The comically named History Channel, which specializes in sensationalistic programs on historical mysteries and conspiracy theories, recently offered a fresh take on the Angel Moroni: He may have been a space alien.

For the kickoff of the second season of Ancient Aliens, which aired on 27 July (coinciding with the release of the movie Cowboys and Aliens), the producers decided to explore the topic “Ancient Aliens and the Old West.”

The show explains that “according to Ancient Astronaut theorists, Moroni may in fact have been a star being, an extraterrestrial whose mission was to pass down to Smith and his followers the advanced knowledge of the Mound Builders.”

The show includes clips from an interview with Logan Hawkes, author of Close Encounters of the Old West, who states that “Moronee [sic] claimed to be from the Pleiades star cluster.”

“So a church today 9-million strong believe that their church may have originated not of this world, but of another world,” Hawkes concludes.

This is, of course, an outrageous falsehood: The LDS Church is 14-million strong.