The Holy Land. For thousands of years, religious pilgrims of many faiths have come to this sacred city to express their devotion to God. But just outside the walls of Jerusalem lies the Valley of Hinnom, an ancient place of unholy worship where evil deeds were performed long ago in honor of God's enemy, Satan.
In the book of Jeremiah, God reports, through His prophet, that people outside Jerusalem in a place called the Valley of Hinnom, are sacrificing their sons, and also their daughters. And God explicitly says, "I never asked you to do this satanic ritual," and expresses that He's angry, that there's going to be a terrible punishment for this. Historically speaking, in the days of the Bible, not everybody was faithful to the Lord.
Satanism influenced the Israelite community. And what they would do, literally, was they'd create a big pit of fire, and they actually would sacrifice their firstborn male through the fire. This was performed in the Valley of Hinnom, which is actually the Hebrew word today for "hell.
" I can't imagine what would cause someone to want to sacrifice their own child, to anything, for-for any reason. But this demonstrates how, in antiquity, people believed that their crops wouldn't grow, that the rains wouldn't come if they didn't offer sacrifices up to some satanic demons, spirits, whatever. And now you have introduced this new being that's responsible for the bad things, and his name comes to be Satan.
SHATNER: What can explain the shocking events that took place in the Valley of Hinnom thousands of years ago? Was it simply the result of human wickedness? Or is it possible that, as the biblical accounts suggest, Satan and his demons were and still are real entities that have the power to influence people?
MIKKI BROCK: Some people think of Satan as Beelzebub or Lucifer or the Prince of Darkness or "the evil one" or Old Nick. And some of these names come from scripture. A lot of them come from folklore.
And if you think of Satan as this ubiquitous figure who's constantly tormenting and tempting people, then it makes sense that the Devil can be known by all of these different nicknames. Is there really a character of the Satan? Well, the definition of that is going to differ between the major world religions.
But fear of an eternal damnation in the afterlife has always been sufficient to keep people religious, and in line with the beliefs of their religious clerics, who warn them that failure to comply will lead to an eternity of suffering and damnation. Or in other words, the stories from which this developed were to teach moral lessons. LAYCOCK: Throughout history, many religions have interpreted the world through the lens of having a figure of evil, Satan, who is responsible for evil in the world.
According to Christian tradition, Satan was one of the most powerful and beautiful of the angels. He rebelled against God, a third of the angels sided with Satan, and there was a war in heaven. Satan lost and was cast down into hell.
Satan is the embodiment of evil, a fallen angel who tempts you to not follow your best values. He is a god of sorts and he can offer something like that to us, great knowledge, control, mastery. The stuff of transcendence.
Of course, it will cost us everything. After all, this is not a straight shooter. This is not somebody who's going to tell the truth.
His job is to tempt you. CHRIS BADER: Satan is believed to have tried to tempt Jesus when he was in the desert with visions of earthly delights. So Satan is continually, throughout the Bible, someone trying to draw people from God to evil.
But the idea of Satan flows throughout history and across religions. There is Mara in Buddhism, who is a demonic king, a entity representing evil, and therefore, would tend to take on very frightening forms which oftentimes are mixtures of human and animal. There is Iblis, who is the Islamic representation of Satan.
So, we see this figure of Satan, a singular entity that is in charge of evil across religions and over time. BROCK: In Western Europe, we start to see depictions of the Devil around the eighth and ninth century. And the Devil becomes depicted all over churches, in various other sorts of art and statue and so forth.
He is always portrayed as a monstrous beast, half human, half animal, sometimes winged, sometimes horned, sometimes red, sometimes black, occasionally surrounded by his subordinate demons, and often emerging from the flames of hell. SHATNER: Thousands of Christians are gathered in Saint Peter's Square to watch Pope Francis perform Sunday mass. As he greets the crowd, the pope lays his hands on the forehead of a man who is thought to be possessed and recites a prayer.
A video of the incident went viral, and left many viewers to conclude that they had just witnessed the pope performing an exorcism. GALLAGHER: Pope Francis believes in evil spirits, he believes in Satan, he believes in the possibility of possession and the need for exorcists. He's quite traditional in that respect.
Exorcisms appear in the oldest writings that we have. From the ancient Near East, from India, from China. So exorcism is literally as old as recorded history.
There's many different forms of exorcism all over the world and in different religions, and most have various types of objects that are used to drive away unwanted spirits. Holy relics, crosses, uh, holy water, and even exorcism itself are what the Catholic Church called sacramentals. So, the church's view is that these are symbolic expressions of the authority of the Church.
And so, even though they are, in a sense, symbolic, at the same time, they have real power. . .
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and can help a priest to display the authority of the Church and drive away demons. SHATNER: If Satan and his army of demons are really waging a war against humanity, then exorcists are on the front lines. It's important to realize that an exorcism is not magic.
W-We don't do magic. It's a prayer, essentially. It's the Church's prayer to God and Jesus to cast out the demons.
And so we invoke that authority as his disciples to cast out the demons. And then we use the Church's prayer called the Rite of Exorcism. We use holy objects like Rosary beads, holy water, crucifixes, any holy object, uh, Satan can't stand it.
When the person is manifesting a demonic presence, The first thing that happens is. . .
you've got this incredibly evil look. As a matter of fact, they'll look at me and they'll say, "You stupid priest. " If you've ever really looked into the eyes of evil, you won't forget it.
And then different things happen which are physically not explainable. A 110-pound young woman throwing three big guys around the room. So we've had some of those sorts of things.
A couple teams in the country have had people levitate. We-we haven't. Uh, so there are-- things do happen like that.
SHATNER: Levitation? It's one thing to believe that Satan can take control of a person's mind or even attack their body. But floating in midair?
Is such an extraordinary phenomenon even possible? About 35, you know, salt of the earth people have told me they have witnessed, during a possession, a levitation. It's widely believed in these circles one of the paranormal things that demons can exhibit is getting their possessed victim to levitate.
A lot of people challenge what I say, and they say, "Well, okay, you believe in levitation, which is against the laws of science. " Of course it's against the laws of normal science. I understand that, you know.
I'm not saying I don't believe in gravity. What I'm saying is there are spiritual forces, including dark forces, that can violate the-the normal laws of nature. SHATNER: To some, the stories about the power of exorcism may seem far-fetched.
But on the other hand, this practice of banishing evil has offered spiritual relief to people from all walks of life. In most of the cases that we have, the people are very psychologically balanced. We have professional people.
We have lawyers. We have military people. We usually heal on both tracks at the same time.
We heal on the spiritual level. We also heal the psychological level. Many times, we find that the demonic feeds off the internal wounds, the angers, the unforgiveness, the hurts.
So when you start healing some of those inner wounds, they have less to feed off and grab onto. SHATNER: It rises from the earth like a giant fist, stretching out to strike the sky. A colossal, 900-foot shaft of rugged rock, one whose very name conjures notions of both awe and dread.
Devils Tower. Devils Tower is remarkable because you can drive across the sedimentary plains, see nothing but flat ground for miles and miles, and then this tall, dark tower emerges as you drive towards it. There is nothing like it in the surrounding area.
The rock has a grayish, even a greenish-gray color. And so, as you approach Devils Tower, it's a distinct, stark contrast to the sort of tans and browns of the surrounding sedimentary rocks. SHATNER: Located in northeastern Wyoming, Devils Tower was declared America's very first national monument in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt, who sought to protect it as an object of scientific interest.
Since then, many have asked: what could have caused this massive tower to form? There are many theories about it, but there's no agreement on what it was that produced this miracle of nature. It's made of volcanic-type materials, but there's no other volcanic activity around it.
So what caused this thing? We don't know the answer to that question. It's a really interesting conundrum.
SHATNER: Is Devils Tower really a miracle of nature? Something that simply cannot be explained by natural and scientific laws? Sorry, but that explanation is simply not good enough.
As much as we like to walk around with the confidence that we know this planet and we understand the planet we live on, there seems to be nothing but mystery on this planet. We don't understand how to predict earthquakes. (rumbling) We don't understand how lightning travels.
There's so many questions that we have about what produces the forces of nature. SHATNER: Some have suggested that the key to understanding Devils Tower is to think of it the way many Native Americans do: not as a natural formation, but as an unnatural one. The native peoples of the area have worshiped this tower as an altar of sorts, and many feel like they can climb to the top of this place and get divine inspiration, uh, become empowered.
And the question is, is there some truth to this native legend that this place is a sacred place on the planet and it is a sort of altar that allows humans to communicate to the spirits or to the universe or to the gods that they believe in? To view Devils Tower, if you want to call it that-- Mathó Thípila is what we call it-- it's a sacred place, and when you see it from a certain distance, even then, you start to feel the wonder of it, the sacredness of it, and as you get closer and closer, the positive sacred energy starts to build, and you feel it even more when you get to the base of the tower. I think, in the case of Devils Tower, it is so unusual, it is so anomalous, that it is easy to ascribe a mystical or spiritual attribute to it.
It's not surprising that Hollywood directors would choose this as the place that aliens would land from outer space. In the mid-1970s, one of the most important events in the history of, uh, Devils Tower took place, and that was the filming of the movie <i> Close Encounters of the Third Kind. </i> In that movie by Steven Spielberg, the tower is a spot that many people are drawn to, and they don't know why they're drawn to it.
They're drawn to it from all over the country. It turns out, as the movie goes on, that they're drawn here because they've been abducted some time during their life by aliens. A UFO lands on top of the tower, and Richard Dryfuss and several other people climb into the UFO and fly off into space.
The number of visitors that came to the tower doubled the year after that movie came out, and it stayed at that level every year ever since. I don't know if it's a landing site for UFOs, as Spielberg had in his movie, or what it might be. I mean, the more we look at it, the more baffled we are.
We are going to find things as we continue to observe and search and study the Earth that we had no idea how they got there, what type of physical process created them, and we're gonna learn new things all the time. SHATNER: Is it Devils Tower that is unnatural, or is it our own limited understanding of nature that produces the confusion? Perhaps Devils Tower exists to keep mankind humble, as a reminder that we still have a lot to learn.
In southern New Jersey, a vast sea of trees stretches as far as the eye can see. Below the dense canopy of these woods lies a primeval world filled with ominous sights and sounds that are shrouded by dark undergrowth. This foreboding wilderness is known as the Pine Barrens.
The Pine Barrens is basically a million acres of woodland in the southern tip of New Jersey. You can essentially get lost in the Pine Barrens and never be seen again because they are just so vast. At nighttime, you can hear animals crunching all around.
But the problem is you can't see where these things are. It's a terrifying place. And it's very, very scary, especially if you're lost there by yourself.
(owl hoots) SHATNER: The Pine Barrens is home to over 500 animal species. But according to locals, there is one creature said to dwell here that has yet to be officially identified. It's a grotesque, winged monster that is known as the Jersey Devil.
The New Jersey Devil legend is ingrained into the state of New Jersey so much. It's something that every kid hears when they're growing up. The Jersey Devil's gonna come and get you.
One of the most famous aspects of the Jersey Devil is its horrific screech or roar. (creature screeches) If you hear something like that in the Pine Barrens, you run. (creature screeches) CHAD LEWIS: The Jersey Devil looks like it should have come out of Dr Frankenstein's lab.
It's a hodgepodge of animal parts. It has a horse's head with horns growing out of it, a long dragon or kangaroo body, ending in thin, long bird legs and hooves, a forked tail on its back. It has giant leather bat-like wings on its back.
If you were to describe something out of a nightmare, the Jersey Devil would be that description. SHATNER: Could a winged abomination really lurk somewhere in the Pine Barrens? Perhaps clues can be found by examining the origin story of this fearsome monster that has been spoken of in local lore for more than 250 years.
(creature screeches) SHATNER: As the story goes, in 1735, inside a small house in Leeds Point, New Jersey, a woman gave birth to her unlucky 13th child. And when it was born, it became a monster. According to tradition, the Jersey Devil is actually the 13th child of a woman known as Mother Leeds.
And she is on record as having 12 children. So, the story that we get is that, when Mother Leeds was giving birth to this purported 13th child, she apparently, legend says, cried out, "The devil can take this one. " And she initially gave birth to a healthy, happy baby boy, who almost immediately transformed into this demon-like creature.
(creature screeches) Some stories say that Mother Leeds was killed after the baby was born, by the baby. Other stories just say he flew up the chimney and into the Pine Barrens. SHATNER: Skeptics are quick to dismiss the story of a devil born of human flesh, but after this alleged event, entirely new tales of the monster started to surface in South Jersey.
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in the early 1800s, a military officer of great distinction was said to have had a firsthand encounter with the Jersey Devil. The Jersey Devil has had run-ins with many famous people over the years, such as Commodore Stephen Decatur. He was a famous naval war hero, and he came across the Jersey Devil flying overhead.
He fired a cannon at the Jersey Devil. And, according to some eyewitnesses, he shot a hole through one of its wings, but it just flew away like nothing had happened. McNEILL: Naval Commodore Stephen Decatur spoke openly about this.
So, when a prominent person comes forward to say, "Oh, no, absolutely, I saw this, you know, strange horse-faced, winged, dragon-like creature, and I shot a cannonball at it," that impresses itself upon us in a way that kind of says, "Wait a minute, okay. " The pattern of belief here is so consistent. SHATNER: By the turn of the 20th century, belief in the existence of the Jersey Devil had long been part of local culture.
But then, during the week of January 16, 1909, an unprecedented avalanche of Jersey Devil sightings surfaced in the numerous communities bordering the Pine Barrens. And for the first time, this demonic creature terrified not just the residents of New Jersey but also newspaper readers across the United States. 1909 is really a key year for the Jersey Devil story because what we see happen is really what amounts to just an absolute panic.
There starts to be report after report after report of people encountering the Jersey Devil, shooting at it. . .
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seeing its hoofprints on top of their chicken coops and their farm buildings. People are sheltering in place because of the Jersey Devil. One of the more dramatic sightings involved a trolley car in Haddon Heights, New Jersey that was allegedly dive-bombed by the creature.
When accounts of these Jersey Devil sightings and attacks surfaced in local newspapers, it actually caused mass hysteria. Local businesses and schools were shut down. The Philadelphia Zoo offered a reward of $10,000 for the creature's capture, and vigilance committees and posses were formed to hunt the creature.
HEIMBUCH: I do think because of the sheer amounts of accounts that happened in 1909, of course some of them are not gonna be true. Absolutely. But the fact that so many of them happened, I really believe that there were some actual Jersey Devil encounters during this time.
SHATNER: The panic of 1909 immortalized the Jersey Devil in both national and local history. But curiously, Native American lore suggests that the origins of this Pine Barrens monster may actually go back much further into the distant past. In this part of the world, before the arrival of colonists, the tribes that lived here were the Lenape, and they referred to this part of the world-- the Pine Barrens of what is now New Jersey-- as "the place of the dragon.
" So, the presence of a creature in this place of the dragon has been recorded long into the past. We really do see two different cultural understandings of this place coming together in the idea that there's a creature here that maybe looks a little bit like a dragon.
