All language subtitles for The UnXplained s01e04_English

a thousand lightning bolts
in a single hour.

[thunder crashes]

A never-ending fire that
destroys an entire town.

And bizarre humming noises...

[distorted screaming]

...that drive people insane.

We call everything around us...

"nature,"

as if the incredible world
we live in

is "natural," "normal."

Something we can understand.

But what happens when nature
is unnatural--

bizarre, unreal?

How can nature defy
the very laws

that are supposed to govern it?

What then?
Are we simply at its mercy?

Or is it something
we must figure out

before it's too late?

♪

SHATNER:
Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela.

This body of water, near the
mouth of the Catatumbo River,

has been called "The Lightning
Capital of the World,"

because almost every night,
it's a place

where the lightning never stops.

[thunder crashing]

300 days out of a year,
we see this lightning.

It's called
"Catatumbo lightning."

It's like sheets of lightning
constantly for hours and hours

and hours,
and it goes on and on,

and it lights up
everything around it.

And it's not like
any other lightning

anywhere else on the planet.

It's amazing.

You have to wonder why is there
not lightning like this

everywhere else in the world?

SHATNER:
There's an old expression
that says lightning

doesn't strike twice
in the same place.

But at Lake Maracaibo,
not only does it strike

at the same place,
it does so over and over.

But why?

There are some areas
of the Earth

which seem to be
like lightning valleys.

[thunder crashes]

Areas that are just inundated
with lightning bolts

on a given storm.
And why?

Well, we're not sure.

When you look at Venezuela,
you can take some guesses

as to what's going on.

Maybe it's the water.

But it also could be things
like the altitude,

or the general
atmospheric conditions.

So it's very hard to pin down
exactly what's going on

in that place,
and why that place is special.

There's a thing called
"chaos theory,"

and in chaos theory,
there are these places

that are called "attractors."

They're regions that just occur
sort of randomly

that cause a vortex.

Things occur there,
things collect there.

Perhaps the Earth
has an attractor

over this lake in Venezuela

that's causing the
Catatumbo lightning.

One thing about lightning
is there is

a tremendous amount
of energy involved.

But that's not
the most exciting piece.

It's the power.

It's how quickly
the energy is released.

Lightning represents
one of the most powerful,

high-power phenomena in nature.

So lightning's really exciting
because there's pieces

we do understand,

but there's still a lot
of pieces we don't understand.

[thunder crashing]

KAKU:
For example,
recently it was revealed

that the energy of
a lightning bolt is so great

that even antimatter
can be formed.

To create antimatter,

you need a particle accelerator.

You need an atom smasher
to create antimatter

-in the laboratory.
-[explosion]

But it turns out
an ordinary lightning bolt

will also create
minute quantities

of this exotic form of matter.

[thunder crashes]

The lightning in Lake Maracaibo
is an interesting case

of scientists trying to figure
out an unusual phenomenon.

This region had been
identified for many years

as a hotspot of lightning.

And it turns out,
with a detailed NASA study,

it is indeed the greatest
lightning hotspot in the world.

SHATNER:
Lightning hotspots?

Are there really places on Earth
that act like lightning rods?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining not only places

that are repeatedly
struck by lightning,

but the story of one woman
who's been struck twice,

and has lived to tell the tale.

Fort Benning, Georgia.

July 20, 1992.

Army specialist Beth Peterson
is working

at an ammunition point
when storm clouds

begin to gather over the base.

I saw lightning strike
and hit the concertina wire

on the-the fence going around
the ammunition point.

And then I watched lightning
strike a tree across from me.

And next thing you know,
lightning struck again.

It entered my feet,
it exited my mouth.

It grounded on top of my head.

It felt like my body exploded.

And it just lifted me
as it launched me.

And everything just
felt like burnt.

I felt like it took my head off.

SHATNER:
Beth was rushed
to the infirmary,

and, incredibly, she survived.

But after months of recovery,
Beth realized that

-something was different.
-[monitor beeping]

She had been changed.

Not enough people
get hit by lightning

and survive, like the strike
that I survived the first time.

And so there isn't
a lot of research

for my doctors to understand,
to be able to say,

"You've been hit by lightning,
and this is the end result."

In my case, they say,
"You've been hit by lightning,

and we have to help you figure
out a way to cope with it."

Because there are things that
happen that are unexplained.

I really believe
in the electromagnetic

changes in the body,
because the first ten years

of having, with my children,
having the Christmas tree up,

and putting maybe tinsel on it,

the tinsel would jump six feet
off the Christmas tree onto me.

I couldn't get it
to stay on the tree.

-Turning on lights...
-[electricity crackles]

...touching things...

I'm very staticky.

My hair likes to get
very floaty.

I can feel it in my body.

SHATNER:
After such a harrowing
experience,

Beth took solace, both in
the fact that she had survived,

and that her near-fatal
encounter with lightning

was over.

Or was it?

PETERSON:
July 19th of 1993,

I was struck by lightning again.

I had a psychologist tell me
that I was a soldier.

I needed to get over it,
I needed to carry on

and soldier on,

and that I should go home
and watch the storm.

And that's what I told myself
as I drove home

and took off my boots,
and opened the French doors,

and was struck again.

It threw me approximately
eight to nine feet

back into the house.

No one has ever come forward
and told me why

this has happened.

I have had a team
of incredible doctors,

and they have tried
and tried and tried

through the years to medically
have some explanation.

Because when a person's going
through what I've gone through,

you want an answer.

And the answer just always
keeps coming back to,

"You've been struck
by lightning."

SHATNER:
Was it merely a coincidence

that Beth was struck
a second time?

Or could there have been
something larger at play?

[thunder crashes]

Is it possible that,

like Lake Maracaibo,

some people attract lightning?

They say that being hit
by a lightning bolt

is similar to winning
the lottery,

and yet, some people are hit
by lightning bolts

more than once,
and what's the reason?

Is it just bad luck?

DENNIN:
As people, we do have
a certain composition,

and we're mostly water.

And water is a great conductor
of electricity.

But the exact details
and specifics

of how each person is set up
is gonna vary enough

so you can imagine
some people are greater

or lesser lightning rods.

So if you think about
the whole electrical system,

and how they fit into
the electrical system

of the Earth and the atmosphere,

some people are more likely to
be hit by lightning than others.

PETERSON:
I always have
a heightened awareness.

I know where the storms
are coming.

I can feel it by the hair
on my arms standing up.

The hair on the back
of my neck,

my static in my own hair...

it floats.

I can tell when the changes
in the weather are happening

by the response
of what I feel in my body.

I do not necessarily think
it was a coincidence

that I was struck a second time.

I think the changes in my body
made it more attractive.

Why are certain places
and people

repeatedly struck by lightning?

I'm sure Beth Peterson
would love to know the answer.

Just like the people
who used to live in a small town

in rural Pennsylvania,

one that has literally
gone up in smoke.

Not from being hit by lightning,

but from a fire...

that has been burning...

for more than half a century.

SCOTT JONES:
You basically, you see
the fire and brimstone things

Population: five.

Once upon a time,
this small mining town

was home to more than
2,000 people.

Today, it's an almost
entirely abandoned wasteland.

Some would say
it resembles a war zone.

But it wasn't war
that ravaged Centralia.

It was something
much more devastating.

DAVID WHITEHEAD:
The story of Centralia

is both tragic and terrifying

in that it used to just be
a quaint mining town...

...but now
it's a total ghost town.

SHATNER:
February 14, 1981.

Valentine's Day.

12-year-old Todd Dombowski

is playing
in his grandmother's backyard

when he notices
something strange

coming up from the ground.

He sees what he thinks is-is
smoke coming up from the lawn,

goes over to investigate...

...drops out of sight
into a steaming hole

approximately 170 feet deep.

He saves himself by grabbing
onto a tree root.

WHITEHEAD:
So after what happened
to Todd Dombowski,

the media started coming in,

and Centralia became
a big story.

DOROTHY LUCEY: Todd Dombowski
was playing when the earth

opened up below his feet.

I see the smoke and when I did,
I just fell right through it.

SHATNER:
After a brief investigation,

the cause of the smoke
in Todd's grandmother's backyard

becomes obvious.

A fire that was
deliberately started,

and thought to have
been extinguished,

had, in fact, never gone out.

And it was now being fueled

by the vast reserves of coal
located underneath the town.

Centralia was a very typical
small coal town

in the anthracite region
of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Its only purpose for being
was to mine coal...

...and its growth was in tandem
with the coal industry.

As new mines opened up,
more people would move there.

Some of those families
in Centralia had been there

for as long as five generations.

And what I'm leading to is that

there's this massive labyrinth
of-of abandoned coal mines

beneath Centralia,
really under the entire town.

And so, in 1962,

the state dump inspector told
Centralia Borough Council

that the location
of its landfill

didn't meet state regulations.

And they arranged
for the local fire department

to set the dump on fire
to clean it up.

And they had done this
in the past.

They would just go out
and set it on fire,

let it burn for a while,
and then wash it down with water

from a tanker truck and go away,
everything's fine.

Except, this time
it wasn't fine...

...because this fire had stayed
smoldering in the garbage,

and then it moved
into this labyrinth

of abandoned coal mines
beneath the town

and that was how
the mine fire got started.

And eventually, the fire broke
out of the ground,

and you could see
glowing red rocks,

you could see
blue burning rocks.

And so, so hot.

If you got even, like,
within ten feet of it,

your face was frying, you know?
It was that, that hot.

They sent
the fire department back,

but the damage was already done.

WYSESSION: Attempts to put out
the Centralia coal seam fire

had been a total failure,
starting in 1962,

when they first lit
that trash pit on fire.

That fire continued
to spread underground

despite multiple attempts
to put it out.

And then,
in over a period of 20 years,

the fire just kept
growing out of control,

to the point where smoke and
steam come up out of the ground,

where the ground is as hot

as 900 degrees Fahrenheit
in places,

just consuming the entire town.

SUSAN JELLIG: The people
of Centralia want to know

when the 20-year-old mine fire
will be put out.

They appeared tired
of living with the danger

of toxic gases
entering their homes.

Representative Frank Harrison
says it won't be easy.

WHITEHEAD:
And it was at this point

that the town started
to shut down and close shop.

LUCEY: Residents take
a vote to move their homes.

The federal government forked
over another $1 million

to move them to safety.

WHITEHEAD:
Businesses started closing,

people started leaving,

and the government actually
ended up buying the land

to stop people
from coming back in,

because they realized
at that point,

that they had no way
to stop this fire,

and sadly, this fire is raging
right up to this day.

SHATNER:
But why,

after nearly six decades,

why won't the fires go out?

WYSESSION:
It's a question that's almost
impossible to know.

Because not only can we not
see through the rock,

any attempts
to try to figure it out

by drilling holes in the ground,
for example,

you provide channels of air
that can actually feed the fire.

And so, you can try
to cut off the fuel

by digging out around it

to remove the coal
to prevent it from spreading,

and you can also
address the fire

by pouring water directly in
through channels underground

to try to cool that fire
below its activation energy.

All of these were tried
in the case of Centralia.

Not one of them succeeded.

You would think
we understand fires enough

that we could,
we could take care of this,

because we know,
for a fire to occur,

you have to have
an ignition source, a spark...

...then you have to have fuel.

Well, it's a coal mine,
so coal is a pretty good fuel.

Then you also have to
have an oxidizer.

That oxidizer is-is air,
in most cases.

But if they cut off the tunnels,

or whatever's going
into this mine,

no air should get down there,

eventually all the air
should burn out,

and it should go out,
but it's not doing that.

DEKOK:
What I've been told
by engineers is that

they could pump water
down there for a year,

and if they turn the water off,

there'd be a good chance
it'd be enough residual heat

that the fire would start
right back up again.

It's a tremendous monster.

JONES: Once an accident
like this happens

underground where you have
a fire burning,

as time goes on,
the odds of putting it out

get fewer and fewer and fewer.

With a coal fire,
you're talking temperatures

of a thousand
to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

As the fire grows and grows
and grows like this underground,

all that heat is radiated
through the earth.

It warms up the earth,
and could get to the point

where you can see temperatures
of two, 300 degrees

on the surface.

And asphalt
and different materials

actually start melting.

Sinkholes open up,
houses collapse.

This can go on
for a very, very long time.

In the case of Centralia, even
to this day, 50 years later,

you see steam vents
with toxic gasses

being emitted out of the ground,

you see vegetation
that has been destroyed

because of those gases
in the heat.

This is almost a wasteland,

caused by these
underground fires.

Some people have estimated
that it'll take 200 years

for this fire to burn out,
and my estimation, nobody knows.

We could be talking
two, three, four, 500 years.

There is no answer
to that question.

It's basically hell on Earth.

SHATNER:
Centralia, Pennsylvania:
once booming, now barren.

The ghost of a town
that once was.

The few structures that remain

seem to defy the fumes
to consume them.

Is this story a cautionary tale
about the futility of mankind

trying to bend nature
to its will?

Perhaps.

But in a forest halfway
across the world,

there's an equally
compelling story,

not about mankind
trying to bend nature,

but about nature succeeding
in bending itself.

GEORGE NOORY:
People are hearing a strange hu,

just outside the village
of Nowe Czarnowo,

stands a grove of pine trees
unlike any other.

Instead of rising
straight up to the sky,

these trees bend, bow...

...and buckle

in a most curious-- and some
would say-- unnatural fashion.

Which is why this place
has come to be known as...

the Crooked Forest.

WYSESSION:
When you see this forest,
it's very striking.

Trees come up
initially straight,

and then they take a sharp bend
all to the north,

and eventually curve
back up again.

And to see maybe one tree grow
this way might not be unusual,

but to see a whole grove
of trees grow this way,

clearly something was at work.

SHATNER:
Although scientists have dated
the unusual trees to the 1930s,

local records became lost
after the end of World War II.

The only thing
we know for certain

is that these are otherwise
normal pine trees that,

for whatever reason,
didn't grow straight.

JOSH SLOAN: I don't know
of anywhere else in the world

that we could walk into a forest

and see such broad,
dramatic sweeping curves

throughout the entire stand.

And so there have been
a lot of questions,

a lot of speculation
as to what caused this.

Everything from tank maneuvers

that might have occurred
in the area

around the time of World War II

to snow and wind loads
on these stands...

...to chemicals that might have
been in the soil,

or genetic questions
that might be at play.

And be it
the human intervention...

I think most of the natural
processes would cause

a much more sort of
gradual curve or lean in a tree,

but not such a distinctive
sort of hook shape.

In this case, the fact
that it's very consistent

and more extreme
than you would typically see

in any sort of natural situation

would suggest that it was
probably human manipulation.

But we'll never know for sure
if that was the case.

WYSESSION:
One possible explanation

comes from records of timbers
called compass timbers,

that were trees
that were grown particularly.

They were pruned, much like
topiaries or bonsai trees,

to have a curved shape.

And these timbers
were used in the hulls of ships.

Rather than trying to bend
boards with steam to make ships,

they actually grew trees that
already had that curved shape.

Whatever happened to these trees

most likely happened
when they were very young.

This obviously would have taken
a lot of thought and work

on the part of somebody
to go out and plant this forest,

to go in and prune or otherwise
manipulate these young trees

and tend them to create this
kind of a big sweeping bend.

And then that raises
the other part of this mystery:

what changed
that nobody came back?

WHITEHEAD: So, the idea that
humans cultivated these trees

to make furniture or for some
other manufacturing purpose,

it doesn't really add up.

The question is,
why would anybody

go to that kind of trouble?

And, I mean, we're talking
at least ten years

to produce a tree
with that kind of bend,

only to disappear when it comes
time to harvest them.

SHATNER:
If the Crooked Forest
isn't the result

of some arborist's bizarre plan,
then what else

could explain the trees'
strange and contorted shapes?

There's got to be
something more to this.

Maybe it's something
that we haven't yet thought of.

Could it be that these trees
have some kind of capability

that we have yet
to fully understand?

In Native American traditions,

plants have spiritual essence--

or you might say souls,
plants have souls--

and in that sense, what we might
think in terms of being a person

or having a consciousness.

Amongst our people, the trees,

they, they do have a spirit.

Not only trees, but everything.

But mankind, we don't see that,
we don't understand that.

WHITEHEAD:
We see this also
in Japanese culture,

where they talk about nymphs and
spirits that inhabit the trees.

And even
in the Druid traditions,

they wouldn't even
approach a tree

or walk underneath
the leaves of a tree

without asking permission.

They would speak to the tree.

SHATNER:
Is it possible that the pines
of the Crooked Forest

are actually capable
of communication?

While such a notion
may seem far-fetched,

scientists are beginning
to discover that trees,

and other plants,

have far greater capabilities
than previously known.

FISHER:
When you step into a forest,
all the trees around you

are not just isolated organisms.

They're actually a community

that are communicating
with each other.

Forests are more often
connected underground

through their root systems
by fungal mycelia,

which are basically
little threads of fungi

that tap into the roots and then
connect that tree to other trees

that it's also connected to.

WHITEHEAD:
So, the question is,

is there an advanced form
of consciousness, in a way,

that inhabit trees?

And even
in the scientific world,

they've been changing the way
that they look at trees,

and they've been
seeing that trees

possess a sort of intelligence,

where they communicate
amongst each other.

SHATNER:
Did the trees
of the Crooked Forest

grow that way because someone,
or some force, willed them to?

If true, it could revolutionize
the way we humans

interact with the wondrous world
we live in.

But it might also
help to explain

another, less benign phenomenon,

one in which a sound is produced
that is so subtle,

yet so persistent, that it can
drive those who hear it...

[window rattling]

-...stark raving mad.
-[screams]

TAYLOR:
This hum is affecting people.a.

Located along the Detroit River,
this Canadian city seems,

by all appearances,
to be quite normal.

But if you listen closely,
you'll hear something strange.

[low humming]

Do you hear it?

That humming noise?

Well, if you do, be careful.

It may just drive you mad.

WYSESSION:
About a decade ago,
in Windsor, Canada,

people began hearing a hum.

Some people, not everyone,
and not all the time,

but this was a serious,
significant hum.

NOORY: I was born in Detroit and
I would go to Windsor, Canada

quite often during my days
as a reporter in that city.

People are hearing a strange hum
that affects them.

It literally drives them crazy,

and nobody's been able
to pinpoint exactly

what's happening.

Most people would describe it
as a very low frequency,

modulating sound,

or they'd characterize it
as a large diesel truck

or even train locomotive
parked outside their window,

chugging away.

Sometimes I get, like, a rumble,
like, almost thunder,

but it's definitely not thunder.

It changes from one moment
to the next.

Sometimes we get four hours,
sometimes we get four days,

four weeks,
sometimes it's nonstop.

DREW TRAUX:
Some nights it's been, like,

really, really intense,
where it kind of has a little,

to me, I-- has a little grind
to it as well.

SONYA MACKIE:
It would be
in the middle of the night.

You couldn't tell whether you're
hearing it or, or feeling it.

It was, uh,
it's like a "voom, voom" noise.

TAYLOR: Imagine that you're
sitting in a room

trying to relax,

and there is this low-level
humming sound in the background

that you can just barely hear,
and it's continuous.

So, if you have this constant
acoustic hum in the background,

this could cause
adverse reactions.

This hum is affecting people,
keeping them awake.

It's ruining their lives.

[loud humming]

PROVOST:
It does affect my sleep.

The pulsing and the pounding,
yeah, it-it wakes you up.

It just resonates
through the house.

Sometimes it gets so bad,
you get so infuriated with it,

that it scares the hell
out of you.

You just want to get away.

Windsor being such
a highly industrialized city,

we have a lot of different
sources of noise.

But when it didn't go away,

that's when people
started to get concerned.

SHATNER:
For the residents of Windsor,

the hum is no longer
a mere curiosity.

For them, it's become
a full-fledged crisis,

one that the local authorities
have tried to address.

CRAIG PEARSON: The Canadian
government did a study

and the report suggested
that it came from Zug Island,

across the Detroit River
in Michigan.

WHITEHEAD:
And the conventional theory

is that the U.S. steel factories
that are located on Zug Island

are somehow causing
a weird reverberation effect

that is carrying that sound

across the lake
and people are hearing it.

WYSESSION:
One possible explanation
has to do

with a phenomenon
called resonance.

So, it could be, whatever
the low frequency machinery is

that's vibrating, it's vibrating
at just the wrong frequency

that is causing
surrounding structures

to begin to amplify at that
exact resonant frequency.

DENNIN:
The human use of industry

is fairly common
from place to place.

And so when you think
about Detroit,

if the hum or the noise
is from industry,

and that type of noise, you
would expect it in other places.

However,
nature and natural noise

is more localized and distinct.

MACKIE:
When it first started,
no one knew what the hum was.

They started studying it,

and that's where the Zug Island
theory came up,

but there's all these
what-if questions that come up.

Why is it felt
in the evening hours,

maybe verses
more so during the daytime?

Why do you feel it on a weekend?

Are they actually running
their facility on the weekend?

Why is it worse during when the
weather patterns are different?

It definitely does pose a lot of
questions and a lot of what-ifs.

It could be many other places
that generate this.

And low frequency sound could
be due to seismic activity.

In the Detroit area,

we know there's been
an increase in seismic activity.

One natural phenomenon
that creates low frequency noise

is earthquakes.

In several cases, you can hear
the earthquakes occurring.

They're very low frequency,

mostly below
the human hearing range.

But in some cases,
they can be heard.

Interestingly,
some of the residents in Windsor

have noted
the rattling of windows.

And I've experienced an
earthquake where I had no idea

it occurred except
all the windows of my house

started vibrating.

There was something in that
resonance of that earthquake

that was the same frequency
as my windows.

NOORY:
So, these hums are around

on this planet in certain areas.

Exactly what's causing it,
nobody knows.

But it's very annoying
to a lot of people.

Just imagine yourself
trying to sleep,

feeling this hum all the time.

It drives you nuts.

I don't think
it'll ever be solved.

I'm hoping it will be.
I won't give up

until they find an answer
or tell us what's going on.

If they can fix it, fix it.
If not, let us know why not.

MACKIE:
It'd be nice
if it would be explained.

Maybe one day.

It would be great
if it went away.

It'd be nice
not to hear it anymore.

SHATNER:
Is the nauseating hum

experienced by the people
of Windsor

really caused by nearby
industrial plants?

Or is it due
to something even stranger?

There are some who believe
that the hum

may come from the same place

where geologists believe there
lies an incredible energy,

one so powerful
and so unstoppable,

that one day it may
actually wipe out

all of mankind.

WYSESSION:
It is so anomalous, it is easy

stretching out
to strike the sky.

A colossal, 900-foot shaft
of rugged rock,

one whose very name
conjures notions of both awe

and dread.

Devils Tower.

Devils Tower is remarkable
because you can drive across

the sedimentary plains,
see nothing but flat ground

for miles and miles,

and then this tall,
dark tower emerges

as you drive towards it.

There is nothing like it
in the surrounding area.

The rock has a grayish,
even a greenish-gray color.

And so, as you approach
Devils Tower,

it's a distinct, stark contrast
to the sort of tans and browns

of the surrounding
sedimentary rocks.

SHATNER:
Located in northeastern Wyoming,

Devils Tower was declared
America's very first

national monument in 1906
by President Theodore Roosevelt,

who sought to protect it as an
object of scientific interest.

Since then, many have asked:

what could have caused
this massive tower to form?

There are many theories
about it,

but there's no agreement
on what it was

that produced
this miracle of nature.

It's made of volcanic-type
materials,

but there's no other
volcanic activity around it.

So what caused this thing?

We don't know the answer
to that question.

It's a really interesting
conundrum.

SHATNER:
Is Devils Tower really
a miracle of nature?

Something that simply
cannot be explained

by natural and scientific laws?

Sorry, but that explanation
is simply not good enough.

As much as we like to walk
around with the confidence that

we know this planet

and we understand
the planet we live on,

there seems to be nothing
but mystery on this planet.

We don't understand
how to predict earthquakes.

[rumbling]

We don't understand
how lightning travels.

There's so many questions
that we have

about what produces
the forces of nature.

SHATNER:
Some have suggested that the key
to understanding Devils Tower

is to think of it the way
many Native Americans do:

not as a natural formation,

but as an unnatural one.

The native peoples of the area
have worshiped this tower

as an altar of sorts,

and many feel like they can
climb to the top of this place

and get divine inspiration, uh,
become empowered.

And the question is, is there
some truth to this native legend

that this place is a
sacred place on the planet

and it is a sort of altar that
allows humans to communicate

to the spirits
or to the universe

or to the gods
that they believe in?

To view Devils Tower,
if you want to call it that--

Mathó Thípila
is what we call it--

it's a sacred place,

and when you see it
from a certain distance,

even then, you start to feel
the wonder of it,

the sacredness of it, and as you
get closer and closer,

the positive sacred energy
starts to build,

and you feel it
even more when you

get to the base of the tower.

I think, in the case
of Devils Tower,

it is so unusual,
it is so anomalous,

that it is easy to ascribe
a mystical

or spiritual attribute to it.

It's not surprising
that Hollywood directors

would choose this as the place

that aliens would land
from outer space.

In the mid-1970s,
one of the most important events

in the history of, uh,
Devils Tower took place,

and that was the filming
of the movie

Close Encounters
of the Third Kind.

In that movie
by Steven Spielberg,

the tower is a spot that
many people are drawn to,

and they don't know why
they're drawn to it.

They're drawn to it
from all over the country.

It turns out,
as the movie goes on,

that they're drawn here
because they've been abducted

some time during their life
by aliens.

A UFO lands on top of the tower,

and Richard Dreyfuss
and several other people

climb into the UFO
and fly off into space.

The number of visitors
that came to the tower

doubled the year after
that movie came out,

and it stayed at that level
every year ever since.

I don't know if it's
a landing site for UFOs,

as Spielberg had in his movie,

or what it might be.

I mean, the more we look at it,
the more baffled we are.

We are going to find things
as we continue

to observe and search and study
the Earth that we had no idea

how they got there, what type of
physical process created them,

and we're gonna learn
new things all the time.

SHATNER:
Is it Devils Tower
that is unnatural,

or is it our own limited
understanding of nature

that produces the confusion?

Perhaps Devils Tower exists
to keep mankind humble,

as a reminder that we still have
a lot to learn.

ATNER:Yellowstone National Park.

Each year, more than
four million people

travel from all over the world

to experience its canyons,

hot springs,
and other natural wonders.

But the most wondrous
sight of all

is a geyser that shoots a jet
of superheated water

more than 150 feet into the air.

And it does so
at such regular intervals

that you can practically
set your watch by it,

which is why
they call this geyser

"Old Faithful."

WYSESSION:
If you visit Yellowstone,

it's spectacular; there are
geysers all over the place.

Some erupt every few minutes,

some erupt every few hours.

But what is remarkable
about Old Faithful

is you can go there with a
stopwatch and-and you can time,

almost to the minute,

when the next eruption
of Old Faithful will occur.

DENNIN:
Most of nature is radical
and unpredictable,

but the really surprising
feature of Old Faithful

is not that it's periodic
and regular--

because that also happens
in many places in nature--

it's that it's been periodic
and regular for so long.

That is something that
really shows us there's a lot

we don't understand about nature
and a lot more we need to learn.

SHATNER:
Old Faithful. For centuries,

we've thought of it as
a mere tourist attraction,

a quaint example
of Mother Nature

at her most punctual.

But what if we're wrong?

What if it is really providing
a geological countdown

to mankind's
ultimate extinction?

Yellowstone is famous for bears,

it's famous for
magnificent geysers,

but underneath your feet

is a supervolcano,

and it's at least
44 miles across.

Is a whole network
of magma pools

that could one day blow up...

...and cause tremendous havoc.

TAYLOR: A supervolcano,
if it were to erupt,

is so massive amount of energy
being released

that it would destroy half of
the continental United States,

and it would be more devastating
to the entire planet

than the asteroid that hit, that
we think killed the dinosaurs.

KAKU:
This gigantic eruption
has happened three times,

three times in
the recorded history,

and we are due for another one
who knows when,

maybe tomorrow, maybe a hundred,
maybe 200,000 years from now,

but it will happen.

What do we really know
about this planet we live on?

Just when we think we have
Mother Nature figured out,

something reminds us that we're
not as smart as we think we are.

After all, have we found a way
to put out the Centralia fire?

Or how Devils Tower was formed?

What if not knowing
all the answers

is why we were put here
in the first place.

Perhaps we're made to keep
searching, to keep learning,

and to keep trying to figure out
the answers...

to The UnXplained.

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