1 00:00:02,042 --> 00:00:03,042 WILLIAM SHATNER: Legendary explorers 2 00:00:03,208 --> 00:00:06,125 braving a deadly, frozen world. 3 00:00:06,292 --> 00:00:08,542 -A massive government expedition... -(barking) 4 00:00:08,708 --> 00:00:11,500 ...shrouded in secrecy. 5 00:00:11,708 --> 00:00:14,000 And strange new life-forms 6 00:00:14,083 --> 00:00:17,708 buried beneath miles of solid ice. 7 00:00:20,708 --> 00:00:22,458 Antarctica. 8 00:00:22,625 --> 00:00:25,583 This frozen continent at the bottom of Earth 9 00:00:25,750 --> 00:00:28,792 is a massive polar desert. 10 00:00:28,958 --> 00:00:31,417 This desolate yet beautiful place 11 00:00:31,542 --> 00:00:35,500 has captivated brave explorers for centuries. 12 00:00:35,583 --> 00:00:39,375 And while its natural wonders are undeniable, 13 00:00:39,542 --> 00:00:43,417 Antarctica is also steeped in myth, 14 00:00:43,542 --> 00:00:45,042 legend, 15 00:00:45,208 --> 00:00:47,542 and strange phenomena. 16 00:00:47,708 --> 00:00:50,167 What secrets lie hidden 17 00:00:50,292 --> 00:00:53,208 within the world's most mysterious continent? 18 00:00:54,208 --> 00:00:58,292 Well, that is what we'll try and find out. 19 00:00:58,458 --> 00:01:00,417 ♪ ♪ 20 00:01:12,083 --> 00:01:13,333 Antarctica. 21 00:01:13,500 --> 00:01:16,292 Earth's southernmost continent. 22 00:01:17,542 --> 00:01:21,667 This vast frozen world covers 5.5 million square miles 23 00:01:21,875 --> 00:01:23,583 and is nearly the size 24 00:01:23,708 --> 00:01:27,000 of the United States and Mexico combined. 25 00:01:27,208 --> 00:01:30,333 Only 1,000 to 5,000 humans 26 00:01:30,500 --> 00:01:33,708 are on Antarctica at any given time, 27 00:01:33,917 --> 00:01:36,125 and most of these temporary residents 28 00:01:36,292 --> 00:01:39,417 are small groups of scientists from around the world 29 00:01:39,625 --> 00:01:43,167 who work and live in research outposts 30 00:01:43,375 --> 00:01:45,583 that dot the landscape. 31 00:01:46,750 --> 00:01:48,083 Those who are willing to endure 32 00:01:48,250 --> 00:01:50,750 the extreme conditions of the White Continent 33 00:01:50,917 --> 00:01:53,000 find themselves in a world 34 00:01:53,208 --> 00:01:55,500 like no other. 35 00:01:56,500 --> 00:02:00,333 My first visit to Antarctica was almost 20 years ago now. 36 00:02:00,500 --> 00:02:02,500 I've always found Antarctica to be fascinating 37 00:02:02,667 --> 00:02:05,000 because it is enigmatic. 38 00:02:06,042 --> 00:02:09,625 When you get there, you're in awe of the sights that you see. 39 00:02:09,833 --> 00:02:13,375 Antarctica is essentially covered in a huge slab of ice 40 00:02:13,542 --> 00:02:16,125 that can be up to three miles thick in places. 41 00:02:16,292 --> 00:02:18,833 And it has the coldest temperatures in the world, 42 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:20,667 but, also, it's the highest continent, 43 00:02:20,833 --> 00:02:24,125 the driest continent, the windiest continent, 44 00:02:24,292 --> 00:02:27,917 and the least populated place on the planet. 45 00:02:28,042 --> 00:02:32,000 And it feels like nowhere else on Earth. 46 00:02:32,167 --> 00:02:34,208 My first time getting to the ice, 47 00:02:34,375 --> 00:02:36,333 it's otherworldly. 48 00:02:36,500 --> 00:02:37,833 There's not a tree in sight. 49 00:02:37,958 --> 00:02:39,250 Depending when you get there, 50 00:02:39,375 --> 00:02:41,833 you're often either in 24-hour daylight 51 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,167 or 24-hour darkness. 52 00:02:44,375 --> 00:02:47,500 The threshold between being perfectly safe 53 00:02:47,667 --> 00:02:52,125 and "oh, my God, we're in trouble" is very thin. 54 00:02:52,292 --> 00:02:55,958 Humans aren't built to survive in Antarctica. 55 00:02:56,125 --> 00:02:57,375 It's mysterious and wondrous 56 00:02:57,542 --> 00:03:00,500 because so few people get a chance to go. 57 00:03:00,708 --> 00:03:02,167 The scientists visit it, 58 00:03:02,333 --> 00:03:03,958 the explorers visit it, 59 00:03:04,125 --> 00:03:05,458 but we all leave. 60 00:03:05,667 --> 00:03:06,750 (chirping) 61 00:03:06,917 --> 00:03:08,750 The things that catch your eye, 62 00:03:08,917 --> 00:03:10,167 like the penguins and whales 63 00:03:10,375 --> 00:03:13,167 and things, that's all on the coastal regions. 64 00:03:13,375 --> 00:03:15,625 Once you go into the interior, 65 00:03:15,792 --> 00:03:18,917 there's nothing that lives there that we know of. 66 00:03:19,083 --> 00:03:22,375 So it's got an allure already. 67 00:03:23,375 --> 00:03:25,500 There are so many questions to be answered. 68 00:03:25,667 --> 00:03:28,125 Everything's unexplained about Antarctica. 69 00:03:28,292 --> 00:03:30,375 SHATNER: While those who have ventured 70 00:03:30,542 --> 00:03:33,542 to Antarctica have experienced freezing temperatures, 71 00:03:33,708 --> 00:03:35,458 blinding storms, 72 00:03:35,625 --> 00:03:38,500 and endless snow-covered terrain, 73 00:03:38,625 --> 00:03:41,833 scientists have recently discovered geological evidence 74 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,000 that, millions of years ago, 75 00:03:44,167 --> 00:03:47,667 the continent looked very different than it does today. 76 00:03:47,833 --> 00:03:49,167 (birds singing) 77 00:03:49,375 --> 00:03:50,958 Antarctica hasn't always been covered in ice. 78 00:03:51,125 --> 00:03:52,917 Just by fossils found in Antarctica, 79 00:03:53,083 --> 00:03:56,500 we know that Antarctica was once covered in jungle, 80 00:03:56,667 --> 00:03:58,708 that it was once covered in forest. 81 00:03:58,875 --> 00:04:00,167 There are some people 82 00:04:00,375 --> 00:04:01,375 who theorize that there could have been 83 00:04:01,542 --> 00:04:03,333 ancient men in Antarctica. 84 00:04:03,458 --> 00:04:05,500 And then all that was covered in ice. 85 00:04:05,583 --> 00:04:07,333 So we know that there's a lot there. 86 00:04:07,500 --> 00:04:09,625 But we don't know what's gonna be found. 87 00:04:10,583 --> 00:04:12,667 -(birds singing) -SHATNER: It's fascinating 88 00:04:12,792 --> 00:04:15,167 to think that, 90 million years ago, 89 00:04:15,333 --> 00:04:18,417 the South Pole was likely a lush forest 90 00:04:18,583 --> 00:04:22,417 filled with plants, trees, and animals. 91 00:04:22,625 --> 00:04:24,417 It would take a dramatic climate shift 92 00:04:24,625 --> 00:04:26,708 around 56 million years later 93 00:04:26,875 --> 00:04:31,292 to create the frozen landscape that we know today. 94 00:04:31,500 --> 00:04:34,167 And while explorers would not lay eyes 95 00:04:34,333 --> 00:04:36,958 on Antarctica until the 1800s, 96 00:04:37,125 --> 00:04:39,625 great thinkers like Aristotle 97 00:04:39,750 --> 00:04:43,792 had proposed the existence of a land at the bottom of Earth 98 00:04:43,958 --> 00:04:47,208 thousands of years before it was discovered. 99 00:04:48,208 --> 00:04:52,667 TIM SWARTZ: In ancient times, Antarctica captured our imaginations. 100 00:04:52,833 --> 00:04:57,083 People suspected that Antarctica existed because it seemed right. 101 00:04:57,250 --> 00:05:00,250 But it was an undiscovered land. 102 00:05:00,417 --> 00:05:03,208 It seemed like there should be a land 103 00:05:03,375 --> 00:05:05,833 in the southern regions of the planet. 104 00:05:06,875 --> 00:05:10,375 It was suspected to be there, but there was no proof. 105 00:05:16,875 --> 00:05:21,500 SHATNER: While cataloguing antiquities at the Topkapi Palace library, 106 00:05:21,708 --> 00:05:26,000 German scholar Gustav Adolf Deissmann finds an unusual map 107 00:05:26,167 --> 00:05:28,667 printed on gazelle skin parchment. 108 00:05:29,708 --> 00:05:32,917 The remarkable 16th-century document is quickly recognized 109 00:05:33,083 --> 00:05:37,417 as the work of the distinguished cartographer Piri Reis 110 00:05:37,542 --> 00:05:41,000 and becomes an object of great importance 111 00:05:41,167 --> 00:05:44,125 and heated controversy. 112 00:05:45,167 --> 00:05:49,375 LANCE: Piri Reis was an Ottoman admiral and cartographer. 113 00:05:49,542 --> 00:05:52,500 In 1513, he produced an extraordinary map. 114 00:05:52,708 --> 00:05:54,917 Only about a third of the map survives. 115 00:05:55,042 --> 00:05:58,500 But that third offers something that's really surprising. 116 00:05:58,708 --> 00:06:00,875 It looks like it is showing a coastline 117 00:06:01,042 --> 00:06:03,000 of a southern continent. 118 00:06:03,167 --> 00:06:05,250 And some argue that that coastline 119 00:06:05,417 --> 00:06:06,958 looks very much like the coastline 120 00:06:07,083 --> 00:06:08,625 of part of modern Antarctica. 121 00:06:08,750 --> 00:06:10,083 And that leaves you to wonder, 122 00:06:10,292 --> 00:06:12,000 how did he possibly know the coastline 123 00:06:12,208 --> 00:06:15,667 of a continent that we didn't even know existed yet? 124 00:06:15,833 --> 00:06:18,167 So it presumes 125 00:06:18,333 --> 00:06:19,458 that some civilization either lived there 126 00:06:19,625 --> 00:06:21,625 or was close enough to it in order to map it 127 00:06:21,792 --> 00:06:24,042 and somehow that information made it back to Piri Reis. 128 00:06:25,083 --> 00:06:28,500 It's certainly not proven, and we don't know. 129 00:06:28,667 --> 00:06:31,875 SHATNER: Did Piri Reis create a map of the Antarctic coast 130 00:06:32,042 --> 00:06:37,167 based on lost knowledge from a mysterious ancient civilization? 131 00:06:37,375 --> 00:06:40,583 And if so, how did the famous mapmaker 132 00:06:40,708 --> 00:06:42,667 come to learn about it? 133 00:06:43,667 --> 00:06:45,667 Some experts think the answer can be found 134 00:06:45,792 --> 00:06:48,708 in the folklore of a great seafaring people 135 00:06:48,875 --> 00:06:51,625 who came not from the frozen desert 136 00:06:51,792 --> 00:06:54,625 but instead from a tropical paradise. 137 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:57,542 ANDREW COLLINS: The Polynesian peoples 138 00:06:57,708 --> 00:07:01,500 of the Pacific have many culture heroes, 139 00:07:01,667 --> 00:07:04,500 and these were great navigators 140 00:07:04,708 --> 00:07:08,000 that would journey for many thousands of miles 141 00:07:08,083 --> 00:07:11,083 from one end of the ocean to the other. 142 00:07:11,208 --> 00:07:13,667 And these legends tell us 143 00:07:13,833 --> 00:07:17,500 that they also went to a southern continent 144 00:07:17,667 --> 00:07:20,667 that was naturally very, very cold. 145 00:07:20,833 --> 00:07:24,625 They say that it's a place that's beneath the Earth itself. 146 00:07:24,708 --> 00:07:26,333 It's a place of darkness, 147 00:07:26,542 --> 00:07:28,333 but it's also a place of light, 148 00:07:28,542 --> 00:07:31,667 in that the sun shines all the time there. 149 00:07:31,875 --> 00:07:35,958 -(chirping) -And it's a place where rocks grow out of the sea 150 00:07:36,167 --> 00:07:37,792 and there are strange animals 151 00:07:37,958 --> 00:07:41,125 and what appears to be what we would describe as snow and ice. 152 00:07:41,292 --> 00:07:43,292 And it seems very obvious 153 00:07:43,375 --> 00:07:46,542 that they were reaching Antarctica. 154 00:07:47,542 --> 00:07:49,000 SHATNER: It's intriguing to think 155 00:07:49,125 --> 00:07:51,542 that the ancient world may have discovered Antarctica 156 00:07:51,708 --> 00:07:54,917 centuries before explorers would catch a glimpse of it. 157 00:07:55,042 --> 00:07:58,917 And while the belief in an unknown southern land 158 00:07:59,042 --> 00:08:03,500 was well established in the 15th and 16th centuries, 159 00:08:03,667 --> 00:08:07,750 the ability to actually set foot on this mysterious continent 160 00:08:07,875 --> 00:08:12,000 would finally be possible in the late 1800s 161 00:08:12,167 --> 00:08:18,333 in an era known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. 162 00:08:18,542 --> 00:08:20,250 -(barking) -MacFERRIN: At the time 163 00:08:20,417 --> 00:08:22,083 of the age of exploration in Antarctica, 164 00:08:22,250 --> 00:08:24,625 the South Pole, no one had ever been there. 165 00:08:24,750 --> 00:08:26,375 Much like the highest point on Earth 166 00:08:26,542 --> 00:08:28,083 or the lowest trench in the ocean, 167 00:08:28,208 --> 00:08:30,875 getting to that point would be an historic achievement. 168 00:08:31,875 --> 00:08:35,167 The two powers that were pushing to get to the South Pole first 169 00:08:35,333 --> 00:08:37,292 were Great Britain and Norway. 170 00:08:38,708 --> 00:08:41,167 Ernest Shackleton was a British polar explorer 171 00:08:41,333 --> 00:08:43,042 in the early 1900s, 172 00:08:43,208 --> 00:08:45,000 and he made a record at the time 173 00:08:45,167 --> 00:08:47,750 of reaching the closest location to the South Pole, 174 00:08:47,875 --> 00:08:51,833 getting within nearly 100 miles before having to turn around. 175 00:08:52,042 --> 00:08:54,583 JOHN GEIGER: In 1911, Roald Amundsen, 176 00:08:54,750 --> 00:08:57,292 the great Norwegian explorer, 177 00:08:57,458 --> 00:09:00,375 becomes the first to reach the South Pole. 178 00:09:00,542 --> 00:09:03,792 So Norway steals the glory. 179 00:09:04,750 --> 00:09:07,167 These early explorers of Antarctica, 180 00:09:07,292 --> 00:09:10,292 they were going into, kind of, almost like a black hole. 181 00:09:11,458 --> 00:09:14,333 SHATNER: From 1897 to 1922, 182 00:09:14,458 --> 00:09:16,458 ten countries were involved 183 00:09:16,625 --> 00:09:20,750 in launching 17 major Antarctic expeditions 184 00:09:20,875 --> 00:09:25,292 in the pursuit of scientific and geographical exploration. 185 00:09:25,458 --> 00:09:27,583 Polar exploration is complicated. 186 00:09:27,750 --> 00:09:31,333 At its core is a sense of national pride. 187 00:09:31,500 --> 00:09:33,375 These early explorers were carrying 188 00:09:33,542 --> 00:09:35,167 the flag of their country. 189 00:09:35,375 --> 00:09:38,625 But it was also an effort to understand the world. 190 00:09:38,792 --> 00:09:41,625 No one had been to Antarctica. 191 00:09:41,792 --> 00:09:44,750 Was it one continent? Was it several large islands? 192 00:09:44,875 --> 00:09:49,625 I mean, geographic knowledge was being gathered during that time. 193 00:09:49,750 --> 00:09:52,875 It was also scientific-- learning about animal species. 194 00:09:53,042 --> 00:09:55,583 They were kind of early field researchers. 195 00:09:55,792 --> 00:09:58,708 It was this willingness to go forward and explore 196 00:09:58,875 --> 00:10:00,917 and learn and advance human knowledge 197 00:10:01,042 --> 00:10:03,000 that was one of the driving factors. 198 00:10:04,042 --> 00:10:06,333 And whether they would come out or not was the question. 199 00:10:07,333 --> 00:10:10,958 SHATNER: Despite the inherent dangers of Antarctic exploration, 200 00:10:11,125 --> 00:10:13,833 -brave adventurers risked everything... -(barking) 201 00:10:14,042 --> 00:10:15,708 ...to reach the White Continent. 202 00:10:15,875 --> 00:10:19,875 But once there, survival would require strong ships, 203 00:10:20,083 --> 00:10:23,000 adequate supplies, trusted crewmates, 204 00:10:23,208 --> 00:10:26,250 and, at times, help 205 00:10:26,417 --> 00:10:29,375 from an otherworldly source. 206 00:10:37,125 --> 00:10:41,167 SHATNER: November 13, the year 2000. 207 00:10:42,208 --> 00:10:46,208 Famous polar explorers Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen 208 00:10:46,375 --> 00:10:49,833 set out on a truly extraordinary expedition. 209 00:10:49,958 --> 00:10:51,500 Their formidable goal is to become 210 00:10:51,708 --> 00:10:53,250 the first women in history 211 00:10:53,458 --> 00:10:58,000 to ski across the most dangerous continent on Earth. 212 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:00,667 BANCROFT: For our expedition, 213 00:11:00,792 --> 00:11:02,875 the goal was to pull sleds 214 00:11:03,042 --> 00:11:04,792 all the way across Antarctica. 215 00:11:04,958 --> 00:11:08,250 And it's incredibly perilous. 216 00:11:08,417 --> 00:11:11,333 People do fall into crevasses. 217 00:11:11,500 --> 00:11:13,333 Mishaps happen. 218 00:11:13,458 --> 00:11:15,167 If you got injured, 219 00:11:15,292 --> 00:11:16,917 it's very hard to get out. 220 00:11:17,083 --> 00:11:19,958 It's sort of "do it or die." 221 00:11:20,958 --> 00:11:25,167 The trip was 97 days across Antarctica. 222 00:11:25,292 --> 00:11:27,750 It was about 1,700 miles. 223 00:11:27,917 --> 00:11:30,000 We went from tip to tail, basically, 224 00:11:30,167 --> 00:11:32,583 with the South Pole in the middle. 225 00:11:32,750 --> 00:11:33,833 Liv and I became the first women 226 00:11:34,042 --> 00:11:36,167 to cross the continent of Antarctica. 227 00:11:37,208 --> 00:11:41,875 SHATNER: Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen made history on Antarctica. 228 00:11:42,042 --> 00:11:44,250 But something strange 229 00:11:44,417 --> 00:11:46,792 happened on their quest across the continent 230 00:11:46,917 --> 00:11:49,500 that's not easily explained. 231 00:11:50,042 --> 00:11:52,583 BANCROFT: In the first half of the journey, 232 00:11:52,750 --> 00:11:54,208 it was very steep 233 00:11:54,375 --> 00:11:56,000 up into the interior, 234 00:11:56,208 --> 00:11:58,417 and it was just blizzards all the time. 235 00:11:58,583 --> 00:12:01,000 So we're getting stuck all the time, 236 00:12:01,167 --> 00:12:04,375 and all of the continent is ahead of us. 237 00:12:04,542 --> 00:12:06,083 And so the dilemma for us was, 238 00:12:06,208 --> 00:12:09,167 how do we overcome what was before us? 239 00:12:09,333 --> 00:12:11,875 Because we're going into a place of despair. 240 00:12:12,875 --> 00:12:15,292 It was so incredibly cold 241 00:12:15,500 --> 00:12:17,125 and hard, 242 00:12:17,292 --> 00:12:19,083 and you're so scared. 243 00:12:19,250 --> 00:12:21,500 And you're thinking, "We're never gonna do it. 244 00:12:21,667 --> 00:12:22,833 "We're never gonna get there. 245 00:12:22,958 --> 00:12:26,125 This is just too formidable." 246 00:12:26,333 --> 00:12:27,833 And, suddenly, 247 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,333 I felt like I was getting help. 248 00:12:30,542 --> 00:12:33,792 I felt like they were people in my life who had passed on, 249 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,292 uh, my grandmother, for one. 250 00:12:36,458 --> 00:12:37,667 And you have a dialogue. 251 00:12:37,875 --> 00:12:39,750 And I had a dialogue. 252 00:12:39,958 --> 00:12:41,750 There is a presence that you can get. 253 00:12:41,917 --> 00:12:43,167 But what is that? 254 00:12:43,333 --> 00:12:45,250 What is that phenomenon? 255 00:12:45,417 --> 00:12:47,875 SHATNER: Could the spirit of a loved one 256 00:12:48,042 --> 00:12:49,833 have been the unseen force that helped Ann 257 00:12:49,958 --> 00:12:51,917 during her expedition? 258 00:12:52,042 --> 00:12:55,333 Or might it have been something else? 259 00:12:55,542 --> 00:12:59,333 Remarkably, there have been other polar explorers 260 00:12:59,458 --> 00:13:02,458 who have experienced a very similar phenomenon 261 00:13:02,625 --> 00:13:05,958 called third man syndrome. 262 00:13:06,167 --> 00:13:07,958 JOHN: Third man syndrome, 263 00:13:08,167 --> 00:13:10,667 also called third man factor, 264 00:13:10,750 --> 00:13:14,500 is a sense of being in the company 265 00:13:14,583 --> 00:13:17,333 of an unseen friend, a presence 266 00:13:17,500 --> 00:13:19,833 who guides you, 267 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:21,333 who encourages you, 268 00:13:21,542 --> 00:13:24,833 and is a key factor 269 00:13:25,042 --> 00:13:29,583 in an individual's survival during extreme stress. 270 00:13:30,792 --> 00:13:33,917 So it-it often happens in mountaintops, 271 00:13:34,083 --> 00:13:35,583 it happens at sea, 272 00:13:35,708 --> 00:13:37,875 it happens in Antarctica-- 273 00:13:38,042 --> 00:13:39,708 extreme environments. 274 00:13:39,875 --> 00:13:43,333 And it's a sense of guidance and help and support-- 275 00:13:43,542 --> 00:13:45,000 almost, if you will, an angel. 276 00:13:45,167 --> 00:13:48,083 There are countless examples like that, 277 00:13:48,292 --> 00:13:51,333 where people have had the-the very same experience. 278 00:13:52,375 --> 00:13:54,333 SHATNER: Could there really be an angelic presence 279 00:13:54,458 --> 00:13:58,542 that guides those in need of help during extreme conditions? 280 00:13:58,708 --> 00:14:00,333 It's a comforting thought 281 00:14:00,458 --> 00:14:03,333 and perhaps best illustrated in what's considered to be 282 00:14:03,500 --> 00:14:08,458 the most remarkable Antarctic survival story in history. 283 00:14:09,875 --> 00:14:11,958 (gulls calling) 284 00:14:17,917 --> 00:14:20,875 The British vessel the Endurance sets sail with 28 men 285 00:14:21,042 --> 00:14:22,917 on a historic adventure 286 00:14:23,083 --> 00:14:27,292 known as the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. 287 00:14:27,417 --> 00:14:31,667 The ship's owner and captain is Sir Ernest Shackleton, 288 00:14:31,792 --> 00:14:33,500 a seasoned explorer 289 00:14:33,667 --> 00:14:37,500 who led an expedition to the South Pole seven years earlier. 290 00:14:37,667 --> 00:14:41,208 Shackleton's plan for the Endurance expedition 291 00:14:41,375 --> 00:14:46,000 is to be the first to complete a land crossing of Antarctica. 292 00:14:47,042 --> 00:14:48,583 MacFERRIN: In 1914, 293 00:14:48,792 --> 00:14:50,833 Sir Ernest Shackleton set out in what would become one 294 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,167 of the most fateful expeditions in Antarctic history. 295 00:14:54,208 --> 00:14:57,000 He was tasked with crossing the continent from west to east 296 00:14:57,167 --> 00:14:58,708 via the South Pole. 297 00:14:58,875 --> 00:15:00,333 But their ship, the Endurance, 298 00:15:00,542 --> 00:15:01,833 got locked in sea ice, 299 00:15:01,958 --> 00:15:03,542 leaving them stranded, 300 00:15:03,708 --> 00:15:07,167 and they had to give up on the South Pole expedition. 301 00:15:07,333 --> 00:15:11,292 So it was now an expedition of survival for hundreds of miles. 302 00:15:11,875 --> 00:15:13,375 LANCE: In 1915, 303 00:15:13,542 --> 00:15:16,667 Endurance got stuck in the Weddell Sea, 304 00:15:16,875 --> 00:15:19,500 which is very icy sea in-in Antarctica. 305 00:15:19,667 --> 00:15:22,792 So then, having spent almost, you know, more than a year 306 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,042 living in this frozen ship, 307 00:15:25,208 --> 00:15:26,875 it was quite clear the ship was going to sink. 308 00:15:27,042 --> 00:15:29,000 They had to take the lifeboats, 309 00:15:29,167 --> 00:15:31,167 take everything that they could off the ship, 310 00:15:31,375 --> 00:15:34,333 and push those across the ice 311 00:15:34,542 --> 00:15:36,333 to search for help. 312 00:15:37,375 --> 00:15:41,167 JOHN: 28 men shipwrecked, marooned in Antarctica. 313 00:15:41,333 --> 00:15:45,792 This incredibly horrific effort to get out of that situation-- 314 00:15:45,917 --> 00:15:47,958 crossing the rotting ice, 315 00:15:48,125 --> 00:15:50,375 eating their sled dogs. 316 00:15:50,542 --> 00:15:54,083 They were at one point covered in ice from the sea spray. 317 00:15:54,292 --> 00:15:56,708 And they all looked like, kind of, ghosts. 318 00:15:56,875 --> 00:15:58,875 -(braying) -And then they finally reached 319 00:15:59,042 --> 00:16:01,083 this place called Elephant Island. 320 00:16:01,625 --> 00:16:05,667 SHATNER: Shackleton and his crew of 27 men reach Elephant Island 321 00:16:05,833 --> 00:16:08,833 on April 16, 1916-- 322 00:16:09,042 --> 00:16:12,167 nearly 15 months after getting stuck in the ice. 323 00:16:12,375 --> 00:16:16,500 But their journey is far from over. 324 00:16:17,417 --> 00:16:19,750 LANCE: On Elephant Island, it was clear 325 00:16:19,917 --> 00:16:22,000 that they wouldn't be rescued from there. 326 00:16:22,083 --> 00:16:25,417 And so Shackleton and other men take one of these boats, 327 00:16:25,583 --> 00:16:27,250 which has been dragged all the way across the ice, 328 00:16:27,458 --> 00:16:30,458 and they decide to go to South Georgia Island 329 00:16:30,625 --> 00:16:34,875 in order to get to a whaling post to search for help. 330 00:16:35,500 --> 00:16:40,000 It's 800 miles across the ocean to get there. 331 00:16:40,917 --> 00:16:42,583 If they miss the island, 332 00:16:42,750 --> 00:16:43,708 it's over. 333 00:16:43,875 --> 00:16:45,292 It's an open boat, 334 00:16:45,417 --> 00:16:47,708 and they're on the ocean in these waves. 335 00:16:47,875 --> 00:16:49,125 They're wet all the time. 336 00:16:49,292 --> 00:16:51,917 There's nothing left in the tank. 337 00:16:52,083 --> 00:16:53,667 If you were a betting person, 338 00:16:53,875 --> 00:16:55,750 you would not bet for them. 339 00:16:55,917 --> 00:16:58,083 And yet they achieved it. 340 00:16:58,250 --> 00:17:00,375 SHATNER: Against all odds, 341 00:17:00,583 --> 00:17:04,917 the men land safely on South Georgia Island. 342 00:17:05,083 --> 00:17:07,833 But still ahead of them is a treacherous climb 343 00:17:07,958 --> 00:17:09,625 over an uncharted mountain, 344 00:17:09,792 --> 00:17:11,667 -where, on the other side... -(gulls calling) 345 00:17:11,833 --> 00:17:13,208 ...there's a whaling station 346 00:17:13,417 --> 00:17:16,208 and their last hope for getting help. 347 00:17:16,375 --> 00:17:18,667 With barely any strength left to survive, 348 00:17:18,833 --> 00:17:22,917 Shackleton and two of his men begin the long, dangerous trek 349 00:17:23,125 --> 00:17:24,667 through the mountains. 350 00:17:24,833 --> 00:17:28,500 And it is then that all three men begin to sense 351 00:17:28,625 --> 00:17:31,458 that they are not alone. 352 00:17:32,375 --> 00:17:34,292 JOHN: It was during that final leg 353 00:17:34,458 --> 00:17:37,333 over the mountains in-in South Georgia that he 354 00:17:37,500 --> 00:17:39,667 and the other two men who were with-with him 355 00:17:39,833 --> 00:17:43,583 had the sense of a fourth having joined their party. 356 00:17:43,750 --> 00:17:46,792 And Shackleton described it as "the divine companion." 357 00:17:47,833 --> 00:17:51,500 In his book South, he wrote of this presence experience 358 00:17:51,708 --> 00:17:54,125 that he had had on South Georgia Island. 359 00:17:54,292 --> 00:17:56,625 It was a spiritual, a religious experience 360 00:17:56,792 --> 00:17:58,292 that they felt they had had. 361 00:17:58,458 --> 00:18:02,542 They felt that they were in the company of an unseen friend. 362 00:18:03,583 --> 00:18:05,708 BANCROFT: The other two guys he's traveling with 363 00:18:05,875 --> 00:18:07,167 feel the same... 364 00:18:07,333 --> 00:18:09,792 I call it a spirit, you know? 365 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,042 The-the same essence. 366 00:18:12,208 --> 00:18:14,833 It is a benevolent presence. 367 00:18:15,042 --> 00:18:16,833 Kind of rides on your shoulder. 368 00:18:17,042 --> 00:18:19,667 It appears, oftentimes when you need it. 369 00:18:19,792 --> 00:18:24,208 It feels like there is a person, a being with them, 370 00:18:24,375 --> 00:18:26,417 aiding them, helping them. 371 00:18:27,458 --> 00:18:30,458 JOHN: They somehow managed to get over this mountain range 372 00:18:30,667 --> 00:18:32,167 to the whaling station. 373 00:18:32,333 --> 00:18:34,042 It's just unbelievable. 374 00:18:34,208 --> 00:18:37,125 They were absolutely, totally malnourished. 375 00:18:37,333 --> 00:18:39,458 Their clothing was in tatters. 376 00:18:39,625 --> 00:18:42,375 They were not recognizable, really, 377 00:18:42,542 --> 00:18:45,875 as-as civilized men when they arrived. 378 00:18:46,042 --> 00:18:49,125 And Shackleton, he was so changed 379 00:18:49,292 --> 00:18:50,458 by what he had gone through. 380 00:18:50,625 --> 00:18:52,792 It was a horrific, horrific experience. 381 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,167 And yet he survived 382 00:18:54,375 --> 00:18:55,375 and they went back to Elephant Island 383 00:18:55,542 --> 00:18:57,125 and collected the other men. 384 00:18:58,583 --> 00:19:01,167 SHATNER: On August 30, 1916, 385 00:19:01,375 --> 00:19:04,000 more than a year and a half after the Endurance 386 00:19:04,125 --> 00:19:05,833 became trapped in ice, 387 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:10,208 the stranded crew on Elephant Island are finally rescued. 388 00:19:10,375 --> 00:19:16,667 Miraculously, all 28 men that set out on the journey survive, 389 00:19:16,750 --> 00:19:21,667 perhaps with the help of an otherworldly presence 390 00:19:21,875 --> 00:19:24,708 that no one can explain. 391 00:19:24,875 --> 00:19:26,625 Third man syndrome 392 00:19:26,792 --> 00:19:28,833 always comes back to the question, what? What is it? 393 00:19:29,542 --> 00:19:32,625 Is it purely a psychological coping mechanism? 394 00:19:32,792 --> 00:19:35,458 Or is it some sort of spiritual entity? 395 00:19:35,625 --> 00:19:38,167 Neurologists continue to study the phenomenon. 396 00:19:38,292 --> 00:19:40,333 Psychologists continue to study the phenomenon. 397 00:19:40,542 --> 00:19:44,083 But I don't think any of them have solved the-the mystery. 398 00:19:44,208 --> 00:19:47,167 I think it remains very much unexplained. 399 00:19:47,292 --> 00:19:49,833 Could Shackleton and Bancroft 400 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,167 have really been guided to safety by something supernatural 401 00:19:53,333 --> 00:19:57,167 or was it simply a hallucination? 402 00:19:57,375 --> 00:19:59,458 The answer remains a mystery. 403 00:20:00,542 --> 00:20:03,083 Just like the case of an American military hero 404 00:20:03,292 --> 00:20:05,625 whose top secret polar adventure 405 00:20:05,708 --> 00:20:07,667 has led to controversial theories 406 00:20:07,792 --> 00:20:10,167 about what may lie deep 407 00:20:10,333 --> 00:20:12,750 beneath the ice. 408 00:20:22,417 --> 00:20:24,042 SHATNER: A fleet of 13 ships, 409 00:20:24,208 --> 00:20:25,875 33 aircraft, 410 00:20:26,042 --> 00:20:28,292 and almost 5,000 troops 411 00:20:28,458 --> 00:20:33,292 arrive under the command of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, 412 00:20:33,458 --> 00:20:36,333 the famed naval officer and polar explorer who, 413 00:20:36,542 --> 00:20:39,500 in 1929, along with his crew, 414 00:20:39,667 --> 00:20:43,833 was the first to fly an airplane over the South Pole. 415 00:20:43,958 --> 00:20:48,500 Now he is leading a massive classified operation 416 00:20:48,667 --> 00:20:50,792 for the United States government 417 00:20:50,917 --> 00:20:54,000 known as Operation Highjump. 418 00:20:54,208 --> 00:20:55,667 MacFERRIN: Operation Highjump was 419 00:20:55,875 --> 00:20:58,500 by far the largest expedition on the Antarctic continent. 420 00:20:58,667 --> 00:21:01,292 At this point in history, it was right after World War II, 421 00:21:01,417 --> 00:21:04,208 and Highjump's stated missions were about 422 00:21:04,375 --> 00:21:06,833 -exploration and scientific discovery. -(barking) 423 00:21:07,042 --> 00:21:08,375 They explored new places. 424 00:21:08,542 --> 00:21:09,833 They set up bases, 425 00:21:10,042 --> 00:21:12,833 and they took thousands of airborne photographs. 426 00:21:12,958 --> 00:21:15,167 They took measurements that nobody had ever taken 427 00:21:15,292 --> 00:21:18,542 over a vast swath of the Antarctic continent. 428 00:21:19,083 --> 00:21:22,000 LANCE: Operation Highjump was a massive operation. 429 00:21:22,208 --> 00:21:24,750 It's like a World War II invasion, 430 00:21:24,917 --> 00:21:27,792 but it also gives rise to some various theories, 431 00:21:27,917 --> 00:21:30,708 because why would we send an entire fleet 432 00:21:30,875 --> 00:21:34,292 to Antarctica just to do scientific research? 433 00:21:34,458 --> 00:21:36,583 Do we really care that much about science? 434 00:21:36,708 --> 00:21:40,000 Or is there some secret government goal down there 435 00:21:40,208 --> 00:21:41,375 that we don't know about? 436 00:21:42,750 --> 00:21:45,917 SHATNER: For over 70 years, the question has persisted: 437 00:21:46,083 --> 00:21:50,167 What was the true mission of Operation Highjump? 438 00:21:50,292 --> 00:21:52,208 One of the prevailing theories 439 00:21:52,375 --> 00:21:54,500 is that Highjump's secret objective 440 00:21:54,708 --> 00:21:59,583 may have been to locate a hidden Nazi base. 441 00:22:01,417 --> 00:22:02,667 MIKE RICKSECKER: Starting in 1938 442 00:22:02,833 --> 00:22:04,875 and arriving there in January of 1939, 443 00:22:05,042 --> 00:22:08,750 Adolf Hitler had sent a Nazi research expedition 444 00:22:08,875 --> 00:22:10,458 to Antarctica. 445 00:22:10,625 --> 00:22:12,958 They established a presence there. 446 00:22:13,125 --> 00:22:14,708 Now, one of the purposes of this was 447 00:22:14,875 --> 00:22:17,250 to establish a whaling industry there. 448 00:22:17,417 --> 00:22:18,375 However, 449 00:22:18,500 --> 00:22:19,750 a lot of people believe 450 00:22:19,958 --> 00:22:23,167 that they were also storing weapons there. 451 00:22:23,708 --> 00:22:26,083 So this opens up the question, 452 00:22:26,250 --> 00:22:29,000 was Operation Highjump looking for 453 00:22:29,125 --> 00:22:32,208 a hidden Nazi base there in the ice 454 00:22:32,333 --> 00:22:34,417 that could contain secrets and weapons 455 00:22:34,583 --> 00:22:38,000 that the Third Reich may have left behind? 456 00:22:39,708 --> 00:22:41,625 SHATNER: The possibility that Operation Highjump was 457 00:22:41,792 --> 00:22:44,333 searching for a secret Nazi base 458 00:22:44,542 --> 00:22:46,833 remains an unproven theory. 459 00:22:47,042 --> 00:22:50,000 But over the decades, others have proposed 460 00:22:50,167 --> 00:22:54,292 that Admiral Richard E. Byrd's true objective in Antarctica was 461 00:22:54,458 --> 00:22:56,875 to find something even more shocking: 462 00:22:57,042 --> 00:23:02,583 the entrance to a secret world hidden below the ice. 463 00:23:04,875 --> 00:23:06,375 SWARTZ: Richard Bird was probably 464 00:23:06,500 --> 00:23:09,458 one of the last of the great explorers. 465 00:23:09,583 --> 00:23:12,000 He was the first man to fly 466 00:23:12,208 --> 00:23:15,167 over the North and South Pole. 467 00:23:15,292 --> 00:23:17,333 And he was determined 468 00:23:17,542 --> 00:23:21,667 to uncover the secrets of the land beyond the poles. 469 00:23:22,792 --> 00:23:25,667 When Byrd said "The secrets of the land beyond the poles," 470 00:23:25,833 --> 00:23:29,083 he was probably using that as a romantic metaphor. 471 00:23:29,208 --> 00:23:31,792 So it's been taken over the years 472 00:23:31,958 --> 00:23:36,125 that Byrd was referring to possibly entranceways 473 00:23:36,333 --> 00:23:38,625 into the inner earth. 474 00:23:39,625 --> 00:23:42,292 COLLINS: The concept of an inner earth is 475 00:23:42,458 --> 00:23:45,417 that we live on a shell 476 00:23:45,542 --> 00:23:50,542 and that beneath that shell is a realm, 477 00:23:50,708 --> 00:23:54,833 another world, a parallel existence 478 00:23:55,042 --> 00:23:58,625 that has its own atmosphere, its own sun, 479 00:23:58,792 --> 00:24:01,000 its own land, its own fertility, 480 00:24:01,167 --> 00:24:02,292 its own animals, 481 00:24:02,458 --> 00:24:04,917 and perhaps even its own inhabitants. 482 00:24:06,542 --> 00:24:08,667 SHATNER: Could Admiral Byrd have been searching 483 00:24:08,792 --> 00:24:10,833 for a mysterious land beneath Antarctica? 484 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,917 It's an incredible story if it's true. 485 00:24:14,083 --> 00:24:18,750 And what's even more remarkable is that, according to legend, 486 00:24:18,917 --> 00:24:21,833 Admiral Byrd may have found it. 487 00:24:24,500 --> 00:24:26,333 BILL BIRNES: The story goes 488 00:24:26,542 --> 00:24:29,375 that when Admiral Byrd flew over the South Pole, 489 00:24:29,542 --> 00:24:31,542 he could see that there was an opening. 490 00:24:31,708 --> 00:24:34,583 He directed a squadron to fly into the opening. 491 00:24:34,708 --> 00:24:38,833 And underneath the ice, wasn't frozen. 492 00:24:38,958 --> 00:24:40,917 It was temperate. 493 00:24:41,083 --> 00:24:44,958 There were valleys there, there was flowing water there. 494 00:24:46,458 --> 00:24:49,542 The rumors had it that he had discovered 495 00:24:49,708 --> 00:24:53,833 areas of Antarctica that were free of ice and snow. 496 00:24:55,500 --> 00:24:57,292 Allegations that he discovered 497 00:24:57,458 --> 00:25:00,583 the inner earth circulated 498 00:25:00,708 --> 00:25:03,333 in various books and publications. 499 00:25:03,500 --> 00:25:07,458 And it was alleged that at one point, 500 00:25:07,583 --> 00:25:12,500 they observed a number of flying discs, UFOs, 501 00:25:12,708 --> 00:25:14,792 and received radio communications 502 00:25:14,958 --> 00:25:19,750 ordering them to land near an enormous city 503 00:25:19,917 --> 00:25:24,917 where they met the leaders of this underground kingdom. 504 00:25:25,042 --> 00:25:27,625 There's been all kinds of allegations, 505 00:25:27,792 --> 00:25:29,875 but we don't know if these stories are true or not. 506 00:25:30,875 --> 00:25:32,708 SHATNER: Did Admiral Byrd discover 507 00:25:32,875 --> 00:25:36,375 a highly advanced civilization hiding deep below Antarctica? 508 00:25:36,542 --> 00:25:40,083 It all sounds too incredible to be true. 509 00:25:40,292 --> 00:25:43,875 But some experts are convinced that something very strange 510 00:25:44,042 --> 00:25:47,000 did indeed happen during Operation Highjump 511 00:25:47,167 --> 00:25:50,292 because this massive military undertaking 512 00:25:50,458 --> 00:25:55,292 in 1947 was suddenly cut short. 513 00:25:56,375 --> 00:25:58,083 SWARTZ: Operation Highjump was 514 00:25:58,250 --> 00:26:02,833 supposed to stay for the entire Antarctic summer of 1947. 515 00:26:03,042 --> 00:26:05,667 But they were there less than two months 516 00:26:05,833 --> 00:26:08,208 and came back to the United States. 517 00:26:08,375 --> 00:26:10,375 It would be nice to know 518 00:26:10,583 --> 00:26:12,833 why did they leave so early, 519 00:26:12,917 --> 00:26:15,500 what happened to a lot of the photographs 520 00:26:15,667 --> 00:26:18,500 that were allegedly taken at the time 521 00:26:18,667 --> 00:26:20,625 and did everybody come back safely. 522 00:26:21,792 --> 00:26:24,583 Now, I suspect that the crazy stories 523 00:26:24,750 --> 00:26:26,458 about flying saucers 524 00:26:26,625 --> 00:26:28,542 and men from the hollow earth was 525 00:26:28,667 --> 00:26:31,458 part of a disinformation campaign 526 00:26:31,542 --> 00:26:35,375 to hide what was really going on. 527 00:26:35,542 --> 00:26:37,750 So the question remains, 528 00:26:37,958 --> 00:26:41,667 what actually happened with Operation Highjump? 529 00:26:42,625 --> 00:26:44,833 The true purpose of Operation Highjump is 530 00:26:45,042 --> 00:26:46,875 still shrouded in mystery. 531 00:26:47,042 --> 00:26:49,167 But it is possible the mission did find 532 00:26:49,333 --> 00:26:53,500 something incredible beneath the ice, because... 533 00:26:53,708 --> 00:26:56,250 scientists have since discovered 534 00:26:56,458 --> 00:26:59,625 an absolutely massive object 535 00:26:59,792 --> 00:27:02,792 buried a mile below Antarctica's surface, 536 00:27:02,958 --> 00:27:06,000 and they don't know what it is. 537 00:27:13,875 --> 00:27:15,333 SHATNER: Across the icy continent, 538 00:27:15,458 --> 00:27:18,958 55 countries have established research stations 539 00:27:19,125 --> 00:27:21,083 where scientists come to study topics 540 00:27:21,250 --> 00:27:23,000 like marine biology, 541 00:27:23,125 --> 00:27:24,500 geologic mapping, 542 00:27:24,667 --> 00:27:26,167 ice cores 543 00:27:26,333 --> 00:27:29,708 and objects from space, 544 00:27:29,875 --> 00:27:32,792 like the 50,000 meteorites that have landed 545 00:27:32,958 --> 00:27:35,542 on the snowy surface of Antarctica. 546 00:27:35,708 --> 00:27:37,833 And many believe 547 00:27:37,958 --> 00:27:40,875 there are hundreds of thousands more meteorites 548 00:27:41,042 --> 00:27:44,250 waiting to be found there. 549 00:27:44,417 --> 00:27:47,333 The magnitude of some of these discoveries is amazing. 550 00:27:47,458 --> 00:27:48,625 We've actually found 551 00:27:48,750 --> 00:27:50,917 more meteorites on the ice in Antarctica 552 00:27:51,042 --> 00:27:53,333 than anywhere else in the planet combined. 553 00:27:54,375 --> 00:27:57,292 Roughly 60% of all the meteorites found on Earth 554 00:27:57,458 --> 00:27:58,667 have been found in Antarctica. 555 00:27:58,875 --> 00:28:01,417 So all the time we're finding meteorites 556 00:28:01,583 --> 00:28:03,083 that we didn't even know existed there. 557 00:28:04,042 --> 00:28:05,458 SHATNER: The weather conditions 558 00:28:05,625 --> 00:28:08,042 and uncluttered setting of Antarctica 559 00:28:08,208 --> 00:28:09,750 are said to be helpful 560 00:28:09,917 --> 00:28:12,792 when spotting and collecting space rocks. 561 00:28:12,958 --> 00:28:15,875 But a discovery in 2006-- 562 00:28:16,042 --> 00:28:19,208 deep underground in the Wilkes Land region-- 563 00:28:19,375 --> 00:28:20,833 could have the potential 564 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,750 to rewrite Earth's history. 565 00:28:23,875 --> 00:28:25,833 Wilkes Land is one of the most remote regions 566 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:27,333 of East Antarctica. 567 00:28:27,875 --> 00:28:31,750 Gravity satellites run by NASA discovered 568 00:28:31,875 --> 00:28:37,000 that there's a dense segment of rock underneath the ice 569 00:28:37,167 --> 00:28:39,833 that's heavier than everything else around it. 570 00:28:40,042 --> 00:28:41,500 And one of the things that could cause 571 00:28:41,625 --> 00:28:44,500 an anomaly like this is an impact crater. 572 00:28:44,667 --> 00:28:46,333 But it's impossible to say for sure. 573 00:28:47,542 --> 00:28:50,667 SWARTZ: Scientists believe what they discovered was 574 00:28:50,833 --> 00:28:55,458 a massive 300-mile-wide crater 575 00:28:55,667 --> 00:28:59,708 that has been suggested was caused 576 00:28:59,875 --> 00:29:01,792 by an asteroid... 577 00:29:02,958 --> 00:29:06,500 ...that struck the Earth maybe as far back 578 00:29:06,708 --> 00:29:09,292 as 250 million years in the past. 579 00:29:10,333 --> 00:29:13,500 And I don't think scientists know what else it could be. 580 00:29:13,708 --> 00:29:16,208 Unfortunately, we'll probably never know 581 00:29:16,375 --> 00:29:20,375 because it's buried under almost a mile of ice. 582 00:29:21,625 --> 00:29:23,667 LANCE: So what we know is that there's something there, 583 00:29:23,875 --> 00:29:25,542 what we don't know for sure is what it is, 584 00:29:25,708 --> 00:29:28,333 but many scientists think that, possibly, 585 00:29:28,417 --> 00:29:31,000 under the ice in Antarctica 586 00:29:31,167 --> 00:29:33,042 is the largest impact crater 587 00:29:33,167 --> 00:29:35,375 that is known ever to have existed on Earth. 588 00:29:36,708 --> 00:29:39,000 SHATNER: It's intriguing to think 589 00:29:39,208 --> 00:29:42,458 that a prehistoric 300-mile-wide meteor crater 590 00:29:42,667 --> 00:29:45,667 may lie hidden below 5,000 feet of ice. 591 00:29:45,875 --> 00:29:48,750 And if so, could it be the source 592 00:29:48,875 --> 00:29:51,667 of a mega-impact event 593 00:29:51,792 --> 00:29:54,458 that transformed the planet? 594 00:29:56,500 --> 00:30:00,333 COLLINS: If we look back into geological history, 595 00:30:00,458 --> 00:30:03,083 we find out that around the same time 596 00:30:03,250 --> 00:30:06,250 that the Wilkes Land anomaly was created, 597 00:30:06,375 --> 00:30:11,833 there was a severe shift in the fossil record 598 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:16,042 that unquestionably involved a massive cataclysm 599 00:30:16,208 --> 00:30:21,083 that must have changed the history of Earth itself. 600 00:30:22,167 --> 00:30:24,000 RICKSECKER: There are people that believe 601 00:30:24,208 --> 00:30:28,000 the timing of the Wilkes Land impact, 602 00:30:28,167 --> 00:30:31,250 at about 250 million years ago, 603 00:30:31,458 --> 00:30:32,708 could be the cause 604 00:30:32,875 --> 00:30:34,875 of the Permian-Triassic extinction event, 605 00:30:35,042 --> 00:30:36,667 which would've wiped out 606 00:30:36,750 --> 00:30:40,583 about 90% of all life on Earth. 607 00:30:40,750 --> 00:30:45,333 So this potential impact could absolutely be indicative 608 00:30:45,500 --> 00:30:48,375 of a mass extinction event in our Earth's history. 609 00:30:49,458 --> 00:30:51,875 SHATNER: Could the anomaly buried below Antarctica 610 00:30:52,042 --> 00:30:54,042 have been responsible 611 00:30:54,208 --> 00:30:57,292 for killing nearly all life on the planet? 612 00:30:57,458 --> 00:30:58,625 Perhaps. 613 00:30:59,708 --> 00:31:03,458 But what's even more incredible is that some experts suggest 614 00:31:03,667 --> 00:31:05,583 an asteroid strike of this magnitude 615 00:31:05,708 --> 00:31:11,042 may have been powerful enough to reshape the Earth itself. 616 00:31:13,542 --> 00:31:16,625 MacFERRIN: Antarctica has not always been covered in ice. 617 00:31:16,792 --> 00:31:19,458 It used to be a very different place than it is today. 618 00:31:19,542 --> 00:31:22,000 It didn't even used to be at the South Pole. 619 00:31:22,208 --> 00:31:24,750 It broke off from the Pangean supercontinent 620 00:31:24,875 --> 00:31:27,292 millions of years ago and drifted southward. 621 00:31:27,833 --> 00:31:29,750 LANCE: This crater that is still preserved 622 00:31:29,958 --> 00:31:31,542 under the ice in Antarctica 623 00:31:31,708 --> 00:31:33,125 might have to do with the breakup 624 00:31:33,208 --> 00:31:34,917 of the supercontinent. 625 00:31:35,042 --> 00:31:38,125 This massive meteor strike could have hit so hard 626 00:31:38,250 --> 00:31:40,458 that it literally caused volcanoes to erupt 627 00:31:40,583 --> 00:31:42,667 on the other side of the Earth. 628 00:31:42,833 --> 00:31:44,167 It might be the event 629 00:31:44,333 --> 00:31:47,292 that helped to break Antarctica off from Africa 630 00:31:47,500 --> 00:31:49,875 and break Australia off from Antarctica. 631 00:31:50,375 --> 00:31:53,667 SHATNER: The massive anomaly buried deep below Antarctica 632 00:31:53,833 --> 00:31:55,667 may one day reshape 633 00:31:55,833 --> 00:31:59,375 our entire understanding of planet Earth. 634 00:31:59,542 --> 00:32:03,500 But for now, the evidence remains beyond our reach. 635 00:32:04,625 --> 00:32:08,500 Unfortunately, whilst this idea is plausible, 636 00:32:08,625 --> 00:32:10,833 because it's under miles of ice, 637 00:32:11,042 --> 00:32:14,333 nobody can physically collect a rock specimen 638 00:32:14,500 --> 00:32:16,958 to find out if what they think may have happened 639 00:32:17,125 --> 00:32:18,333 is what has happened. 640 00:32:19,250 --> 00:32:21,000 So it's very difficult to know 641 00:32:21,167 --> 00:32:22,833 if there's anything else potentially going on there 642 00:32:23,042 --> 00:32:25,458 because we haven't got enough data yet. 643 00:32:26,500 --> 00:32:28,875 But it does give an example of one of the many, 644 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,833 many things about Antarctica 645 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,000 that we are currently unable to answer 646 00:32:34,167 --> 00:32:38,583 because Antarctica is dominated by this huge amount of ice. 647 00:32:41,375 --> 00:32:45,375 Is there a giant asteroid buried deep below Eastern Antarctica 648 00:32:45,500 --> 00:32:48,375 or could it be something even more shocking? 649 00:32:48,542 --> 00:32:51,833 Based on the depth of this object, 650 00:32:52,042 --> 00:32:55,375 the answer, for now, is too hard to come by. 651 00:32:56,417 --> 00:32:59,792 But even deeper below the surface, 652 00:32:59,958 --> 00:33:04,750 a recent discovery may have uncovered an entire lost world 653 00:33:04,917 --> 00:33:09,500 of strange and unusual creatures. 654 00:33:17,167 --> 00:33:19,833 SHATNER: After 20 years of drilling, 655 00:33:19,958 --> 00:33:22,917 scientists make a remarkable discovery. 656 00:33:23,042 --> 00:33:24,583 Locked deep beneath the ice 657 00:33:24,750 --> 00:33:27,875 for what some estimate to be 20 million years, 658 00:33:28,042 --> 00:33:31,375 scientists reach an extraordinary body of water 659 00:33:31,542 --> 00:33:33,750 known as Lake Vostok. 660 00:33:35,250 --> 00:33:38,000 Lake Vostok is the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica 661 00:33:38,208 --> 00:33:40,000 and sits about 13,000 feet 662 00:33:40,208 --> 00:33:42,417 below the surface of the ice sheet above. 663 00:33:42,583 --> 00:33:46,667 A subglacial lake is one that's formed underneath ice. 664 00:33:46,875 --> 00:33:49,083 Subglacial lakes are a real mystery. 665 00:33:49,250 --> 00:33:51,250 We've only explored a handful of them 666 00:33:51,417 --> 00:33:53,625 and it's very difficult to explore 667 00:33:53,792 --> 00:33:56,083 these hidden environments. 668 00:33:56,250 --> 00:33:58,875 They represent a natural laboratory. 669 00:33:59,042 --> 00:34:00,708 What happens to life if you cut it off 670 00:34:00,875 --> 00:34:03,500 from the rest of the world for millions of years? 671 00:34:04,667 --> 00:34:06,750 MacFERRIN: When they pulled up water from Lake Vostok, 672 00:34:06,917 --> 00:34:08,250 they found microbes in there 673 00:34:08,417 --> 00:34:10,708 that had evolved completely independently 674 00:34:10,875 --> 00:34:13,583 from nearly all other life on Earth. 675 00:34:13,750 --> 00:34:16,042 Lake Vostok is so remote, 676 00:34:16,208 --> 00:34:18,750 so isolated from the rest of the planet. 677 00:34:18,917 --> 00:34:20,000 If life could evolve here, 678 00:34:20,167 --> 00:34:22,125 it could evolve nearly anywhere. 679 00:34:22,292 --> 00:34:24,208 It was the closest thing we've ever found 680 00:34:24,375 --> 00:34:26,167 to life on another planet. 681 00:34:27,208 --> 00:34:29,667 SHATNER: While Lake Vostock is a tremendous discovery, 682 00:34:29,875 --> 00:34:34,833 it is just one of many pristine places in Antarctica 683 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,708 where scientists have found, not just microbial life-forms 684 00:34:38,875 --> 00:34:40,750 but creatures of all sizes 685 00:34:40,875 --> 00:34:43,417 that have never been seen before. 686 00:34:43,583 --> 00:34:45,000 GRIFFITHS: One of the amazing things about working 687 00:34:45,167 --> 00:34:46,833 in Antarctica as a marine biologist is 688 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:48,750 we get to discover new species. 689 00:34:49,917 --> 00:34:51,833 If we go to unexplored areas 690 00:34:52,042 --> 00:34:53,500 or places that are much deeper, 691 00:34:53,708 --> 00:34:56,167 80% or 90% of the species we pull up from the sea 692 00:34:56,375 --> 00:34:58,500 are new to science. 693 00:34:58,708 --> 00:35:03,125 And that includes some really strange-looking organisms. 694 00:35:03,292 --> 00:35:06,083 We have the strawberry feather star. 695 00:35:06,208 --> 00:35:09,792 Its central part of its body resembles a strawberry. 696 00:35:09,917 --> 00:35:12,375 I even have two species of sea cucumber named after me 697 00:35:12,542 --> 00:35:14,250 because they were starting to run out of things 698 00:35:14,417 --> 00:35:16,292 to name the new species we'd found. 699 00:35:16,458 --> 00:35:19,458 And so it's not a question of will we find new species. 700 00:35:19,625 --> 00:35:21,833 It's a question of how many new species 701 00:35:21,958 --> 00:35:23,875 will we find every time we go. 702 00:35:24,042 --> 00:35:26,792 MacFERRIN: Every time we look at a new pocket of seawater 703 00:35:26,917 --> 00:35:28,542 underneath the ice in Antarctica, 704 00:35:28,667 --> 00:35:30,750 we find something we'd never seen before. 705 00:35:30,875 --> 00:35:32,625 Just a few years ago, 706 00:35:32,708 --> 00:35:36,542 they found sea spider crabs that have legs up to 20 feet. 707 00:35:37,542 --> 00:35:40,208 They found two-foot-wide sea stars. 708 00:35:40,375 --> 00:35:43,958 They found jellyfish with 12-foot-long tentacles. 709 00:35:44,125 --> 00:35:46,000 Many of these reach sizes 710 00:35:46,208 --> 00:35:47,833 that are incomparable to anywhere else on Earth. 711 00:35:48,875 --> 00:35:51,792 SHATNER: The cold, undisturbed waters around Antarctica 712 00:35:51,958 --> 00:35:54,958 make an excellent breeding ground for massive creatures. 713 00:35:55,083 --> 00:35:56,542 Blue whales-- 714 00:35:56,708 --> 00:35:58,833 the largest animals to ever live on our planet-- 715 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:00,625 roam these waters. 716 00:36:01,667 --> 00:36:04,958 And even the mysterious and elusive colossal squid 717 00:36:05,125 --> 00:36:07,000 can be found here. 718 00:36:07,167 --> 00:36:09,125 GRIFFITHS: Colossal squid are 719 00:36:09,292 --> 00:36:13,500 enormous creatures that are at least 33 feet long. 720 00:36:13,667 --> 00:36:15,667 And they have the largest eyeballs 721 00:36:15,875 --> 00:36:17,333 of any creature on the planet. 722 00:36:17,500 --> 00:36:21,792 We've only seen a few of these organisms in real life, 723 00:36:21,958 --> 00:36:23,333 but it opens so many questions 724 00:36:23,458 --> 00:36:26,167 about how large animals can be found 725 00:36:26,333 --> 00:36:28,708 in some of the most inhospitable parts of Antarctica. 726 00:36:36,417 --> 00:36:39,458 SHATNER: The Argentina Antarctic Institute completes 727 00:36:39,667 --> 00:36:43,000 their excavation of one of the most extraordinary 728 00:36:43,125 --> 00:36:46,333 and massive fossils ever discovered. 729 00:36:47,375 --> 00:36:48,833 It is the skeleton of a sea creature 730 00:36:49,042 --> 00:36:53,833 that swam in Antarctic waters 66 million years ago, 731 00:36:54,042 --> 00:36:57,333 called Elasmosaurus. 732 00:36:57,500 --> 00:37:00,333 Elasmosaurus was a real sea monster 733 00:37:00,458 --> 00:37:02,458 swimming around the Antarctic. 734 00:37:03,458 --> 00:37:06,167 It's the heaviest marine reptile fossil 735 00:37:06,333 --> 00:37:08,333 that's been found around Antarctica. 736 00:37:09,250 --> 00:37:10,958 It was up to 40 feet long 737 00:37:11,125 --> 00:37:14,875 and possibly 15 tons worth of animal. 738 00:37:16,125 --> 00:37:17,667 It was thought to have lived 739 00:37:17,792 --> 00:37:22,208 right up to the extinction event that killed the dinosaurs, 740 00:37:22,375 --> 00:37:24,417 but it was the largest swimming reptile 741 00:37:24,583 --> 00:37:26,667 in the oceans around Antarctica. 742 00:37:26,833 --> 00:37:30,042 COLLINS: When the story hit the news, 743 00:37:30,208 --> 00:37:31,667 people started saying, 744 00:37:31,792 --> 00:37:34,583 "Doesn't this resemble the Loch Ness Monster? 745 00:37:34,708 --> 00:37:37,583 "Doesn't this resemble other sea monsters 746 00:37:37,750 --> 00:37:40,333 and lake monsters around the world?" 747 00:37:40,542 --> 00:37:45,667 Begging the question of whether creatures like the Elasmosaurus 748 00:37:45,833 --> 00:37:48,333 still exist out there 749 00:37:48,458 --> 00:37:51,958 in the sea caves of Antarctica to this day. 750 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,167 LANCE: We know this massive critter lived there, right? 751 00:37:55,292 --> 00:37:57,333 So things that you might call a monster, 752 00:37:57,500 --> 00:37:58,708 could they live under those ice shelves? 753 00:37:58,875 --> 00:38:00,333 Of course they could. 754 00:38:00,542 --> 00:38:04,625 98% of the ocean bottom underneath these huge ice sheets 755 00:38:04,792 --> 00:38:08,000 off of Antarctica are completely unexplored. 756 00:38:08,125 --> 00:38:10,625 There's absolutely going to be stuff 757 00:38:10,792 --> 00:38:12,667 that we've never seen before that surprises us, 758 00:38:12,875 --> 00:38:15,667 and that tells us more about life on our planet. 759 00:38:24,292 --> 00:38:26,208 SHATNER: This American research station is 760 00:38:26,375 --> 00:38:29,125 the largest scientific facility on the continent 761 00:38:29,292 --> 00:38:31,500 and serves as a key hub 762 00:38:31,667 --> 00:38:35,500 to resupplying scientists working all over the region. 763 00:38:35,708 --> 00:38:39,542 McMurdo is just one of about 70 research stations 764 00:38:39,750 --> 00:38:42,000 that support scientific expeditions 765 00:38:42,167 --> 00:38:45,667 from 29 countries around the world. 766 00:38:45,833 --> 00:38:47,083 MacFERRIN: Part of the reason 767 00:38:47,250 --> 00:38:49,417 we fund so much research in Antarctica is 768 00:38:49,625 --> 00:38:51,042 because what happens in Antarctica 769 00:38:51,208 --> 00:38:53,417 does not stay in Antarctica. 770 00:38:53,583 --> 00:38:56,542 Antarctica by itself holds enough ice 771 00:38:56,708 --> 00:38:58,333 to raise sea levels around the world 772 00:38:58,542 --> 00:39:01,458 by hundreds of feet if it all melted. 773 00:39:01,625 --> 00:39:04,375 We've had glaciers that are thinning 774 00:39:04,542 --> 00:39:08,208 and losing literally billions of tons of ice to the ocean. 775 00:39:08,375 --> 00:39:10,542 And how fast 776 00:39:10,708 --> 00:39:13,667 these glaciers can melt is an open question. 777 00:39:14,250 --> 00:39:16,792 Antarctica affects the rest of the planet 778 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,458 right now and in the future. 779 00:39:19,625 --> 00:39:22,000 SHATNER: While it's fascinating to think 780 00:39:22,208 --> 00:39:23,500 that Antarctica may help us predict 781 00:39:23,708 --> 00:39:25,875 what lies ahead for planet Earth, 782 00:39:26,042 --> 00:39:27,417 surprisingly, 783 00:39:27,583 --> 00:39:30,208 the White Continent may also offer clues 784 00:39:30,375 --> 00:39:34,875 to what life might be like on other planets. 785 00:39:35,042 --> 00:39:37,750 At NASA, they talk a lot about Antarctica. 786 00:39:37,875 --> 00:39:40,167 It is the closest thing that we have to an approximation 787 00:39:40,333 --> 00:39:43,333 to an alien environment that might resemble 788 00:39:43,542 --> 00:39:46,208 places that we hope to visit in space. 789 00:39:46,375 --> 00:39:47,958 GRIFFITHS: There are frozen moons, 790 00:39:48,167 --> 00:39:49,833 even in our own solar system 791 00:39:50,042 --> 00:39:53,167 where there's a huge ocean of water beneath 792 00:39:53,375 --> 00:39:55,333 and then a frozen crust on the outside, 793 00:39:55,458 --> 00:39:57,208 very similar to ice shelves 794 00:39:57,375 --> 00:39:59,625 or the sea ice in Antarctica. 795 00:39:59,833 --> 00:40:02,000 And the fact that life can live 796 00:40:02,167 --> 00:40:06,292 under the ice in Antarctica might hold the secret 797 00:40:06,458 --> 00:40:08,917 to life in other places in the universe. 798 00:40:12,208 --> 00:40:13,500 SHATNER: Could the most remote, 799 00:40:13,667 --> 00:40:16,167 hostile and mysterious place on Earth 800 00:40:16,375 --> 00:40:19,083 really be that similar to an alien world? 801 00:40:20,125 --> 00:40:23,000 It's an intriguing thought, but the truth is, 802 00:40:23,208 --> 00:40:24,667 after 200 years 803 00:40:24,792 --> 00:40:27,833 of groundbreaking exploration and research, 804 00:40:28,042 --> 00:40:31,833 when it comes to understanding the mystery of Antarctica, 805 00:40:32,042 --> 00:40:35,667 we've barely scratched the frozen surface. 806 00:40:35,833 --> 00:40:37,917 We might learn about the universe from Antarctica. 807 00:40:38,083 --> 00:40:40,500 We might learn about the origins of life from Antarctica. 808 00:40:40,667 --> 00:40:42,083 We might find species 809 00:40:42,208 --> 00:40:43,625 that we've never seen before from Antarctica. 810 00:40:43,833 --> 00:40:45,833 We just don't know what's under all that ice. 811 00:40:45,958 --> 00:40:48,708 BANCROFT: I think what's exciting is 812 00:40:48,875 --> 00:40:50,750 that we don't have all the answers. 813 00:40:50,917 --> 00:40:53,167 In fact, we have so very few. 814 00:40:53,792 --> 00:40:56,333 Antarctica is already presenting mysteries 815 00:40:56,542 --> 00:40:58,667 that we never thought we would get to. 816 00:40:58,833 --> 00:41:01,667 Even today, things are emerging, 817 00:41:01,750 --> 00:41:06,417 critters and objects and bodies of water. 818 00:41:06,583 --> 00:41:08,833 And if you're a scientist, 819 00:41:08,958 --> 00:41:10,833 it's very much like being an explorer. 820 00:41:11,042 --> 00:41:12,333 You just want to keep 821 00:41:12,500 --> 00:41:13,833 putting one foot in front of the other, 822 00:41:14,042 --> 00:41:17,083 and keep asking the questions and keep looking. 823 00:41:18,333 --> 00:41:21,333 It's exciting to think that there are great discoveries 824 00:41:21,417 --> 00:41:23,125 yet to be uncovered 825 00:41:23,250 --> 00:41:26,792 in one of the most inhospitable environments imaginable. 826 00:41:27,875 --> 00:41:30,167 And perhaps the fact that Antarctica is 827 00:41:30,375 --> 00:41:34,917 the world's highest, driest, coldest and windiest continent 828 00:41:35,083 --> 00:41:38,542 on Earth is exactly what attracts 829 00:41:38,708 --> 00:41:40,917 explorers of all kinds 830 00:41:41,042 --> 00:41:44,667 who risk their lives in the pursuit of understanding 831 00:41:44,833 --> 00:41:47,542 this otherworldly place. 832 00:41:47,708 --> 00:41:50,917 But as often happens with every revelation, 833 00:41:51,125 --> 00:41:55,458 more questions seem to rise to the icy surface. 834 00:41:55,583 --> 00:41:59,833 And the mystery of Antarctica remains... 835 00:42:00,042 --> 00:42:01,333 unexplained. 836 00:42:01,458 --> 00:42:03,167 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A E NETWORKS