It‘s Probably (not) Aliens!
Was Earth really visited by mysterious extraterrestrial travelers thousands of years ago as many proponents of ”ancient astronaut theory” believe? What are the hidden secrets and mysteries behind ancient monuments and forgotten civilizations? Every week, historian Tristan Johnson and regular human person Scott Niswander dive through the archives to learn about the fascinating histories of ancient civilizations while also debunking the myths and straight-up lies presented in History Channel‘s massively popular tv show Ancient Aliens that has sparked a new generation of conspiracy theorists. We hope through this show, you can gain an appreciation for just how cool ancient societies were, and not simply credit their impressive advancements to alien visitors. NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK! Follow the show so you don‘t miss an episode, and leave us a review! It really helps us out!
Episodes
Tuesday Jan 04, 2022
Tuesday Jan 04, 2022
King Akhenaten has an absolutely buck wild history! Any art depicting him looks drastically different than other Pharaohs, with a bulbous head, spindly arms, and overall alien-esque appearance. And after he died, any mention of him was scratched out of Egyptian history almost like ancient Egyptians were trying to cover something up...
SPOILERS: They were. But it's not what you think.
Subscribe to It's Probably (not) Aliens for weekly episodes about cool ancient history! And give us a 5-star review if you have the time. It would really help us out!
Suggest topics for us to tackle: http://ProbsNotAliens.com
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProbsNotAliens
Tristan Johnson: https://StepBackHistory.com
Scott Niswander: https://twitter.com/scottniswander
Music by Rod Kim: https://RodKim.com
Cover art by Skutch: https://twitter.com/Skutchdraws
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
Did aliens REALLY crash-land in Roswell, New Mexico? How well can we trust our memories? How many times can Scott gasp this episode? And is this all some random guy named Dan’s fault? Let’s find out!
Subscribe to It's Probably (not) Aliens for weekly episodes about cool ancient history! And give us a 5-star review if you have the time. It would really help us out!
Suggest topics for us to tackle: http://ProbsNotAliens.com
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProbsNotAliens
Tristan Johnson: https://StepBackHistory.com
Scott Niswander: https://twitter.com/scottniswander
Music by Rod Kim: https://RodKim.com
Cover art by Skutch: https://twitter.com/Skutchdraws
Tuesday Dec 14, 2021
Tuesday Dec 14, 2021
Stretching skulls to look more oblong has been a common practice all around the world for thousands of years across dozens of different cultures. But why did they do it? Could it be that ancient civilizations were trying to imitate the appearance of big-headed alien visitors from the past? Or did they just think it looked cool? Let’s find out!
Subscribe to It's Probably (not) Aliens for weekly episodes about cool ancient history! And give us a 5-star review if you have the time. It would really help us out!
Suggest topics for us to tackle: http://ProbsNotAliens.com
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProbsNotAliens
Tristan Johnson: https://StepBackHistory.com
Scott Niswander: https://twitter.com/scottniswander
Music by Rod Kim: https://RodKim.com
Cover art by Skutch: https://twitter.com/Skutchdraws
Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
We're back to talking about our favorite triangle buildings! Some ancient astronaut theorists believe that these big Egyptian beauties were once used as power plants to make and store electricity. What evidence does Ancient Aliens put forth for this enormous claim? Not a lot!
Subscribe to It's Probably (not) Aliens for weekly episodes about cool ancient history! And give us a 5-star review if you have the time. It would really help us out!
Suggest topics for us to tackle: http://ProbsNotAliens.com
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProbsNotAliens
Tristan Johnson: https://StepBackHistory.com
Scott Niswander: https://twitter.com/scottniswander
Music by Rod Kim: https://RodKim.com
Cover art by Skutch: https://twitter.com/Skutchdraws
Wednesday Dec 01, 2021
Wednesday Dec 01, 2021
Please do not listen to this podcast episode if you haven't eaten! We're talking about food in this one, folks! Specifically, the heavenly manna ancient jews survived on while wandering the desert.
Some ancient astronaut theorists believe that this mysterious food didn't come from God, but instead came from a manna machine! And actually, manna is algae and not pancakes. We all thought manna was pancakes, right?
Subscribe to It's Probably (not) Aliens for weekly episodes about cool ancient history! And give us a 5-star review if you have the time. It would really help us out!
Suggest topics for us to tackle: http://ProbsNotAliens.com
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProbsNotAliens
Tristan Johnson: https://StepBackHistory.com
Scott Niswander: https://twitter.com/scottniswander
Music by Rod Kim: https://RodKim.com
Cover art by Skutch: https://twitter.com/Skutchdraws
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
The site of Pumapunku is home to some incredible, immaculate carved stones that are so precise that researchers are still today trying to find out how they were made. And, of course, whenever there’s a gap in knowledge, ancient astronaut theorists always fill it with ALIENS!
But beyond those weirdos, these important ancient sites have been co-opted and weaponized by completely different peoples and political groups to try and spread their own agendas. Yep, we’re talking about Nazis in this one. Also Elon Musk. Sorry in advance.
Subscribe to It's Probably (not) Aliens for weekly episodes about cool ancient history! And give us a 5-star review if you have the time. It would really help us out!
Suggest topics for us to tackle: http://ProbsNotAliens.com
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProbsNotAliens
Tristan Johnson: https://StepBackHistory.com
Scott Niswander: https://twitter.com/scottniswander
Music by Rod Kim: https://RodKim.com
Cover art by Skutch: https://twitter.com/Skutchdraws
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
FINALLY! We know we'll be coming back to these big Egyptian beauties in future episodes to discuss and debunk even more theories, but for now, we begin at the beginning. How were they built?
For ages, archaeologists have been trying to figure out exactly how the Great Pyramid of Giza was built. I mean, they're made of pretty big rocks. How do you move them? Were aliens involved somehow??? Probably (not)!
Subscribe to It's Probably (not) Aliens for weekly episodes about cool ancient history! And give us a 5-star review if you have the time. It would really help us out!
Suggest topics for us to tackle: http://ProbsNotAliens.com
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProbsNotAliens
Tristan Johnson: https://StepBackHistory.com
Scott Niswander: https://twitter.com/scottniswander
Music by Rod Kim: https://RodKim.com
Cover art by Skutch: https://twitter.com/Skutchdraws
Tuesday Nov 09, 2021
Tuesday Nov 09, 2021
To celebrate 10 episodes of this podcast, we’re taking a page from Ancient Aliens and kicking it into overdrive as we rapidly debunk a handful of theories about ancient airplanes, airports, and flying carpets! These are theories that are so small and so poorly researched that we can cover three of them in one episode. It really is that easy sometimes.
Suggest topics for us to tackle: http://ProbsNotAliens.com
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProbsNotAliens
Tristan Johnson: https://StepBackHistory.com
Scott Niswander: https://twitter.com/scottniswander
Music by Rod Kim: https://RodKim.com
Cover art by Skutch: https://twitter.com/Skutchdraws
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
We say bad words right up front in this one because we're finally tackling That F*cking Bird™. The Saqqara Bird is a small wooden bird-shaped artifact that ancient astronaut theorists claim is a scale replica of definitely very real ancient Egyptian planes.
Look, it's definitely not a plane, but what exactly is it? And more importantly, what does this bird teach us about the insidious ways that Ancient Aliens spreads its laughable lies?
Subscribe to It's Probably (not) Aliens for weekly episodes about cool ancient history! And give us a 5-star review if you have the time. It would really help us out!
Suggest topics for us to tackle: http://ProbsNotAliens.com
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProbsNotAliens
Tristan Johnson: https://StepBackHistory.com
Scott Niswander: https://twitter.com/scottniswander
Music by Rod Kim: https://RodKim.com
Cover art by Skutch: https://twitter.com/Skutchdraws
Tuesday Oct 26, 2021
Tuesday Oct 26, 2021
MAPS! You’ve heard of them! But one map from history stands out as a bit odd. The Piri Reis map from 1513 seems to contain more cartographical information about our world than was thought to be known at the time, having drawn out Antarctica centuries before it was officially discovered.
Could they have gotten detailed information about our world from aliens who would have had an easier time traversing the planet in their spacecraft? How is Nicolas Cage involved? Why does this episode have a weird energy? Navigate yourself to the play button and find out!
Here’s where you can find a good image of the map.
Subscribe to It's Probably (not) Aliens for weekly episodes about cool ancient history! And give us a 5-star review if you have the time. It would really help us out!
Suggest topics for us to tackle: http://ProbsNotAliens.com
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProbsNotAliens
Tristan Johnson: https://StepBackHistory.com
Scott Niswander: https://twitter.com/scottniswander
Music by Rod Kim: https://RodKim.com
Cover art by Skutch: https://twitter.com/Skutchdraws