Forbidden History - Secrets of the Pyramids: Ancient Alien Builders?

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

Are the great pyramids monuments of human ingenuity… or encoded messages from the stars? In this episode, we’re joined by Tony McMahon as we explore the cosmic code hidden in ancient   stone. Cast List: Tony McMahon: Former BBC news producer, author, print journalist and historian  Eric Meyers: Narrator Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Forbidden History Podcast. This program is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It contains adult themes. Listener discretion is advised. Built around 2,600 BC remains one of the most astonishing achievements in human history. It has stood for more than 4,500 years. Older than Rome. Older even than most of recorded history.

And yet for all that time, many unanswered questions remain. The pyramids were already ancient when the Roman Empire existed. They were already two and a half thousand years old by the time that Julius Caesar was in charge of the Roman Empire. Mainstream historians can't even work out still what the system of ramps and hoists were used to get the stones into place. Tesla argued that the materials and the location of the Great Pyramid pointed to it being used as an enormous ancient electricity generator. It really does make people wonder how could these ancient Egyptians have possessed the kind of sophisticated knowledge that was needed to build something like the pyramids.

But exactly, who built this magnificent structure? And why? To help us dive into this topic, today we're joined by historian and author Tony McMahon. Mainstream historians believe that the Great Pyramid of Giza dates to around 2,600 BC. It consists of something like 2.3 million large blocks of stone, and it took about 20 years to complete. Now, it's no wonder that people like Herodotus, the early, ancient Greek historian imagined 2,000 years ago that it must have taken 100,000 workers or slaves to have built the pyramid. When you break down the math, it would have meant placing one massive block into position

every two minutes for two whole decades straight. The logistics alone are almost beyond comprehension. If you dismantled the pyramid, its stones could build the wall almost ten feet high, stretching around the entire country of France. If the same stones were laid end to end, the blocks would circle two-thirds of the Earth's equator. Long believed to have been built by slaves, the Pyramid of Giza remains one of the largest man-made structures ever built, and to this day still shadows over many modern buildings. The numbers involved in its construction proved that this

was a massive undertaking. Actually, modern historians think that it was a much smaller number, and the people who built the Great Pyramid were not enslaved. In fact, there were groups of workers from villages in ancient Egypt who competed against each other to build the Great Pyramid, and they were relatively well-fed. They may even have had meat in their diet, so they had a high-protein diet in order to be able to carry out the laborious work.

And it was something that they took immense pride in, and they lived in reasonable accommodation, in reasonable conditions, and were not, as we used to imagine, slaves who were being whipped to carry the large stones. Archaeologists have even uncovered evidence that these workers were fueled not just by bread and meat, but by daily rations of beer, a staple of the Egyptian diet, And carved into the stones of the pyramid itself are traces of graffiti left by the workers. Team names, like the Friends of Kufu and the Drunkards of Menkare. Far from being anonymous slaves, these were organized, skilled laborers.

It's believed that the ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramid at the very dawn of the Bronze Age. Their tools were not steel and machinery, but stone hammers, wooden sleds, copper chisels and rope. One of the things that we struggle with to try and understand the Great Pyramid in particular is that this was built by essentially Neolithic people. They're using wooden and stone tools. They're at the very start of the Bronze Age, and yet they're able to create this enormous building. And consider this, that the Great Pyramid was the highest structure known until Lincoln Cathedral was built in the Middle Ages, in the 1200s. That means that for over 3,500, nearly 4,000 years,

the Great Pyramid was the greatest structure, the highest structure in the world. And in fact, it became the highest structure again when the spire of Lincoln Cathedral fell over in a storm. This mastery of building large stone structures wasn't unique to Egypt. Across the world, other ancient sites tell a similar story. The vast megaliths of Stonehenge raised in Britain with no written language and no wheels. Or Gobeckli-Tepa in modern-day Turkey, carved 7,000 years before the period. pyramids, stone pillars decorated with animals built by hunter-gatherers before the invention

of farming in that region. What puzzles historians is not only the scale of these monuments, but the sophistication of their design. Complex precise stone-cutting and engineering techniques appear thousands of years before we think such knowledge should have existed. It's as if pieces of advanced understanding surfaced in places and times that history tells us should still have been primitive. Today, the question of how the Great Pyramid was actually built remains unanswered.

No ancient blueprint survives, and every generation of historians has tried to solve the riddle of how millions of multi-ton blocks were raised hundreds of feet into the air. Mainstream historians can't even work out still what the system of ramps and hoists were used to get the stones into place. Some people think that the ramps went around the pyramid or up against the pyramids or that even that there was some kind of internal ramp that the pyramid was built from inside. These are all theories that have been played with. And it really does make people wonder how could these ancient Egyptians have possessed the kind of sophisticated knowledge that was needed to build something like the pyramids. The most common suggestion is that an enormous ramp stretched outward from the pyramid's base,

and that blocks were dragged to the top one by one. Others propose a spiraling ramp wrapping around the pyramid's sides, and then there is the bold idea put forward by French architect Jean-Pierre Udain, that the Egyptians constructed an internal ramp within the pyramid itself, hidden in its body, and used it to pull blocks upward in a corkscrew fashion. To test these theories, modern teams have tried their hand at pyramid building. In Japan during the 1970s, engineers attempted to construct a scaled-down replica using only ancient-style tools. The project stalled after just a few layers of stone. In France, Another team tried to raise massive blocks with ropes and sleds,

only to find the task nearly impossible without cranes or modern machinery. These struggles raise the unsettling possibility that either were missing some crucial piece of the Egyptian's engineering genius, or that knowledge has been lost to time. Some boldly even suggest the Egyptians may have used vibrational energy or even sound waves, waves to move stone using chanting, resonance or primitive sonic technology that allowed heavy blocks to float into place. There is no archaeological proof for such a method, of course, but the fact the idea persists stands testament to how little we know of its construction.

And it's worth noting that what we see today is actually in some way a pale shadow of what the pyramids once looked like. Imagine even at their huge size today, they were once actually clad in smooth limestone. You see rather rough boulders today piled on top of each other, but actually originally that was the underneath of the pyramid structure. Originally there was smooth limestone on all sides and at the top some kind of gold cap on top of the pyramids. So these would have been gleaming, smooth structures, absolutely incredible. So what happened to the pyramids over time is that they were damaged by seismic activity, by earthquakes, but they were also just pillaged and stripped.

Much of the limestone that used to cover the pyramids was used in the building of medieval Fatimid-era Cairo. The gleaming casing stones would have reflected moonlight, too, transforming the pyramids into ghostly white lanterns by night. Some scholars even suggest this luminous quality was intentional, a way to link the pharaoh's tomb with the heavens above. We've explored the scale, the people, and the almost impossible genius it took to raise the great pyramid. But understanding how it was built only deepens the next question. Why? Was it simply the tomb of a king, or did it serve something far more mysterious? We continue the story after the break.

For mainstream Egyptologists, the pyramids were believed to be tombs, monuments to kings, designed to secure a pharaoh's place in the afterlife. But for centuries, others have questioned where, whether such vast structures could really have been built for that single purpose. Author and historian Tony McMahon tells us more. People have struggled obviously to understand what the pyramids were used for. We know today there were tombs, but there was even a theory among some people that they were granaries used by the biblical prophet Joseph to stop famines.

All of which leaves us wondering what was the point? of the Great Pyramid, why create this enormous structure? One person who thought he had the answer was the great inventor, Nikola Tesla. And Tesla argued that the materials and the location of the Great Pyramid pointed to it being used as an enormous ancient electricity generator. And others have taken up this theory since he wrote this. To summarize it, it involves harnessing the underground ground running water in aquifers and the use of quartz with its piso-electric qualities in the building

of the pyramid, which in effect then generates a bolt of electricity that fires out of the shafts built into the pyramids and possibly connecting with nearby obelisks that are seen as having been electricity masks and then makes its way to the temples. And Tesla's vision is not alone. Around the world, archaeologists have uncovered mysterious artifacts that some interpret as relics of forgotten science. The so-called Baghdad battery, a clay jar with a copper cylinder that some believe was capable of generating electricity. Or the Antikythera mechanism, a bronze device pulled from a Greek shipwreck, its gears capable of mapping the movements of the heavens with astonishing. precision.

Placed alongside these anomalies, Tesla's pyramid as generator theory fits into a broader question. Did ancient civilizations know more than we think? Were they experimenting with forms of energy and technology that defy our assumptions of what primitive people could achieve? This leads some to point to another theory altogether, one that, if true, would shatter the mainstream understanding of world history. In modern times, there are more esoteric theories that have arisen to explain how the pyramids were built and what their purpose was. One of the most famous, of course, is the kind of ancient alien theory. And this was best expounded by the Swiss author Eric von

Dhanican, who wrote the highly controversial best-selling book, Chariots of the Gods in 1968. Von Danikin, argued that our ancestors thousands of years ago were visited by extraterrestrials who shared highly advanced science and technology that enabled structures like the pyramids to be built. Now his book spawned a very popular ancient alien movement who believed that aliens visited civilizations around the planet enabling them to surpass the knowledge that they had at the time. And believers in this kind of cosmic intervention think that the pyramids must have had a very specific use for the aliens. Why would they have got humans to have built these structures unless they were meant for some purpose? For example, they could have been landing markers

for these aliens to land their spaceships. Even the dimensions of the pyramid, point to an awareness of the Earth's measurement that the ancient some believe could not have possessed. So, for example, the author and broadcaster Graham Hancock has pointed out that if you take the height of the pyramid and multiply it by 43,200, you get the polar radius of the Earth. If you then measure the base, multiply it by the same figure, you get the circumference of our planet. And that figure 43,200 relates to the way in which the earth wobbles on its axis. And this is something he believes that ancient Egyptians simply could not have known without some kind of assistance from an advanced superior people.

Graham Hancock is less focused on aliens. He thinks that the ancient Egyptians and other ancient peoples got a helping hand from the survivors of some kind of hyper-advanced civilization that have been wiped out by a comet strike during the Ice Age. And these superhumans, if you want, spread their know-how to the ancient Egyptians and to other cultures sometime around 10,000, 10,500 BC. Now that means that according to Hancock, the structures of ancient Egypt, like the pyramids and the sphinx, could be 8,000 years older than mainstream historians believe. In other words, we're going back from 2,500 to 10,500 BC.

And to bolster their argument, they claim that the monuments were aligned, the pyramids were aligned to the stars in the sky at that time. And if you look at where the stars were, in particular, Orion's belt, then it corresponds to the spring equinox in around 10,500 BC. Now, of course, mainstream historians, while they acknowledge that sky worship and an awareness of the stars is something entirely plausible, and that the ancient Egyptians had enormous mathematical skills

that were picked up from other cultures, like the Babylonians, for example, they don't accept this idea of superhuman intervention. These superhumans could have come from Atlantis. It's believed by those who propose this theory. And by the way, this whole idea of a superhuman intervention goes back to the work of Eugene Donnelly in the 19th century. And he very explicitly believed that it was the survivors of Atlantis who helped the ancient Egyptians.

And Egypt is not alone in this web of sense. speculation. At Nazca in Peru, colossal lines etched into the desert seemed to form runways when viewed from above. On Easter Island, giant stone heads faced the sea with no clear explanation of how they were moved. In the jungles of Central America, Mayan temples also rise in cosmic alignment with the stars. The pattern, according to believers, is global. Clues that an outside intelligence, whether alien or Atlantean, help to nudge human civilization forward. If you want to try and prove the alien intervention theory, then some people have looked at the pharaohs themselves and questioned whether or not one pharaoh in particular may have been an alien. And the pharaoh in question is the pharaoh Achenatenatenaten.

Akinatan was a heretical pharaoh who rejected the traditional religion of ancient Egypt. He established a form of monotheism. He declared himself the expression, the son of the Arten, the sun god. And he established a new capital and overthrew the power of the Egyptian priests. But in his statues, he looks incredibly odd. He has this weird elongated skull, a very long face, spindly limbs, and some have questioned whether or not he was human. Skeptics counter that he probably suffered from a medical condition like Marfan syndrome,

and some art critics have said that really this was just an artistic form, a new way of depicting the pharaohs. But to the ancient aliens community, it is probably, proof that Aachenarten was one of the extraterrestrials. This elongated skull mystery has also appeared in other cultures. Archaeologists have unearthed artificially lengthened skulls from the Paracas culture in Peru and naturally elongated skulls from ancient burials in Crimea. Skeptics state that this is more likely an intentional reshaping of infant skulls using wooden planks and bindings.

Surprisingly, there is more evidence to suggest the Egyptians had an extraordinary knowledge of the cosmos and geography. The location of the pyramids is often seen as being of incredible significance. Now, some people point to their position in relation to the stars or where the stars were in 2,500 BC, or 10,500 BC, if you prefer the Graham Hancock theory, but others point to the whole thing theory around so-called laylines. And this is a suggestion that there are invisible lines around the earth that connect ancient sites and monuments. And these lines channel energy or even if you want conduits for spiritual forces. And obviously the Great Pyramid as one of the grandest, the greatest of ancient monuments has to sit on one of these laylines, or at least even at the intersection of multiple laylines and this is why the Great Pyramid but also Stonehenge in England and

Machu Picchu in Latin America are located where they are. This theory was devised by the archaeologist Alfred Watkins in the early 20th century and he noticed what he believed was straight lines connecting prehistoric sites in the English countryside and this was then extrapolated to ancient monuments around the world. Now, mainstream science and archaeology have no time for laylines, but this is, again, a very popular theory in relation to the pyramid. Stonehenge in England, Machu Picchu in Peru, the great temples of Angkor in Cambodia, and the NASCAR lines in South America. To believers, this web of monuments forms a global energy grid, a forgotten system of power and knowledge that once united humanity.

To mainstream archaeologists, it is pure coincidence. But the theory persists because the alignments are hard to ignore, straight lines on maps that seem to connect the world's greatest mysteries. Let's now step away from the theories of aliens, Atlantis, and cosmic energy lines, and explore the more plausible history. What do the mainstream historians say the Creaer of the pyramid was for. Ask an Egyptologist what is the point of the Great Pyramid,

and they will tell you that it was built as a tomb for the Pharaoh Kufu. And indeed, if you go inside the Great Pyramid, you will find a broken granite sarcophagus, which is once believed to have held Kufu's mummy. But like so much of ancient Egypt, it was pillaged in ancient times, often by those who built these structures. But the pyramid, it's believed by Egyptologists, is part of a funerary complex that includes mortuary temples and other structures associated with royal burials. And the whole point of the pyramids was to assist the pharaohs on their journey into the afterlife.

So it's believed that the pyramids were constructed in such a way, that they created a pathway and a protective structure. which helped the pharaohs ascend to the afterlife. And so this is why they were built during the Old Kingdom. So with the pyramid's shape and the pyramid structure and the presence of shafts inside the pyramid are all part of a process of rebirth and regeneration for the dead Pharaoh. Also the massive structure of the pyramid with no obvious entries in any,

was designed to protect the pharaoh's body and possessions from grave robbers and of course evil spirits. Unfortunately this was not always successful. The problem with the pyramids and the reason why the pharaohs stopped being buried in them under the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom was that they were so enormous, it was like flagging up to any grave robber, come here, because there's a pharaoh here that you can rob. So instead the pharaoh started to go for more secretive tombs located in the valley of the kings and the pyramidal structures were then abandoned. It also has to be said that building these pyramids was a vast undertaking and the kingdom of

Egypt had to marshal huge amounts of resources and labour and time. And as things became more volatile as Egypt was attacked by external enemies, and had to embark on wars, it seemed like an enormous commitment to have to build these huge pyramids. But for all its spiritual power, the pyramid's very size became its greatest weakness. Even when you go to the Great Pyramid today,

it simply overaurs you in terms of its size. It's sad to see that the external coating of limestone has gone, And the only way that you can enter the pyramid, as I did, was through a 9th century CE after Christ tunnel that was built by one of the Islamic rulers of Egypt. And when you go in, it's almost like entering a cave. This is a robber's tunnel that has been hewn into the rock in a very crude way. And the tunnel gets narrower and narrower and narrower. You end up going through a small shaft to enter into the...

central gallery of the Great Pyramid. And you can see the influence that ancient Egyptian art had on Art Deco. It is like being in an Art Deco Hall of the 1930s. And then you make your way upwards into the central chamber. And there's nothing there. Because it had been comprehensively robbed in ancient times, only a rather sad, forlorn, broken sarcophagus. But nevertheless, what impresses you and what sometimes scares some people is the enormous weight of stone all around you that has been in place for four and a half thousand years.

The king's chamber lies empty. The sarcophagus broken. The treasure is gone. And yet, it is the stone itself that overwhelms. Millions of tons balanced with impossible precision, pressing down with the weight of 40 centuries. Visitors across the ages have reported strange sensations, feelings of dizziness, awe, or even dread when inside the pyramid. To some, this is nothing more than the psychology of claustrophobia. To others, it suggests the structure was designed with deeper, hidden purposes. to harness energy, to align with the stars, or to mark a connection between Earth and the heavens. In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte allegedly visited the Great Pyramid during his Egyptian campaign. According to legend, he spent a night alone inside the king's chamber.

When he emerged, he was pale, shaken, and refused to speak of what he had seen. Years later, when pressed for the truth, he is said to have replied, You would not believe me if I told you. Even as you approach the Great Pyramid, it's something that simply cannot fail to impress you. And the fact that it was built so long ago still makes us think, could it have been the ancient Egyptians, or did they get little help from somebody from outer space. Thanks for exploring the past with us today.

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