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The Smithsonian Knew. History Is BROKEN - Video học tiếng Anh
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The Smithsonian Knew. History Is BROKEN
The Smithsonian Knew. History Is BROKEN
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0:00
What if everything you were told about human history… was a lie?
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For decades, we’ve been told civilization began just 5,000 years ago. That the Great
0:08
Pyramids of Egypt were humanity’s crowning achievement. But what if the truth is far
0:12
more shocking? What if even bigger pyramids aren’t in Egypt at all?
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I’m Josh, and in this episode of The Infographics Show,
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we’re uncovering why Egypt Isn’t Hiding the World’s Biggest Pyramid… Europe Is.
0:23
You wake up as the sun rises over Bosnia and Herzegovina. You’re a farmer on the outskirts
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of Visoko, where the Fojnica and Bosna rivers meet, not far from the capital of Sarajevo.
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Life is simple, but you take great pride in your homeland.
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Visoko is now a thriving city, but nearby lies the Old Town of Visoki, a medieval village
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crowned by a 14th century castle. Tourists come for the ruins, but you’ve always been
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fascinated by them. They’re a glimpse back to a time when this village was a proud royal haven.
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But it’s not the only thing that fascinates people.
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Visoki is surrounded by a collection of hills, each rising hundreds of feet
0:59
into the sky. Visocica Hill stands out at 720 feet (219 meters), one of the most prominent
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landmarks in the valley. Nearby, smaller hills like Pljesevica rise over 350 feet (107 meters).
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These aren’t just tall.
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They’re… strangely uniform.
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Locals say they look more like pyramids than natural hills. Impossible…right? If
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they really were pyramids, they would be the largest in the world. The Great Pyramid of
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Giza is under 500 feet (152 meters), more than 200 feet (61 meters) shorter than Visocica.
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People have speculated for decades, but no one has confirmed anything.
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You intend to change that. You decide to take the next
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month off from farming. A friend agrees to watch the land while you head into the hills.
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The hills - or pyramids - are buried beneath thick vegetation. Forests climb their slopes, branches
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and roots tangled together. Anyone exploring them would struggle to see anything unusual. From a
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distance, they look completely natural. But maybe that’s the point.
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You grew up reading the works of Semir Osmanagic, a Bosnian businessman, author,
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and archaeology enthusiast. When you dig into his works, you’re swept away to a magical past. Bosnia
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was the cradle of civilization, building massive structures that the world had never seen before.
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Now, that history lies buried under millennia of natural growth, waiting to be discovered.
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Many have tried, all have come back empty-handed.
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You… you are different.
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The area is safe to explore, but it takes caution and resilience
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to make it up the hills and do a thorough exploration.
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As you head out with a hefty collection of supplies in your bags - climbing gear, food,
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and water - you’re greeted with cheers from your village. Many of them are readers of Osmanagic.
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Some have even wilder theories than yours. Could these pyramids hold ancient technology,
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capable of harnessing the energies of the globe? Could they have been built by aliens?
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There’s only one way to find out. Your mother warns you to be careful.
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She worries about where these hills might lead you. Your father shakes his head and calls you a
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fool. But nothing they say is enough to stop you. The pyramids await.
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You’re far from the only person hiking Visocica. Trails wind all the way to the summit, and they’re
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busy most days. Families out for a walk. Tourists carrying cameras. It’s considered one of the
3:03
easier mountain hikes in the region. Over the years, these paths have been searched again and
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again for signs of the rumored pyramids. But every time, people find nothing.
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As you begin your climb, you pass groups enjoying the view and stopping for photos. For a while,
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you follow the same trail as everyone else. But not for long. Soon, you step off the path
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and into the forest. And into the unknown.
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If the mountain was actually a pyramid, it would have to have an opening. And that opening would
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be near the bottom of the pyramid. Logic dictates that. That means you’ll be avoiding
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the well-traveled routes headed to the summit. Instead, you’re concentrating the search on the
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thick, forest-like base of the mountain. It’s a massive amount of ground to cover,
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even on Visocica alone. But this is where you’ve chosen to begin.
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If there really is a pyramid hidden here… why not start with the biggest?
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The vegetation is thick, swallowing the hillside in tangled brush and trees.
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Trail guides have warned you about the wildlife,
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especially the brown bears. You make sure to give anything that moves a wide berth.
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Your goal is simple, but exhausting.
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Check every area that looks like plants hiding an opening. You use your machete
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to strike the hillside, listening for any hollow sound beneath the surface.
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It’s slow, painstaking work. And every time you come up empty,
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your father’s voice echoes in your mind - calling you a fool - but you keep going.
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You slash at the undergrowth…
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And find a void. A dark space.
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A hollow… or an entrance?
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You grab a rock and toss it in. It doesn’t hit the ground. It keeps
4:32
falling. Then an echo returns, deep and cavernous. A chasm… could it really be?
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All the fatigue in your body immediately melts away. Your machete bites through
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the vegetation like fire. Soon, you’re crawling through narrow, muddy passages,
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gravel crunching beneath your hands, dirt rubbing against your skin. Every
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inch forward pulls you deeper into the unknown. Your flashlight bounces
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off the sides of the tunnel. Eventually, the cramped passage opens up into a large chamber.
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Then it hits you…
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You’ve made history.
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You’re in a massive atrium, carved entirely from stone. It must be thousands of years old. The
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walls are covered in intricate designs, remnants of a civilization almost forgotten. At the center,
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massive stone structures point toward the sky, perfectly aligned, impossible to ignore. You
5:17
can’t imagine the work it would have taken to build this… if it was even made by human hands.
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None of this makes sense. At least, not yet.
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You pull out the paint you brought and begin marking your path back from the pyramid,
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leaving a trail for the next explorers. The secrets of this incredible site will be unraveled
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by those with greater knowledge of the region… You’ve uncovered Bosnia’s greatest secret…
5:38
But what really happened in the hills is even stranger.
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Could a story like this actually be true?
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While other people are out digging for pyramids,
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you’re already on the best adventure… watching from the comfort of your screen. Like, share,
5:51
and subscribe… it’s way easier than crawling through mud.
5:54
In recent years, many adventurers have set out from the Bosnian countryside,
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searching for the country’s ancient past. All of them returned empty-handed,
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but the attraction hasn’t faded. Interest in the mysterious pyramids of Bosnia has only grown…
6:07
and the secrets they hold remain untouched. Even the government has gotten in on the act,
6:12
promoting books about the theory. Their efforts have drawn more and more people into the idea that
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Bosnia and Herzegovina might be home to one of the greatest hidden wonders of the Ancient World.
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It all started with one man.
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Semir Osmanagic grew up in the Bosnia and Herzegovina region of Yugoslavia. But as the
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1992 war broke out, he departed for Texas where he made his fortune in metal manufacturing. Now
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the founder of his own company, he returned home and put his wealth towards rebuilding
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his shattered country post-independence. One of his big ideas was designing an archaeological
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park that would bring in tourism. Osmanagic was a huge fan of pyramids, and he founded
6:48
the Bosnian Pyramids of the Sun foundation to make people aware of these archaeological icons.
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There was just one problem.
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No one was sure if they were pyramids.
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In 2005, Osmanagic made his first visit to Visocica and its nearby fortress. The symmetrical,
7:05
pyramid-like shape of the mountain was incredibly clear to him. He soon published
7:08
a book claiming that the hill - and the smaller ones surrounding the city - were all part of an
7:13
ancient pyramid network that was connected by an elaborate tunnel structure. The country was
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still recovering from the chaos of the breakup of Yugoslavia and the brutal wars that followed.
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This wild revelation brought hope and excitement to the population.
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And the scientists followed.
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Early skeptics were quick to point out that Osmanagic had no scientific or archaeological
7:33
background. He was, at best, an extremely dedicated enthusiast. They argued his connection
7:38
to the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences was little more than a pay-to-play arrangement.
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But that didn’t stop the claims from gaining momentum in a hurry. The possibility of an
7:47
ancient pyramid hiding under the mountains was enough to bring in local geologists.
7:51
They quickly began digging up core samples to see if it was truly a hill… or something more.
7:57
And then they found something… A mystery that has refused to die.
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On the surface, the makeup of the hill was mundane. It was primarily composed
8:06
of sedimentary rock, natural clay, and sandstone. But some of the cracked
8:10
sandstone plates raised speculation that they could have been part of construction
8:15
material. It wasn’t long before the scientific community was debating the site, and most of
8:19
them quickly came down against Osmanagic’s claims. A year after his initial theory and
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his book, 21 scientists and historians condemned the theory as a likely hoax.
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But that did nothing to quiet the claims.
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According to most geologists, the hills are what are known as flatirons, land formations shaped
8:37
over millennia by natural forces. Their steep slopes and sharp angles make them resistant to
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erosion. Flatirons typically have wide bases and triangular shapes,
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giving them an appearance similar to pyramids. They’re found all over the world,
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from Ethiopia to Colorado, often clustered together as obvious mountain ranges.
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To believers like Osmanagic, the Bosnian hills are different.
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They claim the hills stand alone. They are separate from each other,
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rising individually and forming shapes that almost demand to be called pyramids.
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And some people have an investment in keeping the debate going.
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Osmanagic has been roundly condemned by these scientists as being interested in nothing but
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financially promoting the area. And if that was the case, he’s not working hard
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to dispel it. He renamed the hills, giving the two biggest the names “Pyramid of the
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Sun” and “Pyramid of the Moon”. The others are named after “Love”, “Earth”, and “The Dragon”.
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The Bosnian government has been all in on this.
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Bosnia and Herzegovina has come a long way since the brutal wars of the 1990s,
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but the country is still struggling. The country’s GDP is just over $10,000 per
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capita as of 2026 according to the IMF. That puts it around 109th worldwide and towards
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the low end of Europe’s countries. Many Balkan countries are in a similar state,
9:49
and a new tourist attraction would be very welcome. As a result, the
9:53
government regularly promotes Osmanagic’s lore, and schoolchildren are frequently taken on field
9:58
trips to see the pyramids for themselves. And that might be having an impact.
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But not one that Osmanagic wanted.
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From the start, Osmanagic claimed that his project was a massive success. Before 2006,
10:10
the hills were little more than a scenic vista for hiking. But a year later, they were reportedly
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attracting 200,000 tourists. Osmanagic was seeking investments from around the world to build up
10:20
a massive park detailing the supposed history of the area. While tourism today isn’t what it
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used to be, there is still a brisk business for souvenir sellers around the mountains.
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But this might all be coming at a cost.
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Today, the mountains have been heavily affected by tourism, with heavy traffic
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wearing down many of the paths. One mountain has even been reshaped by the frequent excavations,
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making it look more like a stepped pyramid. This only increases the theories that this is what it
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originally looked like thousands of years ago. Archaeologists continue to raise concerns about
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the environmental and historical impact. There are also fears about potential damage to the castle
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ruins nearby. These worries have led to urgent pleas for the government to shut the project down.
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But the man behind it all isn’t slowing down.
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One of the most controversial parts of Osmanagic’s quest - as well as the one that intrigues many
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people the most - is that his claims only get wilder with time. If these truly were pyramids,
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then there’s one big question here: who built them, and why? He points to the Ravne Tunnels,
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a structure near the base of the hill complex, and claims that they’re the remnants of the ancient
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tunnel network. As for the date, he claims to have found fossilized leaves that have
11:30
been there since 34,000 years ago, far beyond anything that historians believe was possible.
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And if that sounds outlandish, wait till you hear what the pyramids were supposedly made for.
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The pyramids reach toward the sky, and Osmanagic believes they were designed
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to create ‘Standing Waves’, a type of cosmic energy. According to him,
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this energy could enable faster-than-light travel or even allow communication across the stars.
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And if that sounds like something humans would never be able to do, you’re right.
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Osmanagic has promoted the idea that the pyramids
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were built by visitors from the stars, known as “Ancient Astronauts”. He also
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believes that they were responsible for seeding human beings on Earth.
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It might sound ridiculous, but that won’t stop it.
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You only have to look at the American Southwest to see just how much the idea of aliens,
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or ancient history far beyond human existence, fascinates people. Much like towns like Roswell
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have turned into tourist attractions, the same seems to be the destiny of Visocica Hill and
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its fellow mountains. As the archaeologists shake their heads and the geologists appeal to reason,
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Osmanagic may have tapped into something more powerful than reason.
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It’s the power of imagination that insists there must be something out there.
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Maybe it’s already here. You've seen how imagination
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can turn hills into legends… but what about feats humans supposedly couldn’t achieve? To find out,
12:48
watch ‘Was it Impossible for Humans to Build The Pyramids?’ Or click on this video instead.
