All language subtitles for The UnXplained s08e13 Unnerving Nature.eng

[William Shatner] A dark forest

where people vanish
without a trace,

a mysterious desert

that defies
the laws of physics...

...and a mountain so feared,

no humans dare climb it.

For over 300,000 years,

modern man has been able
to thrive here on Earth.

All around the globe,
Mother Nature offers resources

for food, water, shelter
and even medicine.

But despite the abundance
that our planet provides,

the natural world can also
be a very mysterious

and unnerving place.

A home to toxic caves,

foreboding forests

and strange,
invisible anomalies.

Is there a reason why certain
hot spots around the globe

are dangerous to humankind?

Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

? ?

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

A majestic giant stands alone,

dominating the landscape
for miles in every direction.

While it is a sacred site
for Native Americans,

thousands of visitors are drawn
to the pristine nature

and metaphysical energy
found at Mount Shasta.

[A.J. Gentile] Mount Shasta

is a beautiful beast.

This is a 14,000-foot-high
stratovolcano,

only partially dormant,

that is in the Cascades
but not quite.

It just sort of shoots
out of the landscape

with these sheer cliffs
that pierce up into the clouds.

And it's that beauty that draws

25,000, 26,000 people a year
to visit it.

Mount Shasta
is extremely visually striking.

Um, it's very,
very visible from,

uh, well over 100 miles away
on a clear day.

It's captured the attention
of writers and artists, poets,

for a long, long time.

And I think sometimes
these places

seem to have
some kind of energy about them.

[Shatner] For all
its natural beauty,

Mount Shasta is
more than a destination

for recreation and respite.

For many, it's believed to be
a very energetic landscape

that draws spiritual seekers
in search of the profound.

[Dustin Naef] Mount Shasta is

regarded as a sacred mountain.

People are drawn up here
because they have these

really transformative,
deep, spiritual experiences.

You might say this is a place
where the veil is thinner,

and things from the other side
can come through it

easier here
than in other places.

People all over the world
are coming here

and more than 75% of them

come here
for spiritual purposes.

[Walking Eagle] Just about
every tribe around Mount Shasta

say it's a very sacred place.

And the water
that comes from there

is very, very sacred water.

A lot of the tribe goes up there
and prays for the water.

But for me,
I pray for the whole mountain.

Because it-
the whole mountain, to me-

is very sacred
and very beautiful.

And so, our belief is
that when we pray to

the top of Mount Shasta,
that the energy

come back to us and it does.

And it give us a blessing
and then we take it back down

and give it to the people.

[Shatner] Could there be
some kind of spiritual energy

surrounding Mount Shasta?

There are many people
who describe experiences

of insight, renewal

and deep personal change
on the mountain.

But others believe there is also

a strong and powerful force
present.

[Gentile] Mount Shasta
has been occupied

for tens of thousands of years.

This is a mountain
that was revered

in these cultures for millennia.

And not just revered
but-but feared.

On Mount Shasta,

you were allowed
to explore the mountain,

according to the legends,

but you were not allowed
above the tree line.

That was the dwelling place
of the gods.

And anyone who crossed
into that threshold

had to pay their toll
to the gods.

[Walking Eagle] My grandparents
told me,

"Don't go above the tree line."

To me, it was- I always
thought it was a joke,

but it wasn't no joke at all.

It was something
that's very sacred,

and to make sure that I had
a lot of respect for it.

The first time when I went
up there and I went above

the tree line,
I got really, really sick,

and ended up in the hospital
with pneumonia

and just about died.

I took it for granted that,
you know,

that nothing would happen to me.

You know, I should have
listened, I should have

paid attention, above all.

When you're driving up there,
the energy changes.

It's like driving into
a dimension in time and space.

Some of the things that I see,
and it's really hard for me

to describe because I really
don't understand what it was,

but I know it was there.

I've seen a lot of bigfoots.

I've seen a lot
of little people.

I've seen a lot of green lights

coming off the top
of the mountain.

And, uh...

yeah, I've been scared a lot.

[Jami Mayfield] People have
seen so many scary things,

either on the ground or in
the sky, around Mount Shasta.

One of my unusual sightings
was last November.

I go out to take my pictures.

It felt like there was just

hundreds of beings watching me.

I know what
being watched feels like.

This was so intense.

I've had to learn
to overcome my fear

while being in Mount Shasta.

[Shatner] Could something
of a supernatural nature

be inhabiting
the mighty Mount Shasta?

And could it be connected
to the strange

and troubling reports
of visitors

who have allegedly vanished
without a trace?

[Gentile] There's one
recent case that still has

search and rescue teams
scratching their heads.

It happened in May 2025.

Lesner Cardenas was
in a car accident.

He swerved to avoid a deer,
he flipped his car.

He wasn't injured.

Later that afternoon,

he puts together a backpack,
calls a cab

and takes a ride
to Mount Shasta, to a trailhead.

He gets out of the cab,
he starts his hike,

and that's the last
we hear of Mr. Cardenas.

His phone stops pinging
that afternoon...

...and there is no trace of him.

Mountain hikers,
uh, trailblazers, climbers,

they go missing on mountains.

This is, this is not unusual.

But there's always
some residual evidence of it.

There's a pack,
there's a body, there's bones.

But in at least a dozen cases
on Mount Shasta,

there is just nothing.

[Shatner] Are these
disturbing disappearances

simply the statistical odds

of getting lost
in the great outdoors,

or is there something
far more mysterious going on?

[Naef] There's this idea that

there's another realm
inside of Mount Shasta,

that you can pass through it
into another world.

And a lot of people
in town believe

that many of the people
who go missing

are actually taken by beings
who supposedly live underground

beneath the mountain in some
kind of utopian-type paradise.

And supposedly, all over
the mountain, there's portals

that you can access
to go into their dimension.

Even if you go back
in prehistoric times,

you know, Indigenous people

had traditions
about another realm

being inside of the mountain

that would cross over
into the afterlife.

And I don't know if that's
because of the energy here,

or whether it's some external
force that's acting on you,

but almost everyone
who lives up here

has probably
experienced something

pretty strange and...

unusual on a fairly
regular basis.

[Mayfield] Mount Shasta is
considered an amplifier,

not a generator.

It absorbs others' energies.

It's gonna give back
what you give it.

And if you haven't
done the work,

it's a very frightening thing.

And that's the truth.
I've seen it.

[Walking Eagle] I would say
to the people that go there,

just to be aware
of what they might see.

Be aware of warning signs.
That's the most important thing.

If you don't feel right,
don't be there.

If you don't feel right
where you're at,

then get out of there,
because there's something there.

There's things there
that you don't understand.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

With its gothic medieval castles

and famous folklore

that inspired the tales
of Count Dracula,

the region's reputation
for being a spooky place

is legendary.

And many believe
that there's nowhere

quite as frightening
as a one-square-mile stretch

of wilderness known
as the Hoia-Baciu Forest.

[Stables] Hoia-Baciu is
a small native woodland

on the outskirts of Cluj,

which is a city
in northwestern Romania.

I visited Hoia-Baciu,

which is supposedly
the world's most haunted forest.

The first thing that strikes you
in there is just

the way it looks
is very, very odd.

Lots of the trees
are kind of bent

in all these strange formations,

almost like
meat hook-type shapes.

A lot of them have this thing

of being bent quite low
to the bottom of their trunks.

They sort of bulge outwards.

There's an eerie atmosphere
about it, for sure.

But the interesting thing
about Hoia-Baciu is that it's,

it's not just ghosts,
it's kind of bit of everything.

It's a bit of a one-stop shop
for the paranormal.

Shamans go there
to channel spirits.

People report
a feeling of dread,

sometimes a feeling of elation,

um, sometimes
even feeling, like,

hands grabbing at them when
they walk through the forest.

The name "Hoia-Baciu,"

it's named after
a local shepherd

who, um, supposedly
walked into the forest

with 200 of his sheep
in centuries past,

and none of them
were ever seen again.

So, there's lots of stories
of people going missing.

There's a famous story
about a girl

who went picnicking in there
with her family,

and she wandered off.

And they never saw her

until five years later,

when she emerged
from the forest,

and she hadn't aged a day
in that time.

So, there's a huge amount
of folklore and mythology

that has kind of grown up
around the forest.

It's definitely got a kind
of energy about the place.

[Shatner] The foreboding,
unusual energy

found at Hoia-Baciu Forest

has made it a global destination
for dark tourism,

attracting visitors who come
in the hope of experiencing

its high strangeness.

When you go
to the Hoia-Baciu Forest,

uh, most probably,
you will experience something.

Something else,
something different.

The forest is known, actually,

for all sort of things,
such as unusual sounds.

Sometimes,
the electronic devices

don't work well in the forest.

You capture all sort of things

that you cannot
really see with the naked eye

in your pictures.

You can be dizzy
or you can have headaches

or you can experience nausea.

If you go in
the Hoia-Baciu Forest,

probably you will have
the feeling of being watched,

and that's pretty strange.

We don't know
why this is happening.

It's not just a regular forest.

[Shatner] Like Marius Lazin,

Alexandru Surdukan
also guides curious travelers

into the depths
of Romania's scariest forest.

And he's tried
to find out firsthand

why it has such
a strange effect on visitors.

So, people, when they are
visiting the forest,

sometimes they feel a s- um,

like, not so positive
sensations,

like nausea, vomiting,
um, anxiety.

Uh, I also had some tours

when, uh, they were almost
near a panic attack.

Some scientists
try to figure out maybe

it's radiation involved.

Uh, for my safety,
I used a Geiger meter

for three years,
and I can say it's safe,

or it was safe
for those three years.

But most of these people
with sensitivities,

when we are in these areas,
they feel, uh, strange stuff.

[Shatner] What is the source
of all the strange happenings

in this hair-raising
natural environment?

Well, many believe
it can all be traced

to the forest's most feared
and mysterious location.

[Gentile] At the center
of Hoia-Baciu Forest

is a clearing
about 300 feet wide,

and it's called the "Circle."

Nothing grows in the Circle.

Uh, no plants grow there,
trees, nothing can grow there.

Just outside the Circle,
they do.

Something is affecting
the plant life there.

Something also affects
the wildlife and humans

who visit the Circle.

When visitors arrive
at the Circle,

they become disoriented,
they talk about headaches,

they hear noises.

And what's strange is not
everybody is affected by it.

[Lazin] The Circle,

the so-called "Poiana Rotunda"
in Romanian,

it's one of the most, uh,
active spots of the forest.

It is told that
the Round Clearing has somehow

the potential to amplify
your thoughts and your mood.

All sort of interesting things
happen there.

For example,

in 1968, a military technician,
Emil Barnea,

captured a few pictures
of a UFO.

That actually made
the forest famous

because all those pictures
were later analyzed

by different experts
in photography,

which all concluded
that they were not fake.

[Stables] The Clearing is where

the famous UFO pictures
in 1968 were taken,

and it's where people report

having the most strange
experiences, effectively.

Lots of photos have been
taken in there

which appear to show
some kind of apparition,

wraith-like beings,

and orbs of light
and this kind of thing.

I can't say I saw a ghost there
or anything like that,

but, um, that's definitely
the place

that made me feel
the most uneasy because,

you know, nothing grows.

[Shatner] Why does nothing grow

in this anomaly
known as the Circle?

And what can explain
the strange effects

this area has on its visitors?

A book by Romanian professor
Adrian Patrut

may provide an answer.

[Gentile] There have been
studies at the Circle that prove

there are
electromagnetic anomalies

that happen inside that circle

that don't happen
anywhere else around the forest.

This is not folklore,
this is not legend,

this is scientific fact.

But what makes it very unnerving
is nobody knows why.

[Lazin] Between the early '70s
till the mid-'90s,

a lot of scientists
went in the Hoia-Baciu Forest.

We know that they were taking

different soil samples
from the forest

to see exactly
if the soil is different.

Also, we know
that the scientists mentioned

the magnetic field of the Earth
may act different

compared to some other places.

But all the scientists

suddenly stopped
in their research work,

and we never understood why.

Some people say that
this is because they got some,

let's say, unusual conclusions,

or something really bad
happened to them.

Or maybe they just didn't find
what they were looking for.

So, at least for the moment,

we may conclude
that we will never know

what is really going on
in the Hoia-Baciu Forest.

Is there a natural explanation
for the strange phenomena

reported in the scariest
forest on Earth?

Well, I for one won't be
going there to find out.

And perhaps even more bizarre

is an unsettling sound reported
in the desert of New Mexico

where an unidentified hum

is slowly driving
some residents mad.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

This high-altitude desert
and UNESCO World Heritage Site

has been continuously inhabited
by Native Americans

for over 1,000 years.

Since the late 1800s,

artists have settled
in the region,

inspired by the visually
captivating terrain.

But lately,
the town's peaceful beauty

-has been pierced...
-[low hum]

...by a maddening
and mysterious sound

known as the Taos Hum.

The Taos Hum
first emerged in 1992

when a woman named
Catanya Saltzman

heard something
that was keeping her awake.

She turned to her husband said,
"Can you hear this?

He's like, "I don't hear it,

I don't know
what you're talking about."

And she's like, "No,
I'm not crazy. I can hear it.

This is driving me insane.
I can't focus."

So, she said, "I'm gonna find
out what the hell's going on."

So she wrote to the local
newspaper, The Taos News,

and said,
"Is anybody else hearing this?

This mysterious sound that's
keeping me up. I can't sleep."

And once the word got out,

dozens of people said,
"Yeah, I hear it, too."

And it was hurting people.
It was causing harm.

Some of the symptoms
of the Taos Hum were insomnia,

nausea, anxiety.

And, interestingly,

it's not like the people in Taos
who have heard the hum

had especially good hearing.

Some people were half deaf.

Some people were great hearers.

So, that was really
what was puzzling.

[Shatner] What is
the unidentified sound

that only seems to affect
some of the residents

in Taos, New Mexico?

It's a question that's been
asked for over 30 years.

Cisco Guevara has
lived in the area

for most of his life,

and he first heard
the infamous Hum in the 1990s.

[Guevara] Years ago,
I was at a remote camp.

I have a rafting company,
we do a lot of camping

in remote places.

After a long, hard day,
I was pretty exhausted.

And I made my bed
and I laid down,

and as soon as my head
hit the pillow, I heard it...

...and I shot up.

I was like,
"Oh, my God, it's real.

This is, this is not good."

And I laid back down
to make sure I wasn't

mishearing something.

And every time I laid down,
it was definitely there.

A very man-made,
machine kind of sound.

You know, it's a real thing.

It was kind of like
inside my skull,

and it was not comfortable.

In town, a lot of people
were experiencing

a lot of anxiety and headaches
and they couldn't sleep,

and it was
definitely a major factor,

and their quality of life
was going downhill fast.

[Shatner] Depending
on the survey, anywhere

from two to 11 percent of Taos
residents can hear the Hum.

But why so few?

In the early 1990s,
the University of New Mexico,

and other esteemed institutions

like the Los Alamos
National Laboratory,

cooperated to investigate
this unnerving noise.

The Hum is described as sounding

like a low diesel motor
operating in the distance.

-[thrumming] -It's described
as coming from nowhere

and everywhere at the same time.

So is there
some type of machinery,

industrial explanation
for this somewhere?

They can't find it.

Maybe it's a military,
a government operation.

But there's no documentation
of that anywhere.

It still wouldn't explain

why only a small percentage
of people experience this.

[Radford] One of the theories
was that the Taos Hum

was an auditory hallucination,
like tinnitus, right?

Auditory hallucinations

have been documented.
Like, people do hear

things that aren't there.

[Glen MacPherson] Mass hysteria
is a very fair question,

but approximately 75%
to 80% of the people

who learn about the Hum

do so independently,

through independent research

and not because they heard it
from somebody else.

That itself is a pretty
powerful piece of evidence

against mass hysteria.

In the end, um, they were
still left with a mystery.

[Shatner] Glen MacPherson has
been investigating the phenomena

since 2012.

And according to his research,

the Taos Hum is
not only reported as something

that can be heard-

for some, this bizarre sound
can also be felt.

[MacPherson] Sounds

can have
a very unsettling effect

in general on the human body.

About ten to 15% of the people

who can sense this phenomenon

report an actual sense
of physical vibration.

Everything from mining
to the electric grid

to even high-speed freeway noise

gives some
of those characteristics.

But what's really interesting
about this

is that for those
who have heard this noise,

many of them do report
that there is something about it

that is not akin
to typical noises

that they've experienced before.

But one very commonly heard
theory

or speculation
surrounding the Taos Hum

is that this is
a natural phenomenon.

[Ben McGee] Our planet itself,
just by operating,

actually generates
quite a bit of noise.

There are little earthquakes
happening all over the world,

all the time- seismics.

That generates constant sound,

a background hum,
if you will, of earthquakes.

And it's so regular,
some people have called it

the heartbeat of the Earth.

[Shatner] Could the Taos Hum

be created by a natural process
we've yet to identify?

The theory has grown
more popular

as similar audible phenomena
are being reported

throughout the world.

The Taos Hum is probably the
most famous Hum in the world,

but this is something
that happens in England,

in Australia, New Zealand.

All over the world are
these strange low-frequency hums

that people can feel
in their bodies.

And the most recent case is
coming now on the East Coast,

out of a small town
on Long Island Sound,

West Haven, Connecticut.

[MacPherson] If you take a look
at a map of population density

of North America and overlay it
with the World Hum Map,

you'll see
a very clean density line

running from
roughly Winnipeg, Manitoba,

down to Laredo, Texas.

So I think

it's fair to assume

the number of potential
Hum hearers in North America

could be vast.

Many hundreds of thousands,

possibly millions.

[Guevara] The fact that the Hum
is heard around the world,

it leads me to believe
that maybe there is

a more nature-based explanation.

It's everywhere.

So if you want to be open
to that kind of energy,

check it out.

You might be one
of the two percent

that can hear it,
'cause it exists.

What is the source
of the strange Taos Hum?

I'd say it's a good thing
that not everyone can hear it.

But...

just south
of the New Mexican desert

is another unnerving
natural anomaly.

This one can't be heard or seen,

yet it is
so magnetically powerful

it's been named

the Zone of Silence.

[Shatner] The Mapim� Biosphere
Reserve, Northern Mexico.

This largely uninhabited expanse
of the Chihuahuan Desert

is the primary habitat for
the endangered Bolson tortoise.

But for human beings,

this extremely hot,
dry environment also contains

one of the most dangerous places
to be stranded

in North America-

a 30-mile stretch of desert
known as the Zone of Silence.

[Stables] It was given the name
the Zone of Silence in 1966,

when a local petroleum company
were testing out the area

for oil surveys and they found

that their radio transmitters
suddenly stopped working

and they weren't getting
any signals in or out.

And so the company called it
the Zone of Silence,

and the name stuck.

[Radford] The Zone of Silence
is a place where, allegedly,

things that should work
don't work.

Radio transmissions drop,

compasses spin wildly,

technology just fails.

If the stories are true,

you can see why it would be
a terrifying place to be.

You're in the desert,
which is inherently hostile,

and you can't call out
for help, right?

You're on your own.

[Gentile] You can't get
a cell phone signal.

You can't get a radio signal.

This is something that's been
investigated by the military,

by governments, by researchers,

by universities. Nobody knows.

[Shatner] What causes technology
to completely malfunction

in the Zone of Silence?

While there are
no definitive answers,

local investigator
Benjam�n Palacios

has spent years trying
to unravel the secrets

of this dangerous environment.

[speaking Spanish]

[translated] Very often,
it has happened

that when people go into the
valley of the Zone of Silence...

...they can end up
going deeper in

because they lose their compass.

That's why the recommendation

is that you don't enter unless
you have a guide with you.

Often, there are lights,
for example,

that illuminate the hills
and then they come towards you

and then they disappear.

These are lights
that are frequently observed.

Locals have spoken to me
many times

about triangular ships,
about cylindrical ships,

and other types of ships.

There is a lot of activity
of this type.

We consider it to be something
normal but not earthly.

[Shatner] While numerous reports
of bizarre, unidentified lights

and strange glowing phenomena

have many calling the Zone
of Silence a UFO hot spot,

perhaps even more unnerving

is that the area once attracted

a U.S. military
radioactive weapon.

[Andrew Collins] In July 1970,

an Athena rocket
was launched from Utah.

It veered drastically off course
and crashed down

into the Zone of Silence
in the Chihuahua Desert.

Now, there was a big operation
to clear up the mess,

and undercover work went on.

And the reason
why it was so important

to keep it undercover is that

there was actually
radioactive material on board,

cobalt-57, two vials of it,
which,

to be honest, if, you know,
people had encountered it,

they would have unquestionably
had radiation sickness

and could even have died.

[McGee] There was a huge
government operation

from the U.S. to come down
and scrape the top area

of that desert clean
and ferry this stuff away.

And they made sure they found
all the radioactive sources.

And it certainly didn't hurt
the mystique

that now the rockets
are crashing

and radioactive material
is being spread out

and government agents
are coming in

and military operations
are carting things away.

[Stables] Lots of people were
wondering whether there was

something connected to
the strange magnetic anomalies

that made the rocket
go so far off course

and then crash-land
in this- in this area.

And then that got tied up
with the reports of aliens,

extraterrestrials
in the Zone of Silence as well.

So, yeah, it all added
to the mythology of the place.

[Shatner] Could a strange force
be drawing radioactive rockets

and extraterrestrial crafts
to the Zone of Silence?

Who knows?

And, remarkably,

there are other objects in the
sky that seem to be attracted

to this mysterious stretch
of desert.

[McGee] Meteors have
crashed here.

And, indeed, there is
a high preponderance of,

you know, delivered meteorites
in the area. But...

...did the meteors crash
because of the Zone?

Considering all
of these phenomena reported

in the Zone of Silence-

compasses spinning
out of control,

electronics turning on and off,

even rocket crashes-

is there any sort of underlying

geophysical explanation

that could relate to this?
Well, I think there might.

And some have proposed
that there is

a large magnetic formation

that underlies,
geologically, the area.

And that could have

a negative influence
on electronics in the region.

Scientists have determined
that there is

a lot of magnetite
in the region-

that's naturally magnetic rock.

[speaking Spanish]

[translated] So this is
a normal rock that I've brought

from the Zone of Silence.

Apparently there is
something abnormal about it.

However, it is surely charged
with electromagnetism.

Because when it comes
in contact with a compass...

...it produces
exactly this effect.

It makes the compass lose
its sense of direction.

There are questions
of many, many minerals

in the underground.

Details that are anomalous.

And they encourage me
to continue investigating,

to continue observing.

-[insects trilling]
-[Gentile] For at least

100 years,
people have been trying

to explain what is going on
in the Zone of Silence.

Maybe it's the strange geology
attracting meteorites.

But the truth is
nobody really knows.

They cannot explain
why radio signals drop,

why there is electromagnetic
disruption inside this zone.

You don't want
to accidentally find yourself

in the Zone of Silence
unprepared.

You're putting yourself
in a very deadly situation.

Is there something underground
in the Zone of Silence

that's contributing to this
desert's unnerving reputation?

No one seems to know.

But there are other places

where nature has proven
to be far more dangerous,

where the Earth itself
exhales toxic gases

that could kill a person
in an instant.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

While members of the alpine
ski patrol work near the summit

of this 11,000-foot
dormant volcano,

without warning,

the snow beneath their feet
collapses.

[McGee] Mammoth Mountain
ski patrol workers

were going about
their operations,

and one ended up
falling into a cavity

created by a geothermal vent.

Think of it like a hot spring,

but instead of producing water,

it's producing poisonous gas.

So the person who fell in
immediately asphyxiated,

uh, because they fell
into this invisible pocket

of poisonous air.

One of the associates
went in to try and help.

They went down.

Then the third one tried
to do the same thing,

and they went down,

and the fourth and last was
the only one that survived.

[Shatner] It's frightening
to think that toxic gases

are just under our feet.

But invisible killers
can be found in many places,

just waiting for us
to do something

as simple as breathing.

[Gentile] In the Amazon
rainforest near Brazil,

you can go into the forest
and be affected by fungal spores

that come out of the caves
that are completely odorless.

They're invisible.

You don't realize that you've
been infected by the spores

until days later,

when you come down with a
serious case of histoplasmosis,

which causes delirium,
dizziness,

nosebleeds, vomiting,

sometimes organ failure,
and sometimes death.

And every year, there are
tens of thousands of cases

out of the rainforest

where people are dying
of histoplasmosis.

What makes this danger
especially insidious

is the fact
that it's completely invisible.

You don't know you've been
infected until it's too late.

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

A drilling crew
accidentally uncovers

a five-million-year-old
extremely poisonous environment

known as Movile Cave.

Movile Cave was discovered
in the mid-1980s

when they were drilling
and excavating

for a new power plant.

And when they discovered
this cave in Romania

in the Black Sea region,

it was something
that was really new to science.

It had been completely sealed,

untouched by humanity

for millions of years.

Movile Cave has sections
that are dry,

like air-filled passages,

but also submerged sections

where you would have to dive
to continue through the cave.

It has toxic environments

that we can't breathe,
we can't survive in.

There's hydrogen sulfide.

There's high
carbon dioxide levels.

There's low oxygen levels.

There are some cave dives
that I do

where I'm exposed to high levels
of hydrogen sulfide.

When I descend into
this sort of murky white cloud,

I can actually smell it
in my mask.

It smells like rotten eggs.

It makes my eyes water.

And if you dwell
in that layer for too long,

it'll actually soak
into your skin

and it can
eventually poison you.

But if I was in a dry cave
and there was hydrogen sulfide,

high levels of carbon dioxide,

I could suffocate in minutes.

[Shatner] While Movile Cave's
toxic air is extremely lethal

to humans
without protective gear,

surprisingly,

strange creatures have been able
to survive and evolve

in this so-called
poison hellscape.

[Heinerth] A scientist
named Cristian Lascu

went into the cave
and discovered

all sorts of new species,

new forms of life that had
never been documented before.

It's spiders, it's leeches,

it's cave scorpions,
crustaceans.

So a lot of things
with venomous fangs or pincers

or lots of things that are
kind of frightening to people.

And this life was living
in the complete blackness.

And it's within my lifetime
that we realized

that that was even possible.

Now we know from places
like Movile Cave

you don't need light
to make life.

[McGee] The Movile Cave
demonstrates a reality

that you can have
entirely unique,

concentrated,
and isolated ecosystems

lurking, you know, hundreds
of feet below the surface,

just humming along.

I mean, truly a bizarre,

alien, deadly environment

that was just hanging out
beneath their feet,

waiting to be discovered.

And if that's the case there,

it underlies the reality
that that's the case everywhere.

? ?

[Shatner reads on-screen text]

Rising nearly 22,000 feet
in the Himalayas,

there is a mountain
whose four sheer sides

align almost perfectly with
the four cardinal directions-

north, south, east, and west.

Over one billion people
around the world believe

it is the axis mundi,

or the spiritual center
of the universe.

It's called Mount Kailash.

[Gentile] Mount Kailash is not

the tallest mountain
in the Himalayas,

but it's maybe
the most important

and certainly
the most mysterious.

What's interesting is
it's never been climbed.

Nobody has ever reached
the top of it.

And it's not because it's
that high or that difficult.

It could be climbed.

It just isn't.

Because it's just considered
too important to touch.

There's something
about that mountain.

[McGee] In the 1970s,
there was a legendary climber

named Reinhold Messner

who had climbed Mount Everest
with no supplemental oxygen,

which is a real feat.

And he went to climb
Mount Kailash in Tibet,

and he took a look at it
and then said,

"Mm, I shouldn't climb
this mountain."

There was something about
that mountain that told him,

"Not that I can't climb it-

I shouldn't climb it."

And that's interesting.

[Shatner] Many locals say that
while visiting Mount Kailash,

the rate in which hair and nails
grow on the human body

accelerates rapidly,

as if time moves differently
in the shadow of the mountain.

And while it sounds far-fetched,

it has become a pilgrimage site
for those that believe

it is imbued
with the power of the gods.

[Stables] Mount Kailash is

very, very sacred
to Buddhists, Jains,

Hindus,
and also followers of Bon,

which is the indigenous
Tibetan religion,

which makes you wonder whether
there's something inherent

about this place
that inspires people

of various religious traditions
or inclinations to...

ascribe certain power to it
or tell stories about it.

[Collins] Mount Kailash
is obviously one

of the most sacred places
in the whole of the world.

This is seen as a deity
in its own right.

And for this reason,

it has a spirit and essence,

and you should
not disrespect that.

Because I think if you do,

you are heading into trouble.

But is it really possible

that mountains like this
can have

some kind of consciousness,

some kind of spirit?

[Gentile] Mount Kailash
is a sacred place

where humans should not go.

Even non-religious people
who visit the mountain

say that they can feel
something about it.

Something about the mountain
speaks to them.

Maybe it's the geometry,
maybe it's the geology.

But there's a reason
why a billion people

call this a sacred place.

[Shatner] What causes
four major religions to fear

and respect one mountain
so intensely?

Perhaps it's the knowledge
that the natural world

holds many mysteries

and the acceptance
that it can be a great provider

and a punishing force.

[Heinerth] Many of us,
within the course of our lives,

make it about

finding safety and comfort

and controlling things.

But when it comes
to Mother Nature,

it's more than just the unknown
that unnerves us.

It's really the lack of control.

And Mother Nature
makes her own timelines,

and that's incredibly disturbing

when we realize
that it's not up to us.

[Stables] It almost feels
like when we climb mountains

or trek through dangerous
environments, whatever it is,

sometimes it almost feels
like we're doing it

just for the sake of making
sense of our place in the world.

Giving us this illusion
of kind of control over it.

But, you know, that's
always gonna be an illusion,

because nature
always has power over us

to do what it wants
in an instant.

It's safe to say that some
of the legends and beliefs

that our ancestors created were
the result of trying to explain

the mysteries they encountered
in the natural world.

And while time and technology
have helped modern man

decipher the environment
around us,

just how much
do we really understand

about how nature works?

On a planet filled
with life-sustaining abundance,

there are also mysteries
of Mother Nature

that are fascinating

and sometimes fear-inducing

that may forever remain...

...unexplained.

CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY
A+E NETWORKS

Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0