All language subtitles for The Proof Is Out There S04E07 1080p WEB h264-EDITH

- Tonight on "The
Proof Is Out There."

Is this video proof of a
legendary Alaskan sea creature?

- This may be one of the most
important pieces of footage

in terms of undiscovered
marine species.

- [Tony] What's the secret
of these mysterious lights

over Lubbock, Texas?

- I can't think of a
single rational explanation

for this photo.

- [Tony] A living mummy?

Has this ancient man found
the key to eternal life?

- Could this be the oldest
man that has ever lived?

- [Tony] And they call
it Detroit's Area 51.

- It was like this X file
that no one could solve.

- [Tony] What's being made
on this top secret island?

(dramatic drumming music)

Around the globe are videos.

- [Videographer] What
are those things?

- [Camera Operator] It's moving.

- [Tony] Photos and sounds
that defy explanation.

(air squealing)

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

who made them, or
how they operate.

- [Tony] What are they?

- [Scientist] Some sort
of bizarre mutation.

- [Commentator] 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.

We'll analyze each
one with top experts.

(car smashes)

- 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 upbeat music)

Good evening and welcome to
"The Proof Is Out There."

As elusive as the
Loch Ness Monster,

but maybe not as famous,

is a legendary sea
serpent said to inhabit

the waters of the
Pacific Northwest.

Today, there has been
no actual hard evidence

that this sea monster exists,

but that might
have just changed.

2009, Nushagak Bay, Alaska.

Salmon fisherman Kelly Nash
is on a boat with his sons,

Jason and Kyle,

when suddenly they spot
unusual movement in the water

next to them and start
recording this video.

The shaky black and white
footage shows what appears to be

a long, dark serpentine
creature with humps on its back

moving rapidly
through the water.

- [Kelly] Now watch.
Its head's gonna pop up.

Check this out.

- [Son] It's blue.

- [Tony] Let's
look at that again.

Kelly estimates the
massive creature to be

about 20 to 30 feet long.

While this footage
is curiously unique,

it may actually be showing us

a clearer view of a
legendary creature,

a cryptid as they're known,

that's been widely
reported before.

Field researcher Kim
Gerhard explains.

- Cadborosaurus or Caddy

is a mysterious sea creature

that's been reported off the
coast of Pacific North America.

The name is associated with

the location where
it's most been seen,

which is Cadboro Bay,
British Columbia.

Cadborosaurus is
generally described as

an immense serpentine animal,

anywhere from 60 to
100 feet in length,

with a horse-like head,
sharp, fish-like teeth,

giant forward-facing eyes.

- [Tony] There have been
more than 300 sightings

of Caddy over the
past 200 years,

including one case in the
1930s that may have produced

actual physical evidence
of the creature.

- During the summer of 1937,

off the coast of
British Columbia,

there was a strange
animal that was found

in the stomach of a sperm whale.

This animal popped out that
was snake-like in form,

had a horse-like head, two
flippers and a fluke tail.

The man in charge actually

had these workers take
some photographs of it.

Subsequently, this
became known as

the Naden Harbour carcass.

In my opinion,

this is the same animal
that we see in this video.

But there are other
theories as well.

That perhaps we
could be looking at

a primitive type of snake-like
whale known as a Basilosaur.

- [Tony] The Basilosaur,
or Basilosaurus,

was a fearsome predatory whale

which swam the oceans
nearly 40 million years ago.

And while scientists
first described this as

a giant reptile,

further research determined
it to be a marine mammal,

one that could grow up
to 65 feet in length.

Could this be the same creature?

- There have been
hundreds, if not thousands,

of eyewitness accounts, so
I think that we could build

a pretty strong case that
this animal really does exist.

- Right after this
video was revealed,

two Cadborosaurus researchers
went to visit the Nash family

who shot this footage.

They claim the creature

fully lifted its
head out of the water

and even turned to
face their camcorder.

But of course,

that piece of evidence
isn't on this recording.

Let's see what our
experts have to say about

the evidence that remains.

(somber pulsing music)

We first wanted to check the
authenticity of this tape,

so we brought it to forensic
video analyst Michael Primeau.

- This video has indications
that it was enhanced,

it has processing
done to enlarge it

as well as stabilize it.

There's too many
unknown variables here

to actually arrive at some
sort of accurate conclusion

because the video
has been enhanced.

- [Tony] So there's
already a red flag.

But to be fair,

we spoke with marine
biologist Shea Steingass.

She first looks at this
creature's possible connection

with the prehistoric
Basilosaurus.

- I don't think that's
what we're looking at

because the body type
of the Basilosaur

was actually pretty solid.

It wasn't a snake-like animal.

- [Tony] However,
Steingass believes

this creature does
have more in common

with the marine
mammal Basilosaurus

than the supposed reptile
corpse from Naden Harbour.

- Nushagak Bay is part of
a polar arctic environment,

very cold environments
to live in.

It's very unlikely that any
kind of reptile-like animal,

especially this size, would
be existing in Nushagak Bay.

The animals that thrive here
are typically either fish,

invertebrates that live on
the bottom, or marine mammals.

There's really no
reptiles or snakes

that this could be mistaken for.

- [Tony] Many
online critics claim

we are just looking
at some piece of trash

or floating debris, but
the dozens of tech people

and fishermen who have
studied this video

can't explain how debris could
move in such an organic way.

Other skeptics have suggested

this could be a
formation of seals

or possibly a known giant
animal like an oarfish

or a giant eel.

But surprisingly,
Steingass is doubtful.

- The oarfish has these
beautiful dorsal fins

that help them be more
hydrodynamic as they swim,

and we don't see that here.

This animal doesn't really
seem to have any clear anatomy.

Another really
popular theory is that

this is some kind
of a giant eel.

And frankly, there's
no species of eel

that would be quite this
size in Nushagak Bay.

- [Tony] And as far as seals go,

Steingass says it's unlikely

since seals don't typically
swim in linear groups,

nor would they keep
their heads submerged

while exposing other
parts of their body.

So with all of these potential
possibilities ruled out,

does Steingass have
any idea what this is?

Unfortunately, like many who
have chased Caddy's tail,

she's stumped.

- This is really
interesting footage

and part of the charm
of it for me is that

it's difficult to tell
exactly what we're looking at.

So this might be one of those
classic sea monster videos

that's gonna stick
around for a long time.

- Our verdict?

Possible cryptid.

If the video is legit,
and yes, that's an if,

whatever this thing
is has stumped

our ace marine biologist.

People have been looking
at this footage since 2009

and to this day it
remains a mystery.

But you can be sure

if any more footage of
Caddy comes our way,

you'll see it here first.

Now let's head south to Texas
and back in time to the 1950s.

UFO mania is in high gear,
especially in Lubbock,

the site of a
peculiar phenomenon

that is still being
debated today.

August 31st, 1951,
18-year-old Carl Hart, Jr.

has his bed pushed
next to an open window

in his Lubbock, Texas home.

He's waiting for a strange
recurring phenomenon

he'd read about in the papers.

Suddenly it appears.

Hart grabs his camera and
runs out into the backyard

to capture the stunning sight.

A V-shaped formation
of 15 to 30 lights

appears in the night sky.

Eyewitnesses say the lights
were bluish-green in color,

traveling silently overhead
from north to south.

The lights then disappeared,

only to reappear a
few minutes later.

Writer Amy Teitel says Carl's
sighting wasn't the first time

these lights were witnessed.

- Five days earlier
on August 25th,

the same formation
appeared in the sky

in view of three
college professors,

one of which was an engineer,
and another was a physicist.

If any group of
people had the skills

to figure out what this
was, it was that group.

- [Tony] After that
first sighting,

the professors would
often observe these lights

two or three times a night
for the next few weeks

before they disappeared forever.

Despite no shortage
of eyewitnesses,

Carl was the only one able
to successfully capture

the lights on film.

- Carl Hart was ultimately
interrogated by the US Air Force

and eventually the FBI as
part of Project Blue Book.

- [Tony] Project Blue
Book was the code name for

the systematic study of
UFOs by the US Air Force

from 1947 to 1969.

- Lieutenant Edward Ruppelt,

who was the lead investigator
on Project Blue Book,

also got in on Hart's story.

He looked at the negatives
of the photographs

and determined they were
authentic and untampered with.

- [Tony] Project Blue Book
reviewed over 12,000 cases.

About 700 of them were
determined to be genuine UFOs,

including the Lubbock Lights.

However, Lieutenant
Ruppelt also conducted

his own investigation and
later claimed to have learned

what caused the Lubbock Lights.

But don't get excited just yet.

- On the condition that
he remain anonymous,

a scientist confided
in Ruppelt that

these lights were
actually consistent with

a naturally
occurring phenomena.

Ruppelt kept the secret of
what the natural phenomenon is

because he realized that any
discussion or any information

would lead people
back to the scientist.

- [Tony] So while Ruppelt
may have had an answer,

as far as we're concerned,

the Lubbock Lights remain
an unsolved mystery.

- No one knows exactly
what these lights are

and many question that Ruppelt

ever had an anonymous
scientific source.

Whatever this naturally
occurring phenomena is,

it has alluded other
scientists for decades.

- This isn't your
typical UFO sighting.

This happened multiple
times a night over two weeks

and hundreds of people saw it.

But we still don't have
confirmation of what it was,

unless you believe
Lieutenant Ruppelt

really did have an anonymous
source who figured it out.

Let's see if our experts
can shed some light

on this mystery.

(somber pulsing music)

First, we had astrophotographer
Andrew McCarthy

analyze a popular theory that

the lights were
actually plovers,

migrating birds
local to Lubbock,

that were reflecting the
street lights below them.

- Birds generally aren't
going to be reflective enough

to shine this brightly at night.

I've photographed birds
at night many times,

they never show up as brighter
than the surrounding sky.

The birds are
always silhouetted.

These lights were
incredibly bright.

- [Tony] Others speculate that

these were secret
military craft,

but military aviation expert
Tim McMillan has his doubts.

- If we are to assume that
each of the points of light

that are on the photograph
are an individual aircraft

that would suggest that
these would be aircraft

that are extremely
densely packed together,

far more so than
what would be safe

in conventional
airborne operations.

And so it leads
me to believe that

we're not looking at
individual planes.

- [Tony] Perhaps then
this was one aircraft

with several lights?

But according to Ruppelt's
independent investigation,

the Lubbock Lights were
thought to be flying at

an altitude of only
800 to 1,000 feet,

just a fraction of the height of

a standard commercial aircraft.

McMillan says, "Any
plane at that altitude

should have been heard
as well as seen."

- Eyewitnesses said that
they didn't hear any noise.

The idea that you would be
able to do that silently

is not consistent with the
technology we have today,

much less in 1951.

- [Tony] What about Ruppelt's
anonymous scientist?

He claimed the Lubbock
Lights were, quote,

We asked meteorologist
Juan Hernandez

what that could
possibly refer to.

- I can confidently say
this is not meteorological.

The reports say that
this happened over

and over continuous days.

That is unlike weather.

The wind conditions,
the temperature,

all that is gonna change
on a day-to-day basis.

It's not astronomical either.

Whether we're talking
about meteors or comets,

objects from outer space never
fall in perfect formation.

- [Tony] Which of course
leaves only one more option.

- Whether or not it's
out of this world,

that's not for me to decide.

- Our verdict?

The same as Project Blue Book's.

We're calling this
a genuine UFO,

at least until Lieutenant
Ruppelt's anonymous source

is revealed along
with his explanation.

- Okay, imagine being at home

and there's a massive diesel
truck idling right next door.

The noise might bother you,
but it'll be gone soon.

Well, to some Canadians,
a similar idling sound

remained just that, idling
for nearly a decade.

2011, Windsor, Ontario, Canada,

right across the river

from Detroit, Michigan.

Toronto-based filmmaker
Adam Makarenko

has set out to document
a mysterious phenomenon,

one you hear rather than see.

As Adam films the
dark green foliage

in the Ojibwe Nature Reserve,

a persistent noise can be
heard in the background.

Listen closely.

(air squealing)

That's what's known
as the Windsor Hum,

a constant low frequency
sound whose origin is unknown.

- It was like this X file
that no one could solve.

No one knew where
it was coming from.

You kind of feel it
more than you hear it.

It was shaking people's houses,
people were moving away.

So it had all these things to
it that really intrigued me.

- [Tony] Adam starts
investigating.

His first suspect? The
two Windsor salt mines.

They produce millions of
tons of salt each year,

85% of which goes to
de-icing roads across Canada.

- So I went there

and I did a little bit
of an investigation.

Salt mines said,
"No, it's not us.

We're not creating the noise."

- [Tony] Canada's government
is also on the case,

and in September of 2011,

the Ministry of
Natural Resources

releases its readings
from seismometers,

instruments that respond
to ground noises.

- [Adam] When they did the test,

they determined
that it was airborne

so that it wasn't
coming from the ground.

- [Tony] The investigation
then turns to a funky place

with a funky name,

It's an old steel

manufacturing site

on the US side of
the Detroit River

that only became an island
when car magnate Henry Ford

built a shipping canal
around it in the 1920s.

- [Adam] No one can access it.

The police can't
go on the island.

- [Tony] That's right.

Today access to Zug
Island is restricted,

its activities undisclosed

and the entire compound
is said to be under

Homeland Security protection.

Journalist Alexis Brooks says,

"This is why some call
it Detroit's Area 51."

- When you have an area that's

a secret, Homeland
Security involved,

you have to wonder if there
was something defense oriented

going on there and there
could have been a hum

that was emanating
from that process.

(air squealing)

- What's even more mysterious
is it's only the Canadians,

not the Americans
who hear the hum.

Yet the US government

won't cooperate with
its northern neighbor

on an investigation

and researchers have
never been granted

access to Zug Island.

So the question still remains.

Where does the hum come from?

(somber music)

The salt mines deny it,

but could they unknowingly
be the source of the sound?

The mining process involves
drilling holes into salt walls

that are loaded with explosives
to blast the rock salt,

which is then
crushed on conveyors.

Audio analyst Rob Maher does
a sound wave comparison.

- This sound is a very
low frequency sound,

approximately 35 hertz,
35 cycles per second.

The strongest frequencies
in the underground mining

is between 100 and 200 hertz.

(machine humming)

(air squealing)

So it's at a higher
frequency range

and there's not a lot of
energy down in the range where

we found the Windsor Hum
signal to be located.

- [Tony] The Windsor
area has seen

impressive growth
in recent years,

including the construction
of the Windsor Essex Parkway.

So Maher considers if ground
construction equipment

could be emitting the hum.

- The heavy
construction vibration

does have energy down
in the 35 hertz range,

but construction equipment
would not be operating

all the time all day
long for 10 years.

And often the
complaints about the hum

were most common at night.

- [Tony] So Maher looks
back to Zug Island

to solve this rumbling riddle.

- [Rob] It seems most likely
to me the sound is due to

vibrations of the ground.

So that the mechanical
equipment across the river

is causing a layer in
the geological formations

under the water to cause
the ground to vibrate,

sort of like a mini earthquake.

- [Tony] Another report

from two Canadian
universities in 2014

seems to point in
that direction.

- They determined that
a likely cause was

blast furnaces at the
United States steel mills.

- [Tony] Though exactly
what sort of steel

these furnaces were
smelting on Zug Island

is still a mystery.

The researchers believe the
furnaces had been running at

a higher than normal capacity,

that was causing
intense reverberations

of the plant's
metallic foundations,

which propagated
across the river

until the mill was shut down.

- The reports of the
hum then petered out.

- Our verdict?

The hum was likely caused by

now-decommissioned blast
furnaces on Zug Island.

However, the occasional noise
complaint still does pop up

from time to time
on social media.

So maybe the hum is not
quite so done after all.

- Eating honey,
olive oil rubdowns,

a good cigar every week.

It seems like every elderly
person has their own secret

for extending our lives,

but one man in Thailand may
have actually cracked the code.

Let's take a look.

It's March 2022 in
western Thailand.

A family is gathered around
the bedside of a figure

that barely looks alive.

The man is a monk
named Luang Pho Yai

and he is very much alive.

Look again.

His skeletal figure
and desiccated skin

make it hard to believe this
video is real, but it is.

- Some people who've seen

this video have wondered if

this is the oldest man

who has ever lived,

guessing that his age

is over 150 years old.

- [Tony] For the record,

the oldest documented person
in history was Jeanne Calment,

who was born in 1875
and died in 1997

at an amazing 122 years old.

So 150 years old
would be a huge jump,

but scientists say
where a person lives

can have an effect on
how long they live.

- Researchers are fascinated
by so-called Blue Zones,

which are geographical areas

with a larger than
average number of people

who are 100 years old.

By contrast,

the average life expectancy
in the United States

is only 77 years old.

Could the man in this
video be benefiting from

one of these
so-called Blue Zones?

- [Tony] These Blue Zones
don't share many similarities

when it comes to geography,

so their connection to
longevity remains a mystery.

But there's another
possible explanation,

a theory that some people
can mummify themselves.

- What this video
brings to mind is

the supposed Japanese
practice of Sokushinbutsu,

which is the practice
of self-mummification.

Self-mummification is
meditating so deeply that

you pass away in that
meditative state,

becoming a preserved body.

The practice is
believed to have been

observed by Buddhist monks

who would practice a form
of such extreme asceticism

that their bodies would
simply mummify themselves.

- According to Atlas Obscura,
between 1081 and 1903

at least 17 monks managed
to mummify themselves.

Is that astonishing ability
what we're seeing here?

The act of self-mummification
was criminalized in Japan

during the late 1800s

as it was deemed inhumane
by the government.

So has this man
revived the practice?

Or is he mastering some other
form of self-preservation?

We asked our experts.

Could this man be
gaining extended life

by residing in
one of the world's

seemingly magical Blue Zones?

Biologist Stephanie Manka
says, "That's an easy no."

- Being in a Blue
Zone is not a factor

that allows him
to live this long.

This is in Thailand, it's not
in one of the Blue Zone areas.

- [Tony] So could
we be looking at

a real example of
self-mummification in action?

Manka is doubtful.

- I don't think we're seeing
self-mummification here.

You know that his skin has
gone through a lot over time

and his muscles have broken
down and he's just aged.

It appears he has plans to
become cremated after he passes,

so he's not attempting to
become a Sokushinbutsu.

- [Tony] Manka believes this
may be nothing more than

a determined monk using
a trained focused mind

to prolong the inevitable.

- Your mind can actually have

a great influence
over your health.

There's studies where
monks have been able to

actually change their
internal core temperature

by several degrees of Fahrenheit

just through meditative states.

I definitely think
that mind over matter

could have helped
him live this long

because he's been able to
keep his stress so low,

likely because of meditating.

- [Tony] Emergency
physician Ed Hope thinks

Luang's appearance and his
advanced age, whatever it is,

have to do with
how much he eats.

- Luang probably has
a very modest diet

and he probably avoids
some of those other things

that might speed aging up,

such as smoking and
drinking alcohol.

- [Tony] Research backs
up the hypothesis that

calorie restriction slows
down the aging process,

but it can't prevent
inevitable muscle breakdown

known as sarcopenia.

- So sarco means muscle and
penia means a reduction of.

So we're seeing a
reduction of muscle mass.

The cells he produces
now aren't as good

as the cells he's
produced before,

and that's why he's got
this very frail appearance.

- [Tony] However, Hope
says another factor

might play an even
bigger role here.

- A human can only live so long

and that's really
gonna be defined by

your personal genetics.

He's certainly benefiting
from good genetics as well.

Not everyone, even if you
live a very healthy life,

will live as long as Luang here.

The woman that's lived the
longest, Jeanne Calment,

a French woman who
lived to the age of 122,

actually must have benefited
from very good genetics

because she was smoking
all the way up to age 117.

- [Tony] And as far as Luang
being the oldest living man

at 150 years old,
we dug into it.

Ends up,

that's just a rumor that
caught fire on the internet.

- [Ed] Sadly, Luang passed
away due to advanced age

at the age of 107.

- Our verdict?

We agree that what
we are seeing is

a man who extended his lifespan

through disciplined eating

and who benefited
from good genetics.

And while it ends up the
rumors of Luang's life

were greatly exaggerated, his
surprising success on TikTok

has in a way granted him a
form of internet immortality.

- From Banshees to Nessie,

Scotland has no
shortage of sightings of

the curious and fantastic.

But have you ever heard
of a Scottish UFO?

You're about to.

It's November 2021

and a resident of the Maryhill's
section of Glasgow Scotland

spots something
curious in the sky.

It appears he uses
some kind of telescope

to help him grab the
image with his iPhone.

The object glides
in a deliberate path

as the camera pans from
gray clouds to orange skies.

Take a look at this
thing's unusual shape.

It's vertically aligned.

You can see that right
here with a narrow top

that sure looks like a head.

And then there's a
larger middle section,

and beneath that section,

these two protrusions that
look like legs or feet.

Author Amy Teitel is
well acquainted

with Scottish UFO lore.

- Perhaps the most
famous incident was

the Livingston Incident In 1979.

A forester was
returning to his home

when he saw a 20 foot
diameter floating dome

hovering above the ground
in a clearing in the woods.

He described it as being
very dark gray in color

with an outer flange

and arms extending from
the side of the vehicle

that held propellers.

When he returned home
with ripped clothing

and scratches over his body,

his wife called the police
to report a criminal assault.

This remains the only
UFO incident in the UK

that was also treated as
a criminal investigation.

- [Tony] But this object looks
nothing like a floating dome.

The vaguely humanoid appearance
has some wondering if

it could be some kind of
piloted military tech.

- The UK Royal Navy
is responsible for

investigating some new
technologies including jetpacks

that are allowing pilots
to fly between boats at sea

using nothing but a jetpack
scrapped on their bodies.

- [Tony] The jetpacks can
put out 1000 horsepower,

pushing the pilot to
speeds of 85 miles per hour

for 10 minutes.

- So some might ask,

"Is this one of these jetpacks
being tested over Glasgow?"

- With such a long
history of sightings,

it comes as no surprise
that Scotland is home to

the SETI Post-Detection Hub
at St. Andrew's University.

Its purpose is to ensure that

humanity will respond
responsibly if and when

we make first contact.

Should these scientists roll
out the welcome wagon?

Our experts take a further look.

(somber pulsing music)

First, does this object
move like most UAPs?

Rich Hoffman of the Scientific
Coalition for UAP Studies

has his doubts.

- There's no observable

means of propulsion.

It makes no speed changes.

You don't see any kind
of control surfaces on it

that would make it maneuver
in a different direction

or anything like that.

We have no reported
UAP sightings

that would match anything
like this right here.

- [Tony] Well then, does
it move like a jetpack?

Video analyst Marc
D'Antonio argues that

the limbs of a jetpack pilot
constantly move and sway

due to the thrust
of the engines.

- And we don't see
that here at all,

so I would remove jet
packs from contention here.

- [Tony] D'Antonio
also argues that

the humanoid shape of the object
isn't very humanoid at all,

if you look closely enough.

- This is a very
good freeze frame

because we actually can count
one, two, three, four, five.

There's five points on this.

And what do you know
that has five points?

Five-pointed star.

So it's possible
that we're looking at

one or more star balloons.

- [Tony] But how could
a balloon of all things

maintain the steady flight?

- The air can be thought
of as like a river.

If you're floating
down the river,

you're just gonna
float on the river

and you're not gonna
do much spinning around

unless you reach
a turbulent eddy

around a big rock or something.

In the same way when
we look in the air,

an object flying through the air

is going to maintain
its same position

unless it reaches a
turbulent eddy of air.

And so that's why we
see it just drifting

in the same exact position.

So my best guess is that it
is a specialty Mylar balloon

that happens to be
a five-pointed star.

- Our verdict? Mylar balloon.

This sighting may
have turned out to be

a simple party favor,

but that doesn't mean
the end of our UFO watch.

Scotland, we're not
done with you yet.

but that doesn't mean
actually traces its roots gal

back 7,000 years to a bocce-like
game in Ancient Egypt.

It has been the subject
of songs and movies,

but now pinball is the
star of a viral video

all because of a
physics-defying high score.

It's September 2022
near Austin, Texas.

Local Renaissance Faire
fire performer Alton Gass

is celebrating his son's
birthday at a pinball arcade

where he's playing
some of the classics.

- I came across the Dr.
Dude pinball machine

and I decided to
give it a whirl.

The worst pinball game
I have ever played.

I immediately tank
the first two balls.

- [Tony] No need to cue The Who.

This guy's no pinball wizard.

But then Alton's lame game
becomes so extraordinary

that he has to
memorialize it on film.

- [Alton] I don't know
if I should feel bad

or like I've done
something fancy.

- [Tony] Check it out.

We can see that a silver pinball

seems to be ricocheting
between a wall bumper

and a round bumper
over and over again.

The ball shows no
sign of slowing down

or changing direction

as the score tallies
higher and higher.

- [Tony] Alton surpasses
more than a million points

without even trying.

- I was just standing
there minding my business

and next thing I knew it
was just going and going

and it wouldn't stop.

And I was amazed.

- [Tony] We are too.

But it's just a pinball
that got stuck, right?

On the other hand, we've
never seen this before.

We've heard all kinds
of wild theories

for why this is happening,

from telekinesis to
magnets in the bumpers.

But the most
intriguing idea is that

this man accidentally
stumbled on

one of history's most elusive
concepts, perpetual motion.

- [Tony] A perpetual
motion machine

is a hypothetical machine

that once in motion
stays in motion forever

with no external
energy source required.

12th century Indian
mathematician Bhaskara II

and 13th century French
architect Villard de Honnecourt

were among the first
to try to design

perpetual motion machines.

Their idea was to create a wheel

that would never stop moving.

In 1900 renowned inventor Nicola
Tesla got in on the action,

proposing a self-acting device

that would turn thermal energy
into mechanical movement.

- For hundreds of years,

the perpetual motion machine
has been tested in many forms,

including the overbalanced wheel
and closed-cycle watermill.

And yet to date, no
one has succeeded,

but could we be looking
at a situation where

perpetual motion
has been proven?

- What really gets me is
that these pinball machines

are designed specifically
to avoid ball hangups

that prevent the game
from moving forward.

But in this case,

the ball kept going until
someone bumped the machine.

So how do you
think Alton did it?

Let's see if our experts can
engage in some game theory.

(somber pulsing music)

Theoretical physicist
Dr. Michio Kaku

analyzes if this could
be the first successful,

if accidental, perpetual
motion machine.

- In a closed system with
no energy from the outside,

that would be a
perpetual motion machine.

But here, energy comes
from the outside.

It is an open system and
that energy is from the plug.

You pull the plug and the
whole thing shuts down.

- [Tony] The bumper
is pushing the ball

because it has an
external energy source.

In this case, electricity.

So there's no evidence this
pinball is in perpetual motion.

In fact, the closest
we've gotten so far

to an actual perpetual motion
machine is the Atmos clock,

which is completely powered
by atmospheric changes.

But if this hangup would
eventually stop on its own,

or at least by pulling the plug,

then how did the ball end up
in this strange situation?

- The fact that the
pinball came in at

the exact angle that it did

is crucial for this
whole thing to work.

In other words, I think it was
an accident of engineering.

The engineers who
designed this thing

did not realize that
there was a sweet spot

where if the ball came
in at exactly this angle,

the bumper would then create

this circular motion
essentially forever,

as long as energy came
in from the outside.

(laughing cheerfully)

- Our verdict? This
isn't perpetual motion.

The pinball is accidentally
hitting the bumpers

at a particular angle
to keep it in play

and a design flaw in the machine

allowed this to happen
in the first place.

andseen snow in various forms,ne

flakes, flurries, showers.

But have you ever
seen snow in real life

that looks like,
well, like this?

Like packing peanuts?

Check this out.

November 2021, we're
in Canada again

in the little hamlet
of Mirror, Alberta.

Some extreme weather
is in the forecast

so Sheryl Martinez, a Philippine
native living in Canada,

is getting ready.

As the storm begins, she
opens the door to record,

but what she sees isn't
anything like what she expected.

Little white pellets are
pelting to the ground

like a cascade of
vanilla jujubes.

As they build up,

they don't look like
your regular snowflakes

or even hailstones.

- It's my first time to see it

and we don't have that in
Asia, like a styrofoam rain.

And it's amazing.
It's beautiful.

- [Tony] Sheryl says it
only lasts a few minutes

and melts right away.

So what's going on?

- It looks like someone actually

just took a shipping box

and dumped all the styrofoam

all over their yard.

It's super strange.

- [Tony] So strange, in fact,
that maybe this isn't natural,

but rather manmade snow.

- According to the world
meteorological organization,

50 countries around the
world practice cloud seeding,

including the United States.

- [Tony] Cloud seeding is a
weather manipulation tactic

that involves seeding
clouds with particles

that water droplets
cluster around

to increase the chances the
clouds will produce rain or snow

that falls to the ground.

- In the Beijing Olympics in
2008, the Chinese government

actually claimed to
have used cloud seeding

to create rain in the
days before the games,

so the weather would
actually be clear

during the events themselves.

- [Tony] Another
theory posits that

this strange snow comes
from alleged chemtrails

sprayed down from
the stratosphere.

- The theory goes that the
government is using chemtrails

to release all
kinds of chemicals

with the goals of
decreasing life expectancy,

controlling minds, and
controlling the weather.

And that has led
some to theorize that

perhaps what we're
looking at here are

the remnants of a
chemtrail experiment.

- [Tony] Or could it be that

this styrofoam snow
is actually styrofoam?

Sounds absurd, right?

Until you learn that
it's actually happened.

- In 2015 in New York City,

there was an incident where
tiny styrofoam pellets

were blowing all over
midtown Manhattan.

They were ending up in
people's hair, in their beards,

they were clogging gutters.

According to one theory
about that incident,

the styrofoam pellets
were coming from

construction on the
roof of a hotel.

- Concerned New Yorkers
called the mayor's office

and the Department of
Environmental Protection

to try to get answers
about this suspicious snow.

And while the government
never responded,

the nearby Windham New Yorker
Hotel denied any involvement.

Back in Canada, we're hoping
our experts can clear the air.

(somber pulsing music)

Meteorologist Juan Hernandez

examines if this could
be cloud seeding.

- With cloud seeding, we
oftentimes see silver iodide

being released into the clouds.

The silver iodide acts as a
cloud condensation nucleus

where water droplets attach
to the silver iodide,

become heavy and
fall to the ground.

It's used to bring
rainfall to areas

that don't receive
enough rainfall.

In this case, it's cold.

Growing season is
unlikely to be ongoing,

therefore we just don't
need weather manipulation

in this case.

- [Tony] Hernandez says,

"It's likely not hazardous
chemtrail remnants either."

- There is no
reason to think that

airplanes are indeed
leaving behind chemtrails.

Similar to what you see whenever
your car is running outside

and it's cold,

we can see that the same thing
is coming out of airplanes.

It's exhaust.

There's water vapor in there

and that's what we see.

Water vapor condensing and
there is no residue or no soot

that can be hazardous
to any humans

or any living organisms
on the ground.

- [Tony] Theoretical
physicist Dr. Michio Kaku

explains why these perplexing
pellets are not styrofoam.

- Styrofoam is a plastic
made out of chemicals like

vinyl benzene and polystyrene.

But it cannot be styrofoam
because this object here melts

and therefore we're
not seeing plastic

raining down from heaven.

- [Tony] So then what
is going on here?

- What we're looking at here is

a type of frozen precipitation.

It's not hail, it's not
snow, it's not sleet,

it's graupel.

Graupel forms whenever
we have snowflakes

that are coated with water.

That water freezes
onto the snowflake,

a process called riming.

If riming is
particularly intense,

those precipitation balls
or graupel is quite large,

about 2/10 of an inch.

- This riming process fills
in the snowflake's star shape

so it becomes a sphere by the
time it reaches the ground.

So our verdict?

This is indeed hail's
cousin graupel.

It's pretty rare

and it's another quirky
phenomenon of science

that makes investigating
these videos so much fun.

That's our show for tonight.

If you have any strange
videos we should analyze,

please let us know.

And regardless of
rain, sleet, or snow,

keep those cameras rolling.

(dramatic upbeat music)