1 00:00:00,866 --> 00:00:10,862 This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. 2 00:00:10,862 --> 00:00:20,857 The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones to the mysteries we will examine. 3 00:00:31,853 --> 00:00:35,851 When the moon is full, more crimes of violence occur. 4 00:00:35,851 --> 00:00:41,848 Arrests have been known to increase as well as admissions to mental hospitals. 5 00:00:45,846 --> 00:00:50,844 Firemen report an unusually high number of fires and freak accidents. 6 00:00:51,844 --> 00:00:56,842 Emergency personnel in hospitals brace themselves for increased caseloads. 7 00:00:56,842 --> 00:01:03,839 Dissar statements and traumatic actions by usually rational people are attributed to moon madness. 8 00:01:05,838 --> 00:01:11,835 Why? What strange influence does the moon have on the behavior of man? 9 00:01:20,831 --> 00:01:26,829 I'm an Aries, I have a Libra rising, my Venus is in Pisces, my moon is in Cancer. 10 00:01:26,829 --> 00:01:34,825 I know an awful lot about it because every man that I like, I be sure and check out what his sign is first before I get too involved. 11 00:01:34,825 --> 00:01:37,824 I'm Sagittarius, and I don't know much about astrology. 12 00:01:37,824 --> 00:01:44,821 I do know I'm an Aries, and I think it's fun to read my horoscope every morning in the papers. 13 00:01:44,821 --> 00:01:51,818 I'm a Libra, and I think I'm not really in favor of it because I think it gives people an out, tells them what to do, and that's just what they want to do. 14 00:01:51,818 --> 00:01:57,815 My sign is Virgo. I don't think it has much scientific fact because I don't think anybody has ever proved anything. 15 00:01:57,815 --> 00:02:09,810 I'm a Leo, and I wish I knew more about it. I really don't. I think it's terrific, very interesting, and I just wish I knew more about it. 16 00:02:09,810 --> 00:02:14,808 And I'm an Aries with Scorpio rising. For most of us, that's as far as it goes. 17 00:02:14,808 --> 00:02:17,806 We know our sign, but little beyond that. 18 00:02:17,806 --> 00:02:23,804 What is astrology? Why do 32 million Americans express a belief in it? 19 00:02:23,804 --> 00:02:33,799 Simply put, astrology is the forecasting of events on Earth based on the relationship between the stars, the sun, the moon, and the other planets. 20 00:02:33,799 --> 00:02:36,798 As above, so below. 21 00:02:37,798 --> 00:02:41,796 Perhaps astrology began as a form of survival. 22 00:02:41,796 --> 00:02:49,792 Cavemen looked up into the night sky, trying to determine when to hunt, when to store food, when to seek shelter from wintry storms. 23 00:02:49,792 --> 00:02:58,788 Years passed, and early man realized that the weather, the moon, the sun, and the stars moved in predictable cycles. 24 00:02:59,788 --> 00:03:07,785 Ice age bone markings suggest that prehistoric men were aware of the cycle of the moon over 32,000 years ago. 25 00:03:10,783 --> 00:03:16,781 In the more recent past, star groupings were identified by assigning them the names of earthly creatures. 26 00:03:17,780 --> 00:03:19,779 Cancer, the crab. 27 00:03:20,779 --> 00:03:22,778 Aries, the ram. 28 00:03:23,778 --> 00:03:25,777 Leo, the lion. 29 00:03:25,777 --> 00:03:27,776 Sagittarius, the archer. 30 00:03:28,775 --> 00:03:30,775 Scorpio, the scorpion. 31 00:03:36,772 --> 00:03:43,769 The formalized study of astrology originated in Mesopotamia at least 3,000 years before Christ. 32 00:03:43,769 --> 00:03:48,767 From there it spread to Egypt, India, China, and throughout Europe. 33 00:03:48,767 --> 00:03:54,764 The Egyptians devised a calendar dividing the yearly cycle into 12 houses. 34 00:03:55,764 --> 00:03:59,762 Knowledge of the future was considered a potent weapon. 35 00:03:59,762 --> 00:04:04,760 Only those of royal birth were permitted to learn the mysteries of the heavens. 36 00:04:06,759 --> 00:04:13,756 The great temples and pyramids along the Nile incorporated astronomical calculations in their design. 37 00:04:15,755 --> 00:04:21,752 At that time, astronomy and astrology were considered one and the same. 38 00:04:21,752 --> 00:04:27,750 An astrologer charted the movement of planets and interpreted their influence on the affairs of man. 39 00:04:30,748 --> 00:04:38,745 Four centuries before Christ, the Greeks combined mythology, geometry, and Mesopotamian astrology into a complex system. 40 00:04:39,745 --> 00:04:46,741 In the second century AD, the Greek mathematician Claudius Ptolemy accurately measured planetary movements. 41 00:04:46,741 --> 00:04:52,739 His prolific research dominated both astrology and astronomy for 1,500 years. 42 00:04:54,738 --> 00:04:58,736 Meanwhile, astrology flourished throughout the Roman Empire. 43 00:04:58,736 --> 00:05:02,734 Moses, father of the Jewish people, practiced astrology. 44 00:05:03,734 --> 00:05:11,731 In Bed Alpha Israel, a synagogue built in the 6th century AD has the zodiac as the centerpiece of its mosaic floor. 45 00:05:12,730 --> 00:05:17,728 Unusual celestial activity apparently heralded the birth of Christ. 46 00:05:17,728 --> 00:05:25,724 Three times in the same year, Saturn and Jupiter moved closely together, forming a conjunction in the constellation of Pisces. 47 00:05:27,724 --> 00:05:32,721 According to some of the newer translations of the Bible, the Magi were astrologers. 48 00:05:32,721 --> 00:05:37,719 The first conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter supposedly started them on their long journey. 49 00:05:38,719 --> 00:05:44,716 The second guided them west, and the third occurred when they arrived in Bethlehem. 50 00:05:46,715 --> 00:05:50,714 Astrology was condemned by early Christians as pagan ritual. 51 00:05:53,712 --> 00:06:00,709 Today, the most extensive astrological library in the world is found of all places in the Vatican. 52 00:06:01,709 --> 00:06:07,706 Astrology and astronomy, of course, are very closely related, although there have been many heated battles and debates. 53 00:06:08,706 --> 00:06:15,703 Sidney Omar is one of America's leading astrologers. His books on the subject have sold over 20 million copies. 54 00:06:15,703 --> 00:06:23,699 I remember one time when MGM was doing a movie called The Heavenly Body starring Hedy Lamar and William Powell, 55 00:06:23,699 --> 00:06:28,697 where William Powell played the astronomer and his wife in the movie Hedy Lamar played the astrologer. 56 00:06:28,697 --> 00:06:32,695 Well, they had to hire two technical advisers for that movie. 57 00:06:32,695 --> 00:06:40,692 It turned out that the astrologer was being paid three times as much as the astronomer, and when the astronomer found this out, he stormed off the set. 58 00:06:40,692 --> 00:06:46,689 And I suppose perhaps that symbolizes the peak that exists between astrologers and astronomers. 59 00:06:46,689 --> 00:06:51,687 But I always compare it in this manner. I think an astronomer is a librarian. 60 00:06:51,687 --> 00:06:56,685 He knows where all the books are placed. He knows the positions of the planets. 61 00:06:56,685 --> 00:07:01,683 But the astrologer reads the books. He interprets those positions. 62 00:07:01,683 --> 00:07:09,679 From the beginning of recorded history, astrology has been with us, and astronomers branched out into their own field. 63 00:07:09,679 --> 00:07:16,676 The early astrologers would hire apprentices to do the mathematical work so they could get the proper positions of the planets. 64 00:07:16,676 --> 00:07:20,674 Then the astrologer, the master astrologer, would interpret those positions. 65 00:07:20,674 --> 00:07:27,671 Well, the apprentices eventually branched out into their own science based on mathematics, and they called that science astronomy. 66 00:07:27,671 --> 00:07:33,669 Now, why the two should continue to battle, I don't know. That's a psychological study in itself. 67 00:07:33,669 --> 00:07:44,664 Dr. George O. Abell, professor of astronomy at UCLA, has debated the value of astrology with Sidney Omar on more than one occasion. 68 00:07:44,664 --> 00:07:48,662 Astrology is an ancient religion with no basis whatsoever. 69 00:07:48,662 --> 00:07:57,658 And yet in more than 15 years of investigation, I have found that astrologers often try to justify their claims with other kinds of celestial effects. 70 00:07:57,658 --> 00:08:01,657 But those are usually wrong. Take a few examples. 71 00:08:01,657 --> 00:08:12,652 Moon madness. More than 7,500 murders, suicides, admissions to metal hospitals have been found to have no relation whatsoever to the moon. 72 00:08:12,652 --> 00:08:24,647 Or tides. The title for us, exerted on me by all of the planets combined, is many tens of millions of times weaker than the force of this book upon me. 73 00:08:24,647 --> 00:08:35,642 Or planets and weather. Although there have been unsuccessful attempts to relate planets to solar activity like sunspots, nobody claims to predict earth weather with planets. 74 00:08:35,642 --> 00:08:40,640 If we could do that, the weather service would have been out of business many years ago. 75 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:51,635 Yet many millions of people fall for astrology. It is said that even Adolf Hitler did. But I hope you do not. 76 00:08:51,635 --> 00:09:09,627 Throughout history, however, the misuse of astrology has been legendary. Rudolf Hess encouraged Adolf Hitler to plan battle strategies with it as they approached World War II. 77 00:09:09,627 --> 00:09:21,622 Rudolf Hess and Joseph Goebbels pressed the leading astrologers of Germany into service. Their early predictions of victory were propagandized into battle cries. 78 00:09:21,622 --> 00:09:39,614 As Hitler's charts grew increasingly pessimistic, the astrologers were arrested and shipped off to concentration camps. 79 00:09:39,614 --> 00:09:51,609 Karl Kraft, Hitler's personal astrologer, died and route to Buchenwald. 80 00:09:52,608 --> 00:10:16,598 Louis DuWall, originally an astrologer for the Third Reich, followed the advice of his own chart and fled to Great Britain. DuWall served Winston Churchill and Britain strategists throughout World War II. 81 00:10:16,598 --> 00:10:36,589 He knew the methods used by Kraft and other Germans and predicted dozens of astrological strategies employed by Hitler's forces. DuWall saw danger signs in the chart of President Roosevelt in 1945, the year FDR suffered a fatal stroke. 82 00:10:36,589 --> 00:10:57,580 He also charted an ominous conjunction of Mars and the Star Algon for August 1945. On the day of the conjunction, the first atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima. 83 00:10:57,580 --> 00:11:08,575 Astrologers have predicted many major crises in history. Often, however, their warnings have gone unheeded. 84 00:11:27,567 --> 00:11:33,564 With a person with an aquarium, you can be sure of one thing, you don't know what's going to happen next. 85 00:11:33,564 --> 00:11:40,561 I'm a cancer and I'm not quite sure what I feel about astrology. Some things seem to be true and some things don't. 86 00:11:40,561 --> 00:11:58,553 Cancer is related to the moon. Cancer, people are very emotional and they're changeable whether their affections are concerned, but they're extremely loyal to family members. Cancer persons harmonize very well with Virgo, with Taurus, with Scorpio and with Pisces. 87 00:11:58,553 --> 00:12:06,550 I'm a Leo and I found out that Leo is the strongest sign in the world and we are born to be natural leaders. That's what I am. 88 00:12:06,550 --> 00:12:14,546 Leo is the showman of the zodiac, very creative and if you're having a party, you better put Leo on your invitation list. 89 00:12:14,546 --> 00:12:31,539 My sign is Scorpio and I don't know too much about astrology but when people ask me what my sign is, and I say Scorpio, they go, ooh, like they avoid me, except for men. 90 00:12:31,539 --> 00:12:44,533 I've found in my experience that the most feared sign in the zodiac is Scorpio. People tend to feel that Scorpios are envious, intense, so they can be jealous and very passionate lovers. 91 00:12:44,533 --> 00:12:57,528 A psychologist at London University, Dr. Hans Eisning, decided to explode astrology once and for all by taking these basic claims and disproving them. 92 00:12:57,528 --> 00:13:14,520 He made up 2,000 questionnaires and using a computer and other data in the modern psychologist's laboratory, he decided that he would check people who were born under the water signs and people who were born under other signs. 93 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:23,516 Well, much to his astonishment, he found that indeed, the water signs were very emotional. He said it can't be, but it is. 94 00:13:23,516 --> 00:13:31,513 At his clinic in London, Dr. Eisning also tested the zodiac signs for introversion and extroversion. 95 00:13:31,513 --> 00:13:49,505 According to the astrologist, if you range the signs in order from Aries through Pisces, at the other end, then the people born under the odd numbered signs, that is Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius and Aquarius, 96 00:13:50,505 --> 00:14:00,500 would tend to be extroverted and the people born under the even numbered signs, that is Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn and Pisces, would then be introverted. 97 00:14:00,500 --> 00:14:06,498 And this is precisely what, in fact, we found in our sample. 98 00:14:06,498 --> 00:14:23,490 Extroversion really refers to outgoing properties of a person, he is sociable, impulsive, happy or lucky, he likes to mix with other people, likes to go to parties and so on, and the introvert is the opposite of all, he likes to sit at home, read rather than go to parties and so on. 99 00:14:23,490 --> 00:14:27,488 These are quite well-recognized and quite easy to test in a questionnaire. 100 00:14:27,488 --> 00:14:42,482 We put it through the computer and did a statistical analysis of the data and as it happens, they bore out the astrological prediction very well, which rather surprised me of course, but they are the results and that's what got me interested in this. 101 00:14:43,481 --> 00:14:52,478 Astrology has commercial applications in many phases of business, including predictions of stock market trends. 102 00:14:56,476 --> 00:15:02,473 According to J.P. Morgan, millionaires don't use astrology, but billionaires do. 103 00:15:03,473 --> 00:15:13,468 John Henry Nelson, a weather consultant for RCA since 1926, uses astrological principles to predict storms which might impair shortwave communications. 104 00:15:15,468 --> 00:15:18,466 Nelson's predictions are amazingly accurate. 105 00:15:19,466 --> 00:15:37,458 When I announced in 1951 that I had found a positive correlation between planetary angles and the behavior of shortwave radio signals, I started quite a controversy in the field of astrology and in the field of astronomy. 106 00:15:37,458 --> 00:15:48,453 Inadvertently on my part, my statement that the planets effect the ionosphere of the Earth was looked upon as a boost for their area of interest. 107 00:15:49,453 --> 00:16:01,448 I was amazed shortly after that when I learned to let as I received from astrologers that Ptolemy almost 2000 years ago had said the same things that I was saying. 108 00:16:01,448 --> 00:16:10,444 In other words, modern research substantiated his ancient claim. He came way before his time. 109 00:16:15,441 --> 00:16:25,437 Using Ptolemy's principles, John Henry Nelson successfully charted storm pads 15 months in advance for a NASA space launch requiring ideal weather. 110 00:16:31,434 --> 00:16:41,430 The late Dr. Elden Teiss of the Methodist Hospital of California in Los Angeles actually regulated the personnel on the maternity ward by the phase of the moon. 111 00:16:42,430 --> 00:16:48,427 He found that when there was a full moon, the maternity ward was very busy. More babies were born during the full moon. 112 00:16:48,427 --> 00:17:03,421 Now Dr. Edson J. Andrews of Tallahassee, Florida wrote in a Tallahassee medical journal that when tonsillectomies are performed during a full moon, there's more chance of postoperative hemorrhaging than at any other time of the month. 113 00:17:04,420 --> 00:17:10,417 So Dr. Andrews says save full moon nights for romance, not for surgery. 114 00:17:11,417 --> 00:17:26,410 The incidents that we have are way beyond normal. We have all sorts of things happen in regards to people doing things a little stranger than they usually do, going out of their way to get in trouble, just really having a problem coping. 115 00:17:27,410 --> 00:17:41,404 At the Stambulans driver I found that you'd see a different type of patient as well as more patients than a given night. You'd see a lot more trauma and the trauma would be a bit more profound than normal. 116 00:17:42,404 --> 00:17:48,401 For some reason other medical problems would appear exaggerated. It would be hard to describe. You'd always know it was a full moon. 117 00:17:48,401 --> 00:17:59,396 The cause of lunacy or moon madness is still unknown. It is known however that the moon controls the tides in the oceans. 118 00:18:03,394 --> 00:18:09,392 Since humans are 90% water, perhaps the moon controls our tides too. 119 00:18:09,392 --> 00:18:21,387 Nations have horoscopes as well as people. Since 1840 in the astrological chart of the United States, the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter has reoccurred at 20 year intervals. 120 00:18:22,386 --> 00:18:28,383 Unfortunately every president elected during those periods has died in office. 121 00:18:29,383 --> 00:18:34,381 William Henry Harrison elected 1840 died of pneumonia 1841. 122 00:18:35,380 --> 00:18:40,378 Abraham Lincoln elected 1860 assassinated 1865. 123 00:18:41,378 --> 00:18:47,375 James Garfield elected 1880 assassinated 1881. 124 00:18:48,375 --> 00:18:53,373 William McKinley elected 1900 assassinated 1901. 125 00:18:54,372 --> 00:18:59,370 Warren Harding elected 1920 died 1923. 126 00:19:00,370 --> 00:19:05,367 Franklin Roosevelt elected 1940 died 1945. 127 00:19:06,367 --> 00:19:12,364 John Kennedy elected 1960 assassinated 1963. 128 00:19:17,362 --> 00:19:22,360 A number of astrologers including Sidney Omar saw that President Kennedy's life was in danger. 129 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:26,358 In American Astrology, Leslie McIntyre wrote, 130 00:19:27,358 --> 00:19:32,356 In the past, such configurations have coincided with personal danger to our head of state. 131 00:19:33,355 --> 00:19:36,354 November is obviously fraught with perils. 132 00:19:37,353 --> 00:19:43,351 On October 25, 1963, in the British magazine Fate, John Pendragon stated, 133 00:19:43,351 --> 00:19:47,349 The president may make powerful enemies among his own people, 134 00:19:48,349 --> 00:19:54,346 and I would not rule out the possibility of an attempted assassination or worse if he has caught off his guard. 135 00:19:55,346 --> 00:20:02,343 Mr. President, I am deeply concerned for your personal safety and would respectfully urge you to strengthen your bodyguard, 136 00:20:03,342 --> 00:20:07,340 especially when you're in the streets and other public places. 137 00:20:08,340 --> 00:20:13,338 Astrologers have not always been harbingers of disaster. 138 00:20:14,337 --> 00:20:18,336 Many astrologers now believe we have entered the age of Aquarius, 139 00:20:19,335 --> 00:20:22,334 an era of growing cooperation among individuals and nations, 140 00:20:23,333 --> 00:20:27,332 a time when the noblest aspirations of mankind can be realized. 141 00:20:28,331 --> 00:20:32,329 I had a brief telephone conversation with Sidney Omar and I took some notes on what he told me. 142 00:20:32,329 --> 00:20:37,327 He asked me my birth date. I told him it was March 26, 1931. 143 00:20:38,327 --> 00:20:41,326 He said, you've spent a year of searching and disillusionment. 144 00:20:42,325 --> 00:20:45,324 He said, you tend to become immersed in a part or a mood. That's probably true. 145 00:20:46,323 --> 00:20:52,321 He told me I have a powerful personality which tends to make people afraid of me, although I'm actually quite vulnerable. 146 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:54,320 That's flattering. 147 00:20:55,319 --> 00:21:00,317 Finally, he said, think mentally of one question. I thought, what's next? 148 00:21:00,317 --> 00:21:05,315 And he said, let go. It's finished. You're writing a losing proposition. 149 00:21:06,315 --> 00:21:11,313 Take a cold plunge into the future. Let go of the security of the past. 150 00:21:12,312 --> 00:21:16,310 Thank you very much, Sidney. I'll keep it in mind. Time will tell. 151 00:21:18,309 --> 00:21:24,307 Coming up next in search of continues with the probe into the healing powers of acupuncture. 152 00:21:24,307 --> 00:21:31,304 Then a mountain man kills two Idaho game wardens, but the locals refuse to help bring him to justice. 153 00:21:32,303 --> 00:21:41,299 On FBI, the untold stories. And later tonight, speed demons hurtle through the air on top speed at 9 Eastern 10 Pacific, 154 00:21:42,299 --> 00:21:45,298 here on the History Channel, where the past comes alive. 155 00:21:55,293 --> 00:22:06,289 The Series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. 156 00:22:07,288 --> 00:22:13,286 The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only one. 157 00:22:13,286 --> 00:22:15,285 To the mysteries we will examine.