All language subtitles for The.Proof.Is.Out.There.S05E20.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- Tonight on "The
Proof Is Out There,"

an Arizona UFO that
somehow splits in two.

Is it tied to one of the
most famous UFO incidents

of all time?

- Several people believe
that this was a coverup

and something else was operating
over Phoenix that night.

- [Tony] Where did this girl
get the power to scale walls?

- It's incredible,

and it doesn't seem like
it should be possible.

The internet actually
nicknamed her Spider-Girl.

- [Tony] Is this
remote island home

to a Bigfoot that can swim?

- Sasquatches do not
fear the water at all.

- [Tony] And does
this ancient pair

of footprints prove a
giant walked the earth?

- For a person to make
a 30-foot-long stride,

they would have to stand
at least 60 feet tall.

[suspenseful music]
[switch clicking]

- [Tony] Around the
globe are videos.

- [Observer] What
are those things?

- [Bystander] It's moving.

- [Tony] Photos and sounds
that defy explanation.

[air squeaking]
[suspenseful music continues]

- [Kirsten] We don't know
where they come from,

who made them, or
how they operate.

- [Tony] What are they?

- [Commenter] Some
sort of bizarre mutation.

- [Expert] What's exciting
is nobody really knows.

- Extraordinary claims
need extraordinary proof.

[flame whooshing]
[victim thumping]

- I'm Tony Harris,

and as a journalist
for more than 30 years,

I've followed the facts
where they take me.

Now I'm bringing that
spirit of investigation

to the world's strangest
sounds and images.

We'll analyze each
one with top experts.

[vehicle crashing]

- It's a credible case,

it's a credible video.

- [Tony] And pass a
verdict on what it is.

- This video was clearly faked.

- The proof starts now.

[suspenseful music]

Good evening, everyone,

and welcome to "The
Proof is Out There."

Arizona is famous in UFO circles

for the Phoenix Lights
incident of 1997,

but most people don't
know that's only one

of several similar
incidents reported

in the area over the years.

Are they connected
and are they legit?

Check this out.

It's October 12th, 2004
in Phoenix, Arizona.

At around 7:45 PM, local
resident Jeff Woolwine

has set up a camera
to film the night sky

when he captures something
out of this world.

His video shows a bright
white oblong-shaped light

hovering in the sky.

Eventually the light
begins to blink

and then remarkably it
appears to slowly split apart,

transforming from
one single object

into two separate entities.

Shortly after they break apart,

the two lights gradually
disappear, one after the other.

[tape rewinding]

- It's amazing, you know,
because you're out there,

and you're watching,

and these things just
magically appear in the sky.

There's no airplanes
dropping these things out.

There's no explanation on
why these things are here.

- [Tony] Jeff says
this is exactly

what he's spent
years looking for.

- I've been seeing
these Phoenix Lights

ever since I was a
kid, and you know,

it really made me go on
a quest to find out what

is really going on here
in our Phoenix skies.

- [Tony] So since this is
Phoenix, the big question is,

is Jeff's footage related

to the most well-known
UFO sightings here ever?

Journalist MJ Banias takes
us back to March 13th, 1997,

the night that would make
the term Phoenix Lights

famous worldwide.

- Multiple people reported
seeing very strange lights

hovering over Phoenix, Arizona.

They formed a large
V-shaped object

that hovered for several hours.

Other reports circulated
of individual lights moving

around Phoenix as well.

There's some photographs
of lines of lights

that kind of show up in the sky.

- [Tony] At the time,

some felt the V-shape
formed one massive craft,

estimated to be the size of
more than 10 Boeing 747s.

With so many witnesses,

the government was
forced to investigate.

- It took several months,

but eventually the
US military confessed

that they were actually running
operations over Phoenix.

The operation was
known as Snowbird.

A whole bunch of A-10
aircraft were in the sky,

and they were testing out
different models of flares.

- [Tony] But was that the
real story or a cover story?

- Several people believed
that this was a coverup

and that the military
was essentially trying

to hide the fact
that something else

was operating over
Phoenix that night.

And Jeff believes that
his video seems to show

that perhaps there is
some sort of resurgence

of the Phoenix Lights.

[screen whooshing]

- It turns out Phoenix Lights

is actually a bit of a misnomer.

The first sightings in 1997
occurred earlier that night

near Henderson, Nevada,

nearly 300 miles from Phoenix.

So two separate events
could have been conflated

into a single moment.

Either way, the
question still remains,

is Jeff's footage proof that
the Phoenix Lights are back?

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

Rich Hoffman of the Scientific
Coalition for UAP Studies

begins by comparing
Jeff's footage

with the reports from that
fateful night in March of 1997.

- The Phoenix Lights
were a triangular shape,

not two lights in
the sky like this.

The residents were
describing one structure

that was having multiple
lights and this is like one,

so there's no comparison there.

- [Tony] Yet, even
if this isn't related

to the Phoenix Lights,

how does one explain
the mind-boggling moment

when Jeff's alleged UFO appears

to divide into two
separate objects,

which then disappear?

Astronomer and video effects
designer Marc D'Antonio

thinks he may know.

- Earlier in the video, it
looks like it's just one object

because they're probably
behind each other,

but later on as the objects
move apart from each other,

it gets more and
more elongated,

and then you start to see two
distinct and separate objects.

So is this a splitting UFO

or is it two objects
behind each other?

- [Tony] If it is two objects,

are they decidedly less
exotic than alien craft?

- Are they balloons?

Are they drones?

Are they aircraft?

Well, this was 2004.

It's not very likely
that they were drones,

unless it was some
kind of military drone.

- [Tony] The main type of
unmanned military aircraft

in use in 2004 was the remotely
operated predator drone.

It's the size and shape
of a small airplane,

which also doesn't explain how
the lights on it could split

like we see in this video.

So does that mean we need to
call this a UFO after all?

D'Antonio has his doubts.

- This was probably a
launch of two sky lanterns.

- [Tony] A sky lantern is
a miniature hot air balloon

made out of oiled
paper and a wire frame

with an opening at the
bottom for a candle

or other small source of fire.

- [Marc] The giveaway
is that they vanish.

[graphics whooshing]

That's because the
flame packets are fuel

and that fuel gets exhausted
after a little while,

and when it gets exhausted,
the flame goes out.

And that's just
what we see here.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- Our verdict?

This splitting object or
objects remain unidentified.

D'Antonio's sky lantern
idea is intriguing,

but how could they
fly so close together

that they appear as one?

The original Phoenix Lights

and similar incidents in the
Phoenix area in the 2000s

have been attributed
to flares set off

by the military and others,

yet there are still
those who are skeptical

of these down-to-
earth explanations.

[graphics whooshing]

Since this show began,

we've been interested in
a legendary beast said

to lurk in the depths of
Canada's Okanagan Lake.

We have promised to
stay on the story

whenever there's a new
sighting caught on camera.

Well, it's happened again.

October 2020,
Frind Estate Winery

on Okanagan Lake,
British Columbia.

It's a really calm
day on the lake.

Adam Schwartz and his
family step onto a pier

for a scenic view of the
water when Adam spots this,

an odd formation of waves
undulating against the current.

Let's take a closer look.

You see what looked like
humps here, here and here.

Schwartz thinks this may
be the legendary monster.

- Well, there's no boats
out here and, of course,

Kelowna and Lake Okanagan

is known for its sea monster,

the Ogopogo.

And everyone who's
seen it on the news

or friends and family
that we've shown it to,

think, oh, that looks
very convincing,

like something's out there.

[eerie music]

- This is Lake Okanagan.

It has a long
history and tradition

of lake monster sightings
that go back centuries.

The local natives talked

about something
called the N'ha-a-itk,

which was a great serpentine
animal that lived in the lake.

- [Tony] These indigenous people

would even leave sacrificed
animals in the water,

believing that allowed them
safe passage from the monster.

According to Ken Gerhard,

the Ogopogo has more compelling
photographic evidence

than any lake monster
around the world.

- In fact, about
a month earlier,

a couple sailing out on
Lake Okanagan saw the head

of some type of strange animal

that almost looks like a dragon.

[camera clicking]
- [Tony] In this photo,

you can see the
creature's brownish tone

and what appear to
be two horns jutting

from the sides of its head.

- Many of the descriptions of
the Ogopogo include something

that has horns and
will describe the head

as having a horse-like or
sheep-like shape to it.

- [Tony] The majority of
these Ogopogo sightings

are clustered in the months
of September and October,

like this one.

Gerhard believes there's
a good reason for that.

- It's important because those

are the peak salmon
fishing months at the lake.

The salmon runs in
British Columbia come in,

starting in June
and July and August,

and then the salmon begin
to spawn in the lake

in September and October.

So if this creature
is feeding on salmon,

then it would make sense
that there are more sightings

of the Ogopogo
during those months.

[suspenseful music]
[graphics whposhing]

- Fans of the show may recall
that our experts were unable

to explain this alleged
Ogopogo video from 2019.

Will they be able to solve
this mysterious sighting?

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

Marine biologist Dr.
Shea Steingass dives

into one of the
prevailing theories

that this is just the result

of something called
the thermocline.

- When different densities

and temperatures of
water collide in a lake,

you can get these really
large-scale disturbances

that appear to propagate
through the water

and maybe look a bit
like a sea serpent.

But this is a pretty calm day
and being in a lake like this,

you would be less likely to
have such a dynamic thermal wave

interrupting the water
like we see here.

- [Tony] So could it be the
legendary Ogopogo we're seeing?

Steingass is doubtful

due to the frigid
temperature of the lake.

- Ogopogo is said to be
15 feet long or longer.

An animal like this
would not be able

to the thermoregulate
in Lake Okanagan.

When you look at aquatic
animals and cold environments,

you often see what is known
as a fusiform body shape,

essentially the body that's
shaped like a football.

They have less surface
area to warm up

and to thermoregulate.

A long, sinuous sea monster

would simply have
too much surface area

that it would have
to constantly heat.

It would simply be too cold.

- [Tony] And as for
that horned creature

that was photographed
a month earlier,

many have pointed out
that if you look closely,

you can see what
appears to be the head

and bill of an upside down duck.

And these horns are most likely
just a pair of webbed feet.

So if the Ogopogo is a myth,
then just what is this thing?

We turn to wildlife biologist
Dr. Stephanie Manka.

- What I believe is happening

is that wind is hitting
this part of the lake

and creating a wave effect and
the wave is casting a shadow.

If there was an animal swimming
and it came to the surface,

you would expect
circles rippling.

We don't see anything like that.

So people think that they're
seeing an animal in the water,

but really it's the
shadow of a wave.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- Our verdict?

We are calling this a visual
effect created by wind.

So we did not find
Ogopogo this time,

but there have been
enough alleged sightings

to keep us on the hunt.

- Any superhero fan knows
that once Peter Parker

was bitten by a radioactive
spider, he became Spider-Man,

able to climb walls
and catch thieves.

But that's all comic
book stuff, right?

Certainly no one
in the real world

could possess those abilities.

Well, this next video
might change your mind.

It's July 9th, 2023
in Pingtan, China,

known as the County of Islands.

A mother and her children are
at home watching something

on television when something

in their own living
room steals the show.

The family's home
surveillance camera is rolling

as one of the kids climbs
onto the back of the sectional

and then makes her
way up the wall,

perching herself in the
upper corner of the room.

Another video, this one
taken on a phone camera,

shows a closer angle
of the eight year old

demonstrating her
wall climbing talent.

- It's incredible,

and it doesn't seem like
it should be possible.

The girl's mother
uploaded the video

and the internet actually
nicknamed her Spider-Girl

because what we're seeing
here is very similar

to the abilities
that Spider-Man has.

- [Tony] Some have
even compared the video

to another alleged wall
climber we've shown you before.

- That video shows a
woman climbing a wall

and she's actually holding
another woman by her hair

as she climbs.

And when the woman reaches
the top of the wall,

she lets the other woman go.
[victim screaming]

Our experts determined

that that video was
a fake, thankfully.

This video, though,
appears pretty authentic,

so maybe it is the real deal.

[graphics whooshing]

- If this girl keeps going,

she may one day scale the
heights of Alain Robert,

also known as the Human Spider.

In 2015, Robert broke
the world record

for most buildings climbed

after he scaled his
121st skyscraper.

So is this footage a fraud

or do this girl's wall
climbing talents stick?

Let's find out what
our experts think.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

First, is the video for real?

- As you watch, you can see
the subject's reflection,

the way that the feet are
positioned, the hand motions,

and even the hair all appear

to be consistent
with one another,

so the video appears
to be genuine.

- [Tony] Then, does
this girl really

have spider-like
climbing abilities?

To answer that, we need to
know how spiders really climb.

- First of all, spiders
are really light

so that works towards
their advantage

because gravity is not
acting upon them as much.

Also, they have small
hairs on their feet

and those hairs have smaller
hairs called setules,

and they form triangular tips.

And what happens is
there's temporary forces

that form between
the spider feet

and the walls called
Van der Waals forces.

- [Tony] Named for
the Dutch physicist,

Johannes Diderik van der Waals,
who first proposed the idea,

a Van der Waals force is
an electrostatic attraction

that occurs between molecules
in extremely close proximity,

like a 25 millionth of an inch.

This is due to the positive
and negative charges

within molecules
attracting each other

like opposing magnets.

- These small hairs enable
spiders to grip to surfaces

with a force 107 times
greater than their weight.

- [Tony] But this girl
clearly lacks a number

of these arachnid features.

- She doesn't have
the tiny spider hairs

and her skin looks
pretty smooth.

She's also not obviously
as light as a spider,

- [Tony] So is there some
other way she's defying

the relentless force of
gravity here on earth?

Physicist Dr. Michio Kaku
explains what he thinks

is actually going on,

and it has something
to do with the location

where this was filmed,

on an island right
off the mainland.

- Notice that A, she's small,

B, the amount of muscle
mass per kilogram

is higher for small objects
than for big objects.

The fact that they're
near the ocean

and the air is humid
helps to a degree.

If there's too much
water vapor in the air,

then you slip and fall down.

If there's only a little
bit, then you stick.

- [Tony] That's because the
small amount of water sandwiched

between the girl's skin and the
wall acts as a binding glue,

increasing the friction and
causing the skin to stick.

- So the fact that she's small,

she's skinny and she
sweats a little bit,

allows her to
perform these feats

that a large person
could never perform.

- [Tony] So while she
may not be Spider-Girl,

her technique does
bear some resemblance

to the arachnids, in principle.

- It's somewhat similar
to what spiders do in

that her skin is
resisting the wall

and becoming kinda
like sticky to it,

but she has another
wall to support her,

where spiders are just working

with the bottoms of their
legs and the one wall surface.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- Our verdict?

This is the result of the
muscle mass on the girl

and the moisture in the air.

We don't have to test out

this girl's web
spinning abilities

to know she's not
exactly Spider-Girl,

but that doesn't make her talent

for wall climbing
any less impressive.

- Syria is one of the oldest
continuously inhabited regions

of the world,

but a mid-20th century
archaeological excavation

has left some wondering if a
giant human once lived there

who would've towered
over most dinosaurs.

It's 1955 in the village
of Ain Dara, Syria

on the east bank
of the Afrin River.

An archaeologist has discovered

a 3,000-year-old Hittite temple

with stone sculptures of lions,
sphinxes and mountain gods,

but among the usual
carvings and sculptures

lie enormous imprints
of mysterious origin,

two three-foot long human-like
footprints emerge out

of the stone floor
at the portico

where the temple once stood.

Another left footprint lies a
few feet in front of the pair,

and a final right footprint

is embedded at the
threshold of the main hall,

some 30 feet away.

- We don't see
the right footprint

until the other side
of this enclosure.

For someone to make
a 30-foot stride,

that person would have to
be at least 65 feet tall.

We have to wonder if these
aren't some type of ancient gods

or giants that walked
upon the earth.

- [Tony] Now, the Hittites
were an ancient people

who first occupied what
is now western Turkey.

They began expanding
into northern Syria

and by 1340 BC,

became one of the most dominant
powers in the Middle East.

And coincidentally,

godly giants were depicted
in the Hittite empire.

- One of the biblical tales

is that fallen angels
actually came down

and mated with human females,

and the offspring of this
were known as the Nephilim,

half god, half man, very
violent, large giants.

Is it possible that Ain Dara
is one of the actual locations

where the Nephilim
may have resided?

- [Tony] And Martell
says that Ain Dara

isn't the only place
where ancient gods

and their giant offspring
once reportedly roamed.

- In Baalbek in Lebanon,

there are huge trilithon stones
stacked to make a platform.

Across the globe in Mexico,
we have in Teotihuacan,

large step pyramids that look
as though they were built just

for the gods to walk
down these large steps.

Many of these locations all seem

to have similar properties
which speak to the idea

that at one point giants
did walk upon the earth.

[graphics whooshing]

- In 1577, a large skeleton
found near Lucerne, Switzerland

was interpreted as the
bones of an ancient giant.

The skeleton measured
about 19 feet tall,

but was later determined
to belong to a mammoth

or some similar form
of ancient elephant.

Yet these prints in Ain
Dara can't be mistaken

for those of an elephant.

So let's ask our experts

to put their stamp on these
enigmatic indentations.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

Anthropologist Kathy Strain
says there is evidence that

giants once roamed the earth,
but were they giant enough?

- In 1998, Emory
University did a study

where they found this
gene called the X lineage

and some believe that it
leads to taller people.

In the 1800s, the Smithsonian
was doing excavations

when they found some skeletons

that were roughly seven
foot, six inches tall.

We know that there are other
people in the eight foot range,

and so it's possible

that this X lineage does
lead to taller people.

However, it's still not
going to get you in the range

of 65 feet tall.

- [Tony] Archaeologist
Dr. Ed Barnhart says

there's also something
about these imprints

that just doesn't add up.

- There are really
only four footprints.

If indeed this was made
by some giant being,

we could track those
footprints out much farther

across the stone than
simply the last four steps.

And if it was actually
a 65-foot-tall person

in a Hittite world,

there would be a giant
temple with a giant tomb,

with a giant body.

I'm an archaeologist,
show me the artifacts.

- [Tony] So were these
footprints forged?

- To me these represents
carved footprints.

They were meant to have
the sense that the god

or the goddess is walking in,
standing in their own temple,

and then walking to where they
would sit to be worshiped.

- They are symbols

that a giant person had
walked into this temple

to pray there or
perhaps to be prayed to.

An archaeological site
usually is hiding secrets.

Maybe there was something
that would illuminate

what these footprints meant
to the Hittite people,

but unfortunately in 2018,

the Turkish Air Force
bombed the site.

[bomb exploding]

- [Tony] The temple
was sadly a casualty

in a Turkish offensive
against Kurdish forces

in northwestern Syria
during the Civil War.

- And so, a lot of the site
was ruined in that bombing

and we can't recover
what's now lost.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- Our verdict?

These footprints

are likely manmade
symbolic representations.

Tragically, the remaining
secrets of this site

are now lost to history.

- Is Bigfoot stalking the
wilderness of Canada?

If that feels like a no brainer,

let me give you another one.

Is Bigfoot swimming in
the waters of Canada?

That question might just be
answered in our next video,

but the footage is still
a mystery in itself.

While the true origins of
this video remain unknown,

internet rumors
suggest this footage

was filmed in Ontario,
Canada, sometime in 2022.

Two boaters are recording their
voyage when their camera pans

to the shoreline of
an unpopulated island

and they spot something
emerging from the woods.

It's large, seemingly
uniform in color and bipedal.

Let's zoom in on the
footage and slow it down.

The creature appears
to be almost

indistinguishable in color

from the forest behind it

and it bears at least
one striking similarity

to the most famous alleged
Bigfoot ever caught on camera.

- It is leaning
forward at the waist

about five degrees or so,

which is also seen in the
"Patterson-Gimlin film,"

which is of course
the best example

of the way a Sasquatch moves.

It quickly goes back into
cover because Sasquatches,

is like all wild animals,

don't particularly
like to be observed.

That mottled color to the fur

is actually a benefit if
you're trying to camouflage

that would help it blend
into its environment.

- [Tony] One wrinkle though,
this is on an island,

and though most mammals are
able to swim instinctively,

a notable exception
is the great apes.

So what does Bigfoot
think of aquatic activity?

- Sasquatches do not
fear the water at all.

They've been seen swimming
off of southeast Alaska

and wading through
lakes in Minnesota.

They're very often seen foraging

for plants around
the edge of water.

- [Tony] Another theory
worth considering,

could we be seeing a
hermit or mountain man

who has forsaken
modern civilization

for a life in the wilderness?

- There's a certain
type of person

that lives in far-flung
corners of the continent,

whether it's Ontario or Alaska,

the type of person

that doesn't wanna be
around other people,

a lot like Sasquatches.

These people like
very often live alone

in a very rough life.

So is what we're seeing
in this particular footage

just a glimpse of one of these
hermits living off the grid

and perhaps wearing fur

to stay warm in such
harsh environments?

[graphics whooshing]

- Perhaps the most famous
American hermit was Chris Knight

who spent 27 years
living in the woods

and stealing from homes in
the North Pond area of Maine

until his arrest in 2013.

So what are we looking at here?

A criminal on the land, a
Sasquatch out for a swim,

or something else?

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

First, let's start
with a simpler theory.

Ontario's black bear population

is the second largest
in North America,

and we know they can swim.

Could that be what we're seeing?

- The hair color kind of matches

with what you would
think of a bear.

However, even though bears

can walk on two legs
for a short distance,

the legs are shorter.

So I can safely rule
out that that is a bear.

- [Tony] If it
isn't a black bear,

could it be a person
simply living off the grid?

- The gait and how it
walks is very human-like.

It's got two arms that
swing as it walks,

just like what humans do,

and the proportions of the legs

to the arms look
correct for humans.

- [Tony] But anatomy is one
thing, covering is another.

- I can't see anything
like clothing,

belts or anything like that.

So I can conclude that
it's not wearing clothing.

What we are seeing is
something that has fur or hair.

Because it's covered
head to toe with hair,

we can rule out that
it's a human being.

- [Tony] Professor of
anatomy Dr. Jeff Meldrum

explores the idea that
this could be a Bigfoot

that swam to the island.

He says it's true great apes
can't swim instinctively,

but some have learned.

- There are examples of apes
that have learned to swim

and frequent swimming pools,
even utilize aqua lungs,

clear regulators and swim
in the deep end of the pool.

It's really quite fascinating,
the potential that they have,

that possibility does exist
amongst the great apes as well.

- [Tony] However, for Meldrum,

the issue isn't the
swimming, it's the walking.

- The thing that
concerns me is the gait.

The stoop seems
overly exaggerated.

It doesn't have that
natural spontaneity

that we see in the
"Patterson-Gimlin film"

where the subject does
in fact lean forward

about five degrees consistently.

This looks like a very
self-conscious stoop

as if it were encumbered
with artificial feet

and on an uneven surface.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- Our verdict, it's not a
hairy Bigfoot or a hermit.

We're calling this a hoax.

It's this kind of stuff

that gives serious Bigfoot
research a bad name.

On the other hand, it makes
doing this show a lot of fun.

- In 2010, an airport
in China was shut down

for more than an hour

after air traffic controllers
saw what they believed

to be a UFO buzzing around.

Chinese officials later denied
the incident even happened,

claiming it must have
been military exercises.

But can that be said for
this next Chinese incident?

December 19th, 2022.

It's a clear night
in Ordos City,

located in China's
Inner Mongolia region.

Suddenly something
appears in the sky above

that grabs everyone's attention.

One man points his phone
up and captures this.

- A large spotlight in the shape

of an upside-down
jellyfish seems to expand

and take over the heavens.

In its center, a bright cone
of light descends right here.

Underneath it, a
tadpole-shaped beam,

like a small lightning bolt,
appears frozen in time.

What is this thing?

- We did have plenty
of speculation

regarding this phenomena
being some sort

of extraterrestrial event.

- [Tony] Some believe
China's UFO story begins

with a set of disks found
near the Tibetan border

called the Dropa stones,

which allegedly are
12,000 years old

and tell the tale of an
alien spaceship crash.

Today, like the United States,

China has its own
investigatory body

for unidentified aerial objects.

It's run by the People's
Liberation Army,

or PLA, China's
principal military force.

- According to the PLA,

they refer to UAP,

or unidentified aerial
phenomena as UAC,

or unidentified air conditions.

- [Tony] So what did the PLA

have to say about this
sighting at Ordos?

- There is limited intelligence

because China is keeping
it very close to its chest

and not releasing
very much about it.

- [Tony] Banias notes that
silence has led some to wonder

if instead of a
war of the worlds,

we should worry about a
conflict much closer to home.

There's been speculation
this could be connected

to some secret
Chinese space weapon.

It wouldn't be the first.

- Space, just like any domain,
is going to be a battlefield.

One particularly interesting
weapon that China has developed

is the Shijian 17 satellite.

Essentially it's an object
that has a grappling arm on it

and grabs onto the
adversarial satellite

so they can de-orbit the
satellite making it unusable.

Fundamentally, this
could very well be used

as a weapon should
somebody need it to.

[graphics whooshing]

- What have we got here?

So far the only peep we've heard
from the Chinese government

came through the local Inner
Mongolia Weather Bureau,

which said it was not
a weather phenomenon.

Will our experts reach
the same conclusion?

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

We begin with military
aviation expert Tim McMillan.

By the end of 2022, there
were nearly 7,000 satellites

in orbit around the earth,

and on average one falls
back to earth every week.

Could it be a crashing
satellite like the Shijian 17?

- No, for a couple of reasons.

One being a satellite as it
reenters the Earth's atmosphere,

you're gonna see that
same level of motion

that you would expect
from a shooting star.

But we don't see anything

that resembles that
in these videos.

- [Tony] Then, is the
object a candidate

for what the PLA calls an
unidentified air condition,

what we call a UFO?

McMillan has a hunch we're
seeing something very much

from this planet.

- To be honest with you,
if I walked outta my house

and saw this in the night
sky, I'd probably freak out.

But there are telltale signs

that as otherworldly
as it looks,

this is gonna be
a manmade object.

We can tell from the video here,

these bright plumes are actually
calls from an interaction

between different gases
in the Earth's atmosphere.

All of the characteristics
point to it,

very likely a
multi-stage rocket,

which is why we see the
kind of differing variances

of light there.

- [Tony] Astronomer and
video effects designer

Mark D'Antonio agrees,
and sees even more clues.

- To me, this is the early
smoke trail rising in the air,

and then as it gets up higher,
we're looking up into it.

- [Tony] D'Antonio
notes that smoke trail

has the hallmarks
of an exhaust plume,

specifically from a rocket.

- Then the rocket
changes perspective

and looks like it changes
its angle of attack.

It's now heading more
toward the horizon,

toward the horizontal.

- [Tony] In fact, he
believes it all adds up

to a rocket launch.

- So in the anatomy of this,
we have the beginning plume,

we have the later
plume of the launch,

and then we see here this is
where it all emanates from.

- [Tony] As for the type
of rocket this could be,

D'Antonio offers a theory.

- I think that it's one of the
ICBMs, which stands for

Intercontinental
Ballistic Missile.

- [Tony] ICBMs can have a range
of over 3,500 miles

and are primarily designed
for nuclear weapons delivery.

According to news reports,

the People's Liberation Army

began building an ICBM test site

in nearby Ordos City in 2021.

If this is an ICBM test,

it could mean that site
is now fully operational.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

Government secrets are tough
to crack, especially in China.

Our verdict?

All we can say is this is
a Chinese rocket launch,

but what was it carrying,

a satellite, some new
kind of space weapon?

For now, that's unknown.

- In earlier episodes, we've
featured videos from Italy

of oddities in the sky that
couldn't be easily explained,

but this next clip may be
one of the most compelling

to ever come out of
that ancient land.

Take a look and you'll
see what I mean.

In the early 2000s,

journalist Paola Harris is
handed a mysterious videotape

with an alleged UFO sighting.

Paola isn't told any
details about the recording,

including when it was filmed.

All she knows is that it
took place near the town

of Aviano, Italy.

- We didn't get the name
of the photographer.

There was no return address,

so I didn't know what I was
getting until I got home.

- [Tony] And when Paola
plays the cassette,

she is shocked by what she sees.

An aerial craft shaped like
a saucer flies gracefully

along what appears
to be a riverbed.

As the UFO gets
closer to the camera,

we see it appears to
have several vents

and flaps on its oval body.

- It's a pretty big object

and it's very clear
it's a classic disc

and it almost had like lights

around the circumference of it.

- [Tony] Then, after
hovering for a few seconds,

we see the craft
start to move again,

before quickly zooming
off into the clouds.

Writer MJ Banias says Italy

has a long history
of UFO sightings.

In fact, in June 2023,

former intelligence officer-
turned-whistleblower David Grush

made a startling claim.

- David Grush believes
that the Vatican

was responsible for
the coverup of UFOs.

He makes the claim that in 1933,

there was a UFO crash in Italy
and the Italian government

as well as the Church

essentially attempted
to hush it up

and secure the downed object.

- [Tony] And when it
comes to UFOs near Aviano,

this wouldn't be the first.

- There is a bit of history
with Aviano and UFO encounters.

- [Tony] The area is
home to a NATO air base.

And on July 1st, 1977,

an air force guard
observed a strange craft

hovering over the base,

which housed two secret jet
fighters in a large hangar.

- This particular object had
a sort of dome-shaped top.

It was emitting
multiple colored lights

and it was 45 meter in
diameter about the size

of the Navy Pier Ferris
wheel in Chicago.

- [Tony] A team
of military guards

and radar personnel
purportedly tried

to capture that aerial
object, but when they did,

they were hit with a
mysterious power outage

and the craft disappeared.

But what about this craft

seen hovering over
the river near Aviano?

Is it an alien encounter
with a military base?

[graphics whooshing]

To date, the Aviano footage
has garnered nearly eight

and a half million
views on YouTube.

A number of netizens have
identified the location

as somewhere near this bridge,

which crosses the
Ceolini stream.

But let's see what
our experts think

about what this thing really is.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

We begin with military
aviation expert Tim McMillan,

who points out this UFO
flying over the river

may not be as
alien as you think.

- That particular
shape is not exclusive

to the UFO alien kind of lore.

And in fact, going
back to the 1930s,

the flying disc or
lenticular design,

was already identified

as really being an
exceptional aerodynamic shape.

- [Tony] One of
the most well-known

saucer-shaped machines
is the Avro Car.

It was developed as part
of a US military project

carried out in the early
years of the Cold War.

- That particular program
never got off the ground,

both figuratively and literally.

The Avro Car was only able

to achieve a few
feet off the ground

for just several moments.

And there's a more
recent attempt at this

with a smaller drone
called the ADIFO,

which integrates fans

and then also a rotating
jet engine on it

to try to replicate this
flying saucer flight.

- [Tony] As the footage
was taken so close

to a military base,

could this be some sort of
early-2000s military craft?

Well, hold on.

McMillan notices something
off about the footage.

- One of the major problems
that I see is the fact

that this object is flying
really close over the surface.

Just imagine a helicopter
that's flying extremely low,

that should be generating

significant displacement
on the ground.

We don't see that there.

How is it able to hover
over without having any type

of external effect
on the ground?

- [Tony] Rich Hoffman

of the Scientific Coalition
for UAP Studies agrees,

there's something
not quite right here.

- You don't have
an original video

and you don't have metadata
or anything to go on.

Could I create CGI
to look like this?

The answer is yes, I could.

- [Tony] For Hoffman,
the most suspicious parts

of the video occur at the end.

- When I saw the object become
that indistinct line or blur,

to me that suggested
it was like more

like a CGI type of an artifact.

And I'm giving you the illusion

that it's taking off
at a very fast clip.

- [Tony] With the
red flags flying,

we head to our video forensics
expert, Michael Primeau.

- We don't know where
this file came from,

structural attributes

to be able to say whether

or not it's a genuine recording.

With the reduction in the
quality it becomes challenging,

because we can't see detail.

- [Tony] But surprise,
unlike Hoffman,

Primeau doesn't detect the
use of any special effects.

- No evidence of CGI,

no evidence of third party
editing applications.

But again, those
things can be stripped

and anti-forensic technology
essentially can be introduced,

in which case the result

of this authentication
is inconclusive.

Without more information
about the chain of custody,

we can't opine as to whether
or not this actually occurred.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- So this thing
remains unidentified

and it is certainly flying,

but we're not certain if
this is even an object

or just a video hoax.

And with the ongoing military
presence at Aviano Air Base,

something tells me

we'll be seeing more
anomalous incidents there

in the future.

And that's our show for tonight.

Thank you so much for watching,

and keep those cameras rolling.

[suspenseful music]