All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S04E01.1080p.SCI.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.x264-BOOP

Narrator: Worldwide,

27 billion cameras
are watching us...

On our streets,
at work, and in our homes.

They capture things
that seem impossible.

It defies the laws of physics.

Man:
This is unbelievable, man.

Narrator: Experts carry out
forensic analysis

of these unusual events.

Now, that's an explosion.

There's got to be something
we're missing in this video.

Something we're not seeing,
right?

What else is going on here?

Narrator: Coming up...

In the mojave desert,
a man is rattled by a snake.

Kennedy: Oh, man,
I don't know what this is.

We don't know what it is,
it's in our airspace,

and we need to find out.

Narrator: In china, a delivery
driver erupts into flames.

Did we just witness
spontaneous human combustion?

Narrator: And found in russia,
the body that defies biology.

Szulgit:
It's really disturbing.

It's dried up
and desiccated and bizarre.

Oh, what the hell?

Narrator:
Near a mysterious temple,

a catastrophic blast.

Boom! Massive explosion.

Is there a connection between
this mysterious temple complex

and this explosion?

Narrator: A three-foot-tall
humanoid attacks.

It's like a little red demon
from hell.

This is potentially as big of
a find as landing on the moon.

Narrator: And locals suspect
ghostly manifestations

in England's spookiest store.

Alright, that's not possible.

What's doing that?

Narrator: Bizarre phenomenon.

Whoa.

Narrator:
Mysteries caught on camera.

What's the truth behind this
strange evidence?

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now in the mojave desert...

Kennedy:
Pull over or something.

A mysterious light
pulsates in the sky.

Oh, man.
I don't know what this is.

It twists and turns
against the wind,

as if powered
by an inhuman intelligence.

We're fully underneath
the thing.

There's no noise.

I mean, it moves
almost like it's alive.

Narrator: This is ground zero
for unexplained ufos.

We don't know what it is,
it's in our airspace,

and we need to find out.

Narrator: The mojave desert,
southern california,

over 47,000 square miles.

This is the driest desert
in north america,

but it isn't empty.

This sparsely populated place
is home to two thirds

of the marine corps
training facilities

and many secret
testing installations.

July 2019, just west of
the city of twentynine palms,

cody kennedy
and his girlfriend, monica,

are on a mission of mercy.

Kennedy: We spend a lot of our
nights, when it's warm out,

going through the desert
and finding rattlesnakes

and other species
of snakes on the road

and moving them out of the way.

So we're gonna let
this guy go here.

Just wanted to make sure
I didn't step on him.

It started to get too cold,

so we decided to wrap up
for the day and head home.

It was very dark out.

And then suddenly
everything changed.

We saw this bright light.

I immediately took my phone out
and started to film it.

Narrator:
Puzzled by what they see,

they drive towards the light.

Slow down. Stop, stop,
stop, stop, stop.

Kennedy:
I'm tired of seeing ufo footage,

and it's just blurry and grainy
and makes no sense.

And so I figured
I would try and be

the one that changed that

and see a ufo in the sky
and get perfect video of it.

Yeah, we're fully
underneath the thing.

There's no noise.

Figured if it was a drone,
you'd hear it.

Even a drone in a windy
situation will start wobbling.

And it didn't seem like
it would wobble at all.

Like, how...
How is that a thing?

How is there a ribbon
just in the air?

There's lights on it.
It's not moving.

Narrator: This can't be a plane,
a rocket or even a drone.

It looks like
a loose electrical cable,

but it's far too high up
and cables don't glow.

It seemed unnatural
but yet controlled somehow.

Oh, man, I don't know
what this is.

When the light vanished,

we were really weirded out,
for one thing,

because it had stayed lit
the entire time from the road

all the way through
the half-hour

that we were watching it

and why would it just suddenly
turn off when it hit the ground?

Narrator: Experts are baffled
by what this weird,

undulating light could be.

It doesn't look like any kind
of aircraft

or other drone or anything.
This one really doesn't look

like anything we see
on a regular basis.

I mean, it moves almost
like it's alive.

Narrator: This snakelike craft
isn't unique.

More have been reported
across the country.

Wolshon: There have been
examples of other incidents

just like this snake-like lights
in the sky.

There have been ones in wyoming
and in new york.

Narrator:
These things, whatever they are,

haven't just been
spotted on earth.

December 2, 1993,
nasa's sts-61 mission

films a similar weird object
369 miles above the atmosphere.

Astronaut story musgrave
reports a snakelike object

strikingly similar to whatever
cody filmed in the desert.

This doesn't look like
any technology

that I recognize.

I can't quite wrap my head
around

what it could be
other than the obvious,

"hey, it's some sort of ufo."

kennedy: What is this thing
in the sky?

Narrator: It sounds crazy,

but there are those
who will think this is a craft

or some other manifestation
of nonhuman, intelligent life.

For those that are willing
to consider such a possibility,

this area is rich in sightings.

Just 21 miles from here
is giant rock,

a 7-story freestanding boulder.

In 1953, george van tassel,
a former test pilot,

claims that he was visited
by an alien

who showed him his ship.

For decades, giant rock became
the ufo capital of the world.

Author erica lukes believes
that the location

the footage was filmed
could offer a vital clue.

Interestingly enough, this took
place in twentynine palms,

which is an aerial
testing facility,

one of the largest
in the united states.

Narrator: Twentynine palms
marine base

covers over 998
square miles of desert.

More than 12,500 personnel
are stationed here,

making this one of the most
secure locations in the country.

And so it gives them the ideal
cover for their testing.

Moran: It makes perfect sense
to me that the military

could be testing some
kind of advanced technology.

Narrator: Could this be a novel
military weapon?

Space historian amy teitel knows
the desert is an ideal location

to test anything secret.

The harsh climate
and sparse population

means there's little reason
for prying eyes to be out here.

In the mojave desert

saw a lot of american nuclear
testing during the cold war.

Now, though, it's where
a lot of companies

are working on spacecraft
and rocket development.

Narrator:
Mojave's spaceport is home

to more than 60 companies
engaged in flight development,

highly advanced aerospace
design and flight research.

Orzel:
So maybe this is something

that's being developed,
something experimental.

Narrator: There's some very
strange experiments

being done here,

but nothing
that looks like this.

Coming up, is this sky snake
the work of man

or an intelligence
from beyond our world?

While the idea of
reverse-engineering a ufo

may seem pretty out there,

some people take
the idea very seriously.

Narrator: And why does this man
just... Combust?

Explosions don't just happen
like that.

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Narrator: A couple film
a weird serpentine light

writhing over the mojave desert.

It's like no known craft.

With no rational explanation,
even scientists start

to consider the improbable.

From here, the mojave stretches
up into nevada,

where there are even
more secret facilities.

Best known amongst them
is area 51.

Area 51, of course, is where
many people believe that the ufo

that may have crashed outside
of roswell, new mexico,

was then moved,
where american scientists

could reverse-engineer
the technology.

While the idea
of reverse-engineering a ufo

may seem pretty out there,

some people take the idea
very seriously.

Narrator: Deet presar,

the c.E.O.
Of a quantum computing firm,

has publicly stated
his ultimate goal is to find

and then reverse-engineer a ufo.

Tomlinson: And he isn't alone
in this ambition.

I've learned about a group
of investors and technologists

out of silicon valley
that are looking to do

exactly that...
Reverse-engineer ufo technology

so that they can use it to push
mankind ever further into space.

Narrator:
It seems impossible

that alien technology
could have fallen

into the hands
of the u.S. Authorities.

But strange claims
have been made

since the middle
of the 20th century.

Back in the '80s,
bob lazar claims

he was hired
to work on an antimatter craft

that was reverse-engineered
from this alien technology

that supposedly
the united states government

had at area 51.

Narrator:
Lazar claims he was hired

by defense contractor eg&g

to reverse-engineer alien
technology held inside area 51.

He claims that this technique
had already been used

to develop lots of
the technology we rely on today,

like certain radios
and superconductors.

There is a great deal
of controversy

about whether what bob lazar
is saying is actually factual

or if perhaps he's
spreading disinformation

on behalf
of the american government.

Narrator: Lazar and others
who make similar claims

could have been
spreading disinformation

to throw researchers
off the trail

of real secret government
defense projects.

But none have ever mentioned
a glowing, snakelike craft.

There really is no
viable explanation

to this light in the sky.

But the fact that it's close
to two military locations,

I mean, we can't rule out

that it's some kind of
military experiment.

Narrator: Now, in an industrial
city in china,

a man erupts into flames.

Did he step on a bomb?

Narrator:
Is this the first confirmed case

of spontaneous combustion?

Foom. Instant flame.

The whole trucks' engulfed.
The guy's engulfed.

Everything's burned.

Narrator: Is every human
a ticking time bomb?

If just one spot
could cause a massive explosion,

scary thought.

Narrator:
Dongguan city, china.

This industrial hub is known
as the world's factory

and is home
to the "made in china" label.

75% of its 8.3 million
inhabitants

are migrant workers
living in dormitories.

January 22, 2019,

a week before chinese new year

and the start of the largest
human migration on the planet.

Almost 3 billion people
head home to see their families.

A warehouse security camera
captures two workers

finishing loading the truck
with rolls of packing material

when the unthinkable happens.

When the man's foot
hits the floor,

he is immediately
engulfed in flames.

It's just not natural.

Explosions don't just
happen like that.

Narrator: Experts are baffled
by what they have witnessed.

I've never seen
anything like this.

Narrator: Viewing the footage,
author patrick tomlinson

is reminded of
a controversial phenomenon

widely reported in both fiction
and in the press.

Did we just witness
spontaneous human combustion?

The theory dates back decades.

And as the name suggests,

it says that humans
could simply catch fire

for no apparent outside cause.

Narrator:
Spontaneous combustion

is a subject of controversy
among scientists.

While everything explodes
for a reason,

that reason may not be obvious.

And there are more than 200
reported cases

of spontaneous combustion.

Victims' bodies are burnt
so severely

that they are reduced to ashes.

But bizarrely, their extremities
remain intact.

Biologist leslie samuel
believes that

if spontaneous combustion
was possible,

then it would need to be under a
very specific set of conditions.

Number one, the object has to be
heated to ignition temperature.

Number two, the heat building up
inside of it can't escape.

And number three,
if it's exposed

to a steady stream of oxygen,
but it's not enough

to cool it down,
you get spontaneous combustion.

Narrator:
On December 22, 2010,

the body of 76-year-old
michael faraday

was found in his home
in galway, ireland.

His charred remains
were in the sitting room.

The only other damage was burns
to the ceiling above him

and the floor below.

After a thorough investigation,

the coroner ruled the cause of
death as spontaneous combustion.

Spontaneous human combustion
could be possible

thanks to the gases

that we create
within our own intestinal tract.

Methane is a highly
flammable gas

and could easily create
an explosion.

Narrator: Coming up,

a common household item
that's primed to explode.

How many other containers
that are running around

on the freeways

have got this sort of
stuff in them?

Narrator: And scientists fear
creepy new creatures

are being created.

Could this have come into
contact with radioactive waste?

Narrator: A man loading a truck
in a chinese industrial hub

unexpectedly erupts into flames.

But when civil engineer
brian wolshon

studies the footage closely,

he believes the source of
the fire isn't the man himself.

We can see that the explosion
and the flames themselves

are contained within the truck.

We can also see clearly

when the man jumps out
of the back of that trailer

that the flames
are clearly behind him.

Narrator:
But what could have fueled

such a volatile explosion?

Wolshon: In investigating
a little further,

we find that
in the back of the truck,

this material is pearl cotton,

and pearl cotton
is used as a packing material.

Narrator: Pearl cotton is one

of the most common types
of packaging.

It's not real cotton.
It's a plastic.

Butane gas is used as a blowing
agent in its manufacturing.

It is forced into the plastic

when it's a liquid,
puffing it up.

The puffier it is,
the more it will absorb impacts

and keep the items safe.

But as pyrotechnics expert
matt kutcher knows,

butane can be highly volatile.

Kutcher: So one of the products
we use in hollywood,

especially to do
combustible-type explosions

is the small butane bottles.

We fracture them
at a high rate of speed.

We then ignite the gases
coming out

and make beautiful fireballs

that chase people into buildings
or chase them down corridors.

Narrator: Although butane gas

is used in the production
of pearl cotton,

any trace of it should be
long gone

before it is packed
into a truck.

Chemist mike sansom wonders
if the timing

right before new year
could be significant.

They cut a few corners or it's
come straight out the factory

and that butane, that flammable
gas is still there.

Narrator: But even if traces
of butane

had been left
on the pearl cotton

after it left the factory,

one vital piece of information
is missing.

There's no obvious source
of ignition.

There's no cigarettes.

There's no no naked flames
you can see.

So what caused the spark?

Narrator:
When sansom zooms in on the man,

he notices that his foot

gets stuck inside
the plastic covering

and suspects
this could hold the answer.

Sansom: This guy is suspended
in the air,

so he's got no grounding
whatsoever

and he's moving around.

He might be wearing
synthetic clothes

or he might be rubbing
against the packaging

and that could create
some sort of static spark.

Narrator: But could this spark
from static be enough

to cause this explosion?

Electrical engineer
david wallace

designs an experiment
to find out.

So here we have
a van de graaff generator.

Now, this is also known

as an electrostatic
discharge generator.

And what I'm going to do

is use this to mimic
what we see in the video.

Now, as I bring
this one closer to it...

We get a static spark.

Narrator:
After generating a spark,

he replicates the conditions
in the truck

by setting up a bottle
with limited ventilation

and places two electrodes
inside.

Wallace: This electrode
is going to represent the man

or the positive charge.

This electrode is going to
represent the bed of the truck

or the negative electrode.

Have a can of butane here.

Narrator: Wallace fills
the container with butane gas

to represent the buildup
in the back of the truck.

At this point,

we're going to energize
the machine

and see what will happen.

Narrator: As soon as the static
spark is triggered,

it instantly lights
the butane gas

and erupts in a fiery torrent.

Wallace:
So it looks pretty good.

We had a spark.
We ignited the gas.

Exactly what we thought.

This mimics exactly
what we see in the video.

Narrator: We all build up static
electricity on a daily basis.

Usually this results in nothing
more than a small shock,

but occasionally
it can prove fatal.

You're sitting inside your car,

getting ready
to fill up with gas.

As you just come out of the car,
you rub across the seat,

you build up a static charge.

As you touch
that body of your car,

you create a spark.

Narrator:
The man in the video was lucky

and escaped with minor burns.

But china accounts

for almost half of the container
imports to the u.S.

Sansom:
How many other containers

that are running around
on the freeways

have got this sort of stuff
in them,

have got this explosive gas?

Just one spark
could cause a massive explosion.

If there was no way for this gas
to escape and it was lit,

it would have been a bomb.

That truck could have been
going down the street

and completely exploded,

wiped out
who knows how many humans.

Narrator: Now on the bank
of a russian river,

an earthly creature.

Oh, what the hell?

Narrator: Its twisted form

doesn't resemble
any known animal.

Are we looking at some sort
of genetic experimentation?

Narrator: Experts ask,

is a malevolent force
at work here?

It looks kind of demonic.

Narrator: Sosnovy bor,

43 miles west
of st. Petersburg.

This town was built in 1958
to house workers

for the new nuclear
power station.

It is so close
to the classified facility,

you need a special permit
just to enter.

August 30, 2015.

A local man discovers a small
creature of some kind.

It looks like
a newly hatched baby

of some species, but of what?

Ew. What is that thing?

It doesn't look like any animal
I've seen before.

It's really weird.

Narrator:
This doesn't correspond

to any known creature on earth,
alive or extinct.

Scientists do occasionally
find new kinds

of fossilized dinosaurs,

but they're always variations
of those we already know.

This thing is different.

Everyone's seen the movie
"alien," where this kind of

looks a lot like
the creature that pops out.

Narrator: Experts are baffled as
to what this animal could be.

I've never seen an actual animal
kind of look like that.

It's really disturbing.

It's dried up
and desiccated and bizarre.

Narrator:
Biologist greg szulgit

considers that the location
where it was shot

could offer a clue
to the creature's origin.

This was found near the
leningrad nuclear power plant.

And when you think nuclear
power plants,

you start to think,

"well, are there
some kind of crazy mutations?"

narrator: Everyone who's ever
seen a superhero movie will know

that radiation
causes cell mutation.

But in real life,
those effects can be horrific.

Radiation can cause, well,
cancer on a basic level.

And that's a mutation.

That's where your cells don't
grow how they should be.

They grow wildly out of control.

Could this have come into
contact with radioactive waste?

Is this some kind of eunuch?

Narrator: But for this creature
to be a nuclear mutant,

there would need to have been
some sort of accident.

Szulgit:
There are a few different ways

in which you can have accidents
with a nuclear power plant.

The worst would, of course,
be a meltdown.

But you can also have
chemical spills coming out,

which could leave nuclear waste
in the environment.

The safety record at the
leningrad nuclear power plant

has been spotty,
to say the least.

It has had a long history of
mishaps and outright accidents

since it came online in 1975.

Szulgit: In 1976 and in '79,

there were fires and the water
used to extinguish the fire

did leak out
into the environment.

Much later in 2015, there was
a steam pipe that broke.

So there had been contamination
issues in this area.

Could some sort of creature
been unfortunate enough

to have encountered some sort of
high-level radioactive source

and been mutated
or changed by it?

Narrator: Coming up,

could the twisted form
be a man-made monster?

Are we looking at some sort
of genetic experimentation?

Boy: It just, like,
keeps getting bigger.

Narrator:
And beauty and the beast

above the skies of costa rica.

Should these people
be running for their lives?

Narrator: An unknown creature
is found in western russia.

It doesn't match any known
animal alive or extinct.

When entomologist kevin kasky
studies the footage,

he thinks this
demonic-looking creature

could have been made on purpose.

Kasky: Looks like the head
of a dinosaur

on the body of a chicken
with the body of a snake.

Narrator: Kasky wonders

if this disturbing
creature is a chimera...

The result of humans tampering
with nature.

Bioengineering
is something that mankind

has been messing with
for decades,

probably even longer than that.

But documented proof.

We think
that we can create things

out of things
that already exist.

Narrator: There are many hybrid
creatures in nature.

The most famous is the mule...

The progeny of a horse
and a donkey.

But there are many others
like the liger,

the offspring of a lion
and a tiger.

Towering over its parents,

this is the largest
big cat in existence.

But some scientists have tried
to push the boundaries

by merging two very different
organisms into one.

This specimen is in russia
and russia has had a history

of trying to mess
with bioengineering things.

Narrator: Western states

generally limit
scientists' ability

to mess around with human genes,
not so in totalitarian regimes.

The nazis wanted to breed
a genetic master race.

And the early soviets believed

they could scientifically
control the whole world,

including the genetic makeup
of living creatures.

In the early 20th century,
the post revolution government,

the bolsheviks, had
an ideological reason

for wanting to support
these kinds of experiments.

They wanted to prove
that there was no god or soul

or anything mystical
about creating life,

that it was a scientific,
mechanical kind of a process.

Narrator: One pioneering
scientist and follower of darwin

is at the forefront
of bioengineering in russia,

making major advancements
in this area.

Ilya ivanof
actually experimented

with cross-breeding animals
using artificial insemination.

Ultimately, his goal was to try
and take characteristics

from one animal
and merge them with another.

Narrator: Ivanof's radical
cross-breeding program

gave rise
to the guinea pig mouse,

cow antelope and zebra horse.

But his ultimate plan is to try
and cross-breed a human

with an ape to create a race
of ape-man super warriors

that would be invincible
against enemy armies.

Guinea, February 1926.

The authorities discover ivanof

is planning to inseminate three
african women with chimp sperm.

He is expelled from the country.

Kasky: Ilya ivanof experimented

with trying
to create a new species.

I don't care what your motives
are for that.

Nothing good can come from it.

That's all I got to say.

Narrator: Ivanof returns

to the soviet union
and opens a secret institute,

where it is believed
he continues his twisted work.

Stories of disturbing
genetic experiments

continue to this day.

The russians have been working
on a super chicken.

I know it sounds like something
out of a comic book,

but they've been working on this
to expand the food productivity

of the chicken
to help feed the russians.

Narrator: Russia imports
a massive amount of chicken

from the u.S.,

but after american restrictions

following russia's invasion
of the ukraine in 2014,

things have been tense.

Relations between the united
states and russia

have soured in recent years,
leading to big cutbacks

in food imports.

Re-enter the super chicken.

The russian breed
known as the smena-8

is actually now available
for market trials.

Narrator: Could this creature
be a failed attempt

to create a super chicken?

We may never know.

The creature's body
is taken away

for examination by experts

at the institute of biophysics
in krasnoyarsk.

All they are saying is that
whatever was found

was some kind
of unviable mutant.

But this still begs
the question,

did nuclear mutation
or human science

have the final hand
in its creation?

Are we looking at some sort of
genetic experimentation

that nobody wants to claim,

nobody is doing,
but once again, it's there?

It's right there for all to see.

What's the main purpose of it?

Narrator:
Now a strange celestial disk

appears in the sky
over costa rica.

Woman: Look at the sky!

Oluseyi: Heavenly indeed.

That is cool.

Narrator:
Onlookers are mesmerized.

Boy #2: It's the most beautiful
thing I've ever seen.

I'd be a little bit
more careful right now.

We don't know what that is.

Narrator:
But could this strange vision

be evidence
of a deadly phenomenon?

There's something just
a little bit weird about it.

Narrator:
San josé, costa rica.

Nestled in the shadow

of the seros de escazu
mountain range,

the trendy suburb of escazu.

This is where the most affluent
and influential costa ricans

reside in luxury.

September 2015,
the people of escazu

were going about
their business as usual.

Suddenly they are confronted by
a spectacular sight above them.

Woman:
Look at the sky!

This looks like a cloud
and a rainbow had a baby.

Narrator: It has amazing colors,
but this isn't a rainbow.

It looks more like
a massive object than a cloud.

Boy #3: This is awesome.

Foster: Nature can do some
wonderful things,

but having a kind of disc-shaped
rainbow like this

is really phenomenal.

I don't think anyone's
ever really seen

anything like this before.

Boy #1: Yeah, it just, like,
keeps getting bigger.

Girl: Like, wow.

Narrator: Experts are concerned

that this may be
more sinister than it looks.

It almost has the shape
of a mushroom cloud,

which doesn't exactly bring
the happiest thoughts to mind.

Should these people be running
for their lives?

Narrator: Coming up...

Is death about to rain
from the sky?

If there is fuel that was dumped
from an aircraft,

that's coming
down to the ground,

and that could be
very terrifying.

Narrator:
And why is this paradise island

crippled by crimson chaos?

Everything is blood red.
Everywhere you look is red.

Narrator: A mysterious celestial
disc lights up the sky

above costa rica.

When physicist chad orzel
analyzes the footage,

he thinks the effect
looks like something

that is usually seen on earth
not in the sky.

The pattern up there looks
kind of like oil on water.

You see this sort of
the swirling colors.

We have some pollution

spilled on the surface
of a puddle or a lake.

And that's generally
not a good thing.

Narrator:
Large commercial aircraft

can carry over 150 tons of fuel
when taking off.

Exact calculations should ensure

that they're at minimum
weight on landing.

Brensberger: Well, airplanes
are actually heavier

during takeoff than landing

because they burn through
all their fuel.

But sometimes if an emergency
landing needs to happen,

airplanes can actually dump
their fuel mid-flight.

Then when an airplane
dumps their fuel,

there are water molecules
present in earth's atmosphere.

There could be some type
of combination

between the airplane fuel

and the water molecules
in the clouds.

Boy #2: It's the most beautiful
thing I've ever seen.

If there is fuel that was dumped
from an aircraft,

and it was over
a populated area,

that's coming down
to the ground.

And that could be very flammable
and very terrifying.

Narrator: Could this bizarre
phenomenon be the result

of highly toxic fuel
raining down to earth?

Shapiro:
If this were a fuel dump,

you'd expect to see it
in a line across the sky

or some sort of linear pattern.

But in this case, it's circular.

It's following the shape
of the cloud.

When you see a plane
flying overhead,

you see the straight line
contrails.

So if this was caused
by a plane dumping fuel,

it would be a straight-line
rainbow, not a disc.

Narrator: Chemist simon foster
has seen this kind of thing

before in outer space.

Could this be a genuine
extraterrestrial phenomenon?

Rainbows are not just
an earth-based phenomenon.

They do happen elsewhere.

They actually happen out
in the cosmos.

People have been looking
through telescopes

and found rainbows in space.

Narrator: 2013,

nasa's chandra x-ray
observatory space telescope

picks up strange,
unexplained images.

There is this one image from
the chandra x-ray telescope

that's called
an extraterrestrial rainbow.

It is a system
with a binary star.

And one of the stars
is a neutron star

to siphon enough material
from the other star.

It's really dense and heavy.

And it's sucking...
It's drawing material

off its other partner's star.

And as it's doing so,
it's emitting x-rays.

Now, these x-rays
are passing through dust

and debris
surrounding these stars.

And as it does so,
it acts almost like a lens,

like water droplets
in the atmosphere

due to visible light.

This is doing it to x-ray,

and it produces this incredible
interstellar rainbow.

So it's incredibly beautiful,

but the light is being produced
by x-rays.

So at the same time,
it's deadly.

We know how damaging x-rays
can actually be

if you're not well-protected.

Narrator: X-rays are a form
of ionizing radiation.

Over-exposure can lead

to unnatural chemical reactions
inside cells,

causing mutations

that lead to a number
of diseases, such as cancer.

For this to have been
some kind of space rainbow

this close to earth
just doesn't work.

The amount of radiation
would be so intense,

it would seriously injure

or even kill
everyone in the area.

Narrator:
Science writer alan shapiro

reviews the footage

and thinks
he may have the answer.

Maybe the solution
has something to do

with the weather on the day.

You've got a cloud with water
droplets high in the atmosphere.

You've got the sun lighting
it up from behind.

Again, the water
breaking those colors out.

It's really similar to when
you see water and oil interact

and you get
that kind of rainbow effect.

Narrator: The best guess

is some rare set
of atmospheric conditions.

Water vapor high
in the atmosphere

refracting light into
a spectrum of colors.

To be able to see that firsthand
would be incredible.

It's going to be
10 times better in real life.

Boy #3: This is awesome.

Narrator:
Now in the land of volcanoes...

The sky turns blood red.

A burning hellscape
turning the sky red.

Narrator:
This ominous crimson cloud

engulfs everything in its path.

It must have been
absolutely terrifying.

It's like a scene
from a disaster movie.

But for the people living there,
this is everyday life.

Narrator:
Sumatra, indonesia.

A volcanic island mostly covered
in thick rainforest

with its own species
of tiger and rhinoceros.

September 2019.

In a quiet rural community,

a motorcyclist experiences
an out-of-this-world sight.

Shapiro:
The sky is blood red.

This looks like something

you'd find on mars,
not on earth.

It looks like something
out of "total recall."

walcek:
It's hard to explain

this very bizarre
and cataclysmic-looking video.

Woman #2: It's everywhere.

It looks like
whoever filmed this

is trying to get away from it.

But there... there's
no getting away from this.

Narrator:
It looks like a sandstorm,

but this is
a wet tropical island.

There is no desert
for hundreds of miles.

Foster:
Everything is blood red.

Everywhere you look.

It's not like he's coming
from one particular area.

The entire countryside,

everything
around this person is red.

Driving through this red cloud,

it probably felt like
the end of the world.

Narrator: Coming up...

The apocalyptic sky
with deadly consequences.

Shapiro: Bromine isn't something
you want to be inhaling.

At higher concentrations,
it can lead to death.

Narrator: The air above
a volcanic indonesian island

turns blood red.

Chemist mike sansom wonders
if what we are seeing

is evidence
the air itself is toxic.

We know it's indonesia
and indonesia

has the greatest
concentration of volcanoes.

So is it something
to do with volcanoes?

Narrator: Indonesia has 127
active volcanoes.

This island alone has 67.

It is situated
in the volatile ring of fire.

A 25,000-mile chain of volcanoes

and seismically active sites
that outline the pacific ocean.

The region has 75%
of the world's volcanoes

and 90% of its earthquakes.

Could these skies be a portent
of another eruption?

Indonesia has the most volcanoes
of any country in the world.

76 of them have erupted

more than 1,000 times
in our current record.

Narrator:
Mount tambora, indonesia, 1815.

After a few centuries
of dormancy,

mount tambora unleashes the most
powerful eruption known to man.

Shapiro: It sent ash and dust
high into the atmosphere.

That accounted for the deaths
of more than 80,000 people.

Narrator: The explosion can be
heard 1,600 miles away.

People are immediately
burnt alive

as they drown
in the boiling lava.

For others, death is more
painful as they are poisoned

by toxic gases and ash.

One thing we might expect
if this were from a volcano

was that you would have usually
a lot of very black, dark ash,

a big cloud that would be
blasting out in the sky.

We don't see that,
but there have been volcanoes

that have thrown out
other strange-colored gases.

Hawaii's kilauea volcano
erupted in 2018

and had a pink plume.

This came from the rock
around it, the basalt,

that had this red color
and accounted for the pink ash.

Narrator: Sansom has a theory
as to what gases

need to be present in indonesia

to create such
an apocalyptic crimson haze.

One thing that could turn
this volcanic eruption red

is bromine.

It's an element,
a liquid element.

And if you boil it, it turns
into this brownish-reddish gas,

which looks exactly
like the video.

Narrator: Bromine is a naturally
occurring chemical

found in the earth's crust.

But when combined with heat,

the molecular structure
alters dramatically.

Volcanic eruptions can
cause temperatures

of thousands degrees,

and that's plenty of heat
to cause the bromine

to turn from a liquid
into a gas.

Bromine isn't something
you want to be inhaling.

At lower concentrations,

it can lead to coughing
and shortness of breath.

And in higher concentrations,
it can lead to death.

Narrator:
But sansom isn't convinced

that the flaming-red heavens

are caused by oxidizing bromine.

Sansom: You'd need massive
deposits of bromine.

I mean, a huge salt plain
of bromine

to actually create
this vast amount.

Narrator:
It would take something

the size of the dead sea

to cause
a crimson sky like this.

And there aren't deposits
of that size in this area.

But when chemist simon foster
studies the footage,

he wonders
if the color of the sky

could be the sign of a different
kind of impending danger.

Different gases in different
concentrations,

they can actually bend light

and split light
in different ways.

And that could be
what's going on here.

Walcek: This could be the same
principle of sunsets.

But you need to have exactly
the right size of smoke

or haze particle
for this to happen.

Narrator: Meteorologist
chris walcek believes that

this apocalyptic sky

could be caused
by a huge quantity of smoke.

One of the ways
you can produce this effect

is with widespread forest fires

that produce huge amounts
of dust and smoke.

Narrator: Wildfires are one
of nature's deadliest killers.

A raging fire
on a forested island

like this could be disastrous.

Kutcher:
So if your island's on fire,

where do you run that's safe?

Fires out of control
in california,

they evacuate us
to someplace that's safer,

someplace away
from the actual fuel.

If you're on an island
and the whole island's fuel,

where do they evacuate you to?

Narrator:
Further investigation reveals

this is a catastrophic wildfire,

one of almost 4,000 that ripped
through southeast asia

between February
to September 2019.

This air was so polluted,
it left almost 10 million people

gasping for breath
with countless deaths.

This really was an apocalypse
for these islands.

Kutcher:
Smoke is horrible to inhale.

There's the fire
that's far too hot.

There's fire tornadoes.

There's nothing good that comes
from being in that position.

It would have felt like the end
of the world.

American travelers are leaving
a revered jungle temple complex

when nearby...

Fireball. It looks like a
building has been torn apart.

Narrator: Locals and tourists
are hit by the explosion.

We need to figure out
what exactly this blast is,

because whatever it is,
it could be deadly.

Narrator:
The town lies in the shadow

of one of the greatest wonders
of the ancient world.

I think it's impossible to see
something like that

and not think about terrorism.

Narrator:
It was the real-life location

of the first
"tomb raider" movie.

Angkor wat in cambodia
is amongst the largest

and strangest religious
monuments in the world.

Dedicated to the protector
god vishnu

whose avatars are believed

by his followers
to still be active in the world.

The temple design is mysterious
and complex.

It was a huge center
for the technology of that time.

Narrator: Angkor wat sits just
outside the city of siem reap.

August 2019, american tourists
are here to see the temple,

and some are filming
when just a few miles away...

Boom! Massive explosion.

Narrator: The shock wave knocks
motorcyclists of their bikes

and sends people fleeing.

Holmes: Oh, it's still on fire.

Oh, my gosh.

That is terrible.

Mcmahon: Imagine you're going
about your daily routine

and something like this happens.

Something so disruptive,
so explosive, so dangerous...

A terrible event.

Narrator: An american teacher
is among those badly injured.

There have been local rumblings
in siem reap

about westerners
visiting the temple complex.

Wise: This took place in a town
which is actually,

it's only a few kilometers
away from angkor wat.

Narrator:
The proximity to the temple

leads to some wild
and bizarre speculation.

This belief that angkor wat
once included two temples

that were gold plated.

And they were gold plated
in order

to capture the rays of the sun

at key times of the year,
the equinoxes.

Narrator: The temples were built
by king suryavarman,

who according to legend

was a demigod
who used advanced geometry

to lay out the buildings
to mirror objects in space.

They could harness the power
of the sun,

effectively creating a ray,

a powerful beam of light
with destructive capability.

And so, is there a connection

between this ancient
mysterious temple complex

and this modern
mysterious explosion?

Could there be some kind of
lost technology

that somehow is still active,
somehow still dangerous,

could still somehow
cause things to explode?

Narrator: But material scientist
doug holmes believes

the location of the blast
could point to an act of terror.

I think it's impossible nowadays
in this climate

to see something like that
and not think about terrorism.

In a region like this that has
been historically war torn,

you can't rule it out.

Narrator:
Cambodia borders vietnam.

In the early 1970s, the country
is invaded by the viet cong.

Despite american efforts,
a communist dictatorship

is installed
known as the khmer rouge.

The party's leader is pol pot,

whose methods are brutal
and terrifying.

The khmer rouge execute people
just because of their appearance

and use their bodies
as fertilizer in the fields.

The communists
take and slaughter the children

and babies of those
who dare criticize them.

Women are subjected to hideous
medical experiments.

Wise: About two million people,
about a quarter of the population,

was wiped out by the khmer rouge
under pol pot,

who is remembered
as one of the most vicious

and deranged
homicidal leaders of history.

Narrator: Several of
the khmer rouge's evil leaders

have recently been sentenced
to life imprisonment

for their disgusting crimes.

Holmes: Knowing it's happening
in a place

where there is a long history
of conflict, you...

I mean, you can't help
but think, you know,

maybe these are kind of rebels,
local terrorist groups,

something that could cause
an explosion like that.

Kutcher:
So this is an area of the globe

that we know
has been under siege.

This is a terrorist area.

And this type of explosion
resembles that type of attack.

Narrator: Matt kutcher has spent
over 20 years

as a hollywood explosives
and pyrotechnics expert.

Kutcher: Blow it.

There's a little hollywood
magic today, right?

Narrator: He wants to see
whether the blast in the footage

matches the blast
produced by a bomb.

Kutcher: I think the first thing
we do is we're going to have to get

some kind of shed, something
to represent a building.

We're going to need some
high explosives.

And we're going to see if
we can't blow it up.

Right there.

Nice.

We'll have the high explosive
around this barrel,

and we'll have some
high explosive in the barrel.

And to replicate everything
we see that's blowing

through the roof,
blowing out the doors,

we're going to add the water
inside of it

and use the water as actually
what devastates this building.

Alright, ty,
go ahead and fill her up.

This type of high explosive
is no joke.

We're going to have to stand
pretty clear of this.

And it's going to blow
this thing apart...

Just one big bang.

Narrator: Coming up,
matt kutcher discovers

if the blast near the temples
was an act of terror.

Three, two, one.

And in indonesia,

cameras capture
what appears to be a humanoid

scientists thought extinct.

It's like this
little evil hobbit

running around in the jungle.

Narrator: An explosion near one
of the greatest wonders of the world

followed by a lethal blaze.

Pyrotechnics expert matt kutcher

has built a terrorist-style
explosive device

to see if it matches
the blast in the video.

Alright, gentlemen, lets get
to our firing positions.

Alright, guys, we are ready.
We're going to go hot.

Fire the horn.

Alright, and here we go.

In three, two, one.

There's no question.

It completely decimated
that building.

It did quick business
of that, didn't it?

And what it really looked like
was there was no flash at all.

It's gone.

Absolutely gone.

And not an ounce of flame.

Narrator:
The flames are only visible

when matt watches his explosion
slowed down by 90%.

Kutcher: Although it looks very
similar at the beginning,

the mass transfer of energy,

it's certainly missing something
at the end, isn't it?

In the video, you clearly see
a sustained fire,

as if there was something else
in the building.

So it couldn't be
high explosives.

We've got to gain
some more information

as to what was actually
in this building,

what held
the sustained the fire,

and is the sustained
fire relative

to what caused the explosion?

Narrator: Engineer adam hadhazy
wonders if the fuel behind the explosion

could be gasoline.

But government records show

there were no licensed
gas stations in the area.

Gasoline is a highly desired
commodity

pretty much
anywhere you go in the world.

And if you can make a buck
selling it,

someone's probably going to sell
it then on the black market.

So that could open up some
possibilities here of

bootlegged gasoline that could
be behind what we're seeing.

Narrator: Since 1979,
the country has been ruled

by the cambodian people's party,
who took over the khmer rouge.

These marxists have introduced
some free-market reforms,

but they still
levy punishing taxes,

especially on the sale
of gasoline.

As a result, in some cambodian
cities, pirate gas stations

outnumber legal gas stations
by two to one.

Now listen, cambodia
is a developing country.

A lot of these things
get kind of loosey goosey

in a developing country,
and you can have situations

where dangerous chemicals
or substances

are not handled
in the safest possible way.

Narrator: Unlicensed gas
stations and street-side vendors

selling gasoline out of bottles
are a common site

throughout the country,
leading experts

to believe that the explosion
occurred at a site

where gas was being
sold illegally.

Wise: Given that it's on a busy
street, you can imagine

this is the sort of place where
you might have a gas station,

perhaps an illegal gas station.

Perhaps somebody has paid some
bribes to the local inspector

or someone
is just cutting corners

and doing things on the cheap.

Szulgit: This video serves as
a warning of how dangerous

something like
an illegal gas station can be.

When standards are skipped, then
things like this can happen.

Narrator: Now, on the exotic
island of sumatra,

men entering the jungle
on motorbikes

come across a human-like
creature.

It's like this little,

evil hobbit
running around in the jungle.

Narrator: Locals believe this
may be the first filmed encounter

with a legendary
jungle-dwelling race

of humanoid cannibals
known as the ebu gogo.

The ebu gogo
are three feet tall,

are known to steal food,

kidnap children,
and even eat humans.

Growick: If this actually is
a long-lost human cousin,

this is potentially as big of
a find as landing on the moon.

Narrator: Sumatra, the
sixth-largest island in the world,

sitting in the java sea
in southeast asia.

It is an island of deadly
volcanoes and exotic animals,

from dozens of species
of amphibious creatures,

to rhinos, elephants,
and tigers.

The island stretches over
almost 200,000 square miles

and is largely covered
in dense tropical rainforest.

Or at least it was.

Sumatra is fast losing
its rainforest as humans

gradually transform the once
impenetrable jungle into farms

to grow much
sought-after sumatran coffee.

March 2017.

Four young men are riding along
a dirt path on their motorbikes.

Suddenly, something leaps
from the jungle.

It's shape is similar
to an adult

but it's much too small
to be a man.

This naked man with a spear
comes and attacks you.

It's like a little
red demon from hell.

It's small, but it doesn't mean
that it's not deadly.

Narrator: A biker is knocked from
his vehicle, and the creature flees.

Gottlieb: It looks like the
bikers surprised this thing.

It attacked to protect itself

and then thought better
and ran away.

Narrator: Historian craig
gottlieb analyzes the video.

Gottlieb: If you freeze
the video, what you see

is about a three-foot-tall
humanoid,

an adult with musculature
standing butt naked

in the forest
and carrying a spear.

Narrator: The average male human
is 5'9" tall.

This creature is half the size,

but it shows none of the
characteristics of dwarfism.

Kasky: In the jungles,
there are legends

of other types of beings.

So could this be one of those
subspecies or species

that's inside the jungle?

Potvin: Myths throughout the
islands of southeast asia speak of evil,

human-like people
that actually feast on humans

and live in the forests.

Could there be some truth
to these myths?

Narrator: Scientists have
long known that on these islands

once lived a distant
cousin of humans

which archaeologists
call homofloriensis

and nicknamed the hobbits.

Small bodies, small heads,
and small brains.

Remains of these small
human-like creatures

have been found and dna tested.

Although it was thought these
hobbits had died out around

100,000 years ago,
locals have long claimed

that they still inhabit
the jungles of sumatra.

Local legends speak of these
little, evil beings

lurking in the forests.

Could this be one of them?

Montieth:
These legends and stories

have been around
for thousands of years.

When people go missing
in the forest,

these creatures
are still blamed.

Could this be what we're seeing?

Narrator: These legends may be
more than mere fantasy.

In 2017,
archaeologists in indonesia

discovered cave paintings

depicting weird humanoid
creatures attacking animals.

Further evidence emerges when
scientists recently unearthed

the remains of small creatures
who do indeed belong

to a strange race of humanoids.

Gottlieb: The archaeologist
uncovered the remains of a previously

unknown species of primates
about three to four feet tall.

Narrator: Locals call the
jungle-dwelling creatures the ebu gogo.

Their appearance is said to be
somewhere between human and ape.

These tiny ape men are said
to talk to each other

in a strange murmur
and can parrot back human words

but have no way of understanding
what is being said.

Their name "gogo" means
"eats everything,"

and according to legend,
they are cannibals.

It's claimed that they have
stolen human children,

some say to learn
the secret of fire,

others say to eat them.

Growick: If this actually is
a long-last human cousin,

this potentially as big of
a find as landing on the moon.

Narrator: Coming up,

the hunt is on for indonesia's
secret cannibals.

How many more of these people
or creatures are there?

Narrator: And what's going bump
in the night

at England's eeriest emporium?

When you see stuff falling off
the walls,

it's a sign to get out.

Narrator: On the volcanic island
of sumatra,

a helmet cam captures
what appears to be

a small human-like creature

emerging from the jungle
and wielding a spear.

Science journalist
jon farrow asks

if this is a non-human species

or a long-lost tribe
of super-small humans?

The jungle is so dense
that there's lots of places

that we've never been,

and that raises the possibility
that there are tribes of people

that live unconnected with
the rest of civilization.

Narrator: Historian tony mcmahon
studies a legendary prehistoric tribe

long thought to have died out.

About 400 years ago, a tribe
called the mante was sighted,

a tribe in the jungle who had
never made contact

with the rest of humanity.

For the mante people,
offroad bikes

are going to be
a complete mystery,

and if anything, something
extremely frightening.

Narrator: The very small size of
the person is hard to explain,

but science journalist
steve potvin recalls

and indigenous tribe
known for their small stature.

It makes me think, could this be
a long-lost pygmy tribe?

Narrator: Spanish colonists to
this area hundreds of years ago

spoke of a people
they called the small ones.

Pygmy tribes are found mostly
in dense jungles.

Scientists speculate the lack
of sunlight leads to a sustained

lack of vitamins,
inhibiting bone development.

But something
doesn't make sense.

Even so called pygmies
are taller than this.

The average pygmy male
is around five feet.

This fuels speculation that this
may indeed be evidence of

a human-like creature from
the age of the neanderthals.

How many more of these people
or creatures are there?

Farrow:
These people live a lifestyle

untouched
by modern civilization,

without electricity
or the internet.

They'd be following the same way
of life

that they have
for thousands of years.

Narrator: Isolated prehistoric tribes
have been known to be aggressive

when confronted
with the terrifying

and strange signs
of modern civilization.

There's plenty of evidence of
tribespeople all over the world

defending themselves
with primitive weapons

against what they view as
incursions by the outside world.

In 2008, a light aircraft

flew over a tribal
village in the amazon.

The tribespeople who had had no
or minimal contact

with the outside world were
actually firing bows and arrows

and trying to shoot
at the aircraft.

Narrator: In 2018, on the andaman
islands off the coast of india,

a young christian missionary
was killed by bow and arrow

when he approached
a stone age tribe.

And that gives you an indication
of the fear and hostility

that some of these tribespeople
have towards the outside world.

Narrator: Indonesian government
officials viewed the film

and sent search parties
into the area,

but no tribe of miniature humans
have been discovered.

We are none the wiser
as to who he is,

which tribe he represents,
and how long

they've been isolated
from the rest of humanity.

Narrator: The nature of the small
humanoid caught on the helmet cam

remains a mystery.

Jon farrow believes that may be
for the best.

Modern civilization doesn't have
a great track record

of respecting indigenous people.

And so perhaps we should leave
this unexplained.

Narrator:
Now, England's spookiest store.

Objects are moved...

Whoa.

Narrator: And fall over as
though pushed by unseen hands.

People are running.
I don't blame them.

Narrator: Locals suspect
a cursed mineshaft

1,000 feet below the store

could be sending something
sinister up to the surface.

I've never seen anything
like this before.

Narrator: In the english county
of yorkshire is barnsley,

an ordinary north country
mining town.

September 2014.

In the middle of town is
the barnsley antiques centre.

Cctv captures bizarre activity.

A fog-like presence appears
to seep up through the floor.

Wait, wait, there seems to be
something almost like a mist.

That would really creep me out
if I was in this store.

Narrator:
A reign of terror follows.

While the shop is empty,
pictures fall of walls,

old glass cabinets shatter,

and an antique rocking horse
crashes to the ground.

When you see stuff falling off
the walls,

it's a sign to get out.

Narrator:
Store owner daniel parker

and his 9-year-old daughter
kasey

have experienced even
stranger things on the shop

when the cameras
have been turned off.

All of a sudden,
my daughter's friend

came running out shouting,
"dan, dan,

kasey's crying in the basement,"
screaming and crying.

I said, "what's the matter?"

and she says, "an arm's
just reached out to grab me."

I understand completely
why somebody would think

that there was a poltergeist
in this shop.

We do tend to see these kinds
of things as being supernatural.

Personally, I could think
of other explanations.

Narrator: Geophysicist sian
proctor looks into the mining history

of the town
and sees a potential explanation

that lies buried 1,000 feet
below the store itself.

To move objects like that,
there has to be a force.

But we clearly don't see one
in the video.

So maybe there is an invisible
physical force at play here.

Narrator:
Coming up, does a mining tragedy

that killed hundreds explain
the barnsley poltergeist?

This is potentially a ticking
time bomb waiting to go off.

Narrator: And is an eerie beam of
light over canada secret communication

with other worlds?

One reason scientists shoot
lasers out into space

is actually to signal
to potential alien lifeforms

on other planets.

Narrator: An antique store in
yorkshire, England, is plagued

by what seems to be
an angry poltergeist.

It appears as a mist and smashes

and throws things
from the shelves of the shop.

Something weird and unnatural
is going on here.

Narrator:
The owner, daniel parker,

investigates the history
of his street

and discovers bizarre activity
hasn't just struck in his store.

There used to be a cafe
just across the road

and they got someone in because
they had weird things happening.

I think they got some sort
of spiritualist group in

to sort of rid
their shop of spirits

because things were moving
in their shop.

Narrator: Material scientist doug
holmes believes this discovery

suggests the footage
from parker's store

doesn't show a ghost,
but a vibration from below

that affects
the whole neighborhood.

Holmes: You see this all the
time in footage of an earthquake

in which you have
these grumbling vibrations

which causes all sorts of things
to fall down,

topple over, and break.

And so a natural question

is, well, what's the source
of these vibrations?

Narrator: Barnsley is a long way
from an earthquake zone.

But in the 19th century,
this sleepy town

was the center of a revolution.

Newly invented trains
and mechanical factories

needed coal to power them,

and barnsley
had huge amounts beneath it.

Historian craig gottlieb
discovers this boom time

for barnsley
came at a heavy cost.

The history of coal mining goes
back centuries in this area

and there have been many
accidents and tragedies

involved in the industry.

Narrator: The antique store
is close to the oaks colliery,

a mine 1,000 feet deep.

Mining of this sort can be
very dangerous

because it releases
a number of flammable gases.

Narrator: In 1866, a massive
explosion tore through the mine,

killing 361 miners,
some as young as 10 years old,

and the rescuers
who went into save them.

The devastating series of blasts

caused by a mixture of gases,
including methane,

known as fire damp,
destroyed the mine.

It was England's greatest
mining disaster.

The oaks colliery shaft is now
abandoned and sealed.

Some locals even say
it carries a curse.

Geophysicist sian proctor

suspects the explosive power
of the fire damp

in the mine below
has not been totally spent.

We need to consider whether
these small little explosions

that are being caused
by fire damp

are actually the cause of what
we see in this antique shop.

Narrator: The weird mist filmed
in the store

could be a gas escape
from the mine,

and the falling objects could be
being moved

by the blasts
from deep down below.

The vibrations felt across town

may well be a warning
of a much bigger blast

that could threaten
the whole community.

These trapped gases don't need
much to explode.

This is potentially a ticking
time bomb waiting to go off.

All you need is some
kind of spark, and boom.

Narrator: It seems whatever the
cause of these weird phenomena,

the future doesn't look good
for the store.

People have said that they don't
come in our shop

because they've heard
of the, like, hauntings

and spooky goings on.

Narrator: Now, in the dead of
night, a vertical shaft of light

appears suspended in the sky.

This doesn't look like anything
we've seen before.

Narrator: It pulsates
and terrifies local residents.

I kept thinking something is
coming, something is happening.

This is just the start.

Narrator: It seems to be ascending
to or descending from space.

This looks really scary.

Narrator: Edmonton, alberta.

A city of 970,000 people
with a shopping mall

that's over
five million square feet,

making it the largest mall
in north america.

December 28, 2018,
early evening.

Writer marina reid hale
is relaxing at home.

It was just a normal night
like any other.

I was watching tv.

Narrator: But then, as hail
heads into her kitchen,

she notices something
out of her window.

It was this big glowing, line
in the sky.

Narrator:
Hail decides to film it.

Hale: It was just right there.

Completely vertical,
really orangey,

kind of pulsating
slightly almost.

It looked like
something opening.

You know, just that crack
through a door

as a door was about to open.

Narrator: The light is like nothing
hail or other residents in the town

have ever seen.

I was thinking,
"oh, this is bad news.

Something is happening
and it's not good."

it really felt like you were
about to see alien ships

just rushing in coming to attack

or something
really bizarre like that.

Narrator: As the strange
bright light in the sky

hangs ominously over
the city of edmonton,

scientists are as baffled
as locals by the phenomenon.

This is really weird.

Where is this light coming from,
or where is it going to?

It kind of looks like a kind of
demonic finger of light,

you know,
appearing in the gloom.

This pulsating vertical light
in the middle of the sky

kind of reminds me of
"independence day"

when the giant spaceship
goes over the white house

and then destroys everything.

Narrator: Coming up,
is the edmonton light

connected to a bizarre incident
in space?

There was a kind of bright laser

that had struck
the international space station.

Narrator: And does a strange
frothing whirlpool

point to a japanese horror
weapon unleashed after 80 years?

Morgan: A strong possibility
at work here

is that this is some sort of
explosion underneath the water.

Narrator: In the city of
edmonton, canada,

a sinister pulsating light
hangs in the sky.

Science journalist jon farrow
discovers this is not

the first time such a beam
has been captured on camera,

and the last time
was from space.

In December 2017, the year
before this video was shot,

there was a video
making the rounds online

that there was a kind
of bright laser

that had struck
the international space station.

Narrator: Cameras on board
the international space station

captured the strange
beam of light.

The footage was then broadcast
to millions of americans

via the station's
live video feed.

To this day, nasa have given
no official explanation

for the occurrence.

The idea of a space laser
really caught many

people's imagination.

And so when a mysterious light
appears above edmonton,

people recall the year before,
the mysterious light above them

on the
international space station,

and they start to connect
the two.

Science writer amy shira teitel

wonders if the beam
is an attempt to communicate

with extraterrestrial beings.

One reason scientists shoot
lasers out into space

is actually to signal

to potential alien
lifeforms on other planets.

Narrator: Nasa is open about
its search for life in

and beyond our solar system.

In October 2019,
it announced its instruments

had picked up noises on mars,

which it described as dinks
and donks.

The possibility of finally
establishing contact

with intelligent alien life
is intriguing.

Though in 2016,
astrophysicist stephen hawking

warned against
the possible dangers

of reaching out in this way.

He claimed that if we make
contact with intelligent aliens,

they may not come in peace,

but would invade and conquer us
for our rich natural resources.

Astrophysicist hakeem oluseyi
looks for possible

causes for lights in the sky.

He checks the records
for that date

and discovers a clue
near the location

where the phenomenon occurred.

Oluseyi: There was a huge oil
refinery fire, and it was very bright.

And there was a huge flare-off
that occurred,

and given the fact
that there are clouds in the sky

that could scatter the light,

under the right conditions,
you could see

exactly what we see
in this video.

Narrator: The refinery fire
may have produced

what meteorologists refer
to as light pillars.

These are caused by reflective
ice crystals in the air,

which are illuminated by
a light source from the ground.

But there's a problem
with this theory.

The beam in the footage
looks wrong.

Usually when we see
light pillars,

there's multiple pillars,

and this is only one.

Farrow: There is still
an element of mystery

as to what
is causing this light.

Narrator: Marina reid hale, who
filmed the light, is convinced

this was no natural phenomenon.

The idea that it was caused
by the refinery flares

seemed a little too convenient.

There's at least
a part of me thinking

that there was something
more interesting

than just some strange fluke.

Narrator: Now, a weird foam erupts
out of a river in a chinese megacity.

Holy cow, that's a huge...

What?

This thing is
absolutely massive.

Narrator: Experts fear
a destructive japanese weapon

from world war ii
has accidentally exploded.

The fact that this looks like
a chemical reaction,

it immediately attracts my
suspicions to special unit 731.

Narrator: Hangzhou is china's
answer to silicon valley...

A bustling, technologically
advanced city of

7.5 million people.

October 17, 2018.

Office workers look out
their windows

to see a strange disturbance

on the normally tranquil
qiantang river.

The source is a circle
of ominous bubbles,

and the vortex spreads over
an area of hundreds of feet.

This is really unusual.

I'm not quite sure
what I'm looking at.

Hovland: As we zoom in,
I realize it's not something

floating on the water,
but more like

a froth that's generating
around a whirlpool.

This is something you would
not see on a daily basis.

Alright,
I need to see that again.

That was crazy.

Narrator: Coming up,

locals fear a deadly legacy
of world war ii.

Hovland: If what we're looking
at here is a toxic spill,

this is seriously bad news.

Narrator: In the city of hangzhou,
china, a mysterious vortex

is emerging in the middle
of the qiantang river.

Military analyst carlo muñoz
looks to the location

to find a possible explanation.

He discovers this is an area
with a dark history.

Muñoz: Now, this particular town
in china

where this river is located,

hangzhou, was actually under
japanese control from 1937

all the way to the end
of world war ii in 1945.

Narrator: Towards the end of
the second world war,

many weapons were dumped
in seas and rivers,

especially weapons
of mass destruction,

which contravened
international conventions.

A strong possibility
at work here

is that this is some sort of
explosion underneath the water.

Narrator: If so, the froth
points to one notorious branch

of the japanese military.

The fact that this anomaly
on the river surface

looks like a chemical reaction,
it immediately attracts

my suspicions
to special unit 731

because they introduced chemical
weapons to the war in china.

And maybe whatever it is below
the surface of that river

is left over
from that time period.

Yah!

Narrator: After japan invaded
china, the japanese military subjected

the country's citizens
to an onslaught of terror.

The japanese did not look at
chinese people as being equal.

And they looked at them
as being disposable people.

Narrator: Under general shiro
ishii, the japanese ran a covert

chemical warfare unit
in china named unit 731.

Japanese military scientists
tested the effects of diseases

like bubonic plague,
cholera, and smallpox

on the local chinese population,

killing hundreds
of thousands of people.

The unit's methods were twisted
and bizarre.

Special unit 731 engaged
in experimentation

on chinese subjects
that sought to determine

how quickly someone would lose
an arm in exposure to frostbite.

They engaged in vivisection
operations

against chinese men,
women, and children.

All of this was being done
in the interests

of pseudoscientific research.

Narrator: Unit 731 experimented
with horrific biological bombs

deployed from aircraft,

including a bubonic plague bomb,

which they dropped on
at least 11 chinese cities,

leading to outbreaks
of the gruesome disease.

The unit also experimented
with chemical weapons.

But when marine biologist
eric hovland

examines the footage, he notices

that the foam had expanded
to over 8,000 square feet,

which leads him to believe
that the strange occurrence

could be part of
a terrifying modern problem.

Hovland: Within 20 minutes,
that foam had expanded.

This could be some kind of
toxic foam buildup spill.

Narrator: But if this is toxic,
the blame may lie

not with japanese fascism
but chinese manufacturing.

Communist china has
a frightening track record

of environmental disasters.

In the past 20 years,
well over 1,000 people in china

are known to have died
or suffered injuries

as a result of chemical
explosions at factories here.

And the government has had to
evacuate many local residents

following factories
illegally dumping poisonous

and hazardous waste
into china's rivers.

There have been a lot of toxic
chemical spills in china.

Narrator:
In 2005, a series of explosions

took place
at a petrochemical plant

in the city of jilin
in north east china.

Over 100 tons of the lethal
chemical benzene

seeped into
the surrounding river.

Washington: Benzene is a highly
toxic chemical,

not only to humans,
but to everything around it.

So you want to avoid it
at all costs.

Even an amount as small
as a teaspoon of benzene

is lethal to humans.

Narrator: Following the catastrophe,
the local government had to evacuate

over 10,000 people,

as well as cut the water supply
to 3.8 million residents,

depriving a city larger
than chicago of any way to wash,

cook, or clean.

Hovland: If what we're looking
at here is a toxic spill,

this is seriously bad news.

Narrator: But geophysicist
sian proctor discovers a possible

engineering disaster

just below the point
in the river

where the frothing occurred.

Proctor: The plans do show
something else that's really intriguing.

I can see that a new subway
tunnel is being constructed

that goes under the river
right at that location.

Narrator: The bubbles rising up
through the river

raise the suspicion
that explosive gas

is leaking into the water

as a result
of the subway construction.

When organic material
gets into a river,

it settles on the riverbed and
decomposes, forming methane gas.

During the construction
of the tunnel,

you need to add chemicals
and lubricants to the machinery.

When the lubricants combine
with the methane gas,

reactions occur and it all comes
bubbling to the surface.

Narrator: But this froth is
huge, leading proctor to wonder

if the chinese government
has been entirely honest

about the severity
of the incident.

This could have ended
in a really deadly situation.

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