All language subtitles for The.Proof.Is.Out.There.S05E21.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- Tonight, on
"The Proof is Out There."

Lasers in the Hawaiian sky.

Is this a secret space weapon?

- These lasers
are very sinister.

They're part of a
targeting system

that was targeting
the state of Hawaii.

- [Tony] A mysterious claw.

Did a sea monster
attack a navy ship?

- Really one of the
most remarkable things

that has ever happened involving
an unknown sea creature

of gigantic proportions.

- [Tony] Does a remarkable
photo prove Bigfoot

or his cousin is
after your dogs?

- You've heard of Bigfoot,

but have you heard of Gugwe?

- [Misty] That is weird.

- [Tony] And what's
that ring of lights

near a historic government lab?

- This area has been a hotspot

for UFO sightings for 70 years.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] Around the
globe are videos.

- [Witness] What are
those things?

- [Bystander] It's moving.

- [Tony] Photos and sounds
that defy explanation.

[noise screeching]

[dramatic music]

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

who made them, or
how they operate.

- [Tony] What are they?

- [Male Expert] Some sort
of bizarre mutation.

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

- Extraordinary claims
need extraordinary proof.

[dramatic music]

- 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.

[dramatic music]

Good evening, everyone,

and welcome to
"The Proof is Out There."

Since laser beams were first
introduced in the 1960s,

they've been put
to many good uses,

from lifesaving surgeries

to laser-triggered home alarms.

But this next video
will leave you wondering

if lasers are also being used
for more sinister purposes,

specifically in the sky.

It's January 2023, on
the big island of Hawaii,

atop the summit of
the Mauna Kea volcano,

a camera on the Subaru telescope

captures the early morning
sky over the Pacific.

The camera is livestreaming

when from out of nowhere
a series of green lasers

appears to sweep across
the sky from left to right.

[mysterious music]

Take another look. It only
lasts for about a second.

And when we freeze it,

we can clearly see the
parallel green lines

beam down from above,

then flicker, and disappear
as quickly as they came.

Astrophotography expert
Andrew McCarthy says

some wonder if
these beams of light

could be a directed
energy weapon.

- Directed energy weapons
use concentrated energy,

like from a laser,
instead of projectiles,

to destroy a target.

This technology was
first deployed

in 2014 on the USS Ponce.

- [Tony] The Ponce's
30-kilowatt infrared laser beam

is a defensive weapon
that can fry sensors,

burn out motors, and detonate
explosive materials.

[explosion]

It has demonstrated that
it can down a small drone

in less than two seconds.

- Since then, the US
has floated the idea

of using space-based DEWs

specifically to prevent
missile attacks.

- [Tony] McCarthy
adds that technically

the use of such weapons
for offensive purposes

can be deemed illegal.

- The Outer Space Treaty in 1967

forbade the use of any
weapons of mass destruction,

military bases, or
other weapons in space.

However, many speculate
the militarization

of space is already underway.

- [Tony] Still, others question
if these strange lights

could have a more alien origin.

- What this video reminds
me of is a story from 1969

in Berkshire County,
Massachusetts.

There were 40 eyewitnesses

that claimed to
see UFOs in the sky

and that coincided
with abduction stories

where people claimed
tractor beams,

much like these
green laser beams,

were used to abduct them.

[gentle dramatic music]

- The camera that
captured this footage

is in a remote location,

giving us a great
view of the skies.

So did it livestream something
truly out of this world

or something that could
alter the course of life

on the planet?

Our experts take a closer look.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

First, could this be
something natural,

like the Northern Lights?

- This is a level of uniformity

that suggests this
is a technology.

This is not a naturally
occurring phenomenon.

Nature doesn't work with
that much uniformity.

- [Tony] If this isn't natural,

could these green
lights actually

be some sort of alien
technology, like tractor beams?

- There's nothing that's
characteristic of UFO sightings.

There's nothing I see here

that can't be accounted
for by Earth technology.

- [Tony] So could this be
a directed energy weapon

capable of shooting
at Earth from space?

DEWs are meant to
pinpoint a target.

So it's unlikely
beams from a weapon

would've moved indiscriminately
across the sky like this.

And these lasers didn't seem

to destroy anything
in the process,

so astronomer and
video effects designer

Marc D'Antonio has his doubts.

- At first glance,
you would think

that this could potentially

have some type of
military application,

and that's not untrue.

However, in-depth analysis shows

that this is probably
a scientific endeavor.

- There was some speculation

that this was related to
NASA's ICESat-2 satellite.

However, upon further
investigation,

it turns out that the
NASA ICESat-2 satellite

actually wasn't in
the area at that time.

NASA did try to
determine what satellite

may have been in that
particular region.

And the satellite that
NASA was able to pinpoint

based on trajectory measurements

was the Chinese Daqi-1.

- [Tony] The official
purpose of the Daqi-1

is to use the laser-scanning
technology, known as lidar,

to measure pollutants.

But security expert
Richard Fisher worries

that's not the only data
this device is gathering.

- China's space program
is entirely dual use.

Everything the
Chinese put into space

is designed to produce
a military benefit.

The environmental
monitoring satellite,

Daqi-1, also measures,
very precisely,

the density of the
atmosphere over the target,

and this is crucial
information for China's latest

hypersonic glide
vehicle armed missile.

- Having accurate maps is
crucial in a warfare scenario.

So certainly it's not beyond
the realm of possibility

that data that's
being collected here

could be used in a military
setting in the event of a war.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- Our verdict, these green beams

are pollution-detecting lidar
from a Chinese satellite,

though there is a
chance these lasers

may also have had a
more covert mission.

This unusual pattern was
likely visible that day

because it was filmed with
a special low-light camera,

and dense atmospheric conditions

caused the beams to
expand and scatter.

[gentle dramatic music]

Now let's get deep,
like deep underwater.

We've covered many incidents
involving strange encounters

between US Navy warships

and unidentified
objects in the air.

This story is about
a famous encounter

with an unidentified
object in the ocean,

and this one
allegedly had teeth.

1978 on the Pacific
Ocean, the USS Stein,

a US Navy destroyer escort,
is conducting routine tests,

when suddenly the radar system

responsible for identifying
submarine threats

becomes inoperable.

The Stein heads for land
and reaches dry dock

where upon inspection
of the sonar dome,

the engineers find this.

This vintage film shows
the rubber no-foul coating

of the sonar dome is shredded,

with large tears as
big as four feet long.

And what's more,

embedded at the bottom of the
scratches are curved claws.

- The USS Stein
incident has become

one of the most famous incidents

in the annals of cryptozoology

that have to deal with a
possible unknown sea creature.

And, of course, what's
really remarkable

is that we have this
physical evidence

of whatever it was that damaged

this rubber no-foul coating.

- [Tony] The no-foul coating
is specifically designed

to create a smooth
nonstick surface

so barnacles and other sea
creatures can't stick to it.

- The navy called in
their top scientist,

a marine biologist by
the name of F.G. Wood,

in order to investigate

and to examine these
strange tooth-like

or claw-like structures

that were embedded
in the rubber dome

in order to see if
they could identify

and equate them to any
type of known species.

He concluded that they most
resembled the so-called teeth

that lined the
suckers of squids.

[water gurgling]

- [Tony] The giant squid,

a terrifying tale
amongst seafaring folk,

that was widely
considered a myth.

But after corpses started
to wash up on ocean shores,

and a Japanese science team

caught one on
camera back in 2012,

it proved to be a real-life
monster of the deep.

Scientists believe
these colossal creatures

could grow up to 66 feet long.

- Giant squid, in addition
to their eight tentacles,

they have these two
incredibly long predatory arms

with hooks or teeth
in its suckers

to grasp and tear prey apart.

Upon examination of these teeth,

F.G. Wood determined that the
squid that left them behind

would be somewhere
in the neighborhood

of 150 feet in length,

which essentially is
about half the height

of the Statue of Liberty.

We know that invertebrates
are pretty much unlimited

in terms of growth potential,

particularly in the deep ocean.

- [Tony] But there is
another possibility,

very real and very ugly,

the frightful fish once
thought to be extinct,

the frilled shark.

- Until recent years,
it was safe to conclude

that the frilled shark had
gone the way of the megalodon.

- [Tony] This was
mainly due to the rarity

of sightings of the
deep sea creature.

But new research is showing
that this population

is alive and thriving,

and Gerhard says the
teeth of these sharks

match the evidence.

- The frilled shark
has 25 rows of teeth.

And the fact that we found

so many of these
tooth-like structures

embedded in the no-foul
dome of the USS Stein

would indicate that a frilled
shark is one possibility.

[gentle dramatic music]

- In 2014, two
Greenpeace submariners

had their own "20,000 Leagues
Under the Sea" experience

when a squad of red devil
squid attacked their vessel.

So, we know they can
get aggressive with

manmade sea craft.

Could a belligerent sea
creature be responsible

for what happened
to the USS Stein?

We let our experts
dig their teeth in.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

Could the damage be
from the frilled shark

as Gerhard suggests?

- I don't see the
types of tooth marks

that I would expect to
see from a frilled shark.

We would see evidence
of serrated teeth.

The way that a shark bites

is by grabbing onto
something with its mouth,

and then using the
serrations in its teeth

to tear through the flesh
of that animal or object.

- [Tony] And as for
those claw-like fragments

found stuck in the sonar dome.

- This could be the claw
of some kind of cephalopod.

It's absolutely possible

that this could have
been a giant squid.

Giant squid and sperm
whales are known enemies.

I wonder if this wasn't
some sort of a giant squid

that thought this sonar device
was actually a sperm whale

trying to echolocate and
it attacked the boat.

- [Tony] So the giant
squid theory is seaworthy.

But remember that by
Wood's calculations,

this squid would have
to be 150 feet long.

Impossible? Think again.

- The idea that there's a
giant squid in our ocean

that is much larger than any
other documented specimen

is totally possible.

We've only found a
few of these animals

'cause they live in a
deep ocean environment.

But when a large animal
dies in the deep sea

because there's so
much water pressure,

they almost immediately sink

and we probably
would never see them.

So imagine how
many unique animals

are living and dying
in our oceans today

that we've just
never encountered,

and this could be one of them.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- Our verdict, we're going
with a potential giant squid.

Our experts back up the navy
scientist's original theory.

The damage left on the ship

seems to indicate a giant squid,

but one that would have
to be on a monstrous scale

unlike any squid
ever seen before.

- We are always
talking about Bigfoot

potentially being the missing
link between ape and man,

but we never consider
if, over the millennia,

Bigfoot itself has evolved
into a new subspecies.

Could this next story be
proof of such an offshoot?

June 1st, 2005, the Parc des
Sept-Chutes in Quebec, Canada.

Louie, a construction
truck driver,

was taking photos while
on a hike in the park.

When he gets home, he looks
at the images he's captured,

when he sees this.

The figure is in the shadows.

But as we crop the image
and lighten the area,

it sure looks like
this thing has a snout

and is carrying something white.

Amazingly, the
creature appears to be

staring at the photographer
who doesn't notice it.

Field researcher Cliff Barackman

points out some key features
of the creature in this image.

- I like the color of the
figure in this photograph.

It turns out if you
have a Sasquatch hair

and you backlight it,

they all shine red.

Under the forest canopy,

the sunlight is filtered by the
leaves in the foliage above,

and the first
wavelengths of light

to disappear are
the red wavelengths.

Anything red under the canopy,

like a Sasquatch,
would appear black.

- [Tony] And while
some suggested

this could be a Bigfoot,

others believe this could
be something new altogether.

- Some people in the Bigfoot
community look at this picture

and say it's a more
baboon-like species

with a more prominent
prognathism,

a jutting forward of the jaw.

Maybe it's a new
species of Sasquatch.

They've even put the
name Gugwe on it,

which is a local term used
in this part of the country.

- [Tony] Some say this Gugwe

is a much more
ferocious Bigfoot,

and that this white
object is actually a dog

about to become its next meal.

Supposedly, the day before
the image was taken,

a woman's small dog had gone
missing and was never found.

- Sasquatch would shift their
diet over to meat eating

for probably most of the winter.

Frankly, if you're making
your living out there

eating whatever moves,
crawls, or slithers,

you can't be too picky.

[gentle dramatic music]

- Bigfoot made
Canadian headlines,

when, in 2018, a
believer's lawsuit

claiming that British
Columbia failed in its duty

to recognize the
legendary creature

was dismissed by the courts.

But now, could
this picture prove

there is a large,
aggressive apex creature

hunting in the woods in Quebec?

We turned to our
experts to find out.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

Biologist Floyd Hayes
looks into whether this

could be the misidentification
of a Canadian bear.

- The only bear that lives
in Quebec is the black bear.

But in this image,
we're seeing something

that looks like
there's too much white

in the middle of the
body and up in the head.

And bears also don't
carry an object

in a single arm like that.

The head looks
more like a baboon.

- [Tony] A baboon in
the Great White North?

- It doesn't make sense
for it to be a monkey,

because this is in Canada.

There are no primates
in this area.

Monkeys can't
survive in the cold.

There's only one
species of monkey

that can live in the cold,

and they are the ones
that use the hot springs

to help them through the winter.

- [Tony] If it isn't a baboon,

could it be a large
primate, like a Bigfoot?

- You cannot clearly
make out a primate.

It's really pixelated.

And then, we also don't have
other supporting evidence,

like tracks, scat,
nests, things like that.

- [Tony] And according to Manka,

even if this were a
primate of some kind,

it's highly unlikely that
a dog would be its prey.

- Most primates feed
on meat sporadically

or opportunistically,

and it makes up less
than 1% of the diet

of almost all 89
primate species.

- [Tony] Dr. Manka believes

this could be an
example of pareidolia,

people seeing patterns that
resemble something familiar

to them and who want to
believe that's what it is.

- I can see how people can
make out an animal shape,

but it really doesn't
have the level of detail

to be seen as a
baboon-like animal.

That's really lending a
lot to the imagination.

It looks a lot like a
dead tree, a tree stump.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- So our experts think this
is just a piece of the forest,

like a tree stump.

And although we're
not 100% certain,

we're inclined to agree.

Many in the Bigfoot community
remain highly interested

in the possibility of more
evidence from this area.

If you, or someone you know

has more images or
videos of the Gugwe,

please contact us.

- A ring of strange
lights in the sky

is an odd sight in itself,

but when it's seemingly buzzing

and not far from an infamous
US government laboratory,

well, you just know we
have to investigate.

August 3rd, 2015, just after
10:00 PM, Misty Strevel,

along with her daughter
and another passenger,

are driving on a highway
in Knoxville, Tennessee,

when Misty's daughter sees a
strange sight in the night sky.

- She's like, "Mom,
what are those red

and green lights in the sky?"

And, first thought, I'm
like, "It's an airplane."

That is weird.

- [Daughter] Dude, it's buzzing.
- [Misty] It sure is.

- [Tony] Misty captures a light

floating in a sea of darkness.

But as we zoom in,

something even more
interesting can be seen.

It's not just one light, but,
in fact, a ring of lights.

- [Misty] You know
what the crazy thing?

The lights, on this,
it's showing white,

but that's all red and green.
- [Daughter] Yeah.

- It was maybe 50 feet
above the used car lot sign.

It was just, I've never
seen anything like it.

- [Passenger] A UFO, y'all.

- [Daughter] Holy...

- [Passenger] Space
people coming to us.

- [Tony] If this is a UFO,
writer Amy Teitel says

it wouldn't be the
first to be seen

over this part of
Eastern Tennessee.

- Knoxville has a really
interesting history with UFOs

dating back to the
Second World War,

when the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory

was founded about half
an hour outside the city.

- [Tony] During World War II,

Oak Ridge was
cloaked in secrecy.

Its purpose was to
enrich uranium

for the Manhattan Project

and Robert Oppenheimer's
atomic bomb.

[explosion blasts]

- There were some
strange phenomena

that happened in the area

a few years after
it was established.

In October of 1950, William Fry,

who is the assistant chief
of security at the lab,

saw a bright, glowing light
over the movie theater in town.

It flashed red and green
before finally disappearing.

10 minutes later,

U.S. Air Force Major
Lawrence Ballweg

saw the same thing
from his house.

Though both witnesses
were extremely credible,

neither of these
sightings was ever solved.

[suspenseful music]

- What's even more eerie?

Seven years after
Misty's encounter,

a similar ring of lights
appeared again in 2022.

So is what Misty
saw a real-deal UFO?

Let's see what
our experts think.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

We begin with physicist
Matthew Szydagis.

Is it possible that
taking into account

Oak Ridge's classified past,

this light is a secret
craft connected to the base?

- Oak Ridge National Laboratory

is focused on nuclear
physics, not aerospace.

Oak Ridge is not Area
51 or Groom Lake.

Moreover, you can't just
fly secret craft anywhere.

These craft are going to be
tested at specific ranges,

usually in the
middle of nowhere.

- [Tony] If it's not secret
US government technology,

is it possible
these eyewitnesses

were right on target?

- [Passenger] A UFO, y'all.
- [Daughter] Holy...

- [Passenger] Space
people coming to us.

- Obviously something is flying,

but we don't see the
extreme behaviors

that oftentime get
attributed to UFOs.

Misty reports to have seen
lights that are red and green,

in addition to the
white light that we see.

- [Misty] The lights, on
this, it's showing white,

but that's all red and green.
- [Daughter] Yeah.

- [Tony] That matters,

because the FAA requires
navigation lights

to be red on the left
wing, green on the right,

and white on the tail.

Seems unlikely aliens
would take pains

to comply with FAA regulations.

Still, Hernandez believes
this isn't an airplane.

- It was a hot summer
day across Knoxville.

The winds overall were calm,

which were excellent for flying
drones this specific day.

We hear the noise
of the propellers.

Very confident that what we're
looking at here is a drone.

- [Tony] But Szydagis says

don't let your eyes
and ears fool you.

- I can explain the noise

as simply background noise

of a noisy environment,

and it's impossible
to judge the distance

to an object and its speed,

especially at night with
no reference points.

An object that is small
and close to a camera

will look the same
size in the camera lens

as an object that is
both larger and far away.

- [Tony] That's why
Szydagis actually thinks

this could be a balloon.

- I think this is a very
special kind of balloon.

I believe that what
we are seeing here

is part of something called
the Google Loon Project.

- [Tony] Loon was
Google's experiment

to provide internet access

to rural and remote
areas across the globe.

The company used
high-altitude balloons

about 12 miles up
in the stratosphere

to create an aerial
wireless network.

It's a plausible theory,
but Hernandez disagrees.

- Obviously, we can see this,

but Project Loon balloons
are fairly hard to notice

given that they're about
65,000 feet above the surface,

much higher than a
commercial jet liner,

and would be moving fairly
fast with the jet stream.

We don't see that
kind of motion here.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- Wow, both of our experts
make compelling arguments

for two completely
different things.

So our verdict, for now,
we're going with genuine UFO,

though we certainly can't
say it's an alien craft.

- Over the years, we've
investigated several recordings

of alleged Bigfoot sounds.

Some have turned out
to be amateurish fakes.

We debunked those easily.

But not this one,
give it a listen.

It's the night of
July 2nd, 2022.

In Loudonville, Ohio,

Bigfoot Field Research
Organization Member

Suzanne Ferencak is with friends

watching some early fireworks.

Around 10:00 PM, they
hear something strange.

- When there was a quiet time,

all five of us heard some howls.

Immediately, we're quiet
and looked at each other,

like, "What was that?"

You know, it was
just kind of like,

"Okay, ears up, maybe
there's something

to pay attention to."

- [Tony] Later that night,

Suzanne hears the
same howls again,

but this time she's recording.

[creature howling]

A quiet howl,
increasing in pitch,

is followed by another one.

[creature howling]

- This was at 3:42 AM,
I heard these howls,

and they sounded
similar to the ones

that we had heard about
10 o'clock that night.

I was excited that I finally
got something decent.

At least, you know,
I think I did.

[creature howling]

- Suzanne's hometown
of Loudonville

is in a rural stretch of Ohio,

located right next to
Mohican State Park,

home to thousands
of wooden acres.

- Many, many sighting
reports come out

of the immediate vicinity near
Suzanne's property,

and for several
miles in all directions.

There is corn here
for much of the year.

And that corn not only gives
Sasquatches and other animals

places to hide and a
possible food source,

but it brings in the deer,

the key to why Sasquatches might
be in this particular area.

- [Tony] That's
because Barackman,

and other Sasquatch researchers,

believe the creatures
are omnivores,

eating meat, as
well as vegetables.

And Barackman vouches
for Suzanne herself.

- Suzanne is a
friend, I know her.

So we have a recording here

that I don't have to question
the motivation of the witness.

So the only question left
here is what makes that noise?

[creature howling]

[suspenseful music]

- This recording is
the latest in the trove

of Ohio Bigfoot materials
we've investigated,

including these famous
1994 Ohio howls,

recorded by Matt Moneymaker.

They didn't match
any local animals.

[creature howling]

So Ohio's a hotspot for sure.

Let's see if our
experts think this sound

could be the real deal.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

First, forensic audio
analyst Rob Maher

authenticates the recording.

[creature howling]

- The background sounds
are consistent throughout,

and the unknown sounds
are very prominent

in the section of the recording
where they're present.

So it seems to be an
authentic recording.

- [Tony] So we know
it's not a fake.

Could these be the
howls of coyotes?

[coyote barking and howling]

Coyotes aren't native to Ohio,

but their population exploded
in the early 20th century

when settlers exterminated
their main predator,

the gray wolf.

- If we look at a recording
of an actual coyote,

they have a very distinctive
rising frequency to begin with,

and then continue on more
of a sustained pitch.

[coyote howling]

The frequency is a little higher

than what we observed
in the Ohio recording.

[coyote howling]

[creature howling]

So although this is similar,

there are some significant
differences here.

- [Tony] So if it's not a
coyote, could it be Bigfoot?

- To my ear, it's very
reminiscent of the whoop

produced by gibbons
and siamangs.

[siamang whooping]

They have this
inflatable throat sac

that serves as a
resonating chamber

for projecting these
extremely loud whoops

that carry through the forest.

I have suggested that
if Sasquatch nests

within this family of primates,

they may as well possess
these extra laryngeal sacs.

- [Tony] Maher goes
with the Bigfoot theory,

and decides to test this audio

against the 1971 Sierra
Sounds from California,

believed by some to be
a genuine Sasquatch.

- The Sierra Sound that's
attributed to Bigfoot

has a rising sound and
then sort of a whoop.

[creature howls and whoops]

The initial rise we see here

from the 300 or 400
hertz frequency range

is very similar to the
Ohio Sound recording.

The last part of the
utterance from this recording

that has the whoop at the end

is not present in
the Ohio recording.

[creature howls and whoops]

[creature howling]

So although the first part
of this is very similar

to what's observed,

the second part is different.

- [Tony] But how about
that other famous Ohio howl

we told you about?

[creature howling]

- If we compare
the Ohio recording

to the recordings
from Matt Moneymaker,

we can see the fundamental
frequencies here

are approximately in
the same vicinity.

[creature howling]

[creature howling]

So the characteristics here

seem to occupy the
right frequency range

between this example recording
and the Ohio recording.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- Our verdict, we're going
with possible Bigfoot sounds,

but that's as far as we
feel comfortable going.

While Suzanne's recordings
aren't a close match

with the famous Sierra Sounds,

they do possess
many similarities

to Matt Moneymaker's 1994
howls, also recorded in Ohio.

So maybe she finally did
capture the call of the big guy.

- Can spirits of the dead
contact us from beyond?

One man in Texas says, "Yes."

And he says this next video
from his home security camera

is what made him a believer.

November 2020, Cypress, Texas.

It's a quiet night
in this community

about 30 miles outside Houston.

But then, an infrared
security camera

alerts a slumbering
Chip Byas-Ortega

that something unusual is
going on outside his house.

- We have several
motion-activated cameras

set up around our home.

This night, they started ringing

at about 3:30 in the morning,

and something told me,
"Get up and look at this."

- [Tony] Chip checks out
the footage and finds this.

At first glance, nothing
seems out of the ordinary,

but look again.

On the right side of the video
is a small ball of light.

It hovers swirling
back and forth.

A smaller secondary orb
appears above the main orb

for a split second,
and then disappears.

- I am, first of all, blown away

that I have right in front
of you on this video,

a dancing, huge orb.

It's unexplainable to me.

- [Tony] Chip believes this
may have been an encounter

with the ghost of a
loved one who's died.

- My Aunt Clara and
I would always talk

about after we pass, I want
a sign, do something for me.

Aunt Clara would say, "Oh,
you'll know when I'm here."

So, Aunt Clara, hey.

- [Tony] Texas has its
own mysterious history

with glowing orbs.

And as journalist
Alexis Brooks tells us,

these ethereal balls of light
have a name, spirit orbs.

- Spirit orbs are
these balls of energy

that are intelligent.

In the 1900s,

there was another case

that plagued East Texas,

known as the Light of Saratoga.

Legend has it that this railman

was in a very, very
horrible accident,

was actually decapitated.

And it's believed that
the ghost of this brakeman

is actually searching
for his decapitated head,

and it's his lantern
that looks to be an orb

sort of traveling
down the tracks.

[suspenseful music]

- You may remember
when we covered

the Marfa Lights
from West Texas,

bright orbs that have
mystified eyewitnesses.

We weren't able to determine
the cause for that light show.

Could this more
intimate spirit orb

help explain what's lighting
up the Lone Star State?

It's time to
conjure our experts.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

We begin with forensic video
analyst Michael Primeau

to answer our first question,

is this security camera
footage even authentic?

- Through a structural analysis,

we were able to
identify the signature

from the Blink camera app.

Through a manual comparison
of that structural data

with other known Blink exhibits,

no editing signatures, no
third-party signatures, no CGI.

So, yes, this video is real.

- [Tony] If what
we're seeing is real,

could the glow of these orbs
be from a nearby light source,

like the passing cars?

- When headlights appear,
the orbs are still there.

When the headlights disappear,
the orbs are still there.

They're also not in alignment
with those headlights.

So it doesn't appear
to be headlights.

- [Tony] Perhaps our
lights aren't emitting

from an artificial source.

But what about a natural
one, like fireflies?

- Fireflies that you see in
some areas of the country,

flash, but they flash
by flashing on and off.

They don't really
flash in the way

that this appears
to be flashing.

- [Tony] How about a moth?

- Typically you would see the
wings moving if it was a moth.

I don't see any
wings flapping here.

I think this is something
we actually fairly often

on security camera footage,
which is a spiderweb.

- [Tony] A thread of spiderweb

can be just three thousandths
of a millimeter across,

that's thinner than a
strand of human hair.

That's why we don't see the web,

just a byproduct left behind.

- If there's a
spot on the strand,

which sometimes is a spot
of the spider's glue,

that will reflect the light
from the infrared camera.

- [Tony] Spider glue is a
substance in the spider's glands

that makes the lines
of the web sticky

by absorbing water
from the atmosphere.

West says this orb isn't
yards away from the camera,

merely inches.

- Here's the camera,
here's the spider silk,

just like one or two
inches in front of it.

So it's just kind
of drifting around,

and it just gradually
moves across the scene,

and then back again.

- [Tony] And take a look at
another security cam video.

Here we see a spider
actually weaving a web,

and leaving the same
type of orbs behind.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

Our verdict, spiderweb.

Much as nature intended,

this near-invisible silk

has us caught in
its phantom thread.

But we certainly hope
the spirit of Aunt Clara

stays with Chip forever.

But we certainly hope
thbeginning of flight,ra- e

we think of the Wright
Brothers' success

with their twin-propeller plane

in Kitty Hawk, North
Carolina, in 1903.

But five years earlier,

there was a discovery
in North Africa

that has experts asking if
the first flying machine

was invented thousands
of years earlier.

Saqqara, Egypt, 1898,
in a vast burial site

near the country's
oldest step pyramid,

archaeologists make a unique
and confounding find.

This 2,200-year-old carving

that looks like a model airplane

is known as the Saqqara Bird.

- The Saqqara Bird
is a small figurine

that was excavated from
the tomb of Pa-di-Imen.

It's about 5 1/2 inches long

with a wingspan almost
over seven inches,

weighs in at about 1 1/2 ounces,

and it's made of
sycamore and maple wood.

- [Tony] Most experts think
it's a model of a bird.

And for years it was kept
with other ancient bird art

in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

But when it was
rediscovered in 1969

by Egyptologist Khalil Messiha
in a box of old exhibits,

a new more radical
theory emerged.

- All the characteristics of
this model are more intrinsic

to a modern-day airplane
than that of a bird.

Its aerodynamic precision,
and shape of the wing,

and fuselage all seem
to have similarities

to modern engineering.

- [Tony] Messiha also noted

that typical ancient
Egyptian bird models

have their wings folded back,

and also have legs
and painted feathers,

but the Saqqara Bird does not.

This led him to believe

that this was a scale
model of a glider,

albeit, one that was
lacking a key component.

- There seems to be a
missing 90-degree tail

that has yet to be discovered.

And you can see
that there's a notch

that may have contained
that at some point.

Some researchers looked at
the rear end of this craft

and said without
that missing tail fin,

this wouldn't have
the aerodynamics

to have capable flight.

- [Tony] Yet, Messiha claimed
the back of the glider

could serve as a rudder
to keep it going straight.

Still, how could
the people of Egypt

have such advanced aeronautics

more than two millennia
before the first plane?

Is it possible they learned
it from extraterrestrials?

Well, British astronomer
Charles Piazzi Smyth

believed the Egyptians used
the Great Pyramid of Cheops

as an astronomical observatory,

and there's evidence
they charted

what they saw in the
skies on their tombs.

So did the ancient Egyptians
gain more knowledge

from their observations
than we'll ever know?

- This is one of
the many reasons

why the Saqqara Bird
could be so controversial.

[dramatic music]

- The Egyptian
Ministry of Culture

created an entire committee

to investigate
Messiha's findings,

and agreed the Saqqara
Bird does display

advanced principles
of aircraft design.

So is the Saqqara Bird proof

of an ancient Egyptian
technology lost to time

like its advanced
pyramid building skills?

Let's see if our experts

can shake a tail
feather on this one.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

So the big question here is
can this thing really fly?

Aerodynamics expert
Simon Sanderson

has long been fascinated
by the Saqqara Bird.

In 2006, he built a
replica five times larger

than the original carving to
test its flight worthiness.

- I just made it
in a combination

of balsa wood for the wings,

and polystyrene for
the fuselage and tail.

The main thing we wanted to do

was to measure the
aerodynamic properties.

So, we took them to the

Manchester University
Wind Tunnel.

In the wind tunnel,

it showed that it
had perfectly okay

aerodynamic characteristics,

not optimum but usable.

- [Tony] Sanderson
continued his research

at Liverpool University,

where he programmed the
bird's specifications

into a flight simulator
and added a tailplane.

The simulation showed the design
could have achieved flight,

but likely not for long
given its glide angle,

the angle at which
the flight path

intersects with the ground.

- [Simon] The
properties are such

that the glide angle
might not be very good.

But I would say, if anything,

it was something that was
being used to explore flight.

- [Tony] So we might
see this object

as a sort of paper airplane
or cardboard glider,

toys we all put together
when we were children.

And anthropologist
Kathy Strain wonders,

if that's all this is.

- I would expect that
if Egyptians understood

how to create flight,

that we would see hieroglyphs
that depicted them flying,

and yet we don't have
anything like that.

This, to me, is just something

that the person loved
when they were a child,

and they buried it with them

for him to have it
on the other side.

It's just simply a toy.

- [Tony] Archaeologist Dr.
Ed Barnhart tends to agree.

- It is absolutely clear
that the Egyptians had a love

for creating art
depicting animals,

especially birds of prey.

Sometimes a bird is just a bird.

[suspenseful music]
[letters clicking]

- Our verdict, this is
likely a carved-bird toy

or ritual object.

Since it's unique,
there's still a chance

it was an aircraft model,

but its poor aerodynamic
characteristics

mean a full-size version

likely wouldn't have been
able to glide for very long,

especially without a tail.

And that's our show for tonight.

Thank you so much for watching!

And, as always, keep
those cameras rolling.

[gentle dramatic music]