NARRATOR: Kent, England, 1988.
During an excavation of an Iron Age burial site,
archeologists uncover the skeleton of a man
who lived around the third century BC
and who was wearing a unique headdress.
Based on the design of this bronze crown,
many researchers believe these are the first remains
ever discovered of a druid.
According to Irish legend, the druids were a class of ancient
Celtic priests who were in close contact with the Shining Ones,
the Tuath Dé Danann.
The word for druids in Irish is draoithe,
which literally means "magic."
So there is an interconnection between
the Tuath Dé Danann and their magic
and the practice of druidry.
DAVID CHILDRESS: The Tuath Dé Danann were said to have
been the founders of druidism.
And the druids were said to have all kinds
of special powers themselves.
And so it would seem that the Tuath Dé Danann had shown some
of their extraterrestrial technology to the druids,
who then were able to use it themselves.
[fire crackling]
GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: The druidic religion originated with
the Tuath Dé Danann, but they were
never allowed to write down any of the druidic knowledge.
It was taboo because it was so-called sacred knowledge.
The Druids spent decades in training to perform
their priestly functions.
These are members of the inner circle, as we're told.
The inner circle refers ultimately
to the innermost knowledge of the Tuath Dé Danann.
The Shining Ones, they know their secrets,
and they can wield their technology.
NARRATOR: Portrayals of druids as mysterious shaman-like
figures with mystical powers has led some scholars
to question if they truly existed or were
purely mythological figures.
But according to the earliest accounts of them,
the druids were an integral part of Celtic society
throughout the British Isles.
DIARMUID JOHNSON: There are certain things
we know about the druids.
But of course, there's a lot we don't know.
And this vacuum incited a lot of romantic speculation
in the 19th century.
And so we're still carrying that baggage a little bit--
the swirling robes and so on.
But in Celtic society and Gaelic society,
the druids exercised authority and played
an important role in the life of the tribe and the society.
The druids were the holders of knowledge.
They held and perpetuated the knowledge
which was important to the survival of the tribe.
They held and perpetuated judiciary knowledge,
things sacred and spiritual.
TOK THOMPSON: The druid was a very special figure, a priest
perhaps, a historian perhaps, a magician
perhaps, and many, many things.
These were the learned people of Celtic society.
They formed a special class.
According to Caesar, the druids in Gaul had to study 20 years
to become a druid.
And they had many, many roles to play,
including acting as a jurist and judges, advisors to kings.
And so druidism and the magic that they were able to employ
is really a foundational part of early Celtic society.
And druids are not necessarily men.
We also have a lot of accounts of female druidry.
And it does seem to be associated heavily
with the Tuath Dé Danann.
HUGH NEWMAN: They didn't just teach things like astronomy
and harmony in nature.
They were working with geomancy, the placement of ancient sites
across the landscape called geodesy,
and also working with Earth energies
and even plant medicines.
So they had a high understanding of these different arts
and sciences.
NARRATOR: The druids were known to travel
far and wide, seeking out the knowledge of other cultures.
But they were also said to interact directly with
the Tuath Dé Danann, who shared the secrets of their so-called
magical abilities.
GRAHAM PHILLIPS: Pliny the Elder,
who was one of the most famous of the Roman writers
and historians, he claimed that, at a full moon,
druids would meet at a mound.
And they would trace a design that
looked something like a dragon on top of the mound.
And this would summon some sort of lightning
or some phenomenon that happened in the sky.
I don't think he saw it himself.
He was taking what he knew from Roman soldiers
that witnessed it.
But apparently, it frightened a lot of them.
They saw lights in the sky once the druids did this dragon
ritual, as it became known.
DAVID CHILDRESS: So it would seem
that the druids knew of the power
of certain special places.
And perhaps this is something that would summon
the Tuath Dé Danann, these shining
people who came from the sky.
NARRATOR: One of the many magical powers
the druids were said to possess was the ability
to levitate massive stones, which they used to construct
some of the megalithic structures found
throughout the British Isles.
The most famous of the druids, of course, was Merlin.
[electrical crackling]
Merlin was said to have created Stonehenge
by taking an existing stone circle from Ireland
and bringing it to Salisbury Plain in Southern England.
And there, using magic powers, he
was able to raise the stones into position in the manner
that we see them today.
GRAHAM PHILLIPS: What is interesting
is that the stones that built Stonehenge did
come from a long way away, about 135 miles away in South Wales.
Somehow, they were moved to Central England.
And the ancients believed it was Merlin
who was responsible for that.
GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: There are stories
that say that some of those big, gigantic blocks at Stonehenge
were levitated into place through magical incantations.
Well, what magical incantations?
Because I don't think that levitation
can happen just by words.
There has to be some type of technology behind it.
The idea is that basically this was
extraterrestrial knowledge imparted
by the Tuath Dé Danann.