[music playing] PHIL CROWLEY: Prophecies of the pharaohs hidden in plain sight. In this ancient wonder, a mathematical code foretelling doomsday. In this lost book, a warning of a destructive force beyond Earth. In these cryptic symbols, a message that our time has run out. For thousands of years, prophets around the world
Have predicted the end of days. More than one suggests the apocalypse is fast approaching. We call this theoretical convergence between doomsday prophecies and today’s events the Nostradamus Effect. READER: How will the end begin? [music playing] Five miles from Cairo towers the crowning achievement of ancient Egypt– the Great Pyramid of Giza.
This last remaining wonder of the ancient world was built 45 centuries ago. Historians have always believed it is a royal tomb but some theorize it is much more– a doomsday calendar. Encoded in its architecture, they say, is a timeline that ends ominously in this decade.
JOHN DESALVO: Is It trying to reach out from the ancient past and talk to us, or warn us, or give us some advice, or guide us? But the Great Pyramid may be just one expression of this purported prophecy. Some believe these hieroglyphs, from a text called
The “Book of the Dead,” also foretell that our end is near. And some accept the existence of a third prophetic source, a recently rediscovered document called the “Kolbrin Bible.” Some interpreters believe the ancient Egyptians foretold a nuclear holocaust. [explosions] Others, a cataclysm caused by a force beyond our solar system in 2012.
But they agree that the prophesied end– [explosion] –is imminent. ROBERT BAUVAL: The ancient voices are talking to us, desperately talking to us. What they’re telling us is to be aware of the harbinger signs. PHIL CROWLEY: What exactly do the ancient Egyptian prophecies say?
And in what ways do they resemble end of day prophecies of other cultures throughout the millennia, those of the Mayans, the Hopi Indians, and the best known seer of all, Nostradamus? Perhaps the most extraordinary claim concerning prophecies of ancient Egypt is that the Great Pyramid foretold the events of September 11.
JOHN DESALVO: I believe these ancients had knowledge or wisdom far beyond what we have. It has been lost through the ages. But this knowledge, this wisdom, gave them the ability to build these kind of monuments. PHIL CROWLEY: Could the builders of the Great Pyramid actually have foreseen 9/11 and designed
This remarkable edifice as a warning? The search for evidence must begin by examining the pyramid’s architecture. But as impressive as it is today, it doesn’t match the grandeur of its former appearance. JOHN DESALVO: The Great Pyramid, originally, was covered with casing stone, which
Is a white limestone that’s polished to a very high degree. When the sun hit this pyramid, someone calculated that the light reflected would be so great it could be seen from the moon as a star shining on Earth. PHIL CROWLEY: But it isn’t just the impressive exterior
Of the Great Pyramid that makes the structure so unusual. The dark interior also holds surprises. ROBERT BAUVAL: You enter the pyramid through a low tunnel, the descending passage. It then shifts direction, goes to what we call the ascending passage, and then emerges into this amazing Grand Gallery which is 49 meters long.
It’s about 7.5 meters high. PHIL CROWLEY: Beyond the Grand Gallery lies what is now known as the King’s Chamber. Although no mummy was ever discovered here, a granite sarcophagus in the chamber has led most experts to conclude that the Great Pyramid was
The monumental tomb of a pharaoh and that the body was later stolen. They were all built, if you ask an Egyptologist, as tombs of kings. That said, there are no Egyptian texts that explicitly tell you what the pyramid is for. PHIL CROWLEY: The lack of any text specifying
The Great Pyramid’s purpose has led to speculation that its true function is more ominous. They believe it carries a prophetic message expressed in its architecture. The theory arose in the 19th century when Western explorers were mystified by the Great Pyramid’s meticulous design and precise construction.
ROBERT BAUVAL: The Great Pyramid is not just great because it’s the largest. I call it the Rolls-Royce of pyramids, because it’s extremely accurate building. JOHN DESALVO: The blocks are put together with laser precision. In fact, there’s less than 1/50 of an inch between each block
And you couldn’t even put a piece of paper between it. PHIL CROWLEY: Mid 19th century British explorers entertained the possibility that this architectural precision was a clue to a startling secret. They believed the dimensions of the Great Pyramid could be a coded message using the universal language of mathematics. [chatter]
MAX TOTH: One important fact is that because the world consisted of so many individual tribes that spoke different languages, there could only be one means of communicating the information that the ancients had and that was through mathematics and astronomy. [music playing] PHIL CROWLEY: Intriguing calculations made by the 19th century explorers seemed
To support their theory. MAX TOTH: When they took the measurement of the width of the King’s Chamber and divided it by the square root of pi, they came up with the figure 365.24. And this, they equated to 365 and 1/4 days, which is the length of our year. PHIL CROWLEY: These same explorers
Determined that the Great Pyramid’s perimeter was 36,600 inches. 36,600 is a multiple of 366. Again, very nearly the number of days in one year. They concluded that the Egyptians had used a unit of measure almost identical to our own inch, which came to be called the pyramid inch.
This led researchers to seek additional correlations between the Great Pyramid’s dimensions and the natural world. Some suspected the interior passageways correlated to an historical timeline. MAX TOTH: The pyramid inch is significant because it gives us a measurement. It gives us a tool by which to measure the significant events
In our history, be it past or present or future. PHIL CROWLEY: Armed with this hypothesis, researchers began a careful analysis of the Great Pyramid’s interior in the 1870s. JOHN DESALVO: And by looking at the pyramid and knowing where there was a change in the masonry
Of the pyramid, where a passageway began or ended, it would indicate an important secular or religious date. PHIL CROWLEY: If there is a prophetic timeline built into the Great Pyramid, researchers know it would require two critical components– a starting point and a specific year attached to it.
JOHN DESALVO: If you go down about 40 feet, what you find is two, what they call, scored lines. They’re two lines etched into the smooth limestone in the passageway way on both sides. And it actually looks like a start point. PHIL CROWLEY: By charting the motions of the stars,
19th century explorers determined that the North Star occasionally casts its light down the interior of the pyramid. They calculated that the last time such an occurrence took place was in 2141 BC, which became the timeline’s point of origin. Moving forward along the timeline, researchers could now seek indicators
Of history’s monumental events and beyond them into the future. JOHN DESALVO: If you start at the scored lines and you start moving down, the first major change in masonry is where the ascending passage comes up. At that point, that is 1453 BC, which many believe
Was the time of the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. MAX TOTH: As you continue up the chamber, you come to the crossroad where you enter the Grand Gallery. And that’s the time when Jesus Christ was crucified. JOHN DESALVO: That is equivalent to 33 AD
According to the pyramid inch theory, the crucifixion of Jesus. PHIL CROWLEY: According to the theory of the pyramid inch, the Grand Gallery spans almost two millennia. And the point where it ends, at the portal to the King’s Chamber, corresponds to 1914, the year witnessing the outbreak of World War I.
MAX TOTH: Finally, when you measure all the way up to the King’s Chamber, at the end of the King’s Chamber, we have the date September 2001. PHIL CROWLEY: September 11, 2001, an event that changed the course of history and, for millions, set an ominous tone for the beginning of a new century.
Did the ancient Egyptians actually foresee this pivotal event and encode their prophecy into the Great Pyramid? For skeptics, the fact that the timeline terminates in 2001 invalidates the pyramid inch prophecy since the world did not end on that tragic day. But those who accept the pyramid inch theory
Contend that 9/11 set into motion an escalating series of events that will climax in worldwide nuclear annihilation. EDWARD MCKINNEY: In the future, historians will look back on this day and say this was the day that Armageddon began. [beating drums] PHIL CROWLEY: But does the Great Pyramid truly predict this apocalyptic scenario?
Skeptics say, no. JOHN DESALVO: You started at an arbitrary point. You arbitrarily decide that 2141 was the starting date. And you could go many different ways throughout the Great Pyramid. And depending on which way you go, you’ll get different dates. You can come up with any date you choose.
I could actually come up with today’s date if I went to a certain passage way and ended at a certain place and show that today is the end date of the world. ROBERT BAUVAL: But people won’t let go. And you still hear people talking about the pyramid inch.
PHIL CROWLEY: Could it be that the builders of the pyramid planted other clues to warn us that our end may be near? Has their doomsday prophecy been preserved by a secret brotherhood that still exists today? [music playing] Egypt’s Great Pyramid, many believe this ancient wonder
Is not the monumental tomb of a pharaoh but a doomsday calendar. They say the stone walls of these interior passages were designed with mathematical precision as a prophetic timeline that ominously ends at September 2001. Is the Great Pyramid a warning that 9/11 is the historical flash point that
Will trigger the destruction of the world as we know it? The Great Pyramid still has prophecies to reveal to us. And if we understand these prophecies in advance, we can connect the dots and avoid upcoming disasters. PHIL CROWLEY: But the pyramid’s purported timeline may be just one of several ways the ancient Egyptians
Communicated their doomsday warning to us. Some contend that a secret brotherhood has received and guarded knowledge of the prophecy through the ages, passing it onward among its ranks. The mysterious order called the Freemasons. CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT: These people have protected ancient knowledge. I’ve described this continuation of ancient knowledge as an ancient will.
This determination, which obviously goes through generations, through lifetimes, and individuals contribute what they need to contribute and pass it on. So there is a long-term plan in this. PHIL CROWLEY: Some researchers believe that an unbroken ancestral chain links today’s Masons with the builders of the Great Pyramid.
They claim that ancient masons, and not the Egyptians, may have encrypted the supposed prophecy into its design. According to this theory, the Masons then made it their mission to pass along knowledge of the prophecy to our generation. But rank and file Masons say such speculation is groundless.
C.R. SANDERS: There’s a lot of people that feel they’re experts on masonry because they’ve read all these books, and they’ve made all these connections, or, you know, they’ve sort of deduced, oh, well, this, this, and that. Well, that’s all fine and good, but it’s all kind of speculation. It’s all guessing.
PHIL CROWLEY: For centuries, the Masons’ commitment to secrecy has fueled speculation about the extent of their power and influence. Their headquarters are located in the most powerful city in the world, Washington DC. Some claim that the Masons secretly manipulate the levers of power in our modern world.
In their secret rituals, some see the stuff of conspiracy. In their enigmatic symbols and imagery, which have found their way onto America’s great seal and the $1.00 bill, some see a hidden agenda. Could the Masons’ secrecy be rooted in the need to protect knowledge of the doomsday prophecy designed into the Great Pyramid?
Members insist they are simply a fraternity based on ideals first formulated by medieval stonemason guilds. Using symbols of the ancient building trade, they use the construction of an edifice as a metaphor for building character. MAX TOTH: This came about because people were losing sight of their connection to the Lord.
And they felt that having Freemasonry, the individual member could then grow much better and become a better human being rather than just going on in a materialistic fashion. PHIL CROWLEY: Today’s Freemasons say that part of the brotherhood’s allure is a fraternal bond between today’s Masons and their counterparts from antiquity.
Linking present with past enriches the meaning of their mission. They say this connection is not literal but figurative. But some researchers contend that the connection is a matter of historical fact. EDWARD MCKINNEY: Early ancient masons traveled to Egypt for the purpose of building this great altar to God.
While they were in Egypt, they taught the Egyptians, the plan of God as they were building the Great Pyramid. PHIL CROWLEY: But those who believe that the Masons were prophets also think the Masons had a backup plan, that a code within the Great Pyramid
May have been just one of two ways they devised to pass on their warning. The other was to verbally transmit, in secret, crucial ancient knowledge from Masonic generation to generation until it reached us today. Are today’s Freemasons safeguarding a 5,000-year-old mystery? We’re not trying to foretell the future.
We’re just maintaining a universal wisdom that can be passed down from generation to generation. As a Freemason myself, I’ve spent a lot of times stating there’s absolutely no conspiracy in Freemasonry. I’ve been interviewed many times, particularly in the US, where people have suggested that there is.
And I’ve said, no, no, no, no, there isn’t. And now I know there is. And the evidence in Washington DC is so clear that anyone can check it out for themselves. It’s astonishingly clear. PHIL CROWLEY: For some, Washington DC’s layout is the smoking gun of a secret Masonic agenda in the United States.
They say that the alignment of streets and monuments cleverly integrates Masonic symbols, like the society’s iconic emblem, the compass and square. But what, if any, importance is there to this? Is it a parlor trick signifying nothing or a sign that the Masons know more than they’re telling? Was there a Masonic agenda?
I don’t think so. You know, a lot of people can take one little symbol and make all this stuff out of it. And sometimes it’s just sort of like, well, no, I mean it’s just straight lines. [laughing] You know, it’s just, you know, how they built it. PHIL CROWLEY: But those who believe
Washington’s hidden Masonic symbols are real claim it may be just the tip of the iceberg, a clue that the Masons have secret knowledge of our imminent end. Other interpreters, however, say that these symbols, and not those of the Masons are the key to decoding ancient Egypt’s doomsday prophecy.
In these hieroglyphs, they see a warning of a disaster far different from a nuclear nightmare triggered by 9/11. If they are right, a celestial body 91 million miles from Earth will unleash a final global cataclysm. [music playing] According to some, the Great Pyramid
Is a calendar of doomsday warning that the end of days is near. But others believe it is not this monumental structure that conveys the Egyptians’ prophecy but these tiny symbols. Could these hieroglyphs hold a coded message specifying how our end will come? Some claim the symbols from a revered Egyptian text
Speak not of a nuclear holocaust triggered by 9/11, but a celestial disaster. Additional texts reveal that the Egyptians believed the moon, sun, stars, and planets dictated man’s fate on Earth. ROBERT BAUVAL: They didn’t observe the celestial bodies for scientific knowledge. They used them to create calendars. They used them to do time.
They used them in the desert for directions. They believed that these celestial bodies were deities. And to them, it was the stars and the position of the sun that imposed the regulated events on the ground. PHIL CROWLEY: Some researchers believe the hieroglyphs warn of a cyclical event that the ancient Egyptians survived
Thousands of years ago. They theorize it was a catastrophic phenomenon triggered by the sun, so destructive that only a handful survived. Those who believe this theory say the clues begin with how the Egyptians used astronomy to understand their place in the cosmos. One constellation above all was central to their perception– Orion.
The reason the Egyptians were very focused on this constellation was because– apart from being bright and attractive– it would rise at dawn just before the flood. To them, it was a reassuring sign because the Nile flood was on its way. PHIL CROWLEY: Ancient Egypt relied on the flooding
Nile to power the agriculture it needed to survive. This led the Egyptians to link Orion with their god Osiris who controlled all matters of life and death. This made the constellation a likely place for the Egyptians to look for signs of a coming apocalypse. In Egyptian mythology, Orion’s linkage with death
Also made it a destination for a pharaoh after he died. Most historians believe the pyramids were royal tombs designed to help the pharaohs’ journey there. LAWRENCE M. BERMAN: Most monuments in ancient Egypt, most tombs and temples, are oriented towards the Nile. But the pyramids are oriented, not towards the Nile,
But they are oriented towards the sky. They’re oriented towards the heavens. So what they are is a connection. They form a connection between the Earth and the sky. And what they are doing is providing a means for the king’s spirit to ascend to heaven. PHIL CROWLEY: But others believe the pyramids are oriented
Toward the sky for a different reason. They contend that the Egyptians were directing the attention of future generations toward Orion, because Orion holds the key to understanding their prophecy of a celestial apocalypse. They also theorize that the alignment of three stars within Orion served as the Egyptians’ inspiration
For the placement of the three pyramids of Giza. If you draw a line along the diagonal of the two largest, what was odd is that the third smallest one was offset from that line to the left. Why a smaller one? And why is it offset?
JOHN DESALVO: The stars in the belt of Orion were like that also. And since the constellations represented Egyptian gods, and Orion was very important in Egyptian mythology, it would make sense that maybe they used this as a model. So Orion theory is fascinating because it does give
Some reason why the pyramids may have been built at this zigzag. PHIL CROWLEY: But according to some, the significance of Orion to the Egyptian doomsday prophecy only becomes clear in the pages of a revered text called the “Book of the Dead.” LAWRENCE M. BERMAN: The “Book of the Dead”
Is the modern name that we gave to a collection of spells that the Egyptians actually called the “Book of Coming Out By Day.” They were to facilitate your transition to the next life, your rebirth as a living spirit in the next life. PHIL CROWLEY: Chapter 17 of the “Book of the Dead”
Seems to describe a global catastrophe that happened thousands of years before the rise of ancient Egypt. READER: The dismay after the incredible horror of the catastrophic disaster is making it impossible for the terrorized population to escape. PHIL CROWLEY: Some researchers studying other portions of the text believe this disaster occurred when Venus
Made a specific looping motion through Orion, which last occurred in 9782 BC. And in the Egyptian text, Chapter 17 from the “Book of the Dead,” there is a code described. And that states that if they loop from Venus above Orion comes back, that will be the year of the next cataclysm.
PHIL CROWLEY: According to researchers’ estimates, this celestial event is expected to occur again in the same year ostensibly specified by doomsday prophecies of the Mayans, Hopi, Hindus, and other cultures across the globe– 2012. Could the Egyptians be, yet, one more ancient culture predicting our demise by cosmic forces in that year?
A clue to the nature of this cataclysm is said to be contained in this phrase from the “Book of the Dead.” READER: After the destruction, the old lion turned around. PHIL CROWLEY: Some interpret this reference of “the old lion turning around” as a description of the earth experiencing
A cataclysmic reversal of its rotation. They believe such a reversal can be caused by an extreme phenomenon called a polar shift. Scientists theorize that a polar shift can occur when the Earth’s swirling, molten core changes direction. Some speculate that this would trigger vast and sudden displacements in the Earth’s crust.
GREG JENNER: This is when, if you can imagine, the crust of the earth is going to rotate somewhat over the magma. The problem is is when you actually get the physical crust of the earth rotating, that’s when we’re going to be in for a ride. PHIL CROWLEY: There are some that
Believe a polar shift on Earth can be triggered by sudden and dramatic spikes in energy on our sun in the form of massive storms and solar flares. DAVID SIBECK: What we know from the past is that there’s an 11-year solar cycle.
And we’ll be coming to the peak of that solar cycle in 2012. LAWRENCE E. JOSEPH: And according to a number of studies, this next solar climax will be far more powerful than any that’s been recorded. PHIL CROWLEY: Still, more scientists reason that the effects of solar activity in 2012
Will be far from catastrophic. HUGH ROSS: Worst case scenario is we have some problems with our satellites. We have a lot more satellites up there than we did at last solar maximum. And the ones we have up here are much more sensitive to damage from solar radiation. PHIL CROWLEY: Further, most scientists
Say the chances of an imminent polar shift are astronomically low. Many agree that polar shifts may have rocked the earth in the past but that the most recent occurred tens of millions of years ago. They say no evidence exists of a shift within human memory
That could have been recorded by the ancient Egyptians. If anything like that happened, we would see the record of it in ice core drills as well as sediment trails off the coast of New Zealand and other parts of the world. And all those drills tell us nothing like that happened.
PHIL CROWLEY: Researchers have also called into question the ancient Egyptian text on which the polar shift theory is founded. JOHN DESALVO: Many people today will read those texts and pull out applications to the modern times in terms of catastrophes, and end times, and prophecy.
And I really don’t think you could do that, because they’re not specific enough. It’s just a matter of an interpretation. PHIL CROWLEY: Still, the possibility remains that the Egyptians knew of an apocalypse centuries before their own time and that they calculated this global catastrophe could strike again in ours.
ROBERT BAUVAL: If they witness certain events, like meteoric strikes or cataclysms, then it may well be that they got so spooked out of it that they somehow tried to warn others. PHIL CROWLEY: Did the ancient Egyptians preserve such a warning in documents other than the “Book of the Dead?”
This book, said to be lost until recent decades, like the Orion prophecy, it foresees doom unleashed by forces beyond Earth. It speaks of an entity approaching us from the far reaches of space, aptly known as the Destroyer. [music playing] Believers are convinced the ancient Egyptians looked
Into the future 4,500 years ago and saw the end of the world in our time. But there are many different sources of the prophecy and debate endures over which may be the most accurate. Some believe this book is the most credible source of all. It is called the “Kolbrin Bible.”
MARSHALL MASTERS: The “Kolbrin Bible” is a 3,600-year-old secular anthology. The first part was written about the same time as the Old Testament. The “Kolbrin Bible” gives us a way to look inside the minds of the Egyptians who built the pyramids. PHIL CROWLEY: 11 separate books comprise the “Kolbrin Bible–”
The first six written by the ancient Egyptians, the remaining six by Celtic priests. The oldest part was purportedly written after the drama of the Exodus, which some date to the 15th century before Christ. This was a pivotal episode in Hebrew history when the prophet Moses confronted the Egyptian pharaoh
And eventually delivered the enslaved Hebrews from bondage. According to the “Kolbrin Bible,” this seminal event left the Egyptians demoralized. MARSHALL MASTERS: Their pantheon of gods had failed them. The Hebrews had thumped them pretty good. And they just were trying to understand. So they went out and gathered all of the folklore and wisdom
That they could find within their trading realm. And what survives of it is the first part of the “Kolbrin Bible.” PHIL CROWLEY: The “Kolbrin Bible” is said to have been discovered in England in the 12th century. But since no original manuscript seems to exist, some have doubts about its authenticity.
Like adherents of the Orion prophecy, believers of the “Kolbrin Bible” say it warns of a celestial disaster, perhaps a catastrophic polar shift. MARSHALL MASTERS: In that event, it is an extinction level event, maybe 90% of life on the planet. PHIL CROWLEY: But according to the “Kolbrin Bible,”
The extraterrestrial force that triggers the event is not the sun. Instead, the prophecy mentions a mysterious celestial body called the Destroyer. The text says it will not collide with the earth but pass close enough to trigger global devastation. GREG JENNER: It has its own magnetic field, positive and negative.
The planet Earth also has its own magnetic field. It necessarily doesn’t even have to collide. But if it grazes by, it literally can cause up thrusts and down thrusts of the land. PHIL CROWLEY: The “Kolbrin Bible” also recounts how the Destroyer has passed by the earth several times.
According to the text, the last occurrence devastated Egypt 3,600 years ago. READER: Its color was bright and fiery in appearance, changing and unstable. And all men agree, it was the most fearsome sight. What really captured my attention about the “Kolbrin Bible” is that the ancient Egyptians tell us
This object has flown through the system many times before. And 3,600 years ago, it was a horror for them. PHIL CROWLEY: But scientists reject this assertion. HUGH ROSS: Astronomers have done enough celestial mechanics studies to conclude that there’s been no fly-by at any time in human history. PHIL CROWLEY: Could astronomers be wrong?
Could the Destroyer be a planet beyond those known in our solar system, a planet in a long, elliptical orbit that passes close by Earth once every 3,600 years? Such a body has been the stuff of conjecture for more than two decades after an intriguing discovery in the early 1980s.
HUGH ROSS: There was a lot of concern back in 1983 when a couple of astronomers published the discovery of an infrared source. And at that time, there was speculation, not by astronomers but by others, that this was Planet X, the 10th planet. MARSHALL MASTERS: We believe that this object is anywhere
From four times the size of the earth to maybe even, perhaps, as large as Jupiter. PHIL CROWLEY: Those convinced that Planet X exists and is heading our way point to recent astronomical changes they claim are the result of its approach. MARSHALL MASTERS: The sun is more active in its southern hemisphere
Than the northern hemisphere, according to NASA probe data. Earth’s magnetosphere has been weakening and changing and, actually, is pointing towards the south. Numerous other things that are happening just tell us that there is some kind of perturber out there. PHIL CROWLEY: If Planet X does exist
And is the menacing object depicted in the “Kolbrin Bible,” when might it have its catastrophic close encounter with Earth? The “Kolbrin Bible” describes a series of events said to herald the moment. READER: 110 generations shall pass into the west and nations will rise and four.
Men will fly on the air as birds and birds fly and swim in the seas as fishes. GREG JENNER: It totally relates to the here and now. That’s airplanes and submarines. One generation might be between 35-40 years old. So if you times out by 110, you’re looking quite possibly
At that 3,600 time period as it correlates to here and now. PHIL CROWLEY: According to the “Kolbrin Bible,” events such as these are a sign that the return of the Destroyer is imminent. But scientists assert that Planet X is a fantasy. HUGH ROSS: Astronomers categorically rule out
That there is any Planet X within the vicinity of the solar system. We have lots of astronomical data that would easily expose the existence of Planet X if, indeed, it really did exist. We have enough data on the celestial movement of bodies in our solar system to rule out that possibility.
PHIL CROWLEY: Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, believers in the “Kolbrin Bible” and Planet X persist in their assertion that an extraterrestrial catastrophe will menace mankind in the near future. [music playing] But some claim that the ancient Egyptians did more than predict our imminent end, that they might have preserved the means
To prevent it. The possibility may hinge on making a dramatic discovery beneath the Great Pyramid’s silent companion, the Sphinx. [music playing] [sirens blaring] Whether the apocalypse is wrought by [explosions] –or by nature, believers are certain that ancient Egyptian prophecy and current events are converging and that the doomsday countdown has begun.
But they also suggest that this scenario has a twist. JOHN DESALVO: This is what’s so fascinating. Secrets that may lie within the Great Pyramid that have not been discovered that may give mankind a whole new meaning to our existence, our origin, and our future. PHIL CROWLEY: Some speculate that these secrets reside
In a hidden chamber in or near the Great Pyramid that has eluded discovery for more than 4,000 years. They speculate, further, that the few who might survive the prophesied apocalypse could benefit from the treasures we might find there. Speculation about what these secrets are ranges from a hall of records illuminating
All of ancient history to proof that an advanced civilization older than Egypt built the Great Pyramid. If there is a secret hall of records, many believe the ideal places to search for it are along the long, narrow shafts extending from the interior chambers. LAWRENCE M. BERMAN: They’re called air shafts.
And that’s probably not what they were. And no one really knows what their purpose was. PHIL CROWLEY: In recent years, remote controlled robots deployed by archeologists ventured to the ends of the shafts and found dead ends at small doors. And we still don’t know what’s behind them.
So that, to me, is the nearest thing to the possibility of a secret chamber at Giza. PHIL CROWLEY: Some archeologists believe that the greatest secrets of all lie buried beneath the pyramids’ brooding guardian, the Sphinx. ROBERT BAUVAL: The Egyptian authorities kind of allowed a exploration using a non-destructive method. So they use seismographs.
And then they use radars. This went on to 1996. JOHN DESALVO: And under the left paw, they discovered a cavity, maybe about the size of a storage closet. And nobody has gone down there. I hope we get permission from the Egyptian authorities– at least some researchers to be able to go down underground
And explore this area and find out what’s hidden down here. PHIL CROWLEY: Others believe a hidden chamber lies buried 60 miles from the pyramids, which contains secrets that could fully illuminate the Egyptian prophecy. They think it is somewhere in the ruins of a vast bi-level palace complex known as the Labyrinth.
The renowned Greek historian, Herodotus, toured the Labyrinth in the 5th century BC and was apparently awestruck by this architectural wonder that was ancient even in his era. He wrote– READER: If all the great works of the Greeks could be put together in one, they would not equal this Labyrinth.
The Pyramids, likewise, surpass description, but the Labyrinth surpasses the Pyramids. PHIL CROWLEY: Although archeological digs in the 19th century established the Labyrinth’s location, virtually no trace of it remains. But some people outside the mainstream entertain the remote possibility that excavations there will redefine our understanding of the Egyptians’ doomsday prophecy.
In the Labyrinth, we will find things that we never expected before. We will find the proof of a high civilization that was destroyed by a polar reversal. PHIL CROWLEY: But some believe that the most monumental discovery may actually help prevent the predicted cataclysm.
They say the key may be to find one of the world’s great missing treasures– the apex or capstone of the Great Pyramid. When you look at the Great Pyramid, the one thing you’ll notice right away is it’s not pointed at the top like a pyramid should be,
But it’s flat topped, like it was never finished. The capstone was the most important part of the pyramid. It could have been stolen, lost, destroyed. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I believe it’s going to be discovered. And this is going to activate the most incredible machine that man has ever been aware of.
PHIL CROWLEY: Such a notion may be more faith than theory, but some believe that by finding and returning the capstone to the top of the Great Pyramid, it will release a paranormal energy, perhaps an energy strong enough to ward off– [laser pulsing] –global annihilation. Regardless of such suggestions, the pyramids
Loom as an ominous reminder of the prophecy purportedly made by its builders. [explosion] But if the apocalypse does finally come– [explosion] –what becomes of the few who may survive? MARSHALL MASTERS: If we all pull together and get through to the other side taking the path of peace and love, that
Will be, in my opinion, the most important population of human beings to have ever walked the earth. PHIL CROWLEY: On the surface, ancient Egypt seems as disconnected from the 21st century as the passage of 5,000 years would suggest. But the future will tell if this vanished civilization has called forward across the centuries
With a doomsday warning exclusively for us. [music playing]
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