Original subtitles

A death -defying escape performed by the world's most daring magician.

A man who endures below freezing temperatures using ancient breathing

techniques. And a baffling crime that was solved by transcending space

and time.

History is full of incredible individuals who may seem no different

rest of us.

but have somehow managed to transcend the limitations of the human body.

How do they do it?

Does the secret lie within the power of the mind? Or is it possible that some

have learned how to tap into forces beyond our understanding in order to

the impossible?

Well, that is what we'll try and find out.

San Francisco, California, June 1899.

A little -known 25 -year -old Hungarian magician and escape artist by the name

of Harry Houdini makes an astonishing debut at the Orpheum Opera House, one of

the country's premier vaudeville theaters.

Houdini's father was a rabbi, and when he lost his job in Appleton, Wisconsin,

the family moved to Milwaukee and later to New York.

And it was there he met a friend who had a mutual interest in magic, and they

formed an act, and they took the name Houdin, and they added an I to the end,

Houdini. And that was really the beginning of his magic career.

Houdini would come to town, and he would challenge police officers and

locksmiths to bring their best locks.

He would put himself in these locks and he would escape them on stage in front

of a live audience.

Houdini's real power and his gift was his showmanship, his presentation, his

ability to mesmerize an audience, to connect with them. Because here was this

small immigrant man that conquered all his fears, that could do things that

nobody else could do.

And so he would have this power over his audiences in a way that's never been

achieved since.

Over the course of his career, Houdini performed thousands of death -defying

escapes.

But of all his astounding feats, one was considered more dangerous and more

impossible than the rest.

Houdini depended on publicity stunts to draw people to the vaudeville theater to

see him.

The greatest of those publicity stunts was the overboard box escape.

He started it in 1912 in New York.

He announced that he would be doing this escape from a pier.

And a massive crowd assembled to watch this.

And Houdini showed up with his assistants, with the reporters, with his

crate. And the police also showed up. And they said, you can't do that.

laws against that.

Houdini decided to rent a tugboat on his own out in the middle of the East

River.

There, they started the process of locking him up in the handcuffs, locking

up in the leg irons, tying him up with the heavy rope, putting him inside this

escape roof wooden crate, nailing the lid on so it could be open.

And even that wasn't enough.

Then they tied the packing crate up with this heavy, strong rope.

Because the box had a number of air holes all around it, and because it was

weighted on the outside with 180 pounds of iron, it would quickly sink into the

water, the water would go inside of the box, and of course Houdini with it.

Everyone who worked with him knew that it was a dangerous feat. The story was

that they used to hold their breath with him because they used to anticipate how

long he would be under the water.

And about a minute later, suddenly he would bob to the surface free,

completely free of the box and the handcuffs.

And what's amazing about the overboard box escape is that when the box was

hauled up, it was still locked, it was still nailed shut.

And when it was opened up, the handcuffs were found inside, also closed.

How did he escape from this wooden packing crate?

into the river, and nothing was touched, nothing was damaged, all in less than

60 seconds. That is beyond belief.

It was indeed beyond belief.

Over the next several years, Houdini would repeat this incredible escape

countless times and for audiences all over the world.

How did he do it?

It was such a great escape and it mystified audiences everywhere.

But Houdini had his skeptics.

They wanted to expose him. They wanted to explain how he did it. They figured

Houdini would sneak in during the middle of the night and cut a little trap door

or have an escape panel that he could get out of it some way that nobody knew

about.

So let's just say for the sake of argument.

that he did use short nails or trick knots to escape his contraption.

How is it possible that he got out of his handcuffs, out of his leg iron, put

the box back together again, tied it all back up, all within 57 seconds while

holding his breath?

Houdini would invite anyone on stage to examine the nails, to handle the nails,

to put in your own nails.

And you might also suggest, was Houdini ever in the packing crate in the first

place?

He was in that these had holes in them, and he would poke his finger out, and

they would see. And even as he would be raised, he would poke a little American

flag or something out.

So you could see from the time that it went under the waves that there's

inside that packing crate.

While there are many theories, no one knows for certain how Houdini pulled off

his overboard box escape.

Even master escape artists, many of whom spent decades studying Houdini's tricks

and techniques, are still trying to figure it out, often with deadly

Many people have died doing this escape.

I mean, I was one of them. I'm living proof of how dangerous this escape is.

In 1983, I decided to do my variation of the Houdini packing grip.

I got all chained up and locked. I got put into a wooden coffin. The lid was

nailed on.

It was wrapped and chained. And then the coffin was lowered into an icy river in

Canada.

And I didn't escape.

I couldn't get out.

I was underwater for nearly four minutes.

They pulled the coffin out. My cold, lifeless body was still inside that

It was only the dedicated paramedics that were up on standby that saved my

I was a very lucky young escape artist on that day.

For nearly a century since his death, magicians have tried and failed.

to figure out just how Harry Houdini managed this incredible escape.

But there are some who believe that the reason for their failure is simple.

They never considered that Houdini was capable of performing real magic.

One of Houdini's great friends was Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of

Holmes. Conan Doyle believed very strongly in spiritualism, and he saw a

of things that he considered evidence.

that Houdini was actually a psychic and was dematerializing out of his escape.

He always chided Houdini that he should be honest with his audience and tell

them not only that he has these powers, but that these powers exist for everyone

to share.

Sir Arthur firmly believed that Houdini was supernatural, and he could not be

talked out of this by Houdini.

But Houdini went out of his way to say there is nothing supernatural about my

feats.

My brain is the key that sets me free. That was what Houdini would say over and

over again.

My brain is the key that sets me free.

Could the secret to Houdini's incredible feats really have been revealed in that

simple phrase?

Did the magician have such an incredible control over his mind that he could

command his body to perform the impossible?

We may never know.

On October 31st, 1926, Harry Houdini died of a ruptured appendix at the age

52, taking many of his secrets to his grave.

But whether his astounding escapes were made possible by clever devices,

impressive physical skill, or what some might call real magic,

Harry Houdini remains the most mysterious and unexplained magician in

Central Iceland.

Here, not far from a massive glacier where temperatures average just above

freezing, a man has decided to sit outside in the cold for over an hour,

wearing only a pair of shorts.

His name is Wim Hof, and although most people would die if they attempted such

feat, he finds it quite relaxing.

Wim has made a great impression on the world because of his extraordinary

ability to withstand freezing temperatures.

His exploits have earned him the nickname the Iceman.

The most challenging aspect of going into the cold is

your fear.

Control your fear and let the body do what the body is capable of.

All the doctors said, you are the Iceman. You are a freak of nature. You

abnormality. You are a superhuman.

But I'm as human as any person, only I am challenging my body and mind in

nature.

They misperformed a number of feats that on the surface seem impossible, such as

climbing Mount Everest wearing nothing but shorts and shoes.

and spending nearly two hours fully immersed in an ice bath.

But what motivated them to learn how to brave the cold in the first place?

As a young kid, I was very interested in anything that was strange,

and stories and deeds of people going into the unknown, so -called.

And when I was 17, I began to go in freezing temperatures.

And there I found a deep connection with my body, with my gut,

with the depth.

And that is now 45 years ago.

And since then, I have never skipped a day going into the cold.

In these ungodly, below freezing temperatures, the average person can

death in less than 30 minutes. It's not an environment that's suitable for

humans.

So with Wim Hof's ability to withstand cold is really extraordinary.

It just makes absolutely no sense.

For an ordinary person, attempting these feats would result in almost certain

death.

And yet Wim Hof doesn't just survive in frigid temperatures. He seems to thrive

in them.

But how?

Well, according to Wim Hof, This ability doesn't come from his body, but rather

from his mind.

If we follow the breath, then

the mind begins to see.

I learned how to tap into my brain to have a much greater control than doctors

thought was possible.

When I go in a brain scan or in an fMRI, and they put cold water upon my

skin with a skin temperature measurement device, I'm able to raise my skin

temperature so much that the cold water is making my skin temperature not going

down. That means through the psychology, I cause something physiologically.

Wim Hof's work is being widely studied right now in academic settings.

And what's being found is that he can get into a kind of transpersonal

mental state where the body is freed from perceived limitations, making him

resilient and capable of acts of greater stamina.

We're coming to a whole new realization.

of the powers of the mind over the body.

Could Wim Hof's mind be able to regulate his body's ability to withstand

freezing temperatures?

Many experts believe it's possible.

And as evidence, they point to an ancient Tibetan breathing technique

tumu, which, if done properly, can raise a person's body temperature.

Tummo was first described in the 11th century.

And what it translates to is inner fire.

And the practice is meditation -guided breathing, where they literally imagine

that their spine is on fire and they can feel this flame going from their deep

inside all the way to the top of their head.

And it's believed that they can raise their core body temperature and feel

heat by practicing this meditation and breathing strategy.

Tummo gave them control to be able to withstand elements, and inner control

amidst this external chaos.

Through this meditative practice, you're literally able to heat up your body so

you can withstand cold temperatures. But it's a technique that anyone... can use

it. Anyone can be taught how to do this.

If Tulu can unlock the mind's capacity to control body temperature, then it

naturally begs the question, what other incredible abilities do our minds

possess?

Well, in the case of Vimov, it appears that he has taken his mental powers to

the next level in order to actually heal his body.

15 years ago, Wim ran a half marathon barefoot in the snow. After the half

marathon, one of the medics examined his foot and said, hey, this is pretty bad,

and said he has irreparable damage, third -degree frostbite.

And Wim just was so mad.

He just felt like he could do something to heal it.

So Wim was... able to start healing his frostbitten foot by doing his normal

breathing exercises that he had been doing for years and focusing and

visualizing his foot being healed. And over a month and a half, it did get

better. The skin healed completely.

The irreparable damage that he was not supposed to come back from was gone.

Is it really possible that Wim Hof is simply using his mind to perform these

superhuman feats?

While that idea may sound far -fetched, Vim is just the latest in a long line of

people possessing such remarkable abilities.

We have a much more possible control over our mind and body than meets

the eye.

We can learn to raise our capacity to endure pain and to tackle.

biological stress.

And that is there for anybody.

Through your mind, you are able to go further than you have ever been before.

Greenland, April 2013.

Lying within the coastal mountains of this frigid landscape is Lake Korkunok.

Covered beneath a million tons of ice, its crystal blue waters hover at a

hypothermia -inducing 33 degrees Fahrenheit, one degree above freezing.

Wearing only a pair of swim trunks, four -time world champion free diver Stieg

Severinsen plunges into the icy water in an attempt to set a new record for the

longest swim under ice.

Without an oxygen tank?

And unable to surface, he risks unconsciousness and death as he swims

feet underwater, or nearly the length of a football field.

When most people jump in ice -cold water, they start gasping and they

Within minutes, you become icy cold to the core, and your body can

simply shut down.

I understand that people think it's crazy or wild or stupid even, you know,

unbelievable.

But I love to challenge science. I love to challenge the human physiology, human

potential.

Steve's swim beneath the ice wasn't the first time he went to

his dreams.

In May of 2012, he also held his breath for an astonishing 22 minutes.

But what would compel someone to push themselves to the limit, risking death

just to pull off a stunt?

Some of us seem to be hardwired to push the limits. Some of us seem to crave

excitement, intensity, euphoria.

There seem to be a certain fraction of people.

in need of physical activities or other kinds of activities that push the limits

of safety or human possibility or perseverance.

Now it's a question as to whether these people are seeking euphoria or whether

they're seeking some greater, more visceral connection with themselves.

Humans have this drive and this need to seek novelty, to see what's on the other

side of the unknown.

And it's something that is incredibly dangerous, but also makes us able to do

insanely difficult things.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a new breed of thrill

popularized the public display of pushing the limits of human ability,

life and limb to perform death -defying feats in pursuit of fame and fortune.

And the first of these daredevils was a man named...

Sam Patch.

Sam Patch was the Evel Knievel of the early 19th century.

They called him the Jersey Jumper, the Yankee Leaper. He liked to jump off

things.

Famously, they had a platform erected in Niagara Falls so that he could jump

into the water, but from a really high level, 75 or 100 feet.

Unfortunately, it's risky business, and in 1829, on Friday the 13th, He either

slipped or fell awkwardly and didn't go in feet first as he normally did.

The audience of several thousand heard a splat and he was never seen from again.

But Sam Patch's tragic demise did not deter other would -be daredevils.

Over the next century, countless more followed in his footsteps, increasing

danger with every attempt.

Including... One who went to the next level by taking to the skies.

Clem Stone was an aerialist. One of the first, maybe the first, to build for

himself a kind of gliding suit.

He would jump out of airplanes with the wings attached and a kind of tail

structure. One of his nicknames was the Birdman.

He would glide for thousands of feet and then eventually pull the ripcord and...

parachute to safety.

And he did this on both sides of the Atlantic.

Unfortunately, outside of Paris in 1937, in front of a crowd of as many as 100

,000 people, he glided through the air and then his first chute failed to open.

And then the second one, and then he plunged to his death.

The practice of performing thrill -seeking feats is alive and well today,

if not all daredevils survive their attempt to push the limits.

But why do so many human beings feel the need to pursue incredible feats, even

if it means risking their lives?

Pushing boundaries and pushing limits is part of our human nature.

You would think that would be counterintuitive.

Seeking pain...

Seems like not the brightest thing to do because we're going against our

survival.

If you look at any animal in the animal kingdom, none of them really do things

that go against survival instincts.

They just want to survive.

Human beings, on the other hand, we will seek out things that put us at immense

risk and not for any external reward.

but really for the internal reward of doing it.

Seeking something difficult, something hard, often makes people feel alive.

Does risking one's life somehow push daredevils beyond the limits of what we

consider physically possible?

It's an intriguing theory, but what's even more incredible is when people are

able to harness the mysterious powers of the human mind.

Like in the case of a murder that was solved not by conventional police work,

but rather by using a strange practice that is known as remote

viewing.

May 2006.

Stephen B. Williams, a successful radio host and DJ from Colorado, has gone

missing.

For the next two weeks, Police engage in a massive search.

But despite their efforts, there's still no trace of him.

Desperate for answers, a close friend of Williams decides to enlist the help of

Angela Smith, a woman with a unique talent.

Remote viewing.

He didn't want to give me any upfront information.

because in remote viewing often that can contaminate the viewing and lead to

imagination, etc.

The process I use consists of sitting with a pack of white paper and a pen, a

couple of letters and numbers, and often nothing more, to go through accessing

colors and shapes and smells and tastes and going in your mind to the location

and perceiving and bringing back the information.

I did a session and found water, brackish water, a land mass, an event

happened.

And it seemed that the individual in question had been killed, was in the

and a lot of other surrounding information.

In 2006, I was a commander for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, and I'd

been in law enforcement about 31 years.

It was quite unusual, to say the least, that Angela Smith would pick up a

particular homicide and provide detailed information and then try to help solve

it.

I called the homicide investigator and just said, is he working on a case with

an anonymous body found floating in the ocean?

By the fact that I had that much information, I immediately had his

I says...

I've got some information on this, and I said, I've got to tell you that it's

going to sound bizarre.

Using the information provided by Angela Smith, the police were able to identify

a nameless body that had been found off the coast of Catalina Island.

It was that of Stephen B. Williams.

But it didn't end there.

Angela provided information not only about the victim.

but also about this killer.

After the body had been identified, I did a profile, like an FBI profile,

and that matched a profile of an individual that Williams had been in

contact with.

He had actually swindled Williams out of some money.

The homicide investigator called me back three or four days later and said, hey,

just so you know, this stuff's legit.

They had a possible suspect, and they even had a motive, none of which they

getting through the conventional methods.

I thought, wow, maybe there really is something to this.

Stephen B. Williams' killer was eventually apprehended, thanks, it

incredible abilities of Angela Smith.

The idea of remote viewing has been around for a long time. It's been around

actually thousands of years.

And it's the idea that you can transmit yourself out of your body and go view

other places and get information and then figure out what was going on

ever having to go there.

What science has found so far, they attach electrodes to the brain while

somebody's doing remote viewing. Sometimes you're accessing information

right brain, reporting it and writing it down with the left brain. So there's a

dance going on. It's very much a whole brain activity.

Can remote viewing really provide visions of people, places and things, no

matter where they are on Earth?

The very notion seems absurd.

And yet, there was a time when some thought this practice could be used to

the Cold War.

The Russians, during the Cold War, were investing millions of dollars in

parapsychology, psychic phenomena, remote viewing.

And the Americans felt that they had to keep up with the Russians, and so they

developed their own classified program and were basically trying to train

psychic spies.

I was one of the first people that was recruited for the remote viewing

It was now being referred to as the Stargate program.

I was recruited in October of 1978.

In the late 70s, there had just been a revolution in Iran, and in November of

1979, a group of students who were revolutionaries took over the U .S.

and took dozens of American hostages.

So when this hostage situation unfolded, U .S. intelligence had very little

information about how many hostages they were, where they were being held, etc.

It was reported later that there was a team of remote viewers that were

working out of a secret location in Maryland, just outside of D .C., and

they were trying to find out what was going on inside the embassy.

They said, we need to know who's a hostage in this place where an embassy

taken over.

Some of the other things we were asked to do is describe how they were being

treated, what they were being fed, how they were being guarded, other things

like that.

In this case, we were able to identify pretty much most of the hostages.

They actually based legitimate intelligence efforts on the information

got from any of these psychic remote viewers.

And so we know it worked, but we're still trying to figure out exactly how

works.

Espionage typically relies on high -tech equipment like satellites, radio

receivers, and computers.

But, according to those who practice remote viewing, this technology is no

match. for the greatest computer in the world, the human brain.

I've been remote viewing now for 42, 43 years, constantly.

People ask me, well, how do you get information to come down?

I go to a place in my mind where it's very quiet, and I just open to whatever

information is going to come.

I believe that everybody has a natural intuitive ability.

So remote viewing, training focuses on that natural ability and enhances it.

What it says about the brain is that our brains are plastic. They're able to

adapt and able to learn.

Ross, California.

In this small town in the heart of Marin County,

lives world -renowned ultra -marathoner Dean Karnasas.

And by all accounts, he was born to run.

My earliest childhood recollections are running home from school when I was in

kindergarten.

Literally, I remember sitting in the classroom just waiting for the bell to

ring. And as soon as that jingle went off, I was out of there.

I felt like when I was running, I felt most alive.

most complete.

It's hard to describe, but I just remember the way the air used to feel on

skin and the leaves changing color. I just started relating to the world

running.

Dean's somewhat of an icon in the running community in the sense that he

things other people can't.

Dean's definitely a superman in terms of being able to run long distances,

repetitive days back to back.

Among Dean's many record -breaking running achievements are completing 50

marathons in 50 consecutive days, running 135 miles across Death Valley,

one of the hottest regions on Earth, and accomplishing a 75 -day, 3

,000 -mile run across the entire United States.

But perhaps his most incredible achievement occurred on October 12,

When Dean ran 350 miles without stopping.

I think I decided to run 350 miles nonstop out of curiosity.

I wanted to see how far I could push my body and my mind. And I completed it. It

took me 80 hours and 44 minutes of continuous running.

Three days straight without stopping to eat or sleep.

Dean's feats are astounding.

And he is arguably the greatest athlete in the history of what is called ultra

running.

Ultra running is any distance running that goes further than the marathon. So

could be anything from 30 miles all the way up to races that are hundreds or

even thousands of miles.

The six -day race was the precursor to modern ultra marathon running. It

originated in the 1700s in England.

These athletes tried to cover as much distance as they possibly could in six

days. So they would sleep as little as possible, often only getting an hour or

two of sleep during each day to try and cover as much distance as possible.

Early on, these athletes would run 400 to 500 miles.

But in 1888, George Littlewood set a new record for the six -day challenge,

covering 623 miles.

So that's over 100 miles a day of running or walking.

That was so good that that record almost stood 100 years until Giannis Kouros, a

Greek runner who was one of the best ultra runners in history, finally broke

So that gives you an indication of how good these athletes are.

But it's not just athletes who choose to run such mind -boggling distances.

In fact, there's an entire community that runs just as far as

do, and they've been doing it for thousands of years.

Copper Canyon, Mexico.

Here in this harsh region of 10 ,000 -foot plateaus, far from modern

civilization, live a group of people known as the Raramuri.

Descended from a prehistoric society of foragers and hunters, the Rarimuri still

live in relatively primitive conditions.

But incredibly, they possess a unique ability to run for hundreds of miles

in a single day.

The name Rarimuri seems to be derived from meaning those who run fast.

So, not surprisingly, the Rarimuri are known as exceptional long -distance

runners. far in excess of what most people think people should be able to

They have running competitions and running rituals that would put a lot of

long -distance runners to shame.

They don't have the modern accoutrements or modern sneakers. They tend to run in

either sandals or barefoot.

And they do this as a big part of their culture.

Our ability to run for a long period of time has given humans a great advantage,

especially when it came to hunting and searching for food.

Humans are one of the best long -distance runners in the entire animal

We could actually run down things like deer and antelope.

We're not as fast in the short run, but in terms of long -distance running, a

human being could theoretically run down just about any animal on Earth.

In ancient times, running was not only used as a means of stalking prey, it was

also a method of long -range communication.

Running served a vital purpose for the ancient Greeks. They served as couriers

or messengers. They were essentially the ancient mail system for the Greeks. It

was vital for military strategy in particular.

In antiquity, the best way to convey messages, especially matters of war,

matters of religion and so forth, was to send a himerodromos. So that's the

Greek word for a day runner. It was a special class of people specifically

trained for this and specifically equipped physiologically, not only to

a message in a timely fashion, but to do it over time.

Very rugged terrain, over several hundred miles.

So in that regard, the extent to which a Himero Dromos can perform these amazing

feats would suggest that it requires a kind of superhuman ability.

In the case of Dean Karnasas, his superhuman running ability may be due to

fact that he is actually of Greek descent.

I think my ability to run long distances, is influenced definitely by

heritage. I'm 100 % Greek, and Greece is the birthplace of long -distance

running, and I've known that for a long time.

I think I have the natural ability to run long distances from my heritage, but

having the will to do it is another thing.

And I think I just have the will to do it.

Tokyo, Japan, October 2015.

Professional swordsman Eseo Machi is about to perform an incredible

demonstration.

He will attempt to cut a baseball traveling at 100 miles per hour,

half, and from a distance of only 30 feet away.

It seems impossible.

That is, until he does it.

When I first saw the video of the samurai cutting the ball in half, I was

absolutely amazed.

What I like about video these days is you can do some simple physics. You

he's maybe sort of 30 feet away.

The ball is roughly 100 miles an hour. That gives you a reaction time of

essentially 0 .2 seconds in this case.

Typical reaction time for really elite baseball players trying to hit a

tend to be around 0 .4 seconds.

Actually, this is a more difficult task than something like baseball pitching

because clearly baseball pitching, you pick up information from the body shape

of the pitcher.

which tells you loosely when the ball is going to be released.

Whereas in this instance, he seems to have a wall in front of him. There's a

of uncertainty in terms of when the ball will begin its flight.

The fact that he can do all these things in 200 milliseconds is obviously quite

amazing.

In this and in numerous other demonstrations,

Machi has shown a remarkable ability to visually track fast -moving objects with

an acuity that few can even dream of.

But how did this swordsman develop such razor -thin reaction time?

Some experts believe the answer lies in the brain's capacity to make exceptional

feats seem almost routine.

Someone who's an expert swordsman, that's a highly skilled ability. It took

years and years to get to the level that he's at.

And what happens is when you do that kind of training, the better you get,

brain at the cortex level becomes quieter and quieter.

And one thing that that gives you is the ability to do things more quickly.

The circuits are shorter, they're faster.

The swordsman being able to cut that baseball in half in such a

short, brief shot.

He had to have spent enough time building up a program. He just literally

unleashed that whole program.

And the rest of us would just be flailing around.

Whether it's split -second reaction times, surviving freezing temperatures,

performing feats that seem like actual magic, the potential that human beings

have for developing extraordinary abilities seems almost limitless.

Just how people acquire these fascinating talents is an enduring

remains unexplained.