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- [Dan Aykroyd] Warning, what you are about to see
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could be disturbing to some viewers.
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(suspenseful music)
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Imagine an island so strange
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it drives a man insane.
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- He decides to pay homage to the deceased young girl
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with a shrine of thousands of dolls.
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- Or a village where, without warning,
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every living thing simply drops dead.
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- He begins seeing dead bodies around cooking fires,
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dead bodies in their homes.
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- Everything looks fine
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other than this weird, silent death scene.
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- How about a mysterious lake,
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where unknown forces result in macabre collection?
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- [Hakeem] What this turns up is completely unexpected.
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- [Don] Skeletons upon skeletons upon skeletons.
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- These are the places so surprising,
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they are truly unbelievable.
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(dramatic music)
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We've all heard tales about the Bermuda Triangle,
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everything from magnetic anomalies
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to sea monsters and aliens,
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but could there be an even stranger place
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in our own backyard?
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(suspenseful music) (thunder rumbling)
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- The Lake Michigan Triangle is shaped like a dagger.
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This section of Lake Michigan has, over the centuries,
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earned a reputation for a place
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where all kinds of weird things
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and disasters have taken place.
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- I mean, we're talking shipwrecks, drownings,
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disappearances, strange UFO sightings, and so forth.
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All of this is happening in an area that is minuscule
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compared to the Bermuda Triangle,
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but equal in strangeness.
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- The first notable thing to happen
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in the Lake Michigan Triangle
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goes way back to 1679.
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Rene-Robert Cavelier is a fur trader.
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He builds the largest ship
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on Lake Michigan at the time, Le Griffon.
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- This is a huge ship.
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It is a 45-ton, seven cannon barque.
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- It's loaded with fur and he and the crew
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really think they're about to make bank.
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- It really indicates how rich this guy really wants to get.
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This is all about getting the furs out of the Midwest,
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up the St. Lawrence River, and back to Europe.
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So the ship's ready to set sail,
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but just before they go,
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the Native Americans there warn them
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that the lake is known for these strange and sudden squalls.
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The weather can just come out of nowhere.
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They hear the warning,
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but they don't have time for this local superstition
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and they're not gonna be held back.
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- [Dan] Cavelier ignores the warnings,
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ordering his loaded ship to set sail
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while he waits behind for more furs.
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Le Griffon heads off into the triangle and vanishes.
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- There's no evidence of a storm.
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There's no evidence of weird weather taking the ship down.
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There's no evidence of piracy.
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- There's no wreckage. There are no survivors.
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It's gone.
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- Is there any evidence
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of this incredibly expensive load of furs anywhere?
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No, their disappearance is a total mystery.
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- That boat is gone and 340 years later,
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we still do not know what happened.
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- [Dan] Le Griffon may be the first ship
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to fall victim to the Michigan Triangle,
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but it's hardly the last or the strangest.
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(dramatic music)
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- In August of 1875,
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this hundred foot schooner, The Rosabelle,
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is found floating upside down in Lake Michigan.
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Hull in the air, no damage to the boat.
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The weird thing is the 11 man crew is gone, disappeared.
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No bodies in the water, they seem to just have vanished.
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- There's no evidence of any kind of foul play
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or bad weather.
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The ship is in such good condition, they're able
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to right The Rosabelle and put it back to work.
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- [Holly] And it has 50 years of fine service.
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- [Dan] That is, until an unbelievable case of deja vu.
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- On October 30th, 1921,
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the ship is going out the next day with a load of lumber,
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but the captain, Ed Johnson,
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is having a premonition of something terrible happening.
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- So, the captain is filled with dread
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and doesn't wanna board the ship
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and decides he doesn't feel right, can't explain it,
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doesn't wanna get onboard the ship.
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- Less than 24 hours later,
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the ship is found floating upside down
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and the same exact thing happens.
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11 members are missing for the second time.
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- The odds of this particular event
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reoccurring, the same exact ship,
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same situation, same circumstances,
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no evidence, crew disappears.
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I mean, that's just too uncanny.
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The odds are impossible.
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So when people start hearing about this particular event,
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even the skeptics are convinced.
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Something's going on out there.
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(loon calling)
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- Over the next hundred years,
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the triangle claims hundreds more ships,
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prompting countless searches for evidence,
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but resulting in no definite answers.
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Then in 2007, archeologists make an astonishing discovery.
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(tense music)
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- A team of faculty and students
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from Northwest Michigan College begin doing sonar scans
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in order to find shipwrecks,
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but they find something they weren't looking for,
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a formation of rocks seemingly intentionally put there
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by people under 40 feet of water.
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- [Dan] What could these possibly be?
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- One of the stones appears also to have a carving on it
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of a mastodon.
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Now, the mastodon went extinct about 10,000 years ago,
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which would suggest that this is a really old rock formation
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and that maybe in fact, even though it's underwater now,
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it might've been on the edge
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of what was Lake Michigan at the time.
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- [Dan] The discovery is a sensation.
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Some dub it America's Underwater Stonehenge.
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But who put these stones here and why?
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(thunder rumbling)
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- One theory put forward by paranormal investigators
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is that given the dark history of disasters in the lake,
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that this may be some sort of warning
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to people on shore.
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We don't know.
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- It's not just the water that's strange here.
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The next time you head to Chicago,
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you might want to check your flight path.
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(tense music) (thunder rumbling)
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- On June 23rd, 1950, Northwest Orient Flight 2501,
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carrying 55 passengers and three crew,
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leaves LaGuardia headed to Minneapolis.
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- And the weather is not so great.
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It's raining. It's a bit stormy.
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At about 11:00 PM, the captain radios air control and says,
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"I'd like to drop down to 2,500 feet."
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Essentially, come under the storm.
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- Not strange request, perfectly natural,
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but at that point,
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the DC-4 completely disappears off the radar.
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(dramatic music) (thunder rumbling)
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Local witnesses explained
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that they had seen a huge flash in the night sky
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about the time when this would've happened.
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The Coast Guard goes out into Lake Michigan
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to find this plane has gone down.
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They see nothing.
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- And then, things start showing up,
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people's clothes, people's luggage.
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It gets a little grisly, because then bodies
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and moreover, parts of bodies start showing up.
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- [Dan] The one thing they never find, the plane.
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- What's weird is that we found the Titanic
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at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
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This is only 60 feet deep.
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They can't find a jet airplane?
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- There's no fuselage, no chunk of wing anywhere.
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It's just gone.
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- [Dan] Since flight 2501,
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dozens more planes have disappeared here.
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But if you think you can avoid the triangle's pull
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by staying on dry land, think again.
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- Stephen Kubacki, 23 year old college student,
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Hope College, is cross country skiing near Saugatuck.
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A couple hours later,
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some snowmobilists find his gear in the snow.
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The police show up, they arrive on the scene.
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- They find footprints leading out
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onto the ice of Lake Michigan,
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but then they sort of disappear.
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So, they can only assume
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that he fell through the ice and drowned,
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but there's no sign of any broken ice.
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- [Sami] Stephen Kubacki is presumed dead.
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- There's memorial service
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and they decide to list him as an accidental drowning,
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even though the ice wasn't broken.
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- 15 months later,
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Stephen Kubacki awakens in a field
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in clothes that don't belong to him near his aunt's house,
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700 miles away in Massachusetts.
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(suspenseful music)
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He has no recollection of how he got there at all.
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- It's a very strange story
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and he does talk to the press, talks to the newspapers,
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but at a certain point decides to go into radio silence
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and never talk about it again.
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So, it remains one of these
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great Lake Michigan Triangle mysteries.
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(tense music)
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- Today, Steve lives a quiet life in the Pacific Northwest,
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thousands of miles away from Michigan's strange triangle.
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- The next stop on our strange places journey
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takes us just outside of Mexico City
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to an island overrun with... dolls?
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(suspenseful music)
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- Outside of Mexico City
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is one of the strangest places on Earth.
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Why? Because there are over 4,000 mutilated dolls
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tied to the fences, to the trees,
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and spread around everywhere on this island.
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- [Dan] But this area's strange origins
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go back long before the dolls took over.
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- It's the 16th century
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and the Spanish Conquistadors
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are invading the Aztec Empire.
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What's called Tenochtitlan,
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which would later become Mexico City,
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is the capital of the Aztec Empire.
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What we think of being in a high altitude basin
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is actually a massive lake with manmade islands,
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canals, and causeways all through it.
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(suspenseful music)
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- So, some of the earliest, darkest tales
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about these islands really emerge in this period,
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and they come from the Conquistadors
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who, when they fall off these islands,
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because of their heavy armor, sink, never to be seen again.
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And this leads to some of the mythology about them
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being haunted or spiritually guarded places.
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(tense music)
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By the 20th century, these islands are still attractive
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to people who want to be off the grid,
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and that's the case with Don Julian Santana Barrera,
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who has a falling out with his family
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and decides to go to one of these islands.
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- [Dan] And that's when things start to get a little weird.
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- The lore is that at some point, he finds the body
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of a drowned child, a drowned girl,
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but he also finds a doll nearby that he believes is hers.
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And he hangs the doll up as this way to honor her.
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- He doesn't stop at this one doll.
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He decides to pay homage to the deceased young girl
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with a shrine of thousands upon thousands of dolls.
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- [Dan] Thousands of dolls hung from trees?
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What prompted this macabre memorial?
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- There is this sense that this discovery
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of a deceased child, which would be harrowing for anyone,
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is especially troubling to him
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and that this maybe has caused him
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to have some sort of break with reality
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or some sort of issue.
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He also is said to hear spirits,
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hers and possibly others.
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- He continues to hang dolls as part of superstition,
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or to honor this young girl, or to ward off evil spirits.
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He is so moved and scared of the bad omens
261
00:12:21,824 --> 00:12:23,951
that go with this tragedy
262
00:12:23,951 --> 00:12:27,037
that we assume he went absolutely crazy.
263
00:12:27,496 --> 00:12:30,291
- [Dan] Even stranger is what happens to Don Julian
264
00:12:30,291 --> 00:12:32,209
in April of 2001.
265
00:12:32,209 --> 00:12:35,421
- His nephew comes to visit him on the island
266
00:12:35,421 --> 00:12:39,592
and he finds Don Julian Barrera face down,
267
00:12:39,592 --> 00:12:42,261
drowned in the canal at age 80
268
00:12:42,261 --> 00:12:44,972
in almost the same spot that he alleged
269
00:12:44,972 --> 00:12:49,685
that he found the original girl so many years before.
270
00:12:50,269 --> 00:12:51,645
- [Dan] After Julian's death,
271
00:12:51,645 --> 00:12:54,356
tourists keep his peculiar tradition alive
272
00:12:54,356 --> 00:12:57,318
by adding their own dolls to the collection.
273
00:12:57,818 --> 00:12:59,528
- Dolls are created in our image,
274
00:12:59,528 --> 00:13:02,698
so it doesn't matter what your belief system is,
275
00:13:02,698 --> 00:13:07,536
to see 4,000 mutilated dolls hanging from trees.
276
00:13:07,536 --> 00:13:11,123
An island full of that would drive anybody crazy.
277
00:13:11,665 --> 00:13:15,211
- Today, Gondola like boats called trajineras
278
00:13:15,211 --> 00:13:18,255
take the curious out for a closer look,
279
00:13:18,255 --> 00:13:20,341
but only during daylight hours.
280
00:13:20,341 --> 00:13:24,929
The island is strictly off limits to visitors after dark.
281
00:13:25,471 --> 00:13:29,517
If an island of Chuckys doesn't make your spine tingle,
282
00:13:29,517 --> 00:13:31,018
our next place will.
283
00:13:31,018 --> 00:13:33,854
20 miles off the coast of Brazil is an island
284
00:13:33,854 --> 00:13:37,441
that visitors are prohibited from setting foot on.
285
00:13:37,441 --> 00:13:38,651
Why?
286
00:13:38,651 --> 00:13:41,153
The answer is unbelievable.
287
00:13:41,153 --> 00:13:42,738
(snakes hissing) (tense music)
288
00:13:42,738 --> 00:13:46,158
- There's approximately five snakes per square meter.
289
00:13:46,158 --> 00:13:48,327
That is a ton of snakes.
290
00:13:48,327 --> 00:13:49,411
- By all accounts,
291
00:13:49,411 --> 00:13:53,415
it is essentially a moving carpet of serpents.
292
00:13:53,415 --> 00:13:55,334
(snakes hissing)
293
00:13:55,334 --> 00:13:59,839
- Snake Island is formed at the end of the last ice age
294
00:13:59,839 --> 00:14:04,718
when rising ocean waters isolate what had been a peninsula
295
00:14:04,718 --> 00:14:07,137
off the coast of Brazil and they make this island.
296
00:14:07,137 --> 00:14:11,308
And in doing so, they isolate a population of snakes.
297
00:14:11,308 --> 00:14:14,103
- [Dan] Specifically, one of the most venomous snakes
298
00:14:14,103 --> 00:14:17,481
in the world, the golden lancehead viper.
299
00:14:17,481 --> 00:14:19,233
- The golden lancehead population
300
00:14:19,233 --> 00:14:21,110
that's left on Snake Island
301
00:14:21,110 --> 00:14:23,946
quickly goes through all the available prey.
302
00:14:23,946 --> 00:14:26,198
And then, the only thing left to eat are birds,
303
00:14:26,198 --> 00:14:28,075
which they don't normally eat.
304
00:14:28,075 --> 00:14:29,285
And that forces them
305
00:14:29,285 --> 00:14:32,454
into some pretty tremendous evolutionary pathways.
306
00:14:32,454 --> 00:14:35,583
Now when a golden lancehead, which is a venomous snake,
307
00:14:35,583 --> 00:14:37,501
attacks its normal prey, a mammal,
308
00:14:37,501 --> 00:14:40,921
it bites it, the mammal walks away, doesn't get too far,
309
00:14:40,921 --> 00:14:42,548
and the snake can easily find it.
310
00:14:42,548 --> 00:14:45,259
But with birds, the bird can fly away
311
00:14:45,259 --> 00:14:46,802
and the snake doesn't get a meal.
312
00:14:46,802 --> 00:14:49,305
So, evolution favors golden lanceheads
313
00:14:49,305 --> 00:14:52,308
with more potent venom, so that they can bite a bird
314
00:14:52,308 --> 00:14:54,435
and have it die instantly.
315
00:14:54,435 --> 00:14:56,395
- The snakes on that island have a venom
316
00:14:56,395 --> 00:14:59,857
that is estimated to be five times as deadly
317
00:14:59,857 --> 00:15:02,610
as the venom for mainland snakes.
318
00:15:02,610 --> 00:15:04,945
- So, it's creating this kind of super snake
319
00:15:04,945 --> 00:15:07,489
on this island that can thrive.
320
00:15:08,115 --> 00:15:10,492
- [Dan] You would imagine no one in their right mind
321
00:15:10,492 --> 00:15:12,077
would ever set foot on this island.
322
00:15:12,077 --> 00:15:15,497
Rumor has it that sailors prefer to stay on burning boats
323
00:15:15,497 --> 00:15:19,710
rather than swim ashore here, but some have tried.
324
00:15:19,710 --> 00:15:21,795
(dramatic music)
325
00:15:21,795 --> 00:15:23,547
- And in the early 1900s,
326
00:15:23,547 --> 00:15:27,718
a group of entrepreneurial banana farmers
327
00:15:27,718 --> 00:15:29,470
go to Snake Island
328
00:15:29,470 --> 00:15:32,222
in the hopes of establishing a banana plantation.
329
00:15:32,222 --> 00:15:34,850
They burn down a bunch of vegetation
330
00:15:34,850 --> 00:15:36,936
to plant the banana fields
331
00:15:36,936 --> 00:15:40,731
and that's when they see all the snakes.
332
00:15:40,731 --> 00:15:43,359
They realize immediately this is not a place,
333
00:15:43,359 --> 00:15:45,027
not only not for a banana plantation,
334
00:15:45,027 --> 00:15:47,988
this is not a place for human beings to stay.
335
00:15:48,447 --> 00:15:50,574
- So in 1910, they decided to build a lighthouse
336
00:15:50,574 --> 00:15:53,577
to warn people to steer clear of this island.
337
00:15:53,577 --> 00:15:56,622
- It's probably a pretty difficult job description
338
00:15:56,622 --> 00:15:57,873
in that here you are invited
339
00:15:57,873 --> 00:16:00,960
to inhabit a very picturesque lighthouse on an island
340
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:05,381
inhabited by one of the most venomous snakes in the world
341
00:16:05,381 --> 00:16:06,507
and a lot of them.
342
00:16:06,507 --> 00:16:08,342
- So, they do find a lighthouse keeper
343
00:16:08,342 --> 00:16:09,677
who's willing to take this job
344
00:16:09,677 --> 00:16:12,763
and he brings his family to Snake Island.
345
00:16:12,763 --> 00:16:15,766
- [Dan] According to local lore, life on Snake Island
346
00:16:15,766 --> 00:16:18,560
goes about as well as you think it would.
347
00:16:19,269 --> 00:16:21,647
- The legend is, one night,
348
00:16:21,647 --> 00:16:24,692
supposedly someone left a window open,
349
00:16:24,692 --> 00:16:29,113
the snake slithered in and killed the entire family.
350
00:16:29,113 --> 00:16:30,698
(snake hissing)
351
00:16:30,698 --> 00:16:36,120
Snake Island is basically communicating to mankind,
352
00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:37,871
"You are not welcome here.
353
00:16:37,871 --> 00:16:39,248
You will die here."
354
00:16:39,248 --> 00:16:40,332
(snakes hissing)
355
00:16:40,332 --> 00:16:42,918
- [Dan] The lighthouse on Snake Island still stands today,
356
00:16:42,918 --> 00:16:45,170
but it is automated, so no human
357
00:16:45,170 --> 00:16:47,715
has to set foot anywhere near it.
358
00:16:47,715 --> 00:16:50,092
(snake hissing)
359
00:16:51,927 --> 00:16:55,389
- Caves, most people think of them as a fun place to visit,
360
00:16:55,389 --> 00:16:57,683
but the ancients believe they were portals
361
00:16:57,683 --> 00:17:00,477
connecting the living to the dead.
362
00:17:00,477 --> 00:17:02,813
When it comes to one cave in New Zealand,
363
00:17:02,813 --> 00:17:05,190
the ancients may be right.
364
00:17:05,190 --> 00:17:07,443
(dramatic music)
365
00:17:07,943 --> 00:17:10,863
- If you were to look at the north island of New Zealand,
366
00:17:10,863 --> 00:17:15,659
you would see rolling hills, sheep pastures,
367
00:17:15,659 --> 00:17:18,162
essentially the landscape of "Lord of the Rings."
368
00:17:18,162 --> 00:17:22,165
However, just below the surface, there are a series
369
00:17:22,165 --> 00:17:26,920
of limestone caves known as the Waitomo Caves.
370
00:17:27,671 --> 00:17:32,009
- [Dan] In the light of day, it's lovely, almost inviting.
371
00:17:32,009 --> 00:17:34,178
- But when night falls, Waitomo Cave
372
00:17:34,178 --> 00:17:37,639
becomes an entirely different kind of atmosphere.
373
00:17:37,639 --> 00:17:40,684
Strange, blue, neon lights, one at a time,
374
00:17:40,684 --> 00:17:42,519
begin to shine on the walls
375
00:17:42,519 --> 00:17:45,689
until you're looking at millions of them.
376
00:17:45,689 --> 00:17:48,275
(gentle music)
377
00:17:49,026 --> 00:17:51,445
- [Dan] What could account for this unearthly glow?
378
00:17:51,445 --> 00:17:56,533
Is it a strange new power source or something more sinister?
379
00:17:57,076 --> 00:18:00,412
- Their scientific name really says it all.
380
00:18:00,412 --> 00:18:04,458
They are called Arachnocampa luminosa.
381
00:18:04,458 --> 00:18:06,794
- [Dan] Also known as the glow worm,
382
00:18:06,794 --> 00:18:08,670
larvae of the fungus gnat.
383
00:18:08,670 --> 00:18:12,466
Their bioluminescence may seem beautiful from afar,
384
00:18:12,466 --> 00:18:15,052
but up close, it's anything but.
385
00:18:15,052 --> 00:18:19,306
- They combine these enzymes in their abdomen
386
00:18:19,306 --> 00:18:21,975
to form a chemical reaction that creates
387
00:18:21,975 --> 00:18:27,064
this urine tinged goop with this greenish blue glow.
388
00:18:27,064 --> 00:18:31,401
And they lower down tentacles, if you will,
389
00:18:31,401 --> 00:18:35,072
of this goop, literally in the scientific literature
390
00:18:35,072 --> 00:18:37,199
are called fishing lines.
391
00:18:37,741 --> 00:18:41,995
And then if a fly or a moth or some other insect
392
00:18:41,995 --> 00:18:44,414
gets tangled up in those sticky lines,
393
00:18:44,414 --> 00:18:47,835
the grub reels the line in and devours them.
394
00:18:48,502 --> 00:18:52,965
- [Dan] Their radiance is quite literally captivating.
395
00:18:52,965 --> 00:18:56,093
- And I have to say that I think horror movie directors
396
00:18:56,093 --> 00:18:58,220
have missed a great opportunity here.
397
00:18:58,220 --> 00:19:02,474
They often rely on the sort of giant spider routine
398
00:19:02,474 --> 00:19:03,600
and the big web.
399
00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:04,685
That's nothing.
400
00:19:04,685 --> 00:19:10,023
Imagine a moth being dragged up to the ceiling of the cave
401
00:19:10,023 --> 00:19:13,235
to be eaten alive by a glowing worm!
402
00:19:13,235 --> 00:19:16,989
Now, that's truly horrifying.
403
00:19:18,699 --> 00:19:21,285
- Strange? I'd say so.
404
00:19:21,285 --> 00:19:22,494
But if you can believe it,
405
00:19:22,494 --> 00:19:25,747
this glowing death trap isn't the strangest cave out there.
406
00:19:25,747 --> 00:19:29,751
That honor belongs to a killer cave in Africa.
407
00:19:29,751 --> 00:19:31,503
(suspenseful music)
408
00:19:31,503 --> 00:19:33,380
- Situated between Kenya and Uganda
409
00:19:33,380 --> 00:19:36,133
is a volcano called Mount Elgon.
410
00:19:36,133 --> 00:19:37,467
At the base of this mountain,
411
00:19:37,467 --> 00:19:42,014
there is a lush, green jungle and the opening to a cave.
412
00:19:42,014 --> 00:19:43,807
This is Kitum Cave.
413
00:19:44,474 --> 00:19:48,020
The cave mouth is very wide, but this is totally deceiving
414
00:19:48,020 --> 00:19:51,648
because once you get inside, there are steep drops
415
00:19:51,648 --> 00:19:54,401
and low ceilings that make it very, very difficult
416
00:19:54,401 --> 00:19:55,360
to navigate.
417
00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:56,737
- When you walk into Kitum Cave,
418
00:19:56,737 --> 00:19:59,698
you're pretty much guaranteed to encounter wildlife,
419
00:19:59,698 --> 00:20:02,409
everything from leopards and hyenas
420
00:20:02,409 --> 00:20:05,579
to buffalo and even elephants.
421
00:20:05,579 --> 00:20:08,040
- [Dan] In fact, elephants are part of the reason
422
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:10,292
the cave is 700 feet deep.
423
00:20:10,292 --> 00:20:13,629
- Elephants have learned
424
00:20:13,629 --> 00:20:16,256
that Kitum Cave is a source of salt.
425
00:20:16,256 --> 00:20:19,760
And for hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years now,
426
00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:21,845
they have visited that cave,
427
00:20:21,845 --> 00:20:27,226
raking their tusks against the walls to pry off these stones
428
00:20:27,226 --> 00:20:29,478
that are rich in salt to the degree
429
00:20:29,478 --> 00:20:32,814
that they have enlarged that cave.
430
00:20:32,814 --> 00:20:35,192
(suspenseful music)
431
00:20:35,692 --> 00:20:38,362
- [Dan] But something far more frightening than salt
432
00:20:38,362 --> 00:20:40,072
lurks in this cave.
433
00:20:40,697 --> 00:20:44,534
- In 1980, a 57 year old Frenchman visits the cave
434
00:20:44,534 --> 00:20:48,288
and leaves in awe of its beauty and grandeur.
435
00:20:48,288 --> 00:20:50,207
He also leaves with something else.
436
00:20:50,207 --> 00:20:51,959
(dramatic music) (coughing deeply)
437
00:20:51,959 --> 00:20:56,588
- In a couple days time, he starts feeling intensely sick
438
00:20:57,798 --> 00:21:00,884
and he starts noticing facial paralysis.
439
00:21:00,884 --> 00:21:05,764
In seven days, he starts vomiting a black bile.
440
00:21:05,764 --> 00:21:08,183
(dramatic music)
441
00:21:08,684 --> 00:21:12,729
His nose, ears, and eyes start bleeding uncontrollably.
442
00:21:12,729 --> 00:21:16,483
So, he immediately hops on a plane to Nairobi,
443
00:21:16,483 --> 00:21:19,569
the nearest major hospital.
444
00:21:19,569 --> 00:21:22,197
(suspenseful music)
445
00:21:23,865 --> 00:21:26,702
- He somehow manages to get to the hospital
446
00:21:26,702 --> 00:21:30,497
where he starts just vomiting up massive amounts of blood
447
00:21:31,206 --> 00:21:33,125
and finally dies.
448
00:21:34,376 --> 00:21:36,712
- [Dan] His devastating symptoms are consistent
449
00:21:36,712 --> 00:21:38,797
with those caused by a rare virus,
450
00:21:38,797 --> 00:21:40,924
one even deadlier than Ebola,
451
00:21:40,924 --> 00:21:44,219
the Marburg virus, named after the German City
452
00:21:44,219 --> 00:21:45,804
where it was first found.
453
00:21:45,804 --> 00:21:47,973
- Marburg is a viral hemorrhagic fever.
454
00:21:47,973 --> 00:21:50,434
In fact, Marburg is one of the deadliest viruses
455
00:21:50,434 --> 00:21:51,601
known to mankind.
456
00:21:51,601 --> 00:21:54,187
And in the military oftentimes, they refer
457
00:21:54,187 --> 00:21:57,566
to Marburg and Ebola viruses as crash and bleed.
458
00:21:57,566 --> 00:22:00,444
Meaning that it is such a dangerous virus
459
00:22:00,444 --> 00:22:05,866
that it has the ability for you to bleed out, essentially.
460
00:22:05,866 --> 00:22:10,329
- Every doctor is terrified that this could spread.
461
00:22:10,329 --> 00:22:14,082
Medical authorities retrace the Frenchman's steps
462
00:22:14,082 --> 00:22:17,002
and they lead it back to Kitum Cave.
463
00:22:17,002 --> 00:22:20,297
- Investigators visit the cave, but they can't find any clues.
464
00:22:20,297 --> 00:22:23,508
They can't find any indication of a virus.
465
00:22:24,843 --> 00:22:27,262
And the trail goes cold.
466
00:22:27,262 --> 00:22:29,348
(suspenseful music)
467
00:22:29,348 --> 00:22:31,141
- Flash forward seven years,
468
00:22:31,141 --> 00:22:35,687
it's 1987 and a very similar thing is happening.
469
00:22:36,188 --> 00:22:37,981
- [Dan] A Danish boy living in Kenya
470
00:22:37,981 --> 00:22:39,941
mysteriously bleeds to death.
471
00:22:39,941 --> 00:22:43,070
When he dies, scientists retrace his movements.
472
00:22:43,070 --> 00:22:46,156
They learn he was a recent visitor to,
473
00:22:46,156 --> 00:22:48,408
you guessed it, Kitum Cave.
474
00:22:48,408 --> 00:22:50,911
(suspenseful music)
475
00:22:50,911 --> 00:22:52,454
- All the ailments line up
476
00:22:52,454 --> 00:22:56,249
and medical authorities are again perplexed and terrified
477
00:22:56,249 --> 00:22:59,378
that we've got an infectious disease on our hands.
478
00:22:59,378 --> 00:23:01,171
- [Dan] A team is sent to investigate.
479
00:23:01,171 --> 00:23:03,965
Can they find out what's happening inside Kitum Cave
480
00:23:03,965 --> 00:23:07,844
without contracting whatever's inside Kitum Cave?
481
00:23:09,304 --> 00:23:11,098
- Just picture this job.
482
00:23:11,098 --> 00:23:15,519
I mean, you're suiting up in a biohazard suit
483
00:23:15,519 --> 00:23:16,645
to go look for evidence
484
00:23:16,645 --> 00:23:21,691
of perhaps the most dangerous illness known to mankind
485
00:23:21,691 --> 00:23:23,318
inside of a cave.
486
00:23:23,318 --> 00:23:26,863
- Rocks and caves tend to come in two types,
487
00:23:26,863 --> 00:23:28,865
super slippery and super sharp.
488
00:23:28,865 --> 00:23:32,202
So, think about what could happen to a hazmat suit.
489
00:23:32,202 --> 00:23:36,123
The risk is just very high being on this team.
490
00:23:36,123 --> 00:23:38,291
- [Dan] And it isn't just scientific experts
491
00:23:38,291 --> 00:23:40,168
putting their lives on the line.
492
00:23:40,168 --> 00:23:42,796
- In addition to gathering samples,
493
00:23:42,796 --> 00:23:46,508
the scientists leave behind literal guinea pigs,
494
00:23:46,508 --> 00:23:50,429
hoping that perhaps they will contract this virus.
495
00:23:50,429 --> 00:23:51,471
- [Dan] After seven days,
496
00:23:51,471 --> 00:23:54,391
the team leaves Kitum Cave unscathed.
497
00:23:54,891 --> 00:23:56,935
- This is a good news, bad news scenario.
498
00:23:56,935 --> 00:24:00,689
On one hand, nobody on the team has contracted Marburg.
499
00:24:00,689 --> 00:24:03,191
The bad news is they couldn't find any evidence
500
00:24:03,191 --> 00:24:05,360
of the disease inside the cave.
501
00:24:06,528 --> 00:24:09,823
- [Dan] For 20 years, the source of this deadly virus
502
00:24:09,823 --> 00:24:11,324
remains a mystery.
503
00:24:11,867 --> 00:24:16,288
Until 2007, when miners near Kitum gets sick.
504
00:24:16,746 --> 00:24:20,000
- The Kitaka Mine joins Kitum Cave.
505
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,086
So there, all of a sudden, we've got it.
506
00:24:23,086 --> 00:24:24,504
Finally, scientists go in
507
00:24:24,504 --> 00:24:27,549
and they find a species of Egyptian bat
508
00:24:27,549 --> 00:24:30,594
whose waste holds this virus.
509
00:24:30,594 --> 00:24:32,345
(dramatic music)
510
00:24:32,345 --> 00:24:33,472
- [Dan] As it turns out,
511
00:24:33,472 --> 00:24:38,059
the mysterious killer at Kitum is bat poop.
512
00:24:38,059 --> 00:24:40,061
- In the depths of the cave,
513
00:24:40,061 --> 00:24:43,857
there is a roosting site for the Egyptian fruit bat.
514
00:24:43,857 --> 00:24:46,109
It looks sort of like a flying teddy bear,
515
00:24:46,109 --> 00:24:51,198
but it's also potentially a host for the Marburg virus.
516
00:24:51,198 --> 00:24:53,074
And it seems possible then
517
00:24:53,074 --> 00:24:55,869
that people might contract the virus
518
00:24:55,869 --> 00:25:01,082
by inhaling the desiccated droppings of these bats.
519
00:25:02,250 --> 00:25:05,670
- [Dan] And there may be more killers inside the cave.
520
00:25:06,129 --> 00:25:08,131
- There's a lot of unknowns in Kitum Cave.
521
00:25:08,131 --> 00:25:11,468
We have no idea, you know, what other viruses,
522
00:25:11,468 --> 00:25:13,803
or bacteria, or fungi live there
523
00:25:13,803 --> 00:25:15,472
that we are yet to discover.
524
00:25:15,472 --> 00:25:19,768
It is a cave that many call the hellhole for a reason.
525
00:25:20,477 --> 00:25:23,772
- Believe it or not, guided tours of Kitum are available,
526
00:25:23,772 --> 00:25:27,901
But if you do plan a visit, bring a hazmat suit.
527
00:25:29,361 --> 00:25:29,945
(suspenseful music)
528
00:25:30,070 --> 00:25:31,905
Do you believe in ghosts?
529
00:25:31,905 --> 00:25:33,949
For me, it's never been a question.
530
00:25:33,949 --> 00:25:37,744
My great-grandfather was a spiritualist psychic researcher
531
00:25:37,744 --> 00:25:40,830
and my father wrote a book about mediumship.
532
00:25:40,830 --> 00:25:41,831
It's what inspired me
533
00:25:41,831 --> 00:25:44,209
to write the screenplay for "Ghostbusters."
534
00:25:44,209 --> 00:25:46,211
I've had my own weird experiences,
535
00:25:46,211 --> 00:25:50,048
but none compare to a place in Louisville, Kentucky,
536
00:25:50,048 --> 00:25:53,552
dubbed the most haunted building in America.
537
00:25:53,552 --> 00:25:56,137
(suspenseful music)
538
00:25:58,014 --> 00:26:00,767
- The Waverly Hills Sanatorium was built in 1910
539
00:26:00,767 --> 00:26:03,645
and it's one of many such sanatoriums across the country,
540
00:26:03,645 --> 00:26:08,024
because it deals with patients suffering from tuberculosis.
541
00:26:08,024 --> 00:26:09,943
- TB is a bacterial disease,
542
00:26:09,943 --> 00:26:13,655
and so before the invention of antibiotics,
543
00:26:13,655 --> 00:26:15,657
the treatment was to isolate people.
544
00:26:15,657 --> 00:26:18,868
- They don't have an effective vaccine for tuberculosis
545
00:26:18,868 --> 00:26:20,912
and so, they have these sanatoriums
546
00:26:20,912 --> 00:26:23,540
that are set up to essentially isolate
547
00:26:23,540 --> 00:26:26,751
and quarantine individuals that have tuberculosis.
548
00:26:26,751 --> 00:26:28,461
Give them rest and fresh air
549
00:26:28,461 --> 00:26:30,839
that they consider treatment back then.
550
00:26:31,339 --> 00:26:34,259
- Because tuberculosis has a 50% mortality rate,
551
00:26:34,259 --> 00:26:38,096
tens of thousands of people will take their last breath
552
00:26:38,096 --> 00:26:39,639
at Waverley Sanatorium.
553
00:26:39,639 --> 00:26:42,183
(tense music)
554
00:26:43,143 --> 00:26:45,645
- Some days are so bad at the sanatorium
555
00:26:45,645 --> 00:26:48,607
that six people a day are dying.
556
00:26:48,607 --> 00:26:51,026
- [Dan] With statistics like these,
557
00:26:51,026 --> 00:26:53,278
death is a constant presence.
558
00:26:54,321 --> 00:26:56,781
- When people die from tuberculosis,
559
00:26:56,781 --> 00:27:00,702
the staff carts the bodies through a particular tunnel
560
00:27:00,702 --> 00:27:03,872
to keep them out of sight from all the other patients
561
00:27:03,872 --> 00:27:06,291
so as to not lower morale.
562
00:27:07,125 --> 00:27:10,462
- And this underground tunnel is given the name
563
00:27:11,004 --> 00:27:14,549
the body chute, or death tunnel.
564
00:27:14,549 --> 00:27:17,218
It is a downhill sloping tunnel
565
00:27:17,218 --> 00:27:20,847
and it is about 500 yards long.
566
00:27:20,847 --> 00:27:24,768
Essentially taking the dead bodies from the morgue
567
00:27:24,768 --> 00:27:27,937
to where they are going to be disposed.
568
00:27:27,937 --> 00:27:31,358
And that tunnel sees
569
00:27:31,358 --> 00:27:34,069
thousands of dead bodies
570
00:27:34,069 --> 00:27:38,031
moving through it throughout the TB outbreak.
571
00:27:38,031 --> 00:27:40,200
- [Dan] This probably doesn't shock anybody,
572
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:45,413
but an abandoned hospital with a body count of more than 6,000
573
00:27:45,997 --> 00:27:49,876
is the perfect recipe for one hell of a haunted house.
574
00:27:49,876 --> 00:27:52,212
(tense music)
575
00:27:52,837 --> 00:27:58,385
- The belief is that there is so much psychological trauma
576
00:27:58,385 --> 00:28:00,595
trapped by these dead souls
577
00:28:00,595 --> 00:28:05,100
that they now haunt the Waverly Hills Sanatorium.
578
00:28:05,100 --> 00:28:09,145
People who go there report seeing shadow people,
579
00:28:09,145 --> 00:28:11,064
seeing apparitions.
580
00:28:11,064 --> 00:28:13,942
- There are people who say that they see orbs
581
00:28:13,942 --> 00:28:14,984
that they've witnessed.
582
00:28:14,984 --> 00:28:17,570
That there are these strange spirits lurking around.
583
00:28:17,570 --> 00:28:21,241
And there are even reports that the lights are coming on
584
00:28:21,241 --> 00:28:23,868
at a time when there isn't working electricity
585
00:28:23,868 --> 00:28:25,286
in the building.
586
00:28:26,788 --> 00:28:29,791
- [Dan] But that is just a small sampling of the hauntings
587
00:28:29,791 --> 00:28:31,084
at the sanatorium.
588
00:28:31,084 --> 00:28:33,211
Depending on what you're into,
589
00:28:33,211 --> 00:28:37,090
room 502 is a place you either want to visit
590
00:28:37,090 --> 00:28:39,050
or avoid like the plague.
591
00:28:40,385 --> 00:28:41,594
- You have the case of Mary Lee.
592
00:28:41,594 --> 00:28:44,389
She's a nurse at Waverley Hills at the sanatorium.
593
00:28:44,389 --> 00:28:46,349
She contracts tuberculosis.
594
00:28:46,349 --> 00:28:49,686
She also becomes pregnant by one of the hospital's doctors
595
00:28:49,686 --> 00:28:53,064
and she can't cope with the fact that she's sick
596
00:28:53,064 --> 00:28:55,692
and the fact that she's also with child,
597
00:28:55,692 --> 00:28:58,903
and so she ends up hanging herself in room 502.
598
00:28:58,903 --> 00:29:02,407
Mary Lee's body is not found for days.
599
00:29:02,991 --> 00:29:05,452
Two years later, there's another nurse
600
00:29:05,952 --> 00:29:09,873
that jumps to her death from the window of room 502.
601
00:29:10,415 --> 00:29:14,502
So, people that are studying hauntings at Waverly Hills
602
00:29:14,502 --> 00:29:16,880
say that room 502 is the epicenter
603
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:18,923
of a lot of this negative energy.
604
00:29:18,923 --> 00:29:21,426
(tense music)
605
00:29:21,968 --> 00:29:23,428
- There was a photo taken
606
00:29:23,428 --> 00:29:26,139
and standing in the doorway of room 502
607
00:29:26,139 --> 00:29:31,936
is the figure of a woman looking baleful and scary,
608
00:29:32,812 --> 00:29:34,939
maybe even a little angry.
609
00:29:35,398 --> 00:29:38,485
And the resemblance to Mary is uncanny.
610
00:29:38,943 --> 00:29:41,946
- [Dan] If you prefer your ghosts a little less frightening
611
00:29:41,946 --> 00:29:45,909
and a little more friendly in a creepy sort of way,
612
00:29:46,785 --> 00:29:49,245
there's always Timmy.
613
00:29:49,245 --> 00:29:50,955
(tense music)
614
00:29:50,955 --> 00:29:53,833
- Timmy's appeared in two different photos
615
00:29:53,833 --> 00:29:58,338
and people report hearing child's laughter.
616
00:29:58,338 --> 00:30:01,800
People report hearing a ball bouncing.
617
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:05,887
If you go there and bring a rubber ball
618
00:30:05,887 --> 00:30:08,473
and roll it down a hallway,
619
00:30:08,973 --> 00:30:12,685
Timmy will supposedly roll it back to you.
620
00:30:13,353 --> 00:30:15,146
- [Dan] Is it possible these encounters
621
00:30:15,146 --> 00:30:17,357
with Timmy and Mary are real?
622
00:30:18,650 --> 00:30:21,694
- There is a theory that some physicists posit
623
00:30:21,694 --> 00:30:25,740
that human beings are these bio electromagnetic beings
624
00:30:25,740 --> 00:30:28,827
and that our bodies, when we're in a place,
625
00:30:28,827 --> 00:30:33,164
leave a sort of marker or shadow behind.
626
00:30:33,164 --> 00:30:36,501
- Maybe what are perceived as ghosts or spirits and things
627
00:30:36,501 --> 00:30:38,419
are actually just sort of residuals
628
00:30:38,419 --> 00:30:39,879
from that electrical activity.
629
00:30:39,879 --> 00:30:40,922
That's what they say.
630
00:30:40,922 --> 00:30:42,465
Even if people don't believe in all that stuff,
631
00:30:42,465 --> 00:30:44,801
it certainly is a place that if you were to walk into,
632
00:30:44,801 --> 00:30:46,427
it would give you a funny feeling.
633
00:30:46,427 --> 00:30:48,763
- There's a reason so many years later,
634
00:30:48,763 --> 00:30:52,225
paranormal investigators are drawn to spaces like Waverly.
635
00:30:52,225 --> 00:30:54,936
People want to know, if there's an afterlife,
636
00:30:54,936 --> 00:30:57,063
where's the best place to uncover it
637
00:30:57,063 --> 00:30:59,941
and it's generally at sites of mass death.
638
00:31:00,692 --> 00:31:03,736
- Now, that's a place I genuinely wanna visit.
639
00:31:03,736 --> 00:31:07,365
I'll just need to remember my proton pack and a trap.
640
00:31:11,911 --> 00:31:14,956
- It's September, 1942, and high up in the Himalayas,
641
00:31:14,956 --> 00:31:17,584
Indian Forest Ranger H.K. Madhwal
642
00:31:17,584 --> 00:31:20,420
is collecting samples of local flowers.
643
00:31:20,420 --> 00:31:24,757
That's when he stumbles on a small, glacial lake.
644
00:31:24,757 --> 00:31:27,260
(dramatic music)
645
00:31:28,887 --> 00:31:31,514
- As the lakes water has receded,
646
00:31:31,514 --> 00:31:35,935
this Indian forest officer noticed bones,
647
00:31:36,519 --> 00:31:38,229
and then more bones.
648
00:31:38,897 --> 00:31:40,899
- He's seeing skulls. He's seeing hands.
649
00:31:40,899 --> 00:31:43,026
He's seeing all kinds of features
650
00:31:43,026 --> 00:31:46,821
and he realizes he's looking at human skeletons.
651
00:31:46,821 --> 00:31:49,991
Skeletons upon skeletons upon skeletons.
652
00:31:50,909 --> 00:31:54,370
- Eventually, about 500 skeletons
653
00:31:54,370 --> 00:31:56,956
are discovered in Roopkund Lake.
654
00:31:56,956 --> 00:31:57,999
- [Dan] From this moment on,
655
00:31:57,999 --> 00:32:01,586
Roopkund Lake is forever known as Skeleton Lake
656
00:32:02,170 --> 00:32:04,672
for 500 obvious reasons.
657
00:32:04,672 --> 00:32:07,091
But that still leaves one question.
658
00:32:07,550 --> 00:32:09,802
How on Earth did the bodies get there?
659
00:32:09,802 --> 00:32:12,263
- When he reports back that he's found this,
660
00:32:12,263 --> 00:32:13,848
the first thing people start thinking
661
00:32:13,848 --> 00:32:17,393
is that this is a Japanese invasion force.
662
00:32:17,393 --> 00:32:19,145
This is a time when Great Britain
663
00:32:19,145 --> 00:32:20,730
is still in control of India.
664
00:32:20,730 --> 00:32:24,025
So, the thinking is that the Japanese were attacking India
665
00:32:24,025 --> 00:32:26,027
as a way to strike Great Britain.
666
00:32:26,027 --> 00:32:27,278
But that doesn't really hold up,
667
00:32:27,278 --> 00:32:30,114
because when you actually look at the various accoutrements
668
00:32:30,114 --> 00:32:31,115
that are with these skeletons,
669
00:32:31,115 --> 00:32:33,826
they're not contemporary military gear.
670
00:32:33,826 --> 00:32:36,537
- It doesn't look like modern tools or modern clothing.
671
00:32:36,537 --> 00:32:40,375
There's these leather slippers, there are these spearheads.
672
00:32:40,375 --> 00:32:43,920
What army is using spears in World War II?
673
00:32:44,379 --> 00:32:46,047
- [Dan] As the war comes to an end,
674
00:32:46,047 --> 00:32:47,423
investigators turn their attention
675
00:32:47,423 --> 00:32:50,593
back to the skeletons in Skeleton Lake.
676
00:32:50,593 --> 00:32:54,639
- The first serious study of what these skeletons are
677
00:32:54,639 --> 00:32:57,100
really happens in the 1950s after the war.
678
00:32:57,100 --> 00:33:00,019
The first theory is that these are some sort of holy men
679
00:33:00,019 --> 00:33:01,980
who committed a mass suicide.
680
00:33:01,980 --> 00:33:03,606
But when they look closer at the bones,
681
00:33:03,606 --> 00:33:05,566
I mean these are men, women, and children,
682
00:33:05,566 --> 00:33:07,652
so that's not likely.
683
00:33:08,152 --> 00:33:10,655
- There is also an idea that these people
684
00:33:10,655 --> 00:33:13,241
were all part of some huge epidemic
685
00:33:13,241 --> 00:33:14,867
and that they are trying to stay away
686
00:33:14,867 --> 00:33:18,079
from the rest of the population for everyone else's safety
687
00:33:18,079 --> 00:33:20,915
by all moving to this lake area.
688
00:33:21,624 --> 00:33:22,792
This doesn't really hold up either
689
00:33:22,792 --> 00:33:25,628
because none of the evidence on those skeletons
690
00:33:25,628 --> 00:33:28,464
suggest the kind of, like, degradation or disease
691
00:33:28,464 --> 00:33:29,882
that would've been part of that story.
692
00:33:29,882 --> 00:33:33,094
So, that's one more that we can, (clicks) right out the window.
693
00:33:33,094 --> 00:33:36,097
- Based on an evaluation of some of the skulls,
694
00:33:36,097 --> 00:33:37,515
they showed damage,
695
00:33:37,515 --> 00:33:41,894
unhealed wounds that happened to the skull.
696
00:33:41,894 --> 00:33:43,896
- A theory that's a little more lore bound
697
00:33:43,896 --> 00:33:47,942
that adds a layer to that is that the goddess Nanda Devi
698
00:33:47,942 --> 00:33:50,945
strikes down pilgrims, who were not behaving
699
00:33:50,945 --> 00:33:53,781
and that this is evidence of her wrath.
700
00:33:53,781 --> 00:33:55,992
- Perhaps there was a once in a century,
701
00:33:55,992 --> 00:34:00,246
once in millennium hailstorm of giant hail
702
00:34:00,246 --> 00:34:02,331
and people were just caught out in the open
703
00:34:02,331 --> 00:34:03,708
and they were hit on the head
704
00:34:03,708 --> 00:34:05,543
by these giant hailstorms and passed away.
705
00:34:05,543 --> 00:34:07,754
- [Dan] What caused these mysterious deaths
706
00:34:07,754 --> 00:34:10,339
remains, well, a mystery.
707
00:34:10,339 --> 00:34:14,844
Then in 2019, investigators tried DNA testing,
708
00:34:14,844 --> 00:34:16,179
hoping for answers.
709
00:34:16,179 --> 00:34:20,433
- What this turns up is completely unexpected.
710
00:34:21,059 --> 00:34:24,270
It turns out that their origins were from widespread places
711
00:34:24,270 --> 00:34:27,356
across the globe, Southeast Asia, India,
712
00:34:27,356 --> 00:34:29,859
around the Mediterranean, Greece.
713
00:34:29,859 --> 00:34:33,862
The other problem, it stretched over centuries.
714
00:34:33,862 --> 00:34:36,532
- The biggest mystery of Skeleton Lake
715
00:34:36,532 --> 00:34:41,120
is the fact that this wasn't one mass death event,
716
00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:42,580
but numerous events
717
00:34:42,580 --> 00:34:45,291
spread across as long as a thousand years,
718
00:34:45,291 --> 00:34:49,879
involving people from as far away as Southeast Asia,
719
00:34:49,879 --> 00:34:52,465
as well as people from several locations
720
00:34:52,465 --> 00:34:54,007
in the Island of Crete.
721
00:34:54,007 --> 00:34:56,469
- [Dan] Rather than solving the mystery,
722
00:34:56,469 --> 00:34:58,763
the results just deepen it.
723
00:34:58,763 --> 00:35:00,306
- So, what is it about Skeleton Lake
724
00:35:00,306 --> 00:35:03,559
that made this strange phenomenon happen?
725
00:35:03,559 --> 00:35:04,977
Why did these people come
726
00:35:04,977 --> 00:35:06,646
and why did all these skeletons
727
00:35:06,646 --> 00:35:09,023
end up at the bottom of this lake?
728
00:35:09,023 --> 00:35:12,193
- In the world of science and engineering, we have a phrase,
729
00:35:12,193 --> 00:35:14,320
data solves argument.
730
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:15,196
Not here.
731
00:35:15,196 --> 00:35:17,281
The data has only made it a deeper mystery.
732
00:35:17,281 --> 00:35:22,036
So if you have any ideas, please let us know.
733
00:35:22,578 --> 00:35:25,623
- [Dan] Even after 70 years of speculation,
734
00:35:25,623 --> 00:35:29,418
Skeleton Lake defies explanation.
735
00:35:31,295 --> 00:35:34,966
- Sunday, July 13th, 1980, Nottinghamshire, England,
736
00:35:34,966 --> 00:35:39,470
a seemingly normal place on a seemingly normal day.
737
00:35:39,470 --> 00:35:43,516
That is, until something bizarre begins to unfold.
738
00:35:43,516 --> 00:35:45,810
(suspenseful music)
739
00:35:45,810 --> 00:35:47,103
- On this particular Sunday,
740
00:35:47,103 --> 00:35:49,897
they're having a marching band competition.
741
00:35:49,897 --> 00:35:51,023
This is a mining community,
742
00:35:51,023 --> 00:35:52,859
so there's hundreds of people there.
743
00:35:52,859 --> 00:35:56,154
Families having picnics, hanging out with each other.
744
00:35:56,154 --> 00:35:57,613
It's a joyous gathering.
745
00:35:57,613 --> 00:36:00,158
- And all of a sudden, some of the young people
746
00:36:00,158 --> 00:36:02,994
start to feel sick and to faint.
747
00:36:02,994 --> 00:36:05,538
First, it's one or two children,
748
00:36:05,538 --> 00:36:08,082
but then, it really picks up.
749
00:36:08,082 --> 00:36:09,709
- It's men, it's women,
750
00:36:09,709 --> 00:36:13,004
and it's children fainting all at once.
751
00:36:13,462 --> 00:36:16,048
- People start dropping right there in the field.
752
00:36:16,048 --> 00:36:18,718
Four, five, six people just fall to the ground
753
00:36:18,718 --> 00:36:20,678
and this starts to happen more and more.
754
00:36:20,678 --> 00:36:22,722
No one really understands what's happening,
755
00:36:22,722 --> 00:36:25,808
but people keep fainting all over the place.
756
00:36:26,559 --> 00:36:30,396
- [Dan] What could possibly be causing these fainting fits?
757
00:36:30,396 --> 00:36:32,356
- 300 people faint overall
758
00:36:32,356 --> 00:36:34,984
and 259 of them have to go to the hospitals.
759
00:36:34,984 --> 00:36:38,905
The symptoms are almost as strange as the fainting itself,
760
00:36:38,905 --> 00:36:41,657
vomiting, sore throat, irritated eyes.
761
00:36:41,657 --> 00:36:45,203
Some kids report that they can't feel their bones.
762
00:36:45,203 --> 00:36:47,496
- Even paralysis is described.
763
00:36:47,496 --> 00:36:50,833
- [Dan] At around 1:00 PM, people stopped collapsing
764
00:36:50,833 --> 00:36:53,336
almost as suddenly as they started.
765
00:36:53,878 --> 00:36:56,088
Terrified locals want to know why.
766
00:36:56,088 --> 00:36:59,508
- One theory is that there were pesticides that were in use
767
00:36:59,508 --> 00:37:01,510
that could have caused people to faint
768
00:37:01,510 --> 00:37:04,388
from inhaling the fumes of the pesticide.
769
00:37:04,931 --> 00:37:07,099
- Another theory has to do with the fact
770
00:37:07,099 --> 00:37:10,686
that Nottinghamshire is an old mining area
771
00:37:10,686 --> 00:37:13,981
and there are a number of old abandoned mines.
772
00:37:13,981 --> 00:37:17,777
These mines sometimes have gasses in them
773
00:37:17,777 --> 00:37:19,487
and the gases can escape
774
00:37:19,487 --> 00:37:22,698
and make people feel sick and pass out.
775
00:37:22,698 --> 00:37:24,742
- Another theory was that it had something to do
776
00:37:24,742 --> 00:37:27,286
with the portable toilets that were in the field.
777
00:37:27,286 --> 00:37:32,500
Maybe a mixture of cleaning supplies created some toxic gas
778
00:37:32,500 --> 00:37:34,126
that led to people fainting.
779
00:37:34,126 --> 00:37:37,338
People are affected across the entire field,
780
00:37:37,338 --> 00:37:38,547
not just near the toilets.
781
00:37:38,547 --> 00:37:40,758
So, that doesn't make any sense either.
782
00:37:40,758 --> 00:37:43,970
- [Dan] Even stranger, it happens just once.
783
00:37:43,970 --> 00:37:47,473
Is there something about the field itself that's to blame?
784
00:37:47,473 --> 00:37:49,684
- They still don't know what has happened
785
00:37:49,684 --> 00:37:52,895
and there's no real, satisfying answer.
786
00:37:53,646 --> 00:37:57,775
- [Dan] Our final strange place is beside a beautiful lake,
787
00:37:57,775 --> 00:38:00,278
one hiding a deadly secret.
788
00:38:01,862 --> 00:38:03,531
- It's a pretty average day
789
00:38:03,531 --> 00:38:06,158
for this young Cameroonian on his bicycle
790
00:38:06,158 --> 00:38:09,829
riding from his village to the neighboring village of Nyos.
791
00:38:09,829 --> 00:38:12,832
Well, he's riding down the road with his wagon behind him
792
00:38:12,832 --> 00:38:14,542
and he encounters a dead antelope
793
00:38:14,542 --> 00:38:15,751
right in the middle of the road.
794
00:38:15,751 --> 00:38:18,629
"Great," he thinks, "That's free meat to feed my family."
795
00:38:18,629 --> 00:38:21,507
Straps it to his wagon, continues on his way,
796
00:38:21,507 --> 00:38:24,093
only to encounter another dead antelope,
797
00:38:24,093 --> 00:38:27,096
and then dead rats, and dead cows,
798
00:38:27,096 --> 00:38:30,099
and all kinds of livestock are dead all around him
799
00:38:30,099 --> 00:38:32,393
and this isn't looking right at all.
800
00:38:32,393 --> 00:38:34,020
- And as he approaches the village,
801
00:38:34,020 --> 00:38:37,148
he realizes that it is freakishly silent.
802
00:38:37,148 --> 00:38:39,025
- So, he goes into one of the neighbor's houses
803
00:38:39,025 --> 00:38:41,068
and finds that all those people are dead.
804
00:38:41,068 --> 00:38:42,820
He goes to another house, same thing.
805
00:38:42,820 --> 00:38:46,449
- He begins seeing dead bodies around cooking fires,
806
00:38:46,449 --> 00:38:51,412
dead bodies sitting at tables, dead bodies in their homes.
807
00:38:51,412 --> 00:38:53,748
- He rides his bike to Lake Nyos,
808
00:38:53,748 --> 00:38:55,416
where that village is named for,
809
00:38:55,416 --> 00:38:57,960
and finds hundreds of dead bodies
810
00:38:57,960 --> 00:38:59,754
lying along the lake shore.
811
00:38:59,754 --> 00:39:00,838
(dramatic music)
812
00:39:00,838 --> 00:39:05,426
- Stranger still, there are no flies buzzing around.
813
00:39:05,426 --> 00:39:06,552
They're completely gone.
814
00:39:06,552 --> 00:39:09,055
- The buildings are all intact, everything looks fine
815
00:39:09,055 --> 00:39:12,391
other than this weird, silent death scene.
816
00:39:14,727 --> 00:39:19,315
- What you find here is 1,700 dead people,
817
00:39:19,315 --> 00:39:21,567
thousands of dead livestock.
818
00:39:21,567 --> 00:39:22,818
There's nothing left living,
819
00:39:22,818 --> 00:39:28,032
and even the tiny insects that feast on the dead
820
00:39:28,032 --> 00:39:29,742
are not even present.
821
00:39:29,742 --> 00:39:31,327
Everything has been killed off.
822
00:39:31,327 --> 00:39:33,579
What can you imagine is going on here?
823
00:39:33,579 --> 00:39:36,707
Has there been some sort of new weapon tested
824
00:39:36,707 --> 00:39:38,042
that does not leave a trace,
825
00:39:38,042 --> 00:39:39,877
but yet kills every living thing?
826
00:39:39,877 --> 00:39:42,004
It's the stuff of science fiction.
827
00:39:42,588 --> 00:39:45,633
- [Dan] Scientists from across Africa, the U.S.,
828
00:39:45,633 --> 00:39:48,177
and France are sent to investigate.
829
00:39:49,261 --> 00:39:52,348
What could cause such mass casualties?
830
00:39:52,890 --> 00:39:58,020
- Lake Nyos is sitting on top of a magma pool
831
00:39:58,020 --> 00:40:02,108
where carbon dioxide is venting continuously
832
00:40:02,108 --> 00:40:05,361
into the waters in the depths of the lake
833
00:40:05,361 --> 00:40:08,864
and reaching super high concentrations.
834
00:40:08,864 --> 00:40:11,325
- All these incredibly deadly gases
835
00:40:11,325 --> 00:40:14,453
are trapped in the more dense cold water
836
00:40:14,453 --> 00:40:15,621
at the bottom of the lake.
837
00:40:15,621 --> 00:40:18,874
There is a layer on top of that of warm water,
838
00:40:18,874 --> 00:40:20,334
which is less dense,
839
00:40:20,334 --> 00:40:23,379
but it acts like a cork sealing a bottle.
840
00:40:23,379 --> 00:40:26,966
- [Dan] Until something causes that cork to pop.
841
00:40:26,966 --> 00:40:29,885
- So, what happens at Lake Nyos is that there's a landslide
842
00:40:29,885 --> 00:40:33,806
and the landslide displaces some of the water at the surface
843
00:40:33,806 --> 00:40:37,476
allowing the carbon dioxide that's trapped below to escape.
844
00:40:37,476 --> 00:40:42,064
- That's what causes a limnic eruption to occur.
845
00:40:42,064 --> 00:40:43,983
Limnic meaning a lake eruption.
846
00:40:43,983 --> 00:40:47,945
And then, all of that trapped gas surges to the surface
847
00:40:47,945 --> 00:40:53,492
and suffocates any living thing that's caught in the cloud.
848
00:40:53,492 --> 00:40:55,661
(tense music)
849
00:40:55,661 --> 00:40:56,954
- [Dan] But what are the chances
850
00:40:56,954 --> 00:40:58,914
a tragedy like this could happen again?
851
00:40:58,914 --> 00:41:04,420
Experts worry that it's a question of not if, but when.
852
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:06,839
- There's another lake, Lake Kivu,
853
00:41:06,839 --> 00:41:10,551
that has 2 million people living around it.
854
00:41:10,551 --> 00:41:13,846
- If a similar disaster occurs there,
855
00:41:13,846 --> 00:41:16,474
estimates state that it could result
856
00:41:16,474 --> 00:41:20,644
in the deaths of 4 million people.
857
00:41:21,645 --> 00:41:23,898
Lake Kivu is without question
858
00:41:23,898 --> 00:41:29,320
and in no exaggerated terms, a ticking time bomb.
859
00:41:30,779 --> 00:41:33,282
- Yet another reminder that the world we live in
860
00:41:33,282 --> 00:41:35,993
can be as dangerous as it is fascinating.
861
00:41:35,993 --> 00:41:38,829
In fact, all these places trigger curiosity.
862
00:41:38,829 --> 00:41:42,541
We find ourselves drawn to the strange, the peculiar,
863
00:41:42,541 --> 00:41:45,002
and the downright unbelievable.
68063
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