Top 10 Historical Events That Were Supposedly Tied to Aliens

July 8, 1947, USA
The popular obsession with UFOs only really kicked off in the late 1940s, thanks to sightings like Kenneth Arnold’s on June 24, 1947. A few weeks later, there was another incident that eventually became a conspiracy theory staple. In July, debris was found in a ranch close to Roswell, New Mexico. The Air Force stated that they’d recovered a “flying disc”, which they identified as a weather balloon. A resurgence of interest decades later eventually led to the US Air Force admitting that it had really been a top secret nuclear test surveillance balloon. But UFOlogists saw a cover-up within a cover-up! Fake - sorry, “reconstructed” - alien autopsy footage released in 1995 fanned the flames that it had been a close encounter of the third kind!

19th Century, Germany
Let’s be honest,“The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' is the fourth best Indiana Jones movie. However, it did revive a lot of interest in some curious artifacts that have popped up around the world since the late 19th century. The purported origin of these hardstone carvings was Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, but that of course raises the question as to how such precise ornaments could be made without modern day tools. Well, studies have revealed that they were made with modern jeweler's equipment, probably in Germany. However, some conspiracy theorists and members of the New Age movement hold that they have supernatural powers - and perhaps even an extraterrestrial origin.

1st to 6th Centuries, Mexico
Although not the city’s original name, the otherworldly nature of “Teotihuacan” feels fitting. Roughly speaking, it means “the birthplace of the gods''. This holy city is almost 2000 old, established in the first century and flourishing until around 550 AD. Already in ruins by the time of the Aztecs, the city remains mysterious, its people’s origins unknown. This has inspired fringe theories that extraterrestrials played a role in the city’s founding or day-to-day life. Proponents claim that liquid mercury discovered below the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpents is evidence that the city was a space port for ships using mercury-based fuel. Needless to say, archeologists aren’t exactly on board …

June 30, 1908, Russia
Imagine sitting in your Siberian home during the short summer of 1908, enjoying your newspaper when BOOM! There’s a huge explosion, you feel a blast of heat, and your windows are all gone. That’s what happened to the people of Yeniseysk––after which the sky was lit up for days. The obvious explanation is a meteor strike, but there was no impact crater - just 80 million toppled trees. Scientists have suggested that an asteroid or comet exploded a few miles above the surface. However, it’s been immortalized in science fiction as an alien crash site. Or, in “The X-Files”, as a meteorite carrying alien microbes. Scientists were able to add more detail to their theories however in 2013, when the Chelyabinsk meteor did the exact same thing.

1250-1500 AD, Easter Island
For believers, the stone statues that are synonymous with Easter Island have long been seen as definitive proof that the Earth has been visited by extraterrestrial life. Carved from volcanic ash by the Rapa Nui people, they’re believed to represent deified ancestors. The most baffling question is how they were transported; researchers theorize that they could have been moved using wooden sleds and rollers, or ropes to pull them from side to side and make them “walk” to their destinations. However, for fringe theorists, these stone monoliths are beyond the abilities of pre-industrial humans.

500 BC - 500 AD, Peru
These geoglyphs etched into Peru’s Nazca Desert were thought to be trails or roads until they were seen from a plane in the early 1940s. Since then, historians have been beyond curious as to their creation and purpose. There are hundreds spread out across the desert floor, some of them simple lines, others complex geometric shapes and animals. How were they made without seeing them from above? To what end? Scholars have proposed that they had astronomical or ritualistic purposes. Or that they were created to be seen by gods in the sky. But no one really knows - leaving plenty of room for theories that aliens lent a hand, and even used some as runways.

3000 BC, England
There have been many suggestions as to how - and why - this pre-historic site was built. Chief amongst the more out-there of ideas is––you guessed it––aliens. Again, the reasoning behind this lies in the size and weight of the stones, and how they’ve been so well placed to remain upright for thousands of years. The gist of this theory is that UFOs picked up the heaviest stones and laid them in positions best suited for celestial communication! Since the wheel hadn’t been invented yet, and the bluestones came from 150 miles away, scientists are still trying to come up with a definitive explanation. If it wasn’t aliens, then how about giants?!

Circa 4 BC, Palestine
Religious texts are goldmines for people who believe that extraterrestrials had a hand in historical events. Common ideas include angels really being aliens, the flood being the result of extraterrestrial interference, and Sodom being destroyed by a WMD. Another such event is the birth of Christ. It’s been suggested that Jesus was from space, or that the star of Bethlehem was a UFO - an idea explored by songwriter Chris De Burgh in “A Spaceman Came Travelling”! Scholars have argued that the star may have been a celestial event, or simply fictional. Believers in ancient aliens also point to art that supposedly shows flying saucers above religious figures.

26th Century BC, Egypt
The Pyramids of Giza have always had an aura of mystery about them. From the allegations of curses on tombs, to suggestions that they house sources of power, they’ve been enshrined in popular culture as otherworldly. As archaeologists seek to fill in the gaps in our knowledge, fringe theorists have stepped in, claiming extraterrestrial involvement. It’s been argued that ancient Egyptians couldn’t have built such magnificent structures - ergo, aliens! Truth to tell, the method of their construction remains debated among researchers, although they have proposed various plausible theories involving barges, ramps, and ropes. Still, the theory of alien involvement remains popular. If the giant stone blocks weren’t carried by visitors from another world, we’d bet that ancient Egyptian workers at least wished they were!

3.77 Billion Years Ago
The idea that life on Earth could have originated elsewhere has actually been embraced by a number of reputable scientists, although it isn’t the most popular theory. Called panspermia, the notion is that a crashed meteorite could have brought microbes or at least the building-blocks of life to our planet. The fringe version of this is that life on Earth was seeded by an alien race deliberately. Perhaps we’re being studied as a sort of experiment or zoo! Some even go so far as to say that the Biblical first humans, Adam and Eve, were created by extraterrestrial beings. Proponents also cite ancient drawings that seem to depict otherworldly beings! Hey, as no-one was there, who knows?