Giorgio Tsoukalos sits down with ABS-CBN News for a chat about local mythical creatures and the reason his show, 'Ancient Aliens,' is popular with Filipinos. Vincent Garcia, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - "I'm curious to find out more about these things," said Giorgio Tsoukalos, the host of the television show "Ancient Aliens," when introduced to local mythical creatures such as the legendary Sarimanok and the moon-eating Bakunawa.

Tsoukalos, in an interview with ABS-CBN News on Thursday, admitted that he has yet to familiarize himself with Philippine folklore, but perked up when he heard about the country's rich traditional culture, filled with dragon-like creatures once said to have flown above our ancestors.

"We have to ask ourselves: Did flying dragons really exist? Or was it misunderstood technology?" he mused. "Our ancestors knew exactly what they saw but they didn't have the vocabulary we have today to describe it."

For the uninitiated, Tsoukalos is a firm believer of the ancient aliens theory, which states that advanced extraterrestrials visited old civilizations thousands of years ago and taught people how to build historical monuments such as the Pyramids.

He credited his grandmother for introducing him to alternative history, those not often included in standard text books, which helped him keep an open mind when tackling such theories. "I'm always fascinated at this possibility that our history isn't necessarily the way we are being taught," Tsoukalos said.

But his stern view on aliens is not without evidence. Tsoukalos claims to have seen a U.F.O. back in August 2014 while he was stargazing with his wife and several others.

"It was a clear night, around midnight," he narrated. "And then all of a sudden, there were two additional stars inside the Big Dipper."

"And after about 10 minutes of observation, what's fascinating was that those two stars started to move equidistant from each other and then disappeared. It was not a falling star because it did not go down, it went up," he said.

According to Tsoukalos, the reason the ancient aliens theory is popular among viewers is that because it asks the fundamental questions we, as human beings, have.

"Where do we come from? Why are we here? And where are we going? Because inherently, what makes us human is that we have this intense desire to explore. So this is why we explored the planet, and this is why, ultimately, explore deep space. It will not happen tomorrow, but it will definitely," he explained.

Tsoukalos, along with several other well-known personalities of the History Channel, will be at the History Con 2016, a history convention that will run from Thursday to Sunday at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.