Nick Pope’s Global UFO Investigation | Ancient Aliens

Video: "Nick Pope’s Global UFO Investigation | Ancient Aliens" (History Channel)

Full auto-transcript: NARRATOR: In May 2019, former British intelligence officer Nick Pope visited the ECETI Ranch in the Pacific Northwest. ECETI is home to the Enlightened Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence organization. UFO hunters consider it a major hotspot for unexplained aerial phenomena. Over the past 33 years, scientists from Boeing, NASA, and Lockheed Skunk Works have come to ECETI to research the activity in the sky. But what sets ECETI apart from other UFO watch organizations is that their most powerful observational tool is not a telescope-- it's remote viewers. Remote viewing is essentially taking people who have, or believe they have, the ability to see things-- not with their eyes, but with their mind, and putting them to work gathering intelligence. My first exposure to remote viewing came when I ran the UK government's UFO program. We looked at UFOs, crop circles, alien abductions. Anything mysterious and unexplained, I did it. Remote viewing might be tapping into unknown dimensions. I know this sounds like science fiction, but actually, it isn't. Some of the work being done at places like the Large Hadron Collider are now quite seriously looking at the concept of other dimensions. NARRATOR: At ECETI, ex-government remote viewing expert John Vivanco-- Hi there. NARRATOR: --and UFO skywatcher Peter Slattery lead a team of remote viewers. Today they are working on an experiment that will combine human observation and remote viewing in an attempt to better understand what has become a recent increase in UFO sightings over Washington State's Mount Adams. So let me know, please, what are your respective backgrounds with this? I am a remote viewer. I've been doing this professionally for 20 years, over 20 years now. And I run a team of remote viewers and we work operational type projects for clients. And we look at different types of phenomena that can't be explained through conventional means. I'm known as an experiencer/contactee, but also I hold skywatch events. So we're going to do a skywatch and just see what happens. Where are we going to do that? Just going to go out to the skywatch field here. So let's go and check it out. OK, great. NARRATOR: As Nick joins Peter to conduct field surveillance, John has stationed two remote viewers in a windowless room, armed with nothing more than a pencil and a drawing pad. The way it works is that a remote viewer is given a random eight-digit number connected to what they're supposed to remote view. Now, they don't get what they're supposed to remote view-- only the number. That's it. They're going to be at the location of whatever it is through the mind, describing exactly what that is. NICK POPE: So what are these remote viewers actually going to be doing in there? It's not so much viewing. We get visual snippets and a lot of body sensations. Basically, they're going to be drawing and writing a lot on paper, so. And afterwards, once we've got the data, how are we actually going to analyze it? So I will collect that information from them when they're done. And then in the morning, we can meet up and see if we can come up with some explanation for what went on. - Well, great. That sounds good. I hope that we're going to have some interesting and meaningful results. NARRATOR: After discussing the details of the evening's plans, Peter and Nick part ways with John and join the rest of the skywatch team in the field. NICK POPE: Pete, I see the team has grown somewhat. PETER SLATTERY: Yeah, we've got Adam here with us. He's going to be helping out with the satellite tracker and monitoring the gear. Just very important to be very quick off the mark, knowing what's what. Sometimes we could have two things in the sky at the same time and one of them could be a satellite, the other not. People can mix it up. So when we're focused on the sky, it's great that somebody is focused on the satellite tracker. Great. So we're essentially making sure we don't miss anything? Oh, definitely, yeah. We don't want to muddle things up. NARRATOR: The team gets to work setting up the watch station before the sun goes down for the evening. They will be using various technology, including infrared cameras, in order to capture any anomalies in the sky. The location for their watch overlooks Mount Adams, the largest active volcano in Washington State and a hotspot for UFO sightings. As night sets in, the team has all eyes glued to the sky and on the lookout for any objects that might cross their path. Utilizing real-time satellite tracking data, they can anticipate the arrival of all manmade traffic passing over their airspace. Hey, is that a satellite? PETER SLATTERY: Yep. NARRATOR: Including the International Space Station, or ISS. NICK POPE: Adam, how are we on the timing with the ISS? PETER SLATTERY: One more minute. NICK POPE: And which direction, west? It's going to be coming from the west, moving to the east. ADAM WALLBERG: Look at how bright this thing is. PETER SLATTERY: Whoa! Oh there it is, eh? See? That's the space station. ADAM WALLBERG: That is the ISS. PETER SLATTERY: Can you see that? ADAM WALLBERG: Yep. NICK POPE: OK. NARRATOR: While the field team watches the sky, the remote viewers are sketching visual representations of whatever comes to them. Incredibly, as the International Space Station passes overhead, both women begin to draw virtually identical rectangular objects. Well, it's not a UFO, but it's still a pretty spectacular thing. PETER SLATTERY: It's pretty epic to see. NARRATOR: After spotting a few other satellites in the sky, Nick and Peter notice a mysterious fast-moving object, one that does not appear to be a satellite. PETER SLATTERY: One right there right now. Look how quick it is. Is that a satellite? I've got it on camera. ADAM WALLBERG: Where you at? PETER SLATTERY: East-southeast. ADAM WALLBERG: I see nothing on the tracker. PETER SLATTERY: Can you see it up here, guys? OK, I definitely saw it up in that section of the sky with my naked eye. It just caught my attention out of the corner of my eye, I turned round, saw it for a few seconds, and then it faded. That's exactly what I saw. NICK POPE: And there was nothing on the monitor at all? Nope, nothing at all. That section of the sky was clear. NICK POPE: And that's satellites. What about aircraft and flight paths? Nope, everything was clear. NICK POPE: OK. Well, it was something. NARRATOR: Did Nick Pope and the ECETI team spot an extraterrestrial object in the night sky, one that inexplicably disappeared? NARRATOR: Llandrillo, Wales, January 23, 1974-- late in the evening, this quiet rural village in the Berwyn Mountains is rocked by an enormous explosion. [explosion] 14-year-old Huw Lloyd is in his home watching television when he feels the impact and then receives call after call from his neighbors, most claiming to have seen an incredibly bright light falling from the sky and then glowing on the mountainside. Today, Huw Lloyd still works on his father's ranch in Llandrillo. Are you Huw? HUW LLOYD: Yep. NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorist Giorgio Tsoukalos and Nick Pope, a former UFO investigator for the British Ministry of Defense, met up with Huw to get his take on what really happened that night. Can you tell us your experience? Your neighbors called you to ask you if you're OK. So they pretty much had similar experiences. So you're not the only one. And what time of evening was this? So some people have suggested that it was nothing else but an earthquake, which I don't subscribe to this idea, but have you had any earthquakes around here? You saw that light, and it was much, much brighter than people lamping. And it was something almost blinding? Wow. NARRATOR: The community of Llandrillo was shaken by the mysterious event, which became known as the Berwyn Mountains incident. That night, dozens of residents called the region's emergency line to report a bright light followed by a mysterious object seen streaking across the night sky. Curiously, approximately 30 minutes after the reports were made, a police officer arrived at the home of eyewitness Huw Lloyd. [knocking] Right, so a senior officer, not one of the local-- No. NARRATOR: A plane crash? For Nick Pope, who worked at the Ministry of Defense and has seen the file on this incident, this is a surprising new detail. The official report only mentions a meteor and nothing about a plane. The theory initially that this was a plane crash and that this police and military operation was a search and rescue or search and recovery, that's fine, but I mean, we know where our planes are. There is 24/7 radar coverage, civilian aircraft-- Even back then. Yeah, absolutely. Planes don't just drop out of the sky. And if they do, immediately, everyone knows which aircraft it is. So it seems odd. NARRATOR: The officer commandeered the family's truck and drove with Huw to the crash site. Nick and Giorgio were taken on the exact same journey that was made that night. NICK POPE: How high is the mountain? One thing that struck me is, this is a pretty difficult drive. So you've got to be pretty determined to get a whole bunch of people up here. GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Yes, and for what purpose, unless it's really something of importance? Yeah, this is not to be undertaken lightly, is it? No. NARRATOR: According to Huw, the police inspector directed him to stop at this spot, although the inspector was allegedly not familiar with the area and seemed to have no reason for doing so. It was at this location that Huw witnessed an incredibly bright light in the distance. So down there? OK. GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: When this light appeared, did it seem to you as if it was an explosion? NICK POPE: And how long was it shining for? NARRATOR: According to Huw, the inspector wanted to get a closer look at the mysterious light but then received a curious command from his superiors. So it sounds like it was a "stand down" call. NARRATOR: In the days following the incident, Royal Air Force personnel, scientists, journalists, and UFO enthusiasts combed the surrounding land and interviewed locals at length. Curiously, the official explanation for these events provided by the Ministry of Defense did not include either fox hunters or a plane crash, as was told to Huw that night. NARRATOR: Shortly before the Ministry of Defence released their UFO files in 2007, they announced that Rudloe Manor was no longer in use by the military. But if that's true, why are the grounds surrounded by chain-link fences, monitored by security cameras, and even protected by guard dogs? To find the answers, in January of 2017, ancient astronaut theorist Giorgio Tsoukalos traveled to the protected boundaries -of Rudloe Manor. -POPE: There it is. NARRATOR: Joining him in his search for the truth was Nick Pope, who in the early 1990s, worked for the Ministry of Defence investigating UFOs. TSOUKALOS: We're here. During your time at the MOD, what did you learn about this place or any type of, uh, UFO cases that may have happened around this area? Well, this whole area is rich in UFO sightings. Rudloe Manor was the headquarters of a unit known as Provost and Security Services. -Mm. -Now, this is all tied up with Air Force security and intelligence. UFO sightings were investigated by staff based here at Rudloe Manor. But for years, we-we denied it. We told Parliament, the media and the public that these things were of no interest, that Rudloe Manor had no involvement in this. And yet, when the files were declassified, it turned out that people were right. -Right here? -Right here. -Okay. -And-and so, this-this building really was at the heart of Britain's secret UFO research and particularly, the underground facilities below us. All sorts of secrets and research and investigation projects went on from, uh, this particular facility. NARRATOR: While the manor house was the face of Rudloe Manor and the headquarters for Britain's UFO investigations, access to the underground facilities is found two miles away at the equally secretive installation known as the C.C.C. POPE: It's close to where we are. It's all part of the underground facility, so there are tunnels which start right underneath the manor house here and go to the C.C.C. No one knows exactly how many people work down there, but it's thousands. -Mm-hmm. -Nobody knows exactly what they do. And I worked for the government, for the Ministry of Defence for 21 years and I don't know. -Right. -So, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to tell you. Of course. NARRATOR: Are the UFO files withheld by the Ministry of Defence being kept at Rudloe Manor, as ancient astronaut theorists believe? And could even greater secrets be hidden at the mysterious site known as the C.C.C.? POPE: Officially, it's called the Corsham Computer Centre. And you can't get in there. It's absolutely off-limits. Whatever's going on down there, it's big. NARRATOR: Despite the fact that it is not open to the public, ancient astronaut theorist Giorgio Tsoukalos asked Nick Pope to take him to the C.C.C. for a firsthand look at the installation. -TSOUKALOS: All right. -Good luck. Thank you very much. NARRATOR: As a former employee of the Ministry of Defence, Nick did not feel it was appropriate for him to approach the facility himself without clearance. I'll see you later, Nick. -Yes. -Take care. TSOUKALOS: Here we are. The C.C.C. The lights are on. And, uh, just like Nick explained, it's got barbed wire, it is fenced down, it's impenetrable. NARRATOR: According to the British Ministry of Defence, the C.C.C. is simply a data processing center for the Royal Navy. But if true, why is it so heavily guarded? TSOUKALOS: Clearly, it's an access to what seems to be an underground system. And if the stories that Nick told me are true, then underneath our feet is a vast system of tunnels and underground facilities. (siren blaring) NARRATOR: Within minutes of Giorgio's arrival at the security gate, the crew is met by a military police unit. TSOUKALOS: Can you tell me anything about this place? NARRATOR: Unfortunately, the situation ends with filming being halted. TSOUKALOS: Well, we're only trying to find out the truth. NARRATOR: But why? What is it that's so top secret that Giorgio and his camera crew are not even allowed to film the entrance from public property? TSOUKALOS: So it was exactly how you said-- fortification, barbed wire fence. I had about five minutes, and then a police car showed up, and he said, "Well, I think it's time for you to leave." Oh, I think you did exactly the right thing to get out there while you could, but you know that, uh, "A," it is operational, and "B," it's obviously important. They sent the security people out. I-I guarantee you they had eyes on you from the moment you started. [narrator] Rachel, Nevada. September 2019. To further investigate what might be hidden at the secret Area 51 base, former British Ministry of Defense officer Nick Pope and filmmaker Jeremy Corbell have enlisted the help of local resident Joerg Arnu. Joerg, who has lived in nearby Rachel, Nevada, for 15 years, has been a firsthand witness to Area 51's recent history. What's the strangest interaction you've seen of people coming in or out of the base? Heavy construction equipment going into the base when they were doing construction. And also sometimes you see military vehicles being dragged into the base. They set them up inside the bombing ranges for shooting targets. Um, just pull over here. There's a sheriff's vehicle coming our way. We don't want any trouble, we don't want to block them, but we don't want to go any further. [Nick] This is extra security. I don't think we've ever seen quite this much. [ominous music playing] [narrator] In light of the tension surrounding the Storm Area 51 event, the military has implemented a zero-tolerance lockdown at the gate of the secret base. [Nick] So, here we are. I think this is about as far as we can go. The point of no return, right? [Joerg] Yes. We cannot go any further. [Nick] All this barbed wire here, all these security measures, this is the point at which if you take one step further, the full force of security will come down on us, right? Make no mistake. We step one step into their territory, and everything is gonna change. If I came up here, is anybody gonna talk to me? Are they going to say anything to me? No. These are signs that spell out, in plain English, bad things are gonna happen to you if you cross this line. -[Jeremy] Right. -[Joerg] It's very clear. So now, look. If we walked past that barrier, up that road, what would we see? What would we find? We would be walking down about 20 miles of paved road into the valley that Area 51 is located in. In between here and the base, there's more security checkpoints, there's more road sensors. If you were to get to Area 51, you're standing there and you look around, and it looks like any other military Air Force base. But the good stuff is all in hangars. It is not out in the open. It's not like, you know, they got the saucer right there on the runway. So there are hangars, obviously, but there are even rumors of huge underground facilities, facilities carved into the sides of the mountains. There are people that talk about underground facilities. They keep tabs on people that watch the base, they know exactly when somebody's up at Tikaboo Peak, for instance, one of the view spots of the base. [narrator] Located 26 miles from the Area 51 base, Tikaboo Peak is the only public land where people can actually see the Groom Lake runway and hangars. And they know exactly, "Right now is a good moment to fly our good stuff," and that's when they bring out the good stuff. I've actually been on Tikaboo Peak when they did a test flight. And it was the most amazing thing. We look at the base, and all of the sudden in the middle of the night, all the runway lights come on. I mean, it's the most amazing thing to watch. All of the sudden, the desert in front of you, below you becomes alive. You see a light taxiing to the runway. The light takes off, the runway lights go out, the light goes out... And that was the end of that. Literally, feet above the runway, the lights just went out. [Nick] That's ultra-high security. Whatever that thing was, clearly they were really trying to protect it and minimizing that anyone could get eyes on it. [Joerg] Correct.