All language subtitles for Weird.Or.What.S03E05.WEBRip.x264-ION10

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William Shatner: You know,
I've been around for a while.

Met some interesting
people, done some crazy things.

So you just might think
that there's not much that

can take me by surprise.

You'd be wrong.

The world is full of
stories and science and

things that amaze and
confound me every single day,

incredible mysteries
that keep me awake at night.

Some I can answer.

Others just defy logic.

Shatner: Do animals have
abilities beyond our

comprehension?

In Germany, an octopus
correctly predicts

multiple winners in
the soccer World Cup.

How?

OLIVER WALENCIAK: We never
expected him to predict

everything right.

Shatner: Are sea
creatures psychic?

In Scotland, over 50 dogs
mysteriously plunge to

their death from the
same bridge - leaving

scientists baffled.

DONNA COOPER: His feet
just left the ground and

went straight over.

Shatner: Are dogs
suicidal, or is a sinister

force at play?

And in Oklahoma, an
ordinary house cat makes a

2,200 kilometre journey
to find its owner.

RITA KOLANDER: It never
entered my mind that he

had come by himself.

William Shatner: Yeah,
it's a weird world.

And I love it.

[♪]

William Shatner: You know
I'm fascinated by the

animal kingdom - these
incredible creatures that

we share the planet with.

But how much do we
really know about them?

Well, quite a
lot actually.

Take the moose for
instance - he's the

largest of the deer
family, he has 32 teeth,

and 27 pairs of
chromosomes compared with

23 in humans.

Or the dolphin - he sleeps
with one eye open, lives

up to 40 years and has a
bigger brain than a monkey

- and quite a few of
friends of mine in Hollywood...

And then there's the
sheep - he's just stupid.

But what about those
animals we're not so

familiar with, like this
guy...an octopus...well,

we know he has three
hearts, no bones and blue blood.

But here's something
you might not know...

He's psychic.

Shatner: June 13, 2010.

As Germany gears up for
the long-awaited World Cup

soccer championships...

...An aquarium in the town
of Oberhausen is preparing

to launch a unique
publicity stunt.

The aquarium will use its
resident octopus, named

Paul, to try and pick the
winners of each match

Germany competes in.

Oliver Walenciak is a
curator at Sea Life.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: We
started to do the

predictions with Paul just
to entertain our visitors

and get some
regional press.

Shatner: The
idea is simple.

There are two Plexiglas
boxes marked with the

opposing team's flags.

Each box contains a live mussel
- Paul's favourite treat.

All the octopus has to do
is lift the lid

to get at the food inside.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: We put
the two boxes into the

tank, and Paul had to
decide which mussel he

will eat, and this
team will win.

Shatner: World Cup fever
runs high in Germany,

where huge sums are
bet on the outcome.

But at Sea Life, no one
is expecting much from Paul...

who has never shown any
particular talent for anything.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: When I
saw Paul, It was a very

cute octopus, a nice one
but not that different

from any other
octopus I already met.

Shatner: On the day of
Paul's first prediction,

there is little
interest in the story.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: There
was very low attention

from the media, and it was
just a few photographs

from the regional press.

Shatner: Oliver's not even
sure if the octopus -

which has never been
trained to perform tricks

- will even take part.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: The game
against Australia was just

to see if Paul is working
like we want him to work.

Shatner: To Oliver's
surprise, not only does

Paul eagerly participate -
he correctly predicts the

winning team, Germany.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: He
just had a lot of luck.

Shatner: But then
something happens which

makes Oliver question
everything about sea creatures.

Paul makes another correct
prediction... and another.

And with each one, word
spreads about the octopus

that seems to know which
team will win

- before the match is even
played.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: The
staff recognized something

special was happening.

Shatner: By the time
Germany faces off in a

much-anticipated match
against England, Paul has

become a media sensation.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: All the
international press wanted

to have interviews.

The Washington Post had
an article about Paul.

Shatner: Weirdly, Paul is
apparently aware of the

attention he's getting -
he even seems to enjoy it.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: When the
first reporters came in

front of his tank, he started
to play with the reporters.

So, he really recognized
it and seemed

that he also had some fun.

Shatner: But nothing
prepares Oliver

for what happens next.

Paul keeps making correct
predictions -

as Germany beats England and
Ghana and Argentina.

Incredibly, he's predicted
five games out of five,

without a single error.

Aquarium staff
are stunned.

They can't understand how
a creature with a brain

the size of a walnut can beat
the best bookies in the world.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: There is no
scientific explanation for it.

Shatner: But not everybody
is pleased with Paul.

Fans on losing teams blame
the octopus for their

defeat and call for him
to be cooked and eaten.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: The
first death threats he got

were when he picked the
German against Argentina.

Shatner: Paul gets in even
more hot water when he

dares to predict that his
home team Germany

would be beaten by Spain.

But he is right again!

And by the time the
finals roll around, media

interest in Paul has
reached a fever pitch.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: You can
imagine 150 reporters and

live broadcast in front
of the tank, and you have

boxes and think, "Oh God,
do anything, I don't care

what you do, but do
anything please."

Shatner: 700 million
people watch the game

between Spain and
the Netherlands.

Paul makes his final and
most important prediction

- eating the mussel in
the box marked Spain.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: This
was, I would say, the most

thrilling prediction.

Shatner: Paul
is right again.

Even now, Oliver is still
mystified

by Paul's achievements.

OLIVER WALENCIAK: There
were thousands

of animals doing predictions...

during the 2010
championship, but um, Paul

was the only one having
all 8 games right.

William Shatner: Calamari.

Oh, sorry.

This is awesome isn't it?

I mean if an octopus can
predict the winners of

soccer games - just imagine
what else they can do.

Now this guys
name is Jeff. Jeff?

Pick the winning
numbers of the lottery.

C'mon Jeff, get the
winning numbers of the lottery.

Jeff gets a little shy,
okay so one more time:

what numbers are going
to win the lottery.

Ok...see you at dinner.

Shatner: How did an
octopus make so many

correct predictions?

Is this evidence these
creatures

can see into the future?

Dr. Jennifer Mather of the
University of Lethbridge

has been studying octopus
behaviour for over 30 years.

DR. JENNIFER MATHER:
Octopuses are very

intelligent animals.

They're lots of fun
because they're trying to

solve every problem
you give them.

Shatner: She doesn't think
Paul has the ability to

see into the future - let
alone predict the outcome

of a human sports event.

DR. JENNIFER MATHER: The
octopus doesn't have the

faintest idea what a
soccer match is - why

everybody is excited
about the World Cup.

Shatner: Dr. Mather thinks
the truth is - the animal

is simply figuring out the
best way to get dinner.

DR. JENNIFER MATHER: This
octopus, I'm sure, was

taken from the wild and it
has to learn new ways to

get food and what it's
doing is scoping us out

and figuring out how to
get the best it

can out of the situation.

Shatner: Even more
revealing, Dr. Mather

believes Paul wasn't even
looking at the flags.

DR. JENNIFER MATHER: One
of the things people don't

realize about octopuses is
that they're colorblind.

So, I think the German
flag is red and black and

that really didn't
matter to the octopus.

Shatner: So if Paul wasn't
responding to the flags,

how did he know
which box to choose?

Dr. Mather is convinced
he was using a sensory

ability unique
to octopuses.

Through chemical receptors
in his tentacles, Paul

could literally "smell"
the mussels inside the

boxes - before he
even opened them.

DR. JENNIFER MATHER:
Octopuses are very

sensitive to
chemical cues.

It would have known that
there was a reward

in each of those boxes.

Shatner: That would
explain a bizarre quirk of

Paul's predictions...

...That for most of the
matches, he chose the box on

the right - which also happened
to be the winning team.

DR. JENNIFER MATHER: What
happens in captivity is

that the octopus ends up
doing what it's getting

rewarded for so, it may
go, "Well, yeah I got

rewarded there so I
keep going there".

Shatner: But if Paul knew
he could get a mussel from

the right-hand box, why
did he sometimes choose

the one on the left?

DR. JENNIFER MATHER: It's
entirely possible it just

got bored and thought,
"Well, I know there's one

on the other side, why
don't I go over to the

other side and see
what's over there."

They're like us,
they're curious.

They're explorers.

Shatner: So, if we believe
Dr. Mather, Paul's

predictions were a
win-win situation...

at least for his stomach.

But that still doesn't explain
his astonishing success.

What is Paul's secret
to beating the odds?

RADU CRAIU: I sort of knew
there was some hidden

mechanism in there.

Shatner: An octopus
predicts the outcome of

World Cup soccer matches.

Is it psychic - or just
playing along to get a meal?

Dr. Radu Craiu is a
professor of statistics at

the University of Toronto
- and a keen soccer fan.

RADU CRAIU: So when I
first heard about Paul the

Octopus, I was
not floored.

I sort of knew there was
some hidden mechanism in there.

Shatner: Dr. Craiu claims
that he has unlocked the

secret of Paul's success.

It all comes down to
probability - the

mathematical calculation
of whether or not

something is
likely to happen.

RADU CRAIU: To pick
the winner of a match

correctly it's the same
as flipping a coin and

calling it ahead of time.

So its 50% chance of
calling it right.

Shatner: But Paul correctly
predicted 8 matches in a row.

The odds must be huge.

Mustn't they?

To find out Dr. Craiu uses
a "probability tree" to

represent each of the
choices Paul made.

He comes up with a
surprising result.

RADU CRAIU: The chance for
this octopus to actually

predict all 8 games
is about 1 in 256.

Pretty small odds if we think
this was done at random.

Shatner: So were Paul's
accomplishments less

impressive than
they seemed?

Perhaps - and there's another
crucial element in play.

Dr. Craiu says Paul wasn't
the only animal predicting

the World Cup - in fact
there were hundreds of

creatures all over the world
trying to do the same thing.

RADU CRAIU: We often hear
about animal oracles, but

we also have to understand
that there are many others

who have tried to be
animal oracles and failed.

Shatner: With so many
animals trying to pick

winners, believes Dr.
Craiu, one of them is

bound to get it right.

RADU CRAIU: Its simply
because it has to happen,

by luck, by chance,
it has to happen once.

In a blue moon,
but it can happen.

Shatner: The bottom
line for Dr. Craiu?

RADU CRAIU: If we're
gonna remember Paul for

anything, we should
remember him for being

a very lucky octopus.

Shatner: So was it
all just a fluke?

Or could there be
another explanation?

Author and animal rescuer
Steve Kotler has been

writing about the
cognitive power of animals

for nearly two decades.

STEVEN KOTLER: I'm
surrounded by thirty

animals almost every day
and the one thing that I

know for sure is that we don't
know anything about animals.

Shatner: He doesn't rule
out the possibility that

Paul the Octopus
was - an oracle.

STEVEN KOTLER: I think we
have to keep an open mind

about the possibilities of
Paul the octopus like we

have to keep in mind,
an open mind about the

capabilities
of all animals.

Every time we've said
there's an ability that

animals don't have-they
don't have tool use, they

don't have language, they
can't grieve, they don't love.

All these things are
things we used to believe

animals couldn't do at
all and we now know are

absolutely fact.

Shatner: Kotler points to
recent discoveries that

have shed new light
on the animal kingdom.

STEVEN KOTLER: A really
great example of an

ability animals have that
we don't have and we can't

even begin to fathom
comes from elephants.

Shatner: In the early
1980s, researchers

discovered elephants
are capable of emitting

ultra-low frequency calls.

STEVEN KOTLER: Their
stomachs make sub-sonic,

low-frequency sounds.

These sounds travel for
hundreds of miles and

elephants can
communicate this way.

They seem to hear these sounds
with sensors in their feet.

Kotler suspects something
similar was at work at the

aquarium - with Paul
actually reading the minds

of the people around him.

STEVEN KOTLER: I think
there were a lot of people

in that room who wanted
him to select the mussel

with the German
flag on it.

And I think he was picking
up on that vibe and

reading something.

Shatner: Could it be that
Paul can not only see into

the future - but he's
telepathic as well?

STEVEN KOTLER: We have
no possible way of

understanding the
octopi universe.

We don't have eight arms,
we don't live under the

sea, we don't squirt ink.

We have no idea what it's
like to do those things

and that leads to
all kind of wonderous

possibilities.

Shatner: Did Paul use
precognition to pick

World Cup winners?

Did he just get lucky?

Or was he just looking for
food like any old octopus?

Whatever the truth, this
story is - Weird or What?

William Shatner: Ever wonder
what your pet is thinking?

Well, we all
know don't we?

- Or we think we do.

We talk to them
and they respond. Watch.

Fluffy - want to
eat some cookies?

Wanna go for a walk?
Fluffy-wuffy, love Bill?

Do you love Bill? See?

He thinks about food,
walkies and he's thinking

about how much
he loves me.

That's all that takes
to make him happy.

But not every dog
is like Fluffy.

Others have secrets -
secrets and thoughts so

deep and dark - they're
worth dying for.

Did you say something?

Shatner: March 2005.

Dumbarton, Scotland.

Shatner: Donna Cooper is
on an outing with her

daughter and the
family dog, Ben.

Shatner: They're exploring
a 19th century country

estate on the
outskirts of town.

DONNA COOPER: We'd been
out for about 2 hours and

then we were just
finishing the walk when we

came up the stairs and
came to the bridge.

Shatner: Donna doesn't
want Emma wandering off -

especially near
the bridge.

But, busy with her
daughter, Donna takes her

eyes off the dog.

DONNA COOPER: I'm always
aware of bridges, but

generally you just say to
a dog come or heel and

they're generally right at
your heel and don't go anywhere.

Shatner: Suddenly, Ben
rushes onto the bridge

before Donna can react.

Donna is stunned by
what happens next.

DONNA COOPER: His feet
just left the ground and

he went straight over.

His feet didn't even touch the
bridge, he was just up and over.

There was no chance of
anybody being able to

catch him or stop him
or it just happened so quickly.

Shatner: Donna goes down
into the 50-foot gorge to

retrieve the badly
injured animal.

DONNA COOPER: He'd landed at
the very bottom of the bridge.

He'd broken his jaw, his
legs, his ribs, his back.

So unfortunately there
was nothing else

we could
do for him.

Shatner: She still doesn't
understand why the dog jumped.

DONNA COOPER: He wasn't a
working dog or anything.

But he was very
intelligent and we had him

properly trained.

DONNA COOPER: He was
a very happy dog.

I clearly don't understand
why he done it.

Shatner: What makes Ben's
death even more puzzling

is the fact that it
wasn't the first.

Since the 1950's, over 50
dogs have leapt to their

deaths from the
Overtoun Bridge.

Owners, vets and
scientists are baffled by

these incidents.

DONNA COOPER: I think
everybody has a theories,

everybody has their
stories and ideas.

It is strange that many
other dogs have done it as well.

William Shatner: My
goodness, this is awful.

Dogs taking
their own lives?

Doggy depression?
Hound hari-kari?

What is going on here?

I mean they didn't even
leave a suicide note.

Seriously, this
has got to stop.

We have to help - but how?

There's only one way - we
have to get to the bottom

of this and find out where
these deeply troubled

minds went wrong.

Tell me about
your puppyhood.

But therapy is
good for you.

Shatner: Why did Ben die?

Do canines possess complex
emotions - that make them

want to end it all?

STANLEY COREN: Various
things can cause

a dog to be depressed.

Shatner: A series of dogs
mysteriously die on a

bridge in a
Scottish village.

Did they deliberately
kill themselves?

Psychologist Dr. Stanley
Coren has been studying

human-animal relationships
for over four decades.

STANLEY COREN: I don't
think a dog is capable of

deciding to
commit suicide.

He might kill himself
through accident, but not

through deliberate
planning.

Shatner: According to
Dr. Coren, suicide goes

against every
canine instinct.

STANLEY COREN: The most
powerful drive that they

have is toward life.

An animal caught in a trap
will chew his own foot off

to continue to live.

Shatner: Dr. Coren
believes an adult dog has

a mental age equivalent
to a two-year old human child.

STANLEY COREN: They have,
happiness, they have joy,

they have sadness, they
have fear, they have

anger, they have surprise,
that sort of thing.

They don't have the
complex learned emotions:

guilt, shame,
embarrassment, those sorts

of things.

Shatner: But scientific
studies have shown that

dogs can experience
a form of depression.

STANLEY COREN: Various
things can cause a dog to

be depressed.

Things like being
socially isolated.

They're very
social animals.

Things like loss, like
the loss of a well-loved owner.

Any of those things
can cause a dog to be depressed.

Shatner: But could canine
depression lead to suicide?

STANLEY COREN: The only
reason why suicide might

be considered to be a
reasonable option is if

you have the feeling that
"My current condition is

awful and it's unlikely
to change in the future.

And the only way I can
control this is by ending

this existence."

Dogs don't think that way.

Shatner: So if dogs can't
commit suicide, why did

Ben jump off the bridge?

Could there be some
other explanation?

Shatner: Psychic
investigator Archibald Lawrie

has a monstrous
theory about

the Scottish dog suicides.

He's convinced Overtoun
Bridge is the scene of a

heinous crime, with
origins in the distant past.

He thinks the clues to the
mystery are still there.

ARCHIBALD LAWRIE: Psychic
memories, all memories,

are locked onto the place
of the Earth's surface

that they were generated.

Shatner: Lawrie and his
partner Francis Ryan

believe dark, supernatural
forces

may be behind the deaths.

For the first time, they
will try to communicate

with the ghosts of
Overtoun Bridge and find

out what happened.

ARCHIBALD LAWRIE: I said,
Francis lets see if we can

pick up anything because
nobody else is coming out

with any decent
ideas at all.

Shatner: On the bridge,
Frances goes into

a psychic trance...

FRANCIS RYAN: I feel a
mist starting to come forward.

It's coming in a haze
at the moment, I'm not

getting a full figure, I
feel a haze - it's like

feeling energy coming in.

Shatner: Almost
immediately, she has a

chilling vision.

ARCHIBALD LAWRIE: She said, "I'm
seeing a big, black horse..."

FRANCIS RYAN: I feel he's coming
forward in a different way.

ARCHIBALD LAWRIE: On the
horse, there is a rider.

He's a young man.

Shatner: Frances sees a
young man, named Edward,

who lived in Overtoun
Estate over a century ago.

But on this day, he was on
a foxhunt that took him

across Overtoun Bridge.

FRANCES RYAN: Very
strong-willed, very powerful.

ARCHIBALD LAWRIE: Edward
is blowing his hunting

horn and the dogs are hearing
that and

following it, as
dogs do.

Shatner: But there's
something special about

the horn - the pitch is so
high only dogs can hear it.

ARCHIBALD LAWRIE: And it's
giving out a sound which

we can't hear, we humans
can't hear, because it's

designed to make a sound
for dogs to get dogs to

follow the hunt.

Shatner: Suddenly, one of
the dogs goes berserk and

attacks the young man's horse,
causing it to rear up in panic.

FRANCES RYAN: He's giving
the feeling of tumbling

and falling,
tumbling and falling.

Shatner: Edward is thrown
- and killed in the fall.

ARCHIBALD LAWRIE: He
slides back down the horse

breaking his back on the
corner of that bridge.

ARCHIBALD LAWRIE: So
cruelly so quickly cut

down in his prime because
of action of a dog.

FRANCES RYAN: He
hates the dogs.

Shatner: Lawrie's séance
on Overtoun Bridge has led

him to a startling
conclusion.

ARCHIBALD LAWRIE: Edward
and his horse are still there.

Shatner: Lawrie believes
Edward's ghost is not only

alive and well, he's still
blowing into the hunting

horn that only
dogs can hear.

But now he's using it for
a diabolical purpose - to

lure dogs off the bridge.

ARCHIBALD LAWRIE: Are
these dogs somehow hearing

this blowing of this thing
to follow him

and leap to their deaths.

Shatner: Is a vengeful
ghost causing dogs to jump

off a Scottish bridge?

Shatner: Animal
psychologist Dr. David Sands

agrees something is
luring dogs off Overtoun

Bridge - but it's
not supernatural.

DAVID SANDS:
It's not suicide.

It's death by
misadventure.

Shatner: He's convinced
the animals are being led

- not by a ghostly horn,
but by one of the most

powerful sensory organs
in nature: their noses.

DAVID SANDS: With a sense
of smell perhaps hundreds

or thousands times more
powerful than ours once a

dog picks up a trail its
gonna be motivated to, to

follow it and find out
where its leading to.

Shatner: What smell could
possibly cause a dog to

jump off a 50-foot bridge?

Dr. Sands is certain
there is only one.

An odor so powerful and
overwhelming, canines

simply can't resist it.

The mink - a creature
dogs instinctively hunt.

DAVID SANDS: The mink
has an anal gland that

produces a, a sort of
scent that is so strong

you probably smell it from
about half a mile away.

Shatner: It's an
interesting theory -

minks were farmed here
until the 1960's.

The doctor thinks their
wild relatives are still

around - and dogs know it.

DAVID SANDS: Minks are
territorial, they leave scents.

Dominant males leaving
their scent for other

animals to pick up.

But if dogs want to chase
mink, why are they leaping

off the bridge instead of
running around the side?

Dr. Sands visited Overtoun
Bridge to find out.

DAVID SANDS: Once I
got to the bridge...

I sort of got down on my
hand and knees and thought

about it from the
dog's point of view.

Shatner: He quickly
discovered the answer.

Dogs can't see
over the wall.

They have no way of
knowing they're on a bridge.

DAVID SANDS: Because of
the height of the stone

wall on the bridge,
they're seeing a wall,

they are not seeing a fifty-foot
drop on the other side.

Shatner: It's a convincing
explanation - canine

curiosity and a powerful
hunting instinct literally

drives dogs over the edge.

DAVID SANDS: A recipe
of cues and signals and

scents that have caused
the dog to behave quite

naturally but for the end
result to be disastrous.

Shatner: Did the hounds of
Dumbarton jump to their

deaths because of the
scent of wild mink?

Were they lured off the
bridge by a ghostly dog-hater?

Or were they so depressed
they couldn't go on living?

Weird or what?

Shatner: A house cat
journeys 2,200 kilometres

through five states to
track down its owner.

RITA KOLANDER: Just some
way he knew,

he knew where we were...

William Shatner: You know
it's wonderful these days

- you can travel with your
pet - take them wherever

you go, on planes, ships,
they're totally portable.

But not all pets get to
travel, sometimes their

owners have to leave them
behind - and that's when

heartbreak can occur.

Luckily, we don't have
that problem - do we, honey?

You ready? We're gonna go.

[dog barks]

Shatner: June, 1951.

Anderson, California.

The Woods family is
getting ready to move to

Oklahoma, a grueling 2,200
kilometre car trip to the east.

Rita Kolander is
their daughter.

She is eight years
old at the time.

RITA KOLANDER: All of my
father's family and all of

my mother's family lived
in the same county in

Oklahoma, and I think that
we moved because they

missed their families.

Shatner: But as they
finish packing for their

move, there's a problem:
Rita's beloved cat, Sugar.

RITA KOLANDER: Sugar
and I loved each other.

We played together
constantly.

He would follow me
everywhere I went.

Shatner: However, Sugar
is terrified of cars.

RITA KOLANDER: Sugar just
got wild in the car

and would not stay.

Shatner: Rita's father
finally decides they have

to leave Sugar behind.

RITA KOLANDER: I
was heartbroken.

We left the cat with a
neighbour family, the Spanns.

RITA KOLANDER: I remember
seeing Susan, my friend,

standing in our yard
holding Sugar, when we

drove out the driveway.

And that was an
empty feeling.

Shatner: The family
moves to a dairy farm in

Oklahoma, with a host
of feral barn cats.

As time passes, Rita finds
things to take

her mind off of Sugar.

RITA KOLANDER: I got a
pony, and we got a dairy

and it had cattle and
things that

I wasn't familiar with.

I think that helped me get
over the loss of Sugar.

Shatner: August, 1952.

14 months after leaving
California, Rita and her

mother Ellen are working
in the barn when something

unexpected happens.

RITA KOLANDER: We were
feeding the cows in the

barn while my daddy
milked, and this cat,

it startled her.

RITA KOLANDER:
He just purred.

It was so obvious that he
was a different cat than

any we had there
on the farm.

The others were wild.

We didn't have any
other friendly cats.

Shatner: And the
friendliness of the cat

isn't the only thing.

Ellen notices the
emaciated animal bears an

uncanny resemblance to Sugar,
the pet they left behind.

RITA KOLANDER: I was so
excited because I thought

by some miracle, somebody
had brought Sugar, or we'd

gotten him there some way.

Shatner: But Ellen pours cold
water on Rita's excitement.

RITA KOLANDER: My parents
were very quick to say.

It can't be Sugar, but
it's a lot like him.

Looks a lot like him.

Shatner: Two months later,
Ellen receives a letter

from their neighbors
in California.

It's mostly gossip about
their old neighborhood.

But it also contains a
bombshell: Her precious

cat, Sugar - is missing.

RITA KOLANDER: It said,
"Sugar disappeared two

weeks after you moved, and
we have never found him,

never found a
trace of him."

Shatner: Rita and her
mother are stunned.

They begin to consider
the impossible.

If Sugar is no longer in
California, could the new

barn cat be Rita's
beloved pet?

RITA KOLANDER: I really
did not stop to think

through what it took for
that cat to cross the

desert, the mountains, and
the perils that he must

have come through.

I was too much interested in the
fact that I had my cat back.

Shatner: Did Sugar make
a fantastic journey?

In addition to deserts and
mountains, he would have

had to cross rivers,
forests , salt flats -

over 2,200 kilometres and
five different states.

Not to mention encounters
with deadly predators like

rattlesnakes,
coyotes and eagles... How?

RITA KOLANDER: He had to
be a pretty good little

hunter, and he had to be a
pretty smart little cat in

order to make that trip,
to know and to understand

where he was going.

Just some way he
knew where we were.

Shatner: Had
Sugar returned?

Rita's mother decides to
settle the matter once and

for all - a test only the
real Sugar would pass.

RITA KOLANDER: When Sugar
was a kitten, there was a

little bone that stuck
out on the left hip.

When you would pet it, you
would find you could feel

that bone and
it's very unusual.

Not something you'd
find in normal cats.

Shatner: If the farm cat
has this distinctive

deformity, it could
prove its Sugar.

RITA KOLANDER: She felt
the bone, and there it

was, the deformity.

So we knew at that point
that had to be Sugar.

How likely would you be
to find a cat of the same

colour, and the same size,
to have the same deformity?

Shatner: The Woods
family is dumbfounded.

How did Sugar find them?

RITA KOLANDER: I don't
have a clue in the world

how a cat would
make that journey.

How to follow someone to a
place they've never been.

That's, that's
a mystery to me.

Shatner: How did a
housecat cross five states

to a place it had
never been before?

Do animal's possess
navigational skills we are

yet to comprehend?

VERN BINGMAN: We certainly
know that animals have

sensory abilities
that we don't have.

Shatner: A house cat
named Sugar travels 2,200

kilometres to track
down his owner.

How could a domestic pet
find its way over

such vast distances?

Behavioral neurobiologist
Dr. Vern Bingman thinks

the answer lies in
something science has just

begun to understand.

VERN BINGMAN: We certainly
know that animals have

sensory abilities
that we don't have.

So birds can detect the earth's
magnetic field, we can't.

Sharks can detect electric
fields, we can't.

Bats hear high frequency
sounds, we can't.

Shatner: Another is the
ability to navigate.

Dr. Bingman believes it's
a skill domestic cats

inherited from
their wild cousins.

VERN BINGMAN: If you look
at lions in the African

Savannah, and even tigers
in some Indian jungle,

they have very large home
ranges and

they navigate quite well.

Domestic cats are capable
of carrying out these

kinds of navigational
computations to a place

they've never
been to before.

Shatner: Dr. Bingman
thinks Sugar was also

using a phenomena found
in her favourite snack - birds.

VERN BINGMAN: Birds in
general can take advantage

of the stars, the earth's
magnetic field, the sun,

to kind of establish
compass bearings, to

discriminate what we would call
north, south, east and west.

Shatner: Not only do
birds possess an internal

compass, they have
something else that's

extraordinary.

A GPS nose that lets them
smell their

way to their destination.

VERN BINGMAN: Homing
pigeons can use

atmospheric odors to navigate
over hundreds of kilometers.

Shatner: Dr. Bingman
believes Sugar could have

used those same scent cues to
navigate over vast distances.

VERN BINGMAN: Somehow the
animal, from thousands of

kilometers away, is able
to detect the smell and

follow a gradient, based
on that smell, to the home.

Shatner: Did Sugar detect
her owners' smell from

over 2,000
kilometres away?

Dr. Bingman
isn't surprised.

He's convinced there's
still much to learn about

animals' innate talents.

VERN BINGMAN: In the last
ten or fifteen years,

we've seen an enormous
growth among scientists

legitimately looking at
the remarkable cognitive

abilities of animals.

I've studied animal
behavior for long enough

to recognize that
nothing is impossible.

Shatner: Do animals
have super senses?

Are the best tracker
dogs - actually cats?

Or is this amazing story
just an incredible coincidence?

Professor of applied
cognition Dr. Graham Pike

doesn't believe cats
have super sniffers.

He thinks there's a much
simpler explanation.

GRAHAM PIKE: It's not a
particularly cat like

behavior to travel such a
long distance to somewhere

it's never been before.

Shatner: He believes the
cat that showed up in

Oklahoma wasn't Sugar.

It's all just a case
of mistaken identity.

GRAHAM PIKE: As a cat
lover, I'd love to believe

this story is true.

Everything I know about
how human memory works,

suggests to me that this
wasn't the same cat.

Shatner: Dr. Pike has
studied cases of mistaken

identity for
almost two decades.

He believes memory is
unreliable and easily

influenced by suggestion.

GRAHAM PIKE: Human memory
isn't as accurate

as we'd like to think.

Expectations have a very
powerful effect on memory.

If you expect something to
happen then you tend to

remember it happening.

Its just the way
memory works.

Shatner: But the cat in
Oklahoma had the same bone

deformity as Sugar.

How could that be?

Dr. Pike believes Rita's
mother got it wrong and

misremembered the shape
of Sugar's bone defect.

GRAHAM PIKE: Hip bone
deformity occurs in many cats.

There are many cats
that have that.

It wasn't that Sugar the
Cat had this hip bone

deformity no
other cat did.

Shatner: Dr. Pike is
convinced there was

another, even more
powerful factor

influencing Rita's mother:
she wanted the cat to be Sugar.

GRAHAM PIKE: If somebody
really wants to believe

something is true,
its actually not that

difficult to convince
yourself it is true.

What's far more likely,um,
is that the people once

they'd moved saw a cat
that was similar to the

one they'd left behind and
became convinced that it

was their cat and in fact
their memories

helped them with that.

The bottom line, says
Dr. Pike, is that the

family wanted a cat they
could love like Sugar.

GRAHAM PIKE: If you really
want to believe that the

cat you see in front of
you is your own cat, that

you feel guilty for
leaving your cat behind,

that you really want a new
cat to love then certainly

you can convince yourself
that this is the cat.

Shatner: So was the
Oklahoma Sugar an imposter?

Then how do we account for
the dozens of other cases

just like Sugar's?

MYRNA MILANI: Cats live in
a world that

we consider paranormal.

Shatner: A house cat makes
an epic cross-country

journey to find
its owners.

How did he do it?

Veterinarian Myrna Milani
is an animal psychologist.

MYRNA MILANI: My personal
feeling is that the human

animal bond is deeply,
deeply entrenched

probably right up there
with gravity in terms of

its influence.

Shatner: Dr. Milani
believes the mystery can

only be understood by
using the weirdest branch

of science known to
man: quantum physics.

She's convinced the bond
between Rita and her cat

is like the mysterious
force that enables some of

the smallest particles in
the universe to somehow

align their spin...

even when separated by
millions of kilometres.

MYRNA MILANI: Einstein
referred to that as spooky

action at a distance.

Because this doesn't
fit in in physics.

It can't happen
but it does.

And I think that's the
kind of thing that we're

dealing with.

William Shatner:
Woah woah woah.

Now wait just a minute.

I've been doing this show
now for a long time now

and it seems every
unexplainable mystery can

be explained by - quantum
physics - and frankly no

matter how many times they
tell me -

I still don't get it.

Spooky action?
What the heck is that?

Joined together
by electrons?

Can't they just lay it out
in simple terms for me? Oh.

Shatner: Dr. Milani thinks
this form of subatomic

communication lies at the
heart of Sugar's journey.

MYRNA MILANI: Sugar made
it uh, to her new home, to

her owners because she had
a strong,

clear bond with those people.

It was a clear signal.
Think of a radio signal...

somehow the cat picks up
on that and follows them.

Shatner: Do cats navigate
using super senses?

Are they invisibly linked
to their owners for eternity?

Or did Sugar simply
fool - everyone?

Weird or What?

Shatner: So there we
have it, stories of

extraordinary animal
powers from around the world.

In Germany, an octopus
predicts the winners of

World Cup soccer.

Can a sea creature
tell the future?

In Scotland, dogs
inexplicably throw

themselves off a bridge.

Do canines commit suicide?

And in Oklahoma, a cat
travels thousands of

kilometres to track
down his owners.

Are felines guided
by super senses?

Are these stories proof
that animals have

extraordinary powers?

Can we dismiss their
incredible exploits?

You decide.

William Shatner: Join me
next time for more stories

that will undoubtedly
be weird or what?