Megalithic Marvels - Serpents in Stone: Sacred Symbols of the Ancients

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

In this episode I recount the 1959 story of a retired British Royal Air Force fighter pilot named Colonel Remy Van Lierde who was flying over the Congo's remote jungle forests when he spotted something unbelievable - a giant 50 ft long snake...Why did ancient civilizations all over the world deify serpents? Why did the ancients of South America depict serpents even within their monumental building projects? When we take a deeper look at the oral traditions of the Andean region such as the legend of Viracocha,as well as the legend of the “Hanan Pacha” that whispers of an underworld symbolized by “Amaru” (the serpent), we can begin to connect the dots on why the serpent is so strongly depicted. JOIN ME ON A TOUR

I'm going to show you and recount for you a true story from 1959 of a colossal reptile that was photographed in the Congo. This is crazy. Then we are going to travel to Central and South America to investigate the ancient serpent worship that took place there and the many countless depictions of snakes and serpents. Plus, I am going to take you into a mysterious little-known site known as the Temple of the Snakes and the Inka legends that surround this temple are nuts. But before we begin our journey, just a quick reminder to please like this video, subscribe to my channel from wherever you are watching, and please leave me a five-star review if you are watching on Spotify.

That really, really helps me out. And also consider joining me on one of my 2026 tours. We are going to Peru and Bolivia this September, ancient Turkey in October, and then we're going to end the year in Egypt in the first part of December. And these are going to be some of the best tours that I've ever led. And each of these tours includes airport pickup and drop off, all transportation and lodging during the tour, at least two meals per day, site tickets, and English speakers.

guides. But most importantly of all, not only will we have the time of our lives hanging out and having fun, but you will learn the hidden history of these ancient civilizations as we go in search of evidence of lost technology and as we go to see sites and places that most tourists would miss. Visit megalithic marbles.com slash tours for more info or click the link in the show notes below to save your spot today. All right, let's talk about reptiles. And serpents and snakes. And in a little bit, we're going to travel to South America and talk about some of the ancient legends and how they deified a serpent worship. And I'm going to take you inside the temple of the snakes. But I want to set this up for you by telling you about a story I came

across from 1959 of a giant reptile that was photographed in the Congo in a remote area. So there was this guy named Colonel Ramey Van Laird, and he was a Belgian pilot and fighter ace who served in the aviation branch of the Belgian Army and the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. And this guy shot down six enemy aircraft and 44 V1 flying rockets. And he achieved the rank of a squadron leader. So this guy, Colonel Ramey Van Laird, is no lightweil. So after the war, he returns to the Belgian Air Force in 46, where he becomes the deputy chief of staff to the minister of defense in 1954. In 1958, he became one of the first Belgians to break the sound barrier while test flying a hawker hunter at Dunsfold Aerodrome in England. And he went on to hold several important commands before retiring in 1968.

So this guy was a big deal in his day, the cream of the crop, the top of his class when it came to military fighter pilots. Now in 1980, he was on an episode of a famous show called Arthur C. Clark's Mysterious World. And there was an episode of this show called Dragons, Dinosaurs, and Giant Snakes, where they interviewed Van Learid and featured a crazy story that he, he lived on to tell. So Van Leard recounted that in 1959, he encountered a giant snake in the Kentanga region of the Belgian Congo while returning to Kamina Air Base from a mission by helicopter. And he reported seeing this giant 50 foot long snake and circling back a few times for a closer inspection and how the snake even rose up approximately 10 feet off the ground and gave the impression that it might have even struck at the helicopter had it been within range. In fact, check out this short

clip of Van Leerd describing what he saw in his own words. But it was in Africa, the Congo, that an undoubtedly monstrous specimen appeared to confront this Belgian helicopter pilot Remy Van Leirda as he returned from a mission in 1959. So as we had a camera on board, I decided to make several passes over the hole where the snake was in and able to let the man take a picture of it. And I made certainly between four and six passes

right over the hole where the snake was in. By then I was already flying for 25 years, so I have a very good experience of measuring things. And I would say the snake I saw there was close to 50 foot and it was moving inside the hole

and looking very dark green deep green brown with his belly white now when I came down on that snake in his hole and I would see at about 25 30 foot up the snake raised up

by about I would say 10 foot and I could very clearly closely see the head which was looking and I could not make a better comparison with a very large horse, with big, very, very big jaws looking triangular. And you're just standing up like there to me. And I feel and I'm convinced if I have been in its range, it would have struck at me. It would have been striking me.

So this is fascinating. And this siding is notable not only because of this record world's size of snake at 55. feet, but also because it was documented by this very credible military figure who we have photographs that were taken during the encounter that have been analyzed and deemed authentic, in fact, by many experts adding to the intrigues surrounding this mysterious creature. So Van Leard estimated that it was about 50 feet long. It was dark green and brown with like a white belly. and its head alone was about three feet long, two feet wide with a triangular jaw.

So the million dollar question is what exactly was this? Many have theorized that it was some kind of oversized African rock python. Others have theorized that it was some new undiscovered species. And still others have wondered if this was a descendant of the prehistoric giant snake gigantophis. But again, I would love to know what you think. Do you think this photograph is authentic? Do you think this renowned decorated fighter pilot really saw this snake and had it photographed? And do you think the snake was real? Or do you think this guy's lying through his teeth and made this whole thing up? I would love to know what you think leave me a comment about the snake.

Did you know that ancient civilizations all over the world deified serpents? We see serpent imagery everywhere, whether it's ancient Mesopotamia, ancient China, ancient Egypt, Central America, South America. I think of places like Kusko Peru where you walk around the city. And all over the megalithic blocks, you see serpents emerging. Even at one of the greatest megalithic marvel sites on the planet, which is Sox-A-Wamon, which is just north of the city of Kusko, hidden on the second layer, I believe, of this massive wall. Embedded into it is a gigantic serpent that goes layers around the wall. You have to see it to believe it.

In fact, if you come with me on one of my pru-tours, I will point this out to you. So why all of this serpent imagery? Well, when we take a deeper look at the legends and oral traditions, specifically of ancient civilizations like the Inca and others, we start to get clues on why they're picturing the serpent everywhere. Now, the Inca in Peru and most of the other central and South American cultures, such as the Maya and the Aztec, they were worshipping these serpent deities or these plumed or feathered

serpent deities. Now, according to mainstream archaeology, the plumed serpent first made his appearance in the archaeological record over 2,000 years ago in Mexico and the heartland of the Olmec civilization at a site known as Leventa in the present-day state of Tabasco in Mexico. Although I would argue that this imagery of the serpent is way, way older than even the Olmex. I believe it's megalithic and I'll get into that in a minute. Now this fascinating, mysterious Olmec culture who created the colossal Olmec heads, which almost have these Asian features, which is strange because they're in Mexico, right? They flourished around 1,000 BC in this area of Mexico. And the Olmecs are basically credited as the mother civilization in Mesoamerica and that they

spread their culture and their occult religion throughout the regions and their beliefs in these plumed serpent deities. And the Aztecs, they called the plumed serpent quetzikato. And again, it was this feathered serpent or this plumed serpent with feathers. And this was one of the most important gods in the ancient Mesoamerican pantheon. Now the Maya, they called what looks like this same god, not quetzu'u'adal, but Kuukon. And then the Inca in South America called it Viracocha. And Viracocha was like the creator deity of the Inca who is credited with pretty much creating all things, whose name translates as seafoom, and who was thought to have emerged from Lake Titicaca in present-day southern Peru and Bolivia there.

Now, the crazy thing is that these plumed serpent deities were not just worshipped as distant gods by the Inca and the Maya and the Aztecs, but they were credited with the founding of their civilizations, giving of secret knowledge, and get this, even living among the people and teaching them the occult sciences before departing over the sea. And it's really fascinating digging into the Incan legends because, again, they first described Vericocha as like this supreme creator deity who even destroyed evil giants with a flood. But during the epoch after this great cataclysm that obliterated the old world, the legends basically describe how the survivors of this cataclysm were basically living in darkness, living on. underground, and the oral traditions then tell the story of how the vera cocha's plural arrived, who basically manifested as like these fair or white-skinned men who had beards, they had long

hair, they had cloaks, they had staffs in their hands, and some accounts even talk about how they had blue eyes and how they went through the Andes to the survivors and began civilizing them. and that how they eventually disappeared over the sea and said again one day that they would return. And some refer to this part of the legends as the path of veracocha, how these entities wound through the most important megalithic settlements where the ancients wore and civilized them. And then there's other strange legends as well of how these varicotias also also are like an ancient civilization that almost hide under the Andes Mountains and live

underground. And there's reports how ancient natives and even living locals have encountered Vivera coaches, even flying machines, how they can speak telepathically, how they can heal the sick, and then how they'll disappear. And I've heard some of these legends from some guides I've had in Peru a couple of years ago when I was traveling in southern Peru and Bolivia around Lake Titicaca, I was talking with a local guide who told me a fascinating story. And he told me like this really happened with all of his heart. Because I was asking him about Lake Titicaca and is there anything hidden under the lake? Is there any me megalithic ruins?

And he was telling me, yes, there's ruins, but there's even more than that, that there's basically the vera cochas that live there in an underground ruins or an underground city and how he even encountered them at one point. And I was like, whoa, man, this is insane. I don't know if he was on ayahuasca when this happened, but he told me like it was the gospel truth. Okay, now let me tell you about the snake temple or otherwise known as the temple of the snakes or some people call it the Temple of the Moon.

And this is a mysterious site in the Kusko Highlands that is not known by many people. Again, it's in the highlands of Peru, which kind of opens up. You're away from most of the trees. It's wind-swept. It's kind of desolate feeling. It's very windy. And you see just these ancient rock outcroppings everywhere. And in the distance is this one ancient rock outcropping, but you approach this ancient rock outcropping.

And you can see that the stone has been cut away in places. Now, although severely ancient and severely weathered by cataclyisms, as you approach this rock, you can see megalithic earth shaping all over it. I believe this is the signature of the ancient megalithic builders. They had ancient technology to shape the natural rock outcroppings and make laser-like cuts and trapezoidal markings everywhere. And you see that here as you get closer. You see how the stone has been cut away. And there are 90-degree cuts and perfect angles and trapezoids. And locally, this is known as the Temple of the Moon or More.

more authentically as Amaru Markoasu, which translates as the house of the serpent or the temple of the snakes. Now, the Inca worshipped here and used this site for fertility rituals where the hopeful would leave offerings to the goddess of the moon that they called Mama Kila, daughter of Veracocha. Now, actually, Graham Hancock featured this site in season two of ancient apocalypse, And I loved what he said about it. He said the silence of the place, the coldness, the stillness within it,

all of this focused the mind in a way that seems to have been deliberately designed, not accidentally achieved. And Graham theorized that he felt that it was as if the Inca venerated it and built the outer walls to mark it off, thus respecting something they found, not something they created. And last time I was at this site, I didn't just get to walk up to it. We got to go down inside of it. This is a subterranean temple.

And as you approach the entryway, you can literally see serpents emerging from the rock, entire serpent bodies, not carved in, but protruding out if that makes sense. So they carved away the rest of the block to feature this serpent bodies. and you go down this windy little entrance and you enter in to the most incredible megalithic looking precision made altar or temple that you can imagine it looks very similar to napa iglesia in the sacred valley which has the portal or stargate in the side of the wall And as you go deeper inside, you can see the precision cuts. All of the walls have been artificially shaped.

And then on the one end is what looks like this circular platform, where rituals would be performed or something was placed on it. And above this circular precision cutout, there was a hole in the cave that pierced down onto basically this table. And on the far end of this tunnel cave, there were entrances that have now been sealed off, that which go deep underground and connected by tunnel to other sites.

And while we were in here, my friend and renowned tour guide and historian Rumi Allegria, who is our tour guide in Peru, he was telling us basically the forbidden legends of this temple, of this site, which you're not going to hear from any mainstream tour guide anywhere, how that the Inca venerated and worshipped at this site, but that they knew it belonged to a much older and ancient hybrid race

known as the serpent people, who were an ancient subterranean serpent-like people or hybrids, who would emerge from the earth and also worship in this temple, and that they created it with their megalithic technologies. Now, I know this legend seems pretty far out there, and so some of people in our group were chuckling at this, but then Rumi said, well, you don't believe me, look at this. And he pointed us to a spot on the cave floor,

and he removes this rock, and bursting out of the hole comes a howling wind. It would literally blow your hat off almost. It was that strong. And you could smell this distinct, damp smell coming up from the earth underneath, this wind blowing. And he was saying, look, there are underground subterranean tunnels and chambers, literally below our feet that they've closed off and that where this ancient, legendary race lived. Again, he was saying this is why this is truly called the Temple of the Serpents. This is why there's snakes embedded all over this area.

and this is even why the entire rock outcropping was likely once in the shape of a giant serpent-like lizard. And so as I was saying, all of the stuff with serpents, I believe it goes even back further before the Inca, before the Omex. I believe it goes back to the most ancient megalithic engineers of Peru. And in Peru, there's a legend that some locals refer to as the Hanan Pacha.

And Hanan Pacha translates basically as world above. And this legend of the Hanan Pacha is like a 3D way of describing the different epochs of civilization in Peru and also the different engineering methods. So this legend breaks down like this. First we have a Hanan Pacha. And this was like the first civilization that could have existed some 12,500 years or early in prehistory who could shape the precision bedrock like I talked about and precision engineer the largest cyclopean megaliths we see like at Soxeywaman.

Yet at the same time, the Hanan Pacha also refers to the highest of the three levels of consciousness and is represented by the condor which can be seen embedded into the mountains themselves and other megalithic sites. So the condor is one of the most ancient and sacred symbols of Peru as well. So that's number one, Hanan Pacha. Then number two, we have the Uun Pacha. This was likely the second civilization who came later, and I'm guesstimating on these dates,

but they could have existed anywhere from 11,500 to like 6,000 years ago. And they would have still possessed a portion of the knowledge, and technology left behind from the Hanan Pacha, but not all of it because of the cataclysm that hit. And the Uren Pacha likely engineered the smaller-sized mortarless walls that we see in places. They're still megalithic and mortarless, but they're more squared, if you know what I mean, and you're going to see some video footage of this now and what their architectural style looked like. And at the same time, Uren Pacha doesn't just refer to the second civilization. but to the second level, the mid-level of consciousness,

which is represented by the Puma, who guess what? You see the Puma embedded everywhere in Peru. In fact, the city of Kusko is in the shape of a Puma. If you Google Puma, Kusco, you'll see images of this. One of the Inca emperors outlined the city to be that of a Puma. And then again, and also places in downtown Kusko, you see what looks like Puma's embedded into the walls. And then lastly, at number three, we have what's called the Ucan Pacha, or the third culture who came last and built on top of the previous two civilizations. and the Ucunpacha could have existed as late as 1,000 AD all the way up into the 1500s during the time of the Inca.

And again, this was likely the Wari and the Inca cultures. And they tried their best to replicate the previous works of the megalithic builders, but they only possessed these bronze chisels and stone hammers. And so they had to use clay mortar and these small rough stones for materials. They did their best. This is why all over Peru, whether it's Kusko, whether it's Machu Picchu, you're going to go to these ancient sites, and you're going to see a foundation that goes from about ground level to like four feet up. And you'll see megalithic mortarless blocks made of white granite or andesite, very hard stone that just sit there. And then on top of them, all of the sudden you see a completely different architect.

You see this Inca, small rough stone, and mortar mix where they're continuing the shape of like a trapezoidal temple. But it's clearly two different builders, right? And I'm going down a rabbit trail here for a minute because the mainstream will tell you, well, the Inca just built all of this. Well, if the Inca built all of this, why didn't they make all of it in the superior, indestructible, megalithic mortarless style. Why didn't they just keep it going to the top? Why would they stop and then make the rest of it with this weak, inferior, archaic small rough stones and mortar, if that makes sense, that can easily knock over in earthquakes when the other stuff doesn't knock over in earthquakes. It doesn't make any sense. The point is here there was different epochs.

There was different civilizations with different technology, and that's what this legend of the Hanan Pacha is unpacking for this. So Ucan Pacha doesn't just mean the third culture or civilization. It also refers to the underworld, whose symbol is guess what? The serpent, also known as Amaru in the ancient Quechuan language of Peru. And the Inca seemingly did not interfere or alter the works of the two older cultures, but harmoniously added on to what existed. existed before. But specifically in Peru, this is why the serpent is embedded everywhere. It's because

the serpent is a part of the ancient cosmology. The serpent, Amaru, is considered the symbol of the underworld, of the old world, where the legends speak not only of giants, but hybrid-like entities with serpentine features who lived in sub-training chambers. and temples like the Temple of the Serpents that I showed you. Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please share it with somebody, and I will see you next time.