All language subtitles for The.Proof.Is.Out.There.S06E09.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- Tonight on "The
Proof Is Out There."

We investigate a classic
case from the 1960s.

Is this a UFO flying
next to an airplane?

- It's got fins on both sides

and then the fins kind
of retract into the body

and it disappears.

- [Tony] A terror
beneath the waves.

What are these grinning
beasts in Brazil?

- If there are
undiscovered creatures

anywhere on the planet, Brazil
is where we would find 'em.

- [Tony] How did this
ancient Roman artifact

wind up in Mexico before
the conquistadors?

- There are many
people who believe

that it may have been
possible for Romans

to have made that
transatlantic voyage.

- [Tony] A real life
haunted mansion.

Could this be the ghost of
a 19th century Aristocrat?

- The figure's legs are
missing, and as it happened,

Lord Combermere suffered a
severe carriage accident.

- [Tony] And a
Bigfoot in Alabama?

These guys say they
got close, too close.

[monstrous growling]

- Made the hair on the
back of my neck stand up.

[dramatic music]

- [Tony] Around the
globe are videos,

[witness screaming]

photos,

and sounds that
defy explanation.

[electric whirring]

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

who made them, or
how they operate.

- [Tony] What are they?

- [MJ] Some sort of
bizarre mutation.

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

- Extraordinary claims
need extraordinary proof.

- I'm Tony Harris,

and as a journalist
for more than 30 years,

I've followed the facts
where they take me.

Now, I'm bringing that
spirit of investigation

to the world's strangest
sounds and images.

- [Witness] It's
coming towards us.

- [Tony] We'll analyze
each one with top experts.

- It's a credible case,
it's a credible video.

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

- This video was clearly faked.

- The proof starts now.

[dramatic music]

Good evening, everyone,

and welcome to "The
Proof Is Out There."

You know, some of
the best UFO footage

comes from airline passengers.

A recent in-flight sighting

near New York's LaGuardia
Airport made headlines,

but one of the most famous
clips from coach class

comes from way back in 1966.

Take a look.

April 2nd, 1966, 9,000 feet

above Staffordshire
County, England.

It's Joan and Tom Oldfield's
first time on an airplane,

in this case a British
Dart Herald turboprop.

The couple captures the moment
with their home movie camera

by filming out of
the plane's window,

when they catch a glimpse
of something otherworldly.

The original eight millimeter
film has been digitized

and marked with a logo,

but the anomaly it
shows remains clear.

Slowing down the footage, we
see a long, sausage-shaped UFO

on the right side of the screen.

It appears to have
two prominent fins

on it's left and right sides.

After a brief moment,

the object seems to rotate
on its vertical axis

before zipping away from the
plane in the blink of an eye.

- This film became known
as the Oldfield Film

and was sent to the British
Air Ministry for investigation.

It became very popular with
British UFO enthusiasts.

It even made news headlines
in the United States.

The Palm Beach Post
published an article

saying that it might be a
return of a mysterious craft

that had terrorized a small
English town in an incident

called The Warminster Thing.

- [Tony] The Warminster
Thing refers to a swath

of UFO sightings in
Warminster, England,

in the summer of 1965.

- There were a
number of witnesses

who saw different
types of shapes.

Some saw a cigar shaped
alien craft like the one

in the Oldfield Film, and
others saw what they described

as twin red hot pokers hanging
down one on top of the other.

- [Tony] It was a mass sighting.

More than 400 people
claim to have seen

and heard what appeared
to be a flying saucer,

but officials
remained up in the air

about the object in the sky.

- There are a number of
military installations

around Warminster.

The government said they
weren't doing any experiments

at the time that could explain
what the eyewitnesses saw.

To this day, all of those
Warminster sightings

are unexplained.

- What's fascinating to
me about the Oldfield Film

is the way the object
spins and disappears

in the blink of an eye.

See how it just vanishes there?

Could the Oldfields
have seen the same craft

that appeared during
the Warminster Thing

and not known it?

Or was their UFO another
kind of aerial vehicle?

[tense music]

Since this footage
was shot in 1966,

staging an event like this
would have been extremely tricky

because all effects would have
to have been done in camera.

- Now, it doesn't appear to
be something that's affixed

to the window because we see
the edge of the window here

and we see the object
itself changes shape.

So I don't think there's any way

that you could actually
fake this video.

- [Tony] So if it's
outside the plane and real,

what could it be?

We wonder whether the
Oldfields could have captured

a dirigible, flying
alongside their plane.

- The problem with dirigibles

is that they would not
keep up with the speed

of the Dart Herald aircraft.

They would've been actually
outpaced very quickly.

And here, it's moving at exactly
the same speed as the plane.

- [Tony] Given that they were
filming through a window,

what's the possibility

they accidentally
filmed a reflection?

- Window reflections
often cause UFOs,

but the only things that
reflect in windows are lights.

Here we're seeing
something that's dark.

- It looks like it's right
along with the plane,

and I think that's
because it's on the plane,

part of the plane.

It looks like they were
looking at something attached

to the plane itself.

- [Tony] What we're seeing
could be a plane appendage

that's warped by the
convex edge of the window

to look like a free
floating object.

- [Marc] We're talking about
the Dart Herald aircraft.

I think it's probably
the horizontal stabilizer

in the back of the plane.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, this is
a part of an airplane

that was distorted by the window

and misinterpreted
by the witnesses.

In fact, one television crew
even recreated the journey

in the exact same seat on
the exact same aircraft.

And what do you know?

They saw the exact
same UFO, or rather,

the same horizontal stabilizer.

Now I am going to show you
some of the freakiest video

I've seen in a while.

A smile can convey warmth,
humor, and happiness,

but in a sinister setting, it
can have the opposite effect.

From the Joker, to
Jack-o'-lanterns,

to the pirate flag
known as Jolly Roger,

menacing grins can induce fear.

Just look at the mysterious
smirking creatures

in our next story.

May 2024, Mato Grosso, Brazil.

A fisherman is on a quiet
late night trip in his canoe,

when he feels eyes watching him.

He looks over the side of
his boat and sees this.

The video captures
glowing red eyes,

peering out from grinning faces

lurking just below the
surface of the water.

Take a closer look.

Those eyes seem
to hover in place,

smiling eerily at the
fishermen as he tries

to placate the creatures
with some snackable fish.

It's a spooky site,

taken in one of the world's
most exotic locations.

- The Mato Grosso is
an extremely dense

and unexplored region of the
southern Amazon River Basin.

And really, if there are
undiscovered creatures anywhere

on the planet, the Mato Grosso,
is where we would find them.

Looking at this video,
I'm immediately reminded

of a legendary Brazilian
creature known as the Boiúna.

Typically depicted
as an immense serpent

that's very dangerous,
able to topple boats.

It's also a shapeshifter

and a protector of
the Amazon rainforest,

capable of taking
the form of a human.

And when we look at
the human-like grin

on these two creatures,
one can wonder,

are these Boiúnas attempting
to lure this fishermen

beneath the waves?

- [Tony] Besides the Boiúna,

a menagerie of real
life monstrous serpents

is well documented
within the area.

- There are many accounts
of gigantic snakes

from the Amazon River Basin,

and perhaps the most celebrated
involves the famous explorer

Colonel Percy Fawcett.

Now, back in the year 1907,

he was at a place
called the Rio Negro

when he encountered this
gigantic triangular head

in the water and
quickly realized

that it was an Anaconda.

He fired one shot
into its spine,

which killed it instantly.

And when he and his
companions were able to drag

most of its body on the
shore, they measured it

and determined that it had
a total length of 62 feet.

So we're talking about the
mother of all anacondas.

Could these actually be giant
anacondas here in the water?

- In a popular story from one
of the Batman comic books,

the Joker poisons all the
fish in Gotham Harbor,

leaving them with
a menacing grin,

not unlike what we
see in this footage.

And while I doubt any
Smilex gas was used

to create these critters,

let's see what our
experts have to say.

[tense music]

Some have speculated
that this is nothing

more than some creepy looking
catfish, but think again.

- Whatever this is,
is very, very large

and there's no known
catfish species here

that would make sense
for that size range.

- A catfish mouth is
actually downturned,

and that's because they
scoot along the bottom

and scavenge a lot of food.

The mouth on this
fish looks like

it's maybe an ambush predator.

- [Tony] Could
these be predators,

protecting the rainforest,
like the legendary Boiúna?

- The Boiúna is actually
known to hypnotize its victims

using its red glowing eyes
and then drag them underwater.

Instead, the person seems to
be bringing these creatures

to him by feeding them.

And you're not actually
supposed to see anything

of the Boiúna
except for its eyes.

And we can tell this is
some kind of an animal.

- [Tony] If it's
some type of animal,

could this be one of the
area's infamous anacondas?

- If I was looking for a
very large snake underwater

like this, you'd probably see
something called periscoping.

You would probably see the
neck coming outta the water.

And in addition, the head
of this thing is massive.

If I was to see an anaconda
with a head that big,

the anaconda would have
to be 80 plus feet.

- While this may
not be an anaconda

or other kind of monster,

what this is, is maybe
equally terrifying.

- I think this is most
likely an arapaima.

Arapaimas are massive fish
found all throughout the Amazon,

and these things
get over 400 pounds.

They can in fact cause injury

and have been noted to cause
injury in humans all the time.

- There have actually
been circumstances

of people being knocked
out by these fish

jumping out of the water.

- [Tony] The natural shape
of the arapaima's mouth

makes it appear to have a smile.

And as for those glowing eyes...

- They have a tissue on
the covering of their eyes

known as tapidum lucidum.

And what that tissue does is
actually reflect more light

into the eye itself to pick
up more visual imagery.

- [Tony] On top of that,
these aggressive fish

can even survive outside the
water for as long as 24 hours.

- And they can also bite.

They've been known to
grab things like bats

straight outta the air,
or eat small mammals

that are on the
banks of the river.

So I would say it's best to
steer clear of these animals.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, these grinning
jokers are arapaimas.

As our experts explain, they
can be quite dangerous.

And don't think you're safe

just because you're
not in Brazil.

In 2021, the carcass of
an arapaima was spotted

in Florida's waters,
leaving some to wonder

if this non-native species has
found a new home in the US.

- Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle is best known

for creating the iconic
character of Sherlock Holmes.

And like his
fictional detective,

the writer was a
bit of a sleuth.

Tonight we're looking at
a paranormal photograph

so compelling, Conan Doyle
himself considered it

a true mystery.

It's 1891 in Cheshire, England.

At St. Margaret's Church, a
funeral service is underway

for the second Lord Combermere.

Meanwhile, back at the
late Lord's estate,

a guest takes a photograph
of his empty grand library.

When the picture is developed,

it reveals something
unseen to the naked eye.

At first, it seems there's
nothing out of the ordinary,

just a richly furnished room

with an impossibly
large bookshelf.

But take a closer
look to the left

and you'll notice what appears
to be a ghostly figure,

seated on an ornate chair.

It is the unmistakable
outline of a man.

Note the suited upper body
and the curve of a bald head.

However, the legs on the specter

seem to be completely missing.

The current owner of the estate,

Sarah Callander Beckett,
believes it's clear

who we're seeing
in this photograph,

a man who was supposedly
dead and buried.

- When the photograph
was developed,

there was Lord Combermere
sitting in his chair.

And it is really remarkable.

And if you see prints of
him, it absolutely is him.

I think the spirit was
coming home to sit in a place

where he would've always sat.

- One detail that makes
the story more compelling

is that the figure's
legs are missing.

And as it happened,
Lord Combermere suffered

a severe carriage accident in
which his legs were run over

by a horse-drawn carriage.

He was rendered
partly paralytic,

and the trauma
contributed to his death

at the time this
photo was taken.

- [Tony] The photo became an
object of public fascination

when it was released in a
newspaper article in 1926

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The subject of that piece:

something known as
spirit photography.

- At the time, Americans
and Europeans were obsessed

with talking to the
dead, holding seances,

capturing evidence
of the unseen world.

And one of the efforts was
called spirit photography.

In spirit photography,
the photograph was taken,

but upon development, a
ghostly apparition appears.

- So-called spirit photographs
were a thing back then,

and so were spirit frauds.

One of the most famous was
the Englishman, William Hope.

He was once caught tampering
with photographic plates

in order to manufacture
a ghostly effect.

Could our Combermere ghosts
be another such forgery

or could we be looking
at the real deal?

Let's ask our experts.

[tense music]

- One of the more common
processes that photographers

and other professionals
began to utilize

to fake situations
in the 19th century

was called a double exposure.

- [Tony] Double exposure is
when you take two photographs

and overlay them to
create one image.

Like this photo of Harry
Houdini sitting across

from the ghost of
Abraham Lincoln.

Houdini took an existing plate

with the image of
Abraham Lincoln

and using that same plate,
he photographed himself,

positioned as though
he were right next

to the late president.

Is that what's happening here?

Well, maybe, or maybe not.

- I didn't detect any artifacts
of that double exposure

in and around some of the
details like the books.

But it doesn't necessarily mean

that it didn't happen that way,

especially because this
particular subject appears

to have a different visibility
than the rest of the image.

- [Tony] However, there's
another key photographic detail

that could account
for what we're seeing.

- This camera required a
very long exposure time,

and that's because
of earlier cameras

having less
sensitivity to light.

Long exposures open up the
possibility of people, objects,

and things crossing the
field of view of the camera

and showing up as
ghostly figures

through a partial exposure.

But also these older cameras

are not gonna pick up every
single motion during that hour

or whatever length of
time the exposure was.

- [Tony] And that inability
to pick up on motion

might also explain
the missing legs.

In 2018, French
photographer Mathieu Stern

recreated the Combermere
photo using long exposure

and some simple, if
silly, leg kicks.

And here's the resulting photo.

On long exposure, the
camera can't pick up

the constant movement
of the subject's legs.

- It's possible that you
actually have intentional fakery

where you create a
ghost-like image on purpose.

So I'm not convinced here
that we're seeing a ghost

or anything paranormal.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, camera trick.

We think someone sat in the
chair and moved their legs

back and forth really fast,

just long enough to
create that image.

But the owner of
Combermere Abbey tells us

there are other ghosts
roaming its halls.

Let's just hope
they're not camera shy.

- The national UFO Reporting
Center has cataloged

more than 13,000 sightings
of triangle shaped UFOs,

many going back decades.

These alleged craft have been
spotted all over the world,

but the best evidence
ever may have come

from the great state of Kansas.

April 16th, 2014,
Wichita, Kansas.

Amateur photographer Jeff
Templin is in his lakeside

community, testing
out a new camera lens,

when he notices something
strange flying overhead.

A crisp edged triangular
craft soars across the sky

with a two-pronged smoke trail
stretching out behind it.

As we increase the
photo's contrast,

we can see that the
craft is like gray

with the front edge
making a stark V

and the darker body
almost blending

with the blue sky behind it.

This triangular object falls
into a new UFO classification

system established by the
UFO Investigative Group,

Sky-Watcher.

Out of the nine UFO types,
this would be a tetra,

but it turns out Jeff's
photo is only the beginning.

- A second photo surfaced online

depicting the exact same object.

And after this image surfaced,

a lot of people began making
inquiries to the military

to ascertain whether this
was a military craft.

But they've not responded
to requests for comment.

- [Tony] With no word
from government officials.

The rumors begin to fly.

- Netizens began to speculate

as to what we could
be looking at here.

One of the speculative
theories out there

is that this is actually
a B-2 stealth bomber.

- [Tony] The B-2 is
a unique platform

in the American arsenal,

which played a central role in
the 2025 American airstrikes

on Iran, blending
stealth and aerodynamics

like never before.

It's considered one of
the most feared aircraft

in the world.

- The B-2 bomber is
essentially designed

to travel over an
adversary country

and deliver a payload
without ever being seen

or heard or tracked.

It's essentially invisible,

but when it flies close to
the ground, it's very obvious

as a very large sort of black
triangular shaped object.

- [Tony] But what if it's
something even more secretive?

Some suspect this object is
actually an infamous triangular

spacecraft only
alleged to exist.

It's known as the TR-3B.

- The TR-3B'S story
begins at Roswell

when the US military
allegedly recovered the debris

of a crashed flying disc.

The project ever since

was to essentially
reverse engineer it

into something that
a human can fly.

- [Tony] Rumor has it the
engineers who unlocked

that alien tech were
Nazi rocket scientists

sheltered by the United
States after the war

in exchange for research.

The resultant TR-3B
is said to use nuclear

accelerated mercury
to generate plasma

that creates an anti-gravity
field around the craft.

- The TR-3B exists
in this mythical land

of, perhaps the government
has secret planes

that we don't know
about and they've been

quietly building them
without public awareness.

- It's not publicly
known exactly

how much money the
government sets aside

and what is known
as the black budget

for its secret
military programs.

But some estimate that it
could be around $100 billion.

Did Jeff photograph proof
of your tax dollars at work

or something else?

[tense music]

Given that Kansas is home to
three military installations,

could we be seeing a known
delta wing stealth bomber

like the B-2?

- The B-2 aircraft looks
like a flying wing,

and it is designed to blend
in, especially at nighttime.

But for training
exercises in the daytime,

usually they would
fly at an altitude

where they wouldn't
leave a contrail

so that people wouldn't see it.

And the fact that
they have not come out

and said anything, would
leave me to believe

that this is some
kind of aircraft

that somebody was experimenting
with other than a B-2.

- [Tony] If it's not the B-2,

could this whole
thing be a hoax?

Well, maybe in part.

Remember that second photo that
mysteriously emerged online?

- This one is just
a perfect triangle.

When I looked at this
one before, I thought,

how is he getting such a
deep projected shot on this?

Was that maybe a hoaxed image?

- [Tony] Since the person
who shot that photo

never identified themselves,
we're leaning that way.

But Jeff's photo doesn't show
any indication of fakery.

Then are we looking at
proof the legendary TR-3B

really exists? Not so fast.

Remember, that craft was
allegedly reverse engineered

from a UFO.

- UFOs don't typically have
engines like we've created here

on the earth that would
produce a contrail like this.

It looks to me like
these are twin contrails

from very real
human engineering.

We can't see all
the details on this,

but I think it, at the
very least, it's a new kind

of aircraft being tested,
but we can't tell what it is.

[tense music]

- Our verdict,
unidentified test craft.

Without clearer confirmation
from the US military

or some private entity,
it's really up in the air

as to what Jeff photographed.

- Famous sounds from
the state of Alabama

include everything from the roar
of the Talladega Superspeedway

to the southern fried
rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

But now, we may be able
to add Bigfoot's growl

to the state's greatest hits.

August 2024, Talladega
National Forest, Alabama.

With two individual cameras
rolling, YouTubers Matt Graham

and Darrel Smith head deep
into the dense forest,

a spot they've explored
countless times

for their channel.

The night has been
uneventful, when suddenly...

- Whoa, stop.
- What was that?

- [Tony] A rumble can be heard

coming from deep
within the woods.

They try to locate whatever
it is with their flashlights

and hear it again, louder now.

[monstrous growling]

- Dude, that is a growl.
- It is a growl.

- [Tony] Let's hear that one
more time and we'll turn it up.

[monstrous growling]

- I'm not gonna lie,
it caught me off guard

and we were hurrying
back to the vehicle.

So we don't know what it is,

but I need to get video
proof and actually see it

and know it's real
before I'm gonna say,

"That was Bigfoot."

- [Tony] And it turns out,
Alabama Bigfoot sightings

actually go back centuries.

- The Alabama Coushatta
people describe a wild man

called the Eeyachuba.

The way they describe it,
it comes out at night.

It's hair covered.

It follows hunters when
they're carrying small prey.

- [Tony] Like we
hear in this video,

many believe that these
creatures will ferociously roar

to mark their territory

and to freeze potential
threats in their tracks.

- They will bang on the
ground, roar, scream,

just to get you out of an area.

And when you leave, they
will make sure you leave

by escorting you out, even if
that means chasing you out.

I've spoken to several
witnesses that claim that,

"Oh, that thing
was gonna kill me."

- One story from
the 1800s claimed

that early Alabama settlers
encountered a giant, hairy,

bipedal creature
about eight feet tall.

Someone allegedly shot the beast

and a posse followed
the blood trail,

which eventually disappeared
at the edge of a cliff.

It's quite a tale.

Could a descendant
of that creature

be what made this sound?

Let's see what
our experts think.

[tense music]

Could this ferocious growl
come from an Alabama Bigfoot?

- There's quite a
variety of sounds

that have been
attributed to Sasquatch,

which range from grunts,
and hoots, to screams,

and roars, and growls.

- [Tony] The sound has a
guttural roaring aspect

similar to a black bear.

But while this forest is
home to some black bears,

there are only about
200 in the entire state.

- 200 is a very modest number.

You talk to people who are
avid outdoorsmen in Alabama

and they rarely
encounter black bear.

- [Tony] So let's do some
comparison testing, shall we?

First, we match
our Alabama growl

with what many believe
is the closest thing

to a legitimate
Sasquatch recording,

the infamous Ohio howls
recorded in Columbiana County,

Ohio, in the fall of 1994.

- So when I compare
the characteristics

of the Ohio Bigfoot howls,

they have more
frequency variation.

[monstrous growling]

The growl sound to me
does sound kind of like

it might be a bear, but
there were a few features

that seem a little
unnatural to me.

An animal making a growl
ordinarily would be moving

or having some variation
throughout the sound.

[bear growling]

[monstrous growling]

This particular growl
recording stays at one pitch,

in one frequency range
throughout the sound.

[monstrous growling]

My subjective
impression would be

that the growl was
produced by playback

through a loud
speaker at the scene.

- [Tony] That might help
explain the mild behavior

of our eyewitnesses.

- Their reaction was
rather minimalist.

So maybe this experience
was a contrived one.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, we're calling
this one a well executed hoax,

one that fooled
thousands online.

Don't blame yourselves.

Not everyone can have a
forensic audio analyst

at their fingertips.

That's what we are here for.

- It is widely accepted
that the first European

to land in modern day
Mexico was the Explorer

Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba,

who arrived in early 1517.

But our next story features
an artifact that casts doubt

on that fact, and
the entire history

of exploration in the Americas.

Take a look.

1933, Toluca, Mexico.

A group of archeologists is
excavating Calixtlahuaca,

a 16th century Aztec city.

Digging in a grave site

that dates between
1476 and 1510 AD,

they come across several
Aztec relics from the era.

And then this.

It's a small terracotta
head that stands out

because it looks nothing
like the other Mesoamerican

artifacts found here.

The man has an
expressively stern look,

sporting a beard in
what appears to be

some kind of head covering.

Geologist Peter Schaaf says,
the head left experts befuddled

because it seemed like
something from ancient Rome.

- This kind of cap and
the beard and so on,

there were not features
which you would've expected

from a colonial ceramic.

So I was also convinced it
is some kind of Roman thing.

- [Tony] But what's a
Roman sculpture doing

at an Aztec archeological site?

- There are many
people who believe

that this is a
genuine Roman artifact

and that Romans
actually made their way

to the so-called New World
more than 2,000 years ago.

Norwegian adventurer,
Thor Heyerdahl

took a transatlantic
voyage in 1970

in a boat built according
to ancient Egyptian

boat building techniques.

His boat was called the Ra II,

and it sailed from
Morocco to the West Indies

showing that it may have
been possible for Romans

to have made that
transatlantic voyage.

- [Tony] What's
even more shocking?

This head may not be
the only Roman artifact

to have made an epic
journey across the Atlantic.

In 1982, underwater
archeologist Robert Marx

made an intriguing discovery
off the coast of Brazil.

- Marx discovered
barnacle covered amphorae,

which are large jars that
the Greeks and Romans used

to transport things
like wine, oil, water,

and grain on long voyages.

His theory is that
there was a Roman ship

that was blown off course
and was wrecked on shoals

or coral reefs during
a severe storm.

And if that's true,
that completely upends

what we know about the history
of exploration in this area.

- In 2016, an archeologist
discovered a handful

of ancient Roman
coins within the ruins

of a 12th century
Japanese castle.

There was no known trade
between these two civilizations.

No one knows for sure how
this currency got there.

But can our experts figure out
how this ancient Roman relic

crossed an ocean?

Let's find out.

[tense music]

There's debate over exactly
when the head was carved,

with one source suggesting

it dates to the
second century AD.

But the experts
agree on one point,

this artifact was
not made locally.

- Because of how it's
constructed, its size,

this cannot be made
in Mesoamerica.

We have not found any
other example like it.

This is not pre-Hispanic
type of pottery.

- [Tony] Then how did it
get across the Atlantic?

The burial site dates to
before the Spanish conquest

of Mexico.

And our artifact might predate
all of this by centuries.

Did the Romans make
the trip after all?

- We know that the
Romans were seafaring

and that they were able
to sail all the way

to what's now Great
Britain and Ireland.

But it's always about
show me the artifacts.

And really if they made
it across the Atlantic

in any substantial way, we
would expect Roman artifacts.

And we don't have that.

- [Tony] But what about the jars
found off the coast of Brazil?

- In the end, those
supposed Roman ceramics

turned out to be
planted there by a man

who claimed he
intentionally submerged them

to allow them to collect
barnacles and look old.

So questions of
authenticity came up.

- [Tony] Those jars may
be an archeological scam,

but our ancient head was
confirmed by multiple studies

as a genuine artifact
from antiquity.

So then what explains its
presence in Calixtlahuaca?

Could the dating of the burial
site be off by a few years?

- The excavation evidence
said that the objects

around this little bust were
somewhere in the late 1400s

or early 1500s,

which is not very far off
at all from Contact Period,

which would mean that
it's a more likely case

that this was deposited
during the Spanish Entrada

and not much, much earlier
in the Roman period.

- [Tony] Or in the end,
could this all have been

just an elaborate joke?

- There are stories among
the archeologists of the time

that one archeologist was
playing a trick on another,

putting something
in the excavation

to make him think he had
found something amazing

when in fact, it
was just a plant.

That, of course, is a story.

And all the folks that were
involved in the excavation

in the 1930s have
passed away years ago.

So we really can't
verify that story.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, looks like we
have a split decision here.

Our experts can verify that
this is an ancient artifact,

very likely of Roman origin,

but exactly how it ended up
at a Mesoamerican grave site,

for us, that
remains unexplained.

- Bloodsucking
vampires are a staple

of horror movies and Halloween.

But centuries ago, people
thought vampires were very real

and some believed
strongly enough

to commit monstrous
acts of their own.

September 2024, Chelm, Poland.

Workers are removing tree roots

for a garden renovation
at a cathedral,

when they unearth
something grisly.

Two children's skeletons
dating to the 13th century

are found in a
shallow burial pit

where no grave sites are marked.

But what's truly
shocking is that

one of the children was
decapitated after they died,

the severed head turned
to face the ground.

Why would someone do this
to the remains of a child?

- In Poland, in
the medieval era,

people were mortally terrified

that the undead could feast
on the blood of the living,

both humans and livestock.

And measures were taken,
some of them really grisly,

to bury the dead in such a way

that kept them from rising.

- [Tony] That's right.

In medieval Poland, fear
of vampires was very real

and it endured for centuries.

- In one famous tale in 1674,

a Polish man rose from the dead

and he was going around sucking
the blood of his neighbors.

His nocturnal
wanderings only stopped

when the body was decapitated.

- Belief in vampires ran riot
throughout ports of Eastern

and central Europe.

Imagine how terrified you
have to be to do something

this gruesome to a
child after death.

- This isn't the first time
we've investigated supposed

vampire skeletons in Poland,
like this woman's remains

found with a sickle
around her neck.

The question is, was this
practice really nothing more

than medieval superstition?

Or did these bodies
pose a real threat?

Let's ask the experts.

[tense music]

Could this be a real
blood sucking vampire?

There's a reason the locals
decapitated the dead body.

- You're severing the
head from the body

and it's upside
down in the grave

so that he's confused then
if he comes back alive.

- [Tony] But there's
another theory

behind the widespread
belief in vampires.

It has nothing to do
with the supernatural.

Instead, it's tied to one of
history's darkest periods.

In 1348, the black plague
spread across Europe

and wiped out half
the population.

And it turns out
dead plague victims,

were sometimes mistaken
for the undead.

- The black plague
really did inspire

a lot of the tales
about vampirism.

And it was widespread in Europe

that something, you know,
was evil walking among you,

can kill you,
drain you of blood.

And these superstitions,
of course,

arose from a lack
of understanding

of how diseases are passed
from person to person.

- [Tony] Hang on, though.

The black plague didn't
start until a century

after these children died.

But there were other diseases

that would have
been just as scary.

- We know that the time
period that this child died

was around the 1200s.

And that was a time
where wave after wave

of what we understand
now as pandemic diseases

were sweeping through and
there was a lot of fear

and superstition of
how people got sick.

- [Tony] It's also possible
these kids were afflicted

with a very specific
disease, one with symptoms

that definitely would make
these children appear vampiric.

It's called porphyria.

- Porphyria is a rare
hereditary disorder

where individuals are
unable to metabolize protein

that comprises our
red blood cells.

Individuals with porphyria
cannot go out into the sunlight

because their skin
is so sensitive

that it might blister
up and it may scar.

And some individuals
with porphyria

can have receding gum lines,

which can make your
teeth look longer

and maybe pointier, like a fang.

- [Tony] Whatever
disease was responsible,

it's clear it scared the
villagers to their core.

And at a time when they
couldn't explain the concept

of a virus, they turn to their
legends for an explanation.

And the way to stop
the diseases spread.

- These two children
may very well have been

because of their age, more
susceptible to diseases

and may have been the
first to get the disease

that spread into the village.

And so for the village, the
only way to rectify that

and their own superstition
is then to bury them

in this special way so
that they can continue

with their lives.

[tense music]

- Our verdict, unknown disease.

Even today, public
health concerns

have spawned vampire myths,

like the wildly
inaccurate online rumor

that the COVID
vaccine will turn you

into a blood sucking monster.

You just can't
make this stuff up.

And that's our show for tonight.

Thank you so much for watching,

and keep those cameras rolling.

[dramatic music]