backs."

Within a few years there had begun the campaign to ridicule and deride any reports of UFO's and extraterrestrials and derail any serious investigations as the ranting of kooks and lunatics. The stonewalling of information became so widespread as to even gut the legitimacy of the Freedom of Information Act, which had been designed as a means of preventing authoritarianism from overcoming the freedoms that were an integral part of America's liberty. It was easy to deny the existence of information. What little was handed over was usually so blacked out "in the interest of National Security" that they were virtually useless. Even Congressmen and some Presidents were denied access to whatever information might give light to the truth of alien encounters.

The most important result of the Roswell incident was not whether aliens had crashed but that our own military and government had begun a long crusade to lie to and misinform the people whose trust they were sworn to uphold. They began to hide the knowledge they had gained worse than a miser hoarding his money. It slowly became clear to the citizens of this country and eventually even the world, whether they believed in UFO's or not, that their leaders and their rulers could not be trusted. It was a rude awakening for intelligent, adult people to have their concerns shunted aside with the callous attitude that they were too immature to handle the truth and that they should shut up, pay their taxes, and let Big Brother take care of them without oversight or accountability. Roswell was the beginning of the end for people's belief in the trustworthiness of their government.

The belief in the reality of extraterrestrial aliens and their unidentified aircraft has had a long and sometime speckled career. A hundred and fifty years ago it was not uncommon for a newspaper to carry the story of an inexplicable sighting of a flying aircraft. It was fairly well accepted that these objects must have come from another world since we Earthlings had yet to develop even the most rudimentary airplane of our own. There were even reports of the infrequent encounter with beings that were quite obviously not natural to this planet. Even then there were still the skeptics who felt such reporting was a sensational attempt at fooling the people and selling more papers.

By the mid Twentieth Century these sightings became more frequent and widespread. As we entered the Atomic Age it seems that the number of UFO's spotted around the globe mushroomed as greatly as the radioactive clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is almost as if, by unleashing the awesome power of the destructed atom, we had drawn intense and increasing outside surveillance on our actions as a species. Suddenly world governments and the militaries they supported were being ordered to investigate these objects and let their citizens know if there was any danger to be expected from them. Sadly, those governments failed their trust towards their people.

Rather than provide straight answers about the findings of their investigations, the people were offered often ridiculous 'explanations" and told to shut up and not trouble themselves about UFO's. The government and military of the United States especially took a more dastardly approach. Misrepresenting the findings of the Air Force's Condon Report, a campaign of ridicule began to be spread across the land. Aided by the major media outlets, anyone who saw a UFO must by default be a kook or crazy and deserving of scorn. At the very best, anyone coming forth with a report of what they saw was publicly discredited as a liar. This publicly sanctioned attitude thrived for over thirty years before something changed.

Beginning in the 1980's popular media like books, movies, and television began a slow infiltration of the public consciousness with the idea of beings from other worlds. Their interpretations changed from the bug-eyed monsters of early pulp science fiction and took on a more benign demeanor such as that of E.T. who just wanted to go home. By the end of the Twentieth Century, despite conservative's perpetual skepticism, a growing belief in the reality of extraterrestrials and UFO's reblossomed and became an accepted concept in the minds of the majority of citizens.

In 2002 the cable television channel Sci Fi commissioned the Roper Agency to poll Americans about their belief in UFO's. Their findings showed that the efforts to acclimate us to the idea of alien life had met with a great deal of success. While the numbers may vary a bit from country to country (for instance more Canadians believe in UFO's than U.S. citizens) the Roper Poll was only held in the USA. The poll showed that an astonishing 75% of the population was at least partially prepared for proof of extraterrestrial existence. Half the population was quite willing to accept the proof without feeling the need to panic that the government has always claimed as their motivation for withholding what information they had. 55% of the people feel that the government is withholding vast amounts of critically important information about the UFO phenomena from them.

Over two-thirds of Americans firmly believe intelligent life exists in other parts of our galaxy and the universe and nearly half are convinced that some of it found us first and have routinely visited this planet to have a look at us. Fully 12% of the population state that they or others they trust and believe have actually interacted in some form with these aliens and their mysterious craft. A meager 1.4% feel they have possibly been abducted by some of these creatures but realize that 1.4% still equals nearly three million people who have strong belief in aliens but not in any benign way.

With this increased belief and acceptance of the reality of aliens and UFO's it does leave us with a question or two. Are we being set up to accept them openly on our planet as a precursor to becoming subservient to a technologically superior race? Is it possible that the Annunaki of the ancient Sumerian culture are getting ready to return after one of their planet Nibiru's orbits and reestablish their reign on a planet they feel they rightfully own? Is it possible that even more nefariously, is it a mass conspiracy by our own governments to "pretend" to be aliens appearing to force swift and possibly totalitarian control on the people of this planet?

Belief is a wonderful thing to experience, but it should still always be tempered with an objective observation of discoverable fact so you are not led astray by manipulated beliefs.

Probably the greatest disadvantage to seeking truth about the UFO phenomena is the blatant inability to separate real facts from the many hoaxes and outright lies that have been spread over the years. UFO research and sightings have been under a blanket of ridicule since the 1950's with government approved skepticism and scoffing since the Condon Report. Finding reputable witnesses or researchers has been difficult. One of the worst cases of the lengths our military will go to discredit UFO research is evident in the Paul Bennewitz affair.

Having developed an interest in UFO investigations in the 1980's, Mr. Bennewitz' investigations into UFO sightings and intercepted radio communications from Kirkland Air Force Base inadvertently led him into notice by the military. Living near the AFB he began setting up equipment to photograph strange aerial phenomena and overhear communications. After having filmed strange activity there and over the also nearby Manzano Nuclear Weapons Storage Facility and Coyote Canyon Test Area he contacted the Air Force directly to report his findings.

Investigating his claims was Sergeant Richard Doty and the scientist, Jerry Miller. Analysis did show some unexplained phenomena over the AFB but rather than be concerned, a complex system of disinformation was built up to begin feeding to Bennewitz. Aided by fellow ufologist William Moore, who claims he had little choice but to go along with the plan as highly placed intelligence agents invoked "national security" on him, the Air Force told Bennewitz they were not interested while allowing Sgt. Doty to begin "releasing" secret information. Along with other military officers, Doty and Moore began to convince him of an elaborate conspiracy made up of spurious disinformation.

Sprinkling a few small, provable truths among an increasingly bizarre fabrication of lies, Paul Bennewitz shared his "information" with other ufologists. Among the tales fed to him by military and intelligence agency sources that had convinced him of their "reliability" were the tales of two races, the malevolent "greys" and a more human-friendly group. The greys were in control. They were responsible for cattle mutilations, human abductions, and the implanting of tracking and controlling devices. They had made and then broken a deal with the government and provided defective advanced technology, which ultimately crashed or proved useless. The greys had secret bases on Earth. Under this onslaught of frightening information, Bennewitz' health, both physical and mental, deteriorated to the point of hospitalization.

In 1989, William Moore told his story of the deceptions to the audience at the Las Vegas MUFON Convention. There was a tremendous uproar as many of these stories coming from Bennewitz had already circulated around the UFO community and become hard-core beliefs. Everyone was left with questions and doubts. What could be believed? Was it all a lie? Could the expose itself be the lie? In an instant, a vast stockpile of what had seemed like a clear picture of the workings of the UFO phenomena and its implications had fallen back into chaos.

There are a few clear implications to the vast lengths the military and intelligence community will go to cloud the facts about UFO's and the potential of extra-terrestrials. It is possible that they are fully aware at high levels of aliens and possibly what their intentions toward our planet may be and that they do not wish to share that knowledge. There is an equally frightening possibility that instead of aliens, it is the beginning of a plot for world domination by a One World Government to pretend to be aliens that are invading and taking over.

"In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world" President Ronald Reagan - Speech to the United Nations General Assembly, 42nd General Assembly, September 21, 1987.

Is Reagan's popular "fantasy theory" actually a veiled indication of its possible reality or just a first, softening hint that someone, either extra-terrestrial or all too human may make use of this idea to stage a world coup? With the full might of multiple government agencies working to confuse the issue of UFO's and aliens with well-placed lies and fabrications we may never know the real truth until it is too late - if even then.

It seems to be a very fundamental part of human nature to look for something greater than themselves to hold in awe and veneration. This "godspell" is what has led to humanity creating gods and religions since the beginning of human existence. Even discounting the Sumerian legends of the Annunaki there has arisen in the past half century or so, a number of "religions" using the possibility of UFO's and extra-terrestrial entities as divine or spiritual beings bent on "saving" humanity from itself.

Many of these religions have their basis in what their devotees claim are telepathic communications between them and the "star beings" from other worlds and dimensions. While the details, and the entities involved, vary from one religion to the other, there does seem to be a common thread of hope. Most messages seem to be warnings to humanity to alter their behavior towards one more in keeping with harmony and peace while turning away from the greed and callousness that so easily foments hatred and war. Some of these religions include the belief that these "aliens" will ultimately return to us and fix the problems we "unenlightened" humans have created.

Blending elements of Christian mythos with Sumerian legends, the Raëlian Church is purportedly the largest of these UFO religions. Founded in 1974, they believe humans were scientifically engineered by a race they call the "Elohim" and that many of history's greatest spiritual leaders such as Jesus, Moses, and Buddha, were actually Elohim sent here to help instruct humans in proper behavior. That Raëlism encompasses a very open and accepting idea about human sexuality between consenting adults and this is a major drawing card for recruiting new members among younger people. While women are a minority in the Raëlian Church, the "Order of Angels" was started in 1990 and is dedicated "for femininity and refinement for all of humanity." They sponsor exhibits featuring their beliefs including the alien source of crop circles as well a cloning.

The Aetherius Society barely post-dates the American Roswell incident. Founded by George King in London, England in 1955, the Aetherius Society beliefs are similar to the "Ascended Master Teachings." Their primary divergence from these occult traditions is in their insistence on the dangers of atomic science. They feel that humanity is too immature to be working with "the fundamental energy of creation." They too believe such spiritual leaders as Buddha, Jesus, and Krishna were "Cosmic Masters" from another world sent to Earth to help humanity. While believing in a monotheistic god, they also feel that there is intelligent life on many planets throughout space and that they are universally friendly to our young species.

Another of the most notorious UFO religions is Heaven's Gate. Along with the belief that the planet Earth is due to be "recycled," they believe the only way to survive is to leave it for the "Next Level." Begun in the early 1970's by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles, the group went through several changes in the early years. Finally, in a combination of ancient astronaut and New Age beliefs the group came to profess the human body as merely a vehicle for the ascending spirit.

They believed "to be eligible for membership in the Next Level, humans would have to shed every attachment to the planet. This meant that all members had to give up all human-like characteristics such as their family, friends, sexuality, individuality, jobs, money, and possessions," according to the sociologist, Robert Balch who wrote frequently about Heaven's Gate. On March 26, 1997, thirty-nine members of Heaven's Gate committed suicide in the belief it was the only way their souls could be transferred to a spaceship they believed was hiding behind the passing Hale-Bopp comet.

Humans seem to always be able to find "god" in whatever is around them. That the technologically advanced cultures of our day have developed UFO religions to help them cope with the mystery that these enigmatic sightings bring about is normal. Faith and belief are strong and powerful motivators within humans so it is not strange that a possible "advanced" race of beings could be construed at some level as "gods." We are still waiting for the aliens to weigh in on what they feel about these religions based upon their possible existence.

There has been much interest over the centuries about the "prophecies" made by the 16th century almanac writer Nostradamus (born Michel de Notredame.) Popularly believed to be a doctor, he in fact failed and dropped out of the medical school of his day. He also refused to accept the title of "prophet" even during his life. This was mostly to save himself from persecution by the Inquisition and the Catholic Church, which held a great deal of both spiritual and secular power at the time. According to the pre-eminent Nostradamus expert, Peter Lemesurier, the most likely method Nostradamus used in formulating his oblique and rambling "quatrains" was bibliomancy and knowledge of history.

Bibliomancy was very popular in the 16th century. One found the ideas for their work by opening a book at random and using the first word or sentence to begin. And as any student of history knows, new political leaders will arise and be compared to past leaders and some of them will be assassinated. Predicting new wars is easy since warfare has always been a popular human pastime. What goes around comes around and just a quick calculation of where the astrological elements are when one event happens will give a distant future time when "everything repeats itself again."

Then there is the method of writing that Nostradamus used. It was a combination of archaic, even in his day, French, Spanish, Latin, and Hebrew, along with coded references, and mystic sounding sensationalism to appeal to the readers of his almanacs, most notably the French Royal Court. Then can be added the problems caused by typesetters that were sometimes careless in their setting and did not follow the copy given them.

An example from the most likely candidate for a prophecy of alien invasion, Verse 72 of the Tenth Century is the phrase "Du ciel" usually translated as "from the sky" when the same phrase is used frequently by Nostradamus to mean "from the region." In the same Verse, the corrected word "deffraieur," meaning "provider" was initially replaced by a typesetter with the word "d’effrayeur," which means "of terror." Finally, Nostradamus did not give the dates in his writings based on the traditional calendar years but dated them from the time of the first Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. So the year 1999 in the Verse would actually figure out to 2324 A.D.

Translation can also add to the confusion of trying to determine what the supposed prophecy said. In its original form Verse 72, Century Ten says:

L'an mil neuf cens nonante neuf sept mois,
Du ciel viendra un grand Roy d'effrayeur,
Resusciter le grand Roy d'Angolmois,
Avant apres, Mars regner par bon heur.

In the book "The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus" by Henry C. Roberts it is translated thusly:

In the year 1999 and seven months
From the skies shall come an alarmingly powerful king,
To raise again the great King of the Jacquerie,
Before and after, Mars shall reign at will.

Peter Lemesurier translated the Verse as:

When 1999 is seven months o'er
From thereabouts shall a great hosting King
Restore the King from Angoumois once more,
Who'll reign propitiously once come the spring.

And Google Translate gives us this version:

The year one thousand nine hundred ninety nine seven months
From the sky will come a great King of Terror,
Life the great King of Angolmois,
Before after Mars to reign by good luck.

There are numerous other translations and just as many varying interpretations. Many believe this prophecy denotes the return of the Annunaki and the subsequent restoration of their rule on Earth, complete with the restarting of the wars they were so frequently party to among themselves as chronicled in many of the ancient Sumerian cuneiform texts. It didn't seem to happen in 1999 A.D. although the faithful may look for it to occur in 2324 A.D.

People love puzzles and it is quite likely that much of Nostradamus' writings were for the entertainment of his readership as they sought their own interpretations of his oblique words. No one has been able to point to any of these predicted happenings before they occurred. It has always been through the process of looking for some clue in the Verses that correlates to a past event that any supposed meaning is determined. It is much like the process of pattern recognition the brain uses to see images in the clouds.

Did Nostradamus predict UFO's and extraterrestrial alien invaders? We will most likely have to wait until they make a public landing or re-establish their rule over us humans before someone can look through the prophecies and find the one that sounds most fitting for the event, then they can say with self-assurance that he did indeed predict it.

Our clearest record of a long-term alien presence on our planet is contained in the thousands of cuneiform clay tablets written by the ancient Sumerians. These records tell not only of their alien-inspired culture but also contain information about the "gods" who created them and lived among them for thousands of years before moving off-planet to let the human species develop on their own. Zechariah Sitchin is not the only person who can translate these texts. There are a handful of other people who have also done so. It is in the interpretation that these men differ.

The academic mythologists read these matter-of-fact tablets and say the Annunaki were just ancient "fairy tales." Joseph Campbell considers them tales of Jungian archetypes while Julian Jaynes labeled them as schizophrenic hallucinations. Only Sitchin has interpreted them as a straightforward documentation of what these ancient people saw and knew and lived with on a daily basis.

These records of the "gods" were right alongside the daily inventory lists, marriage and deed records, and other daily life documents a civilized culture needs to keep up with itself. Then there are the tablets that contain accurate astronomical data on the movement and composition of our solar system that includes information about the outer planets that can only be seen with telescopic equipment. Increased research in archeology and other scientific disciplines is slowly disproving the mythology and giving clues as to the fact of the alien reality from our past.

Astronomically it is known now that the wobble and variations in the orbits of Pluto and Charon can only be caused by an as yet undiscovered outer planet. Recently another object, larger than Pluto, was discovered in the Kuiper Belt around the major planets' orbital area. Eris proves that there is still much to be discovered on the far edges of our solar system. Even further out is the debris field called the Oort Cloud of material. It is from this distant area most of the comets originate from. It is also speculated that a search for the Annunaki's homeworld should start here and most likely already has.

Since the finding of the IRAS, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, from the mid 1980's found what could be considered a tenth planet, facts have been harder to find. It is known that the Naval Observatory was constructed at great cost in Antarctica. In 1992 Harrington and van Flandern of that Observatory published their opinions that what they were observing was indeed another planet and that it could well be an "intruder" planet from outside our own solar system. What makes this discovery so important is that Harrington had originally invited Sitchin to help him go through the ancient Sumerian information so he would know where he needed to look to locate this planet!

On a technological level the proof of an ancient advanced technology existing on our planet can be found through the growing catalog of ooparts (Out Of Place Artifacts in Relation to Time and Space) that have been unearthed. Everything from human footprints criss-crossing dinosaur tracks in Texas to the nearly 5,000 year old electrical batteries discovered in Iraq point to a presence on the planet that far precedes human existence. One can include the exacting stone architecture of ancient monuments that we cannot match even with our modern building techniques. And there is the 1889 discovery by Sir Flinders Petrie of the ancient gold processing plant at Mt. Horeb in Africa, which showed that monoatomic gold superconductors were known and created many thousands of years ago.

And there is the growing genetic evidence that points to the elusive "missing link" between proto-humans and Cro-Magnon homo sapiens as possibly existing only in the laboratories of the Annunaki. The Sumerian texts place the location of the genetic laboratories of Enki and Ninhursag in Africa, coincidentally in the same area and within the same time frame as our discovery of the origins of the mitochondrial DNA that runs through the entire human population.

This location, incidentally, is right near the ancient African gold mines of the Annunaki, adding to the proof of the tale that they originally created us as a slave/worker class to do the mining that had grown so wearisome to the Annunaki themselves. There is as well the evidence that evolution often takes millions of years to create major change in a species. Homo sapiens sapiens went from origin to our modern level of social and mental development in a mere quarter of a million years, much too quickly for natural selection and mutation to have worked.

It may be humbling to some and an outrage to others to think that we are not necessarily the greatest beings in the galaxy. It may be more comforting to some to have originated in some mythical "creation" than to have been the result of a genetic breeding program of an unknown alien race of beings. But a hard truth should always be better than a comfortable lie and as evidence piles upon evidence, it is up to all humans to contemplate the possible alien connection surrounding our very existence.

About 6,000 years ago something that was as amazing as it was illogical occurred on planet Earth. An advanced, culturally complex and intelligent human culture sprang full-blown into recorded history. Without passing through more primitive stages of evolution, trial and error, and slow-growing learning, Sumeria started its existence already formed and set in its ways. The Sumerians themselves wrote, as they were suddenly able to do, that they did not develop their culture themselves but were merely the inheritors of what was given them by their "Lords," ancient, long-lived beings whose very name, Annunaki, translates as "Those who from the heavens came down." They credit the creation of human civilization, human knowledge, and, in fact, humans themselves, to alien beings who came from another planet.

There are few people on Earth who have the knowledge to read and translate the cuneiform writing of these ancient people. Of the handful, it is impossible to avoid the work of Zecharia Sitchin. The great controversy surrounding his work is not his translations of the Sumerian texts but his interpretation of them. Sitchen views the words as being literal; for instance, when they say a "god" came to visit a temple he interprets it that "someone" did show up. He does not second-guess the meaning of an author 6,000 years ago and say they were only speaking metaphorically.

With the knowledge we can learn from these ancient people, we can begin to see a pattern develop that gives good indication for these literal interpretations. The Sumerians considered Earth the seventh planet, as their alien "gods" referred to it for being the seventh planet in towards the sun with Pluto being the first, Uranus the second, etc. That these ancient people knew of these outer planets without the aid of telescopes indicates someone from the outside had informed them. Our own science did not "rediscover" Pluto until 1930.

Another concept the Sumerians retold from their alien gods was that the Earth and the Moon were created as we know them today from a collision between two planets that had been thrown together because of the gravitational disturbance of the passage of their own planet, Nibiru, when it was first captured by our Sun. Until recently, this idea had been scoffed at but new studies indicate that this is a most likely reality. Two sources of further study can be found at: the June, 2000 edition of "Spatium" the magazine of the International Space Science Institute, and in a recent article from ScienceDaily.com on June, 7, 2010. Again, ancient people without advanced technology knew of a thing we are only beginning to find proof of.

The Sumerian aliens stated they had sent a mining colony to Earth over 400,000 years ago. That there were spacefaring beings on the planet so long ago could help explain the existence of so many of the mysterious Out Of Place Artifacts in Relation to Time and Space (OOPARTS) that have confused and confounded the "academically established" order of human evolution.

The ancient Sumerian texts also state that these aliens grew tired of working the mines themselves and commissioned their genetic scientists to create a "worker class" from indigenous beings. Of the various species of homo erectus available for manipulation, Neanderthal man has been shown to be related to us, homo sapiens sapiens. There has yet to be discovered the mysterious "missing link" that connects the two lines together. Could that be because the "link" is the product of an alien genetics laboratory rather than the slow process nature takes to evolve a species?

According to the Sumerians, the aliens finally left Earth so their "creations" could develop on their own. There is, however, the caveat that they would return sometime to see how well that experiment worked. This is the basis of many modern religions. It also gives rise to the question of whether or not the aliens left representatives behind to watch the development of man. Are they still watching or have they over the centuries taken a more direct, although hidden, hand in the affairs of humanity? And through all this is the question, "What will happen when/if these ancient Sumerian aliens DO come back to reestablish their rule over a planet and a species they may feel they own by right of having been here long before us?

We will be investigating these and many more questions about the Annunaki as time progresses.