This Paranormal Life - #378 The Lost City of AKATOR - The Legend that Inspired Indiana Jones

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

We all owe Steven Spielberg an apology. Not only is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull not a bad movie, but it's packed full of paranormal easter eggs and references to REAL supernatural events. Among those, is the legend of AKATOR, an ancient civilization full of golden temples and ancient mummified aliens. In the 1980's, a number of real life explorers decided to head into the jungle to try and find it... but none of those individuals would ever be seen again...Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunitySupport us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! - thisparanormallife.com/storeIntro music by www.purple-planet.comEdited by Philip Shacklady Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did the ancient Egyptians build other shapes that weren't triangles? What happens if you slam dunk an American football? All of these questions you can find the answer to on this Paranormal Life! Hello everyone and welcome back to this Paranormal Life, the comedy paranormal podcast where every week we investigate a brand new paranormal tale, case, claim or beast, and figure out once and for all whether or not it is true or it is false. Once again, I am joined by my sidekick, Kit Grier-Molvenna, who's joining me on an expedition into the unknown and the mysterious. Are you doing a voice or what's different?

No, I'm not doing a voice. Short round. All right, this is how doing a voice. Short round. This is how I always talk. Kind of cool and mysterious and strong. For those listening at home who are watching on youtube.com, Rory is wearing an extremely noisy leather jacket. Yeah, it's a little crinkly whenever I move, so I'm trying not to move too much. You're moving constantly.

And a brown hat. Yeah, can a guy just wear a brown hat and a leather jacket? Well, he can, but it's just that combined with the voice, it threw me a little. Look, Kit has pointed out my appearance. Yeah, it's maybe a little different than how I usually look, but it does have a link to today's case. Because Kit, last week, I stuck on a little movie that I hadn't seen in a long time.

Inside Out 1. That's right, Rory wanted to get ready for Inside Out 2, so he kind of tripped on memory lane. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Oh, Jesus. Of all the Indiana Jones to watch, man. This was a movie that at the time was panned, yes, by critics critics but after all these years I figured it was worth a rewatch. As someone who just rewatched that movie last week I never thought I would be the one to say this

but I think Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull is a good movie. Oh wow. Genuinely I think we owe Steven Spielberg an apology. If you're thinking about giving it a second try, I would definitely recommend watching it. It's not as bad as you think. Okay, so that might slightly explain your outfit. I thought you were just gearing up to be like an old-timey prospector or something.

No, no, no, no. It's Indiana Jones, to be clear. I got the leather jacket. I got the indie hat. Do you have the whip? That's kind of the most important thing. Oh, I got a whip, brother. A 2008 Toyota Camry.

That's not the kind of whip I was talking about. Obviously I'm in a bull whip. No, it was too expensive to buy on Amazon. You're also just wearing like an Atlanta Braves t-shirt underneath a leather jacket. So like the cosplay only went so far. Yeah, I had to spray paint an extension cable brown and kind of tie it around my belt loop. I don't know if you've seen that. It's a HDMI cable to Gen Z Indiana Jones.

But one thing that I completely forgotten about is that that movie, like all Indiana Jones movies, is riddled with the paranormal. Yes. I mean, this is the kind of secret sauce of Indiana Jones that you don't really remember. I mean, I think people remember like the Nazi war time references. The old biblical shit.

Yeah, but it really, that was kind of the magic of it and what made it so fun. Well, let me see if you remember this. The opening scene of Crystal Skull involves Indy being taken to Area 51 in the Nevada desert. Yeah, I don't really remember that to be honest. Inside this facility, he's forced to help find a top secret object stored inside the

facility because quote, he helped put it there. Immediately, you think it's some kind of obviously like pot of gold or ancient goblet, but the box that they find is marked Roswell and Inside is a dead alien. Yo Implying in Indiana Jones lore he was there at Roswell when the alien crashed and I guess help them Whip it to death. I don't know what he did, but he put it in a coffin Yeah, he a few years before Will Smith, he really said, Welcome to Earth. Yeah, yeah.

It does, you know, I'll give it to the writers. It kind of broadly makes sense. I mean, Indiana Jones is a ultra red-blooded American hero, and that is the kind of time he was kicking about. It was during the Second World War. Yeah, so, and you know, the government was recruiting him to help with shit that they didn't understand, so they find some ancient hieroglyphs. They're going to want him to try and decipher the alien code.

Later in the movie, when they're looking for clues as to where the crystal skull is located, the map leads to the Nazca Lines of Peru. Another ancient site that we've talked about and kind of investigated on this podcast before. At this point, watching the movie, I'm sitting upright in my chair. I'm borderline taking notes because apparently these directors are hiding real paranormal evidence and cases inside the story of Indiana Jones. What else are they slipping in there?

Now of course in the movie, the search for the Crystal Skull leads them to a lost city in the rainforest that's described as El Dorado, a city of gold. Which, you know, we've all heard of before, I think we've talked about it on the show. Sure. But in the film, they refer to it as a very different name. Akator. So I started doing my research, and imagined my surprise when I realized once again the movie is referencing a real paranormal legend.

Today's episode is going to be a crazy one, Kit, as we investigate a long lost city, the explorers that went looking for it, and the mysterious deaths that followed. Explorers in real life or in a movie? In real life, brother. Oh shit! You're about to be one of them. Pack your bags, we're going to Akator. Wow.

Right after, a quick word from today's sponsors. And a reminder, you can get every episode ad free on patreon.com forward slash This Paranormal Life. Yah! Our story today kicks off all the way back in October 1972 when author and journalist Karl Brueger met a strange man in a bar in Brazil. Now Karl had organized this meeting because this wannabe explorer had heard local legends

about a man named Tatunka Nara who claimed that he'd come from a hidden city in the rainforest. So on that day in 1972, they sat down in a local tavern and Tatunka told his story. I come from a hidden city buried deep within the rainforest. It's a city of ancient wonder, protected by the tribes that will kill on sight to protect the secrets within. Tell me friend, what is the name of this ancient city? It is called Akator. Carl was so enthralled by his story that they met up again and again, each time with a tape recorder,

so Carl could document as much as he could about this hidden paradise. You keep buying me tequila shots Carl and I'll keep talking. Every time they meet up Tatunka is like, So the street lights work a little differently. In Akator red means go and green is stop. And Carl's like, didn't you say there was like, It was like an ancient city of gold? Can I hear a little bit more about the gold in time, friend?

Can we get some more chicken wings to the table real quick? And then I'll tell you all about the gold. So in Akator, we work weekends. Right. I'm just going to guess that you work weekends and then Monday to Friday is your weekend. It's the opposite. It's upside down land. Weekdays are weekends to me. Sometimes I think, thank goodness it's Monday because of how our workweek works in Akator.

As I said, they met up again and again and again, each time Totunka telling him more about this hidden city. Akator has existed since the sudden departure of the ancient gods in year zero. The people there were chosen... Totunka gave Karl the full history of Akator, how it was founded, the strange customs, details of the mystical and otherworldly treasures that the underground city possessed. Totunka said the residents of this city were chosen thousands of years ago by the six-fingered gods to be the Earth's record keepers.

Six-fingered? Yeah. And that as a parting gift, those same gods gave them something called heavenly stones that allowed them to see any location on Earth and analyze the positions of the celestial bodies. Yo! What's that about? I know. So we're talking some kind of combination crystal ball with some kind of computer?

Maybe that's like an ancient description of a computer? Yeah. We're in the world here of ancient aliens. It seems like they arrived on Earth many, many years ago and Akator is the place that they decided to keep their records, to gift humans with this super technology. Ancient astronaut theory. Exactly. Tatanka said that the city was home to great temples, miles of underground tunnels, and maybe most impressively, the city still houses four mummified gods who remained on earth Wow Pretty crazy stuff, huh?

So they are alleging that these creatures came down but not all of them left and there might even be Proof of their existence still to this day exactly very similar to the plot of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. For sure. In that movie, Akator, or El Dorado, that they end up finding, still has the bodies of the aliens that came down to that civilization. And that's what the Crystal Skulls are, is kind of their mummified heads that contain still knowledge. But you could say their take on the events was just the tip of the Spielberg. Yeah, just don't make too light of the whole thing

because this is a really serious case. Yeah. I spent $12 on the hat. So just to like, you to make fun of Indiana Jones. You've been making non-stop Indiana Jones references. Can I make one? No, I don't think so. Honestly. Just straight up no.

Just no. No, just no. No, just cause you're stealing my thunder. Where's your whip? Where's your hat? Where's your satchel? We traditionally don't know what the other person is hosting the episode on. You didn't tell me anything. Exactly.

So to show up and start making jokes about Indiana Jones while I'm dressed like Indiana Jones. In fact, you actually threw me under the bus. You kind of, I guess to f**k with me before this recording happened, you text me to say like, Hey brother, I would recommend a little bit of late night homework on Dracula. And that whole period of history, I was like, all right, cool. Yeah, I'll do a little bit just to remind myself. And then that seems like that was just a complete red herring.

Yeah, you showed up this morning and I whipped the notes out of your hands. You won't be needing those. You won't be needing those, you Nazi bastard. And I worked really hard on those scripts. Hi-ya! My HDMI cable cuts your eye. In the end, Carl ended up with 12 hours of audio all about Akator. And when they were finished, Carl was left with a story simply too good to be true.

Mr. Tutunka, you'll forgive me for saying this, but this story seems too good to be true. Mr. Tatunka, you'll forgive me for saying this, but this story seems too good to be true. If I write about it, there are few who will believe what you say. Well, then why don't I take you there? And just like that, Carl and Tatunka planned an expedition deep into the rainforest to uncover the forgotten city of Akator. Kit, would you do something risky like this? Hell no. I'm not believing someone to this extent

that I'm going to follow them through the rainforest on the whim of maybe what they're saying is true. I kind of just trust people on like a 5% basis, just assume that 95% of whatever they're saying is a lie. It's not a good way to live your life. Because this just reads to me, like you're on a night out with the homies and it's hitting midnight.

And then all the bros are like, what's the move? Right, yeah. One guy named Tituka pipes up and is like, there's a club boys. It's filled with most beautiful people and the most perfect music and the beer, the beer is free. The beer is overflowing. It's

free. It's like, all right, Titunca, I don't really think that that is a real place. I think you're making it up because there's no way. Oh no. And even though the line is long, Tatunca can get you in. All right. Well, I don't understand how you could get us in. And now you're only telling about this place now. This doesn't seem. Tatunka has had four beers. Tatunka is feeling the vibe. Tatunka is feeling the night. Uh, I've made the mistake of going with Tatunka on this proverbial journey. We both have, yeah. On too many occasions, then you get there and you wish you truly hadn't gone.

Uh, and that is making just a small trip across town to a shitty club. Um, so if I'm being asked to kind of risk it all, go through the terrifying and dangerous rainforest to find this lost city, this kind of club turned ancient alien site, I think it's too high of a risk. That's true, but I guess in your case, the best case is you can grab a couple more beers

before the night ends, have a good time dancing some music. In this case, you uncover one of the greatest mysteries of mankind. I hear what you're saying. The risk reward is kind of proportional. Yeah, I would say so. You know, maybe in your story, you get to, you know, have a drink with some lovely ladies.

How would you like to eat gold with mummified alien gods? I don't want to eat gold at all. How would you like to do that? This is Tatunga still talking about the club. There are gods within this club. I think I agree with you. Maybe I don't have what it takes to be an explorer because there's a lot of red flags popping up already.

But the two men decided to head out and they went into the jungle to search for Akator Even though this was as recent as the 1970s. This was not a cushy ride in Carl's own writing He talks about horrible weather jungle fevers and even talks about cannibalistic tribes. Jesus, man. It seemed that the closer they got, the more treacherous things became. At one point, while traveling along the river,

their canoe capsized, losing gear, camera equipment, and medical supplies. Eventually, Carl had a tough choice to make. To Doomkab, it's too dangerous. We have to go back. But we're so close! My camera equipment is destroyed. Even if I saw it, I wouldn't be able to take a picture.

Do what you must, but I am returning to my people. According to Carl, Totunka then put on a sort of ceremonial dress and make-up and pushed ahead into the jungle. Wow. And that was the last time he ever saw him. Not a not a great way for your jungle guy to leave you is to put on some sort of ceremonial garb and then just run away.

You never see him again. Yeah, you are really between a rock and a hard place if you're Carl in this situation, because to go on, it seems like instant death. But to leave your guide and try and make it alone, that seems like instanter death. Yeah. And if your two options are turned back and go back to the tavern empty handed or push on and possibly arrive at the city of gold with the alien milfs. Yeah, I'm going gonna go there for sure. No one said there were milfs.

They're mummified! Oh. Even though Carl never saw Akator with his own eyes, he still decided to write a book based on the 12 hours of tapes that he had. And in 1976, he published his book titled The Chronicle of Akator. You can't write a book about Akator if you had the opportunity to go to Akator and you were like, it's too spooky. Too spooky. Tatungka's like, you've literally hiked 95% of the way.

It's around the corner. No, it's too dangerous. Too dangerous. I can see a puddle. I don't have waterproof shoes. I'm going to get my feet wet. It's a little much. Tatungka's like, we're basically in it now. The border was like way over there. This is like the Metropolitan. Their commuters live here. They commute into the lost city. Kara's like, I can go no further. The world must hear of my words on paper. I can pretty much see it. I think I'll get the gist. I'll still write the book. It'll be fine.

Yeah, to be the guy who writes the book, having never seen Akator is pretty wild. You're taking a lot of stuff on faith that it does exist. Hey, you know, I have sympathy though for this story. I've talked before on this podcast about the famous and somewhat true story of the lost city of Z, of which there was a movie about it, of which I starred, not quite, but I was a stand-in who worked on the movie.

But it followed an incredibly similar story of a real-life explorer whose name escapes me right now. But he went to the Royal Geographical Society in London and convinced them to let him kind of go and explore and try and find this lost city of Zed. Spoiler alert, he never came back. The rumors and the speculation are that he was either killed, eaten, or just died of some kind of jungle fever. It was a very real and dangerous threat to be trying to go through South America looking for this kind of stuff. Yeah, so it's actually kind of a miracle you made it back to write a book. That could be a book in itself. This book hit the shelves and immediately wannabe adventurers and thrill seekers from all over the world flocked to Brazil, eager to be the ones to discover this long lost

city. Yeah, pretty irresponsible to write a book that cool, I'll say, because people are going to die. It's like writing a book about planking and then like a guy planks on the Eiffel Tower and falls through death. You got a little bit of blood in your hands, not much, but a little. You're part of the problem, yeah. If you write a whole book about this city of gold

with ancient technology and all of this incredible wealth and treasure within it, the only downside is, I assume people reading the book would be like, oh man This is so cool. It's it's crazy that this guy found it cause like oh, I didn't even find it No one's found it. That's the best bit. It could be you You know, and then now the adventures are like, oh shit. Now I have to go to Brazil This guy got so close, but he never found it.

How do you know you're close then? Tatunka! Tatunka put on the garb! Tatunka's dead. Tatunka is face down in a damn river. Tatunka died three minutes. Carl made the best decision of his life, leaving Tatunka to die.

The book came out, the adventurers flocked to to Brazil and what better person to help them find Akator than Tatunka He what he came back so to do get far. I will copy that good then it can't be that good then because the Because left so many times The dude came back It can't be that great. He's left it twice! He's had two opportunities not to leave Akator. And each time he's like, nah, I'll leave. Ah, shit, it was good though, right? Unlimited gold? Yeah, yeah, okay, no, I'm going back, I'm going back. It's like, Tatuka, if there's unlimited gold, why do you

work in a bar in Rio de Janeiro? Like, you don't take the gold from Akatora, right? That's breaking the rules, I assume. It has to be preserved there. Tatuka is worse than like Irish immigrants. They're like sitting in a bar in Houston, Texas being like, there's nowhere more beautiful on Earth than Ireland.

Oh, you've got to see it. Then why did you leave? Then why did you leave? Go back. They fly over to England and Great Britain. I can go no further. I'll turn back here. Throughout the 80s, a number of adventurers headed into the rainforest

with Tatunka as their guide to find Akator. Unfortunately though, many of those adventurers never made it home alive. Some believe they fell victim to the dangers of the jungle. Others believe they were silenced to keep Akator hidden from the world. Now, as I said, Tatunka was THE guy if you ever wanted to go to Akator. So when wannabe explorer John Reed arrived on November 21, 1980, he knew exactly who he needed to talk to. John Reed had actually discovered the book, Chronicles of Akator, in his local library,

and after reading about the bold claims made in the book, he knew he wanted to be the first person to discover the site. He told Tehtunka once they reached the city, he would help the natives protect their city from outsiders and preserve the culture. What a fib. Yeah. I mean, here's one way to protect their culture. Don't go there.

Yeah. Don't find it and then say you discovered it and tell everyone in the world where it is. I heard you guys have a ton of gold and I want to make sure that you always have that gold. Yeah. So give me a tiny bit of gold, for sure a tiny bit of gold that will help me protect the rest of your gold.

Yeah, they're like, okay, okay. They give it to him, he buys a gun. Now give me all the gold. Give me all the gold. That was your first lesson. Where I'm protecting you by teaching you how horrible the outside world is. This is a lesson that's worth more than its weight in gold.

Unfortunately, that is all the gold you have. Yeah, it seems like he wants to preserve their culture British Museum style. Which is we'll hang on to it and bring it back to Britain. Yeah, we'll put it in a lovely glass case so it is safe. Yeah. In Britain though, in Hobart. Yeah. Yeah, just to be clear. It's not staying here for sure. Britain though, in Hobart. Yeah, yeah, just to be clear, it's not staying here for sure. Reed and Tatunka headed into the rainforest, beginning their journey to Akator. Now during this whole process, Reed's family back home were pretty skeptical about some

of the claims Tatunka was making. Which one? I mean, throw a f***ing dart, to be honest. But during their journey, Reed wrote a letter to his parents saying, quote, I believe more than ever Tatunka's honesty and good ways. Don't give him any trouble. He is my good friend. I will possibly return in the spring.

That was the last time anyone heard from John Reed. Tatunka is a murderer. Tatunka is bringing people into the woods and clubbing them over the head and stealing their wallet. That's the unlimited city of gold. It's a wealth generating cycle. Yeah. Tatunka, where is this treasure trove you speak of? I'm looking at it, brother. this treasure trove you speak of? I'm looking at it brother. Reid's visa expired a little less than a year later and when his parents called the US consular agent trying to find a way to track down

their son they suggested they hire local guide Tatunka to find him. That's not great. That's not great. Now, of course, Tutunka had his side of the story. He claimed that during their journey to Akator, things started to get dangerous. The weather turned bad. They were running low on supplies, and Tutunka decided that their only option was to turn back.

But Reed refused. He didn't want to have come all this way and have nothing to show for it, so without warning he took off running into the jungle and that was the last time he was seen. Do we believe that? That's an interesting alibi and I'm gonna start calling them alibis from here on in. Right. I mean possibly if you're a guy who's flown all the way here to find Akator and you have reached a point where you need to turn back and come back empty-handed, maybe you would push on. Seems very foolish to just run on without your guide, but maybe the implication is he knows Tatunka would have stopped him if he had of tried to convince him. Here's the other side. If you're someone who has kind of given up your whole life to travel to deep dark Brazil in search of, let's face it, a pipe dream,

Tatunka is like, oh, listen, bro, it's too dangerous. Hey, go back to your life. Listen, this isn't worth it. Akator is great, but your life is worth more. They're like, I got nothing to go back to to to go. This is it, pal. I'll be honest. This is the last straw. I'm either going to find Akator or blow my brains out trying. Right.

It's like, all right, I guess just keep going then. Yeah, you keep going. I'm going to head back then. Yeah. Unfortunately, Reed was quite literally never seen again or found. He kind of disappeared. Can I just say the word Akator is worryingly close to rearranging the word racketeer. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Well we have two options I guess for in John Reid's case. Let's assume Akator is

real for a second. Apparently according to Tatunka the city is protected by a tribe that will kill any visitor on sight Unless you display a sign which meaning is lost to time. Oh god, but the tribe respect it So if you display it, you know, I don't know what it is. Maybe like the Shaka or something Yeah, probably not the peace sign or something Yeah, if you display that you won't get hit in the neck with a poison dart. And you can't bribe them. They've got unlimited gold. What are they? They don't need anything. Yeah.

If it's not real, he's dead. He ran into the jungle by himself with no supplies, unfortunately. That's gonna kill you. Now you'd think that this story would serve as a warning for wannabe adventurers not to search for Akator, but unfortunately, Reed wouldn't be the last one to go looking for Akator, but unfortunately Reed wouldn't be the last one to go looking for the lost city, and he wouldn't be the only one to never return.

We're going to hear all about those explorers right after a quick word from today's sponsors. On each step with Peloton, from their pop runs to walk and talks, you define what it means to be a runner. Whatever your level, embrace it. Journey starts when you say so. If you've got five minutes or 50, Peloton Tread has workouts you can work in. Or bring your classes with you for outdoor runs, walks and hikes, led by expert instructors

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Save up to $20 per month on Rogers internet. Visit rogers.com for details. We got you, Rogers. John Reed went missing in 1980, but that didn't stop other explorers from trying to find Akator. In 1983, Herbert Warner, a 22-year-old forestry expert from Switzerland, arrived in Brazil, eager to be the one to discover the lost city. I'm not going to call Herbert, isn't surviving on that.

Can I just say that? If your name rhymes with Sherbert, bro, you're not going to be the one. I'm sorry to break it to you. You got to be called last name bastard, first name hard. You got to have an unf***able name yes knife fist beast master I'm here to find Akator but sure so with that when Tatunka says hey I think it's not a good idea if we grab him by the throat I'm imagining just Kane from the WWE universe yeah yeah he picks up to Tunka, just cane chokeslams him.

We're going. Yeah. Herbert's the guy in the Indiana Jones movie who dies like almost immediately. He's the first one to go. Yeah. Herbert's the mother-fucker who, when they're in the tomb, he's like pulling shit to activate traps. He's like stepping on tombstones that go down and the walls start coming in.

There's so many easy ways to die. I mean, even when you talked about the guy running off into the rainforest, I feel like that's in every Indiana Jones movie. There's always a guy who runs off and then Indy's like, wait, and then they see him about five minutes later and he's full of arrows, just dead. Yeah, yeah.

And it's like, I told him to wait. Yeah, like he gets so far and then he's always weirdly sweaty as well. He's sweating so much. And he's always weirdly sweaty as well. He's sweating so much and he's like kissing a cross or something and he's like, Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no what happened to old Herbert here? He could be the one to find Akator. I will say Swiss people, they have a great and powerful strong tradition of outdoors exploration. They have the Swiss Alps. They are great map readers, hikers, travelers.

You saw all kinds of weather and circumstances. Yeah. Oh, does he have any tools? He's got a Swiss army knife. He's got every tool you want. His knife is a corkscrew. They can have wine while they go to Akator? He's got a Swiss army knife. He's got every tool you want. Yeah. His knife is a corkscrew. They can have wine while they go to Akator.

He's got a bottle opener. He's got a magnifying glass. He could file his nails. Yeah, tweezers, you know, whatever you need. A bottle opener. He's ready for the journey. He hired Tutunka as a guide, headed into the jungle that was never seen again.

Can someone... All right, can we start running a background check on Tatunka? Because the stories are starting to add up less and less as time goes on. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at this point, stop telling people you can get them to Akator. This is why... Because you haven't made it to Akator in a really long time. This is why...

This is why the Internet and its kind of review-based system, it really works in the year 2024. It's like, if you go to an Airbnb and it has like three stars, you can be like, all right, I wonder what the issues were. Very often it will be like, hey, this was mostly great. Sometimes the neighbors are a little noisy, but otherwise great stay.

And then you see a hundred other people, great stay. If you went on there and there was three stars and you're like, I wonder what the issues are. And 80% of those were people who left one stars because they died in the play. And you'd be like, oh, when was the last person who survived staying in this Airbnb? Like, okay, there hasn't been one in five years.

You would think twice about staying in that Airbnb. If Tatanka had an offer that was a guide to Akator, and all of the reviews are one star didn't make it to Akator, you wouldn't sign up for that service. You know, if you're if you're paying a captain to bring you to an island somewhere, check if he's got a boat. You know, this is just common sense. Make sure they're able to fulfill whatever they're promising you. I'm just imagining Tatunka coming back to civilization being like,

I'm sorry to say Herbert didn't make it. Aren't those Herbert shoes you're wearing? He gave me his shoes shortly before he left and ran into the forest. He said, I don't need my shoes anymore. He wanted me to have them. Oh, wait, what am I thinking? No, he did make it. He made it to Akator.

He was given golden sandals and I took his shoes. Yes. Yes. Who's next? Oh, wait, what am I thinking? No, he did make it. He made it to Akator. He was given golden sandals and I took his shoes. Yes, yes. Who's next? Who's next? Yes, you with the Nike slides. Come this way, please. Those look comfy.

He looks like a damn GTA V custom character by the end of all these trips. He's got like a beautiful neckerchief. He's got a giant hat. He's got glasses that don't even suit him. He's just taking people's shit. Why does he keep coming back? Why does he keep coming back from Akator? It doesn't make sense.

Strangely enough, when asked later, presumably by the police, Tatunka said he was not with Herbert Warner when he made his trip into the jungle. Oh, interesting. Denying that he was even the guide. Oh. Yeah. But on other occasions,

Tatunka said that he was there, and that, like Reed, Herbert Warner just also ran into the jungle and disappeared. Yeah. They were running away from Tatunka. I think they just get halfway into the forest, and Tatunka points a gun at them and says I'll give you A head start bitch. That's why they were running We have records of at least one more adventurer heading out into the jungle to find Akator and never

Returning and to make the story even stranger Carl Brueger the man from the beginning of this episode who wrote the book on Akator Carl Brueger, the man from the beginning of this episode who wrote the book on Akator, decided eventually that after 10 years of no one being able to find the city, that he would finally go himself to find it. But before he could depart for the jungle, he was shot and killed in 1984 by a stranger with no motive. What? Really? Yes! Interesting.

He planned a whole trip. He was like, look, no one's found it in 10 years. I know Tatunka. I got close to Akator, and I lived to tell the tale and write the book. I'm gonna go find it myself. Right before he could do the trip, he was like on a beach in Brazil,

and someone shot him, didn't take anything, and just ran away. Do we have Tatunka's whereabouts on that day? Do we, are we sure? There's a theory by the police that it was Tatunka. There is a theory. To this day, we are no closer to solving the mystery of this long lost city.

So with the evidence that we have, we've got to ask the question, what are the odds of Akator actually existing? Well, one easy way to tackle that question, kid, I think is to look at some of the cases that we've investigated in the past. So first off, let's think about Atlantis. You know, Atlantis was rumored to be an ancient city,

not dissimilar to Akator, filled with modern technology and treasures, it was eventually lost to the ocean. That's right. This was always believed to be a legend, until, I think, wasn't it Plato who started describing it in a very specific way? Yes. We were talking about this recently that Atlantis was only ever described by, yes, I think it was Plato, in a book, and that's the biggest problem with Atlantis. No one else was really talking about it. Kind of he talked about it, and then people after him

talked about it because he talked about it. And it's believed to this day by experts in academics that it was a metaphor. It was a metaphor for empire, and that the Greek and Roman empires shouldn't become too proud, too big, too powerful without having humility. Otherwise they would be lost to the ocean. The ocean represented in some metaphorical sense, the forces of nature or something. The problem was he kept saying explicitly in his book, this is real. This

is not a metaphor, this is absolutely real. He described what the town center looked like. He described what the church towers looked like. He like mapped out streets. Yes. And was very specific with a lot of details. To the point where you're like,

oh, so, okay, so you've said that, yeah, there's a bar here located on 34th Street. Is that like a metaphor for having alcohol being an important part of your life? Yeah, it could be. Could be, I don't know, that's just where the bar was in Atlantis. You're like, all right, Plato, you gotta chill out, man.

And we can laugh, Roy, but need I remind you, we gave it a double yes. We did. Was that one of the only episodes of this podcast where we were drinking? Also yes. So just something to think about. We gave Atlantis a double yes, kind of similar to Akator. Is Akator a metaphor? Is it a legend?

Or is it possibly a real civilization that was lost to time? It is tough, yes, because this is, I would say, a meme, an archetype within not just the paranormal world, but of the human legend altogether, is a city that was lost, which, oh, just so happened to be made of solid gold. Right. You know, it's kind of like, it's probably up there with some kind of metaphor about like heaven on earth

or something. There's all, it's probably as old as humanity itself, the concept of like the mythical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, right? Yeah, yeah, we see it pop up a lot. You know, Atlantis being a version of it. But also we investigated the island of High Brazzell. That's right. Yes.

Which, if you don't remember that episode, this was an island that was believed to exist in the Atlantic Ocean just west of Ireland. Now strangely, this island appeared on official maps as far back as 1325 and is clearly marked on the maps. You can see it with your own eyes. Now as we know, of course, using satellite imagery, there is no island there at all But according to the legends this island is cloaked in a mist Except for one day every seven years when it becomes visible, but you still cannot reach it Of course we would be amiss if we didn't mention the case that is probably the most similar to this one one of my favorite throwback episodes

the metal library of Ecuador, the Cueva de los Teos. That Neil Armstrong himself went expeditioning for, and thankfully, Tatoonka wasn't anywhere nearby. Yes, this was a legend that said that in the caves in Ecuador, there were golden plates hidden in this ancient metal library that contains the history of mankind that were either left or created by aliens. Not dissimilar to aliens leaving behind these stones

and the people of Akator being the keepers of man's history. You know, there's some parallels there as well. We have also seen in other cases that, the keepers of man's history. You know, there's some parallels there as well. We have also seen in other cases that, although the idea of an underground city, and you did mention underground tunnels and things, those do exist. That is a thing.

I was astonished in an old case, I don't remember which one, we discussed the existence of kind of underground cities, places on earth where humans over the last whatever thousand years have created elaborate underground communities. You know, it's a difficult case today because, as I said, there were 12 hours of recordings that describe Akator in great detail.

I picked a lot of the headlines, for example, the six-fingered alien mummies. We will talk a little bit later about some of the other stuff that's in that book. If you can get a copy of it, read it. Don't go to Brazil, I would say. But let's quickly get on to what this case has going against it. Hmm. For starters, I'm pretty sure Totunka is the only person that we know of

that's claimed not only to have come from Akator, but to have ever seen it. Which is strange because in his stories, he claims at one point, I think that it was home to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. Okay, well that's a little tough. That's a little tough. You think we noticed a couple of them? Even North Korea, which is pretty shut down, I'm pretty sure has a trickle of people leaving every day. Yeah, we would know if people from Akator were turning up. Despite claiming to have come from

Akator, he had a German accent. Right, I did question that early in the episode. Which yes, would make sense because he also did claim that in the 1940s, up to 200 German soldiers lived in Akator during the war. It's a problematic theory, yes, about a lot of Nazis fleeing to South America. Yeah. But it also turned out that when the police did some digging, they discovered Teutonka was actually born Hans Gunther Haak. All right. There you go. There you go.

In Akator or in Germany? In Germany, I believe. For sure. Yeah, so already not a lot of great stuff going for Akator or Tatunka. And I think the unfortunate cherry on top of this whole story is, remember Herbert, the second adventurer who went out?

Yes. Eventually his skeleton was found in the jungle with a bullet hole in his head. So... Totunka, no! So I'm pretty sure international police believe Totunka was just killing people. Please tell me Totunka got arrested.

Please tell me. He's still alive. I think he's like 86 or something. Shit. And they've made like documentaries about him. I think even like the History Channel or whoever it is have gone out and you know, done a whole series on trying to find Akator.

But as part of that, they have actually found Totunka and interviewed him. Oh my God. But he's not in jail. He's not in jail. Oh my god, even though so he was he was we we called it He was walking people out into the forest and shooting them in the head pretty much. Yeah, okay I'm pretty sure that is what happened on at least two. This is a true crime podcast This is probably the closest we're ever gonna get to true crime. Oh my god I don't know if our decision right now is going to put a man in jail, but it

is something to think about. I wish it could. The problem with this case is, I mean, it's incredibly problematic that Tatunka is at the heart of this story because I'm pretty sure he's a bad person who's done horrible things. But also the story only came from him. As I said, there was no one else who claimed to have seen Akator or heard about Akator. The whole thing came from one guy. So, and if that one guy is the one guy giving people tours where everyone dies, it's not a good sign, is it?

Yeah, at least Atlantis has the good sense to say that it's all gone. Right! It's like, hey, here's a dope legend, but don't even bother, it's gone. It's gone, everything's gone. Whereas if we're claiming that it's all still there, oh, right around the corner, Herbert. Yeah, you just keep, hey, I'm just taking a slash, you keep going, bud.

But don't walk too fast or bob around too much, I need to get a clean shot. I mean, I need to get a clean shot of my piss into the grass. Yeah, it's not great. Even all the other examples we talked about, whether it's High Brazil or even the Metal Library, I think there's a few people who have claimed to have seen it or heard legends.

Everything today kind of comes down on one man. Because of that, it's actually kind of irresponsible that Carl published a whole book on this thing. Yeah, he's a grifter. As we said, without even seeing it for himself. So unfortunately, even though the legend of Akator, I mean, you can research it. There's a lot of stuff on it. There's a lot of people who talk about it and it's a big thing.

As I said, enough of a big thing that it's genuinely an inspiration for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull. It's kind of remarkable that a story this big came from just one guy telling stories, essentially in a pub. Here's what you gotta remember with a guy like Carl. You see if you waste a year of your life looking for some shit that doesn't exist,

you can't write a book about wasting a year of your life. You write the book pretending you didn't waste a f***ing year of your life. You write the book pretending it didn't waste a f***ing year of your life. Like after he's done it all and Tatunka has broken down into tears being like, none of it's real, man. He's like, oh shit, I am going to lose my shirt over this. Yeah, my family are gonna think I'm an asshole because I promised them all their own crown

made of solid gold when I returned. The publisher is writing letters to him every day being like, hey bud, can't wait for that first draft. The first draft is in on Friday, right? Yeah. Because it's going to the public. Everyone's real excited about the story of Akator too. So, hey, send us a postcard, bud. It's like, yeah, yeah. Yeah, get your postcard, guys. Yeah, the canoe actually, the canoe just capsized, so I lost a ton of shit. So I don't actually know if I'm going to be able to write anything out here. Like, you didn't have a lot of options when you think about it.

Yeah, not a ton. It's either it's either admit to everyone that you were stupid enough to believe this guy or just publish everything that the guy said and claim that it's real. One actually timely thing about this case is I was showing you earlier, just today, I was reading in the New York Times, a bit of breaking news was that one of the few last remaining uncontacted tribes of South America, a tribe who I can't remember the name of, were sighted in Peru. At the time of recording, they were sighted I think yesterday or something like that.

And it was a cool rare event because they were like, Hey, sometimes we see a couple of these guys just like in the rainforest of Peru running around. This was a very rare sighting where in a kind of protected zone of the rainforest, these cameramen basically across one side of the river saw 50 tribesmen and boys from this one tribe kind of hanging out, hunting and stuff together. And it is such a trip to watch that video and see these guys and they all have got spears

and like, they're not one of those tribes, you know, where they've still got the Nike shorts. Like, you know, there's loads of tribes who they've got like phones, smartphones and Nike shorts and flip flops. Right, these are uncontacted. This is barefoot ass loin cloth wearing uncontacted tribes. It's really cool to see that that still exists on earth today

and does go to show the mysteries that still exist within South America. Yeah. I mean, that's why you can imagine like people would get excited about something like this because even in today's world, there are pockets of the earth that we haven't explored that as you said do contain tribes like this that probably would kill me on sight. Yes, and they have done that in like the last 50 years. People have tried to contact them. I think there was a sad case where this like protected uncontacted tribe, some douchebag missionaries were like, nah, we're not paying attention to that. We're gonna, we're gonna,

they, these guys need Jesus sailed over and they instantly got speared to death. Yeah. Like that is real. There you go. That'll happen. So, you know, I can see, I can see why people, especially if you want to be someone who discovers something like this, you want to do something with your life. This could be exciting. If you hear about this could be exciting if you hear about this place, you hear about a guide who can take you there. You know, it sounds like a pretty sweet deal, which is unfortunate, I think what happened to a lot of people,

they read this book, they got too excited by it, and they decided to make this journey and they lost their lives. Rory's like, why do you think I bought the f***ing hat? I bought this on Amazon after reading page one of Carl's book and then I read the rest and sadly the returns policy was up on the hat. Yeah, by the time I got to the theory about 200 Nazi soldiers living there in the 40s, I was like, yeah, yeah, I don't think I'm going to Akator anytime soon. Unfortunately, that is all the information that we have today on

this lost city. Wow. It's a crazy story. I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before. It genuinely makes me want to go back and look at these old Indiana Jones movies and even the new one and see some stuff that maybe we've missed before. Any little clues, hints, locations they go and visit, artifacts they're looking for. There's a lot of amazing paranormal stuff buried in those movies. I totally agree. I watched one of the old Indiana Jones movies

a while back in a hotel room, late at night, and was enthralled by it because I realized I hadn't seen it since I was a little kid. Back when all I cared about was that Indy was cool, he had a whip, he was badass. That was really all that mattered. Whereas now as a grown adult who knows about the paranormal, that's the bit you love now, is the lore and the storytelling.

Yeah, even in the most recent one, I think at the start they're looking for this spear. They're trying to get their hands on this spear. Yes. That's a real thing. I think it's called the Spear of Destiny. I almost did a case on it before. Or at least it's theorized. It's not been found, right? I don't remember.

Yeah, I don't remember. I don't think it's ever been found. I think it's right. But for a hundred bucks, I know a guy that can take you to it. It's a pretty sweet deal. Kit, I don't think we need to deliberate too much at the end of today's podcast.

I'm giving Akator a no. It's a no. It is a no. A paranormal story that is very exciting, but unfortunately the theme of today's episode is too good to be true. It's fine anyway. I just already believe in ancient aliens, so this really doesn't put me up or down. Yeah.

It is kind of cool to see this reoccurring theme of like a city somewhere or a civilization or something where aliens came down and f*** with them, you know, because I think some people say that about ancient Egyptians, some people say it about like the Mayans, that they were all visited by aliens and stuff, so this is just another version of it, that there was a city where the people came and met with the gods. And I know the idea of like imparting alien technology on early humans is strange and seems far-fetched. You know, we should really be talking about this stuff more when you think of just how many UFO cases we're doing now in 2024, because UFOs are in vogue, there is kind of new, compelling evidence.

Probably more than ever, people are excited about the idea that we have more proof than ever about UFOs visiting Earth in the last 70 years. The flip side of that is if we can find evidence of UFOs visiting Earth in the last 70 years, it's all but guaranteed they were here before that. Yeah. It's almost a hundred times all but guaranteed they were here before that. Yeah. It's almost a hundred times more likely they've been here before that. It would just be insanely, statistically, wildly unlikely that aliens are evolving their technology at the exact same pace as us here on Earth. Right. And that just as we happen to be exploring the stars for the first time,

oh, wouldn't you know they're doing it too? No. It's way more likely that other civilizations from all around the universe could have been visiting the Earth at any time, could have been, honestly, long before humans even existed. I love the idea of these alien gods coming down to Earth during the period of the dinosaurs. And they kind of like open the doors come down and they're like earthlings join us as we

come bearing gifts from a faraway world this tablet means that you're able to a T-Rex comes rip them in half too early too early come back in we'll try it again in another million years all right take off into the night sky. I mean, it's a great example, because imagine they had come down, they would have written in their alien textbooks, like Earth, scary, big. Scary and dumb.

Big things with big teeth. How would they ever know that Earth would be catastrophically almost destroyed by a meteor impact that would destroy 95% of life on Earth? Even if they saw that, they'd be like, oh, we're never going to go there again. Everything's dead. But then that gave this small shrew creature the chance to evolve over then a couple million years into being one of the most intelligent species in this solar system or galaxy. They've written off Earth. They're never coming back.

I think they were the ones that sent the meteorite They came down got bit by a t-rex and they were like, oh you little All right. No screw you guys burn it all down burn it down earth done They send a meteorite it wipes off almost all earth and yeah, we somehow made it through anything is possible So when the aliens come back, it doesn't matter how delicious they look, do not bite them, or we may get hit with another meteorite. That's all I'm gonna say. Well, unfortunately it was a double no today,

but I hope you enjoyed this episode of this paranormal life. I always enjoy doing these kind of weird treasure hunt-y, exploration, secret city episodes. They're really fun. It's kind of a breath of fresh air. Because Rory, we are the generation too late to explore earth, too early to explore the stars just on time to explore memes. Yes. And that's what we are doing right on this podcast. Exploring memes and exploring the places that clearly don't exist and everyone gave up on them years ago.

A thousand percent. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Of course, if you have your own case that you want us to investigate, send it our way at thisparanormallifepodcastatgmail.com Indy over here isn't a big email guy, but I will tell him the good emails. Yes, please do. Yeah, if you want to watch the video version of this podcast, head on over to YouTube.

We record all of our podcasts and you can see me in my, I'll admit now, incredibly hot in the code. And crinkly and noisy. It's really quite a lot. Yeah, it's been nothing but a nuisance. It's 30 degrees outside. Yeah, I'm boiling. I feel like I'm gonna pass out any'm boiling. I feel like I'm going to pass out any second now.

I feel like I have jungle fever and Kit's about to kill me any second. But of course, if you love the show, if you want more, if you want to support us and everyone that makes it, head on over to patreon.com. Kit, what's Patreon? Patreon. What is it? I've never even heard of it before. Well, yeah, cause you're from the 40s or something.

Let me explain it in a way that Indiana Jones himself would understand. All right. That's a good idea. Indy, imagine you don't even need to go to the jungle to get untold treasures and fortunes. You could just go to a website. What's a website? Oh, Christ, this is going to take a long time. All right. I've given up on Indy. www.patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life

is where all you need to know indie is you just put five bucks into a machine and you get all the entertainment you could ever wish for. You get treasures, you get artifacts from the past because we've been uploading content to Patreon for years now. So just $5 gets you access to all of it. At once. Wow. Pretty exciting stuff.

So we've been doing monthly bonus episodes for six or seven years. We have weekly after party behind the scenes chats between me and Rory. We've got giveaways, merchandise with the Knight of the Commune coin, and shout outs available to patrons as well. Patreon really is the way this show gets funded.

It's the way we pay for our studio, our camera, our editors, our researchers. So if you do enjoy the show and you want to help us out, head on over patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. As Kit mentioned at the end of every episode, we like to give a little shout out on the podcast. So we're going to do that right now. So a special thank you to Dakota.

Dakota, how would you like to adventure with me into the rainforest? Because I'm gonna need someone who can Dakota message. You know, there's gonna be a lot of ancient hieroglyphs here, a lot of symbols I don't understand. I can't even speak Spanish. So if you can decode a message for me it might be might be mighty handy for me. You should just

learn Spanish and then you wouldn't need to drag someone through the rainforest where they might die. That's this sounds way easier to drag them so come on. Thanks also to short beard. It's a good thing that beard is short short beard because by the time you get out of the jungle, it's gonna be down to your ankles. What, how long are you planning to spend? That would take years. I have no map, no sense of direction, and very little rations. We're gonna be in there for a while, but let me tell ya. You haven't even left yet. Once we find this city, it'll be worth it. It'll be worth it.

You are going to die on your ass in that jungle thanks to Gareth Horley. Gareth why don't you just change your name to Akatorle because you and me brother are going out into that jungle. No rations, no food, no preparation. Why no rations? Because only the strongest will survive. Have you ever seen, have you ever watched Indiana Jones? Yes. You think he prepares? He just, he puts his hat like this, he has a little nap on the plane, and then he gets up and starts whipping.

Weirdly he doesn't ever really have rations, you are kind of right there. Yeah, he's always just kind of sweaty and dirty and fine and things just work out. Yeah. And it's always the guys who prepare or study too much to get got. Yeah. So I think that's fair. I'm back on board to be fair. No rations it is.

No rations is cheaper too. Thanks lastly today to Zirob. Zirob you sound like you're from Akator. Zirob? Oh yeah, that is the name of a mummified alien god with a crystal skull. Zerob, real name Herbert. Oh, okay.

Yeah, Zerob kind of- Zerob already went into the jungle. Fair enough, sounded a bit cooler, a bit more befitting of the ancient city. Yeah, well Zerob, if you have made it to Akator, please send us some of that gold. You know, you could kind of just not do the whole Patreon thing. If you just send us gold in the mail, that would be great. Real great.

I like the idea of going to Akator and a bit like Burning Man, you have to take an Akator name. Right, you gotta change it, yeah. I am not Rory anymore. I am OriginalGangsta69. They're like, no, you can't use like a gamer tag. No, that's be something cool. Oh, really? Shit. Well, thank you everyone who supports us on Patreon. Check it out if you haven't already. Hope you enjoyed this week's episode and we will be back exploring the world of the paranormal next Tuesday.