Review of Ancient Aliens S19E08 “The Mysteries of Alasksa”

Maybe we aren’t supposed to remember Missing in Alaska, a History Channel series about paranormal happenings in Alaska from almost a decade ago. Or the episode of The Proof Is Out There from last year in which Ancient Aliens’ sister show looked at the so-called paranormal “Alaska Triangle.” Or maybe we were also supposed to forget The Alaska Triangle, a Travel Channel series from 2020. And we probably aren’t supposed to remember Aliens in Alaska, a 2021 Discovery+ series. Alaska’s paranormal UFO mysteries are growing a little stale after so many televised romps through their fraudulent fantasies, and everyone knows that overripe fake mysteries are exactly the sweet spot for Ancient Aliens, which consistently brings up the rear of the supernatural circus train. This episode, though, is more of a clown car, stuffed with made-up mysteries that aim to be amusing but come across as unpleasant.

Ancient Aliens has trod this path before. In 2015, it devoted part of an episode to the imaginary ancient pyramid buried in Alaska, a fictitious story promoted by Linda Moulton Howe. You will forgive me if my complete lack of interest in paranormal Alaska leaves this review as a brief summary.

​Segment 1
The episode begins by explaining what Alaska is and its immense size, assuming the audience is unaware of the state. The segment begins with a discussion of missing people who have disappeared in Alaska, including two congressmen back in the 1970s, implying that some had a paranormal cause. The show attempts to tie this in to the “UFO” the U.S. shot down over Alaska, which officials admitted was a balloon sometime after producers completed this episode. Two other Alaskan UFO sighting, both by Theo Chesley, are discussed. Chelsey, a commercial pilot, previously discussed his sighting on Aliens in Alaska S01E02 “Alien Flight Plan” and on a season 2 episode of The Proof Is Out There.
 
Segment 2
The second segment sends David Childress to analyze photographs of Chesley’s UFO sightings around an Alaskan volcano. Various irregular and shapes that could be clouds, balloons, smoke rings, or pretty much anything are examined, but none appears to be a solid craft. A potted history of UFOs seen near volcanoes follows, and Childress declares the wispy swirls to be astonishing evidence of aliens.

​Segment 3
The third segment moves into paranormal territory with a discussion of the “Alaska Triangle,” an area covering nearly half the state and part of Canada’s Yukon Territory. The segment is most concerned with UFO sightings in the eastern half of Alaska and their connection to a CIA document recording a Project Stargate remote viewer, Pat Price, and his fantasy of an ET “base” under mountains in Alaska. Price’s death is asserted to be an assassination to keep him from discussing the ET alien base.

​Segment 4
The fourth segment covers the fantastical claim of a “dark pyramid” under Mt. Denali, which, in the link at top of this review, I explained originated in a man’s conflated and confused memory of watching local TV news coverage in Alaska of an earthquake that shook Egypt’s Great Pyramid in the 1990s. Today, many years after Howe first told the story, the tale has expanded ridiculously into claims of magnetic anomalies, massive energy sources, black-clad paramilitary operatives, and vast conspiracies.
 
Segment 5
The fifth segment discusses native Alaskan myths of sky beings, which the show conflates with the Star People and Thunderbird stories of the continental U.S., in the modernized form associating them with aliens and their rocket ships. Various quasi-scientific hypotheses for how aliens might quickly travel from other planets or dimensions to Alaska are discussed.
 
Segment 6
The sixth segment recaps the previous five segments without introducing anything new and concludes that no “educated” person could “dismiss” the possibility that Alaskan UFO cases “could be UFO-related.” Whatever that is supposed to mean.